A button showing the back of a button, made on my handy home machine.  Celebrate the other side!

In 1996, listener-sponsored radio station WFMU issued a set of playing cards as a premium for subscribers. The theme was “Missing Persons,” and each card illustrated someone who had disappeared. I was assigned the clubs, and I drew each from the viewpoint of the person who vanished.  The ace and face cards were drawn by other artists (George Erling, Krystine Kryttre, Diane Farris, Chris Ware); the box above was by Wm Graef. A 60 page booklet told the stories.

Here are my cards, with a key below (and, as always, I hope you realize that you can click to enlarge).

2: Karl Hunrath and Wilbur J. Wilkinson, UFO buffs who planned to meet with aliens from the planet Masar; their plane was found abandoned in the desert. (1953)

3: Dr. Ludwig Leichhardt, who never returned from searching for giant wombats in Australia. (1848)

4: Rudolf Diesel, who went missing on a ship crossing the English Channel. (1913)

5: Carl Robert Disch, who disappeared between two buildings in Antarctica. (1965)

6: Owen Parfitt, a elderly disabled man who vanished after his sister propped him up in a chair outside and went inside for fifteen minutes. (1768)

7: Harold Holt, Australian Prime Minister who never came back from a swim; a shark is suspected. (1967)

8: Louis XVII, the “lost dauphin,” shown here spirited away in a basket. (1792)

9: The Roanoke Colony, English settlers in North America, who abandoned their settlement, leaving a post inscribed with the word CROATOAN. (1590)

10: Dorothy Arnold, an heiress who disappeared among puzzling circumstances; Charles Fort suggested that she had turned into a swan. (1910)

A song about being a productive, obedient member of society.  That’s what you want, isn’t it?

“Shrubs and Bushes” is a set of four short pieces for orchestra.  As I recall, I chose the title for its decorative associations.  I wrote it for my high school orchestra back in 1972, when I was 17.  I had already written a piece for strings, and orchestrated a piano piece by Turina to learn some technique.  I suppose if I went to a public high school nowadays, there would be no orchestra to work with.

Here’s the beginning of the fourth piece, “In Favor Of.”  It was scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 3 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, percussion, and strings.  I recall having a lot of fun writing, conducting, and hearing it.  This is a pencil copy, since I never got around to a final ink score.

Another perspective exercise from the sketchbook.

A perspective exercise, from the sketchbook.