Read my lips

Mike Maas

Mr. Maas’s muses

This just in from an old friend of mine who also blogs about food:

“Anyway, what’s up with that mouth on your blog? It scares me. Is that really how you eat these days? If so, you’re taking the job a little too seriously! Let’s see what’s in there — a hot dog, a strawberry, a piece of sushi and what appears to be either a green bean or piece of green pepper — oh, and a lot of drool. I’m thinking I need something similar for my blog, maybe just with a bottle of tequila, a banh mi, and a piece of chocolate cake. And no lipstick. I’m only kidding, I think it’s funny.”

It cracks me up, too. The Chow Bella logo sprang from the demented, brilliant mind (and appetite, apparently) of local artist Mike Maas, whose colorful depictions of punk rockers, pinups, movie characters, and assorted subcultural icons reveal one cheeky sense of humor. Get a look at the gallery on his website — I’m lusting after the painting called “The Three Muses,” with bobble-headed Emma Peel, Barbarella and Catwoman. There’s also a great one of Ian McKaye as a tempted saint (I, too, knelt at that straight-edge altar as a pissed-off, coffee-swilling 16-year-old), Divine riding a pink flamingo, and a blue-haired Morrissey adorning a ouija board. Someday I’d love to commission Maas to make a crazy portrait of yours truly, but in the meantime, I’m flattered that my red-lipsticked mouth is in such good company.