I Wanna Be Riveted (1981)

I WANNA BE RIVETED
40th Anniversary
First Edition, from the lost tape
in the original, never released
1981 letterpress printed jacket

Old Man Rivet and the Rivetheads

Live at the Allan Stone Gallery
opening of the Richard Minsky exhibition
May 5, 1981

I Wanna Be Riveted Jacket
Jacket
Minsky performing as Old Man Rivet, May 5, 1981
Design by Pat Gorman, Photo by Peter Seidler
Printed letterpress by Minsky in 1981.

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At the Allan Stone Gallery in the spring of 1981 I exhibited photographs, bookbindings, and Minsky in London, an artist book about my experience as US/UK Bicentennial Fellow. I asked Allan if I could do a musical performance, and he said “sure.” Since the opening was from 4–6 on May 5 I composed a five minute piece for five musicians to go with the date 5/5, and performed it at 5:55, with a 6-foot oil on canvas I painted as a backdrop.

I had been working on a few projects with Rosalind Solomon, who extended her photographic practice into books, sculpture and installations, including sound recordings made in remote locations. She had a nice tape recorder, and volunteered to capture the audio of the performance. When we started to play everybody crowded in front of her. The sound on the tape was muffled, but I sent it to a record stamping company anyway to have 7” 45 rpm records made. It captured the feeling of the event. The composition was post-punk free-form noise, refined through several rehearsals.

Pat Gorman (1947-2018) designed the front and back for a record sleeve. Peter Seidler took the photo of me performing as Old Man Rivet. I printed the sleeves on a Vandercook press at the Center for Book Arts. Then I got a call from the record manufacturer telling me they couldn’t make the records because of the sound quality. I asked them to make the discs anyway, but they refused and sent back the tape. I filed it away in a safe place and got back to work on other projects.

Riveted jacket back
Jacket (back)
Design by Pat Gorman
Signatures printed letterpress from a photoengraving

The following year I got married and moved. It didn’t last long—divorced, I moved again and everything went into storage. In 1984 the Center for Book Arts left the storefront at 15 Bleecker Street (where I started it in 1974) and moved to a larger space. I reestablished my studio in the storefront.

Getting back to work I found the record sleeves, but the tape had disappeared. In 2002 I left NYC and moved to Stockport, NY, filling a shed with much of the contents of my studio. The pandemic gave me time in 2020 to go through the drawers of an old filing cabinet. In the back of the bottom drawer was the tape.

I was afraid to play it, as a nearly 40 year old cassette could self-destruct, and sent it to George Blood Audio, near Philadelphia, to be digitized. It turned out there was more than just the performance on the tape. George digitized all of it. I excerpted some of the conversations Rosalind recorded while setting up, and the band’s sound check and tuneup. These are on the CD following the performance—flashback to a lost time now found.

Riveted CD
The CD

There are 125 jackets that were printed letterpress in 1981. Originally made to hold a 7" vinyl 45 rpm record, it now has an inner sleeve that holds the CD. A colophon on the inner sleeve states the distribution.

The inner sleeve
The Limited Edition sleeve, gray Canson Mi-Teintes paper

Inner Sleeve with CD

Inner sleeve back

CHOOSE AN EDITION AND ORDER ONLINE
[Inctitutions requiring purchase order, pay by check, or shipping with invoice click here or scroll down]

Limited Edition of the original letterpress printed jacket from 1981 with the inner sleeve printed on Canson Mi-Teintes paper using Epson archival UltraChrome HG2 pigment inks. Approximately 7¼" square format.The CD is printed with the same UltraChrome inks on a JVC Pro disc. Edition of 75 signed copies numbered 1-75. Includes free shipping within the USA. Select free shipping at checkout.
$175.00

I Wanna Be Riveted, 1981 Jacket, Canson Mi-Teintes sleeve
JVC Pro disc

$175.00

Gold Archive Edition of the original letterpress printed jacket from 1981 with the inner sleeve printed on Rives BFK paper using Epson archival UltraChrome HG2 pigment inks. Approximately 7¼" square format.The CD is printed with the same UltraChrome inks on a MAM-A Gold Archive disc. The jacket comes in a cloth-covered box. Edition of 20 signed copies numbered I-XX. Includes free shipping within the USA. Select free shipping at checkout.
$375.00

I Wanna Be Riveted, 1981 Jacket, Rives BFK sleeve
MAM-A Gold Archive disc, cloth box

$375.00

Deluxe Edition of the original letterpress printed jacket from 1981 with the inner sleeve printed on Rives BFK paper using Epson archival UltraChrome HG2 pigment inks. Approximately 7¼" square format.The CD is printed with the same UltraChrome inks on a MAM-A Gold Archive disc. The jacket comes in a leather-covered box Edition of 5 signed copies numbered A-E. Includes free shipping within the USA. Select free shipping at checkout.
$1,275.00

I Wanna Be Riveted, 1981 Jacket, Rives BFK sleeve
MAM-A Gold Archive disc, leather box
PRE-PUBLICATION DISCOUNT

$1,275.00

CD in a standard plastic case with no jacket orr sleeve.The CD is printed with UltraChrome inks on a JVC disc.
$18.00 + shipping. Orders over $35 ship free. If your order qualifies, select free shipping at checkout.

I Wanna Be Riveted CD, JVC Pro disc in a clear plastic CD case.

$18.00

NOTES

NOTES is a book of Minsky music, compositions, theory, construction of a Musical Chair pipe organ, with two CDs. Click the image or link for a page with details and ordering.

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Title:I Wanna Be Riveted Please indicate your choice of product and payment method. Prices are for orders placed by December 10, 2020. QUANTITY ITEM ___ CD in 1981 Jacket, Canson paper sleeve @ $175.00. ___ MAM-A Gold Archive CD in 1981 Jacket, Rives BFK paper sleeve, cloth box @ $375.00. ___ MAM-A Gold Archive CD in 1981 Jacket, Rives BFK paper sleeve, leather box @ $1,275.00. ___ JVC CD in clear plastic CD case @ $18.00. Name: Institution: Address: Telephone: E-mail: Shipping costs will be added to your invoice. Sales Tax must be collected on New York deliveries. New York State dealers and Exempt Organizations please provide properly completed resale or EO certificates. Preferred Payment Method (please check one): ___ check ___ wire transfer ___ institutional purchase order (30 days) Purchase order number _________ ___ electronic invoice (can be paid online with a credit card or PayPal) An invoice will be e-mailed to you on receipt of this form. [To use a credit card now, please use the online ordering system above.] Do not enter credit card numbers here! Comments:

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Have you seen Minsky's exhibition catalogs documenting more than 1,200 American book covers from 1872-1935 that brought Modernism into people's homes? Together they provide a valuable resource for curators, catalogers, scholars, art historians, designers, collectors, and students of material culture. Many institutions have acquired them.

American Publishers' Bindings on the Books of Amelia E. Barr 1882-1919
2016

Trade Bindings with Native American Themes 1875-1933
2014

The Book Cover Art of
Thomas Watson Ball
2012

American Decorated
Publishers' Bindings
1872-1929

Volume 1, 2006

Volume 2, 2009

Volume 3, 2010

VISIT THE BLOG:
THE ART OF
AMERICAN BOOK COVERS