John Peel's Festive Fifty Illustrated

SNAPSHOTS: Stories Inspired By Wedding Present Song Titles - Buy it now!

2012-01-05T09:43:00.000-08:00

A last!
The wait is over!
I've adapted and illustrated some short stories for this anthology, including a sixteen page story written by David Gedge himself.
You can buy a copy from ebay or the Lulu site.

ATEOTS AUGUST 2011: THE WEDDING PRESENT

2011-09-01T12:13:00.000-07:00

I've been going to see The Wedding Pesent play live since 1986 and this is one of the best gigs I've seen them play. A nice taster for the 'Seamonsters' tour next year. I got talking to some bloke from 'XYZ Magazine' and he got a hold of me at the end of the night. I gave him a 'soundbite' and a photo that probably won't make it into the magazine. Afterwards I was delighted to head off to the after show party (as the 'official WeddingPresent cartoonist' I have certain privileges!! - thanks Davis & Jessica for inviting me) which rounded off a spectacular day rather nicely.

ATEOTS AUGUST 2011: BADLY DRAWN BOY

2011-09-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

Self-deprecatingly entertaining. I'd not seen Mr Gough since he won the Mercury Music Prize all those years ago. Bitter about his fortunes these days? Maybe. Top bloke? Definitely.

ATEOTS AUGUST 2011: PINKY PIGLETS

2011-09-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

This Japanese group nearly stole the show. Great rock 'n' roll attitude ('Make some fuckin' noise!!!!') and they performed a very nice cover of 'Kennedy' too.

ATEOTS AUGUST 2011: THE STARS DOWN TO EARTH

2011-09-01T11:51:00.000-07:00

Only got a couple of pics of these. Kind of reminded me of Los Campesinos (maybe it was the xylophone?!) but another great performance. Pepe Le Moko is soooo cool!

ATEOTS AUGUST 2011: SUMMER CAMP

2011-09-01T11:48:00.000-07:00

OMG! This pair held me transfixed. I said to Jessica that they sounded like 'Shelleyan Orphan' (for those of you old enough to remember that band) and having Elizabeth leave the stage to sing right in people's faces (including mine!) was wonderful. I checked them out on their MySpace page and was a bit disappointed to discover the 'electronic' sound of their records. I REALLY hope they release their stuff acoustically at some point as their You Tube acoustic stuff is amazing - no need for effects on the voclas - I love them!

ATEOTS AUGUST 2011: SILVERMASH

2011-09-01T11:41:00.000-07:00

Very 'shoegazer' sound from this lot, but very enjoyable. They kicked off with a Wedding Present song, but I can't remember which one!

ATEOTS AUGUST 2011: PRECIOUS FEW

2011-09-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

After a wonderful version of 'I'm From Further North Than You' I was kept captivated by this German duo.

ATEOTS AUGUST 2011: CINERAMA

2011-09-01T11:18:00.000-07:00

An brilliant start to a brilliant day. 'Hard, Fast and Beautiful' had me on the verge of tears - such a beautiful song...

The Wedding Present - new book!

2011-02-27T10:42:00.000-08:00

A new book that I've been heavily involved in (mainly illustration and design) will be available from Lulu in April. It contains 16 stories inspired by Wedding Present song titles, written by many talented young authors and illustrated by yours truly.

Dandelion Radio

2010-10-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

Don't forget to vote in this year's Festive Fifty! The good folk over at Dandelion Radio are broadcasting the chart in December! You can also win a copy of my book if you vote!
If you don't win (or can't wait!), pop over to ebay and buy a copy for yourself or someone's Christmas stocking!

Buy my book!

2010-08-21T11:13:00.000-07:00

Here

Facebook Promotion

2010-07-04T10:13:00.000-07:00

I now have a Facebook page to try and get more people interested in the book.
Come and join here and tell everybody to buy a copy!

I've received very favourable feedback from everybody so far, so if you already bought the book - thank you!

Thank you!

2010-06-26T10:26:00.000-07:00

I'd just like to say a BIG thank you to all the people who have bought my book.

Sales really picked up last week, and went from selling like warm toast to the proverbial hot cakes. Considering I didn't expect to sell more than about 5 copies, I'm thrilled and delighted that more than 60 copies have flown off the 'shelves'. Your patronage and support is much appreciated.

If you haven't bought a copy yet, what are you waiting for?? Get your signed and numbered copy here!

Ready for posting...

2010-06-15T12:24:00.000-07:00

Yes! The reprinted books arrived today and they're fine! I'll be posting them out next Tuesday to the 30 or so people that have preordered them, just need to sign, number and package them up.

Don't forget, you can still buy your copy here!

Crisis averted

2010-06-13T12:16:00.000-07:00

Okay, the printers are reprinting the books and they assure me the same mistake won't happen again.
Hopefully the books will be ready to post out to people before the end of this month - two months ahead of schedule!
Thanks for your patience and support.

AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!

2010-06-09T11:02:00.000-07:00

I just got my books from the printers and they've put all the covers on UPSIDE DOWN!!!! I checked my files and it's THEIR fault not mine, so hopefully I'll get a replacement batch, but who's to say they won't make the same mistake again. I sat down, pen in hand, ready to sign and number them when I realised the signature plate wasn't there, it was on the 'b side'. I'm seriously pissed off!!

Buy, buy, bye!!!!

2010-06-03T08:09:00.000-07:00

Everything is now completed. The mailers arrived today too and they fit everything perfectly. In the next couple of weeks, I should be posting a few copies out to those of you with the good taste to order early and a few promotional copies to Dandelion Radio and other people who might give the book a bit of much needed exposure.

Buy the book here!

The portfolio looks like this:

and you can buy it here!

There are also a few limited edition prints of Neko Case and John Peel that I'll be putting up, so grab 'em while you can!

Portfolio

2010-05-31T10:26:00.000-07:00

To promote the book, I'm releasing a (very) limited edition portfolio containing 16 high quality prints. Each one will come housed in a custom designed 7" record mailer and will be signed and numbered by me. Get it here.

Tactile

2010-05-27T12:41:00.000-07:00

Here's a few pictures of the book...

...and me finishing the final drawing...

The Nightingales

2010-05-27T12:29:00.000-07:00

Serendipitiy.

I received an email from The Nightingales' lyricist/singer Robert Lloyd yesterday. He's going to self publish a book of his lyrics and wondered if I could offer any advice.

Back in 2008, I produced a 68 page book of Robert Lloyd's lyrics (complete with collage illustrations) and sent it to him. I heard nothing back. Until now. At last, he's given me the go ahead to sell and distribute the book and I've ordered 40 copies to send to him to sell at future gigs.

You can get your own copy here.

Buy it now!

2010-05-20T13:19:00.000-07:00

Now the book is completed, make sure you get in early and buy a copy from here.

Woo-hoo!!!!

2010-05-19T15:00:00.000-07:00

The last page is now completed! All I need to do now is tweak the covers a bit and upload the whole thing to the publisher. I'm hoping to have a proof copy in my hands by this time next week, although there's bound to be something I missed that will need correcting!

ONE MORE TO GO!!!!

2010-05-18T12:59:00.000-07:00

Okay. Tomorrow evening, after a long and gruelling day at work (including a staff meeting that I have to run) I shall come home, sit at my drawing table and carefully, painstakingly ink the final picture for this momentous book. I can't wait!!!!

God bless the Cuban Boys!

2010-05-17T11:10:00.000-07:00

Perfect timing! With the book due to go to the printers on Friday, I was worried that I may not get the Cuban Boys' intro in time, but I received an email from Skreen last night so everything is now ready (apart from the final two pictures needing to be inked - The Delgados and the Sex pistols) Woo-hoo!

The Damned

2010-05-16T11:24:00.000-07:00

Only two and a half pictures left to ink! The Damned (below) seemed to take forever! I started it on Friday night then tried to carry on with it on Saturday morning but seemed to be getting nowhere. The reason? MUSIC! For some strange reason I'd failed to carry out my usual practise of playing albums by the band I was drawing . Each portrait has taken me between three and four hours from start to finish, usually encompassing a listening session to most of the band's recorded output in the process. This morning, as soon as I put on the Peel Sessions by The Damned, it was easy! I finished up The Beatles today too (the first four albums being my company) and I'm half way through the Beach Boys (although listening to the Beach Boys is not my favourite way of passing time, as you'll see when you read the book) I 'll be done by Wednesday next week (all being well) and if Skreen of the Cuban Boys comes through with their introduction it'll be off to the printers at the weekend!

The end is in sight...

2010-05-13T11:30:00.000-07:00

I pencilled the final three pictures this evening, which means I now only have five pictures to ink and I'm done! Also, Skreen got back in touch and The Cuban Boys are still on for the B Side introduction - I just hope he can get it to me before the end of May! Here's one of the pencilled pages (The Delgados)...

...and here's my work space. I'll be inking The Damned at the weekend.

The Fall, Birmingham O2 Academy, Tuesday 11th May 2010

2010-05-12T10:08:00.000-07:00

I’m not very good at reviews, but here goes…

Whenever I go to see The Fall play, I’m always reminded of going on family holidays to Swanage with my parents and younger brother. The drive there seemed to take forever, but after what seemed like hours of ‘Are we there yet?’s, my Dad would say ‘Who’s going to be the first to see the sea?’ At this point, my brother and I would crane our necks over the two front passenger seats, looking intently at the horizon for that first glimpse of blue water, until eventually one of us would excitedly shout ‘There it is!’ and all the travelling was made worthwhile.

Mr Smith kept us waiting for over an hour before the band shambled onto the stage and began the riff for the opening (and title) track of the brilliant new Fall album You’re Future Our Clutter. All around me, people were craning there necks and looking past the person in front of them to get the first glimpse of the legendary Mark E Smith. After only a few bars, our patience was rewarded as he walked nonchalantly between the musicians and, wonder of wonders, treated us all to a beaming closed lipped smile! I’m sure I heard somebody shout ‘There he is!’

It was a great performance by a band I’ve been going to see since 1985!! Okay, it’s not exactly the same band, but it’s still The Fall and, as MES once pertinently pointed out: ‘If it’s me and yer granny on bongos it’s a Fall gig.’

The wrinkly one was quite playful tonight, giving us a great display of ‘onstage mixing’, cranking the guitar up to full blast during a couple of numbers, then cutting it out altogether during parts of others. The sound was good at the Academy and MES made full use of the acoustics. Poor Elena was left without a mic as the band thundered into Theme From Sparta F.C. but carried on regardless until her husband noticed he’d removed it and quickly replaced it with a cheeky grin on his face. In fact, I don’t ever remember seeing Mark E Smith smile so much during a performance, even playfully taunting the guitarist with his own mic when it was time for him tos sing backing vocals. We were even treated to a blistering rendition of Psykick Dancehall and a final encore of Strychnine.

On the way into the gig, my girlfriend and I were astonished to see a little cat outside the venue, milling around the throngs of punters outside. Even stranger, he looked exactly like the cat we had who died back in February. When we came out of the Academy, the cat was still there, so I scooped him into my arms, hailed a taxi and took him home. We’ve called him Spooky.

Nearly there...

2010-05-10T12:47:00.000-07:00

Only 5 more pictures left to do! Woo-hoo!

The first part of the book is now completed, formatted and ready for the printer!

I'm off to see The Fall tomorrow night and, on the strengths of their brilliant new LP Your Future Our Clutter it should be a bloody good gig! I'll let you know what I thought of it on Wednesday night and maybe post a picture of MES too!

I shopped around for a different printer, but the only one I could find that does short print runs gave me a quote of £1,071 for 100 books (working out at over a tenner to produce each book!) Although it would be printed at my preffered size of 7"x7", I'm gonna stick with Lulu and print it at 7.5"x7.5", otherwise the price will have to be hiked up higher than anyone would be willing to pay!

Later!

Three more drawings that need to be inked...

2010-05-06T07:54:00.000-07:00

As it's voting day, I find myself with the day off work (yipee!) so I've drawn four of the remaining 8 (yes, 8!!) pictures in one morning. I usually don't start a new drawing until the previous one is completely finished, but I didn't feel like inking today for some reason.

This will be my last post until the book is completed. I've not had any comments for weeks and I feel like I'm talking to an empty room at the moment, so goodbye for now, I'll be back again in a month or so.

Jello Biafra

2010-05-05T09:55:00.000-07:00

I'm currently thinking of switching printers. Lulu don't do the 7" x 7" format (it's actually 7.5" x 7.5") so I'm getting a quote from another short print run company who can do the size I need. Maybe I can even bring the price down!

I've heard back from Jello Biafra (via a third party) and it seems like he's still interested in contributing (woo-hoo), but The Cuban Boys and Neko Case haven't responded to my last two messages so it seems like they've dropped out of the project (boo!)

New Order - the last one!!

2010-05-04T13:05:00.000-07:00

I wasn't going to post any more inked pictures on here ('buy the book if you want to see them' being the idea behind only posting the pencilled versions), but I'm really pleased with how this one turned out. I'm breaking in a new brush and it finally started 'working' properly whilst inking this. Ironically, the same thing happened with the last brush on the Ian Curtis picture I drew in January. Spooky...

The final New order drawing...

2010-05-03T09:28:00.000-07:00

Saloon inked. Velvet Underground pencilled and inked (and very good it is too, even if I do say so myself!)
And, finally, the last of the New Order pictures. I shall ink this tomorrow as I feel the need to get wrecked on white wine on this glorious bank holiday evening...

Saloon

2010-05-02T04:21:00.000-07:00

This is gonna be a tricky one to ink. It's a very poor quality photo and those Moogs ain't easy to draw either!

Inspiral Carpets featuring Mark E Smith

2010-05-01T07:37:00.000-07:00

Too much to do to write anything on here...

16 pictures left to do

2010-05-01T03:39:00.000-07:00

Portraits still to do as of May 2010...

Number Ones:

Inspiral Carpets

Mark E Smith

Saloon

DONE!!!! (9th May 2010)

All Time 2000:

Beach Boys

Beatles

Velvet Underground

Damned

The Fall

Sex Pistols

Delgados

Sugarcubes

New Order

My Bloody Valentine

Full steam ahead!

Competition 1

2010-04-30T09:28:00.000-07:00

I'm too tired to do any drawing this evening (it's been a loooong week), so I thought I'd share a nice little picture I did back in 1989. I'll send a free copy of my book to the first person to identify all of the personalities...

Jarvis Cocker

2010-04-29T12:44:00.000-07:00

16 pictures left to go! I inked the Belle & Sebastian one this evening and now I've got this gorgeous hi-res b&w picture of Jarvis to ink tomorrow and a nice long Bank Holiday weekend to look forward to...now if only the sun would come back out...

Belle & Sebastian

2010-04-28T12:55:00.000-07:00

Yet another book sold last night! I'm so looking forward to getting this printed. I'll give you a rundown of the pictures I still need to do on May 1st (hopefully not too many by then). Here's the Stuart Murdoch pencil draing I did this evening after inking the last but one New Order picture. I think I'll be putting a picture of Isobel on the cover of the book he's holding...

Chumbawamba & Credit To The Nation

2010-04-27T13:01:00.000-07:00

Another book sold on ebay today - woo-hoo!
Here's tonight's offering, the first of two 'collage collaborations. The next one will be Inspiral Carpets and Mark E Smith (giving me yet another drawing to do!)

Credit To The Nation

2010-04-26T12:02:00.000-07:00

Pavement inked. This one drawn. Need to add Chumbawamba to it as well somehow...

Pavement

2010-04-25T11:25:00.000-07:00

Okay, I've inked the Robert Wyatt picture and sketched out Pavement. Now I'm gonna relax with Thornton's Summer Desserts chocolates (mmmm), Unbreakable on DVD and an early night.

Planning...

2010-04-25T05:20:00.000-07:00

A big thank you to Steve over at Teenage Kicks for including a very nice write up of the book and blog.

The rest of my year will hopefully look like this:

May: finish drawing and inking the last 18 pictures
June: get the book formatted and sent to the printers. Get a proof copy then correct any mistakes (there's always something I miss!!)
July: send a few comp copies out to various radio stations and publishers
August: send out the preordered signed copies
September: promotion, promotion, promotion
October: try to sell a few copies at the British International Comics Show
November: make a start on the next book (keep watching this blog for details)
December: copies to be given away as prizes during the broadcast of the 2010 Festive Fifty broadcast on Dandelion Radio

No picture today I'm afraid, I've been over to Leicester for the weekend to dance and drink with a few old friends. Hopefully my hangover will have subsided enough by this evening to get that Robert Wyatt picture inked!

Robert Wyatt

2010-04-23T10:34:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd just post the initial pencil drawings from now on...never thought to scan them before...

Buy it now!

2010-04-22T11:55:00.000-07:00

Preorder my book here.
Here's PJ Harvey!

John Lydon

2010-04-19T11:08:00.000-07:00

Well, after two sun drenched days sitting in the garden and returning to work today, I'm back at the drawing board this evening about to pencil the final Ian Curtis picture. I just finished inking Mr Rotten...

The Wedding Present

2010-04-18T01:02:00.000-07:00

Good things:

One more book sold
David Gedge introduction done
Computer fixed
Drawings looking good
Beautiful sunny weather

Bad things:

Back to work on Monday
No more replies from 'stars'
Hungover
Can't find a decent picture of Saloon
Still 2 more New Order pictures to draw!

Mark E Smith

2010-04-15T12:45:00.000-07:00

The week from Hell continues apace. First, the phone line went down outside our house and had to be replaced. Next, my computer was infected with a virus so I spent most of today with a Dell engineer and have been reinstalling all my applications myself for the past four hours! I've also had to try to rememeber all my passwords for various sites! Plus, next door's big dog knocked down the fence and came into our garden, terrifying our cats. Grrrr.

Nick Drake

2010-04-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

I've got to have my computer rehauled due to a virus that even McAfee couldn't stop so I may be away from the blog for a while; storing stuff on my external hard drive, reinstalling all my applications etc. I'll still be busy drawing though! In fact I spent the afternoon inking a picture of Culture while talking on the phone to a Dell representative as he checked my system over. I got this one done last night...

The Sundays

2010-04-13T09:05:00.000-07:00

Blimey, I'm getting slow...I thought this one would be a quick and easy one but it seemed to take forever! I've still got 25 pictures to draw (27 if I decide to include Led Zep and The Motors, which I should really, so that means two more pages to write too!) The book is coming along nicely though and I'm grateful for the massive support I've received from the Castles In Space and Always Searching For Music blogs - thanks guys!
Don't forget: the limited (1000 copies), signed and numbered edition can be preordered on ebay at any time, or if the link is dead by the time you read this, simply type in a search for John Peel Festive 50 Illustrated intro by David Gedge. You can also preorder direct from me via Paypal to my email address. Only £10 (+ £1.50 postage and packing) for over 150 pages of Festive Fifty memories and illustrations. Don't miss it!

Jimi Hendrix

2010-04-12T10:02:00.001-07:00

I managed to get the last of The Smiths pictures drawn today too...

New Order (again!)

2010-04-11T08:37:00.000-07:00

Two days with no internet - boo! Two more books sold - yay!

I've still got to draw two more pictures of these guys (plus one more of Joy Division too)!

The Smiths

2010-04-09T10:11:00.000-07:00

Not so sunny today, but I still managed to catch a few rays. White wine this evening. David Gedge emailed me his introduction for The Book (and very good it is too). Spent the morning drawing the picture below...

I sold another book on ebay today too - let's hope the interest keeps up! Having a few internet problems of late, think I need a new router, it keeps cutting out. I can't seem to do anything on my beloved Facebook either - bloody cyberspace!!!!

Laurie Anderson

2010-04-08T10:19:00.000-07:00

Yet another picture that won't be making it into the book!

I'm thinking of producing a limited edition portfolio of my ten favourite drawings, printed on high quality card stock and housed in a hand made 7" envelope, signed and numbered, limited to 100 copies. It might make a nice addition to the the book; watch this space for details.

I sat outside in the sunshine today, drinking red wine and drawing Morrissey (still 3 more Smiths pictures to do!!)

I also heard from Rocker, who presents a show on Dandelion Radio, the internet radio station that has carried on the tradition of the Festive Fifty since 2005. I'd been meaning to contact Dandelion Radio anyway in the hope of offering a few copies of my book as prizes when they do this year's countdown. Fingers crossed...

The Only Ones

2010-04-07T07:24:00.000-07:00

Yay! Great news! The wonderful blog Castles In Space (see my links on the right and take a visit - you won't regret it) has put up a special guest post bigging up the book! Thanks Nolan! I also received The Only Ones' contribution today; some of their thoughts on John Peel and about being voted to number 18 in the all time Festive Fifty 2000 which will be appearing in the book.

Bang Bang Machine

2010-04-06T08:27:00.000-07:00

Woo-hoo! At last! I managed to track down a decent photo of the band Bang Bang Machine (on last.fm of all places!) Now if only I had a hi-res picture of Saloon I'd be sorted...

Elastica

2010-04-05T07:34:00.000-07:00

Well, the last.fm John Peel group seem to be ignoring my posts and messages for some reason...all I want is to spread the word and get some feedback/opinions on my forthcoming book...if they're not interested, who else is going to be? Am I just wasting my time?

The above picture won't be in the book. Not that anybody cares...

Ian Curtis (again!)

2010-04-04T11:36:00.000-07:00

Full steam ahead! Two pictures in one day! Here's one of them...

The other one is of Morissey and Johnny Marr, but you'll have to buy the book to see that one! Ha ha ha!

Billy Bragg

2010-04-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

I'm currently at work on the remaining 40 or so pictures I need to do that WILL be appearing in the book. Meanwhile, here's another one that won't be!

Ian Curtis

2010-04-02T01:12:00.000-07:00

I've still got another five Joy Division pictures to draw!!

Nirvana

2010-03-31T14:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, here's a picture that actually WILL be appearing in the book! I completed two Joy Division pictures last night and knocked this one out this evening; a bit of a 'pointless suicides' week I suppose...

Nick Cave

2010-03-30T15:02:00.000-07:00

Another one of my favourite artists who won't be appearing in the book!

Oh yeah, I sold a copy of the book today. 'How is that possible?' I hear you cry, 'It's not even finished yet!' Well, I'm putting the book up as a presell on ebay, the limited edition signed and numbered first printing of 1000 copies, check it out here.

Side B Cover

2010-03-29T13:00:00.000-07:00

Okay, so much for my 'week off'! I decided it was high time I created the cover for the B side of the book so here it is! I drew and inked the Peel picture this evening...

You can flip the A side over and then read side B side! Clever, eh?

I got a very nice email from Boff of Chumbawamba with his contribution to the book. Hopefully I'll get a few more bespoke star quotes before the deadline is up. I might bring the release date forward to 30th August (Peel's birthday) instead of waiting for December...watch this space!

My ebook

2010-03-28T11:39:00.001-07:00

Spent the evening putting a few sample pages on myebook.
View it here:
http://www.myebook.com/index.php?option=ebook&id=31272

Cuban Boys

2010-03-28T04:42:00.000-07:00

Yay! Back to the drawing. I've had this sitting uninked on my drawing table since the end of February. Finally inked it this morning. The background was done in photoshop from the original photo (I hate drawing backgrounds but as Skreen says, the Thames barrier does look splendid in this shot)

The Pogues

2010-03-27T12:27:00.000-07:00

Here's another one that I drew back in January.

I've had a rethink on the launch of the book and I'm now thinking of August 30th (Peel's birthday)

Lydon & Sioux

2010-03-26T09:22:00.000-07:00

I've decided to take a break from the book for a week. Working a full time job and then coming home and working on this until bedtime has been taking its toll on me, 'burning the candle at both ends' and all that. I've got a couple of weeks holiday coming up so I should get a shedload of drawing done in that time. Later!

Sonic Youth

2010-03-25T10:28:00.000-07:00

Yet another picture that will not be appearing in the book! How many did I do?

I finished the writing, editing and redrafting side of things last night so it's full steam ahead with the drawing side of things. Ironically, Fifty more pictures to complete!

The White Stripes

2010-03-24T12:08:00.000-07:00

Yet another drawing that will be ending up on the cutting room floor!

I'm spending this evening trying to attract potential followers...

Melt Banana

2010-03-23T13:29:00.000-07:00

As I now only have two pages left to write before I begin the daunting task of proofreading, editing and formatting the text portion of the book, I thought I'd treat you all (all two of you!) to another picture that won't be appearing in the book.

Pete Wylie

2010-03-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd post a few of the illustrations that won't be appearing in the book. I drew them back in January when my original plan was to include the all time Festive Fifty from 1982 as well.

More tomorrow...

Neko Case

2010-03-22T15:46:00.000-07:00

Here's another drawing that should be appearing in the book. However, Ms Case has mentioned she'd like to chose her own picture for me to work from so this might end up on the cutting room floor.

I spent this evening writing my two forwards for the book (side A and side B) and a couple of text pages. Just 12 more pages to write and I can get back to the drawings at last!

Joe Strummer

2010-03-19T10:14:00.000-07:00

Here's another drawing...

I've written the pages up to number 20 for the millennium chart now, but it's going to be hard going from here because so many of the entries are by the same bands. What else can I say about Joy Division and New Order?? I'm also in sonstant pain at the moment due to a recurring cyst under my left armpit (too much information? Just try living with it, it's bloody horrible!) The email replies for contributions to the book seemt o have dried up, although Skreen from the Cuban Boys has expressed his support again so that's nice. Okay, it's Friday night, time for a few beers...

Joy Division

2010-03-18T15:13:00.000-07:00

Yet another picture that will be appearing in the book. I'm especially pleased with how this one turned out.

I've spent most of today writing the first half of side B and documenting the quote sources for this other side of the book. Kirstie (my one true love) has proofread it and it seems to be okay...

My Bloody Valentine

2010-03-16T13:35:00.000-07:00

Another one of my portraits.

I've given this post a title that might attract potential readers. Hey, it might work!

Sources

2010-03-15T12:53:00.000-07:00

I've spent this evening collating all the sources for the quotes I've used for side A of the book, boring but necessary.

Now to get cracking with the writing for side B (I'll explain in a later post!) starting with Pavement's All Time Festive fifty entry at number 50 and working my way up to the number 1 track! I can't wait to get back to the drawing side of things at the beginning of April!

Cover Ideas

2010-03-13T11:19:00.000-08:00

I'm quite pleased with how this eventually turned out. My bloody computer crashed on me this afternoon so I lost 3 hours work and had to start this all over again!

Matty from Credit To The Nation sent me his contribution to the book today too!

Confirmed

2010-03-12T09:33:00.001-08:00

I just had confirmation of contributions to the book from The Only Ones, Neko Case and Credit To The Nation. Woo hoo!

Autobiography?

2010-03-09T06:18:00.000-08:00

I'm busy writing the text parts of the book and the whole thing is looking more and more like autobiography relating to the Festive Ffity! I didn't intend it, but that's the way it's shaping up. Here's another page.

Page set up

2010-03-08T11:01:00.000-08:00

I've tried a number of different page set ups and this seems to work best. I was originally going to use the Typewriter font throughout the book, but it looked unprofessional (more like a fanzine) so I've opted for good old Arial as the font.

And the facing page (on the left) will be...

Woo-hoo!

2010-03-07T11:39:00.000-08:00

David Gedge just emailed me say he would be more than happy to write the introduction to the book!

I've been designing and redisigning pages all day and have now decided that there will be no text on the portrait picture pages; all text will now appear on each facing page with band name, song, chart position and quotes.

The Fall

2010-03-07T02:23:00.000-08:00

The legendary Mark E Smith!

Formatting ideas

2010-03-07T01:59:00.000-08:00

Proposed page layouts. On the left, will be my portrait of the band/artist. I've not decided yet whether to keep the text below the picture or to save all the text for the facing page. The book itself will be 7"x7" because of my love of the 7" single format.

I've sent out emails to as many of the bands/artists as I could, requesting a quote for the book; either their thoughts on John Peel himself or their reaction to being voted to the number one spot (or the All Time Festive Fifty from 2000). The quotes will appear on the facing page from the portrait along with the record cover and some of my own observations and personal memories.

My intention with the book is not a trainspotting analysis or series of lists and stats. However, my main focus will be the Number One entries and the All Time Festive Fifty from 2000. I find it interesting that a number of songs that were voted to the number one spot didn't appear in the All Time Festive Fifty, the Jesus And Mary Chain being a good example of this.

Cover

2010-03-07T01:56:00.001-08:00

This is the working cover for the book. At the bottom it will say 'Introduction by...' whoever agrees to do it. I'm hoping for David Gedge! Fingers crossed!

Getting started...

2010-03-07T01:55:00.001-08:00

I spent the first 2 months of this year drawing 50+ pictures of artists that have appeared in the Festive Fifty. This month, I have decided to dedicate my time to designing and formatting the book as well as the embarking on the difficult task of trying to get quotes from as many Festive Fifty related bands as possible. So far, I've had replies from Cuban Boys, Jello Biafra, and Culture (the latter 2 through a third party).