[Rumori] Outsider album art

Darren Wershler-Henry darren at alienated.net
Thu Jan 15 14:28:41 PST 2004


>From Soulstrut.com:

Okay, so I hit the flea market last Thursday in the freezing cold and came
upon this dope soundtrack collection - Melinda, Sweetback's Badass Song, The
Marketts Play Batman, Mannix, More Mission Impossbile, etc.., when I came
upon this box of... fake records!!

That's right- about 35 or 40 hand-drawn and hand-painted album covers made
between 1969 and 1976, some complete with fake cardboard records inside
them. Apparently some guy who called himself "Mingering Mike" put together
all of these albums as if he were the musician.. the covers are complete
with hand-drawn barcodes, track listings, lyrics, drawings of the band(s),
and in some cases, liner notes. He did soul and funk albums and
blaxploitation soundtracks (for movies that never existed), and even a
christmas album! 

Now, I wouldn't say that it's the artwork is what's so cool about these
things (though some of em are pretty cool in their own way)- it's the
mystery of it all! Who is Mingering Mike? Was he a musician here in DC who
actually played out in clubs? Or was he some kooky guy who sat at home and
fantasized about being a soul star? Whoever he was, I'm intrigued.

There's definitely a theme among some of them regarding heroine and drugs..
some of the liner notes and lyrics are very personal (and moving) accounts
of friends he's lost to drugs, etc. The records are kind of like a diary, I
guess you could say, due to their personal nature. I feel kind of weird
posting pictures of them on here, but I thought you guys might appreciate
them. Needless to say I bought all of em (and all of the soundtracks!), as I
knew that I'd never come across anything like this again.

Here's a long shot: anyone happen to know Mingering Mike? This stuff came
out of an abandoned/forfeited storage unit here in DC, they probably mean a
lot to the guy.. I guess he could be sick, down and out, in jail, or worse.

Anyways, here's a sampling of some of my favorites- I'll post some more
photos if there's any interest (check out the photo with the quote from
James Brown at the very bottom!).

Pictures onsite:

http://www.soulstrut.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=20048&page=0&vi
ew=collapsed&sb=5&o=7&fpart=1

---------------------

Darren Wershler-Henry
darren at alienated.net

"George Jones is a funky motherfucker."
--Ray Charles













---------------------

Darren Wershler-Henry
darren at alienated.net

"George Jones is a funky motherfucker."
--Ray Charles















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