Book Fair Weekend
Box set open, originally uploaded by artnoose.
Now that the Anarchist Book Fair weekend is over, I can take a moment to relate to you how we did end up finishing that audiobook set, and how the weekend went in general. (I'm going to employ a cut because I plan to post a bunch of pictures.)
So, the last I posted, moxie0 and I were frantically trying to finish the 25-CD set of the complete recording of the book Letters Of Insurgents. Some of you may remember that he and I recorded ourselves reading the nearly-850-page epistolary novel for three whole months back at the end of 2006. It was an amazing project for us to work on, both in our understanding of the book itself and in our relationship to each other. Similarly, packaging the 33-hour recording into an audio CD set was a ridiculously ambitious endeavor, and it would have been more sensible to not do it all much less strive to get it done in the days before the Book Fair. And so we did it.
As stressful as it was at times, it was a terrific project to work on. It was a perfect example of good problem-solving. We were faced with the question What do you do with 25 CDs? and came up with this structure, an accordion fold book with cardstock jackets for each of the CDs attached to each peak of the fold. It was also an example of a project becoming more and more involved as it progresses. I had had some slightly easier ideas about the structure and execution before actually beggining to construct the book, but as one aspect became beautiful, I found myself (and moxie0) insisting on taking that extra care for one detail or another. When printing the disc numbers on the jackets for example, I had originally thought of hand-inking them and quickly running them through the sign press. However, it didn't look quite as nice as I knew the letterpress would. The devil is in the details, so I decided if this project was worth doing, it was worth doing on the Vandercook.
moxie0 was also working on this like mad, in addition to publishing his own projects. We did some things separately, but it was the two days before the book fair when we worked together in my printshop that were by far the most enjoyable. The division of labor shook out kind of how you'd expect--- he was burning and printing audio CDs while I was sewing CD sleevs and folding paper--- but there was also more crossover than I am normally used to. I almost never work collaboratively; I am either self-contained, or if I do work with someone it with a strictly defined separation of tasks. I also rarely work on things with anyone else in the room.
This project was beautiful in a number of different ways. Despite one minor construction annoyance, I am thoroughly pleased with the result. It's a well-designed CD package and nicely executed, even if it's not especially professional. I'm still amazed that we started off with blank CDs and paper and came out with this finished product a few days later. Working with moxie0 was profoundly good, and I appreciated his attention to detail and willingness to put the pedal to the metal to make a great book rather than just doing it halfway. It was of course bonding for us as well, both in working together and in the time we spent not working. Among other things, we ate out on the sidewalk, watched the sunset, enjoyed happy diversions, and had tearful conversations on the floor.
We resolved to stay up Friday night until the thing was finished. Delerium set in a number of times, but especially at the point when we were folding the paper for the accordion segment and gluing in the jackets. We finshed at 2 am, and packed up our stuff for the book fair. Tomas gave us a ride in the morning, and we started off a full day tabling on only a few hours of sleep. We had only made four of the CD sets, and we soon realized how few that really was. Generally when I make an edition of anything, I keep a copy for myself, but we didn't have enough to do that. We sold the first set before the book fair officially open, and were sold out in the first hour or so.
And that was it. They were all gone. We were actually a little sad, even though all four went to very good homes, two even going into anarchist collections. Still, there was a little empty place in my heart when the last one left. I had so proudly shown it off at the table before that, taking delight in stretching it to its full length to the amazement of others. Of course, now we have to make more, if only for each of us and the author's widow. I suspect that we have most of the technical problems solved at this point, and so a second edition would be much faster, although probably less interesting.
The day went well in general. I saw many people I hadn't seen in a long time, had some interesting interactions. Also, Sandpaper Books (in LA) returned some stock they had from an exhibition last summer, which included some things I no longer had copies of. I got to steal away from the table for a bit to play some soccer. I did pretty well despite being ridiculously out of shape and even scored a goal. I got to meet a friend's new baby and see a toddler who had been a baby at last year's book fair. I sold less stuff than in previous years at this book fair, but I still did okay. The book fair committee foolishly scheduled a two-day event this year, and one of the many results was much fewer people at the fair on Saturday. We were waiting for the mad rush of people that always comes at least once, and it never came.
We got a ride back to the East Bay, and since I made more money that day, I was the sugar-mama for the evening. After dinner, we went to the Gilman show that xVx had organized. We watched the band Surrender and then started fading during the second band, so we left. Unfortunately for a light sleeper like me, my desire for an early night was thwarted by a raging dance party that took place right outside my bedroom door until 3:30 am.
I woke up Sunday morning a major Grumpasaurus Rex and headed over to the annual anarchist conference. I went to a couple of workshops and the trivia contest, and also had some good social time too.
There were a few post-conference social/prandial activities, and I decided to go to the weekly vegan potluck I write about a lot. This month the movie theme is "Wrestlers Who Think They're Actors" and this week's movie was a Thai production called Gold Raiders. Supposedly Dusty Rhoads was in it, but we never did see him. We sat through nealy two hours of the worst movie in vegan potluck history. I don't know if it was the hangliding motorcycle, the bad dubbing, the papier-mache shark, or the bats with glowing eyes that did it--- but it was so very bad that it was good. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Bad movie, good food and company.
And now back to work for me. I have another custom commission for Etsy, and I'm pretty excited about that.