Got back from the Alternative Press Expo (APE) on Monday night, after a ridiculously long day at SFO, stuck at the Virgin America gates. I not so secretly love traveling to nerd fests for work. There's always the craziness of getting merchandise together, supplies, and making the game plan work. There's always the work involved in keeping people involved, busy and energetic. There's always the stress of doing well financially to make the whole endeavor worthwhile. Best of all, there are always friends. This year I got in more bonding time with the Sparkplug Comics crew, continuing good fun from Real World Comicon 2008 House.
I love the brief time I get to see friends that I only stay in touch with online throughout the year, and to see what trouble people have been getting into. Sometimes there's more exciting new work than others, but even when there's not a lot of new stuff to chew on, there's always something that I might have missed the first time around.
The GRSF crew is amazing. They're all adorable, and Luke is an amazing team leader. This was the first time around for everyone, and they all dove in, got the booth looking great, and did their best to represent for GR.
As usual, folks came by to sell us on themselves, and there were a few scrunched noses at prices (hard to avoid when people all around you are selling mini-comics for $1) but all in all it was a great show. People are tighter with their dollars right now, but people still want to be inspired and pick up something new. That was a relief. I actually ended up spending more money than I ever have at a con, and not a penny wasted. Here's just a sample of what I picked up.
Some of this we'll have in the GR stores, but other stuff you'll have to seek out for yourself. I have more pictures on my Flickr - booth stuff, the opening of Panelists IV at GRSF, dinner with artists, and the Buenaventura "party" that we had to be quiet at but still enjoyed.
Tom Neely made a super funny video of friends at APE. He had a sneaky gadget that looked like a camera, but was taking video. Many people got faked out and had awkward moments... self included. I enjoy things like this.
To get geared up for the Nikki McClure show opening this weekend, followed by Polysics & Jaguar Love, and maybe a late night stop at the Redwood for AgentLover's birthday, I joined up with Rudy & Graham for the kickoff of Graham's birthday week at Slimmons!
Slimmons is Richard Simmons' exercise studio in Beverly Hills. It sounds crazy, I know, and such an LA thing to do, but for serious.... this was the most fun I've had in ages. I think I laughed for an hour straight.
Richard Simmons is everything you'd expect him to be in real life, except naughtier! The class was fueled with constant enthusiasm, even through the tougher abs and toning portion of the class. Lots of mention of getting firmer tits, how being on all fours can get you far in life, and there was some bicep licking going on. There were members of his Fall Retreat there - women who had flown in from all over the country to get a dose of Richard's energy and his kindness. He's all about building self esteem, understanding that you can't love the body you're in, and treat it well if you don't love yourself fully first. I dig that. I'd like to love about 20 less pounds of my body, but sometimes a girl has to be reminded to love what you've got to work with.
Early on in the class Rudy and I got pulled from the crowd for one on one mirroring moments with Richard - he made me give him my glasses to wear while we were aerobicizing, and he handed them back without a smudge on them. Later in the class he singled out the boys in our posse -- bearded, adorable Eastsiders who didn't look like anyone else in the room. Richard being clued in to pop culture asked if they were from Portland and how the hell did we all end up there. He also singled out a straight couple in the class. Grilled the dude a bit and we all learned that they had been together for 9 years... no marriage proposal. The class of more than 40 women (with a handful of men) rallied behind Richard's interrogation and urged the boyfriend to consider committment. It was a precious moment. Graham was serenaded with a harmonized Happy Birthday song, and got endless birthday wishes and hugs from women in the class. His 21st has been way more memorable than mine, and it isn't even over!
At the end of class we had a mini photo session with Richard and our crew. Pics are with Rudy, but I snuck in a cheezy camera phone shot of just the two of us.
I'll definitely be going back for this. Richard can't replace the hotness of Ryan Heffington and Sweaty Sundays, but I like the atmosphere he creates, the openness and friendliness of it all, and I still got a pretty decent workout out of it. Maybe my next picture with him will have a little less double chin. I need to do more research on the science of sweat... it seems to be a recurring theme.
Read a tweet from my friend Vidalia saying that an Irish rock band had used her Flickr stream to piece together a music video. Reason enough to watch it! Next tweet said that Praxis was in it, and he is!
J. is an amazingly talented photographer who is able to capture the best and worst from people, in the most invitingly fun way. She snaps pics for Juxtapoz, LAist, and others, and she's one of those friends I wish could make the best kind of living doing the thing she loves and is GOOD AT!
A coffee table book of her Mr. T pics is long overdue. If anyone has any offers, I'll be happy to step in and act as her temporary literary agent and make that shit happen!
Tuesday night I got to spend some QT with a special friend named JP. JP is a whirlwind of fun, creativity, and hopeful energy with a generous splash of vim and vigor. She's one of the toughest cookies I know, and this week I got a better look at her (for me) unexplored ocean of talent.
Until Saturday, September 20th, you can check out her latest solo show, Time Stamp: A Diary in Postcards at the LA Gay & Lesbian Center. Time Stamp is a visual smorgasbord in the vein of The Post Its Show at GR2, but as intimate and personal as a quiet dinner with the artist (which was my lovely follow up after viewing the show). I haven't spent an hour and a half perusing art in a very long time, and it's been almost as long since that kind of persual has inspired me to go home and start sketching.
The show documents a ten year commitment to make art everyday, a task much easier said than done. Each piece is a postcard. Postcards are a little memento to let loved ones know where you are, what you've been doing, and an assurance that they're in your heart. JP's are just that, but serve double duty as unique artworks. Some days shine brighter than others, but no day matters less than the one the day before. Knowing her makes it that much easier to cherish this show, but you're going to know JP after walking this gallery, and you're going to be inspired to create and share, the same way she does.
Every Wednesday (and then some) JP wears the apron of LA's premiere Craft Captain, hosting CraftNight at Akbar in Silverlake. Each week she comes up with a project that anyone with $2, an open mind and a tolerance for glue stuck to fingers can make their own. It's one of the best times you can have for $2 in this town, and the best place to make friends, meet glitterati that matter, down a cocktail (or 3) and walk away with something to show for it.
JP is also the Head Candycorn of Gothtober.com. In true JP fashion, she rallies together artists from across the country to create an interactive advent calendar for the month of October, ending with everyone's truly favorite holiday, Halloween. The annual Gothtober party is [Count Chocula voice] to die for [/Count Chocula voice]. Check out 2007's Gothtober to get a feel for what's coming.
This chick just doesn't quit. All year long she inspires friends and strangers to get off their asses and make art happen, and with Time Stamp she truly shows us how it's done. Go the LAGLC, make some "you" time, and enjoy this show. When you've seen the work, pick up a capsule from her customized capsule machine and get a button, a stamp, plus a fabulous fortune and then have a seat in Time Stamp's Art Making Rumpus Room. Being in there feels like you're in a cozy nook in JP's brain. Decked out with comfy couches, throw pillows, markers in every hue, and paint-by-number ponies on the wall, you are given the opportunity to write a postcard of your own. You can also hop online to see if your favorite piece from the show is available for purchase as a print on the Time Stamp website. When JP and I showed up, a bunch of girls were having a pow-wow in there, but were eventually shoo-ed out by security staff who just aren't that used to such a warm embrace and enthusiasm for art shows in the LAGLC gallery. JP's show has been a ground-breaker in more ways than one. Go check it out before it's gone!
While the Susie Ghahremani show was opening at GR2, our friends at MIX LA were having a summer picnic in the dark at the Los Angeles State Historical Park (formerly the Not a Cornfield site). Fun stuff went down - fun films, naughty films, films about leaving thick films on fun boys and girls, dance performances by some LA's best dancers (not to be confused with LA's Best Dancers), a sex toy fashion show and a raffle with kick-ass prizes, including a handful of subscriptions to Giant Robot Magazine! Yay! GR is a sponsor of the festival, and excited to see where MIX LA is headed. It's the queer baby brother/sister of the Big Mama Jamma MIX festival in NYC coming in October.
Damiana Garcia, correspondent extraordinaire from WOW TV, showed up to document the event. Here's her report. Fun to see friends Rudy Bleu, Mad Dog, Vanessa, and other familiar faces in the episode.
Just in case you can't see the video, since I'm not really good with this Blogger thing, you can check it out here at World of Wonder.
I've had a long time shoe fetish. Ever since I was a kid I've had lots on hand. When my feet were big enough to fit in my mom's shoes, it got even better, but right around that time was when my tastes became my own. By the time I was able to start making my own decisions about purchases, I was vegetarian, and soon after that I was vegan.
For the bulk of the almost 15 years that I've been vegan, I didn't wear any leather, wool or silk. Not like I go out decked out in it now, but at some point I made a personal decision to wear vintage leather. I got big on collecting shoes from the 1930's through the 1960's. Whenever I could find them, I grabbed up vegan shoes, but every once in a while the most exquisite pair of delicate 1940's wedges would cross my path and my will power would wither and die. Me and my boyfriend at the time struggled with buying leather shoes, but we did it and we were resolved to maintain the shoes to keep them as long as we could without replacing them. I think he had a harder time with it than I did. The first time I bought a "new" pair of shoes that had bits of leather on it, I felt so guilty that I ended up spending $600 on sponsoring a cow named Linus at Farm Sanctuary. It only helped suppress the guilt a little bit...
I'm still nuts about shoes, but last year, after realizing how gluttonous my collection had become, I did some serious scaling back and started buying new shoes (vegan) just once or twice a year. My collection is now only down to about 70-80 pairs, which should keep me happy for quite a while. I am fully aware that this number of shoes is more than most people will own in their lifetime.
My ex-boyfriend has found a way to give back, not just scale back, and I think it's a great endeavor. I remember the first time we went to Moo Shoes in Manhattan and saw what a pathetic offering of vegan men's dress shoes there were out there - not just at Moo Shoe's but in general. Plenty of skate shoes, plenty of ugly hemp mocs and bad man sandals, but not a lot of sharp looking oxfords. I guess a big reason for the lack is that the average vegan guy isn't a guy that needs a snappy dress shoe, but times have changed. Check out Kevin's debut into the world of fine men's footwear with a heart. I'd post pics, but he's got his page in flash and I'm not clever enough to figure out how to post a pic from his site.
The Vegan Collection isn't just nice to animals, it's also nice to humans. His shoes are affordable and look like they'll hold up for a while, at least until he's able to start offering up some new designs!
