Thanks for a Successful Art Show

This past Friday night was a great night for ICON Studios. Our art show, Instrvmentvm, at Rasputin was a success. Thanks to everyone who showed up and drank vodka with us. It was the most people I have seen at an art show in a long time. We hope to have many more of these and because of the great showing, I'm sure Rasputin will let us. Heath, Dave, and Keith had some great artwork on display, but I haven't heard any feedback from anyone about what they thought (so leave some comments and let me know).

Now, it's time for us to get back to work bringing art, culture, and liveliness to Baton Rouge. But first, here are some pictures from the event (with special thanks to Christin for taking them):

First Reorder

This past weekend I received my first reorder for Like That. So I want to thank Jim Hanely's Universe in Manhattan for selling a lot of my books. If you are in New York, go down to West 33rd Street and buy a copy of Like That so they can put in an unprecedented third order! Speaking of New York, there is also another comic shop in Manhattan that started carrying the book: Forbidden Planet on Broadway.

My Life Through Music - Part 1

This is the first installment in what will hopefully become a series of articles. These articles will outline year-by-year the music that influenced me throughout my life. I will pick one album for each year with one basic rule: the album must have been released that year or within one year from which I first heard it. This will not only give you some insight on my state of mind during that year but also the state of where music was in general at that time. So I can't say that Journey changed my life in 1998 because not only is that not true, but Journey is also not really representative of the Clinton-sex-scandal-laden and monster-steroid-home run era of 1998. This first part will take you from high school to the first semester of college (1995-1999).

1995: 311 - 311
I know what you are going to say. Only inbred, intellectually deficient frat boys listen to 311. I can't say that in the first half of ninth grade I was hovering much above that level of mental stature. 311 may be a lot of things: annoying and untalented just to name a few. But one thing they aren’t is country. In the young and musically ignorant state I was in, they were exactly what I needed to wane me off of country music and put me on a different path. The guitars were heavier, but the songs were still upbeat with reggae flair. Believe it or not, it was a good medium between country and metal.

1996: Hackers - Original Soundtrack
Computers enter the forefront of not only our lives but in popular music as well. This compilation was my first real exposure to techno music. I latched on to techno music quickly because it was simplistic. It was like listening to rap music without the outlandish lyrics. Most techno songs are spare with meaning and substance so it was easy to listen to while I was studying. I also think the computer geek quasi-hacker in me also tremendously appreciated any art created with computers. This album led me to more bands that I still listen to today like Prodigy, Orbital, and Paul Oakenfold.

1997: Radiohead - OK Computer
I think everyone has that one album that changed their life. For me, OK Computer is close to being it. It was with this album that I began to see the complexity behind music. Radiohead taught me that music didn’t have to be loud and fast. OK Computer was the first album where I recognized the true concept of an album where songs have a particular order and all share commonality while still standing up on their own as individual works. To this day Radiohead remains one of my favorite bands, and each of their subsequent releases since OK Computer has been as stellar.

1998: Korn - Follow the Leader
By the beginning of my junior year, my friends and I were almost exclusively listening to metal and industrial music. Korn’s Follow the Leader happened to not only be their best album, but one of the best metal albums of the late 90’s. And the fact that comic book legend, Todd McFarlane illustrated the album’s cover and directed the “Freak on a Leash” video were icing on the cake. Korn also holds a significant place in my music history. The first concert I ever went to was to see Korn at the Lafayette stop of the first Family Values tour that featured newcomers Orgy and Limp Bizkit as well as underground favorites Ice Cube (“F*ck Dyin’!”) and Rammstein. This opened me up to all sorts of interesting experiences including mosh pits and lead singers that set themselves on fire. You can’t get an education like that in school.

1999: Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile
I anxiously anticipated the release of this album more than any other. Other than the single “The Perfect Drug” on the Lost Highway soundtrack, Nine Inch Nails had not released any original music since the Downward Spiral in 1994. It would be safe to say I was elated upon hearing that they were releasing a double album in late 1999. It was a lot of hype to measure up to, but it delivered. The Fragile is my favorite album of all time. It is filled with such a wide range of emotion from serenity to anger. It also arrived at just the right time in my life when I was undergoing vast transitions. I still listen to this album over and over today. My favorite songs on the album now are not the same favorites I had back then, but those old feelings I had listening to this album over and over as I walked from class to class still resonate. The amazing thing is that even now, at a different time and place, this album seems to grow with me.

Lovedrug - Shortest Concert Ever

I just got back from the shortest concert ever. We had tickets to see Lovedrug open for Plain White T's at the House of Blues in New Orleans. The show started at six which is pretty darn early. I guess that's what we get for going to an all ages show. We didn't leave Baton Rouge until 5:30 which put us at the venue at 6:45 which is exactly when Lovedrug's set was supposed to start (they were second of four). We enter when they are in the middle of the first song. Almost perfect timing. They sound great live. I don't know much about music, but I think when a band sounds great live it is a good indication that their album is not over-produced. I really like how live music sounds. I guess it's just loud, but it seems like it's more than that. That's why I can't wait to get out of an apartment and turn up my sound system as loud as I want. Anyway, Lovedrug played four more songs; only one from their first album. They announced that they were going to play one more song and then abruptly said "nevermind" and walked off the stage. I can only guess that someone off stage told them there wasn't time. I've never been in a band, but that's got to be the moment when a band learns where they are on the totem pole. Five songs is enough! Get back on the bus!
We left after Lovedrug was done. The band playing next was one that I had never heard of and I wasn't interested in seeing Plain White T's. So we ended up driving all the way to New Orleans for 5 songs in 30 minutes. For those of you keeping score at home at $25 per ticket that's $5 per song. But it was worth it.

TMNT

Style over substance. The latest installment of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles saga is a beautifully computer animated movie that fails to have a cohesive plot. It seems as though the animators spent all their time making the animation smooth and believable that they ran out of time and had to slap a plot together. A lot of people will tolerate the disjointed story and simply enjoy the eye candy that is fast paced mutant martial arts. But as an aspiring writer, I can't help but be focused on the writing (even if it is just a kid's movie). The movie is fairly short, which is part of the problem. The first act seems to go on forever, and even using voice over narration didn't seem to speed it up. We had to get history on the villain as well as catch up on what each turtle was up to since the defeat of their arch nemesis, Shredder, years ago. By the time they are done setting up the movie, there isn't much movie left. The rest of the story conveniently falls into place. The problems in the movie don't stay problems for very long as a nice packaged solution for each one presents itself just in the nick of time. This, for me, sucked all of the potential suspense right out of the story. It wasn't all bad though. The story had a really strong theme of family and leadership that was somewhat lacking in the previous adaptations of this franchise. What it lacked in plot was made up for in emotion. Tense moments between the turtle brothers translated well on screen due mostly to great technique by talented CG animators. Another weak point of the movie was the voice acting Mako as Splinter (who you may remember as the villain on Samurai Jack). His slurring voice was not a good fit for the wise, composed tutor.


I hope it doesn't sound like I hated this movie, because I didn't. The look of the movie was perfect and the fight scenes were exhilarating. The ending hinted at a sequel, and I hope they follow through and get it made. This franchise reboot has a lot of potential.

STAPLE! - Report

The Staple! Independent Media Expo was March 3rd in Austin, Texas. It is a small convention for independent comic creators, and we were one of the exhibitors this year pushing copies of Like That upon comic-loving Austinites. This was one of the more interesting events we've done in terms of wide variety of consumers. It is also the first time Christin and I have gone outside the state of Louisiana to sell the book. Austin is seven hours from Baton Rouge so we had a pretty good little road trip. We left Baton Rouge on Thursday night after work and arrived in Austin around 1:30 AM Friday morning. Staple was only a one day show on Saturday so we had all day Friday to check out why the Austin 6 think this city is so much better than Baton Rouge. It didn't take us long to see a major difference. Austin is way ahead of Baton Rouge in many areas including a much livelier downtown, but that's a rant for a different day.

The expo started at ten in the morning, which was probably too early for the type of crowd that would be interested in independent comics. However, this gave the exhibitors a chance to see what other fellow exhibitors had to offer. I received an overwhelming positive response from the other comic creators who found not only our process intriguing but also were impressed by the overall production quality of our graphic novel. I ended up selling a good number of books to other exhibitors.
The crowd really got going in the afternoon, and it was an interesting one indeed. Austin is a huge college town, and we got exactly the type of crowd I was expecting. If you are familiar with Baton Rouge and LSU, you would refer to them as the "State Street" crowd: artsy, hippy, vegetarian types. There's nothing wrong with that crowd. They are certainly fun to talk to. It's just that most of them didn't bring a lot of money. So although we did well with sales, we didn't do as well as I thought we would. There was another type of expo-browser that was rather inspiring: the aspiring comic creator. They, like the other exhibitors, were the most fascinated by the process used to to create Like That. I like to think that it gives them hope that even if they can't draw, there's no reason why they can't make comics.
The overall experience was great. The road trip was fun. Austin was a great place to hang out. We got to go to one of the biggest and best comic book stores I've ever been to. And Staple! was a good show for us. We got to meet a lot of cool people. It reinvigorated my creativity and made me want to find even more shows to do. I think the next show we'll do is SPX in Maryland in October, but I'm going to try to find more shows to do in between.

Grinder Media Expo - Report

The first annual Grinder Media Expo was held on February 28th at Club 307 in downtown Lafayette, Louisiana. Grinder is the brainchild of local comic book artist, Kody Chamberlain. The show was set up in the same spirit as other independent media shows such as the AntiGravity Media Expo we did last October. I'm always looking for little shows like this around Louisiana, so I jumped at the chance to get a table and be a part of it. The show itself was a lot fun. Club 307 has undergone a lot of renovations since I did stand-up there three years ago. It looks a lot better, but it is still cramped for space. The exhibitors all got to know each other a little better since we were in such tight quarters. The show started at 8:00 PM but the crowd didn't really get going until around 10. It was a young, college crowd, and they all seemed to be interested in what the exhibitors had to show. Overall, we didn't sell that much, but I'd still like doing these small shows because of all the people we get to meet (including the exhibitors). The funniest part of the whole night is that our table was next to Brad from Icon Visuals. So the whole night we had to explain to people that although we are both "Icon" from Baton Rouge, we are not the same group.