BEHOLD BUDGETMAN – and his gleeful minions – those ‘gubment’ employees who proudly state their hate for ‘gubment’ – that exclusive club of anti-bureaucrat bureaucrats. Hear them boast about bringing “fiscal responsibility” to ‘gubment’ while serving the precious private agendas of well to do and [...]]]> This article originally appeared in OFFtheWall, circa 1994.

BEHOLD BUDGETMAN – and his gleeful minions – those ‘gubment’ employees who proudly state their hate for ‘gubment’ – that exclusive club of anti-bureaucrat bureaucrats. Hear them boast about bringing “fiscal responsibility” to ‘gubment’ while serving the precious private agendas of well to do and organized client/constituents. See them boldly declaring their victorious mandate from “the people” as they openly invite industrial lobbyists to customize legislation to better suit the specialized agenda or profit “needs” of each.

IT WOULD SEEM that after Reagan’s deregulation of the savings and loan industry and the resultant failures requiring more than 150 billion taxpayer dollars for the bailout, our citizenry would see the notion of holding the public financially responsible for the lack of planning in huge private sector enterprises as wholly unacceptable. Yet, lo and behold, out on the congressional horizon – here comes more budget busting lobbyists/congressmen handiwork in the form of yet another shocking surprise, an even bigger private sector bailout. Soon to be coming our way – the enormously expensive costs of safely getting rid of the nation’s stockpile of radioactive wastes generated by private sector nuclear power plants over the past several decades. At an estimated tally up to 230 billion tax dollars, our most costly government bailout ever is now being readied. It will be billed, as usual, to the American public.

ONE WOULD THINK that sensible business practices would have established utility rates which would pay the full costs of this form of energy as it was sold, but for some odd reason this obviously didn’t happen. Will it do any good to wonder how and why? The kind of ‘dumb and dumber’ government that ours is ever in danger of becoming owes its low I.Q. especially to the active efforts of special interest lobbying who feel more comfortable with a fumbling, stupid but generous ‘gubment’ which can be coaxed into almost any dumb old costly thing imaginable by industry’s growing legion of ‘gubment’ hating bureaucrats who swamp their services for cash contributions. This kind of misdirection of tax burden responsibility means that the electorate badly needs to get smart and do so fast.

‘WELFARE’ is what so many right wing republicans loudly disclaim publicly while privately they seek it under different names for their government abuser predatory clients. Never mind the well spoken concerns of the environmentalists over radioactive wastes ever since nuclear power first reared its potentially catastrophic radioactive head in the 1950s we are told by rightwing loudmouth media propagandists as they pooh-pooh the “egg-heads,” the “elitists,” the “environmental nazis” and their thoughtful contributions. People like one time Governor Jerry Brown are not “airhead elitists” or “space-case” folks because he advanced the use of windmills to generate clean power without the bad radioactive aftertaste of atomic power or the acid rain causing coal-burning plants. The tricky irony in this often times designed confusion illustrates why our founding fathers emphasized the need for freedom of the press and especially the vital need for good public education to foster in all citizens an intelligent use of logic through good education in order to make our republic work smarter. Our voters must periodically rediscover how easily private selfishness with money can reap such extremely adverse effects on our American way of governing – if we let it.

FIRST ON BUDGETMAN’S GLEEFUL CUTTING AGENDA for “less gubment” is the award-winning Corporation for Public Broadcasting – one of the most stunningly successful achievements in American public edification ever! This purely destructive act cannot be called “necessary” when our military marching bands alone will ask for, and get, the same amount of federal funding as the C.P.B.! Some parts of this country (such as the panhandle of Texas) have never experienced public broadcasting and therefore won’t miss it if it goes, but the rest of us will notice the airways become distinctly grayer if it goes. We will miss public radio’s so often enjoyable objectivity and its many civilizing commentaries. In its stead we’ll be given the choice of mind shattering commercials or silence.

AND IF THIS WASN’T ENOUGH of an outrage to civilized values – next in line for the budgetman’s keen hatchet: the bargain elegance of the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities. The National Endowment has had its important successes on behalf of art. It’s also had its dramatic negatives, but hasn’t it always been the fate of ‘art’ to be controversial? Certainly the loss of the Endowment’s much appreciated and insightful financial assistance to the arts spectrum shall be greatly missed.

NEXT ON THE LIST is what could have been the single most important governmental service for the future of American civilization – the destruction of the United States Department of Education. Threatened by education because of its challenge to the “beliefs” of their brainwashed children, right wing conservatives feel that when it comes to education, what was good enough for grandpa has got to be good enough for everybody else. Republican candidate for president, Lamar Alexander, among others, is calling for the elimination of this department; interestingly this is a department that he once headed. Ironically, he now considers it “unnecessary.” (One wonders what feelings he might later share with us about his work as head of the entire ‘gubment’ – should he ever serve as its president?)

IT’S SADDENING TO REALIZE that even public education has become a partisan issue and therefore subject to the latest popular rhetorical selfishness of partisan politics when today more than 30% of our high school graduates have been discovered to have difficulty reading. Making proper and sufficient education uniformly and easily available to our youth is even more essential for the success of our democratic republic (and of civilization itself) than is any foreseeable need to expand the military budget – and certainly it’s at least as important as military bands. One need only keep in mind that the powers of thought exceed even those of the fertilizer bomb. In our material age, not only have the costs of cars and houses for the next generation gone through the roof, but also a college education has become almost unaffordable for the general public without obtaining shamefully high interest student loans (e.g.: Sallie Mae’s). Let’s face it: without more and better freely available public education to truly make this the “land of opportunity” we can expect more explosive idiotic violence, more pointlessly blunted human intelligence, more extreme economic inequities, more homeless nomadism, more destructive drug abuse and eventually if unchecked a mess of uncivilized proportions that even the best military machines or tactics could not fix. We need to solve our problems, not make more. Obviously, instead of taking funding away from education, we should make it more efficient and invest more in it.

BUDGETMAN’S BOLD CAMPAIGN to “balance the books” by 2002 A.D. is obviously a strategic political ploy. Otherwise, the Texas farmer who doesn’t farm his land, leaves it fallow, and still gets his ‘gubment’ check at the end of the season for his non-existent crop; would perhaps be missing his ‘gubment’ check before the award winning and popular Corporation for Public Broadcasting! Since this isn’t the order of priority with Budgetman, his real intent, i.e., culture bashing becomes obvious.

TO THE ENEMIES OF PROGRESS, higher education always constitutes a real risk – the genuine possibility of a wider public awareness of reality will always be a source of concern for those whose profits depend upon legalized sophistry. The ‘smoke and mirrors’ set claim free education is not cost effective. Perhaps educated folks might become less susceptible to phony business practices or learn how to need and buy less. For example – someone educated might figure out how to use hydrogen combustion to power cars. It’s a very powerful propellant and is already used to drive the biggest rockets into space. Upon combusting it produces only harmless steam and it can be created quite easily using solar powered electrolysis from one of the most abundant materials known to man – water. Even though this might not delight the energy-selling folks at EXXON; it could be mighty fine for everybody else.
Why not consider building and marketing a tough, speedy but comfortable “generic” car? Equip it with tough reliable components for long use and make it fixable by its owner using parts available always for reasonable cost. The body styles of modern cars have become so similar that such a generic car could easily be designed to look more or less “at home” on our highways for decades to come. Considering the proportion of the gross national product that is spent for automobile transportation alone in this country, think of the billions of dollars such a device could save. Such savings could be compounded into other needed areas – like the building of a national network of rapid transit trains, more education, refined medical services or just by making efficiencies allowing an extra day off each week from work just BEING a happy civilized human being.

USING GOVERNMENT AS THE PRACTICAL HELPFUL INSTITUTION it was laid out to be by the forefathers, funds could be allocated to serve any purpose necessary (as long as civil rights are never violated) to make life fuller and more efficient for our citizenry. Another example: since veterinarians regularly perform medical services on any sick cow in a field but human doctors don’t see sick people in their homes anymore – perhaps we might decide that we need more doctors so they could do for people what vets still do for the animals? Congress could allocate money to educate as many more doctors as we, the people, might need to reinstate this important health service. With more doctors available there would be less need to force doctors to work longer hours if they chose not to. Perhaps the approval of the American Medical Association might not be required either. (Remember how Reagan used the power of ‘gubment’ to wipe out the air traffic controllers union.) Yes, perhaps these are unusual ideas, but these are entirely plausible projects for future government action. They are undoubtedly unsettling proposals for conservatives – who would rather the main lesson taught in public schools be “obedience.”

WE HAVE NOW PASSED THROUGH over a decade of well financed ‘gubment’ bashing, with two ‘anti-gubment’ republican presidents in a row who did whatever they could to break ‘gubment’ apart and give the pieces to their corporate friends. Consequently, the people now need this important fact restated: our government, despite its imperfections, can be useful and, after all, it’s ours. Our democratic republic was designed to be the people’s ally and not to favor small special interest groups over the good of the whole. We, the people, can run it with our leadership and change it by our votes. It was designed to help (and has) whenever major catastrophes strike (like stock market crashes, earthquakes or hurricanes) and in raising and outfitting a powerful army whenever needed for defense. We know the organizational power of government will be there if ever we need and want it, even if ‘the budget’ doesn’t presently contain the funds needed. We need to constantly remind ourselves, especially these days of ‘gubment’ bashing, that when government is at its best being efficient, helpful, friendly and personally unobtrusive, life can be better for everyone.

WASN’T IT LINCOLN WHO ONCE SAID that “all of the people can be fooled some of the time; some of the people can be fooled all of the time, but not all of the people can be fooled all of the time?” When we, the people, realize what is now going on, and are given our opportunity at the polls, applied common sense will once again prevail against all those right wing conservatives who are ever trying to turn our minds and clocks backwards. When given a good long look, we, the people, can see Budgetman and his right wing pals for what they really are: a den of foxes hard at work robbing the public henhouse.

BUDGETMAN AND HIS FELLOW FOXES DO DESERVE SOME CREDIT however – their mischief is forcing democrats to think creatively. Even Mussolini had some good intentions and he did achieve one of them – he did get Italy’s trains to run on time. We’ve seen large numbers of Americans led astray by mistaken politicians before – the Viet Nam War comes to mind. Fortunately, common sense provides all we need in order to learn from our mistakes and thereby, in time, overcome our earlier ignorance.

NOW IS THE TIME for Americans to start getting smart real quick. We’ve got to get our train back on track and turn around – moving towards the future, instead of running away from it! And when we do – step back Newt! There’s a brand new world just over the hill! Let’s just call it the Twenty First Century!

- Wes Wilson
(©1994 Wes Wilson)

Wes Wilson has dropped out of public view for so long that he almost belongs to the “what ever happened to” department. Now he’s back, however, with an exhibition at [...]]]> If you take a look at the website you’ll notice a new article in the “About” section. This article comes from Thomas Albright.

Wes Wilson has dropped out of public view for so long that he almost belongs to the “what ever happened to” department. Now he’s back, however, with an exhibition at the Poster Gallery, 2266 Union street, which reveals what he has been up to these past few years. To me, it is unexpectedly exciting, and it may even turn out to be Important. That’s when enough other people decide that it’s exciting, too.

The show is divided between Wilson’s newer work and a selection of original layouts for the posters he designed for Bill Graham during those historic years at the Fillmore auditorium. There’s not much to say about these — by now now they’ve become classics and collectors items — although they strike some heavy chords in the nostalgia department.

LINES

Unlike most of the other big name poster makers, who have either zapped into turning out underground comix or producing record jackets and zany T-shirts, Wilson has quietly developed along more conventional “fine art” lines. Wilson’s new works in this show, at least, are smallish watercolors which carry his former preoccupation with Art Nouveau a giant step forward into the realm of Expressionism.

Most of these watercolors portray single human figures, sometimes portraits, often nudes, enclosed by interiors of intricately patterned upholstery, carpeting and walls hung with lettered posters and strange pictures. The old, sinuous, Art Nouveau contours remain, but instead of crisp, black outlines, the borders of Wilson’s figures are parallel bands of vivid color, and “modeling” is done with globules of color and tone so that they seem to liquify, much like the images in solarized color photography. The old “psychedelic” stress on complex, obsessively repeated abstract design elements remains, too, but Wilson’s new forms are more self-enclosed, compacted and cellular, like sections of tissue viewed through a microscope, and bring to mind some of the stylistic devices used by Hundertwasser.

So far, so derivative. What makes the whole thing click is a unique transparency and radiance which Wilson achieves with his watercolors, so that they take on the quality of stained glass windows, with a light source behind — or inside. And that indefinable plus in art which gives the finest of these works a haunted, compelling Presence in the spirit of Edvard Munch, but without looking in any way like him.

by Thomas Albright
San Francisco Chronicle, March 3, 1973, page 35

[Original article.]

Available for purchase in the gallery.

I accepted the commission to do this poster in April of 1967, close to the time that my rock posters had been featured in the art section of TIME magazine. It was to announce the opening of new offices in Los Angeles for the J. [...]]]> (written February 4, 2006)

Available for purchase in the gallery.

I accepted the commission to do this poster in April of 1967, close to the time that my rock posters had been featured in the art section of TIME magazine. It was to announce the opening of new offices in Los Angeles for the J. Walter Thompson Company (now JWT) which was/is one of the largest advertising and public relations firms in the United States. Perhaps largely because of my fame and notoriety at that time I was granted unprecedented freedom in carrying out the design. The manager of this new office was Mr. Bob (H. R.) Haldeman and it was probably either he or his assistant, Mr. Ron Ziegler, who originally spoke with me on the phone about it. I was given the specific wording for the poster and a picture of Mr. J. Walter Thompson himself, should I see fit to use it in the design.

I was, and I guess one could say still am, a liberal. One who was opposed to the unjust inhumanity of our ongoing war in Viet Nam that was being carried out in the name of “American interests.” An example being the Monsanto Chemical Company, who were making and selling hundreds of thousands of gallons of dioxin laden Agent Orange (the ultra poisonous jungle defoliant) to the Defense Department. My personal feelings at the time about the inherent dangers of industrial advertising were not good. I saw it as a work of persuasion used in the selling of products for the sake of profit. Often spinning deceptions about political and economic matters, which regularly confounded ordinary Americans into buying and/or voting in certain ways which were often not for their better interests. These thoughts were uppermost in my mind as I came up with this poster, giving it a one eye open and one shut look along with the emphasis on the words open up and see.

A few years later while in San Francisco I happened to meet a former employee who had worked at the J. Walter Thompson Company at that time. He told me that Haldeman had the printing plates for this poster framed and hung on the walls of his office. Confused, I asked why but didn’t get an explanation. I later learned that Richard Nixon had been a client of this firm during his successful 1968 campaign for the presidency.

Truly it is a small world. Once elected, President Nixon appointed Haldeman to be his right hand-man in the White House, the Chief of Staff. Mr. Dwight L. Chapin, also employed by the J. Walter Thompson Company, was appointed Special Assistant to President Nixon. Interestingly, Dwight L. Chapin, Ron Ziegler, and Donald Segretti all studied law together at the University of Southern California. Ron Ziegler also found a place in the White House as President Nixon’s Press Secretary.

In the Nixon White House Mr. Chapin was assigned the special responsibility of attending to various acts of political sabotage and espionage against the Democratic Party. Chapin then recruited Donald Segretti as part of an anti-Democrat “dirty tricks” campaign. I believe that journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein later discovered that Segretti had attempted to smear leading politicians such as Democratic Senators George McGovern, Edward Kennedy, Edmund Muskie, and Henry Jackson. These smear tactics included the release of a faked letter on Muskie’s letterhead falsely alleging that Jackson had had an illegitimate child with a 17-year-old girl. Segretti, the Republican “dirty tricks” operative working for Nixon, was later convicted and sent to prison for involvement in Watergate.

So where are they today? Many have died. However, President Bush’s Executive Assistant is, of course, Karl Christian Rove. It’s my understanding that Karl Rove’s mentor was Donald Segretti. Segretti is now out of prison and could be up to his old tricks again. He is back into politics, in 2000 Segretti surfaced as co-chair of John McCain’s campaign in Orange County, California.

“Dirty tricks” are still being used in politics so as to confound the many and serve the few. As I understand it, documents released to the IRS nineteen months after the 2000 election show that the Bush team spent over a million dollars to fly operatives into Florida to block the vote counting (clogging up the public counting places, shouting, shoving, and being as rowdy as needed to fulfill their mission) and another million to pay for their hotel bills. The effort also relied on a fleet of corporate jets controlled by people like Enron chairman Kenneth Lay and Halliburton, where Vice President Dick Cheney had just served as CEO.

When Karl Rove was publicly honored by President Bush right after his re-election, he smiled toward the blushing Karl and declared that his Executive Assistant was the architect of it all. On February 8, 2005, Karl Rove was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff in charge of policy.

I designed the Open Up & See! poster in 1967. Along with the Are We Next? poster, these became part of the 15 minutes of fame accorded me by fate, good luck, and plenty of late nights. Giving me a personal brush with history, if you will, during the wonderful good ole days in the mid-60s out in San Francisco. I still believe in keeping our minds open, so we can better see what’s going on, just as much as I did back in 1967.

Today my eyes tell me that, even though husband Bill did later embarrass her, dear Hillary was correct about there being a “vast right-wing conspiracy!” Today it is surfacing slowly like a dark, secret leviathan. Truly we are primarily being ruled by a stack of unimaginative, narrow-minded Republicans who are mostly aging, adult brats who have proven just how impatiently shortsighted, ignorant, and overly greedy they all are by their actions. Actions which, perhaps to their own detriment, are now beginning to show their true colors to the public in such a way that soon even the blind will see it all. Nothing will change, in fact things will only get much much worse, if Democrats allow the Karl Rove style idiot-bait issues like gay marriage and machine gun rights to preempt the core sensibility of voters. Mainstream Democrats can have all the dynamic social issues on their side now. Democrats can show that necessary health care can be provided more efficiently as a social service industry like the police and fire departments, the army and navy, etc., if they so choose. Surely if some wish to pay for their own private health insurance or have vanity plastic surgeries this should not prevent that. Why should it? Politicians shouldn’t hesitate to reprimand the insurance industry as a huge bumbling bureaucracy which has failed to provide much needed health care services for all Americans. The boom times for the planned dumbing down of Americans about health care is soon to be coming to an end. Democrats can gather all together as one and ‘vote their lights out!’

by Wes Wilson

If you love posters and poster collecting and don’t know about Off The WallTM, the short-lived (but wonderful) tabloid-sized publication created by Wes Wilson, who is arguably the father of the Psychedelic poster, you should. Although it only ran for nine [...]]]> [Note: This article was written by Michael Erlewine. Reprinted with permission. Learn more about OFFtheWALL^TM.]

If you love posters and poster collecting and don’t know about Off The Wall^TM, the short-lived (but wonderful) tabloid-sized publication created by Wes Wilson, who is arguably the father of the Psychedelic poster, you should. Although it only ran for nine issues, Off the Wall^TM was devoted to rock art posters and postering.

I kept hearing Off the Wall^TM referred to with reverence by rock-art fans and wanted to see what this magazine was all about. I managed to track down Wes Wilson, who had a few complete sets of the magazine left. I ordered a set.

What a treat it was to look through them. The list of authors reads like a who’s who of posterdom, with authors like Eric King, Jacaeber Kastor, Walter Medeiros, Ben Edmonds, Dick Wentworth, Paul Getchell, Paul Grushkin, etc., and of course Wes Wilson – all writing about the poster scene.

Here you will find different kinds of articles and essays on collecting posters, handling them and caring for them. Articles on Ben Friedman, Rick Griffin, Bill Graham, Chet Helms, Levon Mosgofian and about venues like the Grande Ballroom, the Seattle scene, Los Angeles and more. Also included are fascinating interviews with artists like Alton Kelley and early poster printers like Frank Westlake.

Wes Wilson not only pioneered the psychedelic poster, but also was the first to create a journal devoted to poster artists and poster collecting. In addition, Wilson has organized and put on some of the most important poster shows. He is kind of a man for all seasons when it comes to posters.

If you are like me and love posters, their art, how to care for them and how they look on the wall, you may find it worthwhile to seek out some of the old issues of Off The Wall^TM or check with Wes Wilson. He may still have a set or two.

West Fest, a celebration of 40 years of peace and love, will be held in San Francisco on October 25. Free and open to all, this one-day event will feature great music and, of course, new poster art to commemorate the historic event.  Hope to see you there!

Wes Wilson will be on hand at this year’s TRPS Festival of Rock Posters. Please come by and say hello!

More info from the TRPS website: The Rock Poster Society (TRPS) is pleased to announce that this year’s TRPS Festival of Rock Posters will be held on Saturday October 10th [...]]]>

Wes Wilson will be on hand at this year’s TRPS Festival of Rock Posters. Please come by and say hello!

More info from the TRPS website: The Rock Poster Society (TRPS) is pleased to announce that this year’s TRPS Festival of Rock Posters will be held on Saturday October 10th from 10:00 to 6:00. Once again we’ll be at the Hall of Flowers in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. As always, the show will feature rock poster artists and dealers from around the country, and is the one show not to be missed by poster collectors and all fans of rock art. Those of you who were with us at last year’s show know that this has become a destination event, and this year’s lineup is already shaping up to be one of our best ever.

The Hall of Flowers (AKA the Old County Fair Building) is located near the corner of Ninth and Lincoln. Admission is $10 ($5 for TRPS members with card).