Check it, bub...

Want to see more, click on Wolvie or go to http://www.chrislanestudio.com.

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Seven Videos in Thirty-Two Minutes and Forty-Four Seconds

My pal Mark over at Bad Librarianship tagged me for 7 songs that have been affecting my life as of late. So in no particular order here they are for your perusal:

Neko Case--saw her live last year (she gave me a chocolate-chip cookie recipe) and find myself singing along out loud at work to this song:



My girl, Ammie, bought me this album for my birthday, and it is awesome. Some douche on the radio said that trip-hop is dead--and while I don't care for the term, I must disagree. Case in point, Portishead's new album Three:



Ammie also got me Einsturzende Neubauten's newest--and mein gott! Es ist sehr gut! Ich liebe dieses Album.



Saw Bloodhag (should have umlauts over the o's but I am too lazy to look up the html code for that...it's late) at Dark Carnival Ammie (thanks Ammie for the surprise!) and Chris (follow this link for an awesome Wolverine...):


Best ever, and only rock show, I've seen at a bookstore...

Boris with Michio Kuriahra--saw them earlier this year, and while I love the new album, Rainbow is still probably my favorite:


(I'm seeing them later this month at Amoeba in Berkeley--if any one's got an extra ticket send me an email!)

And for my pal Jon at work who always puts this song on every damn mix he makes, The Four Seasons' Oh, What a night, or what I like to call the STD song:


Last song needs no comment. In fact, no words can do this masterpiece justice. Ladies and Gents, I give you Eels:

the tiger of columbia

Last weekend, I went to my nephew's graduation from kindergarten--kind of a strange thing in itself to this particular avowed non-parent--wherein every child stood at a mic and announced what s/he wanted to be when s/he grew up: there were many astronauts, veterinarians, a few soldiers, dentists, and spa-girls(?), but the best, and only reason for this post at all is (and I will enbiggen this response for emphasis):

When I grow up I want to be a tiger.

Fucking hell, me too.

Rarer and More Wonderful is nearly here...

I am so excited! Today I completed my last project of the semester (adding LC and DCC numbers to a faux-catalog--yeah!) and learned from my publisher, Scrambler Books, that the final proof of my upcoming book is in the mail! If you'd like to read more about Rarer and More Wonderful, check out the link on the right. Be sure to check back as I will be updating the blog as more information coalesces.

Back Room Live at Pegasus

Went to reading last night at Pegasus in Berkeley: Valyntina Grenier, Lucas Champagne, Sara Mumolo, Jack Morgan, and Janet Hardy. Clay Banes hosted and was charming as usual. Valyntina sang, Lucas laid down lonely truths, Jack mentioned craigslist and flaneurs, Sara was subtle and wry, and Janet memoir-ed about heels and scary-sex.

Valyntina


Lucas


Sara


Jack


Janet


Bought: 19 names for our band byjibade-khalil huffman.

Jack and I decided that high-fives should replace hugs at these sort of events--they're more authentic.

One need not be a comic book reader to appreciate Mark Evanier's exquisite book, Kirby—a fantastic collection of and tribute to Jack Kirby's contributions to comic books and American culture (Kirby gave us characters such as the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and Captain America—among so many others). Evanier's book is large which is important—-it celebrates its contents with large-page spreads of Kirby's art which so often seem as if they are going to burst forth from the frame. And while the art is impressive, it is Kirby's imagination that truly stuns. Here we see men and women traveling into the infinite crossroads of the universe, concrete monsters lurking along brownstone walls, a new gods careening through space in complex machinery. William Hazlitt, the great English literary critic, states in his essay "On Gusto" that "Gusto in art is power or passion defining any object" and "In a word, gusto in painting is where the impression made on one sense excites by affinity those of another." Hazlitt was describing Titian's work, but I think the same description can be applied to Jack Kirby's drawings and spreads, panels and paintings. Evanier's Kirby is a wonderful and necessary contribution to not only the growing appreciation of comics as an art form, but for designers, daydreamers, and rogues.