LESLIE MY NAME IS EVIL OPENS FRIDAY/PERFORMING SUNDAY


Leslie, My Name is Evil is opening this Friday May 21st in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver!!!
It is playing at the AMC at Yonge and Dundas - 10 Dundas Street in Toronto, AMC Forum 22 in Montreal and The Cinemark in Vancouver.
I have a role in it as a slimy juror. I was originally named Henry until I told Reg, the director, that no one in the movie even calls me Henry. Oops! Shoulda kept my mouth shut- 'ponytailed juror' don't look as good in the credits! And I was only ponytailed cuz I was promised a fee haircut on set and they ran out of time! Ha!
See it soon as it may be only playing a week or so cuz it ain't from Hollywood.
Also this Sunday May 23rd at The Rivoli, 332 Queen West, at 9 pm, I'll be doing a new character called The Romantic for The Loner Show. It's the night of solo comedy without stand-up. I'm really looking forward to doing this character and the bill as usual has some really strong performers for only 5 bux...
The bill is featuring:
Hunter Collins
Robert Dayton
David Dineen-Porter
Nick Flanagan
Andrew Iwanyk
Kevin Lee
Chris Locke
Kathleen Phillips
Jared Sales
Graham Wagner
and Hosted by Brian Barlow

CAT SWEATERS

Photos that Clancy Dennehy took of me in my cat sweaters.
It was taken then never used for an article on sentimental fashion objects for some Canadian fashion mag. The article ran sans pics. Another mag was gonna re-use the article but I dunno what happened. Should I run it here?
This is 2002?2003? I was experimenting with a pencil-thin at the time (mixing up the 'stache) but it's tooo high maintenance, if you don't shave every 3 hours it looks nasty and you need an eyebrow pencil to highlight it (a tip that John Waters has written about somewheres).
Anyways these sweaters were knit from a Mary Maxim pattern by my Mother and given to me over ten years ago. I still regularly wear them. The pink one is of my childhood cat Precious. My Mother under-recognizes some of her own talents (she's also a really good writer, I used to run a column of her TV Movie Reviews in The Drippy Gazette). Clancy interviewed her at length for a never completed documentary on July Fourth Toilet.
Sadly she can't knit anymore due to arthritis.


CARAMEL HAS A TALE

This may be my most favourite Bob Bolling tale yet. Your heart will murmur. Bolling created Little Archie but his stories in the early issues were far different and far more nuanced than the later oft-reprinted adventures. This one comes from The Adventures Of Little Archie #22 from 1962.









SCAT SCAT

Found this old children's book in some sorta thrift shop somewhere sometime ago,it's inspiring...


































TURDS

The Toronto Comic Art Fair was really something special. So much quality work and wonderful people, old pal peers and heroes and new pals. It spurs me on to keep on creating and to deepen that creative focus....

Okay.

Too many turds in the blog pool lately. Had to change my comment settings. I am just too sensitive. I even got on the defense to someone who I thought was pseudonymous but probably wasn't. My back was up.
This is a common problem in blogland. I am so used to zining (Grampa Blog) or writing a newspaper column where some anonymous/pseudonymous commenter can't come on and be all mean and nasty without any responsibility or explanation whatsoever(no name to back it up). No, one actually had to post a letter! (and I did get some amusing and creative hate mail in those days)
I've been told by Hal Niedzviecki, who wrote The Peep Diaries: How We're Learning to Love Watching Ourselves and Our Neighbors, that studies have been done on these anonymous and pseudonymous commenters which show that they really are at an emotional disconnect. Due to the technology that they are using they feel a distance, they don't think that they'll be hurting anyone's feelings. It ain't the case. I was talking to ______ (someone-ahem- famous) who was actually upset at something mean that someone wrote about them on a blog. See,it gets out there and it does have an emotional effect on people. So glad that all those catty reviews I wrote in my early 20s for a weekly are just flotsam drifting away now....
I love blogging, I love this aspect of communication and having discourse. I can get pretty personal and honest. I know folks can relate, most everyone goes through stuff. And it's been quite the year. My skin gets thicker but it may still be too thin. But I may have to ease up even more on exposing my inner dialogue because of said turds. No more confessionals? I know that these are sick (who isn't?) and cowardly people- not even standing behind what they say with their true names- but I may have to be more careful.

PRISON FOR BISCUITS

It has been another eventful week. The Nilsson tribute was a blast, met up with Henri Faberge on the day of, met sweet musicians Dana and Morgan for the first time, and we blasted through it in rehearsal. Show ready! It felt great to rock out on those songs! I miss rockin' out, it's been a few months. How can one just pick two Nilsson songs to sing? We chose "I Never thought I'd Get So Lonely" and "You're Breakin' My Heart." I pulled out my VHS copy of Nilsson and Terry Southern's ill-fated collaboration that Rip Torn directed "The Telephone."It was obvious that everyone there truly loved Nilsson, lots of great covers, Ron Sexsmith played as well as a surprise guest.
I also got briefly name-checked by one of my favourite directors Guy Maddin on a Toronto blog. Man, I been a fan of his since I was a teeny bopper. He directed Frank Gorshin, who also starred in Skidoo, a movie that Nilsson did the soundtrack to!
I also had some good ice cream, sang karaoke at a co-worker's birthday, and found issue two of Fatman, the Human Flying Saucer by CC Beck and Otto Binder! !!!!!!! I'd been looking for this comic book for over ten years! I've written about Fatman twice. Obesessed. Only three issues were ever made, my copy of number one is dog eared from numerous readings and you can find out more about this unusual comic here I purchased it and a reprint of Rainbow Batman (why can't Batman be as good as he was in the 50s and early 60s? Such slick cartoony Dick Sprang art and wonderfully absurd stories) from m'man Keith Jones, who has a new book coming out, check it and see.
The past few days have also had some lows, blunders, inadvertently hurting people's feelings without wanting to, etcetera. I really just want to stay home and recharge. But I can't. I can't. I am sitting at a table at TCAF in The Small Press Schooner Room on Saturday May 8th, at the Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge from 9-5pm along with:
Adrienne Kammerer
Jesjit Gill
Amanda Sampson
Alicia Nauta
Brian Evinou
Alex Mackenzie
Laura Mccoy
Reid Jenkins
Jacob Horwood
Andrew Baily
Peter Kalyniuk
Kyp Harness
Mark Connery
The Schooner Room is located on the second floor of the reference library.
And if you look at the TCAF link you'll see just how exciting it looks this year (like the previous ones weren't, ha!). Jim Woodring's going to be there! Jim Woodring! Man, I used to write him fan letters as a teen. And he wrote back with the most amazing advice, I still have those letters, man, that guy is an inspiration! I believe that I've gone on about how important he is to me before.
The great Fiona Smyth is also unveiling issue 2 of her compilation comic "The Wilding" at TCAF. Here's a sneak peek of my pic for it:



As well, the upcoming "PRISON FOR BITCHES" Lady Gaga fanzine edited by Michael Deforge and Ryan Sands will make its' debut, here's my comic:

NILSSON TRIB

Thanks to my pal Serena giving me a heads up,I was able to piggyback on to dapper musician Henri Faberge's slot with him and a couple other fine people who I'll be meeting very soon and get in on singing a couple of songs for a Nilsson trib show happening Sunday,May 2nd at the Magpie (831 Dundas St. West),you know how much I love the Nilsson and love to pay tribute to the Nilsson (this'll be the third one I've been involved in...seriously:Kier-la Janisse did one a few years ago in Vancouver at the Blinding Light where she played The Point and Canned Hamm performed with kotexes on our heads ala Lennon & Nilsson's Lost weekend and Destroyer played along with other fine acts, and I DJed an all Nilsson night at FEELINGS a coupla months back, I wonder how many Nilsson tribs there's been around the world? I mean, his back catalogue is so rich,there should be weekly Nilsson). I wish I knew more (in everything) for details on this night but I think it's at 8:30 or 9 PM and there's lots of acts.


In other news: I have some drawings to make but I lost my pencil- damn! Gonna have to freestyle nib and ink it! I wish David Lee Roth was here, he's the kind of fellow who always brings his pencil, he just needs something to write on. Reminder:buy pencils.

BREAK THROUGHS

I have completed a few more pages on my Love and Loss book, phewwww.
I received an upset e mail about my "FOR THE LADIES" art show call-out (see: previous post) stating that calling women ladies is condescending. I wrote back stating that I'd been misconstrued, that I am asking for anyone of any gender that identifies as a lady to respond. Hopefully that cleared that up, but I really have to admit, sometimes I wonder if this is a stupid idea and am doing some 'straight(ish) white(ish) male(ish)' fumbling and stumbling. I wonder if there are any men at LadyFest? I'm such a second guesser. And, yes, if it does rub you wrong the way, feel free to express that: I want to keep it an open platform. Althoooooo..... I thought I had a wide variety of responses until I realised I have nothing from non-female ladies! Anyone who is or knows of anyone that identifies as a lady and is non-female or was born non-female? Please please please contact me! Somewhat serious responsees only please.
On to topic at hand. I made a personal break-through this weekend. Hmm, have I taken my post-relationship blog post from a few days ago down yet? I think I will now. It's tooooo revealing, maybe tooo vulnerable...there! It's down! Anyways, back to my breakthroughs, even if I had done everything 'just so' and did not have my character defects, the relationship would have still ended the same way, no matter what. So I have to stop beating myself up and feeling serious remorse over the part I played. I still have personal work to do, of course, I'm not doing it for a finished relationship. And this personal work is never ending! Wish me luck, it gets scary.
I read two things this week which got me thinking. I've started reading The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen, a great piece of fiction so far. In it, one main character is writing an awful misogynistic screenplay that's basically angry and vindictive towards women that he feels messed up his life (ie. a college sex scandal). The book is quite uproarious- tho verrrry dark- in its' truths. I also read a newspaper interview with someone who wrote an angry non-fiction book called "I hate Your Band" or "I Won't See Your Band" or something. The writer had given up on dating arty/musician guys who (pigeonhole alert)wear vintage frames (ouch, wish I had perfect vision), ride bikes (ouch), play in bands that she doesn't want to sit through (mmmmaybe ha ha), etcetera etcetera...The whole interview read as a verrrrry bitter thing that may have been better served with professional therapy.
(Gawd, I wish I could afford therapy)
Those two examples made me realise that for my book (which is on Love and Loss)and for all of my art, I best steer clear of the personal vindictive as it is an unhealthy way to reach people. Certainly anger and bitterness are stages that will need to be explored in a book on Love and Loss, but it has to be worn well and with class intact. I had been guilty in the past of being personally angry in my art and I can certainly say from experience, that it never looks good.
Luckily, I don't feel that angry. Grumpy, yes.
I also found an amazing book on grieving at a church rummage sale. It has great layout and ideas. Should I post some pages? Let me know.

FOR THE LADIES

Hello. If you identify as a lady (no matter what your gender or if you gender) then I may just need your kind assistance and suggestions: "What would you, as a lady, like to see depicted in my art (or, more simply, art in general)?" I am open to responses but really do need to hear from non-female born ladies as well as I have not had any responses from them yet.

I have an art show in August at IndexG which I am entitling "For The Ladies." These will be approximately a dozen works on paper using pen and ink and water colours. I've been pretty deeply affected by the early 70s glam revival of art deco and will most likely be using that palette, ie. soft pinks and yellows and such (someone was asking me how soft pinks, et al, identify with ladies...er, that's just colours I like right now, nothing to do with topic at hand, just like how it'll be pen and ink, just a b/g of what I am doing).

Though, visually my imagery will be dwelling more in the realms of ambiguity, I still have to ask, "What would you, as a lady, like to see depicted in my art (or art in general)?"

The subjects that I am portraying-ie.the work itself- is what will be most important and that's why I've asked for advice and dialogue, but I am not actively pursuing confrontation. Admittedly, once one gets into gender issues, it gets thorny. Is gender dying? I am straightish whiteish maleish, there's no getting around that but I am asking for responses from anyone who identifies as a lady, I do this without any form of posturing of machismo. I have a personal dissatisfaction with some elements of masculine culture. See, I do not readily identify with certain masculine tropes- are we binary? Can one dwell in the grey areas between feminine and masculine tropes?
I have had some ask me why the name "For The Ladies"? I simply can't call it "For The Women" for several reasons. I really believe that elements of masculine and feminine dwell in all of us, I want to be inclusive. If I called it "For the Women" I also believe it would be more suspect. If I saw a guy give a show that title I would really call his motives into question, I'd be wondering, "What's his angle?" And also, the show has a playful tone, my work is playful.
If you are shy or somewhat private, feel free to drop me a line instead with your suggestions.
Oh, and if you have an articulate opinion on this concept or think the concept needs further clarification, feel free to contact.
Feel free to forward and anyone who identifies as a lady.

ROCTOBER REVIEWS

Numerous comic reviews that I've written are now up at the legendary Roctober Magazine's blog:
http://roctoberreviews.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html

They will be printed in the next issue of the magazine as well. For those not in the know, Roctober is a scrappy and fun music enthusiast mag from out of Chicago, a city that is very steeped in music and Roctober goes all over the musical map with a love of eccentricity! Lately they have expanded their focus to include more comics! Yay! Which means that I have been writing plenty of comics reviews for their last few issues. I really want you to click the above link as some of these comics really deserve to be known, there's some wild ones!

STILL MORE NELLIE NO-DATE

Remember what I said last post about Spring? I lied. No. Hold that. I didn't lie. The weather did. Grrrrrrey (to be read with rolled r's). I know because I have been with the people on the streetcar. I can read their moods. I don't want to be with them. I want to be free.
In terms of pure sociological need, I found another episode of Nellie No Date by Ogden Whitney and Shane O'Shea. This one appeared in Herbie issue number 8, as well I've thrown in the never reprinted letters column. Enjoy your Friday nite!



PHOTOGENIC NEURASTHENIA



Hmmm, maybe I'm not depressed. Or, if I am, maybe I know how to better handle it, more experience, an upgrade in coping skills. Hmmm.
Hmmm.
Last week I saw Gary Panter do a free lecture and it was sooo empowering! Really! This guy has been a hero of mine for many years and he didn't disappoint. In terms of being a person that works in various mediums and having people ask, "What's your focus?", he totally validated it, cuz it's all art!He said that he'd never designed sets before he designed the sets for PeeWee's Playhouse but he went at it with an artist's gusto. He also told us that beating ourselves up for not getting work done is unhealthy, we should call it 'recharging our batteries'. I beat myself up all the time for not getting stuff done. But resting is important. One fella at the end asked how Panter 'made it' as he's an artist, too, and has to work 40 hours a week. Panter basically said that it's all an illusion. And I believe that he said something along the lines of how fame does not equal money. Well, I understand that, I have a mountain of press clippings that do not translate into sales.
I wish I was taking notes as Panter did a survey of art that featured artists I've never heard of! He also described his upbringing and gave us some technical tips! What a lecture! More than a few people in attendance wanted to go home and draw after that!
I want to draw more but time....no time...can't beat myself up.
My pal Serena recently sent me an old drawing that I did with Jason for The Blinding Light Mag. She recently used it in a class oral report on 'photogenic neurasthenia.'Uh, I don't know what that means, either. Oh. You do? Okay.
The Blinding Light, for a bunch years in the late 90s or so to the 2000s, was a neat lil place in Vancouver that played some risky experimental film and had a cafe! I miss it. When it closed much more than a few people were sad as it really left a hole in The Couve. This drawing was for their mag. They called me Rob right on the page. Why, I don't know. I hated that. I don't steal, I give.

INCREASED DISTRIBUTION: WHO WILL BUY


I haven't had too many comments of late, maybe I'm just not reaching the people, I dunno. Or am I just not provocative enough? Sigh. Should I undo another button? Again? I even lost a blog follower, who it was, I don't know but I lost one! In the blog world one follower counts for the opinions of two people!
So in the meantime I will recklessly self-promote in hopes that it will lower the tides of a very real depression (what else is new)...
My series of self-help booklets Y2K Compatible are slowly reaching the people. These booklets are intimate and VERY reasonably priced for the knowledge that they impart.

Now available in Bruno, Saskatchewan at All Citizens:
http://www.allcitizens.org/

In New York City at Cinders:
www.cindersgallery.com

In Toronto at Katharine Mulherin gallery:
http://www.katharinemulherin.com/

And at This Ain't The Rosedale Library:
http://www.thisaint.ca/

And just arrived at Art Metropole which is also selling the July Fourth Toilet vinyl LP, nicely written links here, here, and here!

The latest issue, #4/5, is the best issue and some places have previous issues but not that one, such as Le Pressier in Montreal, Luckys in Vancouver, and TO mail-order site Mish Mish...

I'd luv em to have the current ish but hey... If you want the current ish, even better. Drop me a line.

VANCOUVER ART EXODUS ONLINE LINK

My Feature for Broken Pencil #45 now online here:

http://www.brokenpencil.com/view.php?id=3480

Agree or disagree, I'm fine either way, have a little tizzy if you like, use regional weapons of choice, a slice of 99 cent pizza if need be. I'll watch and maybe grab the crust when you are done.
There are things I am missing about Vancouver. My dear friends that remain, of course, the amazing food: I can't find a panini as good as at La Grotta, noodles as good as at Legendary Noodle, sushi sushi sushi (one good thing about TO is they have Health Board signs posted in all of the restaurant windows, many of their sushi spots say "Conditional Pass" uh oh, sushi with a condition- a condition of the heart?), and amazing coffee especially at Continental Coffee.
I thought that TO might've been slow on trends- even in some art scenes as I've seen art that had some silly faux witchy obsessions with feathers, wood, and crystals all twined together in some post-teen ritual and Royal Art Lodge rip-off knock-offs (here's an idea, give those actual former and present Art Lodgers some money, they need it more)and also blurry party pics of naked girls stumbling around with tattooed bearded guys (man, I thought that look went out in 1996)puking into each others' mouths. However I saw a recent show of Vancouver-based art that showed all of those exact same things.
Toronto is a nice looking city but I find it, err, sexually Conservative. Not as in elected officials but vibe, overall vibe, all pants are zipped to the neck (a new fashion style I cannot literally get into).
My Vancouver pals tell me things are pretty quiet there. I thought the world was watching! I won't be going back soon. But, yeah, there are things I miss. Hope you enjoy the article.

HIGHS, MIDS, LOWS

Note: if you want a Button Manifesto for your very own, as seen in the previous post, they are available for 100 dollars, each one is hand lettered and if you have certain requests let me know.
This has been a week of highs, lows, and mids. Highs: I spent a couple days working on a Gonzales project with Feist (a sweety, in the downtime we sang "9 To 5" together, have you seen "9 To 5" lately? man, that movie has the most amazing design sense in terms of colour, matching and complementing down to the furthest depth-of-field), Peaches, The World Provider, Tiga, Corpusse and other swell people! It was fun and I wish that Big Hamm was there to share in it. Lows: I was seriously going to move back to Vancouver for love. Said offer (being my last ditch effort) was rejected. Instead I had to listen to my character defects which I already know about and have been working on improving (a rather long and frustrating process). Yeah, I'm self-absorbed (duh: I even have a blog that discusses my own-not other people's-personal details) and I really hate that about myself (maybe I should erase this blog). I could have rebutted but what's the use? It doesn't matter anymore, all idealised thoughts fall to the wayside, it's total kaputs and in the past, I've moved forward and am letting go, this is for the best, I feel crummy. I'm a raw nerve and don't want to live inside myself. Unless I somehow get a free flight I won't be visiting Vancouver anytime soon. Too painful. Sorry Vancouver pals, I miss you and your company and your good food and coffee, too. The mids: after all that, back to the day job.
The latest issue of FREE DRAWINGS just came out. Where is it available? Around Toronto, elsewhere, I dunno. Good ole Jason Mclean, Michael Deforge, Michael Comau, and Seripop have art in here. I did a cover. Take a gander below. I'm unsure about it. I don't know if the piece totally congeals. Thematically it deals with my obsessive interests in all things glitter and glamour as well as trying to make the sexuality hazy, indeterminate, and covert. For this illo I was influenced by a photospread from one of the earliest issues of Oui Magazine, one of the best soft-core porn mags of its' day. In terms of the second hand art deco look in the early 70s I also dig the classic Biba store, records with soft focus then hand tinted band shots, and those overly lush Italian films where they have to deal with fascism: Salo, The Damned, and The Conformist. Damn, those are gorgeously decadent and cutting films.

BUTTON MANIFESTO

Made for IndexG button art show, purchased by Anne Koyama for artist Fiona Smyth. One inch button that's app. 3-4 feet long. Click on image for further legibility.