A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from September 06, 2007
“HI, HOW ARE YOU” (Daniel Johnston artwork)

“HI, HOW ARE YOU” was a music cassette released by Austin-based artist Daniel Johnston in 1983. In 1994, Johnston painted a space frog-like design (the animal has been called “Jeremiah the Innocent” after the Three Dog Night song)—featuring two antenna-like eyes and the words “HI, HOW ARE YOU”—on the Sound Exchange record store at 21st and Guadalupe in Austin. The store became a Baja Fresh restaurant, but the mural stayed (a modern Austin landmark). As of 2007, Baja Fresh has moved out of the store. The design has become popular on t-shirts.
   
   
Wikipedia: Daniel Johnston
Daniel Dale Johnston (b. January 22, 1961) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and artist. Johnston was the subject of the 2005 documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston. He currently lives in a house adjacent to his parents’ home in Waller, Texas.
 
Johnston has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. His songs are often called “painfully direct,” and tend to display a blend of childlike naïveté with darker, “spooky” themes. Johnston’s earliest recordings present him singing in a high register. However, throughout the nineties his voice acquired a new character and tone and an altogether different style of delivery and diction. This may have been inspired by a mixture of the damage done by smoking, tooth loss and medication prescribed to control his disorder. His performances often seem faltering or uncertain; one critic writes that Johnston’s recordings range from “spotty to brilliant.”   
(...)
His music has been acclaimed by David Bowie, Yo La Tengo, Sonic Youth, Eddie Vedder, Beck, Spiritualized, The Flaming Lips, Bright Eyes, and Matt Groening. Kurt Cobain praised Johnston’s work, and often wore a tee shirt with a Johnston illustration and a caption reading, “Hi How Are You?”
(...)
Art career
In 1993, Johnston painted a mural of the “Hi, How Are You?” frog, also known as Jeremiah the Innocent after the Three Dog Night song, on the side of the Austin Sound Exchange music store. The site was converted into a Baja Fresh franchise in 2004. Although initial plans called for the mural to be torn down, public outcry persuaded restaurant owner John Oudt to let the mural stay, at a price of $50,000 in additional costs and lost revenue. The Baja Fresh has since closed and the space has remained vacant for several months as of July 2007.
 
Wikipedia: Hi, How Are You
Hi, How Are You is the sixth self-released music cassette album by singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston, recorded in September 1983. The album was re-released on cassette in 1986 by Stress records, and in 1988 released on CD and LP by Homestead Records. The album was again re-released in 2003 by Eternal Yip Eye Music.
   
Daniel Johnston Web Store
Mural Frog WHITE t-shirt
 
Overview:
The popular Hi How Are You from from the MURAL WALL on the side of Baja Fresh Restaurant (previously Sound Exchange records) in Austin, Texas. This Austin, Texas landmark was rescued from destruction by local citizens and Baja Fresh owner Johnn Oudt in 2004. Wear it proudly. Daniel Johnston name imprinted on the back.
 
Details:
The popular Hi How Are You from from the MURAL WALL on the side of Baja Fresh Restaurant (previously Sound Exchange records) in Austin, Texas. This Austin, Texas landmark was rescued from destruction by local citizens and Baja Fresh owner Johnn Oudt in 2004. Wear it proudly. Daniel Johnston name imprinted on the back.
 
The Hi How Are You mural is painted on the side of a wall at 21st and Guadalupe by Daniel Johnston in 1994 on what was then the Sound Exchange record store. Threatened for demolition in 2003, it was rescued by local Austin citizens, as it is regarded as a local landmark.

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Texas (Lone Star State Dictionary) • Thursday, September 06, 2007 • Permalink


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