*GREETINGS FROM THE WORLD'S WORST BLOGGER....
Ugh..I oughta be ashamed of myself. I don't deserve a blog. I don't deserve readers.

Anyhoo. Here was my past week:

*826LA FUNDRAISING PARTY..
..was at the Venice location. Which made it easy for me to hop a bus and head over there. T'was a nice event that featured Dave Eggers, Spike Jonze and new LA director Joel Arquillos making the pitch to a whole bunch of creative folk. Meg Ryan was there. I told her to sit down.

826LA is always looking for volunteers and donations, at either the Venice or Echo Park locations. Feel free to contact them through their website: http://www826la.org. Tell 'em Keef sent ya.

*I TOOK MY ARSE TO SAN FRANCISCO..
..for a number of events, including the opening of my glorious exhibition at the Cartoon Art Museum!! The exhibit looks great, with over 40 pieces gracing the walls. It includes high school and college work. And ends with originals of my new daily comic strip, Knight Life.

I got some decent press for the event, including a nice write-up in one of the local alt-weeklies, the Bay Guardian. Unfortunately, at the same time of my event, Lynda Barry was doing something at the Booksmith, and ultra-fab editorial cartoonist Khalil Bendib was doing the Commonwealth Club!! Three cartoonist events at the same time!!

So the attendance at my event was sorta spotty, but sales were good. I did a bit of a walk-thru for the crowd, commenting on various pieces. Shout outs to SF cartoonists Paul Madonna and Lev Yilmaz for showing up.

In addition, I spoke at the Oakland campus of California College of the Arts and did an interview for KPFA's Hard Knock radio. Made a surprise guest appearance at Stephen Elliott's Progressive Reading Series and partied at another opening for a smaller exhibit of my work at the City Center hostel in downtown San Francisco.

I must say thanks to the woman from Massachusetts who showed up to the hostel event after reading about it on my blog. I didn't think anyone read this thing. I wish I wasn't so new-parent tired, I would've given her a donut or something. Thank you for coming out.

The weekend ended with my "Cartoons are Serious Business" lecture on Sunday. I was asked whether I 'd ever do a class that was more about drawing cartoons...I think I will do that for the next one.

*TOTORO FOREST PROJECT..
An exhibit that just went up in the gallery next to mine at the C.A.M. is this amazing show that features art from the Totoro Forest Project Charity Auction. All of the art was inspired by Hayao Miyazaki's animated film My Neighbor Totoro. And it was all auctioned off at the Pixar Animation Studios earlier this month. Proceeds from the auction go to save Japan's Sayama Forest, the forest in which Miyazaki's film is based on.

My buddy Chris bid and won the piece that features 4 frames on the wall that faces my exhibit. Defintely check this show out. It's the cat's bottom!!

Cartoon Art Museum: 655 Mission St. San Francisco, CA 94105
http://www.cartoonart.org

*DID I MENTION THE PIECE I DID FOR THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION..
..about the dwindling black population in San Francisco? Check it out by going here and finding my name.

*MY "IF PALIN WERE A DEMOCRAT/BLACK DEMOCRAT CARTOONS ARE POPPING UP EVERYWHERE..
Nice to see them getting around. And to see the right-wing trolls that lurk the internet to place feedback and commentary anywhere they can put it. I hope they're paid well.

Makes me wonder: If anyone or any company performed as bad as this administration did in these past eight years, you'd never want to hire them again, right? You'd punish them so they'd change it up and come back with better service, a better product.

Yet, there are still folks out there willing to vote for the Republican ticket.

Honestly, folks. If the Republicans win, they'll know that they never, ever have to do anything for the American people, EVER. They could nominate two piles of Moose dung, and as long as all the right-wing talking heads push em, they'll have no problem getting elected.

Political video of the weak.

*LETTERS/EMAILS OF THE WEEK..

I've been enjoying your stuff for a long while. To me, your forerunner was Warren
Hutcherson, who claimed his father was a state policeman, black muslim--and whenever he
the son was stopped by a trooper, they said he had enough crap in his life and waved him
on. He said his father would show him examples of racism all over the place--green olives
were in glass containers but black ones were kept in metal cans, symbolic, he implied, of
the black man's being kept in jail.
Please understand that in the sixties and seventies, and still now, I was on picket lines
all over. I don't know if you saw it, but a short while ago the local rag ran a piece on
people in Haiti were literally eating pies made from a pale mud--and selling them to
other people as some sort of nutrition. I was in the lobby of my building and expressed
shock at what I was reading. The mailman said, and another tenant expressed good-humored
agreement, that if "they" didn't have seven children, maybe they could afford food. I lit
into them (mud to eat is the result of 400 years, etc.), but the way things are going,
people just kind of shut up--declining king's gambit, perhaps.
Anyway, thanks again for all your good work--especially liked the drug-shit correlation
in current issue. Incidentally, Burlington uses our lovely Lake Champlain as a toilet and
for filtering it to drink. Screw Orange County. Give credit where due.
By the way, I'm in (theoretically) the last stages of writing an existential novel about
the Brooklyn Dodgers of 1950--and reappearing today.

Best to your family.

J

-----

"If Palin Were a Black Democrat"

BEST. KCHRONICLES. EVER. (or at least tied for first with the one about trying to get good pizza and cheese steaks in San Francisco vs. Boston)

Take a bow, sir. Great work.

--Jeremy

----
Loved today's "Knight Life" about vet mentoring.

I'm a veteran myself. A few years ago I was at the VA Medical Center in Salt Lake City and I was shocked to learn that a lot of the other vets in the hospital with me were homeless and that after they were discharged they were either going to homeless shelters or just back on the street. I did some research and learned, at the time, that 20% of all homeless people in the US were veterans. That number has risen to 25%. It's tragic. For all the talk from the Bush administration about "supporting our troops," it pisses me off that veterans just don't matter to them. The government makes a big show about raising the budget for the VA every year but then after the fiscal year gets started, the president calls the secretary of veterans affairs and says, "you need to cut your spending so we can pay for the war." It seems that in this country, we like our heroes in only two forms: In a uniform or in a grave. Anyone else is just a veteran and they don't count.

Keep up the great work.

-J

-----

Keith and Kerstin,
Nice work! Gravy’s happy face adorns our refrigerator.

As you may know, for us humans, not every act of copulation produces a life. Countless couples have mastered the fine art of coitus, but to no reproductive avail. Naturally, whenever a baby is born, most of the credit goes to the woman. Often, people don’t keep in mind that the most important part of successful procreation is a strong swimming sperm. Without the tiny sperm’s tenacity, his tireless determination to swim, swim, swim upstream like a salmon, none of us would be blessed with the awesome gift of life. Here, the credit goes to Keith, and all his paternal, sperm-producing ancestors who gave rise to the Knight family line, which Gravy will one day proudly carry on, with his own strong swimming sperm.

Love,
S.


*BUSY WEEKEND AHEAD OF ME..
..I've got workshops at the Getty Museum and a table at the West Hollywood Book Fair on Sunday. Come on by and see me. I will be the one stalking Adrienne Barbeau.

Cheers!!

Labels: 826la, email of the week, letters of the week, San Francisco, West Hollywood Book Fair signing

 
*K CHRONICLES NEWSLETTER FOR SEPT/OCT

IN THIS ISSUE:
*SPECIAL K CHRONICLES 2-PAGER ONLINE
*KEEF CARTOON WORKSHOP RETURNS!! /EXHIBITION OPENING
IN SAN FRANCISCO
*WEST HOLLYWOOD BOOK FAIR
*VOTE FOR THE KNIGHT LIFE
*ORIGINAL ARTWORK FOR SALE
* S.P.X./D.C. IN OCT..

Dearest K Chronicles/(th)ink/Knight Life reader,

Thanks to everyone for their well-wishes, cards and gifts commemorating the arrival of the fetus formerly known as Lil Gravy. We’re slow on getting cards out and pictures up, so please bear with us.

*SPECIAL K CHRONICLES 2 PAGER..
In the meantime, check out this exclusive full color 2-pager that I did for the August edition of Dark Horse’s Myspace Comic Book!! It's only up for a few more days so peep that sucka now!!

*500 PAGE K CHRONICLES BOOK REVIEWS..
The reviews are in and it’s.a hit!!. Everyone from the Onion to the Washington Post have great things to say about the ONE BOOK TO RULE THEM ALL!!

-Publisher's Weekly article
-Comics Worth Reading review
-Washington Post
-The Onion
-Amazon reviews (add your own!!)

You can order the book thru my site (http://www.kchronicles.com), but I won’t be selling it outta my crib like the other books. So if you want ‘em signed, hit me up at these upcoming events:

Also keep in mind that the 500 page collection DOES NOT include the strips contained in the latest K Chronicles compendium “I Left My Arse in San Francisco”. You can order that exclusively through my website or at the following upcoming appearances.

*WEST HOLLYWOOD BOOK FAIR- Sunday 9/27 10am-6pm
I’ll be making my 2nd appearance at the ever-growing literary event in the Castro of the South, the West Hollywood Book Fair. They have an indie comix and graphic novel section that’s bigger than the gargantuan L.A. Times Book Fest. Who woulda thunk?

*KEEF "CARTOONS ARE SERIOUS BUSINESS" WORKSHOP/EXHIBITION OPENING
Until Nov. 9th, the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco is hosting a 40 piece exhibition of my work. Starting with stuff from high school, up until the launch of my daily strip.

I will be up in San Francisco for 2 EVENTS coinciding with the exhibit. The opening is on Thursday, 9/18 from 7pm-9pm, where I will rambling on about several of the pieces in a drunken stupor and signing books .

The 2nd event will be an updated version of my wildly popular Cartooning workshop, :”Cartoons Are Serious Business “, where I will spill the beans on everything I know about the industry and how I made cartooning my only job. THIS CLASS IS NOT FOR BEGINNERS.

The last time I offered this class, folks flew in from the East Coast for it. Space is limited, so sign up today at http://www.cartoonart.org or call (415) CAR-TOON.

(C.A.M. is located at 655 Mission St. in San Francisco)

I’M LOOKING TO DO MORE SIGNINGS AND READINGS WHILE I’M UP THERE. IF ANYONE HAS ANY IDEAS.

*KEEF AT SPX IN BETHESDA-Oct 4th and 5th 10am-7pm
SPX is always a great show for me. But it will be even greater with two new books in tow. Come on down to the longest running small press show on the East Coast! Now on Saturday and Sunday (the way it always shoulda been!!) I’ll be located with my co-horts in the Cartoonists With Attitude. Also, keep an eye out for readings and signings in the immediate area.

*KNIGHT LIFE BEING TESTED IN COLORADO SPRINGS/BIRMINGHAM/ MORE..
Can you take a minute out to vote my daily comic in at the following places?

-Birmingham News:
http://blog.al.com/bn/2008/07/what_do_you_think_of_knight_li.html

-Orange County Register :
http://ocregister.upickem.net/engine/ApprovedSubmissions.aspx?contestid=1864

-Colorado Springs Gazette:
opinion@gazette.com

The Gazette

30 S. Prospect St.

Colorado Springs, CO 80903

719-632-5511

-Baton Rouge Advocate:
http://www.2theadvocate.com/includes/comic-survey.html

Thanks!!

*ORIGINAL ARTWORK FOR SALE!!!
K Chronicles, (th)ink and Knight Life artwork is flying out the door. What better way to make room for this ever-growing child-o-mine than to unload my artwork onto you?
K Chronicles -$350 and up
(th)ink- $150
Knight Life dailies $150
Knight Life Sundays $200

CHEAP!!
email me to see if your favorite comic is still available!!

IN MY MIX:
*My damned birthday
*Poop
*DEADLINES

http://www.kchronicles.com
http://www.knightlifecomic.com

Labels: cartooning workshop, Los Angeles, newsletter, San Francisco, Washington D.C.

 
*ANNOUNCING THE FIRST KEITH KNIGHT SOLO COMIC ART EXHIBITION!!

For Immediate Release: May 28, 2008
Contact: Keith Knight, keef@kchronicles.com
Images Available Upon Request



The Knight Life:
Bay Area Spotlight on Keith Knight
Cartoon Art Museum Exhibition: June 14 - November 9, 2008



The Cartoon Art Museum is honored to host the first comprehensive exhibition
of Harvey and Glyph Award-winning cartoonist Keith Knight, creator of the K
Chronicles, (th)ink and the new United Features syndicated daily comic strip
The Knight Life.

The exhibition, co-sponsored by Dark Horse, coincides with the release of
The Complete K Chronicles (Dark Horse/$24.95), the 500 page omnibus
collection that incorporates the first four K Chronicles compendiums (three
of which are out of print).

Keith Knight, a Bay Area institution whose move to Los Angeles left a gaping
whole in the S.F. reprobate and indie comics community, will dig deep into
his vast catalog of original artwork for this retrospective. The K
Chronicles, (th)ink, the brand new daily comic strip The Knight Life, his
work for Mad Magazine and ESPN: The Magazine, Marginal Prophets poster and
album art, plus some early high school and college work will be represented
in the exhibit.

Information regarding the official reception for this exhibition will be
announced shortly.

About Keith Knight

Keith Knight is an award-winning cartoonist whose two self-syndicated comic
strips, his humorous, autobiographical the K Chronicles and (th)ink, which
skewers politics and current events, can be found in over 35 alternative
weekly, college and daily newspapers and websites nationwide. He's also a
frequent contributor to Mad Magazine and ESPN: The Magazine. His new daily
comic strip, the Knight Life, has recently launched, courtesy of United
Features Syndicate. For more information or to schedule an interview with
Keith Knight, visit his website at
www.kchronicles.com, www.knightlifecomic.com or send an email to
keef@kchronicles.com.


]{[^]}[
Cartoon Art Museum ? 655 Mission Street ? San Francisco, CA 94105 ?
415-CAR-TOON ? www.cartoonart.org
Hours: Tues. - Sun. 11:00 - 5:00, Closed Monday
General Admission: $6.00 ? Student/Senior: $4.00 ? Children 6-12: $2.00 ?
Members & Children under 6: Free

*A PREVIEW COPY OF THE DARK HORSE BOOK IS HERE!!
And it looks FANTABULOUS!
It's HUGE!! Like a phone book!! Chock full of K Chronicles strips the way you wish papers would run it. BIG!! Kerstin was saying that she never noticed all the little things that I put in the strips because the collections were too small.

She also loves the notes that I put in below the strips. Little factoids and things about the work. I'm psyched!! And I'm looking to get a lot of publicity re: this book, so if you know where to send it to, tell me!!

You can pre-order the Dark Horse Book here.

*NORTHERN CALIFORNIA WRAP-UP..
Had a spectacular time in San Francisco and Santa Rosa last week. Thanks to the JCCSF for bringing me up there for their Serial Boxes panel. It was nice hangin' with fellow creators and comic fans alike.

I also rolled into a coupla old spots including the Edinburgh Castle, which still had a pinball machine in the back. I tossed a coupla quarters in the machine to see if I still had it.

40 million points, one free game and a "shoot again" later, I realized I did still have it. I walked away after just one ball, cuz I knew it wasn't gonna get any better than that. It'd make someone's night to find all that free stuff on a pinball machine...

I also hit one of my fave Haight St. foodspots, Askew, for a little pepper encrusted Ahi, but they jacked up the price on that thing BIG TiME. The gas crunch has seriously affected the menu (it was still delicious, though).

There was more food, booze and fun seein' as it was Bay to Breakers weekend, but I won't bore you with all the details. Let's just say that if you ain't spent any time in San Francisco, yer missin' out.

Special thanks to Greg and Jose at the HI SF Downtown Hostel for putting me up. I really enjoy coming into SF from a traveler's perspective.

*I ALSO DID A COUPLA SWELL INTERVIEWS .
One was with Chris Lanier for an upcoming ish of McSweeney's and the other you'll be able to find right here.

*INDIANA JONES REVIEW..
What can I say? If you like Indy, you'll see it. If you're looking for a good movie, don't bother.
Some good parts (the opening stuff, the college chase, the jeep and sword fight), some bad parts (swinging through the trees, THREE waterfalls?), and a sorta weird walk-on by Karen Allen (was she supposed to be acting?)..

T'was the weakest but still far better than any of the new Star Wars movies.

*I KNOW, I KNOW..JACKIE ROBINSON WAS A REPEAT..
..But it was a classic!! Being on the road, coupled with the news of Rory Root's passing threw me for a loop, so I hope you didn't mind the week off.

*LETTERS/EMAILS OF THE WEEK...
Hey Keef,

We've must've seen the same photo. Berra has the ball and misses the tag, Jackie slid towards the inside of the plate, and his toe catches the top corner. We are probably in the same boat as we were too young too have seen him play live. The image of Jackie dancing off the bag at third, and just messing with the pitcher's head, then taking off, arms flailing, the crowd does a collective gasp, somebody yelling, "there he goes!!!!!!!", just gives me the chills. The Original Bum Rush. Truer words have never been spoken.

Just wait until you tell your son about it.

Keef, I love your strip, and look forward to it every week.

J.
(a transplanted Bostonian)
----------
Hey Keef,

Don't know if you ever heard of Major Taylor, but he was one of the most famous, and well-paid, athletes of his day, from about 1895 to 1915. He was a bike racer, he was amazing, he was black, and like Jackie Robinson, he also faced a mountain of prejudice. What most people don't know, is that he ever existed. And he wasn't just famous in the U.S. either, he was world famous--cycling was a huge sport here and internationally in the days before the automobile screwed things up. Anyway, whenever I come across praise for Jackie, I feel the need to make sure Major Taylor gets his due.

Peace,

D.

(i actually did a strip about major taylor when i was contemplating doing a black history panel called "betcha didn't know"..i never pitched it, but if i find the taylor panel, i'll post it.-kk)
-------

Hi Keith,
I look forward to reading (th)ink every week in Boston's Weekly Dig, and just wanted to
write you a note to tell you that I really appreciate the strip. When I read your recent
comic about Mildred Loving, it caused me to look for more information about her - I
listened to the online NPR piece from last year. I realize that on top of entertaining
your audience, you're also informing them - art, commentary, and historical notes all
rolled into one. Nice work! Your strips that address interracial couples always catch my
eye, since I'm white and my girlfriend is asian-american - I often show my favorites to
her, especially the one I mentioned. I also enjoy Tak Toyoshima's "Secret Asian Man"
strip for similar reasons. Anyway, keep up the good work - I look forward to reading many
more of your comics in the future!
-D.

----------

Hi Keef:

I opened the mailbox today and found the book waiting for me. Thanks
for the personalized note on the inside cover. I hope all is well with
your's and your wife's impending parenthood.

I haven't found any local papers that carry you since Pacific Sun and
you parted ways. I'm curious if you're going to be writing anything
about the economy up in these parts.

By day I'm a hard working commercial real estate broker. I also have
three kids, two for whom I pay child support, one who I raised on my own
(his mother passed away). In 2006 I made a little over $117,000. I was
responsible with the money (I always pay my child support and bills) and
my only excursion was a seven day trip to Maui. After taxes and all, I
entered 2007 with a little under $70k in savings. And then the fucking
earth spun off her axis and the market dropped. I was worried, but I
kept the expenses in check and distracted myself with my night time
endeavor. But I kept watching irresponsible,
greedy bankers and lenders make unrealistic loans to small businesses
and investors who were fooled in to thinking that Bushenomics would
continue to expand. It's like thinking you can re-use a rubber:
eventually some spunk is going to be squeezed out and then the chain
reaction begins. In 2007 my income dribbled to less than $7,000. Now,
in late May 2008, I'm faced with eviction. Me! The guy who was never a
dead beat dad, the guy who works 10 hours a day, then comes home and
works some more. The guy who warned people, "Don't take those loan
terms....lock in a fixed rate...you pay a little more up front but you
won't be exposed to the impending melt-down". I'm 44 years old and
facing starting all over. How the f--k did that happen?

Obama in 08, Knight. He's not going to hand us a fix, but he's sure as
hell gonna hand them some pink slips. Let those irresponsible f--ks
face their sins against this nation without jobs for a while. As I sit
here wondering if I'm going to be sued for eviction, I stress out. I
have anxiety attacks and spend hours better invested sleeping staring at
the ceiling trying to figure, hope, pray for a way out of this mess. I
can only imagine how they might feel with the hope of them one night
laying awake wondering how they're going to fare in congressional
hearings.

Best Wishes,

Pi

-------

Whaddaya mean you didn't know I went daily?
http://www.knightlifecomic.com

Labels: cartoon art museum, dark horse collection, email of the week, Indiana Jones movie review, interview, letters of the week, San Francisco

 
*BIG FAT BOOK RELEASE PARTY THIS SATURDAY!!
Cartoon Art Museum. 6pm. 655 Mission St. San Francisco. Be there!!

*EMAILS/LETTERS OF THE WEEK...

re: Meat Street Breakdown!!

Hi Keef,
Loved your strip about the LA taco trucks.

Perhaps you know of the Taco Bandini, whose mission is to review every taco truck in LA?
http://tacohunt.blogspot.com/

Crazy! But tasty...

Cheers,
J. R.

----------------------(excellent website!!-kk)

Hi Keith!

I love your comic, I read it regularly at salon.com. Actually, my dad's name
is Keith, my middle name is Keith, and I'm married to a German woman (well,
Czech/German), so I can always relate! ; )

I had to write after today's comic about "street meat," hahahaha. I love it
too, I've had blood sausages in Korea, meatballs in Hong Kong, various
kebabs in Germany, Denmark, and Cyprus, sausages and hot dogs in NY and
Chicago, etc., etc. But I found the best hot dogs in the world here in
Copenhagen--YES, bacon wrapped, and they come with ketchup, 2 kinds of
mustard, mayo sauce, fried onions, chopped onions, and thin-sliced pickles
on the top! Of course, the city is FILLED with these pølser carts and they
are open late for post-drinking dining.

So I want to encourage you to give in and try a bacon wrapped hot dog, if
not in Copenhagen then at least in LA. They are really, really tasty. You DO
want to go there!

Cheers,
J.

---(the bacon-wrapped dog sounds a LOT different over there than here..but I'll take the plunge soon enough.-kk)

Keith,

This didn't qualify as street food, but easily the most bizarre vendor food I had was one
morning at a bluegrass festival -- someone had set up a cart where they were selling

a) breakfast sausage on a stick
b) that had been dipped in blueberry pancake batter
c) and then deep-fried in some sort of maple-syrup oil

I called it "the breakfast log" for lack of a better moniker. I won't admit to how many
of them I had. :o

Congrats on the upcoming l'il gravy!

Mighty

-----(sounds like street-meat to me!!-kk)

Keef,

Here in Arizona, we have street vendors that sell
Sonoran-style hot dogs.

Wrap the dog in bacon before cooking, then add
mayonnaise, tomato, onion, pinto beans, guacamole,
tomatillo salsa, jalapeños, mushrooms, and cheddar and
Cotija cheeses.

It's a delicious nightmare.

Love your comic! It's the bright spot to my Wednesday
workday.

--(the cheese and mayo with jalapenos makes my butt quiver at the thought of it-kk)

Hey Keef,

I used to work at Planet Records in Kenmore Square back in the 80's/90's. Every year we waited for the Red Sox opening day because Pizza Pad would set up a sausage cart on the sidewalk. There always seemed to be a cart outside The Channel after a show got out. Good stuff.

M.

(i had to get a bostonian in there seeing as my sox started there season over in japan. they'll be coming back through l.a. for a coupla games with the dodgers. but i'll miss 'em cuz i'll be up in san francisco this weekend)

*AL SHARPTON OUTFOXES FOX..
Watch this.

Labels: al sharpton, Emails of the week, letters of the week, red sox/yankees, San Francisco

 
*JUST RETURNED FROM ESPN MAGAZINE'S 10TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY..
..L.A. stylie. There were two parties: One here and one in New York. I brought the now blatantly pregnant wifey out to the swanky West Hollywood hotspot, Area, for a little schmoozing with the sports-oriented elite.

After strolling the red carpet (I'll never get used to that) past the greatest receiver of all-time, Jerry Rice, we entered the club where I was handed beer. Open bar!! We quickly scoped out the place and discovered fruit and veggie trays 'splayed out at booths around the club.

But the real good stuff was being brought out by a steady stream of wait staff. Sushi, skewers, crabcakes, sliders, and more were streaming out of the back . We established the optimum position (where we could people-watch and snatch all the grub that was coming out) and stayed there for most of the evening.

Also in the far back was this candy bar full out chocolate, gummi-bears, m&ms and the like. And some special cheese and caramel(?) popcorn flown in from Chicago. Kerstin was quite happy. We filled our pockets.

Saw what I thought was Bill Romanowski and the sidekick dude from Borat. There were a ton more athletes there but I'm not too familiar with a lot of 'em. T'was a good party, though I think I'd kill myself if I went out to deez L.A. clubs every week.

The dance floor was crack-a-lackin'. I was hoping Kerstin would hit it, lift up her shirt to reveal her round belly and then start rubbing it while cackling like a pirate. It would've been a good laugh seeing the reaction of the L.A. scenesters.

After talking to a fellow contributor to the mag, I found out that the pass we got to get in was strictly for one person. I think they saw Kerstin was pregnant, so they didn't hassle her. Score one for the baby card!!

If you didn't know, I contribute the Sports Knight comic strip to ESPN the magazine.

*WELL, THAT WAS A WASTE OF TIME: WIZARD WORLD L.A. WRAP-UP
Egads...What a bad show. Thankfully I was ill on Friday, so I only made it on Sat. and Sun., the "busy" days. This show offers nothing to the Indie cartoonist doing non-superhero/non-mainstream stuff. The only thing that made it bearable was sharing space with cartoonists David Malki and Dave Kellett. Also Jose Cabrera and Javier Hernandez were behind us. All four of these dudes have good senses of humor and kept everything light even though it was hours and hours of poo.

*BUT SAN FRANCISCO WILL SAVE ME!!
Because I'm having my Book Release Party at the Cartoon Art Museum in a coupla weeks!! The wondrous San Francisco institution is opening its doors once again for your truly, and I will be spinning tales of my interactions with the late Herb Caen, Brownie Mary, Phil Frank and more.
All to celebrate the release of I Left My Arse in San Francisco, the 5th K Chronicles collection.
Sat. March 29 @ 6pm. 655 Mission St. San Francisco.

Labels: espn, San Francisco, wizard world la

 
*I'M BAAAACK.
Egads...February 2008 will go down as the busiest month in the history of my existence. So far. Two Collegiate slideshows. Top secret project. Finishing two new books. Wondercon. Comics/comics/comics. Gallery show. And moving to a new place.

*YOUR ORDERS ARE BEING SENT OUT ON MONDAY!!
Those of you who have been eagerly awaiting the new K Chronicles collection, "I Left my Arse in San Francisco", the orders are going out this afternoon. But if anyone needs it right quick for a birthday or something, shoot me an email and I'll express mail it. It's been quite a deluge since I've been gone, and I thank you for it.

Remember folks..Only 1000 of these babies. Signed and numbered, so order 'em right quick.

*WONDERCON WRAP-UP..
Best Wondercon yet, I must say. The show continues to grow with big stars (Steve Carrell, the X-File peeps) and plenty o' artists to be had. I was sitting by Al Gordon as he serenaded my knocked up wife and various other lovelies with his guitar and hippie crooning.

It was great to see all my old San Francisco pals like Andrew Farago, Shaenon Garrity and all the other good folks at the Cartoon Art Museum. Plus Age Scott, Mike Hampton and more. Coming from up north was Miriam Libicki and husband Mike...And coming up from down south: Rob Goodin and wife Georgene, plus L.A. comic fiend Jim Mahfood.

And extra special guest: Jeff K ramer a.k.a. the Noble Def G, my partner in the Marginal Prophets, was in the house doing a special promotions gig for the DVD of "Hitman". He got thrown out on Saturday.

Most were in Artist's Alley, which is the place to be if you're an artist who wants to exhibit at Wondercon. But the Small Press section seems to be getting better.

I did a signing at the Dark Horse booth and they officially announced the big ass 500 page book I've been telling you about for months. You can actually pre-order it now!! If it ain't their website, I'll post instructions soon.

At night I hit the C.A.M. on Friday and the C.B.L.D.F. and Isotope parties in Saturday. But the coolest thing about it all was that the wifey and I stayed in the hostel I used to work at all those years ago, where we first met in 1994. *sigh*

*I STILL HAVEN'T ADDED THE NEWLY FOUND DANCES WITH SHEEP BOOKS TO THE STORE YET...
I also found a few copies of Passion of the Keef! As much as I hate to move, I find all this crap that I misplace over the years.

HERE'S THE DEAL:
I don't know when I'll be adding those books back onto the website, but if you want to order 'em, make a $16 donation to the tip cup on my site and fire me off an email and I'll send out the book. $16 donation per book. Make sure you point out whether you want "Dances with Sheep" or "Passion of the Keef".

Anyhoo..I got smore to tell but I'm too tired to write. I'll write more after deadline on Tuesday.

Ciao!!

Keef

Labels: Dances with Sheep, moving, Passion of the Keef, San Francisco, Wondercon

 
*AHH..LATE WITH THE BLOG AGAIN...
That's cuz myself and the other members of Team: Dimpled Balls were out on the course putting in a practice round for this Saturday's Mini-Golf for Cheaters Tourney!! (the Wifey kicked all our asses!!)

Practice round? Yes, that's how serious this event is. We needed to discover the nuances of this particular course to figure out when to dole out the cheating tools. Should we use the water gun here? Or the brick over here? Or just give everybody wiggly balls?

Regardless of the tactics we use, we will crush our opponents, whose teams are made up of perverts, gamblers, circus clowns and beauty-school dropouts.

If you haven't yet, there's still time to donate some $$$ so we can have more tools to cheat with. Go here to sponsor me and Team: Dimpled Balls, and while you're there, you can peruse the 826LA website and see where the money's going (it's a damn good cause).

And if you want to come and watch, it's this Saturday, the 18th, 7pm at the Sherman Oaks Castle Mini-Golf park on Sepulveda near the 101 and 405. (Wow..I sound like I live in L.A. or somethin')

*OKAY..THE BOSTON SIGNING IS SET IN STONE..
I will be signing books at Million Year Picnic in Harvard Square on Saturday, August 25th at 11am-1pm. I know it's early, but you can see how I manage being hungover from the night before..Cuz Aug. 24th IS MY BIRTHDAY!! (If you had the 2007 Little Vics/Megamix calendar, you'd know that) So come by and give me some birthday money.

*WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON..
I'll be up in San Francisco on Friday and Saturday morning for some Spark workshops with High School teachers. I'm preparing to do the Small Press Expo in Bethesda in September. And expect a super gigantic huge announcement next month about the K Chronicles. Sure..Most of you know it already anyway...

Labels: 826la, birthday, boston, harvard square, million year picnic, mini-golf, San Francisco, spx 2007

 
*EXTRA!! EXTRA!!
I'll be sharing a sliver of a table at the Los Angeles Times Book Festival at UCLA THIS WEEKEND. Look for me at the Mc Sweeney's table and pick up my new (th)ink collection, "Are We Feeling Safer Yet?"

*APE 2007 WRAP-UP..

Another fine APE has come and gone. This one was special because it was the first one since moving down to Los Angeles...

*THURSDAY: The first night up, Kerstin and I stayed at the City Center Hostel on Ellis and Larkin Streets, courtesy of my olde co-worker, Greg. It's a great hostel, although not the greatest part of town. But if you've lived in any sort of big city situation, you'd be used to it.

We heard that Aaron McGruder was being interviewed by my man Jeff Chang at the Jewish Community Center in town. We whizzed on over there after meeting up with New York cartoonists Mikhaela Reid and Masheka Wood at Mark Fiore's Third Thursdays gathering at Dave's, a dive bar downtown.

The interview was cool. And the great Morrie Turner, the first black nationally syndicated cartoonist ("Wee Pals"), was in the audience. It was the first time I'd seen him since he had a bit of a medical scare a coupla months ago. We took some nice pix and went out to dinner after.

*FRIDAY: The annual Last Gasp/APE Pre-Reg party was fine and dandy with many of the usual suspects. Plus plenty of good food. It was here where we hooked up with Steve Notley, who was down from Seattle, and Shannon Wheeler, down from Portland. We split the party and joined the rest of our Cartoonists With Attitude colleagues at Daves.

*SATURDAY: The Alternative Press Expo officially begins! I did a panel on socially relevant comics with folks like Paige Braddock and Abby Denson. It was jolly good and well received. A lotta folks came by the table after. Good stuff.

*That evening, Kerstin and I had a great dinner with Rod Gilchrist, director of the Cartoon Art Museum, and his lovely wife. We were prepared for a night of revelry, with an infinite amount of parties and openings to attend..

..but we just decided to go back to where we were staying and get a good night's sleep.

*SUNDAY: The second day was actually busier than the first day. I was quite surprised and damned pleased. After we wrapped it up, Kerstin, Notley and I went to Tommy's Joynt for our annual Hofbrau type meal.

*I didn't pick up much at the event (i gots ta make $$$!!), but I did see this really incredible prototype of a book from Chris Lanier. Chris is a great cartoonist/animator /journalist who served on the board of the Cartoon Art Museum with me. And he did this great interview with me.

*Also, my man Paul Madonna has the first collection of his All Over Coffee. I saw a prototype of the book and it looks beautiful.

*EMAIL OF THE WEEK..

Dear Keith:
I really liked your comic on Jackie Robinson today. I
thought it was the best commentary I've heard in all the hubbub about
the landmark. It's funny that there was so much commotion about him on
his 60th anniversary of breaking the "color barrier" in baseball. You'd
think it would have been a bigger deal on the 50th. Anyway, he was
really before my time (I was born in 1950). I was a Pirates fan because
my father was from Pittsburgh, and so my guy was always Roberto Clemente
(still is). The best highlight from his career, for me, was when he was
named MVP of the 1971 World Series, and the reporter interviewed him.
Even though he could speak English well, he chose to respond in Spanish,
and he gave a little speech about how proud he was to be from the
Caribbean and representing Hispanic ballplayers. A very cool moment
from a real saint of a guy. Hope all is well.

A. (in Gainesville, Fl.)

Labels: APE, cartoonists, email of the week, San Francisco