Denny’s Adventure’s In “Willis Wonderland” – part 18

Submitted by denny July 17th, 2010
Certifikitsch WinnerClassique d Camembert

This is a fantastic painting by “Bubbles The Artist”. It’s the “Ike & Tina Tuner Review”. Note the go-go dancer/back up singer in the background.

This is an oil painting that hangs in the studio and quickly became one of my favorites at “Willis Wonderland”. This absolutely makes me want to do the limbo rock!

This is a different shot of the famed “light up” velvet painting that hangs in the studio. I flipped when I saw this, I think it’s incredible. I also believe it helps the flow of magic that happens in the studio.

The Ink Spots on Decca Records, this is a pin. One of the best male vocal groups of the 30’s, 40’s. They formed int eh 1930’s. The following information was retrieved from an on line source: ”

Orville “Hoppy” Jones (b. 17 February 1902, Chicago, Illinois – d. 18 October 1944, New York City) (bass) (Played cello in the manner of a stand up bass)[1]
Ivory “Deek” Watson (b. 18 July 1909, Mounds, Illinois – d. 4 November 1969, Washington, DC) (tenor) (Played guitar and trumpet)
Jerry Daniels (b. 14 December 1915 – 7 November 1995, Indianapolis, Indiana) (tenor) (Played guitar and ukulele)
Charlie Fuqua (b. 20 October 1910 – 21 December 1971, New Haven, Connecticut) (baritone) (Played guitar)

Board games “Feel The Soul” (which I need to open up next time I am there), and “Name That Tune”. These are more goodies that are hanging out in the studio.

This is flippin’! The hot pants, the shag hair do and the smiles anticipating a nice cold one. Budweiser – The Soul Grabber.

The studio window with fabulous tiki faces attached to the trees. Note the incredible lamps hanging between them.

If things are getting a little hot in the studio you can always grab a fan and cool yourself off.

8 Responses to “Denny’s Adventure’s In “Willis Wonderland” – part 18”

  1. Allee Willis

    Bubbles nailed Ike and Tina’s likenesses in photo number one. She was causing me to miss music deadlines though which accounts for the fact that there are no faces on the drummer and go-go dancer as I made her finish up quick.

    The oil painting in number two is one of my favorite bad paintings. At first glance it may appear that everything is all right but the more you look at it the more you find wrong. https://www.alleewillis.com/soulpatch/limbogirl.html for my complete thoughts.

    Photo number three: As I’ve said before, this velvet painting is one of the most popular things in the house. For closer views: https://www.alleewillis.com/soulpatch/velvetpainting.html

    The bottom side of The Ink Spots record cleaner is rust gold corduroy like fabric that picks up the static when dragged across vinyl records.

    I have tons of music themed board games. ‚ÄúFeel the Soul‚Äù is absolutely the best Black music board game I’ve ever seen. 1971, made in Detroit, the object is to be one of the Jackson 5 even though their name is never used.

    I have two of The Soul Grabber Budweiser Malt Liquor cardboard signs. It’s one of my favorite 60’s beer signs I own. It’s about 16 inches tall and sits on top of one of the speakers in my recording studio.

    As far as all the lights in photo number six I like it daylight outside all night long.

    I have about 75 vintage Afro American church fans. About 25 of my favorite ones sit in this vintage Italian vase in my recording studio. There’s one new fan in there, the one poking out that’s from my musical, The Color Purple. Actually, throughout the writing of Purple whenever anyone would come over to hear what music was written so far I always gave them a church fan to fan themselves during playback.

  2. Douglas Wood

    A request: at some point can you post the “Feel the Soul” board game? From your description, it sounds like a must-see.

    And, believe it or not, I’ve never seen an Afro-American church fan, in fact, I never really knew they existed. Would love to see your collection, especially the vintage ones.

    • Allee Willis

      Your instincts for this are great (as I already know). The ‚ÄúFeel the Soul‚Äù board game is as great as it gets for early 70’s soul music memorabilia. I always want to do it for my Kitsch O’ The Day blog but it’s one of those artifacts that demands a great commentary as well as through photo documentation, not a small task. So I keep putting it off. But I will try and place it more toward the front of my brain mass and get to it in the foreseeable future. As far as the Afro-American church fans I posed couple of them last year: https://www.alleewillis.com/blog/2010/02/28/allee-willis-kitsch-o-the-day-vintage-church-fans/. I’ll try and do another one this week.

  3. windupkitty

    oh god, no way, i seriously just choked on my own spit! where on earth did you get that ink spots button? ok, i can’t even go into my deep,deep, love of them…it would probably creep people out….wow, hoooooly crap!!!

    • Allee Willis

      The Ink Spots thing isn’t a button but, rather, a record cleaner. It’s got very soft fabric on the bottom of it and you use it with a little record cleaner liquid to clean 45’s and LPs. I’ve only seen one other one and that was on eBay. I almost bought it but knew I shouldn’t be spending the money to have two of them. I will keep my eyes open.

      • windupkitty

        yeah, ok, after calming down and reading the rest of the post….i see it’s a cleaner now….wow, i had an old record cleaner like this at some point, but it only had the name of a record store on it (still, i wish i still had it)…ONe with the ink spots is pretty special though….

        they were the best, man, the OG’s! As much as I love kitsch and oh yes, i do, music and music history will always be my first nerdyloveaffair…..i hear ya on not spending on this stuff though….thanks to ebay, things get bid up so high, it’s not worth it…..but it’s so great that this one has a home with the QoK!

  4. denny

    Wind Up! Calm down now, remain calm, you can do it. None of us want you choking on your spit even though I think we are all guilty of that from time to time. Talk about choking on spit, that’s what happens to me when I go to the Pasadena flea market, it’s almost too much! Your post made me laugh!

    • windupkitty

      hahahaahah! maybe i should nip at the scotch BEFORE going on the awmok! :D

      i seriously did kinda choke! being on the awmok is, for me, like having access to a 24hr pasadena flea market!!!! And it’s nice to know that everything here is in good hands and getting preserved, rather than possibly getting trashed!

      i’ll try to zen out before looking at more posts…:)