I used to work at the PSC building off of Whitney Way. I drove down University Avenue every weekday for years. At some point in 2006 I remember the beginnings of a mural being painted on the side of the Good N Loud music store.

It was (and still is) an awesome mural of a guitarist (looks a bit like Jeff Beck) with a rainbow and some stars. It sprang up and greeted me each morning as I drove in to work. It really set of the building from the surroundings.

I admired it each day.

Then, our offices moved location and we were then on Old Sauk road and I didn’t pass it anymore. Recently, while stuck in accident traffic on University coming back from UW Hospital I decided to pull over and take a picture of my long-lost friend.

The Good N Loud is unfortunately closed. However, the mural remains. I had never gotten close to if before. It’s actually amazing how smooth it looks from a distance considering it’s painted on cinder blocks.

The perspective is awesome and the color is still bright. This is great work. So many people pass this every day and I hope that it stays and that future owners of this building don’t paint over it!

When I got home, I did a little digging, I mean this artist must have recorded his work somewhere, or the paper might have covered it. I found this Flickr page that had the artist name: Ben Bauman, and a couple of pictures from the year after it was painted.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aepoc/1032978986/

That led me to Ben’s actual Flickr page that has a wide shot of the entire mural from 2006! Nice.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/70515522@N00/3098839322/in/set-72157616637636945/

It looks great. Turns out he is the one that paints the Mad Cat trucks which are so cool! You can see them on Mineral Point Road outside of the Mad Cat stores. Check out Ben’s photos. Great stuff!

I’m glad I stopped and got the story on this mural and a few pictures. I’ve missed this guy.