EDIT: Semper Fi is not playing, but Crazy Dave Tape Crew IS doing visuals!
HERE'S A BORING RANT:
The trip to Chicago really kicked my ass. I left early Friday morning in an attempt to avoid traffic, which only sort of worked. I listened to an episode of Jordan Jesse Go! and the audio recording of Sun Tsu's Art of War. Also, Dan Friel's new record and once I got within range, WBEZ (which is awesome, but actually kinda sucked because it was pledge drive weekend, boo).
•I spent time at the Wizard World Comicbook Convention. Spent most my time at the NYC Mech table with Ivan Brandon, Andy MacDonald, and Miles Gunter. Saw a bunch of old homies and met some new wicked people like Nick Stakal, Chuck BB, and Nikki Cook. Met Nathan Fox momentarily. He draws comic pages physically HUGE, at least 18 x 24.
•There was a weird vibe about the whole comic-con experience. I used to go to this show, and others, every year. I stopped going to a lot of shows for a multitude of reasons about 5 years ago. Returning to this fold was strange and I'm not sure I liked it. Maybe it was just from not being at any big shows, but I felt like there was a "this is the industry and this is how it works and you absolutely have to be here if you want to be anybody" feel to it. It's easy to forget the world doesn't revolve around Marvel and DC at a place like that. Giant fucking 12 foot tall Hulk n' shit. Dudes dressed like Green Arrow. Then, a lot of talk about trying to do stuff for Marvel or DC. Everybody wants to get paid, and that's the best way to do it. Not sure where I fit into all that, if at all.
•It is strange to show new work to people who haven't seen my work in years. Overall it was really positive. People were stoked, I think. Also, my drawing process means I go way the fuck out of my way to make things more difficult for myself, and even though I'm fully aware of that and I wouldn't have it any other way, I think people maybe think I'm a goddamn idiot for doing things that way. Either that or I'm being overly sensitive to people asking me why I don't just cut corners.
•Friday night I hit Chicago's mean streets with my girl Erin (a Clevelander in exile), although, I was mostly in an exhaustion filled stupor. We ate dinner in some bogus bar then hit an AWESOME bar called The California Clipper, which is a big old timey joint. There were many cute girls, but I basically didn't notice them because I was half asleep.
•Both Saturday and Sunday mornings I took the plunge and drove an hour and a half out to Marseilles, IL, where my older sister and her husband bought a house. It's weird driving around the middle of nowhere. It all basically looks the same, and it always surprises me that most of America is this vast giant empty place that kinda goes on forever. Saturday on the way out there were wide screen thunderstorms most of the way, so I listened to Sleep's Holy Mountain, which was perfect. The sun was out by the time I got to my sister's house. I have a new niece, Mary Catherine, and she's really tiny and adorable. My other niece, Alison, is a giant 1 1/2 year old, and my nephew Ben is now 3. They're pretty crazy little humans. My little sister, from Alabama, was there too. That made things even better. Marseilles was having some kinda street festival, complete with a "Marseilles American Idol" with a stage set up on Main street. Shit was scary, son.
•Sunday night I spent more time with Erin, stretching out my stay, but the sky was gloomy and doomy. We did catch a break in the weather enough to eat outside at Lula's, which was fucking great. Nothing really all that happening was happening, so we ended up just hanging out in my car for 3 hours talking about shit and watching the rain accumulate on my windshield, not unlike the zillions of times that would happen when I would drop her off when she lived here. On my way out I got pulled over on the Skyway going 73 in the 45 between tollbooths. When I got home though, there was a check which I didn't even know I was waiting for in my mailbox from the Free Times, so... even steven.
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