The Return Of Pizza Fella

The first Pizza Fella comic was published in the premiere issue of L.A. Comics in 1971 and continued as a regular feature in the tabloid comics newspapers Two Bit Comics and Okay Comics until 1974 making it part of the Golden Age of Underground Comix (1967 – 1974).

An original Pizza Fella comic from the Golden Age of Underground Comix (circa 1972)

Pizza Fella was a teenage delivery boy for a pizzeria in Los Angeles and his job allowed him to have adventures and meet new people in the marijuana counter culture of the early 1970s.

Now he's back to experience a new drug culture in the age of legalized cannabis and medical marijuana. He's a bit older as medical marijuana is still illegal to minors and no longer breaking the law but he's as big a pothead as ever.

Touches of the underground comix style of the original comic of the Seventies has been retained but gone are the foul language and seedier elements of the drug culture as now the people he meets that use marijuana could just as easily be older cancer patients or suburban housewives than hippies or urban drug dealers.

Pizza Fella has returned to help chronicle a very interesting time period of changing attitudes and the social experiment that is the new Legalized Cannabis movement.

Created by cartoonist/animator Neal Warner while still in high school in the San Fernando Valley, Pizza FellaÕs popularity at the time led directly to a job with legendary animation producer Ralph Bakshi whose first animated feature was Fritz The Cat, based on the underground comic book by Robert Crumb. This led to a lengthy career in the Animation Industry which included The Heavy Metal Movie, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Rugrats, Ducktails and many other television series and animated feature films.

It's not the growing legalized marijuana movement that inspired the return of Pizza Fella but the boom in both online and print media that the movement has created. The Alternative Press as well as what some may perceive as the return of the "Underground Press" has created an opportunity for a new breed of comic character, or in the case of Pizza Fella, the updating of a classic.

The new Pizza Fella comics are created as full color, three-quarter tabloid page size intended for weekly publications as daily papers such as The L.A. Times are probably not going to be publishing marijuana themed comic strips any time soon.

Get the new 2016 Pizza Fellow calendar here: 2016 PIZZA FELLA Calendar

For information on publishing Pizza Fella comics contact: info@unsigned-records.com

Artists and Musicians Team to Draw Attention to 4/20's Spiritual Side

With the legalization of marijuana in Washington and Colorado and Easter Sunday falling on April 20 this year's 4/20 is a landmark date.

Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/16/2014 -- Former Disney animator Neal Warner and the musical director of the John Lennon themed show "Just Imagine" Greg Piper have released a special music video to celebrate next Sunday's "high holiday". "I'm High" by their band The Tooners has been released as a single to radio and its psychedelic animated lyrics video is going viral on the Internet.

"We're not trying to glorify drug use," said animator and songwriter Neal Warner, "we're interested in drawing attention to another aspect of cannabis besides the medical, financial and personal liberties aspect. To us Baby Boomers, the legalization of marijuana represents an acknowledgment of the ideals of the Counterculture of the Sixties which included the Environmental Movement and the New Age Movement. Marijuana is actually classified by the government as a psychedelic and despite their bad rap in this country, psychedelics are used in many other parts of the world in legitimate religious ceremonies. There is a heavy spiritual quality to natural psychedelics and cannabis is a part of that."

"Having said that," added Piper, "our single, "I'm High" is a humorous song taken from our live stage show, Rock & Roll Rehab which was performed at the historic Hayworth Theater on Wilshire Boulevard in L.A. That show was divided into three parts; Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll with "I'm High" written for the "Drugs" section. Although its taken out of context it is still a fun but exaggerated description of what a psychedelic experience is like."

April 20 or 4/20 became the unofficial day of Cannabis when a group of high school students in San Raphael, Ca, in the 1990s decided to meet after class at 4:20 to smoke marijuana and the term 420 became a codeword among the students for smoking pot. It has since spread internationally and April 20 has become the International Smoke Out Day recognized by the estimated 250,000,000 members of the cannabis culture worldwide.

The Tooners' "I'm High" single is available on iTunes, Amazon and other online music services and the video can be viewed on Youtube or the Rock & Roll Rehab website: http://www.rocknrollrehab.com

Youtube Video: http://youtu.be/bcIC52qKYS4

 

The Tooners' "I'm High" The Official Song OF 4/20

We all love music and we use particular songs as part of our holiday celebrations. Christmas Carols at Christmas, John Phillip Sousa marches on the Forth of July, Alice Cooper tunes on Halloween, well, you get the idea.

Los Angeles rock band, The Tooners, performed a live multimedia stage show held at the Hayworth Theater on Wilshire Blvd. called Rock & Roll Rehab. It was about sex, drugs and rock and roll. One song written for the “drugs” part of the show was a catchy little number titled “I’m High”.  Now it just so happens that this year, 2014, Easter Sunday falls on April 20^th. April 20^th or 4/20 has for the last few years been declared the (unofficial) Official Holiday of the Cannabis Culture. In other words, it’s a day to celebrate the wonderful world of marijuana. If you haven’t heard of that before check out the Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/420_%28cannabis_culture%29.

We at Unsigned Records Multimedia (the producers of the Rock & Roll Rehab Show) are going to introduce the song, “I’m High”, this Easter Sunday, the 20^th of April as the Official Song of Four Twenty. Not only is this year unique in that April 20^th is also Easter Sunday but 2014 is also the first year in history that marijuana is legal in the United States, in at least two of them (you know who you are).

We will be promoting the single, “I’m High” to AAA (Adult Album Alternative), College, Rock and Alternative radio stations in the U.S. and Canada British Columbia (Vancouver is referred to as “Amsterdam West”). 

For those who believe in helping to make April 20^th into an actual holiday (like Saint Patrick’s Day or Cinco De Mayo at least), we are offering an “I’m High On Four Twenty” custom T-shirt  available for sale online:http://thetooners-rocknrollrehab.blogspot.com/2012/03/rock-and-roll-rehab-merchandise.html.

Please call your local rock and roll radio station on Easter Sunday, April 20^th, request “I’m High” by The Tooners and let them know the MP3 or WAV file is available for download at http://www.unsigned-records.com/imhigh.html.

The TOONERS' ROCKTASIA CD

2013 marks the 20th anniversary of The Tooners Neo-Classic Rock masterpiece ROCKTASIA. Originally released by Unsigned Records in 1993 it contains the hit songs Paradise, written by the late Gary Gladstone, aka The Mix Doctor, They Died Young by the poet Don Coorough, I'm Growing Away From You and I've Seen Love In My Dreams which became a fully animated music video.

"A concept album about life in the age of free love"

ROCKTASIA CD available HERE.

Described as an "animated Valentine" the video to I've Seen Love In My Dreams became part of The Tooners' Rock & Roll Rehab multimedia stage show.

 I've Seen Love In My Dreams in the Rock & Roll Rehab Show.

unsigned-records.com

CLASSIC WOMANIZER

Unsigned Records has re-released the debut EP from L.A. 80s band WOMANIZER. Originally released through PaperCuts Records which were distributed as Flexi-Disc Soundsheets© in issues of PaperCuts, The Illustrated Lyrics Magazine in the 1980s. PaperCuts and the premier issue's song Sexist were featured on an installment of the MTV News with Kurt Loder on Mother's Day, 1988 and the animated music video produced from the comic and song Mass Murder Man won the Gold Plaque for Music Video at the Chicago International Film Festival, was featured in a special program of "The World's Best Animated Music Videos" as part of the First Los Angeles Animation Celebration and in the Denver International Film Festival.

 WOMANIZER's debut six song EP available HERE.

Womanizer was a multimedia band formed with the expressed intent on illustrating their original music and performed regularly at Madame Wong's (Chinatown), Wong's West, Club 88, The Central, Filthy McNasty's and had a residency at The Troubadour on KWST nights.

 Watch the Mass Murder Man Video HERE.

"... the cartoon quality is excellent and the music is entertaining, energized Pop Metal"
BAM Magazines' review of PaperCuts #1 featuring Sexist and Mass Murder Man by Womanizer.

 unsigned-records.com

JERRY STRULL AT THE BIG OAKS LODGE

Unsigned Records' singer-songwriter Jerry Strull has been asked by The Big Oaks Lodge in Santa Clarita, CA to perform on a regular basis starting November, 2013. Although the times and dates may change he is tentatively scheduled to perform one Sunday a month from 2:00 to 6:00 PM.

The Big Oaks Lodge is located at 33101 Bouquet Canyon Road in Santa Clarita. Their phone number is (661) 296-5656, they serve food, have a full bar, are open to all ages and their shows are free to the public.

Jerry Strull's website is http://www.jerrystrull.com.

www.unsigned-records.com