We Cover It All!

Hey gang - the latest issue of Canada's history magazine for kids, KAYAK, is on the stands now! And by some strange quirk the cover seems to be doodled by one G Mullaly. Go figger!

30 Years Ago This Month!!!

Nov 17th-23rd "Focus Magazine - Leisure and T.V. Guide" from the November 17th, 1978 edition of the Nanaimo Daily Free Press newspaper, Nanaimo, B.C. Canada.

It's hard to believe that I almost let this one pass without commemorating it here! Yep, as a child of the late 1970s gaga for all things fantastical and star-related this had a big impact on my ten year old psyche. So I just had to mention the 30th anniversary of the airing of one of the most monumental television events in the history of the cathode ray tube...

That great season two episode of "The Love Boat" where Larry Storch guest starred!!!



Read about The Star Wars Holiday Special


Learn all about The Star Wars Holiday Special!


Dare I say... even WATCH the Star Wars Holiday Special?!!!


Originally uploaded by totally70s.




Oh, yeah... Larry Storch

Lazare-ific!

I recently ran across a couple of swell 1960 magazine spreads by the previously-featured-on-this-here-blog Canadian illustrator Gerry Lazare. These are the first adult audience aimed works I've seen by the talented Mr. L and I'm pleased to share them and some more of his stupendous kid's reader illustrations over at the Flickr.

Back to the Blog!

Deadlines over the past week have left me remiss in my sworn blogging duties. So let me make amends with this link to a number of swell vintage spot illustrations and ads (like the one above by favourite Dan Lawler) from magazines of the late 50s and early 60s over at my Flickr photostream.

As I go through my old magazine collection looking for inspiration for my work and for suitable (read: stuff I like) material to share here and at Flickr, there are a few peices that get passed by the first go 'round. So every once in a while I go back through things and grab some of the also-rans.

Second chance? Yes. Secondary quality? Not on your life!

Don't believe me? Then please to peruse the pretty pictures for proof!

More George, by George!

Back in June of 2008 I posted a foggy reminiscence of a local live event starring "George of the Jungle" at a local mall in 1976 that I attended as a seven year old. I posted a button and hand-typed, mimeographed advertising handout from the gig, but had only the sketchiest of memories of the actual performance and asked for help from the viewers to fill in any info they might have.

Well... the response hasn't exactly been overwhelming, but I did manage to run across the above ad in a late March 1976 copy of the Nanaimo Daily Free Press newspaper. It doesn't explain the whole shebang in stunning detail, but it does fill in a couple of details here and there.

And with a name like "Jungle Fever Night" the timing was perfect! They beat that popular disco movie by almost two years and coincided perfectly with first two major outbreaks of the Ebola virus in '76. Who wouldn't have wanted to go?!

The Least Exciting Roadtrip Photos in the History of the Universe™

After making my way through 40 years of life without ever feeling the need to own a camera - borrowing one occasionally from friends or family whenever I wanted to record something for posterity - I decided that the occasion of a long-overdue vacation in late September would be just the impetus I needed to finally pick up one of them fancy-dancy, new-fangled picture-makin' machines.

Although I purchased it a couple weeks before the planned eight day roadtrip down through northwestern Washington State to Portland, Oregon and back through Seattle, Vancouver B.C. and home to Victoria I decided this leisurely trip filled with ferry rides, museums, second-hand book & record stores, and exotic foreign dining spots with names like "Burgerville" and "Jack in the Box" would afford me ample opportunities to fully field-test my shiny new Canon A590.

Little could I have known that one week & one day, and five hundred memory card-busting, full resolution photos later I would return with what, learned pictorial archivists and image historians would later informally christen "The Least Exciting Roadtrip Photos in the History of the Universe™".


Did I take some interesting photos? Maybe a few. A half dozen - or, let's be generous... call it an even ten.
Sure. Ten interesting photographs. A couple nice ones of the monorail entering Seattle's Experience Music Project / Science Fiction Museum (designed by Canadian Frank Gehry). One or two nostalgic glimpses of the unchanged 1960s decor that permeates the car ferry "M.V. Coho" on the two hour trip from Victoria to Port Angeles WA. A few more more here and there. Ten measly snapshots with enough going on in each frame to hold your eyeballs focused for a few seconds. But if you do the math, and I have - believe me, I have...., that leaves four hundred and ninety clunkers wasting precious digital acreage on my hard drive.


Now, I remember a photographer friend once telling me that to get the one shot that makes it to the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue they take thousands, or maybe even tens of thousands of photos that never make it. But at least in every one of those discarded images there's a BEAUTIFUL SUPER MODEL WEARING A BIKINI! My used shots consist of an endless number of nearly identical views over the top of my steering wheel as I motor down another indistinct section of the I-5. Or carbon-copy images of depressingly similar hotel rooms. Or even such mindless time wasters as just pointing the camera down to the ground and capturing for all time immemorial the early-evening-in-late-September-2008-mall-movie-theatre-parking-lot condition of my pant cuffs and sneakers.

Now, could I have taken more interesting shots?

You betcha.

Many was the time a primo photo opportunity availed itself to me such as...

-The auditorium-sized top floor meeting hall of an ornate, turn-of-the-century Elks Lodge building turned into a massive antique furniture and vintage radio graveyard located in an antiques mall in Centralia WA. Left the camera in the car a few blocks away and didn't bother to go back for it.

-The nostalgia-fueled magical wonderland that is the most well-stocked vintage toy store I've ever visited - Billy Galaxy. Inexpensive?... no. Amazing?... yes. On this, my second visit, I staggered out after a couple hours with a paper grocery bag half-full of treasured childhood memories and a substantially lighter wallet. Luckily Mr Galaxy is a flickr member and has a few shots of his store posted to give us a taste.

-The inside of the highly recommended Science Fiction Museum in Seattle. This time I took my camera, fully intending to snap away at the original art, props, costumes, and wide selection of ephemera from the history of Sci-Fi literature, films, TV and more that permeated my childhood. Unfortunately starting with a very firm warning on my ticket and continuing to posted signs, a verbal warning from the cashier, a peremptory lecture from the ticket taker at the door and finally by the constant employee patrols - it was made clear that no photography - anyhowanywaynosireebobuhuh - was allowed. Apparently this hasn't always been the case though as the above links lead to a few hundred shots from inside this hallowed hall of geekdom.

-The historic meet-up with talented animation director, illustrator, flickr pioneer and fellow vintage illustration collector Ward Jenkins (and his swell family) in his home base of Portland. We spent an afternoon invading a number of funky used book and magazine stores ferreting out kid's books from the 1940s, '50s and '60s searching for our favourite artists. Intoxicated by the aforementioned ferreting (or the inhaled 50 year old paper mold) neither Ward nor I, despite fully planning to document our late-summer summit photographically, remembered to take any photos until a couple hours after we parted ways. What follows is an attempt by historians, using the only existing source material and what scant biographical information that survived, to re-create that momentous occasion...


So what was I left to display as a travelogue of my roadtrip? How about this awarding winning masterpiece documenting the contents of my trunk on day 5!...


Or this last-minute (after realizing I had no photos of myself other than hands and feet) timeless self-portrait (one of seven, yes seven!) taken en auto while waiting for the B.C. Ferry I was on to dock the night I returned...

So... what have we learned from this exercise in missed moments and digital dullness?

TAKE - CAMERA - EVERYWHERE! Yep, simple as that. I'm sure most of you already knew that, but I guess I had to learn the hard way that whilst traveling I need to carry my camera with me at all times. And to use it whenever I can.

I guess "The Least Exciting Roadtrip Photos in the History of the Universe™" turned out to serve a purpose after all.

*Add a "1"to the left, plus about 30kms to this number to get the final length of my roadtrip as seen in this thrilling, final testament to "The Least Exciting Roadtrip Photos in the History of the Universe™".

Yes and Know!

It that time again! The new issues of Yes and Know magazines, Canada's favourite science mags for kids, have hit the newsstands. This month you have double the Glen goodness with a cover and spread to enjoy.

The latest issue of Yes (above) features a Roman-type chariot race on the cover by yours truly. I enlarged a couple of sections from it to share as a sneak peek a while back on my flickr photostream...

Cover detail 1
Cover detail 2 (this one features a literally behind-the-scene view of the crowd)

... but to enjoy the whole shebang you'll just have to haul yerself down to the local bookstore or newsstand kid's magazine rack .



AND... the November / December issue of Know spotlights my regular "Know Fun" puzzles and games feature. This issue's theme of "Peculiar Plants" was fun to turn into a very busy puzzle filled with wacky people and plants. For a small sneak preview click here.

Both of these publications are brought to you by the swell bunch of good eggs at Peter Piper Publishing and I can't recommend them highly enough.