Interview with Ayo

In the midst of the 2007 MoCCA Arts and Comics Festival, I briefly spoke with Ayo, author of the irreverent and often pantomimed mini-comic Little Garden.

Where are you originally from?

I’m from Mount Vernon, New York. It’s a small town north of the Bronx. Home to such rappers as Heavy D and Pete Rock and CL Smooth. That’s right. And Rob O who I see sometimes. I live in Brooklyn now.
That’s good company to have in Mount Vernon.

(Laughs.)
What do you think is the best musical accompaniment to your comics?

I used to post track lists on my blog with the panels, the cartoons I did – stuff like Jimi Hendrix and the reggae Bad Brains. But really what I listen to mostly is Dead Kennedys and gangsta rap.
What is your comic embarrassment?

Hmmm… I put out some minis [comix] in 2005, which I didn’t like them when I made them, but for want of nothing else to do, I put them out and gave them to people blindly. So I... hopefully they’ve discarded them unread. (Laughs.)
What comic would you never publicly admit to reading?

Wouldn’t that be like publicly admit to reading it? I can think of some stuff but like at the same time…I don’t know…Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what: Sizzle magazine from NBM because they publish this really gross, hardcore porn but they also publish good people like Brandon Graham from Ciero so I was “I love that guy so I’m just gonna pick up this thing no matter what the person behind the counter thinks of me.” (Laughs.)
Fill in the blank: milk is to cookie as ___ is to my comic.

As color is to my comic. You see I eat cookies without milk but at the same, you know, if I wasn’t lactose intolerant, it would be a nice thing to go along with it. I would love to combine if I could. (Laughs.)
Where can people find your comics?

Mostly people can only find my comics in New York City at the major comic stores [Jim] Hanley’s [Universe] and Rocketship and Forbidden Planet. The main thing I do is a comic called Little Garden but there’s no words on the front. Title’s on the back. Make you work for it. (Laughs.)

Thank you very much, Ayo.

Thank you.

© Frank Reynoso Jan. 2008, All Rights Reserved

OPENING PARTY AT INBORN TATTOO IN LES

(left to right: Kimberly Sheridan, Nik Moore, and James Tehrani)

Inborn Tattoo, NYC hosted an opening party on Friday night for their new art show, showcasing some new works by tattooists. Above are some of the colorful and talented people who populated the Lower East Side bash.

© Frank Reynoso, Dec. 10, 2007, All Rights Reserved

Jeff Faerber art at Group Show

My friend Jeff Faerber is having 12ish works in a Coney Island themed Group Show at the Object Image Gallery in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The show also has works by Joanne Pendola.

Coney Island show
Object Image Gallery
in Park Slope Brooklyn
91 Fifth Ave
Brooklyn NY 11217



Gallery Opening
Nov 10, 2-6 pm.
Jeff will be there from 4-6

more details:
http://www.jefffaerber.com/news/news.html

Emily Niewendorp's Blog

My friend, actress and writer Emily Larson, aka Emily Niewendorp, started a blog wherein she'll:

• post links to articles she find interesting,
• write about her travels,
• brag about her friends & family and their accomplishments,
• post poetry,
  
• discuss current events, and
  
• of course, journal.

Check it out:
http://emilyniewendorp.blogspot.com/

© Frank Reynoso, Oct. 2007, All Rights Reserved

Keith Knight Interview

My friends Mikhaela Reid and Masheka Wood introduced me to Keith Knight at this year’s MoCCA Arts and Comic Fest. I got his email address and permission to conduct an email interview. I shopped the interview around a bit but didn’t get anywhere. Rather than letting it whither away, here’s the unedited interview.

KEITH KNIGHT INTERVIEW VIA EMAIL
By Frank Reynoso

With two fierce, weekly comic strips, (th)ink and K Chronicles, Keith Knight easily surpasses many cartoonists’ creative output. Add to this his numerous books, his band Marginal Prophets, greeting cards, and his ubiquitous presence at annual comic events like MoCCA and SPX, and you’ll get a better understanding of the word prolific. Behind Knight’s gentle demeanor and pleasant voice is a sharp mind that roars in his works, delving into a range of subjects: from everyday racism to post 9/11 America to urinary mishaps. Mr. Knight took some time to answer these email questions that reveal what makes for a good political cartoonist and how he’d physiologically describe his visual style.

FR: Where are you originally from and how did you end up in LA?

KK: I grew up in Malden, Massachusetts. Just north of Boston. Birthplace of Converse All-Stars and Jack Albertson, the old man from "Chico and the Man".

I just moved to Los Angeles four months ago after 16 years in San Francisco. I moved cuz I was getting complacent.
FR: What is one childhood experience that's defined you?

KK: When I asked my 11th grade English teacher if I could do a comic book report instead a regular book report. He allowed me to do a comic book parody of George Orwell's "Animal Farm". He gave me an A-plus, and said I should be doing a syndicated comic strip.

FR: What's a typical day for you? Talk us through your day from waking up with a coffee in your hand to passing out with a pen in your mouth.

KK: No coffee. I'm a green tea guy.
I get up. Make some cereal. Write down a list of what I'd like to accomplish for the day. Check email. Take care of any impending comic deadlines by 5pm eastern time (2pm my time). Shower. Grab my drawing stuff and head to a local cafe. Draw for a few hours. Head home. Check email. Make calls. Fill online orders. Prepare dinner. Fool around with the wifey. Mebbe go to another cafe to draw some more. Mebbe we watch a movie and go to bed.

FR: Who is the biggest non-comics/cartoon influence on your work? How did you end up being a cartoonist?

KK: George Lucas. Richard Pryor. Spike Lee. My great uncle Owen. Does it have to be just one?

I've always wanted to be a cartoonist. I didn't know how it was gonna happen. I just knew I was gonna be one.

FR: What is your biggest cartooning regret?

KK: No regrets. I ain't got time for regrets.

FR: What makes for a good political cartoonist?

KK: Taking a complex issue and distilling it down to a simple, humorous and effective image.

FR: Which of your works do you like least? Which one do you like most?

KK: There are a ton of strips that I'd like to write and draw over again. But you just move on and attempt to do better with the next one. There are a few K Chronicles that I really enjoy. The K Chronicles is my favorite strip to do.

FR: What's missing in comics and/or cartoons?

KK: Nothing and everything. You can do so much stuff with a comic. It's like your own little film where you control the dialogue, the actors, the scenery. It's a great medium.

And there are so many different people doing some many different things. Something for everyone. You just gotta search for it.

FR: What body part would you use to describe your visual style?

KK: Ass. Pure ass.

FR: Where can folks find your cartoons?

KK: Lots of places. Salon.com. Mad magazine. The Funny Times. A lot of alternative weeklies and college newspapers. Go to my website: http://www.kchronicles.com It'll tell you where you can find my stuff.

© Frank Reynoso Oct, 2007, All Rights Reserved

Stills from "Intolerable" rehearsals by Young Principles Theater Company

Here are some still from the Young Principles Theater Company's rehearsal of my skit "Intolerable" at 440 Studios, NYC. This skit was also directed by me.


Art snob Charles (Jared Scheinberg) mocks introverted web-head Ernie (Emily Larson).

Charles (Scheinberg) toasts while the ambivalent Ernie stands aside (Larson).

© Frank Reynoso, Sept. 2007, All Rights Reserved

Why Write? Dispatch from Daniel McGowan

Daniel McGowan's story is sorted and entrenched in the political climate we're in now. Below is an excerpt from a feature on him that ran in The Indypendent. Farther down is a dispatch sent by Daniel McGowan to his friends, family and activists.

For updates on Daniel's situation click here.

- Frank


Enemy of the State
by Jessica Lee

Growing up in New York City, Daniel McGowan saw first-hand how pollution fogged the air and fouled the beaches in some of the city’s poorest communities, setting him on a lifelong path of environmental and social justice. But how he ended up drenched in gasoline and setting fire to Oregon’s Jefferson Poplar Farms in 2001 and was later targeted as a “domestic terrorist” is the story of someone who cared too much and didn’t know what else to do.

Born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens’ Rockaway Beach, Daniel McGowan grew up sandwiched between asphalt and the sky, in a forest of buildings and buzzing streets. Until Dec. 7, 2005, the 33-year-old with a round face and a chipmunk smile was mostly known in local circles for his involvement in a variety of activist projects. Today, after a nearly two-year legal battle that saw him labeled an “eco-terrorist” by the U.S. government, McGowan is serving a seven-year sentence at a federal prison in Minnesota on 15 counts of arson, attempted arson and conspiracy to commit arson against two private companies in Oregon in 2001.

(for the full story and interview with Daniel go to Enemy of the State)

Why Write?
by Daniel McGowan

It's a question I have been pondering the last two months since I reported to prison and the clock started ticking. Why, indeed? What do I have to say that is new or fresh? Will I bore people with repetitive tomes about my case or the Green Scare? Do people want to read what I write? All these questions haunt me as I put pen to paper attempting to deal with a ton of unexpressed thoughts and emotions made worse by a self-imposed silence during my legal proceedings. Where do I even begin? I doubt at times whether I can handle the release of these emotions-- anger, frustration, betrayal, profound sadness. . . I fear that there won't be a lesson or a neat and clean conclusion to what I write about that you'll get to the end and ask. So yeah, that sucked-- what am I supposed to do? The idea that anyone might think I know also freaks me out.

As in all things though, you learn by doing. You start the journey with that first step, you are that much closer to leaving prison after the first day or month or year. I'm in prison so what sense is there in not trying to make sense of it all, to not risk failing or looking stupid or being wrong. So, I've decided to write, to not wring my hands endlessly, scared to release my writings. I've even figured out some damn good reasons to write too-- I'm going to write because we need to be more flexible in our approach and if I can't be on the streets fighting my ass off for a better world, well, at least I can speak my truth on these pages. Because we live in a world where people who abuse women rarely go to prison and when they do, go in for a few years while people who destroy the inanimate property of multi-national corporations go in for longer. Because silence is complicity and I won't be bullied or silenced by prosecutors who brag that I was forced to self-report early because of my website and speaking on Democracy Now. Because I've lost some friends and comrades these past years and they can't. Because I will never for a second accept the label of terrorist for trying to call attention to what our species is doing to our planet, and because maybe we can all learn from mistakes I have made.

See, there really are some good reasons to write despite my fears after all. I don't know what this path of exploration will look like but I'll do my best to keep digging and fighting.

© Daniel McGowan, Aug 2007, All rights reserved

A Sip of Texas Tea

A while back James Spruill and I made a comic that we submitted to a publisher for consideration. "Texas Tea", written by James and illustrated by me, is a metaphor for the Iraq War. We were rejected. James and I turned it into a zine called "Lung Juice" - along with some other comix - that we gave away at MoCCA Art and Comic Fest 2006.

Ahh...memories... :)

© Frank Reynoso Aug. 2007, All rights reserved

A Touch of the Cinema

It's been a little while since my last post. I've been kind of busy with Young Principles rehearsals, The Indypendent and some other side projects that I'll post when we've developed material.

The haggard looking guy in this blurry picture is Aldo Mora-Blanco, filmmaker, co-worker, and best bro. We used the slate he's holding for our production of his feature film Mongoose, which we made last year. I co-wrote - whatever that means - the mostly improvised film and was production manager.

Sorry about the poor quality of the picture. I took it as I sat on his bed and shivering slightly from his fan blasting right on me.

Shortly after taking this picture we watched Children of Men by Cuaron. Great, great film.