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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in David Lasky's LiveJournal:

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    Wednesday, May 15th, 2013
    3:30 pm
    Cornish BFA Show
    Last night I went to Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle's premiere art school, for their annual BFA exhibition, where graduating seniors show off their final projects.  There was some great illustration on display by future art stars, Lillian Beaty and Elaine Lin, some cool motion graphics by Minie Choi, and the beginnings of an ambitious cyber-punk comic book by Lyta Sigmen.  There were also some mysterious zines with no name to identify the author, but I wrote down his name: Maxwell Watson.

    The Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery curator Larry Reid was there, and noted to me that the new graduates seemed to be divided: either going full-on into digital projects with nothing 'tactile' for the viewer, or taking a step back to look at 20th century technology (typewriters, film cameras, vinyl records, books on paper) and celebrate the more tactile analog culture.
    3:06 pm
    Sunday, May 12th, 2013
    7:22 pm
    Mission Comics Signing Recap
    On April 17, 2013, I did a signing at Mission Comics and Art (on 20th in San Francisco's Mission District, just 12 blocks from where I lived in the summer of 1991; nice to see the old neighborhood again).  I met up with Richard Berman beforehand and we talked about our high school days in Virginia and our favorite teacher, William S. Blackwell.  At the signing, many more friends and family were in attendance, including my Aunt Karen and Uncle Chris (down from Petaluma!), former Pulse Magazine editor Marc Wiedenbaum, who gave me some of my earliest illustration jobs, James Masente who I once collaborated with, my brother Jason, my father and his wife Mary, and Mary's son Andrew.  The big surprise of the day was the appearance one of my favorite cartoonist peers: Gabrielle Gamboa, who came down from Santa Rosa.

    Mission Comics and Art

    The store's owner, Leef Smith, set up a projector and screen, and I gave a talk on the making of "Carter Family: Don't Forget This Song".  Then I signed some books and left a few copies of Urban Hipster and The Intruder.  The store was great -- I also did some shopping while I was there!  So glad there is a good comic book store in a neighborhood that already sells America's best burritos.

    Pulse Comics Mini-Reunion

    (Oh yes, and I did indulge in a burrito before the event, and managed to spill sauce on my pant legs.  I don't think anyone noticed.)

    More photos are posted here.
    6:54 pm
    The Surprise of my Life
    So I was waiting around at Time Tested Books in Sacramento, where I was scheduled to do a signing in support of the “Carter Family: Don't Forget This Song” graphic novel.  It was April 18, 2013, and I was a half hour early.  I had asked the legendary cartoonist/musician Robert Armstrong to come and play a few Carter Family songs at the event.  I was waiting for him to show up, in the mostly empty store, to see if he needed help setting up.   A few minutes before starting time, he walked into the store, and right behind him came a bearded man in spectacles, looking very much like Robert Crumb. I quickly looked away and thought: “That can’t be Robert Crumb!” He lives in France after all.  But then again, he and Armstrong used to play together in The Cheap Suit Serenaders.  I looked back and found that the bearded man was indeed Robert Crumb, a man many consider to be the world's greatest living cartoonist.  He shook my hand and asked if Frank (Young) was going to be there.  I told him that Frank would have been there, had he known that his pen-pal R. Crumb was going to attend.

    I had requested that Armstrong play few Carter Family songs, then a few old time songs of his choosing.  The two of them played a lot more than I’d expected, and treated the audience of 25-30 people to what felt like an hour’s worth of music.  The Carter Family songs sometimes had gaps in the lyrics; Mr. Armstrong (on a Gibson L5 guitar, Mr. Crumb on Banjo) apologized, explaining that he’d had to “cram” to learn some of these songs, to meet my request.  In the second half, with some instrument changes, they played material they were more familiar with, and the musical sparks started to fly.

    Time Tested Books: The Two Bobs


    My father was in attendance, and whispered to me: “Is that really R. Crumb?”  “Yes,” I answered.  “What’s he doing here?” – “I don’t know.”  - “Well, you didn’t give him much of an introduction.”  I had nervously introduced “The Two Bobs” and after reading a few prepared remarks about Bob Armstrong (creator of Mickey Rat), simply said: “And this is Bob Crumb, who I’m sure you all know.”  So, during an instrument change, I cited my father’s admonishment and tried to give a more proper introduction… “He normally lives in France, but is making a rare appearance here tonight. He’s a comics legend, and he’s my hero; this is a big night for me.”

    Crumb interrupted: “Your hero?!  Harold Gray is your hero.” 

    I agreed and added Frank King to my short list of cartooning heroes. 

    As things wound down, they asked the audience for a request.  Someone said: “How about a train song?” Someone else: “I’ve Been Workin’ on the Railroad!”  Crumb jumped into "Workin' on the Railroad" and played the whole song beautifully. Armstrong commented something to the effect of: “That’s the last word in Cornball Americana.”  They closed with a smokin’ instrumental.

    When the fun was over, I managed to sign a few books and chat with some old friends who came to the event, two from my high school, one from college, and two Pulse Magazine alums (Jackson Griffith and cartoonist Michael King).  Patrons talked with Crumb and Armstrong, and I got to meet cartoonist/musician Christine Shields as well. My father talked politics with Crumb (who showed us his French medical card – “I can get treated and when I leave [the doctor’s office] there is no charge.”).  My dad concluded that now it was up to us younger folks to fix all the problems.  And so ended one of the best evenings of my life.

    One final note: The owner of Time Tested Books, Peter Keat, had told Crumb and Armstrong that the Cheap Suit Serenaders had played at his wedding about 30 years ago.  Crumb and Armstrong asked the same question that was on my mind: “Has the marriage lasted?”  “Yes,” said Mr. Keat, “the marriage has lasted all these years.”  Crumb breathed a sigh of relief… “You managed to avoid the curse of the Cheap Suit Serenaders.”

    Time Tested Books Event


    More photos from the event are posted here.
     

    Current Mood: Wow
    Wednesday, May 1st, 2013
    8:27 pm
    Final April Poems
    4/28/13

    Ultimate Wonder Woman

    Deflecting bullets, she is knocked unconscious,
    Tied up and asked to tell the truth,
    "A beautiful woman is still a person,
    and wants to be treated as such,"
    She escapes, ties the man up,
    And demands he tell the truth,
    "Men are ruled by biological urges;
    Stuggling against them makes us more human."
    Flying off, she wonders,
    "Why has it always been this way?"

    4/29/13

    I'm interested in making
    A small poster
    Let me know what details
    You'd like on it
    And if it's in color
    Or black and white

    4/30/13

    106 Bus

    A white dog 
    Peers over a
    Tall fence expectantly
    A tree has a large
    Branch sagging to
    The ground
    A girl walks alone her
    Long hair hanging
    Before her
    Sunday, April 28th, 2013
    8:40 pm
    April 27 poem
    Like the samurai
    Who grabs whatever is at hand
    To use as a shield
    Or as a weapon,
    Find poems
    In the notes you jot down
    And hidden within
    A poem already written
    8:38 pm
    April 26 poem
    You wear an invisible locket
    That contains all the words you need,
    Only you can see it
    But I would guess
    it's shaped like a human heart
    or possibly the elevator
    that bursts through the roof of
    The building where chocolate is made
    8:36 pm
    Catching up on my poems
    April 23

    Trees rain down petals
    Monsters attack each other
    Pollen allergies

    April 24

    Drawing Exercises

    Draw your hand
    Draw your shoe
    Draw the person across from you
    Draw a small object as big as you can
    Let your eyes guide your hand

    April 25

    The same girl rides the bus:
    As a sixth grader, gawky,
    With her long hair, backpack,
    And instrument case, and as
    A high school senior, self-assured,
    Neither knowing that the other is there.
    Monday, April 22nd, 2013
    10:35 am
    Happy 75th Birthday, Dad!
    My 4/22 poem is for my father on his birthday...


    In my last year of high school
    I was taking a government class
    But I was more interested in girls
    And it seemed I might not pass
    The teacher, whom we called 'Chuck'
    Kindly gave me one last chance
    my father, a devotee
    Of great political thinkers
    Poured me a coffee
    (Though I was not a coffee drinker)
    Went over books with me
    At the dining room table we lingered
    Almost all night long
    Until I had a grasp
    Of Marx and Engels, Locke and Hobbes,
    And other things I'd missed in class,
    Thank you, Dad, for urging me on,
    You've always had my back.
    10:14 am
    More "Poems"
    4/20/13

    Superhero Questions

    Why the cape?
    Does the mask make it hard to drive?
    How do you fly?
    Why the underpants on the outside?

    4/21/13

    51st and Telegraph

    A sign for hardware
    Advertising Dutch Boy Paints
    Has outlived its store
    12:15 am
    Poem backlog

    4/15/13

    Assignment OuBaPo

    Draw a comics page
    with many panels
    But not on a grid
    Scatter panels around
    and provide more than one
    possible path
    for the reader to take
    in the spaces between panels

    And then think about
    how this affects
    or doesn't affect
    the sense of time on your page

    4/16/13

    Portrait of Nicole

    Painted quickly, in 1990
    On the field of grass facing
    Jamestown Road, like most
    Of my volunteer models,
    She is reading
    I have forgotten her last name.

    4/17/13

    "What color comes next?"
    Mollie asks, "What color now?"
    Painting a rainbow

    4/18/13

    Walking down Mission Street,
    One man fixes shoes on the sidewalk,
    Another sells churros on a corner,
    "Churros, churros," "Churros, churros,"
    He sings, I find the tacqueria
    That Leef recommended
    And put in my order, veggie burrito,
    It is made by a young man
    In a Ghost Busters t-shirt,
    Where are the women asking
    "Black beans or pinto?"
    Not here, wrapped in foil it is packed
    With chips and two sauces
    In a small paper bag
    I hold it, warm, against my chest
      though it's a sunny day
    After walking some blocks, wet on my hand
    Sauce from the bottom, dripping,
    Splashing my clean pants and black shirt
    Will anyone notice?

    4/19/13

    Sunlight peeks in around the shade
    I'm awake
    But my eyelids protest
    My thoughts race, I'm awake
    But I fell well short of eight hours
    Maybe slumber deserves another chance


    Sunday, April 14th, 2013
    2:05 am
    Fake Bob Dylan
    Anybody could see
    That it was destined to be,
    A program that invents new Dylan songs.


    It will pick out the key,
    And a good melody,
    And synthesize it in the voice of Bob.


    Just give it some time,
    And it will make up some rhymes,
    Complete with guitar and harmonica,


    Or for variety’s sake
    You could request a retake
    In hard rock, jazz, blues, or symphonica.


    It concocts songs of love,
    And the moon up above,
    Though purists complained that's not Dylan-esque.


    And worse, it made jingles
    for things like Lite BeerTM
    and PringlesTM
    ,
    and products even more grotesque,


    The listeners protested,
    Said their ears’d been molested,
    And requested no more fake Dylan songs.


    The programmers freaked,
    They held a critique,
    And realized they’d misread the throngs.


    “We need new algorithms”
    “With less antagonisms”
    “We’ll build a virtual synchopator,”


    So they sweetened the guitars,
    And smoothed out the r’s,
    And created a Paul McCartney generator.



    [Note to the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary, and various word definition websites: This is in a poetic form I call "Dylanelle", a word I invented to describe a poem that borrows its rhyme scheme from a Bob Dylan song. -David Lasky]
    Saturday, April 13th, 2013
    9:09 am
    Poem for 4/13/13
    Untamed City

    There are still ridges
    Looming, muddy, over houses
    Still gravel roads that
    Give way to grass and twin puddles
    Roots under sidewalks
    Moss growing between shingles
    Friday, April 12th, 2013
    12:27 am
    Poem for 4/12/13
    Constraints

    a game, a challenge
    for the creator;
    most interesting
    when invisible
    12:24 am
    Poem for 4/11/13
    Autobio Challenge

    Make an autobio comic of at least
    Nine panels you can't
    Draw yourself
      For an additional challenge:
        Do not use the word "I" or
        Do not use the letter "i" or
        Do not use any words
          Do not use pictures either
    Thursday, April 11th, 2013
    1:56 pm
    Poem for 4/10/13
    This is an update to my "Catalog of Extremely Rare Comic Books"...

    World Peace Comics #1

    For years, collectors knew about
    World Peace Comics #2 with its
    cover image of Frankenstein
    playing with war orphans, but no one
    had ever seen a first issue of the title.


    Recently, evidence of World Peace Comics #1 surfaced
    in an attic in Maine.  Ten copies
    of the cover, just the cover,
    torn off by hand, and used as bookmarks
    in an accounting ledger,
    were found in the home of a deceased
    former drugstore owner.


    The cover image suggests that the issue
    (dated May 1948) contained
    a fictionalized story of the founding of
    the United Nations
    at the 1945 conference in
    San Francisco.
    The artist and writer are unknown.
    The actual contents
    of the comic book
    remain
    a mystery.

     
    Wednesday, April 10th, 2013
    12:23 pm
    Poem for 4/09/13
    God exists
    But is not a he, she, or an it
    Still, God is not a figment


    God doesn’t speak English
    or any other human language
    God is not a linguist


    God is ubiquitous
    And occupies the great cosmic rift
    God is beyond understanding

     
    12:22 pm
    Poem for 4/08/13
    Night, early April
    All’s quiet, except for me
    Tapping laptop keys
    Monday, April 8th, 2013
    7:02 am
    Poem for 4/07/13
    an overdue haiku:



    Quiet night at home
    Vent over the stove, murmurs
    Echoing raindrops
    Saturday, April 6th, 2013
    11:58 pm
    Poem for 4/06/13
    After an after-school
    teaching gig I was
    running for a bus
    downtown because
    it was Leeann's birthday
    and I wanted to take her
    out, but I was running
    at Third and Pine for a
    number five bus and I
    tripped on an uneven
    tile of sidewalk, I
    hadn't really eaten
    much all day and maybe
    wasn't as alert as
    usual, I got a hand up
    between me and the
    concrete but
    still managed to land on
    my left cheekbone and
    actually saw stars like
    they do in cartoons, but
    it was more like lightning
    on a personal level,
    a kind man helped me
    up and asked if I was
    OK, I really didn't know if
    I was OK, I said to him:
    I think I just fell face-
    first on the sidewalk and
    he nodded, the many
    people standing at the stop
    just stared as if I was
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