New John P. Stuff

Ok, if you haven't checked out the preview for 'The Hospital Suite', then I don't know what's wrong with you. It's so so good. Secondly, John's posted dates for the fall tour and here they are:

Dates with an * are where he'll be screening the film as well. Unless I screw everything up, we'll also have DVDs for sale online and at all dates. Oh, and hopefully I'll be joining him for parts of the tour. We'll see!

SEPTEMBER:

SAT-SUN 9/13-14: BETHESDA, MD, SPX*

TUES 9/16: TORONTO, ON, Beguiling @ Bloor Theatre* 

WEDS 9/17: MONTREAL, QC, Librairie D+Q*

TH-F 9/18-19: WRJ, VT, Center for Cartoon Studies*

SAT 9/20: PROV., RI, Ada Books @ Cable Car Cinema*

SUN 9/21: BROOKLYN Book Festival @ Spectacle Theatre*

T-W 9/23-24: ROCHESTER NY, Monroe Community College*

THURS 9/25 PITTSBURGH, PA, Copacetic @ Harris Theatre*

FRI 9/26: COLUMBUS OH, Billy Ireland Library, OSU*

SAT 9/27: CHICAGO, IL, Quimby’s*

OCTOBER:

FRI 10/3: NASHVILLE, TN, Watkins College of Art and Design*

SAT 10/4: NASHVILLE, TN, Handmade and Bound Festival

SUN 10/5: BLOOMINGTON, IN, Boxcar Books*

10/17-19: CHICAGO, IL, Multiples Festival  

NOVEMBER:

SAT 11/8: MILWAUKEE, WI, Milwaukee Zine Fest

SAT-SUN 11/15-16: SEATTLE, WA, Short Run Festival, Seattle @ Central Cinema*

MON 11/17: PORTLAND, OR, Reading Frenzy @ Hollywood Theatre*

WEDS 11/19 SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Cartoon Art Museum*

MON 11/24: LAWRENCE, KS: Wonder Fair*

TUES 11/25: ST. LOUIS, MO, Enamel Gallery*

Quick update

1. Still trying to get 'Kids Don't Follow' cuz I love that scene of John singing along to it.

2. Can use some Galaxie 500, but it's not cheap -- well, I'm sure it IS cheap, but compared to my micro budget -- it'll cost almost as much to use one song as it did for the camera and mice I bought. Yeeesh! (pronounces 'yes-sh' with a long 'e' like in 'she' or 'he', not 'yesh' as in 'yes')

3. Heard back from Bruce Loose! Pretty wild in and off itself. Said if it were up to him he'd be fine for free, but there's lawyers and bandmates, so.....I'm waiting to hear back on that.

4. I told John I'd have a workable 50 minute thing by next week. So, I will. Up at five again!

5. Going to launch a Kickstarter shortly. One of the awards will be original artwork from people 'covering' a King-Cat cover. Check out this beaut Jeffrey Brown put together on the same day I asked him to do it. It's a cover of K-C #58, and I think it looks fantastic.

We should be getting similar entires from Zak Sally, Noah Van Sciver and Sam Spina. I have a couple other artists I'm going to ask, but I'll wait until they say 'yay' or 'nay' to name them. 

Really nice shot

I'm editing down 'The Beloit Interview'. This was a six-hour interview spread over March 9-10, 2010 which I conducted while John was living in what was basically a poorly insulated concrete bunker in South Beloit, Illinois.

It was the late winter of 2010, I believe -- early March? -- and John was nearing the end of his rope. He left Denver the previous fall for Florida, which didn't pan out too well, and he was back in the confines of the northwest suburbs. I remember he said he didn't want to live in Beloit proper, as Beloit is Wisconsin -- i.e. Packers country -- and he's a Bears' man. I don't believe there was much sarcasm in his statement at the time.

His apartment was pretty sad. I can't remember if it was a converted car garage or what, but it was just made of cinder blocks, with giant openings for the winter wind to whip into, and the landlord wasn't too responsive.

John was furiously wrapping up edits on 'The Next Day', a book he'd been commissioned to illustrate, and was in the beginning stages of revamping Spit and a Half to its former glory. This meant every square inch of the place was filled with stacks and boxes and bags of zines, comics, and books.

Anyway, as I was editing I realized how beautifully I shot the second day of the interview. John is here, pensively eating his breakfast as we discuss Walden, getting it right as a cartoonist, and how much work goes into drawing what appear to be very 'simple' comics.

I think it looks nice.

What's that song from RENT?

You know, the one they redid in the Office when Michael Scott left? Some large number of hours? Well, here's the progress report:

1:19:42 - length of the current 'rough cut' of the film
1:22:40 - length of edited interviews with John P. - that is, usable footage I'd love to include
4:42:41 - length of the edited interviews with the ~20 people in the film - again, 100% usable footage I'd love to include
0:29:12 - length of T.A.C. DVD, edited for use
0:31:06 - length of random extras I'd like to include

6:15:19 - length of the marathon interview I did with John which will be edited down into usable footage this week
4:48:12 - length of footage of John doing his talks which I'd love to use, but needs to be edited

0:10:00- King-Cat readings set to their images by KC readers

So, I've got just about a nine hour movie, with about eleven hours left to edit. No biggie.

Tomorrow I'm interviewing Jason Heller, and hopefully, Doug M. Also need to do a Skype interview with Patrick Porter and this morning I wrote to Robert Schneider asking if he'd like to add a short video or reading. So add in a bit more for that all. Crikes!

Got two and half weeks to whittle that all down into a 75-80 minute piece. Yowza! Oh, and somewhere in here I need to get the kickstarter set up.

Wish me luck team!