This year, DJ Todd-o-phonic Todd of WFMU in Jersey City, New Jersey invited me to contribute to his pledge drive prize, an activity book based on his musical history. Every year, WFMU does a big pledge drive, and listeners can donate towards specific shows (though all proceeds just go the station.) Todd asked a number of artists to help on his prize for this year, and had us artists pick certain pages to develop. I chose the coloring book section, depicting young Todd and his parents buying "Slayed?" by Slade in 1972 at the record shop in Bloomfield, New Jersey.
Since the record shop's not open anymore, I did my best to recreate what I thought the space might look like. I found an old photo of the storefront and used that to design the height and width of the shop, along with the sign above the cash wrap. I then gave the room funky purple carpet and dressed everyone in 70s attire. The really fun part was deciding which albums to put on display. That took me down research road to see what albums were out that year. Some of my favorites were "Kazemachi Roman" by Happy End and "1 Record" by Big Star. I even threw in an old Upsala College WFMU poster, where the station originated. New Jersey's own Count Basie is even peeking up at bottom of the drawing.
Of course the final workbook page is black and white, but you know I had to color in the drawing myself, since that's always the cherry on top of the project. Scroll down to see some of the record shop photos I found online along with my pencil drawing and the final workbook art.
Check out the book and learn more about DJ Todd-o-phonic at WFMU: Todd-o-phonic Todd: Playlist from March 11, 2023
