wait, October...where'd you go...

(yes, yes it's a double print but i have to start somewhere...)




thanks to everyone who sent such beautiful wishes on out to my cousin. I am in Chicago today, so I thought I would try to quick-out a blog seeing as how how I woke up in November, after such a busy and for the most part, amazing October.

I was out with Neil and Quiche in the beginning of October, visiting bees, dogs and all manner of people. Quiche took me to a stellar Halloween store, and she conveniently "forgot" her wallet...haha! (of course she paid me back, silly) She always takes me to the best hidden-away little spots, sort of like my sister does, but in a mid-western style. We went antiquing and we came home and made dinners, and all the while, Boss wrote and wrote. He came up with one of my favorite new stories, when will that be available for public viewing...?

wolfman and his dog.




before our walk...




during our walk...



and after...



it's hard to out-shine this Cabal, but miss Maddy managed just fine.

Quiche before she sang her heart out to the good people of Stillwater:



it snowed on Quiche's orders, just for my birthday present:



but Drew still came to get me in LA with the top down:



on the way to take Neil to his plane to China, we stopped at MPR, Minneapolis Public Radio and he read like a king over the airwaves, he really was royal. Did anyone hear it? Even the man at the controls, who seemed unflappable, was impressed.



Every year, Neil gets a cool ballot from the Spike TV people to vote on their annual SCREAM Awards. (This year the ballot had a lenticular 3D cover, and as many of you know, I have an obsession with all things 3D) They always invite him to come to the show, but China trumped that idea. Nicely, they offered me Neil's tickets and I went with Drew. We met the producer's assistant Xaque in a gas station parking lot down the hill from the Greek Theater, it all was very cloak and dagger...
When we got there, the first people we saw were Sully and Shannon from Godsmack (the first band I ever toured with back in 2001...) they were in town recording their new album...



Megan Fox, the great looking cast from True Blood, Johnny Depp, Harrison Ford, George Romero and Jackie Earle Haley were just some of the faces milling around, and we sat four rows behind Quentin Tarantino, who almost never stopped talking, bless his blabbly heart.







the stage was a take off on Alice in Wonderland, complete with a wacko iron rabbit and flaming staircase. They previewed a clip of Tim Burton's take on Lewis Carroll's classic, and it looks incredible. The Icon Award, which Neil won two years ago, went to Stan the Man Lee, and they floated him out over the crowd in a Spider hovercraft. What a great sport and a big doll that man is.



Spike TV hosted the after party at Hollywood Forever cemetary, and we went and had wine among the grave stones...



Next it was a week of helping out Red on the Sony lot as they feverishly prepared for the big Michael Jackson film release. Drew worked on the summer rehearsals of the tour, doing lighting, so he got to see some of the dancing that now the world is witness to on THIS IS IT.
Then on to the big premiere night. I saw the film two nights in a row and was ready to see it again a third time. I remember when I was on tour this summer and Drew called me and said, we don't know, but something happened to Michael, the news broke all our touring hearts, not just for the unfinished project, but for the loss of a legend. Luckily, there is a whole new generation of Jacksons coming to carry the crown.
outside, it was Jackson mania:



I had worked with Corbin on High School Musical, so fun to see everyone looking so good and dancing to MJ.



aren't i the nicest girlfriend to take these?



Drew with singer Judith:







Jozie was in town so she and Sofie joined us:








on Halloween, we went old fashioned trick or treating down in San Diego:
Drew & his son Sean, Luke Skywalker...i still say Drew shoulda been Chewie!!





so now I am ready for November, and am getting ready to put out the newest Neverwear print, a Jim Lee/Neil team up that is beautiful and heartwrenching, stay tuned! also we have the I BELIEVE in girly tees in stock, sizes L and XL, which are more like a medium and a large, but these are American Apparel styles...so...they run smallish.

also I owe you a Neil Mailbox, i promise to put it up when i get back home.. I'll leave off with a preview--- a most amazing and aerodynamic mobile sent to Neil, from Miss Miriam... a close up of the intricate detail and a further-away view..

my cousin Julia...

I remember when Julia first came to stay with us, it was like looking through a window into another world. The world of Julia.
I was at that awkward age, and she breezed in, cool, confident and totally in charge, with an accent from Chicago and stories about magic places called Cabrini Green and Cicero. She watched soap operas before I even knew what they were, who was this glamorous creature? She knew about kissing, like she was an authority and she had her own makeup, eyeshadows that she didn't mind wearing in great glittering heaps, and mascara, waterproof even. She showed me what a curling iron could do and eyeliner, and how to pinch your cheeks to fake blush and nevermind about the extra advice on anything and everything.

She was adventurous and taught me about boys and music and cars and showed me the right jeans (oh god forbid, I got those wrong, who knew what would happen, she would roll her eyes at my questions, Trust me, she’d say, knowingly, hinting at some unspoken doom) We listened to music, so much music, so many debates over who was better and which band member was cuter, who was a better drummer and oh, the record covers that we’d look at for hours... some songs I can still hear in my head with a skip where the record was scratched.

We got into trouble from our parents with our long distance phone bills and she could dance, could she ever. She taught me how, or tried to. She’d say, It’s all in the hips, Trust me. Disco, that was her thing, and I went to my first discotech with her. She loaned me her birth certificate so I could get a fake id, and for 3 glorious years, I was Julia Sbarounis when I snuck into nightclubs. We would go to places like Denny’s Den, where she spoke perfect Greek to everyone, and every boy loved her, in spite of them all being afraid of my Uncle John. My Dad was her Uncle John and I can still hear her calling him that, in that perfect accent, and she wasn’t afraid of him, of my Dad, not the way we Mihos kids were, what with his mental microscope and his way of knowing everything we were up to and having a debate prepared for every occasion, she would just laugh and say, cousin, you are nuts, he’s the biggest pushover on the planet. Now, I know she was right. She loved my parents and saw a great parallel with our Moms being the long-suffering non-Greek ladies.

When i saw her in October a year ago, she had bought everyone Tina Turner tickets, cancer wasn't even a thought in her head. Drew was working the tour and I was out in Chicago on Neil’s book tour, so we showed Aunt Jo backstage, telling Julia, naw, you’ve seen it. We had a cookout out the houses on Marmora and she liked Drew for me, she saw how much he loves me, and she said, yes, he’s a keeper, I officially approve, so when the hell is the wedding?

now she's gone, one year later, how can there be a world without Julia? that I will never hear her voice again, this is where my heart is caught in my throat...
I didn't see her at the end, my denial was so great, that my dear sweet angel of a Mom, she called me on the phone, gently saying, you do realize that this is serious now? I said, what? no. can’t be. Not my Jul. I called and spoke to Aunt Jo, and Jul got on the phone, her voice, tired but definitely her. Jo told me, she has to rest, maybe you can call her back. My thought, wait, what, how can it be, no, no, I saw her in late summer this year, she picked me up from my hotel when i was out on Jonas Brothers tour, she came up into my swanky hotel, swearing about the heat and most of all, she was bald, and she pushed me, saying, What, don't you like my new haircut, and we cried together at breakfast, until my Uncle John came in and said, oh What the hell? in his beautiful accent.
She wasn't scared, I was, and I still am because how can there be a world without Julia. I told her, she looked different but not because of her bald head, it was that she had found...something, some new mission, a path she was excited to walk on, she was there with her new mission and it shone out her eyes and spilled all over that breakfast table, there in suburban Chicago. She was ready to help all the people that were scared to go through what she had just gone through and she was hopeful to hold their hands, I asked her, you mean, kind of like a cancer spokesmodel and she laughed her ringing bell laugh and said, yeah, Cat that's it, I can help these people. I can! I remember saying to her then, I bet your sweet saint of a Mom, my aunt Jo, is so proud of you. She laughed again and said, yeah, yeah she is.
Jerry, who I have known since we were young and Jul was in high school, she said he was like coming home for her, she was so happy to have someone to share her life with. I will never forget how many bridesmaid dresses my cousin had to wear, and how much she wanted to be that bride. and she was, she was the most beautiful bride, the prettiest girl in the world.

But now, a world without Julia...who's going to help me though, who's going to remember what boy I liked in sixth grade, and that I had a purple sweater that she thought looked better on her so why couldn't she have it (she could- I would give her anything she wanted) who will I laugh with over the blackmail notes and letters that I still have in my parent's closet in Annandale, in the house where she came to visit us and changed my life forever, by approaching all the popular cool kids with her fancy accent and her camera and her attitude and suddenly I became cooler just by being related to her. Who's that pretty girl that you were with, Stuart Ruark, the school badass, asked me, and she kissed Sean O'Donnell, just about the coolest guy ever. She wrote his name on her arm and she showed me how to walk up to a group of people and just start talking, she said, what's the worst that can happen? It was like having my own rare species of wild cat that everyone wanted to look at and touch. I never knew anyone like her.

She could imitate anyone, and did so, with alarming accuracy, her Dad, my fabulous Uncle John, was her specialty and I will always hear his voice coming out of her mouth. She loved her family fiercely and foremostly, and don’t you ever, don't ever ever try to cross a blood relative of hers, because you won't win, and you won't do it again. Seriously. Family was her First Commandment. Her nieces and nephews were her treasures... I know all my relatives, but I could short-cut to updates by spending a half hour on the phone with Jul. She knew everyone’s good and bad news, and further more, she knew how to field everyone, and to give them well-heeded advice. Her relationship with her brother, my colorful cousin Tommy, had material to fill not only one television series but could probably spin off to two. She championed the underdog and she held her hand out to anyone. She lived next door to her parents, my Aunt Jo & Uncle John, and I have always thought, could I do that someday? Get up in the morning from my own life and walk next door to theirs, and it sunk into my head how unselfish and supportive this cousin of mine was. To see her with Megan, Tommy's first daughter and the love of her life, was to watch every sunrise for a month happen in one blinding moment.

I remember when she begged me to get her into a BonJovi show, all her contacts had failed and there wasn't a ticket to be had. I called the lighting guys on that, and said, hey i know it is against roadie etiquette to send you a person without chaperone but can you triple please let her sit at the lighting console with you because she won’t leave me alone on this one, and they groaned about it at first, but didn’t they all just fall in love with her, my brave cousin, who went by herself, cause I could only get one pass and she won every last crusty road-dog over. They still ask about her, and how can I tell them that she’s gone? How can I even believe it yet myself?

I bought a ticket to Chicago to see her, to go see this impossible situation, this invader that is giving my cousin so much pain, my thinking, still, up until this morning when I woke up to that 6 am phone call from Vicky that Julia was gone, because I thought I would go there and fix her and play music with her and talk about our lives and where they are going, and see that pooling light from her eyes, but no. I was too late.

I still can't believe there will be a world without Julia, because now I know there won't be. My cousin, my bright, beautiful, feisty, gorgeous lightning bolt of a girl, she lives in my heart.

"HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES" print sale!!

HALLOWEEN SALE on HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES print from today (Oct 10th) until November 1, 2009

(when they will go back up to $45.00)

save twenty dollars! all this art for only $25.00...
wouldn't you like to keep twenty bucks in your wallet?

and for you real art-lovers, if you buy TWO of these prints on sale, I will throw in a free (yes, free) glass comic book magnet of my choice (or if you tell me what comics you love, I will try to accommodate---)

(this Thor is long gone, but I have so many choices-- from old Batman to new Bondage Fairies to classic Hate to our-favorite Spidey to divine Sandman to you-name-it)

click here to get to the print...thanks for supporting the arts!

on the Jonas tour 2009...

we are running hard to get the show up and taking care of the crew...
i only have photos...

the truck bay in Dallas Cowboys Stadium, we were here for a long rehearsal time before the first show:



I felt like i was in the lair of the enemy, having grown up with fans of the Washington Redskins, but everyone was super-size sweet.
There were Cowboy stars on everything, including the napkins.

when our buses rolled in, on showday, we found that we have a female busdriver...my first one! here is Richard, skyping back to NZ,
in front of our bus. They are all named after songs, since we have so many, ours is called "Gimme 3 Steps" which is a little strange.



we had a nighttime pool party after rehearsals were done:



my stagemanager Brian bought a Harley & had it delivered:



we headed west from Dallas and I got to see my sister for just a short time, we had a Denver lunch and she revived my flagging spirit.
thanks, seester. so much!





here is Catherine, my co-worker, in front of her favorite number:



here is Danny in Idaho, before we loaded in. See how empty the floor is. I meant to do a before & after, the arena was filed to the ceiling with people and stage...



meanwhile back in LA, the sad news of Michael Jackson came through the phone via Drew and Red who had been working his rehearsals for several weeks. Here is Drew loading out Staples Center, taken for me by miss Red:



here is a photo I took of him right before I left, with all the poster tube boxes slated to house the HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES prints, miss Klie is sitting at the top of the heap:




fairy lights in my bus bunk:



Nancye & William came to see me in Portland, again, no photos like with my sister, it was too whirlwind, but i did snap this in the morning on the way into the building:



sockeye salmon in Portland, chef Kirby prepares:



we stayed a night in Vancouver after we crossed into Canada:



my nice dinner after show:



we drove over to Edmonton yesterday, just beautiful:





Canadian truckstop!



as we headed north, it stayed lighter and lighter, this is my hotel room at 9:30 pm. in Vancouver:



just a fraction of our trucks:


for Durett:



Spinal Tap hallway:





the big loadout:



more soon, young Kevin got engaged yesterday, everyone is very happy for him...now off to work!

New print: HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES

from the imagination of Camilla d'Errico comes a dreamy vision of the otherworldly "girls" from Neil Gaiman's HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES short story which you can read HERE:

this is the snippet she illustrated...

"I will never forget that moment, or forget the expression on Stella's face as she watched Vic hurrying away from her. Even in death I shall remember that. Her clothes were in disarray, and there was makeup smudged across her face, and her eyes-
You wouldn't want to make a universe angry.
I bet an angry universe would look at you with eyes like that."

Until midnight tonight (west coast time), this gorgeous full-color print will be sold at $35.00
and then it goes back up to $45.00. limited run of 1200, numbered. 12" x 18" They are at the printers now.
expect them at your door in approx. ten days time...

here is our artist at work...



this is a print you can fall in love with, you might take this print out to expensive sushi...
but you will be gazing into the eyes of these lovely ladies...just don't make them angry...

They will be shipped in a bullet-proof shield made of recycled cardboard. Your postal carrier will be intrigued.



We are donating 10% of the poster price to the CBLDF. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is out fighting crimes against our important Constitutional rights, so to support them is our pleasure.



Thanks all!

****THIS LIMITED EDITION FULL-COLOR PRINT WILL SELL OUT QUICKLY.
(SAVE TEN BUCKS IF YOU ORDER TODAY UNTIL MIDNIGHT WEST COAST TIME--THEN THEY GO BACK UP TO $45.00)
CLICK NEVERWEAR TO ORDER YOURS.
we dream about you....

COOP show 2009

it is a strange spring, i am looking outside the treehouse windows to what is known as June-gloom, although June isn't quite here...it is grey, and looks like snow, although i know it won't.
I started acupuncture last week and was given some Chinese herbs, so things are stirring in me, my tour is approaching and i leave tonight for a weekend with my family in Colorado. not ready for any of it, but i have found, i always get ready on the way out the door. A mental shift, if only because i have to catch a plane.

When i was leaving Vegas, the slot machines follow you right up to the airport gate. I am glad I am no gambler.


Drew came home from his stint in Vegas, and dove right into work at the Forum. It is so good to have him home again...

last night was the preview of the COOP new paintings show at the Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City.
i went to sushi dinner before at my favorite little neighborhood place, Zen Sushi, always fresh, always a perfect amount:



then i drove Ghosty with his top down over surface streets into Culver City, cutting through Hollywood.
the show was a beautiful mix of pencils and inks and big big paintings. Many red dots which is very encouraging to all artists in these difficult times. Ruth looked blondely beautiful in her classic black dress, can you find her in the crowd?:





Wendy & Greg met me there :





in attendance were many luminaries, my favorite encounter being Mr. Matt Groening of Simpsons legend.
I walked over, re-introduced myself and we chatted about the table read that Drew & I had attended earlier this month. I told him Drew was a-gog. Mr G. was sweet as could be, even after Wendy's faux paus which we will let her detail to you should she ever choose to share...

Here is Coop getting interviewed under one of his larger pieces. I posed for young Coop early last year, seems ages ago. Up close to the work, you see the brush strokes and watch the direction of the paint, both instructive and fascinating:



Mr Gale Banks in the house!



Misha wore the most adorable hat, so dear I couldn't choose my favorite shot:





She tattoos HERE and she is a big fan of me boss.

Tonight, May 29th is the hard opening of the show, there are still a few paintings left, so get thee over to
COREY HELFORD GALLERY between 7 & 10 pm...



More from the road soon.

back on tour soon...

been so very long in between posting.

Am writing from beside the very hot hotel pool in Las Vegas, where Drew is doing the prep for the Michael Jackson tour.




here he is with Lowell & Rob, winding down after long work days...



last week back in LA, went out to dinner with my wardrobe girls Red. Abby & Renee:



i have never been an American Idol watcher, not ever, but even into my subconsciousness crept that Adam Lambert...he was in every magazine/tv spot etc. My friend Renee was in town dressing KISS for their surprise appearance on AI with Lambert, so she brought the fabled KISS boots up into the treehouse to prevent them being stolen from the car... the cats were quite curious...






(used with kind permission)

breakfast with a baby roadie, the cutest teeny offspring of Dan & Nikolette:






and we have been frisbee golfing, in Elysian Park which overlooks DOdger STadium and downtown LA:








next month, I go out on tour with the Jonas Brothers once again. Looking forward to the tour, i have missed sleeping on the rolling tour bus and we have such an excellent crew.



here are the dates as announced so far:

SAT 6/20/09 DALLAS, TEXAS
MON 6/22/09 TULSA, OK
WED 6/24/09 DENVER, CO
FRI 6/26/09 NAMPA, IDAHO
SAT 6/27/09 PORTLAND, OR
SUN 6/28/09 TACOMA, WA
MON 6/29/09 VANCOUVER, BC
TUES 6/30/09 VANCOUVER, BC
THUR 7/2/09 EDMONTON, AB
SAT 7/4/09 PROVO, UTAH
SUN 7/5/09 WINNIPEG, MB
TUES 7/7/09 OMAHA, NE
WED 7/8/09 MINNEAPOLIS, MN
THUR 7/9/09 MILWAUKEE, WI
FRI 7/10/09 CHICAGO, IL
SAT 7/11/09 CHICAGO, IL
MON 7/13/09 WASHINGTON, DC
TUES 7/14/09 E. RUTHERFORD, NJ
WED 7/15/09 E. RUTHERFORD, NJ
FRI 7/17/09 BOSTON, MASS
SAT 7/18/09 BOSTON, MASS
SUN 7/19/09 LONG ISLAND, NY
MON 7/20/09 LONG ISLAND, NY
TUES 7/21/09 LONG ISLAND, NY
THUR 7/23/09 PHILADELPHIA, PA
FRI 7/24/09 PHILADELPHIA, PA
SAT 7/25/09 PITTSBURGH, PA
SUN 7/26/09 AUBURN HILLS, MI
TUES 7/28/09 ST. LOUIS, MO
WED 7/29/09 KANSAS CITY, MO
FRI 7/31/09 MONTERREY, MEXICO
SAT 8/01/09 LAS VEGAS, NV
MON 8/3/09 SAN JOSE, CA
TUES 8/4/09 SACRAMENTO, CA
WED 8/5/09 FRESNO, CA
FRI 8/7/09 LOS ANGELES, CA
SAT 8/8/09 LOS ANGELES, CA
SUN 8/9/09 LOS ANGELES, CA
TUES 8/11/09 GLENDALE, AZ
THUR 8/13/09 SAN ANTONIO, TX
FRI 8/14/09 HOUSTON, TX
SAT 8/15/09 NEW ORLEANS, LA
SUN 8/16/09 BIRMINGHAM, AL
TUES 8/18/09 TAMPA. FLA
WED 8/19/09 SUNRISE, FLA
FRI 8/21/09 CHARLOTTE, NC
SAT 8/22/09 ATLANTA, GA
SUN 8/23/09 LEXINGTON, KY
TUE 8/25/09 NASHVILLE, TN
WED 8/26/09 COLUMBUS, OH
THUR 8/27/09 CLEVELAND, OH
SAT 8/29/09 MONTREAL, QB
SUN 8/30/09 TORONTO, ON
MON 8/31/09 OTTAWA, ON



that schedule is a doozy.

look over at here
for an updated Neverwear post...