.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.

.all around stumptown.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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