Gary Panter's 'Rozz Tox Manifesto' (circa 1980)

In preparing yesterday's Pee-Wee Herman Show post I got to looking through some old
Gary Panter artwork.
It sparked memories of his 'Rozz Tox Manifesto'.

It was an interesting essay he wrote back in 1979 and posted item-by-item in the free personals section of the LA Reader.

When I first saw it, it was printed in the pages of a Ralph Records mail-order catalog.

Panter had done several album covers at the Ralph label, and for me, Ralph's slogan/credo of 'Buy Or Die!' resonated with the words of Panter's plea for artists to work within the capitalist market and find a larger audience.

There were other groovy ideas in there that inspired me so much at the tender age of - - what, seventeen years old?!? (yeesh) - - that I carried (more like buried) the thing in my wallet for a while.

A wish for coolness by osmosis or something...
...Though that was probably missing the point.
(As the original copy I've kept is now all weathered and aged, has it attained talisman status?)

It's fun to read it now and see what's developed and changed, what truly hasn't, and what points speak to our modern digital world.

- Click on that image below ⬇ of the tattered copy torn from a 1980 Ralph Records catalog to ENLARGE, or incur less eyestrain by reading the Rozz Tox Manifesto posted at Gary Panter's blog.

- Also at the blog, you can read Panter's story about the manifesto's origins.

King Novelty Curio Catalog

American folklore, and American history; John The Conqueror Root, Van Van Oil, and The Lucky Mojo Bag. Hoodoo Charms and The Seven Keys To Power.

For a large portion of the 20th century, these items and many more were available from the King Novelty Co. out of Chicago, as well as dozens of other similar outfits. They were popular in the '30's and '40's, (when this catalog was likely printed) but several products continued to be advertised into the '60's and beyond.

I find the pages of this old catalog to be a juicy treat and fascinating to ponder. You could probably guess this by my inability to choose any of it to edit out for this posting.

Looking through the various curios, I half expected to see other folkloric wares, like tombstone bullets, cobra snake neckties, or a kit for building your own chimney out of human skulls. No such luck. Maybe that was a different catalog.

(Click on images to ENLARGE to a grossly huge and unwieldy size in a new window. You WILL want to be able to read the fine print.)

















(Click on images to ENLARGE to a grossly huge and unwieldy size in a new window. You WILL want to be able to read the fine print.)

So are these products a thing of the past? No, not quite. In doing just a tiny bit of research, I happily discovered the online catalog for The Lucky Mojo Curio Co.

Go to the website, where you can learn *so much more* about these items and their usage. You can see images from similar vintage catalogs, some of the packaging for the original curios, as well as their modern descendants.

The homepage and *vast, extensive, and scholarly* affiliated pages are written by cat yronwode, whose name I've not heard since back in the days of the Eclipse Comics publishing company. Nice to see what she's been up to since.

The breadth and detail of info available at her site is amazing. One page that stood out in particular for me included facts about the interesting history of King Novelty, and the definition and history of Hoodoo Rootwork in general. Don't confuse it with voodoo, and do take a look.

- - And for just a wee bit of further enlightenment, listen to this sales testimonial for the Mojo Bag. (click for audio)

Should-Have-Been FOUND submissions

I love FOUND Magazine. It's a great compendium for important cultural artifacts with continuing appeal.

Over the years I've gathered a few such artifacts myself, the ones pictured below being the 'A-List'. I'd been planning to submit them to FOUND, but have been amazed by how long I've procrastinated and not done so. I've come awfully close a few times, but no - - and it's been at least 2 - 3 years now. Shocking.

I've just decided that it must have been a subconcious choice; Obviously I've been waiting until I'd put together an appropriate place of my own in which to display them. Sure. That's probably it. Certainly not mere laziness...

I found all the following items in Mill Valley, California, where I used to live, between 1984 and 2004. All four were found lying on the ground (or floor).

(click images to ENLARGE on a new page)

Last Time, circa 2002




Uh Uh No Way Baby, found on 9/24/1984 near the cash register at Village Music (where I worked at the time). PLEASE NOTE the delicate and decorative notations in the top and bottom margins; 'Run DMC', 'Morris D. Day', and 'Prince The Revolution'.




Double Wrap It, circa April 2004.
20 years later, but nearly the same message as the previous artifact. Please note again, the decorative yellow highliter embellishment. The author chose to compose this on the other side of a school election schedule, dated 4/5/2004. Notations next to candidate's names indicate that the author might be named Alana.




And A Dog Died Including Myself, circa 2003.



(click images to ENLARGE on a new page)

With the exception of 'Last Time' up at the top, what strikes me about each of these objects is that it makes perfect sense for them to be found discarded on the ground, rather than in the trash. I picture each of the recipients emphatically casting away the notes immediately upon recognition of its contents, and then leaving the scene to distance themselves from the event.

Now go check out FOUND Magazine.