Archived 2004 entries:

December 30 -- -- -- Creeps Press has announced the release of a new book by JSH! Kitchen Literature is a combination cookbook/chapbook, with recipes, poems, anecdotes, and artwork! So where's my copy??

December 29 -- -- -- Tonight is the opening of the Fragments of the 20th Century show in Somerville, MA, at the Someday Cafe, 51 Davis Square.

December 28 -- -- -- Last night, JSH was guest DJ at Seidenfaden's in Louisville, playing an eclectic mixture of music with a focus on rockabilly, blues and western swing.

December 23 -- -- -- The Deatrick Gallery's web page now has a short essay by JSH about Remodernism, the philosophy that acts as a backdrop for the Stuckist movement.

December 18 -- -- -- Flaming Duck is now on display in The Valley of Santons, a traveling exhibit around Nice, France and surrounding areas.

December 12 -- -- -- Last night, Conversation with a Television #2 showed in Holiday Show at David Thrasher's Art Store, a gallery in New Albany, IN. The exhibit runs through the end of the month.

December 11 -- -- -- The Waco Fireball, JSH's painting from the Miraculous: Contemporary Exvotos Paintings show in New York City exactly one year ago, has resurfaced as part of Maxi Boyd's online exhibition entitled Milagros. View it here.

December 10 -- -- -- Tonight was the big event with Gatewood Galbraith at Louisville's new Barnes & Noble in Summit Plaza, with plenty of onlookers for the unveiling of JSH's painting The Last Free Man in America (Portrait of Gatewood Galbraith). Galbraith displayed the painting beside him at his table as he signed copies of his new book for fans. One of the pics from the event is on our photos page.

December 7 -- -- -- JSH's website now features a block blurb about the upcoming Fragments of the 20th Century show in Somerville, MA, including a copy of the exhibit's press release.

December 6 -- -- -- JSH will be unveiling Portrait of Gatewood Galbraith and presenting it to Gatewood on Friday, December 10, at Barnes & Noble, Summit Plaza, Louisville, KY for a media photo-op. Gatewood will also be signing copies of his new book, The Last Free Man in America. The event starts around 7:30pm.

December 1 -- -- -- The Blah Blah Gallery out of Texas has made JSH their special guest artist for the month of December, spotlighting works ranging from the Spunt-era Fonzie on a Stick to brand new pieces like Bar (I Forgot to Remember to Forget).

November 28 -- -- -- Just noticed a new link on JSH's webpage, heralding a new line of handpainted mosaic tiles for retail to mosaic artisans and crafters. The endeavor is still in "beta-testing" mode and scheduled to be unveiled early next year.

November 26 -- -- -- JSH is the featured guest on an upcoming episode of the Louisville public access TV program My Poignant Moment, taped today for broadcast sometime next month. My Poignant Moment airs Friday nights on Insight cable channel 98 at 11:30 PM.

November 24 -- -- -- Tim Ritter's film Twisted Illusions 2 has now been released on DVD! Jeffrey Scott Holland plays the part of a shady video store owner who hires a hit man (played by Larry Treadway) to track down deadbeats who don't return their videos or pay their late fees. The DVD can be purchased here.

November 18 -- -- -- The current issue of LEO magazine features JSH's Cold Gin painting (also known as Ace Frehley Sitting Around Drunk) in an article on the Cinderblock's Twenty Dollar art show.

November 17 -- -- -- The Cinderblock Gallery's new page promoting their December 3rd Twenty Dollar Art Show is online now, featuring examples of work from most of the participating artists, including JSH. Click here to view the page.

November 11 -- -- -- On November 27, there will be at least one JSH painting in a charity art auction to benefit Rebecca Perrit from Winchester, KY. Perrit suffers from extremely brittle bones and needs an elevator installed in her home. The auction will be held at St. Joseph's Parish in Winchester at 7:00pm. For more information contact organizer Lisa Tyler.

November 6 -- -- -- The still-unnamed solo show at Someday Cafe in Somerville, MA has been rescheduled: the new opening date is December 26, and the show will run until January 23.

October 26 -- -- -- JSH will be one of the featured artists in the Cinderblock Gallery's "$20 Art Show", scheduled for Friday, December 3. Other artists in the show include Shayne Hull, C.M. Laster, John Haywood and Doug Maxson.

October 13 -- -- -- The Louisville version of the Invisible Topography exhibit is now being backed by the prestigious Swanson Reed Contemporary gallery, 638 E. Market Street, Louisville. The location of the show, much too large to be held on the premises of the Swanson-Reed, is still undetermined.

September 30 -- -- -- The Unusual Kentucky Compendium, a combination CD-ROM/booklet which collects all the thousands of past entries from JSH's Unusual Kentucky website, was originally scheduled to be released around Halloween. According to JLK Productions, the company publishing the package, that deadline will probably not able to be met. JSH told us: "If they can't get it done by December, I'll just drag all the raw files onto CDs myself and put them out before Christmas. It'll be primitive, but hey, so is everything I do. Then the more official version can come out later." We have been assured that we are at the top of the list for review copies.

September 29 -- -- -- JSH will take part in Sylviane Balcaen's The Valley of Santons, a traveling art exhibit that will show in a number of places in the general vicinity of Nice, France. The exhibit begins December 15 in the community of Tende.

September 28 -- -- -- This weekend, JSH's painting Summer Seance (also known as Clown and Nude with Ouija Board) will hang in David Thrasher's gallery The Art Store in New Albany, IN, which will be a main hub of New Albany's "Harvest Homecoming" festival.

September 13 -- -- -- JSH paintings and photography will appear in an art book entitled Visitors From the Cosmos, scheduled for release sometime in 2005 by Invasion Records in Switzerland.

September 7 -- -- -- JSH has informed us that his major project for 2005 will be an exhibit entitled Invisible Topography, which will launch in the Spring as a touring art exhibit (scheduled to show in Louisville first, then NYC, then possibly California) and an accompanying book. This will be his largest-scale undertaking yet and will require the construction of a large labyrinth within which JSH's artwork will be displayed. More details soon to come!

September 1 -- -- -- Clowns In Love, a solo exhibit of JSH paintings, will be unveiled at the Jigsaw Gallery in NYC on February 11, 2005. The show will reportedly document more than you ever wanted to know about the love lives of circus clowns. It's rumored that Grillo the Clown, who crashed JSH's Worthless Advice show earlier this year, may be invited as a musical performer for the opening reception or for the after-party.

August 28 -- -- -- Tonight at The Dame in Lexington, Clare Selter is putting on an art auction/concert to benefit the Susan G. Kohmen Breast Cancer Research Fund. A custom-made commissioned painting by JSH will be on the auction block, any subject the highest bidder chooses.

August 13 -- -- -- There will be a solo exhibit of JSH paintings at Someday Cafe in Somerville, MA in the month of December. Someday Cafe is located at 51 Davis Square, and the opening night for the show is December 5th.

August 8 -- -- -- Today's edition of the Louisville Courier-Journal has an extensive feature on the local art gallery scene, and gives good props to the Deatrick Gallery. The C-J's online version is here, but the print edition also features a nice pic of JSH's 1976 comic book Starman.

August 7 -- -- -- The Winged Wandering group show at the Resonance Center in Utica, NY has been moved to October 1st.

August 6 -- -- -- Tonight is the opening of the Digital Voyeurs show, in which JSH has two pieces. The show is in the Den Photography Gallery in Denver, CO. The show is part of a larger event called Nothing's Sacred, sponsored by Eyecandy magazine.

August 3 -- -- -- The Louisville Courier-Journal's Diane Heilenman gives a favorable plug for the Primordial Periodicals exhibit in her August 1 column. View the online version here.

July 26 -- -- -- JSH's painting Elderly Crossdresser Watching Television has been acquired by legendary art dealer Bruno Bischofberger, famous for his representation of Andy Warhol, Julian Schnabel, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Francesco Clemente and others. It is unknown at this time what will be done with the painting.

July 21 -- -- -- One of the "Lost SPUNT paintings" has been located! Portrait of Elvis Costello is currently hanging in the main office of New Jersey attorney Michael Romano, who hopes to provide us with a scan or a pic soon!

July 20 -- -- -- JSH will take part in Misticismo, an art exhibit held in the Rosicrucian (A.M.O.R.C.) Cultural Center in Santiago, Chile. According to their press release, the artwork will be exhibited from the second week of August to the second week of October, 2004.

July 16 -- -- -- JSH will be taking part in the group show Winged Wandering in August, at the Resonance Center, 662 Bleecker Street, Utica, NY.

July 15 -- -- -- Louisville's Deatrick Gallery is now hosting an online exhibit of childhood comic art by JSH, entitled Primordial Periodicals. How long the exhibit will be displayed on their website is unknown.

July 14 -- -- -- The Unusual Kentucky Compendium book and CD-ROM, originally scheduled to be released today, has now been postponed to an October release, a move seemingly necessitated by JSH's disappearance.

July 13 -- -- -- After nearly a month and a half of being missing in action, JSH has returned to email communication with us. He didn't say where he's been for all this time, but promises to keep in closer touch with us in the future. He's informed us that some of his photographic work will appear in an exhibit called Digital Voyeurs at The Den Photography Gallery in Denver, CO on August 6th.

July 11 -- -- -- Bruce New has informed us that JSH did not attend the Nude 2004 art exhibit opening earlier this month at Mainstrasse Art Collaborative in Covington, KY. However, Mr.New reports that the opening was well received and will continue to run all month. JSH's contribution to the show is Nude and Phonograph.

June 30 -- -- -- Trevor Blake has contacted us with news that all fourteen back issues of a zine called OVO he published from 1987 to 1992 are now scanned and available as pdf files online at ovo127.com. Some material by JSH appears in some issues.

June 23 -- -- -- Two people have written to let us know that they've been in e-mail contact, if fragmentary, with JSH recently, so JSH has indeed merely bugged out for a while, it would seem.

June 22 -- -- -- JSH has long been infamous for pulling his abrupt "vanishing acts" in which he leaves and is not heard from for days, even weeks. It would appear that we are in another such event. The JSH Combo failed to appear at the Lebowski Fest in Louisville on the 18th, and JSH was also a no-show for the Butchertown Art Fair two days later, even though he had paid for booth rental there. We have not had contact with him since June 6th and are unaware of anyone who has. So, we continue to wait and wonder...

June 10 -- -- -- JSH's paintings Auguste Clown and Blue Rooster will appear in an NYC independent film called "Liars" based on the stage play by John Cecil. The film is still in production, and the scene with the art was shot this week in the Jigsaw Gallery.

June 6 -- -- -- JSH will take part in the group show Nude 2004 on July 2, at the Mainstrasse Art Collaborative in Covington, KY. Not yet known what pieces will be used.

June 1 -- -- -- There will be a show of Remodernist artwork at NYC's infamous and historic CBGB's in the winter. JSH will be taking part, as well as Billy Childish, Sexton Ming, Ella Guru, Wolf Howard, J.Todd Dockery, Terry Marks and others. The working title of the show is Addressing the Shadow and Making Friends with Wild Dogs. More details as they arrive.

May 30 -- -- -- Today was the closing day of We Are All Handicapped, a group show in France which included several JSH paintings. For two months the exhibition traveled around Paris, Versailles, Vaucresson, and other cities. Venues included L'Atrium de Chaville, the Toulouse-Lautrec school, and Raymond-Poincare Hospital in Garches.

May 28 -- -- -- More NYC representation for JSH: The new Jigsaw Gallery purchased twenty paintings today for display and resale in their forthcoming E. 11th street location. The gallery officially opens its doors on June 2.

May 25 -- -- -- JSH will take part in the group show Locations of Obscure Splendor this July at the WARPhaus Gallery in Gainesville, Florida. Not yet known what pieces will be used.

May 21 -- -- -- JSH's website has added a new purchasing page which encourages the method of bartering as payment. He's willing to exchange artwork for "books, CDs and records, musical instruments, antiques and collectibles, lumber, food, wine, goods and services, etc."

May 17 -- -- -- At last!! A new combination book/CD-ROM, The Unusual Kentucky Compendium, has been given a release date of July 14th. The Compendium will contain everything that was on the original deluxe version of JSH's Unusual Kentucky website, plus much much more! No word on what the price will be yet. The Compendium is being published by Frothco.

May 16 -- -- -- Toast & Coffee made a surprise appearance today at the Louisville Zoo, confusing the large crowd of tourists who had come to see JoJo the Gorilla and his baby son Azizi one last time before they move to Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo tomorrow. Also note that the Toast & Coffee page has now been moved and is hosted on our site.

May 13 -- -- -- Happy Birthday to JSH, who turns... well, he won't tell us how old he turns today, although I did the math and figured it out anyway. A private party will be held today in Berea.

May 11 -- -- -- JSH was interviewed by reporters from Louisville's WRDB-TV (Fox) Channel 41 today in front of the smoldering remains of the Martin Castle in Woodford County. The castle was discussed, as well as JSH's Unusual Kentucky website. The segment will air tonight on the 10pm news, and again at 4am.

May 10 -- -- -- A selection of images of paintings from the Small Voices exhibit is now up on JSH's website.

May 9 -- -- -- Bottle of Smoke Press in Delaware has now officially released Bottle #2, a collection of 24 broadsides including JSH's Frozen Food. Limited edition of 100 copies. There was also a second series of 26 which were hand-signed by each of the poets, but all of those are already sold out from pre-orders.

May 8 -- -- -- Several JSH paintings appear as illustrations in a new Louisville zine called Churches, Banks, and Bars. It's available around Louisville at Twice-Told Books, Carmichael's bookstores, Molly Malones, Underground Sounds, Ear-X-Tacy, and Wild & Woolly video.

May 5 -- -- -- The "JSH Caravan" hit the road this morning from Louisville, and it's expected that today it'll focus on Shelbyville, Simpsonville, Frankfort, and other places in that area. In the week to come, it's planned to go through Lexington, Boonesboro, Winchester, Morehead, Mt.Sterling, and beyond.

May 4 -- -- -- JSH's old video store, Voodoo Video, is now reincarnated as a distribution house for, as their new website puts it, "all manner of outre indie-video projects". While JSH will still be the chairman, Voodoo Video will be a largely cooperative effort whose ranks include Louisville auteur Steve Rigot, Lexington documentarian Tim Stamps, and yours truly, Jon Shelton. The first DVD release from Voodoo Video will be Call Me Rod, a perverted Pixelvision collaboration between Rigot and Juanita saxophonist Becky Brenzel.

May 2 -- -- -- Starting Wednesday the 5th, JSH will be touring around the state in rented vans and RVs, hoping to hit every county in Kentucky. Along the way, he'll be doing performances of music and poetry, checking in on shops and galleries, and doing research for Unusual Kentucky. We're hoping he'll keep us closely informed of his whereabouts and give us reports. These road trips, which we've been referring to as "the JSH caravan", are expected to go on all summer long.

May 1 -- -- -- Both Deatrick Gallery's Small Voices exhibit and Cinderblock's Rock Art show were held last night, and we have pics here and here. Attendance at neither event was as high as hoped for, but considering it was Derby Eve night and with so much going on in the city, we think the attendance was just fine. About a dozen people visited the Deatrick's show, while about 75 people stuck around the Cinderblock to enjoy the live music from Monkey Boy, Doug Maxson, and others.

April 27 -- -- -- Check out our new SPUNT website devoted to JSH's pseudonymous works done in the late 90's for eBay! Includes a brand new JSH interview, the most extensive art-oriented one to date!

April 25 -- -- -- In her Courier-Journal arts column today, Diane Heilenman spotlights the Rock Art show at Cinderblock Gallery, plus devotes a couple of paragraphs to the upcoming Small Voices show. Read the article online here.

April 22 -- -- -- According to Pusm News Blog, a book collecting rare JSH sketches, doodles and comix from the early-mid 1990s is on the way. Opaquely titled Moist Keebler is Bloppo, it's being published by JLK Publications in Louisiana and is scheduled for release in May. An ultra-limited special edition containing a CD of rare JSH recordings is also mentioned as forthcoming.

April 20 -- -- -- JSH will be taking part in the Butchertown Art Fair with a booth of his own on June 20th. The booth will contain a little of everything that JSH has to offer for sale, and it's rumored that some special guests will be making an appearance.....

April 11 -- -- -- JSH's Green Crucifixion painting is displayed today at the New Richmond Christian Church, New Richmond, IN, as part of their Easter celebration.

April 10 -- -- -- JSH's President Cheney's Puppet Show painting is on display today at Independent Arts Festival 16 in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium.

April 8 -- -- -- Delaware's Bottle of Smoke Press is now taking pre-orders for Bottle #2, a collection of 22 broadsides by 22 writers including JSH's "Frozen Food". In Addition to the 100-copy run, there will be 26 special ultra-limited-edition copies.

April 4 -- -- -- JSH's Lucky Skull painting is now on permanent display at The Other Place, a restaurant on 1124 Bardstown Road in Louisville.

April 2 -- -- -- JSH's Clown with Magic 8-Ball painting will be displayed at the 7th Annual Community Show at ArtSpace in Berea, KY. The shows opens April 5th, but for some reason the opening reception party is not until April 16th. Copies of Take with Food or Milk will also be available.

April 1 -- -- -- Thirteen JSH paintings are now on an ongoing display at Kopilot, 618 Baxter Avenue, Louisville. The selection includes several brand new pieces such as Frankenlotta, as well as old classics like Craig Kilborn's Head in a Jar of Formaldehyde.

March 30 -- -- -- The JSH Combo will be performing at some point during the 3rd annual Lebowski Fest, June 18-20 in Louisville. See more details below. JSH is also pictured on the Lebowski Fest website's 6:19 photo page.

March 27 -- -- -- Filmmaker Tim Ritter tells us that Twisted Illusions 2 will be officially released on DVD by a major distributor in October. The film, shot in Lexington last summer, has JSH playing the part of a shady video store owner who hires a hit man (played by Larry Treadway) to track down deadbeats who don't return their videos or pay their late fees.

March 24 -- -- -- Smoke and Pancakes is now in its second printing, and is now available at many locations including Twice Told Books and Carmichael's Bookstore in Louisville, Sqecial Media in Lexington, and Scribbles in Covington.

March 22 -- -- -- Delaware's Bottle of Smoke Press, which has previously published works by writers like Charles Bukowski and Henry Denander, will be releasing Frozen Food, a broadside by Jeffrey Scott Holland. The tentative release date is early April, we're told.

March 21 -- -- -- Toast and Coffee performed on the sidewalks of Bardstown Road in Louisville yesterday, as part of Jefferson County's St.Patrick's weekend celebration. Among the highlights was an atonal rendition of Neil Young's "Castles Burning" performed on bongo and ukelele.

March 17 -- -- -- Creeps Press has released Take with Food or Milk, a new miniature JSH art book, less than an inch long! Each copy is hand-done by JSH so there are no two alike. The book will also be available for sale at his upcoming Small Voices exhibit.

March 15 -- -- -- JSH is now represented on the official Butchertown Artists website, alongside such luminaries as Scott Scarboro, Bill Fischer, and Adrian Wright.

March 12 -- -- Just announced! JSH and his entourage will spend the spring and summer touring throughout the state of Kentucky, as well as other surrounding states, in an RV. Along the way, they'll be hitting assorted open mikes and barn dances, visiting galleries and shops that carry JSH artwork, and of course, scouting out interesting stuff for the Unusual Kentucky website. JSH has promised to keep in close touch with us so that we may keep track of events on the road. The tour begins in late April.

February 25 -- -- -- The date for the Small Voices show of JSH's "microscopic paintings" at Louisville's Deatrick Gallery has been changed to Friday, April 30.

February 18 -- -- -- JSH's website has just posted some opportunities for persons wishing to assist him. Could be a good chance to earn class credit, or at least add to your own resume...

February 12 -- -- JSH has three pieces in the current group exhibit (not titled) at Gallery On Main in Richmond, Kentucky. The works are Guitarist, Sock Monkey and A Vision of Ernest Tubb, and will hang until sometime in May.

February 11 -- -- -- JSH artwork will be auctioned in Amnesty International's art exhibition/auction in Toronto this Spring!

February 4 -- -- Holland's Jug Stompers are apparently back in action, with a gig booked this fall in Indianapolis! See details below.

February 3 -- -- -- JSH will not be taking part in The Gallery 402 Photo Show on February 10th at New York City's Gallery 402 as previously reported here. JSH has been unhappy with the quality of the digital prints he has been working on, and with the deadline impending, has chosen to withdraw from the event and show the photos at a later date.

February 2 -- -- JSH appears in an article in the February issue of the nationally-distributed Louisville Magazine. The article focuses on Deatrick Gallery and includes a photo. View the article and the photo in our own images section.

January 30 -- -- Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, CO --A piece in group art exhibit, A Sense Of Place.

January 23 -- -- -- Toast & Coffee will be performing tonight at Sherry Deatrick's art opening "Heads". It's at the Deatrick Gallery, 1661 Story Avenue, Louisville. The opening is from 6 to 11pm.

January 21 -- -- Louisville's LEO Magazine has a article on JSH in this week's issue, in which art critic Jo Anne Triplett gives a very favorable review to JSH's Worthless Advice show at the Cinderblock Gallery on Louisville's Main Street. Click here to view clippings. You can also view the article, minus images, at LEO's website by clicking here.

January 20 -- -- -- The Robert Canaga Gallery in Oregon has included JSH's "Guitarist" self-portrait in its Self Portrait Project online exhibition.

January 19 -- -- It was announced today that in February, two photographs by JSH would be exhibited in The Gallery 402 Photo Show at Gallery 402 in New York City.

January 12 -- -- -- We've been alerted that the News-Enterprise newspaper in Hardin County, KY had an article about JSH in their January 8th edition, focusing mainly on Unusual Kentucky. You can also see the article, sans images, on the News-Enterprise website by clicking here.

January 6 -- -- We just noticed a new "Coming Soon" link on JSH's website providing a teaser for his next art show, Small Voices: Microscopic Paintings. The show runs for only two days - April 16 and 17 - at Deatrick Gallery in Louisville.

January 5 -- -- -- The "Miraculous: Contemporary Exvotos Paintings" show at Chez TGN in Brooklyn, New York, ended today. JSH's "Waco Fireball" painting, which was shown in the exhibit, will remain in NYC for the time being.

January 3 -- -- We now have pics here of the Worthless Advice opening reception.... includes shots of Cynthia "Ninnie Nu" Norton, Ron Whitehead, Grillo, Sean Garrison, LEO Magazine editor Elizabeth Kramer, Monkey Boy's Scott Scarboro, and Days Of The New drummer Ray Rizzo.

January 2 -- -- The Louisville Courier-Journal has a nice feature on JSH in today's issue. It's also in their online edition at http://www.louisvillescene.com/2004/01/02/galleryhop.html.....