Alternative Press Expo 2004
But no tour of San Francisco would be complete without the obligatory trip to Haight Ashbury. I gotta say that this area of San Fran was not quite was I was expecting. Hell, in my opinion, Athens GA has a much cooler, and less commercialist counter-culture. Haight Ashbury almost seemed like a parody of how it must have been back in the day. But fuck it, it was still pretty cool. We got some damn fine food at a place called Cha Cha Cha's (where I drank two pints of an elixir known as Death and Taxes) and Nan got a new tattoo at Mom's Body Shop. (Note to out-of-towners: You can't park anywhere near Haight Ashbury. Don't even try. Give it up. Take a bus.)
Then I remembered that a friend of mine from college was living in San Francisco, so I decided to give her a call. I hadn't talked to Sara since graduation five years ago, so it was probably one of the more random phone calls I've ever made. Turns out that Sara was working as a cocktail waitress at a bar called Lingba's, so we all headed down there.
Reunion's with old friends are great, but none of you really give a shit about that sort of stuff. (Want me to prove it? Did you hear that my friend Jordan has moved back to Charleston and is going to have a baby? See? You don't care.) Anyway, Lingba was a jungle themed little bar attached to ...some kind of restaurant. (I forget what kind of restaurant.) I had a couple of drinks called "Spider Monkey", which consisted of a lot of rum and some fruit or something and is now the official mixed drink of Plastic Farm, followed by a few beers called Chimay (pronounced "ShimAY", but which I kept calling "Chimney" thus confusing our bartender.)
We said our goodbyes to Sara and the rest of Lingba's staff, after
inviting them all to APE of course, and drove around San Fran looking for the official
pre-party thing that was supposed to be going on. Which we never found. And considering
that we had probably walked about thirty miles that day, we were not too upset at
the prospect of going back to the hotel for some ... relaxation.
Okay, okay. On to the damn convention already.
Saturday - 02/21/04 - APE Day One
I'm not sure why, but we skipped breakfast. I'm also not sure why, but I forgot
to pack a belt. These are two things that would come back and bite me in the ass.
The breakfast thing. You can't be coherent or a good salesman when all that is in your system after six hours is five cups of coffee and a muffin. By the end of the show, I was beyond light-headed and half retarded. Stupid Rafer. But, y'know, I don't know why I skipped to the end of the day. Let's start over, picking up right after the part where we forgot to eat.
The no belt thing. So, I had the idea to dress up nice for the show. Khaki pants, button down shirt, the whole thing. However, since I had neglected to pack a belt, and my khakis were a waist size too big (I've been working out. Oh, you could tell? Thanks!) I had to resort to twine. That's right, I wore a belt made from twine. I would have worn cardboard if I had any, but I didn't, so I used twine. It made peeing interesting as I refused to untie the twine, so I guess I'm lucky that I didn't have to poop.
So...
Yeah, let's talk about the show and drop some names. Just pretend like you missed
that part about the pooping.
And a quick note. When I mention someone by name, and then tell you a book that they have either written or illustrated, that means I'm telling you to go and BUY THEIR COMICS!
Our table was set up in "The Ghetto on the Right", which
is basically one of the two upper levels of the show. This one, I believe, is new
this year. APE expanded so much this year that they had to set up a whole new level.
We were between Pete Stathis ("Evenfall") and Harris O'Malley
("Between the Cracks"). James Massey ("Death Takes A Holiday")
was
across the aisle peddling some funny, funny books, and there were a bunch of other
people in our aisle too.
I tried to go out and make the rounds before the show started, in order to meet up with friends and folks I had met during previous shows. I ran into Ed Irvin and Todd Rapisura from Absence of Ink and got a little sneak preview of their debut books, Forlorn Funnies #5 and VOX. (We actually were staying in the same hotelas Ed and Todd, but for some reason the motel clerk never passed on my message for them, so this was the first we were meeting up. I blame myself for not giving out my cell phone number before going to San Fran.)
And speaking of fucking up and not giving people my cell number, we ran into Damon Hurd ("A Sort of Homecoming") and Rick Smith ("Shuck Unmasked"). Damon asked why I never emailed him my number, I said it was because I'm a jerk, and then we were friends again. Damon made me jealous when he said that he and his wife were staying in San Francisco for the entire week. Damn him and his great comics.
Who else? Oh yeah. We finally ran into Rafael Navarro ("Sonambulo") again. We met Rafael last year at the Pittsburgh Convention, and damned if he's not still one of the coolest motherfuckers in comics today. Plus, Sonambulo is one of the best comics that you aren't reading. Later on I tried to give him directions to the APE Aftermath at the Isotope, and failed miserably. The next day, even though he got lost, he wasn't pissed at me. That spells awesome in my book. (Sorry again Rafael!)
I was a tad nervous about sitting next to Pete Stathis at the show. I've been reading and loving Evenfall since the first issue, and I was scared that I would either start blabbering about like an idiot fanboy, or that he'd be a jerk and I'd have to stop liking the book. Well, I'll tell you right now that Pete is no jerk, and for someone who can write such great dialogue and draw such pretty pictures, he seems incredibly humble. Setting up, he introduced himself to me and Nan and mentioned that he did a book called Evenfall. As if we should be unaware of Evenfall.
(As I type this, I've begun thinking that perhaps Mr. Stathis is
under the impression that no one is reading Evenfall. Drop the man a line
and let him know that you're reading Evenfall and that you're digging it.
Give Pete your love. In fact, do this for all comic
creators whose work you enjoy, especially the ones I mention in this write-up. It
sucks to work in a complete vacuum.)
Also, Pete's really cool. Seriously. And you should read Evenfall.
Later on, I caught up with Larry Young ("Astronauts
in Trouble") and picked up a copy of Sky Ape: All the Heroes and the
new Couriers book. We bullshitted for a little while about baseball and the
upcoming new Sky Ape book.
Patrick Neighly ("Subatomic") came around and traded me for a copy
of his new book, Black Eyed Susan. Patrick used to live around Baltimore,
but I've heard that he's moved out to the west coast. I haven't had a chance to read
Black Eyed Susan yet, but the initial flip-through looks great. Plus, I really
dig on Patrick's writing, so you know it's gonna be good.
I also FINALLY got a chance to meet Tim Stroup from Cold
Cut face to face. Mark Thompson was there as well, and it was great to
see them both. I have nothing but great things to say about Cold Cut and their
dedication to smaller press and relatively unknown comics. I love Cold Cut
with all my heart.
But mostly Saturday was a day spent behind the table, trying to sell some Plastic
Farm. Which we sort of did.
And then, before you knew it, the show was over and it was time for the drinking
to begin.
Saturday Night - 02/21/04 - Food and Booze
in San
Francisco
During the show, we made plans on hooking up with Rick, Damon and Kate for dinner
at their hotel. So, after a quick trip back to our motel for a rapid change of clothes
(clothes with no need for a belt) and a rapid hosing off of convention grime, we
were off.
We ate at a restaurant called Puccini & Pennetti (or something like that) where
I ate Greg's Balls.
(Seriously. There was a dish called "Spaghetti and Greg's Meat Balls",
and christ if Greg's incredible sacrifice didn't fill my empty belly with joy and
meat.) Rick started a conversation regarding comic aesthetics and artistic integrity
and design, none of which I could possibly try and recount here. (The word "fetishistic"
was definitely used at some point by someone, but by that time I was on my second
Guinness.) I remember some excellent points being brought up, and really, it was
a very interesting conversation.
I'd also like to take this time to thank Rick and Damon for helping me out with stuff
I was going to talk about on a panel on Sunday. (Oh, I forgot to mention that. I
was going to be on a panel on Sunday.) Their mock questions really made me feel more
at-ease talking about what little I knew about comics in front of a crowd.
So then it was on to The Isotope for the APE Aftermath Party and Ceremony for the
Isotope Award for Mini-Comic Excellence. Well, we missed the actual presentation
of the award, which sucks as I really wanted to be there for that. But, we were in
plenty of time for the celebrating.
And in time for the drinking. And for the socializing. And for the drinking.
James Sime, Isotope proprietor and Comic Pimp, had secured a keg of Speakeasy Beer. Apparently, this keg represented 1/64th (or thereabouts) of all the Speakeasy beer produced this year, and it was well worth James' efforts in bringing it to the party. This beer, so I'm told, had around a 10% alcohol content, which in and of itself is usually enough to satisfy me. But it also tasted pretty damned good as well. Special thanks to Kirsten and Adrienne for keeping the booze flowing.
I spent most of my time at the party in the smoking section (outside) catching up with Ed and Todd. I also ran into the talented Mr. Curtis Broadway ("Blotto's Folly") and we discussed our love for early printing processes and printing in general. Hell, I ran into so many cool people at The Isotope that if I start trying to name them all, I'm bound to forget someone and piss them off. If you were at The APE Aftermath, and you and I talked for more than ten seconds about any subject, then rest assured that I thought that you were a cool motherfucker and that I like you.
