So the other day I was inadvertently doing an impersonation of Moon Zappa when she was on the old 'Roseanne' show, and this person I just met starts cracking up at it. I got all self-conscious because it was, you know, just my regular old annoying gesticulating way of talking, but whatevs. He assumed (correctly, I guess) I was some sort of ( Read more... )

Hey, everybody, guess what? My wishes for this weekend -- well, the cartoonist-centered ones, anyway -- all came true:

Thursday night, Dan Clowes was more than gracious about signing my Lloyd Llewellyn book --  yes, THAT Lloyd Llewellyn book -- despite the fact that I didn't buy the beautiful new monograph that he was there to promote in the first ( Read more... )

Sweet quarterbacking Jesus. I kind of cannot believe that I did not hear about this until, oh, I dunno, YESTERDAY. (Well, at least something good came of my going to Myopic Books last night, I guess. Chicagoans, is it just me or has that place turned into a total wet blanket since the new management took over?) It should go without saying -- I'll ( Read more... )

 Adam Yauch • 1964-2012
Holy crap. MCA was not even that much older than me. Sorry if this sounds callous, but the fact that he died of cancer and not some lame drug overdose makes me feel all the sadder.

Truthfully, I didn't think that the Beastie Boys would even make it past "Licence to Ill" -- YOU GOTTA FIGHT. FOR YOUR RIGHT. TO PAAAR-TAY -- ( Read more... )

One more post in memory of David Jones.  I almost forgot about his Hanna-Barberic misadventures with Scoob', Casey Kasem, and all of their crew:


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Oh noes!

Really, I thought Dolenz was going to be the first one to kick the Monkee bucket, but Micky's done such a great job whipping himself back into shape that it obviously bought him a decade or two.  Not that I would want any of them to go away anytime soon, of course.

Fortunately, all of the Monkees are alive and well in this household. Daddy ( Read more... )

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Actual conversations with and not just sightings of "big" names: Rodney Dangerfield, Andy Summers, Michael Stipe, Pat Morita, Robert Sean Leonard, and Barack Obama. I also took David Sedaris' creative writing class when I was in college.

I know scads of local and/or niche celebs, lah di dah. If you're into alternative press comics or Chicago area ( Read more... )

The Twelve Days of Christmas...by Bob and Doug!!

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Don't you judge me. You know I'm like 42, right? This beats the ass off of that "Dick in a Box" that's all the rage with you young folks these days anyhow.

Maude knows the Reader ain't what it used to be. Once in a while, though? It has a front-page article that makes me wanna stand up and say Hells to the Yeah. Like this week's ish, for example:

Saved by Rock 'n' Roll

Bonus points for Pietrusiak not being all like, "AND IN SPITE OF THEIR CHALLENGES THESE BRAVE HUMAN BEINGS OVERCAME blahbittyblah" about ( Read more... )