RECYCLE YOUR OLD CELLPHONE, IPOD, E-GADGETS, ETC:
..by dropping them in the mail!!

Check it out here.

 
*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 GONNA BE LATE GETTING INTO WIZARD WORLD TODAY (FRIDAY)..
I'm sick and on deadline for some stuff, so I won't be getting there til later this afternoon. Hope you'll stick around if you came early.

Labels: wizard world la

 
IF YOU'D LIKE TO PRE-ORDER THE 500 PAGE K CHRONICLES OMNIBUS COMING OUT THIS SUMMER FROM DARK HORSE..
go here.

Labels: dark horse collection

 
*SETTLING IN TO OUR NEW PLACE..
..just three blocks away from our old one. I'm just starting to catch up on many of the book orders and correspondence. Thanks for your patience.

The wifey is coming along, and that's why she's the subject of this week's K Chronicles strip. I think she's just starting to move into the phase of the enjoyable part of pregnancy...we'll see.

*YES, THE PRICES GOT RAISED IN THE BOOKSTORE..
..after I took a few orders to mail out and saw that I grossly under-priced them when you factor "postage and handling" into it. Those who ordered early got a nice deal. The rest of you: FEH!!

*SAN FRANCISCO BOOK RELEASE PARTY BOOKED!!
It'll be at the world famous Cartoon Art Museum (655 Mission St. near 3rd in S.F.) on Sat. March 29th from 6-8pm. Nothing too crazy. A little wine, a little beer, some weirdos... I'll be spinning some of my favorite San Francisco tall tales, and also give some anecdotes about my first year in Los Angeles.

For more info on how to get there, go to http://www.cartoonart.org.

*WIZARD WORLD LOS ANGELES THIS WEEKEND...
I'll be attending my first Los Angeles convention this weekend. Wizard World LA is the little sister to the big Chicago convention, and I don't know what to expect. I'm hoping it'll be worth the three straight days I'll be sitting there in Artist's Alley. I'm sharing a table with David Malki and I'll have plenty o' copies of the latest book "I Left My Arse in San Francisco", so come on out of the sun and say hello.

LETTERS/EMAILS OF THE WEEK...

Mr. Knight-

I've been reading you on Salon for some time now, and I just wanted to write
to thank you for an excellent strip. I always enjoy reading your strips and
I like to think I even catch some of your in jokes ("Are you Aaron
Macgruder?"). As a longtime comic reader, your style and content are always
refreshing. I look forward to each strip, and I read Salon's comic page
just for you and Tom Tomorrow.

Keep up the great work!

Sincerely,

B. K.

Greetings Keef,

I was just wondering if a guy already owned your first three books, if the new Dark Horse Omnibus held anything new for me?

Thanks,

J. B.
Baton Rouge, LA

(good question!! the dark horse collection comprises of the first four k chronicles books (sheep, marker, strange and passion), three of which are now out-of-print, in a lavish 8 and a half by 11 inch package with personal notes and anecdotes by yours truly about almost every strip, an introduction by Kyle Baker, and several pages of sketches. It is truly the cat's bottom and a must -have for every k chronicles reader!!-kk)

You can pre-order the Dark Horse collection right here.

Keith,

I lived in the City back in the late 80s and have been a fan of your work for a long time (bought a couple of your early books). Haven't checked out your strip in a while though, and in doing so today was surprised to discover you've moved to L.A. Your Jan. 2007 reminiscences on your blog about living in SF make me homesick all over again. Wish I could talk my husband into moving back there! Hope L.A. life is just as much fun. Keep up the good work!

best,

L.
Athens, GA 30612
(the state that chose Obama and Huckaby in its primary....)

Dear Keith,

Although we've never met, we've corresponded for years... just wanted to tell you that
your concept of Life's Small Victories has kept my spirits high through a shitrain of
karma.

Yesterday, I fixed my mom's kitchen faucet. It was a hundred-dollar Moen, salvaged from my collection of hardware, and it leaked. So I replaced an O-ring. No luck. I replaced another O-ring. No luck. And when I came to final O-ring, I prayed not to the god of plumbing but to the idea of life's small victories -- success. All I wanted was for the faucet NOT TO LEAK. And, it didn't.

So, never doubt that your Keeftoons change the world for the better. Yesterday, they got
me through. They guided me through the valley of the shadow of Doubt, and helped me
fix a simple plumbing problem that would have really hurt me, if I couldn't prevail. I
would have felt like an abject failure; instead, I won one of LSV. Thank you, Keith.

Toon on,

J.

(nice!!-kk)

Keef,

My 20 year old daughter is a student at Faculte Saint-Jean, the French campus, at the
University of Alberta. She and 8 other Residence Assistants have flown to New Orleans to
work with Habitat for Humanity in the town of Thibideau rebuilding. I just received this
email from her, thought you'd appreciate her views.

"We actually did go to the lower 9th ward today. I'm just so mad at this moment. You seriously just drive over a bridge and then you just see all this leveled bare land. You are in this lovely area that is rebuilt and touristy then you drive 5 minutes and there are houses that look exactly the same as they did 2 years ago.
I'll give you a call tomorrow. I'm so mad at the United States."

So, here we have a 20 year-old white Canadian student, the daughter of an ex-pat American, seeing the fruit of a policy that began over three hundred years on the shores of Africa, the auction blocks of Charleston and the fields of countless plantations rotting on the soil in one of the wealthiest nations ever. Sad.

Your friend,
D.

Dear Keith:
I am sitting here waiting for my teriyaki chicken and rice bowl and considering it a personal victory of restraint that I am leaving you and your wife in peace. I wanted to tell you how brilliant your strip is, but you already know that, right?

Of course, if I see you again, you will totally have to deal with some adulation. Sorry!

-D.

(the above email is a lie, for he came up to us as we were leaving the restaurant. oh, how i hate it when people come up to me and say nice things..;) -kk)

oh!! and the restaurant we were in is my favorite in all of the city of culver: tokyo 7-7 is so perfect, from the $2.35 breakfast specials before 11am, to the autographed photo of erik estrada on the wall, this spot is the coolest and hardest to find place in culver city!!

Keef~

I have a small favor to ask, would you consider please, sparing a few lines of space on your blog, to help get the word out about this site. It's called freerice.com, where you play a word game, for every word you get right, 20 grains of rice are donated to the UN World Food Program. It's a really simple way for people who may feel like they don't have time to help others.

The site also explains how much each country is contributing to this program, we are at the bottom, and a form letter people can copy and send to their government, asking them to increase their participation. Anybody who has 5 minutes to spare on the internet, should be on this site. It's a quick and easy way to make a difference.

Thanks!
G.

(just cuz i posted this message above doesn't mean i'm gonna post a message about your pet cause...g. is a close personal friend of mine that i used to rob old ladies with, so i'm making an exception.-kk)

Labels: book release party, cartoon art museum, email of the week, letters of the week, 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