Who is the mystery figure on Evil Urges cover?

[EC]

check this out:

even the shoulder slope.  it really looks like winston churchill.
he was around from 1874 until 1965, and was the british prime minister from '40-'45 and then again from '50-'55.  people think of him as one of the world's best leaders.

that ferris wheel is in chicago, and was erected in 1893 to honour the 400th anniversary of columbus' first visit to america.  it was designed by george washington gale ferris.  it is the FIRST ferris wheel.  reeeeeally.  (george ferris died at 37 of TB, btw.)  it travelled to a couple of different places and was eventually blown up with dynamite.

hm.  dynamite.  let's take a look at a picture that we all love:
(ps, remember in good times when JJ used to say dy-no-mite!?  i'm gonna start using that again along with hatorade.)

fuck i can't find it.  anyhow, it's on the inside of the tennessee fire - you know the one with the fireworks store.  riny took another one a couple of years ago.

anyhow, obviously there are some good images in there to get you started on thinking about things, and maybe even the interconnection between everything in the world that exists, will exist, and used to exist.

i kind of feel like riding on a ferris wheel now, though.  i haven't been on one in ages.

[BH]

 it travelled to a couple of different places and was eventually blown up with dynamite.

It travelled to the World's Fair in St. Louis in 1904.  That's where it was destroyed with dynamite and buried.  Although, to this day, nobody knows what happened to the giant "hub".  It's a mystery. :o

Also, we know Jim is a fan of the Worlds Fair.  One of my favorite all time Jim between song banter moments was about this subject.   It was the Jim/Carl show at the Performing arts theartre where Jim said this...

"I've been kind of obsessed with the World's Fair lately, because for the Worlds Fair, they always built awesome things just for the hell of it because it was cool.  But they really don't do that anymore, they discontinued the World's Fair and I want to try and get that going again.  crowd applause  It's like everybody's too busy watching TV or something to have a World's Fair.  Even though the TV was something that debuted at the World's Fair.  So I guess the World's Fair kind of shot themselves in the foot." ;D

Commence solo Gideon awesomeness....

[EC]

hey bh, wanna ditch work and go have coffee somewhere?  detroit?

[dragonboy]

& don't forget that Jim is a big Elvis fan!  ;)



Maybe it's the King in his later years keeping a watchful eye upon the band?!!  :o

[BH]

hey bh, wanna ditch work and go have coffee somewhere?  detroit?

Oh my, that sounds wonderful.   Don't screw with me, I'll do it, I will! ;)  Detroit is perfect.  I'll be there in 6 hours.   I might need something a bit stronger than coffee by the time I get there.

By the way, is the steel lion burning train going to be pulling in to St. Louis station?

[sweatboard]

I REALLY wish this had made the cover.......



SUNSPHERE (1982 Worlds Fair, Knoxville Tennessee)  :)

[sweatboard]

Wait a second, on further review, I think it might have.   :o

On the right side?  Holy Crap!!!!

[sweatboard]

The Golden Box on the cover also looks like that one panel of the Sunsphere with the light reflecting off of it.  

[bowl of soup]

the evilest of all.  Allthough it might be Ted.

[BH]

hey bh, wanna ditch work and go have coffee somewhere?  detroit?

Oh my, that sounds wonderful.   Don't screw with me, I'll do it, I will! ;)  Detroit is perfect.  I'll be there in 6 hours.   I might need something a bit stronger than coffee by the time I get there.

By the way, is the steel lion burning train going to be pulling in to St. Louis station?

Hey, where are you?   Just got a mocha latte at a little place across from Jack White's old house.   I'm getting a lot of hateful looks.  Not sure if has anything to do with the "Fuck the Big 3" t-shirt I'm wearing or not.   Anyway, hope you get here soon.

[EC]

where do you see that, brian?  i just saw a couple of things i hadn't seen before.

bh, i'm so sorry - i got stuck at the border for my previous us incarceration and they wouldn't let me in.  god DAMN it, i should've picked anywhere other than detroit.

do you think you can make it to canada?

[sweatboard]

    I was just thinking that the duality of the painted band and the photographed band, the painted silhouette and the photographed silhouette, kind of represent a reality and an interpretation of that same reality.  Like in the song Librarian, Jim talks about what is perceived to be sexy, then he goes on to paint a picture of a "SEXY LIBRARIAN" I think in the song Jim plays with the idea of - well, Librarian's might not normally be "perceived" as being sexy but if you look a little closer the "reality" can be much different.  Then reality just becomes a matter of your perception.  I think it's interesting that the photographed silhouette is "watching" the entire scene.  The band is a mirror image, but the photo silhouette is looking into the mirror....so I guess the photographed silhouette kind of represents us looking in and making our own reality of the cover itself.  Like I said before at first glance the cover is NOT "SEXY" but the more you look.....

"When God Gave Us Mirrors He Had No Idea"  Jim James

I love this record more and more each day, and what's funny is I really haven't even been listening to it.  I've played it straight through about five times since I've had it and that is it....but I can't stop thinking about it.  :)

[Jon T.]

Wow Brian, I think you're right on with the mystery person.  Although, I still think my friend Ted stood in for the shot.    ;D



This record is really special.

[Angry Ewok]

angry ewok, how come you don't like it so much?

I just think the photoshopping looks really crappy. The cover reminds me of when I first discovered layering effects in Photoshop 4. About eight years ago. When I was 15.

I've liked/loved the album art on most of the EP's and all of the major releases until now.

I do like the back cover with the three silhouettes and the blob of gold. I cropped that somewhere and now it's the ICO for the website - so that's cool.

[TheBigChicken]

I thought it was me until I realized the "figure" didn't have a bald spot starting :-/Shit,getting old sucks ;D

[searchinbig]

I figured it out.  Evil Urges.

It's Dubya.   ;D  :D  ;D  :o

[Bigsky]

Do you know that computer imaging software that can produce a future image of you when your older. Maybe the guy is Jim James when he's in his forties [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

[sweatboard]

Do you know that computer imaging software that can produce a future image of you when your older. Maybe the guy is Jim James when he's in his forties [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

I like this thought.  

I also like how, the mystery figure could "REPRESENT" the person experiencing the record, but that's ALL it could do......It's kind of a bridge with a sign saying..."You Going To Cross?"

[Jon T.]

BigEvil, i posted something similar to your thoughts on pg 2 of this thread.  Glad to see I'm not too crazy.  I also like your idea Brian of it representing the listener.  It's like it is saying "okay we got you this far, the rest is up to you."   I think that very much is in line with the theme of this record as well.

[sweatboard]

 :-*  WORD!!

I got the lyric sheet to this record last night and I just remembered WHY I fell SO deeply in love with this band...........again!!  :)