.saturday night's alright for folk rock.

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.

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.

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.

[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.

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:.

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.!.

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.

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?.

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.

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.