On page 61 of this week’s The District Weekly — October 14, 2009 — The Redbot Now For The Future graphic!

The caption in The District Weekly about the Redbot piece reads:

ABOUT THE ARTIST Earlier this year, Long Beach artist Jon, onehumanbeing launched Redbot Loves You! a public participation art project. Redbot will celebrate arts month with several events including a Seek and Find Redbot Hunt (details to be announced) and free give-aways of Redbot Loves Long Beach buttons. “This image is an homage to DEVO, one of my favorite bands as a teenager 30 years ago,” says Jon, onehumanbeing. (visit: redbotlovesyou.com or redbot.onehumanbeing.com)

This week’s District just happens to be the annual Best of Long Beach issue, an extra nice issue — or as it says on the cover of this issue:

Special We-Tell-You-How-Great-You-Are Collector’s Edition

…and that sure means a little extra to this onehumanbeing.

How Redbot Ended Up In The District

A few of weeks ago I noticed a blurb at the bottom of the Calender page of The District Weekly, the very cool, local news/art/music/culture weekly here in Long Beach inviting local artists and photographers to submit their work for use on the Calender page. It’s an unpaid gig, but 20,000 people could see your work that week.

Just the kind of thing a financially-challenged artist needs…

The idea got under my skin so I set up a graphic template for the size of the header in Adobe Photoshop on my computer and started to play around with various ideas.

For some reason DEVO, and particularly their 1979 album Duty Now For The Future, caught my attention early last week, and after an afternoon immersed in my old DEVO albums while working away with my camera and Photoshop, the graphic called Redbot Now For The Future emerged:

When I Was 15 — A Short Recollection

When I was 15 there was no MTV, no cable TV, no Internet… and your options for seeing your favorite band were usually narrowed to one — big stadium shows.

Around that time, my older brother David (older by 2 1/2 years, but way older in many ways…) took me down to the Balboa Theater in Newport Beach on a night when they were playing DEVO films.

The Balboa Theater was an old movie theater just a block from the beach which was always playing old and cool films which got changed every few days. It was the kind of place where they showed The Rocky Horror Picture Show on Friday and Saturday nights at midnight with the audience members acting out the movie while it played.

But it was the DEVO films that really blew my 15 year-old mind. If you’ve never seen the film The Truth About De-Evolution by DEVO, then watch these videos:

Jocko Homo

Secret Agent Man

When I got my first job at age 15, working at the local public library shelving books, one of my first purchases was the DEVO album Duty Now For The Future, which I still have — that it in the photo below…

On the sleeve inside this album was an invitation to join Club DEVO — the DEVO fan club, which I did…

I got a whole folder of cool stuff from Club DEVO for joining (which I still have) including a catalog of merchandise to buy!

The next year, after Freedom of Choice, the next DEVO album to came out, I had saved up enough money to order my Official DEVO Energy Dome, just like the ones that DEVO was wearing for that year’s tour.

In the photo below you can see me as a 16 year-old DEVO fan wearing my Energy Dome and my “punk rock” sunglasses… Unfortunately I no longer have my Energy Dome (or the sunglasses) — it was lost many years ago.

I still have my DEVO buttons though! Here’s my little collection from 1979 to 1982.

Need More Now For The Future?

You are in luck! I created a bunch of Redbot Now For The Future Merchandise on Zazzle.com for those that like to have their own souvenirs for the future…

Redbot Now For The Future — White T-Shirt

Redbot with DEVO Style Lettering — Dark T-Shirt

Redbot Now For The Future Morphing Coffee Mug

Click here for more stuff: Redbot Loves You! Shop on Zazzle. com

That’s all for now,

Enjoy!

NOTE: Original Duty Now For The Future Album Art by Janet Perr 79 — I spent many hours as a teenager staring at this album cover while listening to it…

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Post tags: Artist, buttons, cool films, de-evolution, DEVO, evoltion, favorite band, first job, library shelving, local artists, movie theater, newport beach, riff raff, rocky horror picture show

Above: A Redbot homage to DEVO’s Album — Duty Now For The Future.

This album was a huge influence on me when it came out 30 years ago in 1979 — one of the first record albums I bought as a newly-employed 15 year-old with his money burning a hole in his pocket…

I joined the DEVO fan club right away — I’m a beautiful mutant — and I even got a red DEVO flower-pot hat later on.

I’m playing my old DEVO album’s today while working on my Redbots… if you haven’t given your old DEVO records a spin in a while, how about right now.

Enjoy!

Update — 11pm

Because you NEED “Redbot Now For The Future” Coffee Mugs…

These coffee mugs are available through the onehumanbeing shop at Cafe Press

Regular Size Mug - $13.00 plus shipping

Large Size Mug — $14.00 plus shipping

Just one of the many services provided…

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Post tags: DEVO, homage, record albums, Redbot Now for The Future

It’s Monday and I must make Redbots… happy work for this onehumanbeing.

Build Time…

I’m looking to have 50 new Redbot Ownership Kits ready by later this week, and that means a lot of little pieces have to be made, assembled, collected into kits and processed.

Time for the onehumanmachine to work overtime…

Q: Are We Not Men?

Without music, there is no Redbots — one inspiration — Mark Mothersbaugh and DEVO!

Below: Redbot is leaning against an unfinished (finished? unfinished?) painting of Mark Mothersbaugh by Tania…

Gallery of Photos

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Post tags: DEVO, making redbots, mark mothersbaugh, october, redbot ownership kits