How many
pinheads can
you find in this
picture! Bill
Grposes
with his bullet-
brained baby
PINHEAD PLEASURES
by H. W. Moss
Zippy the Pinhead was born in San Francisco almost
twenty years ago when underground comic cartoonist Bill
Griffith was asked by an editor to draw a twisted love triangle
involving two normal people and a third character who was
really odd.
What Griffith created was this adult in a polka-dot clown
suit, a Yassar Arafat three-day stubble on his face and a
pointed cranium topped by a bow. Zippy is the sideshow freak
who ran for president three times in the 80s. In fact, the
government admits that in '88 he got at least 10,000 votes.
Though not yet president. Zippy has infiltrated the
MEDIA
BLITZ
QUICK STROKES
Save your quarters, folks,
because some wicked games
are rolling into the arcades.
Rollergames, Williams' roller
derby pinball machine, may
look a little geeky, but the
skate-oriented table action is
unbeatable. On the viddy front.
Pigskin 621 AD, Bally's latest,
is a prehistoric no-rules football
brawl with characters who
resemble members of Gwar.
Beat your friends to a pulp for a
mere fifty cents.
If you just like to watch.
check out MPI Home Video's
latest, The World's Greatest
Stunts and The Ultimate
Stuntman two stokin' vids.
Literati should check out
Slam by Lewis Shiner. It's the
fast paced story of a forty-year-
old ex-con tax evader who
takes up with a group of young
skaters and leams the joys of
rejecting society's values. The
main character even signs on
to the ever-lovin' Thrasher
BBS.Published by Doubleday.
Rats in the Trees by Jess
Mowry is another new novel
with major skate action. This
book centers around young
E mainstream, appearing in 200 papers across the country and
recently colorized for Sundays. "A lot of Zippy has trickled, not
down, but maybe up, into the culture," says Griffith with the
same dry wit that permeates the character he draws. Het
continues, "Robin Williams in a Playboy interview said Zippy
was an inspiration for Mork: 'Zippy was like a word processor
with dyslexia.
Few people realize that we got the phrase "Am I Having
Fun Yet?" from Zippy. Griffith also claims that the "Pinheads"
is a favorite name in sports leagues, as proven by the fan.
mail he gets from bowling, softball and rugby teams named
after his character. There is, however, not yet a Pinhead skate
team or Zippyboard. In an attempt to bolster his skate
credibility, Griffith pulls out a comic with a scene of Zippy
tearing into a laundromat on a skate and causing utter chaos.
Zippy will become even more prevalent if a screenplay.
Griffith wrote called "Zippyvision" ever gets produced. Randy
Quaid is supposed to play the good-natured dullard. "Quaid's
been waiting the past four years," says the soft-spoken
cartoonist who, at 46, dresses like a Robert Crumb character
in skinny brown silk tie and baggy dress pants.
Griffith has accumulated plenty of comic credits, including
seven Zippy paperbacks which have never been out of print.
and nearly a dozen comic books. His most recent, due out
next spring, is a sketchbook called "Get Me a Table Without
Flies, Harry in which he reproduces drawings he made in
Italy, France, Ireland, Scotland and other countries.
Anyone who has ever read the strip would have to agree
that Zippy is one of the strangest caricatures ever to stroll into
a panel. He assumes several voices, carries on more than
one conversation at a time and never seems to quite get to
the point, because he really does have a tiny brain.
"Once in a while I get letters saying there are brain
damaged or microcephalic people in the family and it's a very
painful thing. Bill Griffith explains how he takes flak when
someone takes offense to his pointy-domed progeny. "They
look at Zippy and think I'm making fun of them. All I can say is
I feel sorry if I caused any pain in their lives. But Zippy is not a
brain damaged person, he's a cartoon character.
"While he is talking you detect he has one essential voice
like everyone, but he is doing sound effects and imitations
and other voices. All his emotions come to the surface. The
pitch of his voice changes depending on what he's talking
about. He might break into a Julia Child Impression for a
second without any apparent reason."
Inspiration for Zippy came from several sources. "I saw
these postcards a friend of mine had of circus sideshow
freaks who retired in Florida. I remembered the movie Freaks
and thought, 'Hell, I'll use a pinhead. Little did I know, he
would occupy my right and left brain for the next 20 years."
skatepunk runaways in the
wastelands of West Oakland.
None of Mike Vallelly's
poetry books have crossed our
path yet, but we understand
Mr. V. is a prolific (and very
Henry Rollins-inspired) author.
If that comment about the
Thrasher BBS set y'all to
wondering where the heck said
service has been, you need
worry no more. The BBS
should be up and running by
the time you read this.
Total tweaker comic of the
month award goes to Steel
Pole Bath Tub for Lurch
BODY ARTS
FLAMING SHAKES
by Brad Moldstein
Every night for the past
three weeks, me and my
buddy, Howie the Blade,
have been conducting a
study concerning the
effects of the movie. The
Adventures of Ford Fair-
lane (starring the Dice-
man, Andrew Clay) on the
uptight populace of men-
hating women and over-
sensitive male types.
Initially, we wanted to find
out exactly what kind of
woman went to see a
movie like this. We fig-
ured, if a gal was crass
enough to subject herself
to his kind of innuendos,
the kind concerning the
way some of the less edu-
cated people deal with the
opposite sex, then maybe
we'd want to ask her for
her number or buy her
popcorn or somethin'. But
after we experienced all of
that negative hype, we
sort of got hooked on the
idea of goin' sorta scien-
tific, if y'know what I
mean. As we'd watch the
flick, everytime that Ford
said a bad word, or sump-
tin' like it, we'd think to
ourselves. "If I was a
chick, would I be offended.
by that remark?" Some of
the time we imagined our-
selves getting bitch-
slapped big time, but a lot
more of the time we got all
hot and bothered, mainly
because we kept hearing
most of the chicks laugh-
ing their nogs off at some
of the cruder jokes, some
of which we, in our re-
verse mental roles, would
have figured a "no second
date kinda potential.
Ford is what you would
call a "Rock 'n Roll Dick,"
meaning a detective for
people in the music.
industry. Set in a Holly-
wood slicko-type of envi-
ronment, Ford, along with
his pant-sweating assist-
ant Jazz, are tired of
receiving gifts instead of
moola. This is where the
story begins to take off.
DJ Johnny Crunch, a
morbid, sickening little.
snot, calls with a job for
Ford, that actually pays
money. Only, the DJ gets
fried after Ford has a few
words with him, then in
steps Lt. Anus, the ex-70s
disco-star-whiteman-
turned-cop (played by Ed
O'Neill of Al Bundy fame).
The two crime fighters
have an obvious dislike:
for each other. Then Ford
is visited by a hot, vicious,
trampish sexed-out S&M
wench (played by Elvis'
ex-old lady) who wants
Ford to find her long lost
sister, Zuzu Petals, who
just so happens to be the
same person that the
deceased DJ hired Ford
to find.
There's no need to give
the story away. It was in-
teresting to see the mixed
reactions of the audience.
A guy in the front row kept
laughing at things that
weren't even meant to be
a joke. Only four or five
people booed when it was
over.
It's getting tougher to
have entertainment you
can enjoy without a lot of
people out there trying to
delegate what's offensive
and what's not. There are
dudes nowadays who are
more feminist than the
chicks are. Hell, this
movie is nothing more.
than pure goof-off back
alley entertainment. Oh,
and if people are so
damned sophisticated,
who are the ones who
made Beverly Hills Cop 1
and 2 so successful? Oh,
it's OK to say and do all
the same comedy angles
in an ethnic way, but if you
really get close to home
with whitey, it just ain't
kosher!
Hell, what's the big deal
over the Diceman's humor
anyway? It's the same
b.s. we used to gab about
when we were still teen-
agers. This is definitely a
good "beer-bash" video
rental. I
If you've been thinking about getting a piece of skin art, but the thought of hearing that whining tat gun and the idea of the needle
flesh is enough to send your lunch up your windpipe, comes
and she's stoked to talk
the paint-on system, for the temporary tattoo look of the 90s. You get a kit of eighteen tattoo transfers, some paints and a
brush. We don't have to tell you about the potential fun you can have with this set. They will last for a week if you take care of
them well. For the mondo info, call Marcia at (212) 765-8342. She's always hangin' by the phone an
78 THE MACA