December 1, 2020
comment 0

Illuminati Light (or should it be Lite?)

The new episode of The Agency Podcast is up. You can listen here or find the podcast in all the good places.

We cover a lot of ground in this week’s episode. Topics discussed include:

  • a quarantine update
  • reader mail
  • a social media lesson
  • good news for a big old tree
  • cheating in pro Go
  • various movies
  • issue 5 of the Squeeze Box Man graphic novel
  • a pop culture proposal
  • psychedelic doctors
  • Tippler’s Bane
  • and much much more

The musical background snippet you hear in this episode is from Shirley Matthews’ 1964 recording, Big Town Boy.

We love to hear from you.
email: theagency.podcast@gmail.com
We have some new merch – The Agency Podcast hip flasks. Limited quantities. You can purchase one by emailing us, $25 each, or write us and tell us why we absolutely need to send you one for free (if we go for your pitch, we’ll read your email on the air). Copies of issues 1-4 of the Squeeze Box Man comic are available for $12 CAN + $3 shipping to anywhere.

Thank you for tuning in – and special thanks to our Patrons, who help pay the bills. If you would like to support The Agency, check out our Patreon page:

November 27, 2020
comment 0

Heritage Tree Update – good news

On November 15, I posted about efforts to save a 250 year old tree in North York. There is an update in this morning’s Toronto Star, written by Francine Kopun (article is paywalled). There is good news for those who have supported this effort either financially or in spirit.

At this time, the campaign is $40,000 short. According to the article, $313,000 had been raised (with $80,000 still needed), when a contributor pledged to donate half the shortfall. With the December 12 deadline approaching, City council has voted to move forward with the proposed purchase and at the same time continue with the money-raising campaign.

November 26, 2020
comments 3

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends

I stumbled upon this on the YouTube machine. Claire Milliner and Walt Koken have many excellent videos up including this Turkey in the Straw. I highly recommend their channel.

Thanksgiving is a big deal for many of my American friends – please celebrate safely – once the vaccine is here and does its magic, plan an extra big party for the future.

November 24, 2020
comment 0

Artist or Alien

The new episode of The Agency Podcast is now available. You can listen to Artist or Alien here or find it in all the good podcast places.

In the first half of Artist or Alien, we ramble about everything from a mysterious monolith discovered in a Utah desert to The Crown. In the second half we’re joined by Ron Marr, Rose Yerex and Greg Yerex, all 3 members of a fabulous band called Marr’s Holler.

We’d love to hear from you. Email: theagency.podcast@gmail.com. We now have a limited quantity of The Agency hip flasks available. You can purchase one for $25 (unless you can convince us you’re such a super-fantastic listener we should send you one for free). Either way it starts with an email.

Want to send us mail (we love mail, and especially mail art)?
The Agency
P.O. Box 89101
1859 South Ashland Avenue
Chicago, Il.
60608

Watch our Facebook page for supplemental content.

We’d like to thank our listeners for sticking with us, and especially our Patrons who have helped pay some bills. Visit our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=24378373

November 23, 2020
comment 0

UFO #4

This is the 4th painting in the UFO series. It’s oil on canvas, 36X24″

Here are the others in the series:

UFO #1
UFO#2
UFO#3

Over the next couple weeks I’m going to gather together some unfinished small oil paintings and work on them for a while. They’ve been sitting around the studio haunting me, crying out for some attention. After that the plan is to re-tool a bit. I have a huge bolt of canvas and the motherlode of jars of acrylic paints sitting in my studio. These materials were given to us by the late Clive D’Oliveira when he decided it was time to shut down his studio. I’m going to shift to acrylics and do a series of works on large chunks of canvas tacked directly to the wall. That’s all I know about these future paintings at this point, except that I know Clive will be on my mind when I’m working on them.

I have no plans to exhibit in the near future, and who knows what the future holds for art galleries post-pandemic. That doesn’t mean my works are not available. If you’re interested in my painting, please email me. I’d be happy to provide a socially distanced opportunity to view new paintings in my studio as well as older paintings in storage (we also have a selection of Sheila Gregory’s paintings available at our storage space). Pandemic pricing applies – it’s a challenging time for all of us. If hanging my work adds to your happiness right now, I know we can make it happen.

Here are some links to other recent paintings:

Bigfoot and the AI
Painter’s Dream (not available -this one has a home)
Don’t Mess with the King
Dead Man’s Fingers (not available – this one has a home)

Demons 16X12″, oil on canvas, 2020