Avett Brothers poster, Dublin, 2013

A great big thank you to Rob Niederman for this great screen-printed poster by Lars Krause, an artist who lives in Dresden. He didn't buy it for me, but a few months ago, Rob turned me on to the work of John Gilroy, who created all those wonderful ads for Guinness in the 1930s and 40s. (Thanks to Rob, we are running an interview soon with David Hughes, who has written several books on Guinness memorabilia and is putting the finishing touches on a new book about Gilroy).

One of Gilroy's most enduring characters for Guinness was a toucan, who enjoyed a glass of Guinness. The Avett Brothers are not associated with toucans, but they are a terrific North Carolina band (sort of bluegrassy, folky, rock stuff; seen 'em a couple of times at Hardly Strictly in San Francisco), and the state bird of North Carolina is the cardinal. So Krause, being some kind of geeky graphics genius, strapped a toucan beak on the visiting cardinal and perched the bird on a glass a Guinness for the band's recent show in Dublin. Brilliant!