Spitball Army

I nearly hit the floor when my friend Ben gave me this painstakingly and lovingly made reconstruction of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover, as a farewell tribute to my teenaged record store, which has flown the nest after 16 and a half years.  The version he handed me that day this past December was printed on canvas and it is BIG!  I am still trying to find the perfect place for it in my increasingly crowded little cottage.

Ben and I worked together on the CD samplers that my store produced annually.  He realized my sketches and ideas into miraculous little works of art, and many of the artists that were featured on those discs found their way into this collage, as well as family members, related celebrity types and icons from the store’s history, and a few oddities.  That’s Ben – always keeping it real by keeping it surreal and kitschy and unexpected.  Personally, I think it took a healthy slice of genius to concoct this so artfully, but Ben would most likely deny the praise.  Whatever.  I’ve simply stated my case, and I’ll stand by it.

How many of the figures that aren’t in the original can you identify?  Here’s the Beatles version, for reference: