Tokyo Trashville

 A cover that's truly hard to ignore. 

What you're seeing above is the CD booklet to the Au Go Go Records compilation, Tokyo Trashville, and it's among my favorite covers of all time. When I first laid eyes up this in the mid-90s, I was truly in awe. I had two questions:
"Why is that sweaty lady humping the Eiffel Tower?" (I didn't realize it was the Tokyo Tower), and "Who the fuck is Rockin' Jelly Bean?"

That last question had me on a hunt, because I had to know who this magnificent bastard was, because he was obviously talented. In 1996, RJB didn't really have a web presence, and Alta Vista (remember that?) searches turned up random, barely translatable Japanese sites with broken links and references to Petty Booka, a duo he did work for. Any images I did find were often small and rather poor.

As the years progressed, I kept searching for stuff, and more RJB shit started to appear on the web, until he finally got his own nifty site and a great little store in Harajuku, where I copped this dope poster for his band Jackie and the Cedrics.

To think my admiration started with this sweaty-ass cover. Truthfully, that may have been the last time a cover blew my mind.

I needed this bit of awesomeness in my life.

View this joint a lil' larger by going here and click "all sizes".

This beauty that I picked up from Harajuku resides between my computer and drawing desks. I hope it serves to inspire me for years to come. By the way, if you haven't read the translated Rockin' Jelly Bean interview on Juxtapoz, you should.

Journalizing Japan: An Erostika Tale

If you're a Rockin' Jelly Bean fan like myself, and find yourself in Harajuku looking to pick up some of his cool-ass products, don't follow the directions to Erostika in Tokyo Underground.
Sarah and I found ourselves following conflicting directions in the book and the ones we got from Google Maps. We got to the old place, and saw a bunch of discarded "we've moved" fliers. We also noticed a final move date within July, so we thought we were out of luck. We doubled back and used the newer directions once we realized that the move took place last year. I would've been pissed to get back home and realize that I missed the place completely.
I totally got this here poster, man.