NOAH THE HERO!

Does my dad have a blog? How come I haven’t found it?? Every time Robin and I rent  a movie lately we always end up with something really scary. I am not into scary movies. I never thought being scared was an awesome time. I’ve never been on a roller coaster, ferris wheels or anything else like that.I like to be safe on the ground. I’m not a thrill seeker like a lot of dudes. No thanks, I’ll sit here and read a book instead. When I lived in Florida with my friends we would go to Disney world or Disney land or Disney earth or whatever it was called. I can’t remember. My buddies were so excited to get on these crazy rides! They’d be like “c’mon man, let’s get on this elevator that goes up 40 stories and then drops you!”  and I would wonder why I was there. I am a wuss. I have no problem admitting that. Listen, I want to live! I can’t take all of these chances! What would this entire world do if I was to be injured some how??? There aren’t enough tissues to dry the eyes of all of the ladies that would be shattered by the news!  

I’m not a “MAN”. I’m sorry dad, but you’ve created a tender male to roam this earth. One more pathetic 4-F Registrant. 

In gym class when they’d hang that rope from the ceiling and tell us kids to climb up to the top, I’d jump at it, hang 3 inches from the floor on the first knot for about 4 minutes until the teacher would blow his whistle at me, then I’d step off of the rope and complain about the rope’s effects on my hands.  I’d take the protective gloves off and walk over to some darkened corner. 

I’m like one of those unlikely heroes that a lot of “good feeling” movies have. Like Crispin Glover in Back to the Future. George Mcfly, the weenie who punches out the bully at the end and gets the girl. Except, I don’t want to punch anyone. I once saw this guy being a little rough with his rodent-like dog on the sidewalk, and when he saw my disgusted face he went up to me and said ” What?! You got a problem with the way I treat my Dog?! You wanna do something about it??!” I just said ” No, I didn’t say anything, sir! “ 

I just didn’t want to get in a fight with this giant of a man over such a quivering little rat dog. 

I’m sorry. 

But, As I was saying, We always wind up renting these horror movies and freaking ourselves out at night. I start thinking I’m going to get stabbed when I go outside. We watched the Sixth sense last night and I started thinking that there was a ghost standing over my bed at night….

I’m gonna go get something to eat….

 

PHIL SPECTOR

Anyway, 

I’m starving! It’s almost time for me to head out to the coffee shop. My friend told me the other day that he was on 16th street and he had sat down and was drawing some of the buildings around there (Which are beautiful, old brick buildings) and he had taken his hat off. People began throwing change into his hat while he was drawing! 

Seeing as how I have little money, I think I’m gonna head down to some street around there with a lot of foot traffic and give it a try myself. Maybe I can get enough money for a piece of bread or something…. 

Remember when I told you about how I had drawn a book for Adam Lerner and given it to him at a lecture? Well, a couple days later I got an E-mail from Sarah, the lady I had mentioned who had come up and told they were archiving my drawings, And she wanted to know if She and Adam could take me out for a cup of coffee the next day. So, they met me at St. Mark’s and asked me if I would be interested in doing some drawings for them. I said ” Yes, Definitely” and now the rest will be written in the history books. 

One thing I’ve learned about starting up your own publication of any kind, is that if you want any publicity for it, you have to have some sort of event for it. So, I’m trying to put together an art show with original comic pages from Blammo and maybe I could get some music or something. A friend to DJ. I just need a place for this. Finding the space has been difficult. I don’t want to pay for space. I made a promise to myself that I would never pay to hang my drawings or paintings somewhere. These people should be paying me! They’ll see! 

Still packing up everything in my apartment. I don’t know how I’m going to get all of my stuff from this place to the new place. Wherever the new place turns out to be. Matt is still working on that…

Dishwasher

Nope. Forget it. I worked what seemed like the longest, most painful day of my entire life. The job itself wasn’t so bad. I mean washing dishes isn’t exactly brain surgery, but I got off work that night and I felt so numb in my head, that I could’ve been drooling and I wouldn’t have known it. But my legs and feet were in a lot of pain! I couldn’t sleep the whole night. The next morning I woke up and stumbled around. I felt like I was on sleeping pills, y’know that numbness that they give you? I wandered over to Pete’s Kitchen ( a cheap diner by my apartment ) and ate. 

I was supposed to go wash dishes there again at 1 p.m. but I couldn’t bring myself to go there. So, I came back home and sat there for awhile and then went out for a cup of coffee.

 

Ugh, I just woke up. I think it’s probably sunny outside but I have the curtains drawn in here. I always think my neighbors are spying on me. Sometimes I think I see their curtain move a little and maybe I think I see binoculars in their hands! I am a reality show to them. Sometime, just to test my theory that I’m being spied on, I’ll spill fake blood on my shirt and a little on my face. I will rapidly walk into my apartment and slam my door! Then, walk over to this window across from theirs, so they can see me really well and start rambling to myself loudly while I pace around in the small area “Why’d I do it?? Ah, Jeez! Why’d I do that to her?! I’m sure she was just kidding! She-She didn’t really mean it! I-I-I just loose my temper sometimes!” 

Today I have to go to a really expensive restaurant in the Denver Performing Arts Center, called the LimeLight so I can wash their dishes. Robin found me the job on the internet and I went over there for an interview. The guy was kind to me and gave me the job right away. Maybe, he had run over a squirrel the day before and wanted to fix his karma somehow. When he saw me walk in, trailing filth behind me, with that Oliver Twist complex of mine, He felt this was a perfect opportunity to patch it up. I’m not sure yet. 

I still have so much to do before I move out of this apartment. I really hate to move! I think the next place I live, I’ll stay there for as long as possible. Packing up all of my stuff and cleaning my bathroom is not at all what I want to be doing on all of these nice summer days. It’ll be fun living with my friend, though and not having to come up with a whole bunch of money every month. Hopefully it will work out better than my first roommate did! 

Oh, yeah! Is it just me, or does shaving your face every morning really suck? I have never done it without cutting my face in at least 3 different places!Deep cuts!  I dread doing it now! I have to stand in the mirror and yell at myself to “Just Do it! Go on and do it!” and finally I do, and it looks like I shaved with a weed wacker or something.. I have to tell people that “shaving makes me feel alive!” I think I hold the razor too hard against my face… Maybe, It’s because I’ve been using the same razor for 4 years?       Just Kidding.

TODAY.

Today started at 10:30 a.m. 

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I woke up to discover that it was raining and cloudy. In my apartment my floor is covered with projects. I worked on a few while listening to the college radio station for a little bit and then called Robin to take me out for my morning coffee. I brought a comic page with me to one of our favorite shops St. Mark’s so I could work a bit while I woke up. The music was good there and a guy came up and talked to me about my t-shirt which was a Daniel Johnston ( a crazy singer from the 90s) shirt. We drove to a bookstore on Broadway so I could talk the owner into selling Blammo and he worked up a consignment for it. 

After all of that we went to the grocery store and bought some waffles and syrup. Then Robin dropped me off at home and she went to her newspaper meeting. I ate waffles and syrup. I did some finishing touches to a sketchbook that I drew for the Art Director of a gallery in Lakewood that I really want to be a part of then I e-mailed my editor at Westword and asked him if there were any concerts I could go review for Westword.com and he e-mailed back “Absolutely” so I sent him a list of the concerts I was interested in attending. 

I walked outside in the rain to a used and new bookstore near my house and traded my last two copies of Blammo to the owner in exchange for a Charles Bukowski book. I then headed to a little restaurant thinking I could apply for a part time job. When I got in there the place was crowded and I chickened out. I slunk down and snuck out. I walked back home. I worked on some more stuff on my floor and then Robin called me and told me she was home so I grabbed the Sketchbook that I did for the Art Director and we headed down to Lakewood to the gallery which was having a lecture on counterfeit money. I knew the Art Director would be there today and so I knew I could give this book of drawings to him face to face. Sure enough he was there. His name is Adam Lerner by the way. So I sat there and listened to the lecture and when there was a break in it I walked up to him and handed him this book. It was titled A Book Of Artworks for Adam Lerner. He was very surprised and looked through it happily while I stood there with a red face stuttering every so often. I included with this book a CD of myself singing in  acapella 5 songs like Mmbop and Hero and Thriller. A lady came up while he was looking at it and told me they have been archiving all of the packages I’ve been sending. I was sending them packages every week with a bunch of drawings on scrap paper with a page that I’d write “You Wouldn’t throw away my Art would you??” But I wasn’t sure if they were even getting them. 

After all of this Robin and I drove back into Denver and I came home and I am now writing this. It’s 10:59 p.m. and I guess I’ll surrender now and go to bed. 

 

ZINE FEST 2008

Listen, The truth is, I hate writing in this blog.

I never know what to say and after I write something It makes me sick. I don’t think anybody reads this thing anyway. I guess I should write about what I’ve been up to recently…..

I’ve been working very hard making a name for myself in the world. I just finished up the 2nd issue of Blammo two. I used myself as a character in this issue a lot more. It was easier to just go with drawing some of my own life this time around. It turned out to be a pretty negative comic book but in a good way. A funnier way. I’ve shown a few pages to some people and they liked it, so… When I’m not drawing for Blammo I’m drawing for Westword. Interviewing bands and drawing it into a comic strip. This job has been very good for me and made my name recognizable around colorado. Westword also sends me on assignments to rock shows and has me write a review of the show in a comic strip. I’m still contributing to a few magazines here and there.

I’m going back to school in the fall to take some graphic design classes. This will help me out very much in the future.

A few days ago I was a part of the annual Denver Zine Fest. It’s always really fun. The night before they had a zine reading in an old building which I attended. I saw a well known comic artist named John Porcellino there. I walked up to him and said “hey, john.”  Thinking I would introduce myself to him. But to my surprise  he already knew who I was and told me he liked my comics.

The next day during the Zine Fest I pestered him a bit. Looking back on it, It’s embarrassing. I brought 20 copies of Blammo and 20 copies of a mini comic I did and Sold out! I had to leave early. I got so much love from people that day that my ego has become it’s own entity.

I quit my job at the bagel shop a month ago and I think I’m getting soft. I need to find another job that allows the average joe to come in and verbally and figuratively  urinate on me for as little pay as possible. I’m thinking of something that has to do with burgers.