Yemsky said:Secret Chimp, this is obviously an unusual find. Apart from Fatback's 45s discovery. And since he couldn't find as many on his second visit as he had seen on the first visit, somebody else must have picked up a few copies as well, right?
The mystery of those cardboard pieces is of course intriguing. As is the fact that somebody would have gone to such length and made SO MANY fake albums and singles. Add to this the odds that that person (or a relative ?) would put it in storage for 30 years and somebody would then pick it up and offer it for sale between "real" records.
By now, though, I have to say that I find the reaction on this board almost as interesting as the find. Or may be even more.
Allow me to be a killjoy for a moment, please.
Not being a big fan of mahy forms of folk art anyway (this is how we've categorized this now, haven't we?) I might have a negative bias to start of with, but honestly, even if the idea's are good, the quality of the work is not all that, is it?
If you consider the presumed date of creation (1970s) and the demographics of the location of your find (Chocolate City) the themes of these covers are not that surprizing, are they?
I can not help but think of "relevance" and "impact" as helpful categories to look at creative work as much as "self expression" and general "quality".
Did Mindering Mike engage any audience with his works?. For all we know, Mingering Mike could have been a doodling child, a hermit without money for the records he desired or a wannabe record-sleeve designer who failed all applications - apart from the Sir Joe Quarterman job
Imagine people storing away all the spare print-outs of covers they've Photoshop'ed for their CD-Rs. Would we be as fascinated in 2035 if somebody found those? Think of all the creative work that people have displayed here on Soul Strut with manipulated images. Did MM ever engage anyone with his works in the way they have done?
Ann odd-ball find, for sure. Interesting and intriguing, to some extend. But is there ultimately more to it?
That's what I frequently ask myself when reading Dante's Left-Field Americana in Wax Poetics, by the way.
Dude, I think you're missing it. These album covers were like a personal diary to this guy. I think for the most part, we are responding out of the human spirit that is evident in MM's work. I personally am seeing a real genuine person, with very noble ideas. Sure it might not be technically amazing, but you can tell that he put his HEART into these covers, and a lot of thoughtful decisions. This is something you rarely see with all these photoshop kids making fake CD covers.
I want to see his lyric sheets.
