Thursday, October 24, 2013

Countdown to Halloween!

Only 7 Days till Fright Night, and we are counting down each day with a scary R. Crumb cover from "Weirdo" comics.

Today's cover is Weirdo No. 8 illustrated by Robert Crumb in the summer of 1983. At that time Crumb was also the editor of the comic anthology which was published by Last Gasp.

The subject appears to be on his last nerve.
Enjoy!


Who's Afraid of Robert Crumb?

Just in time for Halloween, we have added this great R. Crumb self portrait to our t-shirt collection. You can sport this image of R. "Harmless Nut" Crumb in both long and short sleeve tees, or if you need a bit more cover we have it available now in our cozy hooded sweatshirts as well.

Don't be Afraid, Relax, just gaze into Crumb's third eye and Open Your Mind....and enjoy 15% off this new offering available exclusively at Keep On Truckin' Apparel.
Sale ends October 31, 2013.

Monday, October 7, 2013

Janis Joplin "Ball & Chain" T-shirts on Sale Now!




Ball and Chain was written and originally recorded by American blues songstress Willie Mae Thornton aka Big Mama. Janis Joplin who frequently paid homage to Thornton as one of her musical influences later went on to record several live versions of the twelve-bar blues song. One of those live performances was at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. Janis was backed by Big Brother & The Holding Company band mates, and this gutzy rendition of the classic was heralded as one of Joplin's best performances of her all to short career.

Now part of our Cheap Thrills T-shirt collection. The Ball & Chain image was pulled from the "Cheap Thrills" album cover done in 1968 by R. Crumb.And this week you'll find all our Ball & Chain blues t-shirts on Sale, Now through 10-13-13. We have Men's long and short sleeve tees as well as Women's relaxed organic t-shirts as well as fitted tees. Or maybe you'd prefer a Ball & Chain Hoodie---those are on Sale too! Your 15% discount will be applied at checkout.

A Keep On Truckin' Apparel exclusive.
www.kotapparel.com

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

New Album Release "Take a Look at that Baby!" features R. Crumb Art

Over the years since doing his first cover art work in 1968 for the "Cheap Thrills" album featuring Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company, Robert Crumb has gone on to draw hundreds of record covers for both new artist and largely forgotten masters.

Women's Tank - Drunken Barrel House Blues 
Recently R. Crumb has collaborated with his friends and fellow musicians; Eden Brower & John Heneghan of East River String Band fame, in the creation of their last four LP/CD covers which include Some Cold Rainy Day, Be Kind To A Man When He's Down, Drunken Barrel House Blues and coming out later this month the new Take A Look At That Baby.

All of these covers as well as many others done by Crumb, for Yazoo, Barrel House and Blue Goose Records, can be found in our new Record Cover Collection of Men's and Women's T-shirts exclusively at Keep On Truckin Apparel.


And to celebrate Eden & John's new release "Take A Look At That Baby" we are having a 15% Off Sale- Now through October 31, 2013. You'll get 15% off any of the East River String Band's t-shirts. Men's or Women's, organic cotton, long sleeve or short--all on sale this month---discount will be applied at checkout, no coupon code required.

So what are you waiting for, get the t-shirt and show your support for this amazing East Village band.

David Fricke of Rolling Stone Magazines said, “Eden And John cover country blues from the 78-rpm era with crisp fervor and a natural flair that suggests loving study and a respect for the original records”.

Keep On Truckin' Apparel is an Official Licensee of R. Crumb.
www.kotapparel.com

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Happy Birthday Robert Crumb!

August 30, 1943

To Celebrate the ol' masters Birthday we are having a One Day only Store-Wide sale, Friday, August 30th.
  
No coupon code, decoder ring or secret hand shake required, and absolutely everything is on sale: Hoodies, Men's, Women's and Kid's Organic and Conventional Cotton T-Shirts and Long Sleeve Tees all 15% OFF.
Choose from the Crumb Classics Collection, the Mr. Natural Organics Collection, Heroes of the Blues Collection or our NEW Record Cover Collection--it's all on sale for one day only. The discount will appear when you checkout--and as always, buy four items and you get FREE shipping.

This only happens once a year!
  
So what are you waiting for? Celebrate the day with a Keep On Truckin' T-shirt, a Mr. Natural Hoody or a Fritz the Cat "Hi Kids" long sleeve tee--you choose from over 150 designs--all on sale exclusively at  Keep On Truckin' Apparel .

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Keep On Trucking T-shirts for Kids

We have had lots of requests from Parents and Grandparents to make available our best selling Keep On Truckin' t-shirts in Children's sizes. You spoke and we listened!
Now just in time for Back to School, you can find KK-001 Robert Crumb's famous Keep on Trucking Guys, also called the Do-Dah men, this big footed gang first appeared in Zap Comics No. 1 in 1967. They went on to become a moniker for a generation to encourage us all to "Keep On Keeping On!" We have added both short and long sleeve 100% cotton t-shirts in Kid's Youth sizes S-XL.
We have also added KK-251 Keep On Truckin', this single big footed strider is our number one best selling t-shirt, and is now available for the first time in Kid's sizes with some great color choices like purple, white, navy, charcoal and light blue in both short and long sleeve 100% cotton quality t-shirts.

These Keep On Truckin' Apparel exclusive Robert Crumb designs are available currently on our website, order now for back to school---and pass on the Keep On Trucking tradition to your favorite small person!!

Thursday, April 18, 2013

R. Crumb's "Earth Island"



Earth Island No. 1
R. Crumb Cover/Poster

Earth Island Magazine No. 1 a "Journal of the Gathering Tribes",  published this 16 7/8" by 21 1/2" poster in the fall of 1970 from the same original art created for the cover by R. Crumb during a stay in Chicago. This 'earthy' comic art .. an interpretation of the classic Time Magazine cover style by Robert Crumb, has a pastoral and natural bent. A unique display of the '70's roots of environmentalism, printed the same year as the inaugural Earth Day gatherings.





















Saturday, March 23, 2013

R. Crumb's Despair is Cleveland's "Coventry"



KK-253 Despair T-shirt
www.kotapparel.com
R. Crumb
The recent purchase of this Despair T-shirt sparked a conversation with the Cleveland born customer about the neighborhood which R. Crumb depicted here. The neighborhood he said has "Coventry" in Cleveland Heights and the building pictured with the diamond shaped windows was once a bar called The Pepper Pot.
Despair, Unused cover, 1970
R. Crumb
During the 1960's the area evolved into Cleveland's version of San Francisco's Haight Ashbury, complete with "Hippies" and "Hell's Angels". Robert Crumb moved to Cleveland in the early 60's and worked for awhile for The American Greetings card company. Later in the era he would meet Harvey Pekar, of American Splendor fame, at a swap meet where they where both looking for old Jazz Records.

By this time Crumb had become a part of the underground comix scene and Pekar was inspired by his work. He had always wanted to do something creative, but since he did not see himself as having any artistic talent he thought the graphic novel media might work for him. He could write the stories and others could illustrate.

Pekar's "American Splendor" a self-published biographical comic book series came to light in 1976. Harvey would draw the stories with stick figures and dialog, then pass to artists like Crumb to illustrate. He wrote about his daily life in Coventry, about his neighborhood's character, about his work place and about the street corner philosophers of which he was one.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Mr. Natural "Twas Ever Thus" T-shirt on Sale Now!

R. Crumb's Mr. Natural
"Twas Ever Thus" T-shirt
www.kotapparel.com
On Sale now through March 10th, enjoy 10% off Robert Crumb's Mr. Natural "Twas Ever Thus" Men's Tee. Found exclusively at Keep On Truckin Apparel. Shown here in Black this 100% cotton long sleeve shirt is also available in White, Military Green, and Navy. The short sleeve version is also on sale and available in White, Military Green, Prairie Dust, Red and Stone Blue.

Discount will be applied at checkout, no coupon code required.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Original Valentine's Day Gifts for Her!


KK-248 You are My Number One
R. Crumb
www.kotapparel.com

KK-408 Love Comix
R. Crumb
www.kotapparel.com
KK-246 Broken Heart
R. Crumb
www.kotapparel.com
Ditch the generic gifts of chocolate and flowers this Valentines Day and inject a little fun into your relationship with these original t-shirt designs by Robert Crumb, all found exclusively on-line at Keep On Truckin Apparel .

Women's t-shirt offerings include a relaxed fit soft organic cotton option as well as our favorite fitted tee, both available in a myriad of complimentary color---so you can express yourself!

All of the Heart themed love tee's show here, which includes Brilliant Idea, Broken Heart, You are My No.1 and Love Comix are on Sale now through Sunday, 2-3-13. Enjoy 10% off, discount will be applied at checkout no coupon code is required.


Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Best Selling T-shirts of 2012

The numbers are in and here's the results!

We have a new best seller in the top spot this year. This Keep On Truckin' tee was just introduced into our line up last year, and it was clear from inception, that it was going to be a very popular design. Show here in a long sleeve t-shirt, we also have it available in short sleeve tees for both Men and Women as well as unisex hooded sweatshirts.
KK-251 Keep on Truckin' T-shirt
www.kotapparel.com
In the number two spot the ever popular Keep On Truckin' Guys t-shirt. Again this popular R. Crumb design is available in both Men's and Women's short and long sleeve t-shirts as well as hooded sweatshirts. Choose from a variety of colors--shown here in Charcoal, the top selling color for this image.
KK-001 Keep On Truckin' Guys
www.kotapparel.com


No top five could be complete with out that mystic map cap Mr. Natural--and he appears twice here in our countdown. The number three spot goes to Mr. Natural "Raising Hope", this tee appears on a regular basis on the Fox Network hit series by the same name "Raising Hope". It seems the be one of "Jimmy's" favorites, and why not, the hapless single father can use all the help he can get--although we would have to cautious him that Mr. Natural does not suffer fools well and can be a bit of a trickster on a good day, and an all out scam artist on a bad. Shown here in one of our cozy hoodies, it's also available on short and long sleeve t-shirts.
MN-028 Mr. Natural "Raising Hope"
www.kotapparel.com
And once again we have Mr. Natural in the number four spot with the ever popular "Just Passin Thru"! Shown here in Chocolate Brown.
MN-012 Mr. Natural "Just Passin' Thru"
www.kotapparel.com
And last but by no means least that little ol' rascal, Fritz the Cat--shown here on our "Hi Kids!" t-shirts. Black is the best selling color but this bad boy is also available in White, Navy, Blue and Berry--you choose!

KK-211 Fritz the Cat "Hi Kids"
www.kotapparel.com
Thanks to our great customers for an amazing 2012, and best wishes for a Happy New Year!!