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Bloody Mannequin Orchestra

Made up of former Chalk Circle guitarist Sharon Cheslow, Colin Sears, Alex Mahoney, Roger Marbury, and Charles Bennington, Bloody Mannequin Orchestra (frequently styled BMO) channeled surreal textures and cultural references into their occasionally saxophone-enhanced music, which often spoke from a darkly humorous perspective.

Drawn from the Sharon Cheslow Punk Flyers collection at Special Collections in Performing Arts at the University of Maryland.

Tap or hover over an image to learn more.

Fliers

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra flier with illustrations of abstract faces and scenerey in the background and handwritten text.

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra, Hate from Ignorance, and Iron Cross - Rockville, Maryland, January 14, 1983

Flier with dark, abstract ink illustrations.

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra and Braille Party - Washington, D.C., March 19 1983

Flier with collage-styled text and a background image of a woman and a young girl standing by and looking into an open refrigerator.

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra and Nuclear Crayons concert flier, Washington, D.C., August 1983 (Design 1)

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra flyer reverse with a red handwritten note.

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra and Nuclear Crayons concert flier, Washington, D.C., August 1983 (Design 1, Reverse)

Hand-drawn flier with a drawing of abstract characters and written text for event details.

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra, Hate From Ignorance (H.F.I.), God + Co., Your Food, Man Ray and Nuclear Crayons concert flier, Washington, D.C., August 1983 (Design 2)

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra flier

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra, Hate From Ignorance (H.F.I.), God + Co., Your Food, Man Ray and Nuclear Crayons concert flier, Washington, D.C., August 1983 (Design 3)

Flier with hand-written text aligned in the center and illustrations around the text (like ghosts and a hanging bear).

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra and Grand Mal, 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C., September 4, 1983 (Design 1)

Flier with a simple aesthetic of bold text and an illustration of a woman holding a cigarette with one of her arms and legs detached.

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra and Grand Mal, 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C., September 4, 1983 (Design 2)

Flier with a dark background and an illustration of a figure that is half skeleton and half human, drawn in an abstract style.

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra and Grand Mal, 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C., September 4, 1983 (Design 3)

Flier with a yellow background with black text and in the background is a pattern of a repeating target cursor.

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra and Grand Mal, 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C., September 4, 1983 (Design 4)

Flier that is divided into two vertical sections: the left is a dark background with band names, and the right is a light background with event details.

Grand Mal (formerly Wurm Baby) and Bloody Mannequin Orchestra, 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C., September 11, 1983

A dark flier with an abstract figure at the bottom that looks like an alien or a ghost.

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra, Grand Mal, Madhouse concert flier, D.C. Space, Washington, D.C., September 24, 1983

Simple and clean flier with bold text and a little illustration of some tools for a clock assembly.

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra, Madhouse, Grand Mal concert flier, d.c. Space, Washington, D.C., September 24, 1983

Flier in hand-written text and a bunch of abstract figures in the background (bottom center).

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra concert flier, 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C., October 7, 1983

Handwritten flier with a picture of a man (hunter) holding a rifle in one hand and a coyote by the leg in the other hand.

Hate From Ignorance, Bloody Mannequin Orchestra - DC Space, Washington, D.C., January 6, 1984 (Design 1)

Collage styled flyer with handwrittent text, cut-out text from an article, and some illustrations and photos of people.

Hate From Ignorance, Bloody Mannequin Orchestra - DC Space, Washington, D.C., January 6, 1984 (Design 2)

Flier titled 'The Bag People' with a large image of a room of illusions (such as a checkered floor and melting clock) and event details at the bottom.

Bag People and Bloody Mannequin Orchestra - 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C., February 21, 1984

Hand-written flier with doodles and illustrtaion, and at the center is the head of a person smiling on the phone with red eyes, and there is a circle around them has text that reads 'WHAT TIME IS IT?'.

BMO (Bloody Mannequin Orchestra) and Bag People - 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C., February 21, 1984 (Design 1)

Flier with a large image of a goat on a machine at the center, with hand-written text on the left. On the right is a mix of illustrations and written text.

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra and Bag People - 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C., February 21, 1984 (Design 2)

Green tinted flier with large, bold text and an illustration on the bottom right of a castle with what seems to be bodies on the ground and a dark, cloudy sky.

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra and Bag People - 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C., February 21, 1984 (Design 3)

Dark flier with a very simple drawing in the top half of a sun with a dot in the middle, and the bottom has event details in hand-written text.

Einstürzende Neubauten and Bloody Mannequin Orchestra - 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C., March 8th, 1984 (Version 2)

Green tinted flier with a background image of a close-up of a skull face covered in cobwebs on one side, and text in stylized font in the lower third of the poster.

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra and Crippled Pilgrims - Washington, D.C., DC Space, March 24, 1984 (Version 1, green paper)

Yellow tinted flier with a background image of a close-up of a skull face covered in cobwebs on one side, and text in stylized font in the lower third of the poster.

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra and Crippled Pilgrims - Washington, D.C., DC Space, March 24, 1984 (Version 2, yellow paper)

Flier with a background image of a bunch of weapons, and overlayed on this is cut-out style hand-written text (black letters on white background).

Velvet Monkeys and Bloody Mannequin Orchestra - C&O, Charlottesville, Virginia, June 2, 1984

Flier with dark background and an illustration of an old man playing piano, with large text above him for band names and smaller hand-written text to the left and right with event details.

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra and Braille Party - 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C., June 21, 1984

Flier with a scene of a crowd of abstract figures all walking through a path, and there is a parked car as well as a sign that seems to have a tracklist of four songs.

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra and The Dickies - 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C., August 16, 1984

Hand-written flier with sketches and doodles, and at the center is an image of mannequins on the floor.

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra, The Dickies, and The Snakes - 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C., August 16, 1984

Flier with random city-themes doodles and handwritten text.

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra and The Dickies - 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C., August 16, 1984

Ephemera

Background pattern of a person's eyes with content in a text box displayed as a music tape.

9:30 Club calendar with Bloody Mannequin Orchestra and Your Food show, January 1984

Black and white calendar of January events with drawings on several dates.

d.c. space calendar with BMO (Bloody Mannequin Orchestra), Hate From Ignorance, Washington, D.C., January 1984

Black and white calendar of March events with drawings on several dates.

D.C. Space calendar with BMO (Bloody Mannequin Orchestra), Crippled Pilgrims, Washington, D.C., March 1984

Clipping of a list of March events on a background image of a model of the earth.

9:30 Club calendar advertising a show featuring Einstürzende Neubauten, Bloody Mannequin Orchestra, and Morgue One on March 8, 1984

Calendar of June events in handwritten text.

C&O calendar with Bloody Mannequin Orchestra show, Charlottesville, Virginia, June 1984 (Front)

Back side of calendar with a text box on the right.

C&O calendar with Bloody Mannequin Orchestra show, Charlottesville, Virginia, June 1984 (Reverse)

Clipping of a list of July and August events.

9:30 Club calendar with Bloody Mannequin Orchestra and Dickies concert, Washington, D.C., August 1984

Black and white cover page with bold text and abstract drawings.

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra "Roadmap to Revolution" promotional flier, 1984

Dark flier with an illustration of buildings and a scene that resembles a face from afar.

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra "Roadmap to Revolution" promotional flier, 1984

About

Persistent Vision presents the University of Maryland's digitized special collections materials related to punk in the Washington, D.C. area. Most of these materials reside at Special Collections in Performing Arts (SCPA) in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library. These materials help to tell the story of a subculture and a community that has thrived since 1976.

Curators: John Davis, Ben Jackson
Design: Ben Jackson, Natalie Salive
Authors: Ben Jackson, John Davis, and Jessica Grimmer

With help from: Cindy Zhao, Jeremy Gottwig, Amanda Henderson, Gabby Cameron, Hayden Kramer

Contact Us

Special Collections in Performing Arts is located in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library on University of Maryland’s College Park campus.

For general information about the library and our collections, contact us