Episode 16 - @johnny_boomboom_mathaus - From Milwaukee with Neon

@johnny_boomboom_mathaus joins the podcast this week and we talk about Supper Clubs, Pop Art, Neon in Movies, and cryptis.

You can follow Boom Boom at

https://www.instagram.com/johnny_boomboom_mathaus 

and some of the artists we mention

https://www.instagram.com/robcroxford
https://www.instagram.com/rocktherrien

Episode Transcript

(00:20):
Hello everybody, and welcome back toanother episode of International Sign Finders. I'm
your host, Ravernattie. Glad you'rewith us, and if you had some
signs that you took pictures of overthe weekend, please feel free to share
them with us. We love seeingwhat you have taken in all the treasures
both visually and also the treasures ofyour stories behind the signs. We love

(00:42):
those as well, so feel freeto share them with us. And tonight
we are departing from the Land often Thousand Lace because over the past two
weeks we've had guests on from Minneapolis. Now we're heading over the border into
the Badger State to Wisconsin. Andtonight our guest is Johnny Boom Boom Matthews,

(01:02):
we'll just go with Boom Boom andjust we'd like to welcome him onto
the show. Welcome to the show, Boom Boom. Thank you for having
me. It's gonna be awesome.I'm excited about you. Oh yeah,
I am so excited about it too, because I don't know if you've heard
over the past like six podcasts,I have definitely said that Wisconsin is one

(01:23):
of my bucket list places to goto. The supper clubs, all the
I hate to say random, butall the little towns that have all these
mid century Art deco signs. It'sit reminds me of like Kansas and Nebraska,
Oklahoma, Texas, where all thelittle towns have still have these Neon

(01:46):
marquees. Whether they work or not, that's another question. It reminds me
of that. So first, let'sintroduce introduce you to the show, and
then we'll go from there. Yeah. So, I'm a Johnny Boom Boom
mass this. I'm from Milwaukee.I'm located out of the city of Milwaukee,
proper cool, and I travel aroundthis state and take road trips with

(02:09):
my daughter and just love signs andthe nostalgia of the midseet tree and leon.
Yeah, I'm just in love withit all. Yeah. So do
you remember a sign that may havecaught your eye? First off, that
kind of gave you the bug togo out and take pictures of signs.

(02:32):
You know. I heard you askthis question before, and I gave you
some thought already. And there wasa Cadillac sign. It's a hotel called
Cadillac out there by Niagara Falls onthe Canada side. Yeah, and the
Cadillac sign, I believe is myfirst sign I ever photographed, and I

(02:55):
believe I used a camera, Sothat was my first sign that I ever
photographed. And then I just foundmyself photographing more signs over the course of
time. And when I was marriedand taking trips of my wife was in

(03:19):
the scrap book and so we wouldtake pictures of hotels and all kinds of
different things for the scrap book,and myself turning the camera lens onto neon
signs on those trips as well.Cool. So when I got on Instagram,
I was already in a had acollection, and I was posting initially

(03:43):
a lot of like art or orbeautiful things I had saw, and quickly
the signs became the most solid afterwhere people started liking knows more and I
thought, oh my god, theylike my signs. This is kind of
odd to have a collection, solet me throw it out there and see

(04:05):
what happens. And immediately a coupleof people reached out to me and and
told me they love my signs.And and I found that I'm posting pictures
of nature just just weren't doing itas well. And uh, you know,
you do like the attention when youget it from Instagram. And I

(04:28):
found myself just like really fall inlove with the signs because I view it
as each one as a as apiece of artwork. I love I love
each one there. They're just amazing. Thentina, the broken bulbs, the
neon bullet holes, the ways,the way the sun's rags, the the

(04:49):
bulbs across the the sign which withthe light right, everything about it.
It's it's just I'm each sign likeit's to me, it's like looking at
a fine piece of art. Yeah, And that kind of brings me to
the one of the first questions outsideof the introduction and what got you into

(05:10):
it? You talked about when whenwe before we got onto the show,
we we were talking about, youknow, your background and stuff like that,
and you have kind of an arthistory. Was that ray art history
background when it comes to stuff likethis, Well, I just study a
lot of art, Okay. Iwent for Fine Arts at University of Milwaukee,

(05:31):
Wisconsin. Okay, and no panthersexactly. Yeah, I didn't.
I didn't complete because truthfully, itstarted to get into computer stuff and I
think not grow up with a computer, and I was just like, I'm
kind of scared of all this,and funding wasn't there, and I was

(05:55):
already pursuing my career as a firefighter. So yeah, I just like put
it on pause. But ever sincethat point, I've I've done art at
home, and photography has really replaceda lot of my art interest. Yeah,
well, photography is an art initself. Well, I don't think

(06:15):
you were not saying that. No, I'm not. It's absolutely yeah.
And over I noticed that you useda Nikon Is that right, a Nikon
camera. I think it's pronounced myk Yeah, nikon. I can't pronounce
anything. It's okay, you mightbe right, I could be wrong.
It's the North Carolinian in me.Yeah, just go with that, okay,

(06:39):
it's yeah. Yeah, It's justa simple point and shoot type camera
lens, nothing too fancy, andthat is uh my camera choice. Yeah,
I've never owned a photo photo lensthat you would attach. I'm I

(07:00):
don't play a lot with settings.I use one website that initially was for
free for doing clearing up the picturesand sometimes creating some of the pictures in
the digital art, and I wasI was using I'm not sure cand of
plug anything on here, right,ahead will if they get mad at me,
they know where I'm at. Iwas using pick monkey, Uh,

(07:25):
pick monkey. I'm not familiar withpick monkey. Yeah, it's it's for
free. It was for free whenI first started out, and now you
can get a lower version which doesn'tcost a lot, and I use that
for all my pictures and I don'teven subscribe to like the the better settings
that they offered. Okay, tryingto keep everything very basic and allow people

(07:47):
to know that you two can dothis without spending a lot of money exactly
that that's one of the great thingsabout this hobby is you know, you
have the folks like dv or Dt. I mentioned his name. I need
to interview him one of these days. He goes out with like film camera
film cameras and he uses all thesedifferent lenses. And I asked them about

(08:09):
lenses one time because I was havinga hard time with pinkney on at night,
because, as I've said before,is the bane of my existence and
I love it because it's so toughto take pictures of and he was giving
me some you know, feedback andthen have like you and sign peeper and
was this all? Sign me up? Fifty four I think who just go

(08:33):
out there just simple take pictures andgo and it doesn't matter if you're on
one side of the spectrum of thenut or the other. It's all great.
It's all great content. Yeah.Absolutely, I for those that can
do all the things that work withthe settings on a camera. There's truly

(08:56):
also art. To be able touse the shutter lens is to use the
proper lighting. I've never been properlyeducated and in the use of all the
but I just but I do.I do look at some of these artists
and my head is off to them. I'm like, wow, that is

(09:18):
amazing. I wish I could learnhow to do that. But just to
just give you a compliment, youdo great what with what you do,
And that's not Hopefully that doesn't comeacross as a backhanded compliment. It's truly
a compliment because I haven't I learnedbackwards. Most people go out during the

(09:39):
day and they learn how to takepictures a day and then go and do
it at night. For me,I did it at night, and sometimes
I have hard time doing it duringthe day. Believe it or not,
Well, you said your work atnight. And some of the other podcasts
and you know, if that's yourtime, that's your time. I mean,

(10:00):
I think night shots are are wonderful. I'm not the best at it.
I have no problem trying to putit out there that I can try
to do it, though, SoI post them as much as I can.
And and the time frame for whenI'm out could be anywhere. You
know, if I'm traveling, I'mnot necessarily out searching for science. I'm

(10:26):
usually with my daughter, so Igot to make sure I get her to
a hotel so that way she canand most importantly, which is a checklist
item that she gets in that poolsometimes during that trip. Yeah, So
it's if I stumble across the signat night, I mean, if it's

(10:46):
if it's screaming at me and ruminescentying, Hey come here, look at
me. You know, you knowI'm hustling. I'm over there as quick
as I can to take that shot. But I also of the daytime imperfections.
Yeah, to kind of quote oneof the sites, the grime scene

(11:07):
of it all, yeah, involvesthe the peeling of the paint, the
the paint over the paint, thewood that's attached over a neon sign that's
now rotting out and exposing what's below. Those to me are just as beautiful

(11:28):
as a working, brand new Neonlight are completely refurbished one. To me,
they are all just wonderful pieces ofof Americana that I can look at.
It just adorn cool. That willbring us to that. That's a
great segue to the end of thissegment and into the next one. Uh,

(11:50):
We've got Boom Boom on tonight JohnnyBoom Boom mathis. If you want
to follow him on Instagram, goon over to Johnny Underscore Boom Boom as
b O O M Underscore mathis MA T H A U S. I'll
have how to spell this in theshow notes, so don't worry about that.
But when you get a chance togo and follow him, he's got
an amazing, amazing timeline full ofpictures on his Instagram page. And when

(12:16):
we come back, we'll talk aboutother things Wisconsin and maybe some of his
other trips out and across the land. You're listening to International sign Finders.

(13:09):
Welcome back to International sign Finders.Glad you're still with us. I am
your host, Drew Rabernathy. Youcan follow me at Houston Underscore Signed Underscore
hunting or at international sign finders,doesn't matter which one you follow. And
also our guest tonight is Johnny BoomBoom mathis he is. He has a
background with fine arts, he's afirefighter, he is a traveler, and

(13:35):
he is a lover of all thingsboth Neon and Patina. Is that okay?
Is that kind of good to say? I think that's fair enough.
Okay? Cool? So one ofmy biggest I guess puzzles right now,
because I was too lazy to lookit up, I admit our supper clubs.
What's a supper club? Is thatlike a big diner in the south

(13:58):
or is it like an old schoolclub that you had to be a part
of? It was the center ofthe town's community. Supper Clubs originally originated
kind of like an England area overEurope, and some of these used to
be dance holes in Wisconsins In hissupper club is the place where you're going

(14:24):
to go for your steak, You'regoing to go for your Friday fish,
right, which is a huge traditionhere, where you're going to go get
your brandy or your whiskey, whichwhichever your old fashion and that's our drink
of choice next to milk up here, gotcha? Yeah, So supper clubs

(14:46):
are usually a smaller, quaint summer. Usually have like a buffet line where
you can go get your salad andload up on a salad and some soups,
and then you wait for your mealto come out. Most supper clubs
traditionally will have you drink a coupleof drinks, kind of keep you waiting,

(15:07):
and then they'll they'll seat you,and then at that point you you
can get to the salad bar andthen order your fish ry or your delicious
steaks or whatever it is that youfancy. Usually supper clubs have higher in
food. This is at times thiscan be a three hour ordeal. It

(15:31):
could take a while. So Itry to find the supper clubs that are
not going to keep you there andand make me too tired. Yeah.
So it is like the center ofthe community in a way. You go
there, you meet your friends assuch, and and they want you to
feel a home. It sounds likeabsolutely the very homy environments. The further

(15:56):
north you get, the more asmy daughter out at wood on top of
wood with dead animals hanging on thewalls. It's just it's supper club.
It is gots unique look, uniquestyle, and usually their own, you
know, handcrafted cocktails. Each onebrings a different thing to the table.

(16:22):
Yeah. And I've seen some picturesof supper club signs. Of course I
can't remember which ones, but I'veseen a few, and they're they're magnificent
in their own right. Absolutely.In Milwaukee, we have the five o'clock
Club, which is located pretty closeto the downtown. Oh yeah, and
that it's a neon light and atnighttime it's got a clock on it and

(16:47):
it reached five o'clock. A deliciousrestaurant located pretty close to the heart of
downtown security perking lot, and theytreat like you are royalty there. Oh
that's awesome. It's not like thatone place in was it Chicago, where

(17:07):
they insult you the whole time andpeople and people go there for just just
to be insulted by you. It'ssuch a strange place, right, Yeah.
I think I was one in Gatlinburg. I think it was called Dies
or Dicks or something like that.And they make you wear the silly hats

(17:29):
and they usually write something on yourhat and about you, and and they
come over and just kind of bemean to you. Yeah, it's never
like that. You're probably a littlemore scared to do that. Oh,
they've got a reputation to keep theway. Yeah. Absolutely. Have you
ever heard of a little Boldemia Lodge, Little Bohemia Lodge? Look it up?

(17:53):
Where's it at? So this isa Manitoish Waters, Wisconsin. And
this is if you ever saw theBonnie and Clyde movie, this is the
place where I'm sorry, John Dillinger, excuse me, Dollingers gain had a
shootout with the FBI at the lodgeup there. Oh wow, another movie

(18:18):
with Johnny Depp as John Dillar Dillingerand public enemies. This is a supper
club up in Little Bohemia is whatthey call it. Yeah, the Bohemian
Lodge in Manitosh Waters. And thebuilding still has a relic car and it
still has bullet holes in the lodgefrom the shootout. And I believe,

(18:44):
I believe there are some people thattied there. But if you're in Wisconsin,
you're up in that part of Wisconsin. This is the supper club to
go to just to have that nostalogynineteen twenties history and the shoot out.
It's so yeah, I'm looking atpictures of it, and this is probably
one of the few places that youwant to have holes in the wall because

(19:07):
of the history. Like even oneof the bathrooms has looks like a Tommy
gun made its mark in there aswell. Holy Cow and a very unique
experience. Yeah, are there anyother cool places like that around that area

(19:27):
of or even around Wisconsin? Unfortunatelyup there and I haven't explored a line
up there, but once you getin the north Woods up there, you
are in the woods. And evenlike where I have my vacation home,
Like, if you want to getsomewhere, it's typically twenty minutes to get
somewhere, and that might not besomewhere you want to be, so you're

(19:53):
up there. So the lifestyle thereis like a small mom and pop restaurants
usually some supper club not far that'sthat's vying for business. And uh as
far as Wisconsin and history like that, Like you know, if you come
to Milwaukee, there's there's so manyinteresting locations and every city has got their

(20:15):
their history and places. If yougo to dor County Rightwork County is a
vacation area. William, Wisconsin.I always tell people like if you want
to look at Wisconsin. Take yourright come and of your hand and just
look at it, and the thumbis Dork County on your hand. You're

(20:37):
not kidding. There is supper clubsthere, the Nightingale over there, they
got I think the Nightingale is oneof the biggest one. The walk down
yea Ave Harbor. There's a Germansupper club there, a Google House,

(21:00):
it's a U S. It's German. Okay, it's a U S.
So they they're all very unique andand uh, you know, that's a
great area to travel. Women tendto go there for vacations and their bachelor
at parties. Oh cool. Yeah, So some wine areas there a little

(21:25):
I know a little about wine,so I guess you could call me a
why know, yeah, I havea white kind of sewer. Yeah.
But also another thing that would attractme to a place state this are the
names of the little towns like Alaska, Denmark, Humboldt, Luxembourg. Uh,
well two creeks. Yeah, I'veseen that before. But you know,

(21:48):
you got Institute and Valmy that.So there there's a lot of history
and there's got to be a lotof lore around all these little areas up
there. Well, that'll bring usto the end of our second segment.
Already, time flies by on theshow. You've been listening to International sign
Finders. Stick around because after thebreak we're going to get into movies,

(22:11):
some bucketless places, whatever, evenother craziness. You never know what's going
to happen here on International Sign Finders, So stick around. We'll be right
back after these messages. Welcome backto International Sign Finders. Glad you're still

(22:52):
with us. We have Boom boomwith us tonight, he hails to us
from the wonderful city of Milwaukee,Wisconsin. Needed it up there. It
saw my bucket list of places togo. And for this next segment,
I'm gonna preface it this way.Here in Houston, there's a place called
the Neon Gallery, and the gentlemanwho owns it is a self taught neon

(23:14):
tube bender or neon sign maker ina way. And one day I was
walking around. I was walking aroundout front taking pictures and in the back
there was a Neon sign that saidBates Motel and it would flash vacancy,
no vacancy, vacancy, no vacancy. I just thought it was one of
the coolest eerie signs I have seen. And that kind of brings us to

(23:34):
our next topic we're going to talkabout, are neon signs and movies.
How many neon signs outside of themovie cars and maybe if maybe fear loathing
in Las Vegas because that's Vegas.How many neon signs do you notice in
movies? And boom boom uh,let's hand that question over to you.

(23:59):
What is it about neon signs andmovies that just sometimes make a movie better?
It's to me, it's astonishing tosee how many movies have neon signs
in them and they use it tomake a scene look cool. They'll use
it to in backgrounds, if theyuse it to make a room look sexy.

(24:25):
They're used almost in every movie.I've noticed that, whether the neon
sign is at nighttime or daytime,I am seeing them in every movie that
is probably from mid century. Maybeeven science fiction movies are utilizing neon signs
in them. In the Galaxy exactlyexactly. They're out there in movies.

(24:55):
And once you once I mentioned this, You're going to start seeing neon sign
And as a sign photographer, I'malways like, oh, I've been there.
You know, I see in theoutside and I know exactly where it
is. I can It's crazy howI couldn't tell you a lot about that
place, like the town I'm in, but I can say I've seen that

(25:15):
sign or you know. It's kindof like people like they're like, oh,
I've seen an Eiffel Power, Butfor me, each each sign is
a memory like that. I'm like, oh, that's a Cincinnati, or
oh that's a that's a Naturville.I know that place, yeah, and
they just come up that quick Iam. I think in my retirement,
I think it would be great tokind of like take, if I can,

(25:40):
a bunch of collages of these signsfrom movies this is out of it,
where you might have like a starstanding in front of the sign and
perhaps created piece art with that,or where the sign is just looking so
beautiful in a movie and titled thesigns based off of the movies itself.

(26:03):
Oh, that'd be awesome. Theclosest I've done to that is I've done
I've taken a photoshop class Photoshop oneand Photoshop two, and I learned how
to make composites like you're talking about, and I decided to make like bo
movie posters of some of the signsthat I've taken and other ones like from
Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong orJapan or Singapore and mix them all in

(26:27):
together. Because heck, even myfinal project in Photoshop two, I took
the Cowboy bar in Jackson Hull,Wyoming, mixed it with a Singapore sign,
a Hong Kong sign like often thedistance on a mountain. I put
one of those huge like led signsided buildings in Japan that's like more than

(26:53):
a billboard tall of like advertisements andstuff like that. And I had a
cowboy from the the Southwest and aMongolian eagle hunter righting next to each other
going down the street in Jackson Holeand and so that sorry, I didn't

(27:15):
mean it takes so much time.That just reminded me of that's that's something
I love to do, and Imay have to do more of it.
Yeah, I would love to seethat if you got it, sent him
my wife. Yep, I will. We're going to use this as a
plug. There's an artist by thename of Rob pro for c R O

(27:37):
x f R d okay Ron isa Neon sign painter and I've got a
few of his artworks. But whathe does is he takes the knee unsigned
and he takes a line from amovie and he paints that as the neon
signbobs yes and they're they're amazing.He can make a sign look age trusted

(28:00):
amazing artists. I'm gonna plug him. Like I said, I've got a
couple of his artworks. I'm alsoan art collector here in Milwaukee. I
collect like Instagram artists and Robins,very talented Debbie Shirley and another artists out
there, paints signs and nostalgia Fnine five with his he does a different

(28:27):
form of art where he's taken likeold advertising that you're talking about, the
color TV signs. He's that era, that type of artist that combines like
this art in there. So Ithink it's already out there and people are
are tapping into it, and Ithink it's it's just really cool to see

(28:52):
how it's utilized in movies, justeven in backgrounds or and you'll start real
lives and now that when you're watchinga movie there's neon all the time in
there. Yeah, I'm sure wasthe accountant, so I was kind of
I was watching an interesting movie,but no one. They need to get
their act together a flack and say, hey, live somebody. Yeah.

(29:19):
It's like I'm looking at Debbie Shirley'spage right now, and they're the tiny,
tiny brushes she uses, and shehas like one painting of dumb dumbs.
Yes, and it is amazing.And there's somebody else. I wish
I remember who they were. Uh. I think I followed them on two

(29:40):
or three accounts that I have,and they do lifelike neon sign painting,
and I wish I could remember whodoes who does it? And she's just
because I've had to take like twoor three looks to make sure what I'm
looking at is acrylics not a photograph. Yes, and uh and Saint r

(30:03):
p h Oh, what's it?I can't remember his first name right now.
Uh. He is a pharmacist that'sa painter as well. And so
he took story Starry Night and mixedit with the waffle house. Uh.
He does kind of goofy stuff likethat. Then he'll also do serious ones
as well. Yes, I purposelylike decided to sit on my computer screen

(30:29):
so I can also look at thatstuff and not worry about losing on the
cell phone. Yeah, I'm thesame way. I'm so adhd that way.
Yeah, Matt Dawson, Matt,he and I have chatted quite a
bit about stuff. But there's aguy that we both follow on Twitter by
the name of Damon Tole. Hejust he could just rub people. He

(30:52):
ribs them, and people take hima little too seriously and they're like really,
and so he has He's done goofystunts, like taking a picture with
his mouthful of mayonnaise and uh,I don't know if I would do that.
Even so he has a picture oflike, instead the State Puff marshmallow
Man, he has like the HelmansMayonnaise Man coming down New York City.

(31:17):
So it's fun pop art like that. We were talking about pop art earlier.
Now there's Andy Warhol. Everybody knows, well, I should say everybody
because that's a blanket statement. Butwho else in the pop art scene have
you followed? Oh well, Istudied. Pop art is probably my favorite,

(31:37):
and even to today's modern pop artist, I still falling allot of them.
Andy war Hall, if his silkscreams. Another silkscream artist would be
Roth Schumberg, the Jeez James rosenQuist, who actually for four year painted

(32:00):
billboards from nineteen fifty seven to likenineteen sixty one. Wait, he painted
them. He painted billboards before becominga pop artist. That's amazing. So
when we think about art and howit turns in a pop art, somebody
like Ed RuSHA with his his standardgas station painting or his twenty first century

(32:29):
Fox signs, and the standard gasstation is a big sign. And at
some point, just like Andy Warholwith his the soup Cans, at some
point he painted the soup cans destroyedwell, Ed Rushka at one point takes
that standard gas station name he paintedon fire, and I was just like
that is that is just phenomenal.But right now out there we have modern

(32:53):
pop artists, like if you're onInstagram, there's a guy named rock Theory
and r O c K T hE R R I E and they he
doesn't have a lot of sign followers. And I'm surprised because he adds neon

(33:13):
signs to his pop art. SoI'm following him now. I'm going to
Yes, it's it's amazing and andI think that you know, this is
the direction that neon signs are goingin the future is that artists are using
these and I posted the one neonsign and a tree with the birds and

(33:36):
the words on it. There's moreand more Neon R being utilized in art
and pop art, because I thinkthere is something very pop art about the
the Neon signs. The cartoon charactersthat they used on are the exaggerated cartoons

(33:57):
and the lights and how big theyare, the exaggerated cowboy hats and all
that is basically now set on interestingbackgrounds of cartoons. And in this case
rock Theory and uses his eight nbolvesand I'm plugging him because I just I

(34:19):
was surprised to see that there wasonly a handful of my followers that are
familiar with this artist who is usingme on. I am thankful that you
told me about him, because holycow, when you're talking about exaggerated cartoon
characters selling stuff on signs, thefirst thing he comes to mind North Carolina,

(34:40):
South Carolina, Georgia the barbecue placeswith the heavy pig. Oh yeah,
absolutely, it's like hmm, ironyaround with a pig. I just
both tie and the glasses. Theother day, Oh yeah, it was
that the Lisa AND's Mary James MaryJames. I knew it was a female

(35:06):
name. I'll get it right onthese days, Mary James. They are
like they're a bourb environed, hasa old fashion. I don't know,
like Wisconsin's got it all wrong there, and so they got their own bourbon
style of fashions there. I waslike, that's all right, that's all

(35:27):
right exactly. Well, that willend the third segment of our show tonight,
and when we come back, we'llget into some bucket list places that
Boom Boom has in store. Therearen't many. If you go through his
timeline, there are not or hisfeed that's the technical terms feed. Why
am I saying timeline all of asudden If you go through his feed,

(35:49):
you will see he's hit a lotof the big places across the US,
especially Nashville that's also needs to beon Signfinder's list. There's a lot of
new neon in Nashville and in Memphis. So you're listening to International sign Finders,
will be right back. Welcome backto International sign Finders. Glad you're

(36:29):
with us. This is the fourthand final segment with Johnny Boom Boom matthis
go find him on Instagram. I'llhave a link to his Instagram page.
Go like his stuff, follow him. Also the people he has told you
about in this podcast, they areworth checking out and following, especially Ed
RuSHA. Like for me, EdRuSHA reminds me of kind of the Russian

(36:52):
Constructivist, but with the purpose.It isn't like showing the glory of the
Union. He's showing like Americana throughhis art. Well, thanks for acknowledging
those people are allowing me to shamelesslyplug them. They absolutely deserve it.

(37:14):
Thank you. And even the JamesRosenquist. It's almost dodd Iism meets pop
art. Well, pop art's kindof Dottist in a way anyway, But
that's just what it reminds me of. I I always thought that dottist were
interesting in a way back in theearly twentieth century, I think is when

(37:35):
they were around. I'm gonna behonest, I don't know a lot about
it. Have you ever don mymouth a gape like, oh, I
google this one? Have you everseen the painting of a pipe? And
it says in French, this isnot a pipe over like on top and
on the bottom. That says tohim, I don't think I ever had

(38:00):
It was an anti art art movementfrom Germany, Switzerland something like that.
I just remember it was really fascinating. You can see the the the fingers
of Dadaism into other types of artfrom the twentieth century. I'm I'm actually

(38:21):
googling and down on it, andI liked how how they utilize some of
this stuff in their sculptures. Andit's almost like irony in many ways.
It's like the one guy he justtook a urinal and just put it on
display. It's just something that JeffCohons would do with modern art, you
know. Yeah, and my wifewas into environmental environmental art, which takes

(38:45):
a lot of planning, a lotof planning. Like there's a guy in
he's from Argentine, I think,and he had to get so many like
part of the art is the process, if that makes sense, and it's
like getting the people together, gettingthe the permits, the material. Like

(39:06):
he there's this lake with some notreally big islands, but you know they're
pretty sizable, tiny little islands,and he took red like tarps and put
them around the islands and that wasthat was the art piece. And of
course he cleans it up afterwards.He's not one of those guys that just

(39:29):
leaves his like screw you type ofthing that's an environmental art. I hope
this catches a fish and yeah,he sees some old boy sitting on it.
He ain't taking this up anytime soon. Just got three starch or walleye

(39:49):
oh man. So, uh,going from pop art into your bucket list?
What are some places or some signsthat are on your bucket list?
A place of signs you need toget for your beat. Look out California.
I am going to make my wayout there. I got to check
out the Museum of Art out there. Then art. I've been watching your

(40:15):
photographs and I cannot like I've beento La I've been to San Francisco.
Unfortunately, when I was traveling waswith people that probably didn't want me stopping
and photographed in every two seconds.Need to get better friends and uh you

(40:36):
know, but you know talking aboutfriends like now that they're they see me
doing this if they take a trip, nesh sign of me their pictures and
uh, you know, to Facebookor messaging and I get enough boom boom
stuff already. Like anytime somebody seeboom boom, I get boom boom sent
to me boom boom boom boom boombar or whatever. It's like, Okay,

(41:01):
that's all right, cool, keepbringing them. But yes, California.
I want to get out there moreand take more pictures. And I've
been going out there China doing thetourist thing and not taking them photography.
But I think a dedicated photograph tripout there is much needed because I need

(41:23):
to collect that. And the samething on the East Coast heading out to
Jersey and New York, and Iwant to take pictures of all the old
signs outside of small businesses, morefronts. Those are always amazing, and
those are probably two sections of thisof the United States. I haven't hit.

(41:46):
Okay, in Edmonton, Canada,there's a sign museum there and I
never hear anybody mentioning I don't seea lot of photographs of it. For
me, it would be about fifteenhours from where I'm at and get there
day drive. It's a huge warehousewith signs adorning the outside. We're talking

(42:15):
I believe three stories, and theyhave signs on the outside as well as
signs on the inside, and they'reall working, and they're just everywhere on
the building. And I could spenda whole day just doing that and would
be worth it, especially if Icould see the Aurora lights. So the

(42:37):
right time in for that trip,I'm definitely making that Philadelphia Sign Museum.
You're going to see me there again. Cool. So I took my camera
with me to Europe and the signsis not something I could find a lot

(42:57):
of it. Kind of sad byit because I was like, I'm going
to bring back something new, twist, a new flair that people haven't seen.
Yeah, not so much, whichis sad. I've seen. I've
seen pictures from Portugal. There's there, there's someone like Lisbon and Porto,
Finland, there are few. Ifollow a guy in from Poland who is

(43:22):
a neon sign creator. And there'sanother guy in England that, uh that
I follow. We follow each other. I can't remember his name, of
course I wouldn't forget his name.I think it's like big sexy Neon.
No, he's out of Louisiana.I'll try and find it for you.

(43:42):
But yeah, he makes neon signs, but it's not like here in the
US where there's a neon sign culture. Yes, yes, absolutely, and
I'll i'll kind of when you weretalking about different places to go to for
Neon Scigence. I had one justin my Yeah, Battle Mountain in Nevada.
It was at one point listed asthe Armpit of America by the Washington

(44:07):
Post back in like two thousand andfive. I read the whole like how
it became the armpit of America,and it's it's crazy, and they're they're
trying to shed that. Uh theydid have like the old Spice Armpit Festival
there for a while. They embracedit. Now they're like, ah,

(44:27):
not so much. I actually havea friend who works at a gold mine
in Battle Mountain, and another friendwho is the regional manager for NAPA for
like northern Nevada and western Idaho,and he goes into Battle Mountain and he
gets me picked. He'll send mepictures of the Owl Club, which is
a definite bucketless sign there in BattleMountain, like where the freak is Battle

(44:51):
Mountain. Just take uh take adartboard of Nevada and it is the bullseye
almost that in Winnemucca. I actuallyjust googled in and uh, there's a
nostalogic old sign of the restaurant owlClub and there's another Neon sign and just

(45:13):
you can see going on street justLeon. How awesome would that be?
I am very jealous of you though, Oh yeah, Japan because like the
I mean, the lights are justcalling you there. Yeah, especially in
our cities. Just like a carnivalright calls you where if it's what it's

(45:34):
likes to come right and and comeplay and go on, go on this
adventure. That's what Japan is doingto me. Every time I see those
lights, I'm just like, Ihaven't to be honest, I haven't been
to Japan. Uh. For myuh composites, Uh, I use like
pixa Bay and Pixels. But Iwill say this. I have a roommate
from Kobe when I was in college, and I'm sure if I needed to

(45:59):
a place to stay, he wouldthere'd be a couch calling my name.
Yeah. Yeah, that's that's mybad. I I should have been more
explicit in that. I'm sorry,exactly right, Uh, catch some catch

(46:22):
some wrestling like New Japan Wrestling,and go out on Tokyo and see all
the signs. Absolutely. Yeah.Now they do have a there's some people
who allow you to dress up assamurais and I feel odd about doing that
because I feel like I need to. It's kind of like why I don't
wear a cowboy hat? This isa tangent. I'm sorry. I feel

(46:45):
like I have to earn a cowboyhats. The same thing with a samurai
armor. I I would feel weirdwearing samurai armor because it's something I haven't
earned. Now, will I usea samurai in some of my composits?
Oh, you bet your bottom dollar. I will. But it just that
just seems like I just can't becausebecause of that. I'm weird like that.

(47:08):
I think it's all right, LikeI had a hard time going up
north in the woods and throwing ona flannel, but you know, it's
like you have to earn that yeflannel. Right, Well, if you're
hiking around up north in northern Wisconsin, I think you've earned it. What's
the uh? What's the cryptid that'sup there? That's like supposedly only is

(47:31):
the three legged ah? Why vern? I've heard of there's a high school
in Wisconsin called the Wyverns and it'sthis three legged uh CRYPTI Now this is
getting into a weird territory. I'msorry. It just reminded me of that,
Like I'm taking a Wilander a Wilandersgot dear weird creature. They're trying

(47:58):
to think, what is call Yeah, it's that. I apologize. This
is great stuff. I love it. This is what exactly it's called the
whole Dag. Oh, I've heardof the whole Dag. Yes, they're

(48:19):
telling us all about the whole Dagthere, and this is a creature.
So when we're talking about North,I'm thinking I was thinking and talking about
this whole Dag. And I wasjust up in Rylander a photograph from there,
and and drinking some Ryland and Rylanderbeer at their brewery there, and
their high school is the Hodags itis, and that the mythological or whatever

(48:45):
it is a creature there. Ihave not seen that. I've heard more
about sash pushes than I have awhole dag, So them a little more.
Oh yeah, I have a liston Twitter. I did like a
list of some of my favorite mascotsfrom around the country, because there's a

(49:06):
website called Marks Something of Mascots,Marks List of Mascots, and he has
all these crazy mascots from around fromaround the country. Sorry, I was
wrong. It is West Hartford,Kingswood, Oxford School, Wyburns. I
was way off. Yeah, sothat will That will do it for our

(49:30):
episode of International Sign Finders. Isthere anything else you'd like to plug on
before we go? If you cometo Wisconsin, you have to have some
custer in our Okay. I alwayssee people stopping in Milwaukee and photograph from
the Leon's customers sign. Okay,should be on your bucket list. Okay,

(49:53):
we'll know that we have tons ofgreat custer up here and you can
just hit the trend when you getback to your hotel room. Except,
oh wow, that is a greatone. Wow, that's a great nee
on sign to have. Me andice cream and custard don't get along very
well unfortunately. So yeah, andalso go and follow boom Boom. I

(50:16):
will have a link on how youcan follow him in the show notes.
Tell your friends, tell your aunts, uncle's, cousin's, third cousin,
removed, barber's shop, or tetmember that he needs to follow Johnny boom
Boom mathis So thanks for being onthe show tonight, And as always,

(50:37):
if you're out and about, besafe, keep your head on a swivel.
But also get those great sign photosand share them with us. You're
listening to International Signfinders, I'm Ieveryone. If you like the bumper music
that we used in today's podcast,you can always check out Monkey Bone.
That's the artist and the producer isJoshua from three twenty two Studios, and

(50:59):
the name of the two is DowntownDrive. Just type in a monkey Bae
in soundclown you can find him thereand check out all of his other stuff.
So it's a monkey boat with DowntownDrive. That was your bropper music
on today's episode of International Signfi National