boy blue productions

solid gone

2009-04-24T13:29:00.033-04:00

boy blue news has moved, and now shares its digs with the rest of our site. we hope you'll still come by.

.the boy blue county sunday telegraph.

2009-02-01T15:55:00.015-05:00

you're looking at a completely-i-swear-to-you unphotoshopped john flansburg performing "don't let's start". and as if life weren't already awesome enough:

:: ephraim rubenstein, beloved client and rumored relation to boy blue enterprises, has an opening thursday night at george billis gallery in chelsea. the show features a number of his haunting used and discarded book paintings, which seem even more impossible in the flesh. further details on his (rather lovely, if we do say so ourselves) site.

:: our old friend and collegiate collaborator "magic" dan "the danimal" kaplan (and if anyone ever warranted two nicknames, this is the chap) rolled into town this week with his new band magnolia to fill the back room at tommy's with his sweet, sleepy, bostonian brand of (highly effective) make-out music. i recommend track 3, especially if you're into whoever occupies the next cubicle over.

:: we launched the bear bones website this week. the "sounds" page hosts one of the best playlists we've ever stumbled across. also, we are rolling in scene points.

superbowl evasion is the biggest sporting event of our year. be strong, people; don't falter, don't fumble.

.snowy days and sundays.

2009-01-18T11:19:00.023-05:00

our d-girl at work.

you're looking at a hard-won morning off. it's still in development, but we think we've stumbled upon the next pet rock.

:: we're doing some design work for n.j. punk haven bear bones recording, a job that makes us feel considerably more attractive and better-liked than we in fact are.

the studio was humbly conceived as a way for its founder, darren golda, to help his friends' bands make records, but quickly (and for good reason) became a staple of the jersey punk scene. some of our very favorite bands have dropped albums from bear bones, and rumor has it mike hunchback's new weird fantasy band and it's a tiger shark have been rattling around there of late.

:: we're going to stumptown.

we just got our confirmation e-mail. precedent aside, we're psyched. there will be new comics to read and old friends to impose upon and jeff fucking smith and we're not going to let any sour self-important hipsters spoil our mood this year, so haters to the left.

the festival happens on april 18th and 19th in lovely, nag champa-scented portland, oregon. if you're in the area, you should come say hi. if not, you should go visit, and come say hi.

:: we've been writing a lot of code.

in addition to bear bones and the fine folks over at the green it group (who go live on inauguration day), we got a last-minute call from our friend graham willoughby, who's down in utah for the second year running. [the design is someone else's; we just wound it up and made it go.] graham is a documentary cinematographer whose recent success is decidedly well-deserved, and we're excited to help introduce him to the interworld.

more to come. until then, enjoy the weather systems.

.sunday morning at the boy blue offices.

2009-01-04T12:52:00.028-05:00

you're looking at an early prototype for our new dinosaur apple pancakes. they're still in development, but we feel confident that, once they're ready for the marketplace, sunday brunch will never be the same.

in other news, we've got some new sites up and running:

:: ephraim rubenstein's breathtaking paintings and drawings celebrate the art of observation to a degree one would be hard-pressed to find elsewhere. each one examines the most intimate and exquisite details of objects and environments too often taken for granted. seriously, you've never seen a sexier stack of hardcovers.

eph's got an exhibition of his recent used and discarded books series going up in february at george billis in chelsea that we highly recommend. but don't take our word for it.

:: smash camera! is a friendly little rental house in brooklyn run by two stellar cinematographers, graham willoughby and joseph victorine, both of whom i've had the pleasure to work with. (graham shot the much-lauded h.b.o. documentary the blacklist; joe specializes in music videos, and kindly lent his skills to our recent first foray into that realm.) they've got reasonable rates, experienced support, and an amazing new red camera that you will not believe is digital video.

there's lots in the works over here, and more goodness is on its way.

:: in accordance with one of our many resolutions, we've been doing some new-year's tidying here at headquarters, and you'll never believe what we found: our stack of swag from mocca 2007. (remember then? if not, you aren't missing much; we felt certain we were going to be stuck with our current president forever, and we were all really envious of property owners.)

shortly thereafter, we had quickly and unexpectedly to move ourselves into storage for a while, and we never got around to doing a write-up, or even reading most of the beautiful comics we picked up. expect a better-late-than-never atonement for this transgression to trickle onto these pages in the near future.

in the meantime, enjoy your tea and your christmas comics with the confidence that you have begun a new and better year, when complete sentences will issue from the oval office, gabrielle bell will publish a new book, and dinosaurs will roam the breakfast table.

.saturday night's alright for folk rock.

2008-12-29T13:34:00.026-05:00

photo: amelia

when i had the idea to folk up a hunchback song and include it in saturday's set, i never dreamed i could get a room full of people to join in on the final chorus. that's how awesome the parlor is.

:: the missed connections gave intimate performances of lots of great stuff from gesture sketch, and played an amazing new song that will hopefully make it onto this february's album.

:: mike hunchback was joined on one of many new classics-to-be by fish and jacki from his new weird fantasy band, which is currently mixing its first album with darren golda at bear bones recording (for which boy blue is currently building a site [link soon], and with which i may soon be making a recording or two). i got to hear the rough mixes after the show and they are shockingly good; i can't freaking wait for this record.

:: i test-drove a new tune, too. it needs work.

:: the rest of the evening was uniformly enjoyable; check out adam finchler's super-fun, super-catchy t.m.b.g.-meets-jonathan-richman goodness, aaron tramell's tom waitsy musings on post-collegiate life, and glad hearts, the rockin' full-band incarnation of ryan bing, who not only played a sensitive, acoustic iron maiden cover, but also bought copies of tick and "prologue."

photo: erin fancy

: update (31 december 2008) :
i got a last-minute call to open for mike doughty last night at maxwell's, where i had the good fortune to be mixed by the stellar and attentive hunchback craig of freedom school records. it is a rare and delightful experience to have a good sound man.

.joyful noise.

2008-12-12T07:56:00.012-05:00

so apparently i'll be opening up a rare acoustic night at proto-legendary jersey punk venue the parlor in new brunswick, the day after boxing day. (i'm not sure why, but i'm rolling with it.) subsequent performers include my old friends mike hunchback and amelia of the missed connections, both of whom are strange and amazing. hit me up for the address if you'd like to come.

the parlor first annual acoustic christmas spectacular
the parlor, new brunswick
saturday, december 27th, 2008; 7 p.m.
the missed connections, mike hunchback, adam finchler, ryan bing, me
way free

bring a present.

.side dishes.

2008-12-01T10:37:00.015-05:00

we've just completed a video of terry champlin's the earth below, a song for soprano and guitar quartet. (it's available as a quicktime on our video page and streaming over at youtube.) the warm light and narrow depth of field are the work of cinematographer joseph victorine, whose site we've just thoroughly revamped and expanded with some gorgeous new still photography. the glowing skin and smoldering gazes come to us from makeup magician mandy bisesti, whose site, overflowing with pretty ladies and indie-rockers (including a kick-ass mountain goats video), we've just launched.

goodness galore.

.i hocked my art in san francisco.

2008-11-10T10:36:00.029-05:00

[i have no idea who made this but it is, in my humble opinion, literally the best thing ever.]

good, good. now that we've gotten all that out of the way, let's talk about a.p.e.:

:: i had the good fortune to share my table with the gregarious and talented randall christopher, teller of the truly delightful all-ages tales of kleeman and mike, a pair of likable misadventuring san diego surfers who spend their days with a talking cat named october and a skateboarding, philosophizing brick. their antics are at turns funny, zany, sad, and sweet, though one is never quite sure, at the outset of a strip or animated short, which adjective to expect. (the effect is not unlike that of eating sour patch kids in a darkened theater.) their latest adventure, the fellowship of the parakeet part 2, is the most fast-paced and jubilant to date; it finds them trying to save the world's last surviving caroliner parakeet from a horde of pirate chickens with the help of rod serling, some maritime monkeys, a 14x11 pull-out poster, and two guest colorists (2 pages from a seasoned professional at d.c., and three more from a self-reflective 3-year-old named noah). pure, unapologetic fun.

:: i was excited to run into tessa brunton on her home turf, particularly because she's produced a new collection since i first discovered her endearing autobiographical comics at stumptown. in the tall grass number three is as charming and sweet as ever, but branches out from its predecessors with some longer strips and formal playfulness. my favorite bit, a miniscule eight-panel comic at the bottom corner of a bustling centerfold array, tells the silent story of a windowsill over time.

:: Nicole Georges and Clutch McBastard have joined forces for their sixth (i think) split zine, Invincible Summer #15 / Clutch #20. these diary comics read like actual diaries (as opposed to the circular, self-aggrandizing sludge into which 'bloggy strips so often degrade); they are up-close and personal, uncomfortable and sad, and the juxtaposition of styles-- visual, narrative, temperamental-- benefits both artists; we get the impression that these are two of the infinite number of ways to pass any given day, none of which seem to leave us any more confident or less confused than we were at its outset.

also, the new papercutter rules.

:: if i ever make any money at one of these things, i will most assuredly spend it over at the two fine chaps table, on one of their gorgeous, inventive, lavishly illustrated and cleverly constructed handmade tomes. probably one of the pop-ups.

:: sev leibundgut was back stateside with a new mini, bad cold step one, which combines the comic timing of a marx brothers routine with the impish humor of an old warner bros. cartoon to describe the trials and tribulations of nasal congestion. this woman is so talented.

:: glossy and crisp and lavishly produced, with a mckean-like presentation of a compelling tale, the boy who made silence issue 1 is beautiful to be sure, and yet does not quite manage to do justice to joshua hagler's breathtaking original paintings. you should seriously go check them out if you ever have the chance.

:: i laughed heartily and often while reading the first print collection of the atrox webcomics. and if you really loved me, you'd buy me one of the insanely awesome little monsters these folks make. actually, you'd buy me all of them. seriously, why do you hate me?

:: if there is a point (and i am in no way suggesting that there needs be) to luster kaboom's toothy and hippo, i confess that it eludes me, but man, these illustrations are brilliant; odd and distressing and satirical and smart, a la crumb, and very skillfully renedered.

:: for a collection of bawdy jam-comics, the first trubble club collection is surprisingly readable and fun, and even, at moments, kind of lovely.

:: i know there are a bunch of hipsters doing this sort of thing these days, but david bessent and camilla taylor's super fun activity challenge is an offbeat and unusually entertaining example of the flourishing children's activity book for adult children genre.

:: i debuted the print version of "prologue" at the expo. folks seemed to like it okay. the web translation can be found over in the oubliette.

don't forget to let me know if you were getting the vote out last week.

.interlude.

2008-11-03T02:23:00.006-05:00

odds and ends:

1. a.p.e. ruled. check back for a roundup (with, as always, recommended reading) later in the week.

2. i'm on my way to denver for election day g.o.t.v.'ing. if you volunteer for obama on election day, i will send you a free comic. actually.

3. you should head on over to sweeeeet's site and download their special edition election 'zine. it includes a madlibs-style cover letter from the losing candidate, a map to color as the returns come in, and a connect-the-dots presidential seal (courtesy of me). and maybe make some copies to pass out to the people you drive to the polls on tuesday. you're swell.

talk to you on the fifth.

.some days end up here:.

2008-10-30T22:49:00.007-04:00

the oubliette is now open. to be updated monthly, in theory, but you don't want to set your clock by it, okay?

.a.p.e.!.

2008-10-28T23:14:00.006-04:00

this weekend:

alternative press expo
the concourse, 620 7th street, san francisco
saturday, november 1st, 11a.m. - 7 p.m. & sunday, november 2nd, 11a.m. - 6 p.m.
$10/day, $15/weekend

i will be at table 103, with new goodies and old goodies also too you betcha.

.more mocca, please.

2008-06-21T15:19:00.017-04:00

why bother, i ask you? shall i fidget and fuss with this feeble language, attempt to render from it an awesomeness words are clearly inadequate to describe? if you saw it, you know, and if you were unable to attend, i don't wish to compound your regrets.

let me just say, then, that if you remain, for whatever reason, unfamiliar with any of the following, you might want to do something about that:

. MILK TEETH | kate allen .
as beautiful and deranged as its cover suggests with rich, textured watercolors capable of subtle stylistic shifts in the service of different narratives. if the a.m.n.h. and the cloisters had a love child, this would be the kid they adopted back when they thought they were sterile.

. MEDUSA | jessica abston and alex kim .
true to its title, a reflection of and upon that which cannot be faced. the fun here is not only in the book's accordian format, but also in the integration of the images, which don't illustrate the poem they accompany but what comes immediately after, the seemingly insurmountable object of the author's olympian dread.

. DON'T EAT THE ELECTRIC SHEEP | joe flood .
okay, i only have the third and fourth issues of this story, and i'm not entirely certain what's going on. but i actually want to hunt down what i'm missing and figure out, which says something. it's well-drawn and weird and fun, and helps satiate my enormous appetite for talking ducks without detracting from my scene points.

. UNINOODLE | aaron renier .
not that you need me to tell you that this guy makes good comics, but in this mini, we get to see him work in a number of different styles, from sketchy and willfully vague recollections of dreamed events to the cleaner, clearer, yet somehow less vivid waking hours that follow them. it's fun.

. CARL'S LARGE STORY | marcos perez .
i actually burst into peels of laughter in the midst of a crowded commuter train to poughkeepsie while reading the second issue. musical animal ensembles, jersey-girl groupies, mad scientists, foxy spies, strongmen, villainy, and crazy talk; this comic ffreakin' rules.

more to come. i'm still reading.

i try not to get falafel all over jackee and gary's newly purchased copy of tick. photo: c.j.

.is it mocca yet?.

2008-06-06T17:09:00.005-04:00

i'll be tabling at the unfathomably awesome (if history serves) mocca art festival this weekend, selling tick and showing off some new stuff and just generally geeking out. you can find me in the ballroom to the left of the main room, right in the middle, sharing a table with my old buddy mike mcghee, recently returned from japan where his mad skills got even madder.

mocca art festival
293 lafayette street, new york
saturday & sunday, 10a.m. - 6 p.m.
$10/day, $15/weekend

seriously, this is pretty much my favorite thing. you should come.

.new moon rising.

2008-05-24T02:00:00.010-04:00

i've just finished illustrating and designing i love the moon, the forthcoming record from hudson valley singer-songwriter helen avakian. the covers and liner notes include some new drawings based loosely on helen and her songs. the album is scheduled for june 27 release from the artist's own highwater music imprint, and can be ordered and further explored over at her site.

helen is a dizzyingly talented guitarist, and the songs and arrangements on this latest release give her ample opportunity to flex her fingers. i did my best to translate the album's emotional tenor into something visual, and felt i had been reasonably successful in that ambition, although it quickly became clear that helen does not share my view of her work as overwhelmingly subdued and contemplative. between you and me, i don't think she's listened to the album very closely.

.all around stumptown.

2008-05-15T22:33:00.040-04:00

manning my table with a smile and a ribbon. photo: greyaenigma

so stumptown was ai'ight. kinda stiff and sceney, but hey, i count any trip from which i return with a backpack full of comics as a trip well-taken.

some favorites:
(this list is in progress; i'm still working my way through the spoils of my oregonian conquest)

:: tessa brunton's in the tall grass, number two. honest, sweet, and personal, and containing perhaps the most incisive and thoughtful discussion of grace kelly's vagina i've read this year. also, this girl is a sweetheart.

:: minty lewis's ps comics 4 and just this side of heaven. hilarious and heartbreaking. seriously. brilliance.

:: i suspect sarah oleksyk is going to be pretty famous pretty soon; she's a freakishly talented cartoonist. every line in ivy, chapter one is both beautiful and meaningful; the faces and gestures and expressions they form are uniformly astounding in their clarity and emotional content.

:: owl and other comics, number one by josh shalek of welcome to falling rock national park is both charming and incredibly quotable; good for a week's supply of away messages and status updates, at least.

:: my only complaint about alec longstreth's mccloud-esque art history lesson phaze 7, #013 is that it should be much, much longer. i feel certain i would have fared considerably better in old art 105 if our textbook had been longstreth's art through the ages.

:: and while getting schooled, i was fortunate enough to happen upon the darling severine leibundgut and her breathtaking scratchboard drawings for "traveling through inertia," an exploration both literal and theoretical of durer's "melancholia I." the reproductions in vancouver's cloudscape anthology robots, pine trees, & broken hearts, while still beautiful, do the originals no kind of justice.

:: andy hartzell's stylish adaptation "the shepherdess and the chimney sweep," in the typically classy and high-quality seventh issue of papercutter, is a formal gem; the (scratchboard?) illustrations of the heirloom cabinet and its details, in the style of wood-carvings, are particularly cool and creepy.

:: i'm also quite enamored of neil brideau's delightful, detailed, gorey-esque illustrations in his mini the trugglemat. not only does this kid draw awesome van-gogh-through-a-photocopier stars, but he is a seriously stellar fellow to boot.

:: to be honest, i'm not always entirely certain what's going on in liz greenfield's autobiographical comics, but the drawings in i live in a box are so jubilant and expressive and charming that i love every page and panel. also, my new jellyfish button totally rules.

:: i really, really wish there were a second issue of barry deutsch's lilting, elegant hereville.

:: and while it hardly needs an endorsement from me, julia wertz's fart party #07 is roughly as good as the previous 7 1/2 issues, which is to say, fucking awesome.

other highlights included scott mccloud displaying what appeared to be genuine interest in my book, craig thompson sincerely trying to feign interest in my book, and selling a copy of my book to these people:

doctor nebulous and ticker. photo: evan nichols

i shared a table with eddie perkins of atomic panda, a talented fellow from california, who not only saved me from passing out multiple times with his magical bottomless bag of rice crispy treats and bananas, but also traded me a seriously saucy comic from his younger, broker, nom-de-plum-ed days. (without giving away too much, let me just say: hot cat-girl-angel-on-cat-girl-angel action.)

eddie with his felines-fatales, me with my robot friends. photo: lovemotionstory

eddie was particularly horrified to see how long i spent on a sketch requested by one of the dudes from cosmic monkey comics, who came by, picked up a few copies of tick, and asked if i would draw him "what space monkey means to [me]" for the store's wall.

this, dear friends, is why i don't do doodles when i sign stuff.

while bumming around town with my host jed lazar (co-founder of the imminent soupcycle sensation) and fellow traveler joe victorine (d.p. to the future stars), i had the good fortune to make the acquaintance of the inimitable malcolm rollick, an absurdly talented singer-songwriter who recently left her anti-folk roots behind and transplanted herself to portland. she was kind enough to show me a bit of the pdx scene, and even dragged me to a couple open mics, where i tried out some of the new stuff i've been working on (exclusively in the shower, up to that point; this is what drunken bravado gets me). i'm feeling kinda better about these songs as a result, probably, of the freakish niceness of pacific northwesterners; i may even throw a couple demos up here at some point.

good times. i'll miss you, sweet portland, and your ample bike lanes and your allergy-inducing lushness and your clean, if vaguely patchouli-scented air. way not to suck.

.comics is comics.

2008-04-25T15:59:00.004-04:00

is portland. is april. is stumptown!

i'm here, and you should be here also. you can find me at the first table to the left when you walk in the room, next to the information/registration table. i will have comics, and they will be cheap-ish.

stumptown comics fest 2008
saturday, april 26th and sunday, april 27th, 2008; 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
lloyd center doubletree, portland, oregon
$6/day, $10/weekend

you can't even take the awesome.

also, i reckon tonight i'll be headed over to the pre-party at guappo. i'll be the one who looks like me.

.rainy days are here again.

2008-02-25T14:02:00.011-05:00

the rumors are quite true; i will indeed be nestled amidst the fine, foxy legion of exhibitors at portland, oregon's stumptown comics fest 2008. i'll be selling copies of tick and should hopefully have at least the first installment of oubliette on hand as well.

i've got me a half table, which is a good deal more than i need, so if someone wants to jump in on that, let me know (boyblue@boyblueproductions.com).

stumptown comics fest 2008
saturday, april 26th and sunday, april 27th, 2008; 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
lloyd center doubletree, portland, oregon
$6/day
craig thompson, raina telgemeier, liz greenfield, awesomeness, me. come!

yes yes, my friends. i shall see you there.

.coast to coast.

2008-02-22T00:05:00.008-05:00

i sent in exhibitor applications this week for two upcoming festivals; the stumptown comics fest on april 26th & 27th in portland, oregon, and the mocca art festival on june 7th & 8th in manhattan. it will be some weeks before i know for certain, but i'm hoping to have a half-table at each. (sadly, 12 square feet is far more space than i need; if you'd like to split it with me, give me a holler: boyblue@boyblueproductions.com.) i'm also hoping to get to s.p.x. in september and a.p.e. in november. the plan is to have some new little goodies ready for each show.

so if you're somewhere near one of these shows, you should think about coming out. and if you come, you should find me and say hi. and i'll give you some free stuff. deal?

.all's fair.

2008-01-28T19:53:00.001-05:00

some other folks' "remixes" of images from tick will be projected this saturday night at theory events' artcrime 5: fair use party in the east village. the evening is a celebration of emergent art forms that sample, suggest, or otherwise employ pre-existing work, featuring dj's, photographers, mixed-media artists and others. and i, for one, am excited to see what's been done with/to/for/about my drawings.

tick will be available at the merch table, which i will be manning alongside painter linda griggs from 9-10. and my good friend nefarious will be downstairs dropping the sickest beats you are likely to hear this or any other winter (seriously). so stop in and say hi and see the sights and hear the sounds and have too much to drink and shake what your momma gave you. in my experience, theory's parties never disappoint.

artcrime 5: fair use
friday, february 2nd, 2008, 9p.m. - 4a.m.
china 1 antique lounge, 50 avenue b @ 4th street
21+ / no cover

.come a little bit closer; hear what i have to say.

2007-12-16T18:16:00.000-05:00

i'll be exhibiting and briefly discussing some images from tick on tuesday night at this month's E32 event in the east village. copies of the book will be available. come on by and consume various organic and fair-trade delicacies while you listen to me pontificate.

E32
tuesday, december 18th; 8pm
5C cultural center lounge, 68 avenue C (at 5th street), new york, ny
E32 is an artists' talk and projection series that takes place Every 3rd
2sday of the month, curated by linda griggs.

.they like me okay.

2007-07-06T11:30:00.001-04:00

check it out. i got my first review from the fine folk at optical sloth.

.giant robots.

2007-06-29T08:14:00.001-04:00

some images from tick will be projected in the "galleryless gallery" this saturday night at theory events' artcrime party in china 1's downstairs venue, antique. i'll be on hand, intermittently getting my groove on and selling comic books. this place is unbelievably cool, and theory's parties never disappoint (plus they're free). stop in and say hi if you're in the neighborhood.

artcrime
saturday, june 30th, from 9pm to 4am
antique, downstairs from china 1; 50 avenue b, between 3rd and 4th
music, dancing, art, alcohol
21+, free

.mocca choka latta ya ya.

2007-06-29T07:34:00.000-04:00

so i went to my first mocca festival last weekend, and it was just so awesome. folks were overwhelmingly down-to-earth and interesting and interested, and instances of rockstarism, while unavoidable, were few and far-between. i traded comics with lilli carre, and came home both days with a bag full of minis, sketchbooks, and various other category-defying permutations of the graphic literary ideal. also, my name seems to have popped up in somebody's mocca recap.

in the coming weeks, as i work my way through this beautiful big stack of comic books, i'll post reviews (this is the wrong word. i don't like reviews) of some of my favorites here. i'll get on that as soon as i've finished moving the boy blue offices (into storage).

.who says i don't havesuperpowers?.

2007-05-23T10:14:00.000-04:00

this friday i will be participating in two different events, in two different cities, simultaneously:

new york
some pages from tick will be projected in the "galleryless gallery" of the outrageous fortune party that theory events is throwing at china 1, which has quite possibly the coolest small venue space of any bar ever. seriously. there will be two rooms; one with hot d.j.'s and a dance floor, and one with a progression of digitally projected art and a bar. sam will be providing free tarot card readings, and work from many of the artists exhibiting (including my book) will be available at the merch table. details:

outrageous fortune
friday, may 25, 9pm - 4am
china 1 (downstairs), 50 avenue b (between 3rd and 4th streets), manhattan
further details

i shudder to think how awesome this event is going to be. if you go, you'll have to tell me all about it. because i'm going to be in...

poughkeepsie
playing a couple songs as a "distinguished alumni" at my alma mater's senior week cafe night. details:

music and food
friday, may 25th; 9pm
the aula, eli hall, vassar college, poughkeepsie, ny

let me know if you're going to be around.

images:
one: "tick:july," by me, 2007, ink on paper
two: cheese pie, my old college bluegrass band, on the quad at earth day 2002.
top row: dan, kenan, francesca, francesca's friend, greg, tyler
bottom row: caleb

.A-Sto.

2007-05-22T08:19:00.001-04:00

those of you who didn't make it out to the sidewalk this sunday night missed not only another debilitatingly beautiful half-hour of alexa story's effortless lyricism, but also the rare opportunity to see me play mandolin at a hip-hop show. yeah, i didn't know about this either until i got there, but it was awesome. alexa (above, below right) and emcees danon and hosannah of uppanotch split an hour of hip-hop night, helping to forge the bonds of understanding between musical cultures, and donated their proceeds to the darfur solar oven project and the sudanese refugees it serves, and i didn't screw up too much, i don't think, so it was a productive evening all around.

in equally exciting news, alexa's new cd's, recorded by jesse p (below left), are available and awesome. the bad news is i'm not sure how you can get them before august, when she comes back from north carolina where she'll spend the summer attempting to kill the death penalty. in the meantime, you can listen to four of the tracks on her myspace page, and i highly recommend you do. (i'm on the first two.)

enjoy.

.all types of crazy crap.

2007-05-19T11:37:00.000-04:00

1. the books are in. they're big and pretty. if you want one to call your very own, you can get it online or see a list of retailers carrying it here. if you know of someplace else where it should be sold, tell me about it.

2. i made a tick store on cafe press, mainly because there was stuff i wanted that i didn't have the resources to make for myself. it's got all types of crazy crap.

3. the aforementioned anthology is under way. the artists on board are amazing, and the book is going to be very very good. if you are not involved with the project, but feel you should be, just say so.

kenan

postscript: i'm accompanying alexa woodward at the sidewalk cafe tomorrow night (may 20th) at 11pm. i'm also playing a few songs this friday night (may 25th) up at vassar. details soon; you should stop by if you're in the 'hood.

.here we go.

2007-04-29T15:28:00.000-04:00

1. tick is at the print house. it should be back, bound and beautiful, by the middle of may. if you've got any fingers you're not using, you should cross them for me.

and then we're gonna have a party. you should come.

2. the website is up. if you don't believe me, go click on something. there are sample pages from the comic, desktop images and t-shirt designs, cartoons, good things. and more on its way.

3. this is a strange feeling, you know? not unfamiliar, not unmanageable, but maybe not to be dwelled on, either.

and so we're doing an anthology. yes, an anthology, and not only to distract ourselves, but also because there are just too many good things you've never seen, and your ignorance is not becoming. we're going to make a big, versatile, beautiful comic book, and then you can read it, and we'll all come out on the other side notably more attractive for our trouble.

if you're aware of something good and graphic and sequential and un-or-under-appreciated you're afraid i may overlook, or if you yourself are good and graphic and sequential and un-or-under-appreciated, let me know, okay?

okay.

.all manner of matters.

2007-04-13T12:11:00.000-04:00

1. i was in manhattan last week laying down some guitar and mandolin tracks for alexa woodward (whom you may remember from the broken circles show at niagra). she's one of those one-take people you hear about (but never actually meet). needless to say, the experience was somewhat intimidating. these are going to be freakin' awesome recordings, and they should be finished soon. i'll keep you posted.

2. thanks to the generosity of my alma mater (to which i may actually have to start giving occasionally), i finally have tick all scanned and ready to go. the quotes are rolling in from printers, so hopefully the order will go out in the next week or two.

3. i did some animation for the good folks over at wicked east productions some moths ago, which is up on their hiply-yet-elegantly refurbished site. it features my one-time english and hypermedia professor, the acclaimed hypertext novelist micheal joyce, talking about one of the prettiest books i've ever read. we did it in h.d., and a lot is lost in the downsampling, but you can get the idea. i'll put a slightly higher-res version on my site when it goes up in a couple weeks.

in the meantime, i'm just day-jobbing it while i work out the details of all this self-publishing nonsense. more to come.

k

sunset lake, poughkeepsie, ny, in the autumn of maybe 2000.

.things to come.

2007-03-29T11:27:00.000-04:00

so tick is finally finished, and now i'm trying to figure out how to get it printed. i'm somewhat overwhelmed by the process, but i'm hoping to have more news for you sooner than seven months from now.

also in the works is a real website, which soon (hopefully; i'm doing it myself and have no idea what i'm doing) will be reachable at boyblueproductions.com (currently the url redirects you here), at which point all those dead links in the sidebar will miraculously morph into live links.

.tick final pencils.

2006-09-01T14:55:00.000-04:00

"tick: woooossh" study (detail)

moving right along....

.tick layout sketch.

2006-06-25T14:06:00.000-04:00

tick, kenan's new comic, is in progress and scheduled for late august release.

"tick: april I" study (detail)

more details soon.

.soulstice.

2006-06-24T12:58:00.000-04:00

kenan was joined on stage by the lovely and formidable rachael teel for "the game" at soulstice on thursday night. [click image for more]

in addition to all the brilliant artists billed, i had the honor to follow the inimitable poet/comedian regie cabico, who actually referred to me as "mangelina jolie." [if you don't know regie, salon offers a decent introduction.] equally unexpected was poetess erin mcnellis, whose stunning and provocative verse is rarely heard on this seaboard.

in conclusion, this event was totally sweet. thanks to everyone who made it out.

.joyful noise.

2006-06-20T12:19:00.000-04:00

come spend midsummer night with some of the most talented people i know:

stop by and introduce yourself? the acts i've witnessed are absurdly good. i'll be the kid who looks like me.

performers:
rainy day assembly
voidstar runner
sam cohen
kenan rubenstein

artists:
alison meyer
seth joseph
vincent li

.the milton street festival.

2006-06-13T17:44:00.000-04:00

best event ever: not only did i get to hear "born to run" performed with a kazoo solo, but i now know the proper plural of the word octopus (it's octopuses)!

.joyful noise.

2006-06-08T16:54:00.000-04:00

kenan will be playing at the milton street festival on june 12:

e-mail me (via my profile) for details.