ozbloglet

Breakfast with Kirrily Schell, of Wide Arsed Mole fame. Catch up on comics and life in general. Then we make plans for our collab comic book. (QuickDraw + Wide Arsed Mole = QuickArse).

After about four hours of nonstop comics gab, I head out to make some copies of the pages we've done so far. (Can only talk about comics so much per day.) Also some copies from our jam strips. (Will share these later when life slows down.)
Back at Kirrily's place we rough out the front and back covers, which we'll screen print.. I've done an intro but it's a little flat. Maybe we can get someone to do it for us? She also kindly gives me a copy of Northborne and Glory Bound, the Canberra comics collection she's featured in. All these comics with spines...that's a good sign!

Call Kieran and Amber to make plans for Sydney. Will be there only one day.

Kizza cooks us some daal and chapati for dinner, and we kibitz and draw for several hours, drawing the cover and roughing out the colors for the screen printing. By 11:00 she's comicked out, collapsed with her hands over her eyes.

Next: Tuesday July 9 2002

Tuesday July 9 2002

Kizza comes over, and we have some coffee. She's quite taken with Tammy's band gear. She toys around with some of the instruments, then she dinks me back to her place.

I grab the cover and head out to copy it for the screen print.

Call Laura, from Choozy. Continuing the Quest for Music, I try to arrange to buy some fine Choozy product. Laura's got a baby now, and is humming along with her band Ninety-Nine.I also cut a deal with Tammy to get one of the CDs for her band.

Next: Wednesday July 10, 2002

Wednesday July 10, 2002

Off to Springvale today. Ostensibly my reason for my prior residence in Australia was to study Cambodian at Monash University. Today I'm meeting up with my former Cambodian teacher from Monash. Turns out she is doing well, helping her husband who is the Labor MP for Clayton. (The suburb now with the highest concentration of Cambodians.)

We go out to Maryhoa restaurant for Dim Sum, which is a treat. I've got a heap of pictures and books and stuff to show her. They're curious about my take on things back in Cambodia, as well as my day job. Her husband is kind enough to track down Ung Bunhean's address, though my Sydney stint will I think be truncated.

After that we stop by the Cambodian Association where I used to teach English. There's a whole new meeting hall they've added to it, complete with little ornate bits that characterize some Khmer buildings. And there's more renovations on the way. The place has definitely grown. They're also planning a combined Lunar New Year festival with the Laotian, Thai, Vietnamese and Sri Lankan communities here. Also turns out that the former Welfare Coordinator of the Association, Youhorn Chea, had been elected Mayor of Springvale! Far out.

They offer me a ride to the train station, but I decline - I want to walk back through the streets I've drawn, and see how they've changed.

The answer: not that much, and not really for the worse either. There's some sense of closure that I can't quite explain.

I catch the train into town, lost in thought. It's funny, I don't draw that much, and when I do it's hastily done. But my comics are as much an influence on me, as they are reflective of my influences.

All that tea makes for a bursting bladder. Maybe it would be fun to stop off at Malvern? Nope, all the toilets are closed! The surveillance cameras are on though. That's kinda lame.

So it's straight into Flinders Street, then up past the old skatepark to meet Mandy, Kizza and Bernard Caleo. Bernard edits the bigass romance comic Tango, which is supported by a grant from Melbourne city. Yay public arts funding.

Fun to finally meet the man in the Big Cardigan, who I've corresponded with for a few years. He's full of enthusiasm for comics and is planning the new issue of Tango, which will be on the 5 senses. He asks me to do a strip on 'smell'. (Is that wise, given I live in Cambodia?)

We discuss the idea (that Kirrily has mooted) of some sort of comic association. I've heard some talk about this from various people on the trip. I hope it develops further.

Bernard heads out to his job as a film projectionist, and I'm off to Westspace again.

Tim's hanging with some pals. Then I get a big kebab and head back.

Greg and Michael are collating Pure Evils to send overseas. There's one minor typo to fix.

Time for the Pumice gig. Tammy's going to another show in town, so we all jump into her car and she takes us over. Jeez it's cold. I'm using Kieran's jacket now.

Barbara Kerr et al.

Gazza and Mazza.

I'm also sleeping in his room, wearing his clothes, using his computer...with cartoonists our identities are interchangeable anyway.

Naturally the cartoon crowd is running mobb deep at the Builder's Arms.

Sorry, just had to attempt using 'mobb deep' in a sentence. I won't do it again.

But it's thick with ink slingers if you care about that sort of thing. Aaron and Tim Danko are there, so's Barbara Kerr, Lachlan Conn.

Lachlan's new book will be a small run, two color, on a mimeograph. This sounds like good fun.

A bit of hangin' out and yakking and drawing. Fuck Tourette's Cunt is not too bad. I angle over to get some good shots of Stefan. Someone is throwing his cap headed 'Pumice' around. I grab it.

Muso Ben Butler is here too. We plan to meet up so I can continue the Quest for Music. Chris Smith is also there...it turns out that Stefan is staying with him! Far out, I had no idea!

I have to apologize for not publishing the interview I did with him, before I left for the States. But he doesn't seem to mind. He very kindly gives me a copy of his new CD.

Stick with the music Stefan, you'll make more money.

Gallery of pissed cartoonists, part two: I tape the performance on my little tape recorder. After the show there's some discussion of mushrooms, which is my cue to exit. Got stuff to do tomorrow. I fall into Tammy's car.

Michael Pee Fikaris

Next: Thursday, July 11, 2002

Thursday, July 11, 2002

Ow. Hung over.

Breakfast with Mandy Ord. She is doing all kinds of cool things - animation and art stuff in school, a collab book with Amber Carvan, and heaps more.

Mandy is always observing and recording details that most of us would overlook. I get a peek at her latest comic for Dee Vee. Far out. It's great.

Why she isn't famous and making heaps of money is beyond me. If every band I enjoy becomes successful, why can't the same be true for cartoonists?

We catch up for about two hours, could have talked for two more.

Then it's off to Kizza's to get the QuickArse cover so I can make some copies. Been toying with some Pantone pens I bought at Eckersley's - maybe we can do an online color version?

On the way I stop in at a head shop. Michael's been sucking on a self-admitted 'high school' bong, I think it's time for something a little more mature.

The bong shop dude is hung over as well, and tries to convince me to buy a super strength unbreakable one, whacking it on the counter to prove his point.

Kizza gives me tea and the cover. We sort the interior pages, and ink the cover. Now it's off for some copying.

Lunch with a friend from Siem Reap. Then over to Westspace. Tim has some of Mandy's cartoons looping on the video monitor. One ('Suit Yourself') is about 5 minutes! I can only imagine the work that went into that one. It's like walking into one of her comics.

Then it's time to make the separate screen masters for the cover.

I call home...Michael's wiped out. Apparently he walked home from Aaron's last night. I head back to the house.

There's soup. Greg is collating, Eliza and Tammy are practicing. Top Shelf Comix is interested in sub-distributing Pure Evil. We will be mailing fifty copies to them tomorrow.

Stefan Neville calls. He's looking for his cap! No sweat dude, we've got it. I always go for the party favors.

Michael and I try sending an email to Pure Evil co-conspirator Jed Lane, but no luck. He'll be enthused to know that his progeny is getting some attention. There's an email from Tim Danko about the TV show coming up.

Spend the rest of the evening packing. Tomorrow, off to Sydney! Also maybe, just maybe we can get 'QuickArse' in the can.

====================================================

email from Tim Danko:

     too shagged to go to openings? too stressful to trudge back alleys in search of the high art altitude required to support a gallery....? extreme fear of big content free spaces with concrete floors and white walls (they are modeled after sadistic nazi dentist surgeries after all)....?
     don't go to the show when you can watch it on tee vee! thats right! get half an impression of what the inside out comic show is really about by watching it on telly!
     but wait, theres more! (bert newton voice) "....and now, heres moira..."
     thats right bert, why bother with the stress and trauma of unfriendly snooty gallery staff and downright dangerous climbs up ricketty life threatening staircases when tv can bring you the exact same 'art' experience in your own home...impress your friends with your working knowledge of obscure art 'happenings'.... bolster your street credibility in a flash....say you were there with our new patented 'woodstock' method (yes, we were all there, weren't we?)
     just watch the 'public hangings' tv show thursday week (18th of july, sometime between 7.30 and 8.30 pm, channel 31) for a full report on the insideout comic show (and others exhibitions)....learn all you will need to know to speak authoritatively about all things comic and art without ever having to expose your sensitive palette to cheap cardboard wine, arty drunks (far more dangerous to the psyche than sporty drunks), and snooty 'not cool enuff' looks....

=====================================================

Next: Friday July 12th 2002

Friday July 12th 2002

A weird dream about Will Smith. I dream I'm in a rap competition with the former 'Fresh Prince' and he wants us each to go head to head with a battlerap. But I challenge him to freestyle instead, which intimidates the hell out of the man in black.

Of course, in real life I'd suck at that.

Kirrily comes over. We discuss the cover with Michael. It seems we've gotta do a little touch up to make it screenable. Kiz takes off to bike into town. She's gonna meet us at the gallery. Westspace is right near the bus station, and the post office, so it's perfect as a staging area.

We call a taxi, and toss bags and art gear in. Tim Danko shows up and helps me bring our gear up via the elevator.

I get to work with the cover. One more set of photocopies, and it's ready to screen! I get some coffee and a big cheesy pizza roll.

Stefan Neville shows up; Kizza arrives, downs some coffee, and buys some bulbs for our screenprinting device.

Whoops, mistake on the copies. (I'm not a quickarse, I'm a dumbarse.) We go out to make some more, and also get some food. I must be taking up all Kizza's time this week, she's also got a birthday/housewarming ('Cheese Party') to plan. I eye a lamington at the Vic markets. That would be a great band name: 'The Lamingtons'. Maybe it's taken already.

The Japanese 'Gocko' is good fun. (Fun to say, fun to use!) It's originally designed to make holiday cards, which is just the right size for A6 screenprinting.

Each time you burn a screen, you use one set of bulbs. They have a plastic coating, so you have the tactile fun of crushing the bulbs in their little capsules.

We make two screens, then set up in the back room for printing and collation. Michael is a big help with this.

Meanwhile, we've also got the box of fifty Pure Evils we're going to send to Top Shelf. We've put word out over the Cartoonists' Telegraph that anyone who wants to chuck something in the pile can do so. Greg shows up with some of his latest. Stefan tosses in a lovely copy of Milk Milk Lemonade - I can't believe he only did like fifty copies of that.

Barbara Kerr shows up for the fun. The scanner came through! Yay!

We start screenprinting. Stefan chews the fat with Michael. Greg is in and out.

Since we've got two colors, making them match up is tricky. First we do the orange, then yellow. But Kizza seems to have a knack for this, and we do about thirty covers.

Meanwhile, Stefan ('Pumice') and Michael ('Froth') realize that Pumice is volcanic froth, and decide this is good enough reason to do a collaborative project. Collaboration in the front room, collaboration in the back room. No holdin' us back.

Okay, we've got the covers done. Kizza has to head off to work. But the deed is done, we've got the screens, and thirty copies we can now staple once the covers dry!

Stefan Neville

I take the time to interview Stefan. I warn him: "I interviewed Barbara four years ago and it was never published. You're staying with Chris Smith, who I also interviewed and never got published. So don't hold your breath." He's cool with it. There's going to be a big profile on Oatz Comics in the next issue of Officer Pupp, a New Zealand Comics reviewzine.

Chat over, Stefan's off to play in the What is Music festival tonight. Gonna be a shame to miss that.

Oh shit, it's nearly Five O' Clock! We start slapping together the Top Shelf box. The boys are skint so I'm gonna pay for it with my credit card.

Barbara, Greg and I take off at a trot down the street to the post office. They close the door right in our faces. Greg flips them the bird, and we head down Elizabeth Street to the next nearest one. Whew, it's still open. I cover the box in tape, and send it off airmail. All right.

New comic, and new distro. That's a satisfying day. It's time for Babs to split off, so we say goodbye, and Greg and I head back to the gallery.

Tim comes by, and we lock up the show for the day. We lug my bags over to the bus terminal. Shit, I can't find my bus ticket! Fortunately I've got my name registered.

A few more goodbyes - I tell 'em to expect me back in a matter of months, not years.

Next: Saturday July 13th 2002

Saturday July 13th 2002

I endure 'Beaches' on the bus. I've got the front row seat too, it really feels like an invasion of privacy. I'd much rather be alone with my thoughts, quite an eventful trip to digest.

The bus arrives early, about 5:40 AM. I hover over a cup of tea at the transit cafe.

I'd been thinking about meeting some of the Sydney comics crowd - Michael Hill, Louise Graber, Anton Emedin; Troy Mingramm should be back in town...but I am tired and drained. I think I'd better just accept my limitations. I'll have to come back another time.

At about 7:00 I taxi it over to Chez Amber Carvan/Richard Vogt. Is this the right place? Yes it is! We all crash out for a bit more sleep, then wake up properly.

The house is full of records and books, it's like a pop culture library really. Amber is working for Noise Festival, and Richard is point man for a local record shop.

Ambs and I have breakfast and catch up on comics goss. She is working half weeks, and doing an impressive roster of personal projects on the side, - publication French anthology Stereoscomic, a collaborative comic with Mandy Ord, and some more comics for Dee Vee. There's some discussion with Kelvin Lee in Japan about new publishing prospects.

And there's lots more in the pipeline, it seems. At work True Tales of Love and Hate has just come out. (The tough part of the job for that book must have been thanking Amanda Vanstone for the funding, I'll wager. But sometimes we have to make compromises in our art.) I encourage her to whack up the NOISE Women's Comics Anthology "How Comics Can Change the World" as a PDF. It's a nicely conceived and put together book, you'll never see funding for stuff like that in the States.

Also she's getting into comics theory, in particular the OuBaPo stuff. But she hasn't been drawing heaps. (Tell me about it, like I'm any example.) So much to catch up on, we couldn't do it in a week of breakfasts.

Richard and Amber take their dogs for a walk, and invite me to look around at all their stuff. They leave their broadband internet on for me too. Net binge!! After Cambodia this is like heaven for any well versed netgeek.

(It's interesting, there is a real digital divide in Oz, I think. There are some people who are quite net literate (especially the zinester crowd) but among comicists, there aren't many who are using email & the web on a daily basis. Much less so than their USA counterparts, anyway.)

After they return I head out, to buy some kitsch Australiana souvenirs. Anything with a kangaroo or koala will do, thank you. I buy a boomerang, some t-shirts and caps, and many bottles of vegemite.

I also buy a Sydney Morning Herald, to read on the train. There's an article on censorship of cartoonists, also on Australian sex tourism in Cambodia. Ick. But I'm glad someone's writing it up.

A group of young people outside what seems to be city hall? Hey, Newtown's got Food Not Bombs too! Cool. They're everywhere.

A little trouble getting back. Argh, and I left the mobile numbers for Kieran and Ambs at her place! Panic. I manage to make it back just as they are stepping out. We've got dinner plans with Kieran Mangan.

Over a great Japanese meal in Newtown, and later at a nearby pub, Richard regales us with tales of zinery and record shop work. Kieran relates his adventures developing his smash hit small press comic 'Monkey Head Man' as an animation proposal. Sounds like he's doing us proud, he's really going the distance to make the concept come to life. And his tale of auditioning as an animator for Disney is a concept in and of itself.

Kieran Mangan

Back home, Amber and I try to call Kizza's 'Cheese Party' but can't get through. (And do I even think about asking Richard for tips on the 'Quest for Music'? Wake up Weeksy.)

Next Sunday July 14th 2002

Sunday July 14th 2002

I wake up at dawn, a taxi honks outside. I grab my bags and hop in.

"Where you going?"

"Airport."

"Back to the States?"

"Nope, going to Cambodia."

"Oh, right, I've been there four times myself. Spent many an evening in Sharky's."

I really shouldn't judge. But the article in the paper yesterday does come to mind.

At the airport, I manage to make sure my bags will check through all the way to Siem Reap. Then kick back with the last mocha coffee I'll have in a while. Definitely a few regrets on this trip, but it's clear that like a foot fungus, I'll be back.

Then I veg out on the plane, reading all the goodies I've received on the trip: Silent Army, Pure Evil, Froth, Milk Milk Lemonade, stacks and stacks of publications.

After many hours in the air, it's good to be back in Siem Reap. Ahh, I'm warm again.

Exhibition Wrapup:

More fabulous Weeksy adventures: http://www.qdcomic.com/blog/