The following tribute to the late Steve Jobs was posted at The Residents’ website:

I wasn’t going to say anything. After all so many people are covering his accomplishments. But I thought it would be important to note how Steve Jobs has helped change and create The Residents.

Apple computers had a perspective that regular people should be able to do remarkable things that they would not normally be able to do if assisted by computers. Technicians should not be the exclusive controllers of that world.

The Residents have always been masters of using technology on a human scale. Ralph Records in the late ‘70’s ran on an old Apple II. The software used was custom written by Cryptic. That system meant that Ralph could operate cheaper and cheaper meant it could exist on smaller margins.

Macintosh arrived in 1984 and went to work immediately creating graphics. Album covers from 1984’s George & James to 2011’s Coochie Brake have been done on Macintosh computers.

Cryptic and Ralph launched a bulletin board on-line system (BBS) on an Apple II in 1984 named Big Brother. It is the Big Brother which this site honors as our first venture into on-line interactivity. You can read more about Big Brother in The Last Word.

The Residents ran MIDI live on an old Apple II at the Snakey Wake in 1988. The following year they toured CUBE E carrying their entire studio which centered around a Mac II, the most powerful personal computer that existed at the time.

When Apple invented Quicktime, the wiz kids that actually did it were Residents fans. The original logo which was a big “Q” had a top hat to reference The Residents and the videos used to demo the software were the One-Minute Movies from The Commercial Album.

I was one of the people who appeared in the Apple “Think Different” campaign.

There is no way I can cover all the ways Apple and Steve Jobs impacted The Residents. I do think it fitting to conclude with the fact that Chuck on the Talking Light tour was controlling a Mac Air computer with an iPad that was running wirelessly on a local network utilizing an Airport, all Apple products, to make the statement that The Residents appreciation of the technology of Steve Jobs’ company has never faltered.

Cryptic and The Residents join the long list of people who are saddened by the lose of Steve Jobs.

-Hardy Fox, The Cryptic Corporation

Below, recent 3-D live footage of The Residents performing in San Francisco.
 

 
Via Exile on Moan Street/The Quietus

 
I might be a little bit late on this item, but if you live in the Bay Area, you still have plenty of time to check out this amazing looking exhibit of Residents ephemera that is running through June 17 at Johansson Projects in Oakland. Featuring album cover production art, promotional photos, drawings, scratch-board illustrations, and digital imagery from the archives of Homer Flynn, principal architect of the band’s visual imagery, the show also has some of Flynn’s private, non-Residents work on display:

Through his work, Homer Flynn has created a unique folklore composed of morosely ironic tales intertwined with the poignancy of thinly veiled emotion, revealing Flynn’s obsession with both the vulnerable and perverse aspects of the human psyche. Using a wide vary of materials, he draws on imagery from Walt Disney comics, outsider art of the Deep South, M.C. Escher and fetish pulp. Committed as much to the discovery as to the revelation of ideas, Flynn pursues his vision through a diversity of media, allowing his rich artistic output to be driven by ideas manifesting themselves through drawing, painting, print making, sculpture, digital media, photography, film and performance. Flynn’s figurative prints and drawings are notable for their intense mark making, often rendered with stark, contrasting colors. Similarly bold, his photography reveals forceful characters through stark black and white compositions as well as a vivid, often garish, use of color. While the mood of these images is often confrontational, Flynn also reveals a vulnerability that deepens the reading of his work.

Homer Flynn is best known for his involvement with The Residents, the Bay Area based art collective internationally renowned for their avant-garde music, theatrical performances and filmmaking. In the main gallery Flynn will exhibit work he created for the Residents, including production art for original Residents album covers, promotional photos, art used in print advertising and set designs.

Since his work for The Residents has taken the primary focus of his output for nearly 40 years, Flynn has thus far chosen to keep his personal work private. At Johansson Projects he will show a survey of his entire career curated by his daughter, Jana Flynn, including much work that has never been shown publicly. This work, featuring pastel depictions of natural disasters collaged from the pages National Geographic magazine, scratch board illustrations, silkscreened prints and graphite sketches from his journals, will he featured in the project room of the gallery. Finally, a slideshow will be projected in the viewing room showing recent digital work produced for The Residents.

 

 
Below, the Residents cover James Brown:
 

 
Thank you Chris Musgrave!

 
The Cramps make an appearance on the exceedingly cool Chicago public access kiddie show Chic-A-Go-Go. Late 1990’s.

Lil’ Ratso goes nuts!

“Our next letter is C.”
 

 
The Residents on Chic-A-Go-Go after the jump…