Oaxaca Teachers Strike

Serena Makofsky has written a well researched, well reasoned and opinion piece supporting the teachers strike in Oaxaca, at this link.

She spoke to public school teachers and parents of children in the public schools as the basis of her research.

Uh, yup I am married to Serena, and we live in Oaxaca. Our kids are in a private school, but we believe in supporting the teachers union in Oaxaca. The alternative is to support the PRI and the government. No contest.

New Dog Boy Stuff

New Dog Boy comics appear today here at CO2 Comics.

This is the first new Dog Boy material since the I dashed off a few D.B. stories for my Buzzard comics anthology in the mid 90s. Of course, I published 17 issues of Dog Boy in the 80s, first under my own Cat-Head Comics imprint, then with Fantagraphics.

As usual with Dog Boy, this stuff is largely improvised and off the cuff, and pretty hilarious, if you were to ask me!
There will be one page posted per week, with updates coming on Saturdays.

Enjoy!

Oaxacabilly Shows

My nascent band Bughouse is doing two shows in Oaxaca, coming right up.

We'll have Bill Stair on bass and mandolin, Mikey Hillard on guitar and backing vocals, Marcia Goldenberg on vocals and myself on guitar and vocals.




A tip of the hat to Todd Spiehler, the bad boy who gave me a wee push into playing music a few years back. C'mon back to Oaxaca any time for some tasty playing, Todd!

Truth is Stranger than Fiction

The conceit of my graphic novel El Vocho is that a clean energy car can run on air. Sounds impossible, right?

Wrong!

Check this out:

CAR RUNS ON AIR

Now that is good news.


El Vocho is online here.

New Dog Boy Art

This drawing is from page 11 of my new Dog Boy story. Getting to the heart of the matter, I'd say. Mulling over how to publish/format/market this new material.

Also, I'm celebrating one year publishing Dog Boy online with the brilliant web comics site, CO2. Hurray, and thanks to Bill and Gerry.

El Vocho Review at Midnight Fiction

Richard Krauss writes up El Vocho. Thanks!

Painting Sale

It's the middle of winter and biz is DEAD in da SNOW! Buzzards & Wolves are circling the tents. So I just posted a painting sale on FB here.

We are talking ten canvasas (well, some are acrylic on board) that I have in stock from the past few years. All are fun and a bit bent, as you might imagine. And cheap! Shipping is 2 day DHL, and payment can be made via paypal. Take a look and enjoy, and lemme know if you just gots to have one of these.

love
STEVE

Kickstarter Successful

I am pumped! My kickstarter fundraiser for the El Vocho graphic novel is a success. I raised $1,255 to help fund production and shipping of the book. It's a tough market for the indie graphic novel right now, to say the least, but with a hybrid sales picture including various and sundry distributors, retailers and events, this book is in the black and garnering interest.

The fundraiser runs through December 26 if anyone still wants to order El Vocho, or get some cool art from me.

Classic Dog Boy comics, Cat-Head Imprint

I've added a complete seven issue run of my classic Dog Boy comics as a reward to my Kickstarter fundraiser.
I was fresh off the truck and ready to take over the multiverse with this title! These first Dog Boy comics (there were ten more later from Fantagraphics) helped define the cutting edge of 80s alternative comics.
All seven issues are available for a $55 pledge, a real steal no matter how ya slice it.

I have four sets available, then I'll take Dog Boy off of my Kickstarter page.


Click here to go to my Kickstarter campaign.

I Wanna Be a Tough Guy Like Emil Zatopek

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner

I ran cross country in high school, and there was a lyrical freedom to the sport--running distance races over hill and dale in the brisk fall air. But inevitably, every distance race has a painful moment of truth. Running fast over distance starts to hurt, a lot.
What to do? Stop running? Slow down? No, the runner searches for a rhythm and focus that allows them to continue to the finish.
So I gotta admit that right now, my Kickstarter fundraiser has hit the painful part of the race. Off to a fast start, adrenaline carried me halfway without consequence. Now in the middle stretch, I'm searching for the rhythm to carry me successfully to the end. The mind plays tricks on you, it doesn't seem possible. But, I know from experience that it is, so I collect my focus, impose a rhythm on my effort, and continue.
My favorite distance runner ever, Emil Zatopek, won the 5000, 10000 and marathon in the 1952 Olympics, the only runner ever to achieve this feat. He managed his pain in competition with an array of horrible grimaces that diverted attention from his perfect stride. The effect, comic, inspiring, riveting.

I note that the title above is a link to my Kickstarter fundraiser, and that you can order my new graphic novel El Vocho there. Also available are acrylic paintings and original comic art by me.

Facing Hard Time in Oaxaca

Why did I write a graphic novel where the main character is a VW Bug?

Part of the story is here.

Photo of my 'n my Vocho in Mitla, Oaxaca by Carrie McNinch

El Vocho Kickstarter Campaign

I'm doing a Kickstarter fundraiser to help offset printing and shipping costs for my El Vocho book. You can check out the project by clicking through the icon posted below. Basically, the book is available for a $15.00 pledge, and you can go hog wild and pledge more for other cool stuff like T-shirts, acrylic paintings and the like.
There's a video in there too, with me coming on like one of them NPR geeks, begging for cash. This is publishing in the cyber age, I guess!

Here's a link to the El Vocho Kickstarter page.

Mexico Painting

Painted this fall for my old friend George MacDonald. Acrylic, about 39" x 56".

My Weekend Read: 99 Problems

Been reading 99 Problems: A Book About Running and Writing by Ben Tanzer over the weekend. Ben is the author of a couple novels and a stack of short stories. 99 Problems, available online, is comprised of ten essays on the subjects of running and writing. Tanzer describes the setting and experience of runs in ten different places. He ruminates on the cathartic benefits of the running life, but duly notes his sense of mission and compulsive focus on getting his run in. Once the endorphins kick in, the author moves onto his other obsession: His career as a writer. Ideas come to him, and problems solve themselves as he ticks off the miles.

I can relate to this book, both as a creative person, and as a fellow runner. I'm the target audience here! Plus, Ben and I have the same high school PR in the 880 yard run of 2:01, knocking on the door of the two minute barrier, always a worthy goal for a high school kid.

More Dia De Muertos 2010

Here's a few more photos taken over the past weekend in Oaxaca. The previous post has some description of the festivities.

Dia De Muertos 2010

Having lived in Oaxaca for more than three years, I'm starting to get a handle on Dia De Muertos.
It all starts with slightly officious, yet gratifyingly down to earth celebrations at schools and places like the Biblioteca Infantil, the Children's Library, where we saw a kid's movie workshop project that my son acted in, and a tight brass band playing Oaxacan classics and some smooth, upbeat jazz.



By October 31, it was on to the Panteon Xoxochitlan for the annual parade of revelers through the graveyard, with an outstanding selection of artisan wares available outside, and best of all, street food from well stocked puestos.
We had mushroom embanadas, adorned with everything from squash flowers to quesillo. Super fresh, piping hot with insanely great hot salsa and tomatillo salsa, your choice. Um, the graveyard is interesting too.



After these few years, I've come to understand that November 1 is the night to indulge in Comparsas, a combo costume parade, neighborhood outdoor movable feast, dance party and more with brass bands. Think Fellini movie come to life, and your getting close.



My family was invited to the Comparsa in Nazareno Etla, a town about ten miles northwest of Oaxaca. These folks organize the best Comparsa I've been too, with residents setting up a route that winds through town, stopping here and there for music, food and revelry. The costumes, amazing. There are groups of 3 to 10 people in the same superb home made costumes who have clearly been working and thinking all year about it. They surely have little costume clubs! Lots of the macabre, but really anything goes. Peacock boys to Wild Man warriors in feathered head dresses and gold body paint, you name it. Of course, lots of attempts at being sexy, some successful, some outlandish and hilarious.



Just got back from a visit to the Panteon San Felipe on the last night of the holiday. A warm, intimate scene of families camping at the gravesites of their loved ones, adorned with orange marigolds and red Flores de Muertos. Candles, picnics and mezcal in abundance, with roving musicians. Folks inviting their dear departed to come and sit with them for the night, it's that simple, and that deep just the same.



Here's just a few pics. I'll try to remember to post more!

Have You Seen the Dog Lately

Serena Makofsky is doing a new "print edition" of her humor and culture zine, Have You Seen the Dog Lately. Serena and her sister Jenny began the zine while attending Mills College in the late 80s, helped by friend Megan Tucker who had access to unauthorized nocturnal (free) copying.
After a brief hiatus, they jump started the zine again in '93 and had a splendid run until 2004 when Jenny died in an auto accident.
Serena is doing a kickstarter fundraiser to get the project rolling, here is a link to her kickstarter page. There are lots of cool things you can get if you support the project, including a copy of the zine of course.
I really like the video on her project page, because she's really cute in it. Did I mention that I'm married to her???

Ripe Pineapple Drunk live - the Dick Nixon Experience

July 22, 2010, the Mercury Cafe, San Francisco.



We rocked this one half decent, maybe because it finally got dark!

Brazen Marketing Overkill

Dick Nixon Experience Redux

More Dick Nixon Experience from the El Vocho party last July at the Mercury Cafe in San Francisco. Bean Song, Six Days on the Road, and You Got That Hair. Our drummer Jeff reports that his mom helped Dave Dudley write Six Days on the Road, no kidding!



Video by Norm Rosenberger