furrytiger

new tour dates announced!

2012-01-11T10:22:00.001-08:00

Maynard's solo act is Puscifer, with the help of these lovely people:

Puscifer 2012 Tour Dates:
02/23 – Austin, TX @ Long Center
02/25 – Baton Rouge, LA @ River Center Theatre
02/26 – Memphis, TN @ Orpheum Theatre
02/28 – Nashville, TN @ Andrew Jackson Hall
02/29 – Louisville, KY @ Brown Theatre
03/03 – Cincinnati, OH @ Taft Theatre
03/04 – Indianapolis, IN @ Murat Theatre
03/06 – Kansas City, KS @ Kansas City Music Hall
03/07 – Omaha, NE @ Omaha Civic Auditorium
03/10 – Edmonton, AB @ North Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
03/11 – Calgary, AB @ Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
03/13 – Vancouver, BC @ The Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts
03/14 – Portland, OR @ Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
03/18 – Escondido, CA @ California Center for the Arts

just can't wait to get back on the road again...

Kills tour & the Big 4

2011-09-24T14:30:00.000-07:00

came home from Zombie/SLayer tour and had a little rest...
just a little.
then I flew out to join miss Jessica Rabbit on the Kills tour.
It was a mini-run, up and down the west coast.
...much like what Neil and AFP are about to do come Halloween time, check out their Kickstarter project HERE.

I didn't want to put all these photos up on the Neverwear blog, but i did want to put them up here.

The Kills turned out to be one of those magical little tours, where you find yourself haunted by the music.
here, see for yourself, this footage from the Bumbershoot show in Seattle:

(i was running a spotlight on this show, can now add "lighting girl" to my resume, haha)

we shared the bus with the band, and they couldn't have been more charming.

I saw Cyn in Seattle and Nancye & Nicola in Portland, so you know i was happy.

playing under the Space Needle, we shared a stage with the Butthole Surfers. (**i'll never forget my dearly departed Aunt Maggie telling me that BS had to be, bar none, the stupidest name for a band---)

We stayed at the Ace Hotel and my room theme was very fitting:

Nico and Junebug and their new puppy :

Crystal Ballroom in Portland:

Rabbit & i shared an office daily:

(Bunny broke a nail on a CD box...)

we had to make a time-out chair in one city, but i forget which one...

we went to Canada and I found this Ovechkin model:

Mark left me a chalk note in Vancouver, and apparently it is still up!

high roller on my hotel bed:

we played the Wiltern in LA:

and House of Blues in San Diego:

part of a poster in the dressing room hallway, Grover has always been my favorite:

we had a couple 2 pm load ins, which was stunning to me. I could really get used to that schedule...

The we drove straight from load out of last show in San Diego to LAX and I got three hours of sleep before getting on a plane to JFK to do the big metal show at Yankee Stadium:

I had never been to Yankee Stadium, they don't want anyone walking on the grounds:

so they put down metal plates, i guess it helps, but it would seem like it would smash the grass worse...?

loading in:

it was like a high-school reunion, i saw so many old buddies...
Adam in video village, i toured with him on Gaga, he gave Drew the worst nickname ever...ha! (don't ask)

three of my favorites, Tim, Warren and Sonny:

Fred!!!

Warren does his line check:

My office phone:

getting the VIP ticketing info ready ...

night time in the stadium:

there was a little golf cart incident, this was the side of our production trailer (no, i was Not driving):

found the Utz motherlode downstairs in the dressing room hallway:

went out with the crew after the show, the boys bought me a high-priced shot of MacAllan 25...

meanwhile i had a great video clip of Metallica doing "Enter Sandman" but some blip in the force is not allowing me to load it.
boooo...will work on it, because it really was amazing out under the full moon with the lasers and the pyro...
here's a still:

but can you see why it takes me FOREVER to do a post these days??!?

Street Art at MOCA 2011

2011-05-06T09:01:00.000-07:00

this show is a maze of amazement....
from Mr. Cartoony's candy truck:

From MOCA:Art in the Streets

and his enchanting blue glitter-flake paint job:

From MOCA:Art in the Streets

to the Terry Richardson display of photos, complete with a listening bell to hear voice mail messages from his famous dad, Bob, to the looped Grandmaster Flash and his poet tribe, to the Shepard Fairey stencils..(oh Jonesy! oh Henry!):

From MOCA:Art in the Streets

Banksy in full glory w/a tribute to Rodney King (rep'd by a pinata):

From MOCA:Art in the Streets

Andre from Paris, who I have been spotting around the globe and is a personal favorite,
painted these into the show:

From MOCA:Art in the Streets

Keith Haring really had his finger on the pulse, I remember the first time, seeing his simple lines up in New York when I was a wee kitten.

From MOCA:Art in the Streets

The highway sign, all but obscured...complete with floating plastic bags...

From MOCA:Art in the Streets

so much of the tagging is territorial, a language of secrets, done on the run, messages that I may never understand, and don't need to. That this exhibit exists is enough. Not all of the graffiti art drew me in, but the hobo exhibit, some of the real roots of tagging was pure fascination. Train art as documented by Bill Daniel, the Bozo Texino stuff, man...that's some life.
The Dash SNow corner, I spent my time here...
& Fab 5 Freddy!

and Invader! very, very clever. I remember seeing these everywhere in NYC...

From MOCA:Art in the Streets

The Larry Clark was a bit low-impact, and I usually love his work. In fact, at first, i thought the Ed Templeton pieces were his...but no.

and this installation confused me, not sure why it was included, hopeful someone can school me on it:

From MOCA:Art in the Streets

There is so much more, but I gotta get some work done today, the boss comes next week, and i got boxes of fan mail to go through for him.
Show is up until August 8th, if you can take an afternoon, go down to the Geffen Contemporary @ MOCA,
have some sushi in Little Tokyo, and see some history.

Kitty going back out on the road...

2011-04-25T13:53:00.000-07:00

one of my favorite-ever tours was Rob Zombie in 2006.
as the Who say: meet the new boss...same as the old boss.

I leave in late May for the Euro festival run with RZ, the multi-talented hyphenate.
writer slash director slash rock-star slash nice guy.

here are the 2011 dates up so far:

6.3. ROCK IM PARK GERMANY
6.4 ROCK AM RING GERMANY
6.6 TURBIENHALLE GERMANY
6.7 ASTRA BERLIN
6.10 SWEDEN ROCK FEST SOLVESBORG/SWEDEN
6.12 DOWNLOAD FEST DONINGTON PARK UK
6.14 GROSE FREHEIT HAMBURG/GERMANY
6.15 PARADISO AMSTERDAM/ NL
6.17 HELLFEST CLISSON FRANCE
6.18 SONISPHERE ATHENS/GREECE!
6.20 GASOMETER VIENNA AUSTRIA
6.21 ROCKHAL LUXEMBORG
6.23 AZKENA SPAIN
6.25 AUTODROMO ITALY (w/Maiden!)
6.26 GRASPOP METAL BELGIUM
6.28 OLYMPIA DUBLIN IRELAND
6/29 ULSTER HALL BELFAST UK
6/30 CORN EXCHANGE EDINBURGH UK
7/2 KALASATAMA HELSINKI FINLAND!!!

Neil says that he once went jet-skiing with Rob,
which conjures up some great mental images of
my two bosses...

this is a video from the 2006:

stay tuned for many photo updates--
cannot wait!

a benefit for our friend Wendy

2011-02-11T21:37:00.001-08:00

Our dear friend Wendy was recently involved in an accident on the treacherous Los Angeles freeways--
& her medical bills are gruesome.

We are throwing a benefit for her this week. People have gathered together items and we have posted them over on Facebook...click HERE for a view.
Thanks to Connie F. who makes this comment:
"May I remind everyone (because I am an idiot and assume I can't be the only one) ~ you have to "like" this page before you can comment (thus, bid) on anything. Took me a few to figure that out. My apologies to those of you who knew this already!"

Connie, dear, you are no idiot, i didn't even realize that. Thanks for pointing it out!I will put a few of the items for sale below.

Neil has graciously signed a few items for the cause:

he signed some of the HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES prints:

Nancye from Moxie Rx in Portland, Oregon has donated six dozen cookies to six different bidders--
i WILL be bidding on a dozen of these gems:

from the oh-so-talented Cyn Moore , a piece of original artwork.
Title: Boldness
Size: 8.5" X 6"
Mixed media encaustic on found bookcover ...
This is a better investment than Apple stock in the eighties...
bidding starts at $20

even Charm City Baltimore got involved, with this trio of signed books by John Waters from the fine people at Atomic Books:

go take a look! there are many various items up for sale: guitars & pedals, boots, shoes, figs, jewelry, even a beach cruiser bike up for auction. We will be taking bids on the Facebook page until Friday Feb 18th, and then having the silent auction at Cha Cha in Silverlake at 5:30 pm Friday night--if you are in LA area, come by and see us. But please...drive safely!
Cha Cha Lounge
2375 Glendale Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90039-3245
(323) 660-7595

and lastly, here is the paypal button to donate directly to Wen, even five dollars will be helpful.

here's Wendy in better times, without the broken-in-two-places wrist:

"If only people could know that a life of goodness, no matter how modest, will lead to an eternity of unparalleled bliss, they would ask themselves why they did not do more good while they were on Earth. One act of kindness in this world is repaid tenfold in the next..."

taken from The Laws of Eternity by Ryucho Okawa

in gratitude,

we has gone tiger-crazy...

2011-01-20T13:33:00.000-08:00

we went on our honeymoon,
from sunny & 70* southern California,
to the frozen rivers & snowfall of Wisconsin.

My new husband wasn't able to attend the American Gods House on the Rock Halloween weekendbecause he was out with the Wall tour.
For our honeymoon, the kind people @ HOTR offered us a complimentary weekend at the Resort.

We flew out and spent the night in Milwaukee, revisiting the SafeHouse, where we had our first "date"---in 2006.

magic tricks from Chris Ivanovich:

and he gave us a tour of the many secrets:

there are so many rescued animals at Valley of the Kings, from cougars to llamas, lynxes to wolves, lions, tigers & bears, ok, i won't...
we even met a camel:

and OBIE!

Tubbie and Huggie, two of the resident lions, their roars and snarls went into my heart.
Socrates rubs his big face on the cage. They all seemed to want human contact,
my dream is real--

all the cats were so excited to see Dr. Pagel and his wife, they are so bright and curious,
look at this face!!

lovely cinnamon tiger, Jasmine, plays with her ball:

WOOGIE!!

Drew's boyfriend, Obie again, Dr. Pagel has known him since a tiny tigerlet.

Dr. Chris gave us a play toy from the tigers for Cabal & Lola, and you can see, it is punctured and gouged, clawed to bits. He advised us to clean it in a bleach solution before passing it along, as he wasn't looking to be the one who done in Neil's dogs--
we pulled it out of the duffel bag when we got home and Batman & Selina Kyle went BONKERS! smelling and racing around, looking for what the BLEEP smelled like that...

i will never ever be far away from this day. to help them with their self-less cause,
please donate what you can to VALLEY OF THE KINGS.

we drove to House on the Rock, in Spring Green, through the gentle snowfall.

Drew's first time driving in the snow....
The Other Cat, Catharine, had a beautiful gift basket waiting for us in our room.

Sue & Jenny gave us the deluxe tour:

my favorite ye olde moving picture windows, this one was called The Magician:

So much has happened this year and it's only the 20th of January.
If i don't end this blog now, I will have cabin-fever. So grateful to all who made our honeymoon so unforgettable.
We plan on having one every month for the rest of our lives. possible? yes.
There is more over on the Neverwear blog.

tonight we are going to see Russell Brand @RustyRockets, he's doing a taping of his new stand up, will let you know if we make the cut!

holiday wrap up 2010

2011-01-02T13:56:00.000-08:00

hello 2011!
happy new year everyone---
this year came in like a lion---
2010 was the Chinese year of the Tiger which will give way to year of the Rabbit,
a much-needed break from the ferocious fangs of the hard-work tiger year...
travelled all over the country in 2010, this year we hope to stick closer to home.

I very much missed being with my own family this Christmas, but we all made a pact to give to charity instead of buying each other presents. Drew & I chose to give to Valley of the Kings, a tiger rescue in Wisconsin that we will visit in two weeks-
Bill did break the rules with some great Medieval push pins for Drew:

owwwy!

i too bent the rules and got my brand-new husband a present, a custom made leather jacket.
Chris Francis of Lovecraft Leather, met us in Las Vegas when we were there with Roger Waters around Thanksgiving, to measure Drew for his new jacket.

jacket fitting:

about a week later, Chris brought over a small mockup, to see if it would fit Drew:

and in another few days, viola! he had the jacket in hand--

look at these details:

last thing, Chris sews personalized tags into each of his creations, amazing work!!:

we drove down to San Diego to spend Christmas with Drew's lovely family.
got a hotel on the beach so we could wake up and throw our new year rock wishes into the sea.
Drew wears his "gorilla feet" *shudder:

the seagulls were out in full effect--

Sean plays with his new helicopter from Uncle Bill and almost takes out his aunt Andrea!

Christmas morning:
Santa!

My in-laws threw us a little newlyweds holiday open house and many friends showed up:

love Peggy's necklace!

and Sean's Obama shirt:

new baby Aurora:

Eli and his Mommy:

Sean says thank you from the lights of the Christmas tree...

we came back and threw our first New Year's Eve party as a married couple.
Vanessa, Chris and Drew model their Lovecraft jackets:

Drew shot off fireworks (some sparks caught the lawn leaves on fire, so we moved out in to the street)

here are Pam & Drew:

Tomorrow we begin to ship all the promised posters for THE PRICE, a job so big, we hired the kitten to help us roll posters... she gets paid in food:

at last...

2010-10-18T14:24:00.001-07:00

it has been far too long in between journal entries---

Quiche has always told me, just go little, don't have to tell the whole story,but did i listen...hmm......

spent the whole summer out on the Lady Gaga tour, a truly dazzling tour.
ran the gauntlet with crew that i now consider friends for life.
we signed bullet-proof non-disclosure forms, so I didn't blog at all,
but i will say it was an amazing run.
someone in Minneapolis made these gorgeous cupcakes for our Lady...

here's my Dad in his Gaga crew tee...

during the tour, on the days off, we were planning our wedding, from hotel room after hotel room...
city to city. Drew is out with the Roger Waters tour, so it was a mash-up of coordinating time zones...

While in town for the Los Angeles Gaga shows, miss Pam, the ComicCon queen, brought me a present from the amazing artist Michael Zulli, wrapped in a little cube of a box, a gift for Drew, to be given to him when i thought right...(months later Drew opened it to find a stunning opal & sterling ring, thank you MZ!)

While I was on the road, my friends, Nancye & Cyn & Janice and my sister Pauli banded together as a major design team, spinning my glitter dreams into a solid reality..
My best maiden, Anne found the perfect venue, a boathouse on the water not a mile from where I spent all my college years in Baltimore...the city lights would be our backdrop. Anne and her ever-so-patient husband Mike let us all stay in their home.
Mike soon dubbed us the Glitterati, since there were clouds of the stuff everywhere...I am still waiting for some photos of the glitter birdcages, even the cupcakes had edible glitter--mmmm.

we ate crabs the night before the wedding, as Baltimore gives us the finest... loads of old bay, baby!

the boathouse lit up:

Nicola and Ida, my glam squad, came early to turn me into a blushing bride—
Nico pinned into my hair the nest made of crystal and twigs (thank you to Perry, Gaga’s amazing wardrobe man)
Drew wore his father's kilt, and we walked in to bagpipe music.

Neil showed up in his “posh clobber” from Kambriel to read one of my favorite-of-his poems,
INSTRUCTONS by candlelight.

(here is a video clip of him reading it, but this is not at the wedding)

we were married by Drew's Mom, Peggy, she did such a lovely job incorporating many different rituals into our simple ceremony....

(panorama by Andras)

(photo by Letty)
i love this one i snapped of Drew & his Dad:

My brother and nephews, Bill, John and Michael set off (very illegal) fireworks on the dock, until the police arrived via helicopter! Red set the mood by queing up Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir, the perfect fireworks soundtrack...

(photo by Letty)

the mysterious glow stick trick by Nicole was captured by Cory on "film":

roadies converged:

my Delaware old school crew cleans up nice:

Andras did a fun time lapse of us leaving the after party at Nick's seafood house,

SEE IT HERE.

Karin & Bud gifted us with a honeymoon night at a beautiful hotel with water views, the photo i don't have is me sitting in the sand & rock filed parking lot peeling off my knee high boots, while my new husband drags all our gear into the building.
When we got inside, the room was filled with loot from Lizzie & Matt & Wes & Nae Nae, champagne and glorious food:

we are so grateful for all the good friends and family we have---everyone pitched it to help and I am still waiting for photos of all the out of town family that arrived from all corners of the earth...

The next day, after a Fells Point breakfast with Neil, Red, Annie, Willie & Nancye, we drove to New York from Rehoboth, taking the Cape May/Lewes ferry, to get Drew back to his tour...

the show was everything i could have imagined and more-
THE WALL has always been one of my most favorite albums,
an album in the truest sense of the word, songs not to be taken out of order,
but a whole tapestry of story and music. I will only put up a photo to show the scale and magnificence of the productions:

you can see the actual wall stretches from concourse to concourse...

Go see it in your city if you can and say hello to my new husband...

the Scream awards taping was Saturday, (on my birthday!) no photos except that I can say they turned the Greek Theater into the set of Inception, I saw Mickey Rourke, who never fails to disappoint...& the frosting on my birthday cake was running into that adorable Jim Lee, who i still get fan-girl dopey around.

am working the Gorillaz show next week, Jouni from Finland is coming out toThe House on the Rock event
and I am spending a power-packed two whole weeks with Quiche at Spooky House, practicing roller skating moves for the Derby dolls aka Naptown Roller Girls...see my jersey they made for me? I'm Pretty Vicious & Lorraine is QuicheMeDeadly..

see why it is hard to get a blog up, life is a non-stop train.
and finally, look at this terrific sticker that Jouni drew,
I will be at House on the Rock selling them & my comic book magnets over Halloween weekend, come and see us---

(ok Quiche, i am done, i promise....)

fireflies, cobras & lions cubs.

2010-06-11T09:10:00.000-07:00

Am still on the east coast...

Landed in Dulles, picked up by my big brother and had a little family time.
eating breakfast outside at my dear parents, it's heaven:

two days later, I caught the Amtrak up to NYC, to see Drew and work with Red on the Conan tour.
It was a day off and we milled around the hot city.

Had planned to go to the Jekyll & Hyde club for dinner, but
got talked out of it by disgruntled roadies.
Met up with several old tour buddies from Jonas:

next day it was lovely reporting to work at the historic Radio City Music Hall:

I took a little movie of the dance off between Conan & Stephen Colbert, and loved the wide cutaway when a red jump-suited Jon Stewart saves the day...i will edit it in here down the road. Trying to use the @Fablor method here, get it up there!

after the show, we took a cab down from the beautiful Central Park hotel we were staying in to see Michael Stewart @
the Beauty Bar.

next show day, there were these amazing cupcakes in the production office:

and PeeWee Herman as special guest!

(**brief aside, I just got my flight for LadyGaga tour i'll be back to NY for a extended run with her in July at Madison Square Garden...)

i trained down to Baltimore to meet up with Anne & Nancye and to visit some of our favorite Baltimore haunts:

world famous garlic bread from Peter's Inn:

here's Nancye in a meter that has been decorated by a lonely 410 spirit...

much more catching up and October planning... then i headed to DC to work the DAR Constitution Hall Conan show:

My brother, nephew & sister-in-law came to visit the show, and i could see them laughing from sidestage...
i got hypnotized looking at the rug's star pattern"

we threw big yellow inflated Coco balls into the audience, it was complete success.

Miss Adriane contrasting with the red flame of her hair and the bursting green of the summer lawn:

she taught me a very useful Yiddish term "Hazeri"
meaning several things, baggage, and/or dragging things behind you,
too much stuff, etc and i love it. I want to call my band this.
(HAZERI opening for KID ROCK.)

meanwhile Boyfriend got to go on stage and jam with the other roadies:

Drew had some time off in NYC, and he went to Coney Island and won me this little red orphan:

CLICK Here for a time-lapse film of putting up the Conan show in CT after a basketball game ended, worth your two minutes....

and i want to leave you with this...last night i was watching a nature program with my little parents, in which a cobra stuns & paralyzes a mother Lioness and then kills three of her cubs in front of her, while gathered hyenas, seeing the weakened momma, dart in and steal off with the little furry bodies. The world can break your heart. I still can't stop thinking about it. Meanwhile, fireflies in the summer night, they can heal your heart.

Conan & diamonds...

2010-05-02T14:55:00.000-07:00

oh month o' April, you are gone but will never be forgotten...
The Conan tour came to LA, bringing my guy home to me.
Drew is loving the tour, they laugh all night.

easy load ins & load outs...

Red got us great seats-

Drew runs the video feed, can you see that giant camera out there at front of house? That's him!

Jack McBrayer aka Kenneth from 30 Rock came on stage to wild applause...

but! Jim Carrey truly brought the house down...

a terrific hilarious show, go see it in your town.
after the LA shows, they had a few days off, and Drew & I drove down to San Diego to see his family, before the next show.

He took me to a romantic candlelight dinner on the water, under the full moon (see view from our table):

and gave me this gorgeous diamond ring:

we're getting married in October....Hallo-wedding,.!!

Mister Crow Garrett is back in town--

here is Crow with our favorite Ricky from Chi Dynasty:

he hosted us at the Magic Castle during Science vs Magic week,
and I got pulled onto stage to assist the amazing Rudy Coby.
(even though i was hiding in the middle of the row, Mr. Coby found me...)

Rod & Farley out in front...

Keeping busy until I fly to the east coast at the end of the month--

YO GABBA GABBA or "don't bite your friends..."

2010-03-29T16:22:00.000-07:00

a quick run with a cool bunch...an outstanding crew...

I ran the meet n' greets, in some of our nations' most beautiful venues, old gilt-edged theaters, also in Canada.

Flew into Minneapolis, was very strange not to being met by The Fabulous Lorraine!
She was very busy doing her week ' gigs, for St, Patrick's Day.
so, I was on my own.

this was my flash card:

the attending children needed no such help...

MUNO!!!!

everyone on the cast/crew worked so hard, but I may say that DJ Lance gave his very heart to these kids...
look at this cape!!

everywhere we went, everyone knew ALL the words!!

there was a balloon drop, this doesn't show the effect, but here is the set-up:

my self-portrait in a hotel:

i heart AL GORE:
(as seen in Milwaukee)

these heartthrobs are responsible for this wonderful madness:

this eggroll I found in Fort Wayne, Indiana-- it reminded of my first job in high school, at New China carry-out, they had these same amazing eggrolls...

the crazy "dill pickle chip" trend continues in Canada, I did Not try them:

Teeter, my old friend from Jonas Brothers tour, is a mean merch queen:

and Sanni & Jonathan! I worked with Sanni on Britney Spears 2002:

i love the midwest and my bus:

Our hotel in St. Louis was in an old train station, I loved it here, so so historic, I could have stayed here for a month...

I took this photo off an ad, because the fountains out front were shut down for the winter, but here is what they can look like...
my Dad visited St. Louis often for his work, and he told me this was called Aloe Plaza,
and that these were the first nude sculptures west of the Mississippi...he has a small sculpture by this same artist...

in my on-going quest for airport art, I added this big score to my collection, from Memphis Airport:

Drew is prepping to go out on the COnan O'Brien tour, and I will report from the road as I visit him.
All in all a terrific mini-tour.
but...i miss MUNO.

Playboy Mansion, ya'all!

2010-03-03T12:38:00.000-08:00

For Valentine's Day, my beloved boss let me re-gift his tour of the Playboy Mansion to Drew.
We trundled over to Beverly Hills early Sunday morning, the tour had to be conducted before his HRH mister Hefner awoke from his playboy bed.

We entered a hidden driveway and actually spoke into a rock. Had I had my wits about me, I would have done a better film,
but i couldn't re-create once we cleared the gates. It was very 007! and there was an actual yield sign that said "warning: Bunnies at play" that i also missed documenting, but oh well, this Jimmy Olson was still a bit sleepy.

here is the little early morning video clip i did manage to shoot:

the grounds are beautiful, details everywhere.
here is a recreated walk of fame Hollywood star:

the grounds were lush and magical paths everywhere:

look at how cute Ghosty looks in front of the Mansion:

Drew posing by the GIGANTIC satellite dishes, that at one time were surely state-of-the art:

our guide is one of the butlers there in the Mansion, and he had all kinds of stories, none of which I will detail here.
I have a great love for HH, a childhood fascination, stemming from my Dad's keyring, he had one of the keys to the clubs (as shown here on the side of a pinball machine in the Game Room):

batphones everywhere!

we walked through the wildlife section, which exotic birds, monkeys and more...
it made me a little sad, as always, when I see caged creatures, but I could see that they were well-cared-for.
I especially loved the carrying case that was sitting in wait:

we went out to see everyone's main idea of the PM, the Grotto!
it really was a beautiful spot.

we threaded our way out of the darkened cavey sections and out into the light of the February morning...
to the poolside paradise:

birds on the lawn everywhere:

and one big bird:

i actually got attacked by an irritated possessive African crane, i was too surprised to take the photo, but I got one of him later on, he was as tall as me! and bit me hard on the foot and back of the leg, yes, i bruised up nicely-- our guide said flap your wings at him, but I am a cat! meow! the animal handler came running over, with her gloved hands, grabbed the poor duder and dragged him off me. oy! he went squa-wek-wek-ing away, and she said, meh. The butler was worried i was hurt, i was just surprised more than anything, wish I had gotten a movie of it though.

Our guide told us that Hef is a dedicated film buff, (this is true, he is quite the preservationist as well)
and he holds film screenings at the Mansion, here is the sign for Valentine's night showing...

i could hang out here, it really is a slice of Hollywood history:

this was a detail from the control panel on the grotto wall, i think it sums it up:

look at what Drew got me, a sleek new black Melita filter (see my red one being held together only by gaffe tape & hope)

a San Diego Christmas....

2009-12-26T09:42:00.000-08:00

Drew happened to land in town on the Lady Gaga tour as her dates in LA coincided with the Christmas break.
I worked the shows as well. Amazing shows by a new bold talent...

SO he had only a half day off before the holiday, we rushed around, I had a little stress fit, he calmed me down, and we packed up the sleigh with presents...
We opened one present each before we went to San Diego... Drew picked my parent's Slanket:

Of all the years to not be back east, missing the gigantic snow & my family...doh!

However, Drew's family made me feel right at home.
Hi parents belong to a very liberal church and we went to a candle light Christmas Eve service,
complete with a manger re-inactment...We sang carols and Drew's voice in my ear was just beautiful.
It has been a tough year in many ways, losing our loved ones, and I shed a few tears when the choir was singing.
My Dad had warned me about going to church! I think even he would have approved of this service...

My brother Bill captured Drew's heart with his present, the tiny NanoFly RC UFO, here is a cute video, complete with Drew's Mom in the background, wondering about the dinner guest list...

Peggy & George opened their musician kitties sent from my parents in the snowed-in east:

Eli gets Mister Kitty:

Heather & Peg make delicious gingerbread:

Sean played Santa:

here is the moment he realized he got a matching Slanket!

honestly that child got so much loot, but he was So excited about this present, it was one thing he had actually asked for!
great job, M&D!!

meanwhile in the middle of the country,
my nieces open their easybake cupcake oven, something I always wanted, so I am living through them!!

there are more photos to upload, but i am being dragged away, Drew has to catch a plane to New Orleans, to rejoin the tour,
stay tuned!

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

2009-11-09T14:52:00.000-08:00

(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...

2009-11-02T10:27:00.001-08:00

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!!

2009-10-10T14:11:00.001-07:00

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...

2009-07-01T23:09:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-09T11:54:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-29T10:07:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-05-22T18:59:00.000-07:00

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...

the week in photos...

2009-04-26T13:47:00.000-07:00

seems like it has been awhile since I have been over here.
feeling sorta SYBIL with the two blogs and the two twitter accounts.
However, it still feels right to separate the two, business & personal.

busy!

am doodling for the charity of Gillian Anderson of X-Files/Scully fame, last year my doodle sold, and I bought one by Bill Mumy ("Lost in Space") go HERE for more info on the auction. Look for doodles from Neil Gaiman & Amanda Palmer as well---

we had a table read for our film project and as usual, Malena was a little shy with new friends:

there was a bit of a heatwave recently, the cats lay about like dead things:

our poor Drew came home from Coachella covered in bruises & cuts & burnt crispy to boot. He was manning the main stage so he didn't see AFP or Leonard Cohen, but he did catch Mr. Paul McCartney....I didn't go this year, but these are from 2 years ago, the Tool/Madonna year...w/ the Nicoles...

i tipped my tattoo artist with this old big-eye girl w/horse Roth painting (& ok, money too)
and when my arm heals, i shall post up my personal genii who is part-Aquaman....

we had dinner in downtown LA last night with Drew's mom, who I adore,
she was in town for the opera.
delicious shrimp salad and fancy atmosphere:

Sadly, a few furry friends have left this mortal coil: RIP to Buddy the dog & Gumbo the cat. I am writing a story about Dog Heaven for Sean. I don't have any Buddy photos, but here's ol' Gumbo, Justin's cat:

this week we are going to San Diego, we will stay on the beach and get ready for the busy coming season, Drew is going to do Michael Jackson and I am slated for another round of Jonas Brothers....it's a living!

(this is Jozie's hand holding a rock in Malibu, we write our wishes on beached stones and fling them back into the ocean)

meanwhile, over at NEVERWEAR
there is a ANOTHER new contest up...go have a lookseeee......

"bonafide hustler, makin' my name..."

2009-04-11T19:14:00.000-07:00

closing a few loose threads on my laptop...

when we were in Oregon, we made a trip to Multnomah Falls.
It was a slice of pure nature, pine trees and river wild.

still testing out my little video camera but I took a couple of movies to remember the climb and the force of the falls.

you can see out over the Oregon coast in this one...

the food in Portland is always stellar.
we ate at PorQue No, and everyone called Drew TINA because of his tour swag jacket.

dim sum with the Nicola trio:

Nancye & William were on a food allergy tester diet, ruling out most everything, so we didn't dine out with them.
and MOXIE RX was still closed for the season. Next visit!

this week, we went to the new location of CAA, where even the pencils are at attention:

after, we stopped by The Palm and the first person on the wall my eyes rested upon?
Warren Beatty....

i do believe he is my lucky star.
more on this later....

this week, I picked up Mark at LAX, he came home for a visit from the AC/DC world tour.

I will never forget hearing "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" for the first time,
and falling in complete love with Bon Scott. I am sure Brian is a great guy, but...hmmmph. RIP Bon.

Thursday night, we had sushi with my brother, Chris, who was in town giving a lecture at CalTech. Yes, him smart.
The University put him up in these fancy digs, as it turns out that is where they shot a scene from BEVERLY HILLS COP--
the "twist o' lemon" scene....

Last night, we went to my old friend Brian's for a re-screening of that 80's gem APARTMENT ZERO...

tomorrow, it's Easter. I took this a million years ago on slide film, and like I said earlier, I miss Kodachrome..

meanwhile, over at NEVERWEAR
there is a new contest up...go have a looksee.

Happy Easter, you bunnies.

we turn to spring...

2009-04-04T21:47:00.000-07:00

i had the last bit of winter in DC with my parents, here my Dad burns some of my old paperwork for me, better than shredding.

came home in time to see some spring, it is wonderful to watch the changes here:

Red took this of Batters while we were gone:

:

took a trip down to San Diego to see Drew's family:

the three generations:

Sean and Mister Kitty:

Sean practices his playing:

spent a couple days under the spell of Twitter, judging Neil's #100K contest(results here)

Twitter is a pretty amazing thing, and when i got this on my phone, i was pretty happy, even though, I imagine Obama's ghost Twitterer most likely adds anyone...

Coop DJing at Stinkers in Silverlake:

where they have a huge neon skunk outside to greet you:

we went and got new tattoos…

tax time--- Selina Kyle helps me get the year end numbers together:

since my accountant is in Malibu:

Ghosty shed his hardtop:

and things change in other ways.

while in San Francisco, i took this photo for my friend Alex, "Big Al".

when we returned home, the next night, we heard that he had passed away at age 40, heart attack.

at his memorial, we said goodbye to our friend Big Al, gone too soon, but never forgotton:

RT: #100K CONTEST WINNERS!

2009-04-01T00:44:00.001-07:00

I met Mr. Neil Gaiman while I was on Tori Amos’ Scarlet’s Walk tour in 2003. We kept in contact over the years, I wrangled him on some of his west coast events and helped his assistant, The Fabulous Lorraine, with her ever-growing work load... in between tours, I found myself drafted by Team Gaiman, becoming his Other Assistant. (Fablo wants me to add here, "to her delight" ...awwww, sweet.)
One of the projects we launched was NEVERWEAR the official Neil merchandise site, for all things original Gaiman and so our story begins...

When he asked me to judge the #100K contest (after forcing me to become a Twitter-er myself), I said, why sure, Boss...I mean who knew...? Days later, after trying to break my true Libra nature of indecision, weighing and balancing each of the nearly 6,000 entries, I enlisted the aid of @FabulousLorrain (her name says it all). Together, we found the glittery Twitters that slipped through my fingers.

Many thanks, miss Quiche, and thanks to all of you who entered, the level of creativity was stunning---
and to Neil, for thinking it all up.

The contest, for those arriving late, asked for captions for photo A:

and photo B:

As it happens, I went over the original limit of 20 winners---
winners should contact me @Neverwear to discuss how to redeem....oh the prizes...delicious...Neil tells me he is donating three WALKING TOUR OF THE SHAMBLES books, signed. Three CORALINE tee shirts, signed. Three CORALINE CDs signed. Neil also some signed Graveyard Book posters. Lorraine is donating some surprises, including one magical favor ticket (ask her about it @fabulouslorrain) and Neverwear is donating tshirts, stickers, mousepads, buttons, and a (signed by Neil) Jouni Koponen SAUCERS print. (of which we only have a few left...)

Without further narrative ado, I give you the 27 winners of the #100K contest, which celebrated @Neilhimself getting over 100,000 followers (and yes, he has 135,041 as of this blog publication).

(best rule breaker, it won a special spot by @Neilhimself):

vsivad: My entry for Neil Gaiman's #100K contest http://twitpic.com/2gx3w

(second best rule breaker, and apologies for the mix-up, some many tweets n' retweets flying around...)
SarahG42@neverwear my original tweet - http://tinyurl.com/d3wkax #100K

(best HARLAN ELLISON reference):

zbluesy: #100K A boy and his dog... hell, it worked for Ellison.

(best for making @FurrytigerKitty AND @Neverwear laugh):
jesteram: #100K Photo A: "Other Mother ... Jonas Brothers ... I beat all comers."

(best for making @FabulousLorrain laugh):
MichaelClear
B) Neil is a bloke from Portchester. Cabal is a demon from Hell. Can this wacky pair run a Fish and Chips shop? Find out on BBC One.

(best use of poetic cleverness):
Dookyj_normaljustkyla: C is for Cabal, three years on a chain, Til’ his grim lord did claim him to stand in the rain.

(best use of sibling rivalry aka nanny nannny boo boo):
coralvfl: #100K A) Sibling Rivalry: "The fact of the matter is, furball, I got a movie deal and YOU didn't. So, obviously, I'M Neil's favorite."

(best ad for otherworld dentistry):
pixelz: "No, Cabal, down boy! Leave the fairies alone: they'll stick in your teeth!" #100k

(best Tori reference)
littleread: #100k B: Out of interest, where *is* Neil when you need him?

(best Clint Eastwood reference):
styromus: #100k http://twitpic.com/2jpcv -

(best way into our free speech hearts--a shout-out to CBLDF
Passeriform: #100K B "Boss, PLEASE let me be on the CBLDF board!" "No, Cabal. But I'll see if they need an enforcer.”

(best gentle mockery of Neil's mission statement):
mjolin: #100K A: Sure he SAYS he will eventually grow up and get a real job, but then he brings home a DOLL for chrissakes. I won't hold my breath

(Best LOTR mention was an even tie between these two):
MLopezC: #100k Photo A: And the beast wondered if the hobbit girl would taste good with some lembas bread.

joabaldwin: #100k b) Hey dog! merry dog! ring a dog dillo! Tom Bom, jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo!

(BEST USE OF BOTH PHOTOS TOGETHER: Another tie):
christinahere: A) If that dog calls me Caroline one more time, it's gonna be him or me! B) See ya Caroline!!

pinkshirtfarmer: http://twitpic.com/2gzuj - Look what I found!

(best mention of chocolate cake):
cakewelsh: #100K I want royalties, Gaiman. In limeade and chocolate cake. Or I Button the dog.

(best short person joke):
gilldaniels: #100K A) The doll insists they are friends and the dog, politely but firmly, disagrees. He says, "We'll talk when you can reach the kibble."

(best Star Trek/Stephen King mash-up):
gavroche: #100K A spoonful of Gaiman helps the tribbles go down, in a most cujoful way!

(best for pandering to Kitty’s giant Henry Selick crush):
craig_church #100K A) "Tell Henry he forgot the wings on this one."

(best Doctor Who reference--and there were MANY):
dogeatdoug: My entry for Neil Gaiman's contest: http://twitpic.com/2hf30 #100K

(best use of a kindergarten joke that worked perfectly in this case):
Lacrimus: #100k What's black and white and read all over? Neil Gaiman and his dog!

(Kitty's favorite use of fewest characters with most punch!):
mysynergy #100K Mad dogs and Englishmen.

(Quiche LOVED this one so much it showed up twice on her list--two different times)
KristenIsKadu: #100K The dog wondered if he should eat the bubbles full of tiny beings. The man calmly took out his umbrella so none landed on his head.

(because Cabal think sticks are the end-all-be-all)
solo1y: #100K B: http://yfrog.com/0e100k2j

(this entry EVERY time was on both mine & Quiche's list, a real visual sentence, and compound to boot):
ferallon #100K Despite being armed with an umbrella and a spectral hound; a twinkle of will-o-the-wisps made short work of the man in the dark suit.

(best in that it absolutely got the whole point of this Twitter contest in the most succinct manner--well done!)
Pergamond: #100K B. Followed by 100,000. Led by one.

(this one may be made into a Neverwear sticker with Middlesmith's permission--
because it is closest I could find to A Grande Prize WINNER!!)

middlesmith: #100K There was a hand in the rain, and it held a milk bone.

Congrats all you winners, please contact me @Neverwear on Twitter.com
and I will give you an all new email contact for mailing addresses....

& give me a minute to reply---I just finished packing up all the buttons people won last week,
and I will be running an April special at Neverwear.net, any purchase of ten bucks or more gets a free set of 3 Neil buttons...

WOnderCON! part two

2009-03-06T09:07:00.001-08:00

been in travel mode, spent yesterday in an airplane to Baltimore, Charm City..
visiting friends and family on the way to New York City.

however, I did want to post this second half of the WonderCon happenings.
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund was responsible for two fascinating events:
on Friday night, the Drink and Draw Social Club, at 111 Minna Alley, patrons of the arts and supporters of free speech could come and watch artists do exactly that, drink n’ draw....

the Obama-Lincoln looks just like Nancye’s William, our Portland friends.

i made this bartender pose for me, just to get a shot of his shirt for my little brother :

the next day we were up bright and early for the call of duty,
look at these lovely volunteers. (and Bets bought one of “my” books”):

out on the floor, business as usual, look at this gun-toting fairy:
(maybe you can't see her gun in this shot, but it was as tall as she was--)

a huge and unwieldly (sp?) BumbleBee Transformer blocked our traffic flow for a bit too long, he couldn’t move...and neither could anyone else...Charles went out and solved the problem.

Saturday brought the most interesting two hours of the event for me.
CBLDF sponspored an ArtJam in which comic book legends drew on the overhead and narrated their techniques.
The resulting works were auctioned off to support the Fund.
Jill Thompson, Wendy Pini, Dave Johnson, Matt Wagner and the ever-popular Jim Lee participated.

here Wendy creates one of the Elfquest characters:

we watched until she finished up with this:

here she posed with some admirers, of which you can count me as one. Delightful lady:

Jill Thompson, she of Sandman fame, ended up winning the Wendy Pini auction, which makes her a double supporter of the Fund! (volunteering her time and money)
SHe decided to do a watercolor demo of the character Death, and I learned so much about shading and light:

amazing woman, pure talent.
we thank you, Jill.

During Matt Wagner and Dave Johnson's presentations, I was running around giving auction numbers and getting supplies for the artists. When Jim Lee came on, however, I was able to be front and center. I have been fascinated by his lines for about 15 years now, since he was drawing the Xmen books, his Psylocke was my alter-ego for a long time. Actually, she still is.

He drew a WOlverine crowd-pleaser, and made the hall laugh repeatedly with his antics, using props such as hotel key and water bottle top to dazzle us:

watch here in this little video clip I posted on youtube as Jim shows us his magic touch, that man is made of elven charm:

he also dashed off my favorite Batgirl:

that night we went out for tapas, here Drew and CBLDF Jill mack some teeny lamb burgers...(see Charles in the background)

now to catch my train up to NYC to give Neil an assist in his BLUEBERRY GIRL signing, with the gorgeously talented Charles Vess. more to report soon---

Gotham City, Kitty out.

A ComeDiaN girl living in a ROrsCHAcH world...WATCHMEN! and WONDERCON

2009-02-25T15:56:00.001-08:00

Driving in LA has long been known to be dangerous.

Now these fabulous color-drenched WATCHMEN billboards
are making things even more scary, as I find myself dreamily
staring at them, while the road unrolls unnoticed beneath me...

look:

on buses everywhere:

this was a real showstopper, the one above the ?? Tiger Yard Sale on Venice @ La Brea....

they knew at ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY that I love The COmedian most, so they sent me THIS version of the collectible covers...

I will be in NEW YORK CITY when the film comes out, and I will be getting no love there, it is tough to get into a theater there on the slowest of days...so, i guess it will be a BALTIMORE IMAX i will give my dollars to.

Now, back to packing up Neverwear goodies for WONDERCON this weekend in San Francisco. I will be working the CBLDF BOOTH # 725
so please come and see me. I will have some special giveaways and while we are mentioning it, am still in need of the perfect BATGIRL costume...

ps am already breaking my own rule of posting same post here and on Neverwear blog, but my worlds do, in fact, collide.
COME SEE ME!!!

THE EXECUTIVE film shoot

2009-02-22T12:26:00.000-08:00

Ethan, my writing/producing partner came up with a short script THE EXECUTIVE
and we all got together for a couple day shoot.

here, Eth and Drew set up the lights:

our tiny star ruled in her blue silk pjs:

our stars take breaks in between set ups:

stopping by craft service table:

our sound guy, Billy:

our very tall boom op Drew:

our writer/director cuts up with star Sarah:

a movie still (cooked by Lauren!):

here producer Jeff talks cameraman Keith down off the ledge:

me back from buying props:

sushi break!

back to work for our little star:

the executive---all the planets aligned for this particular take: (photo doesn't do it justice)

a cast/crew shot, as the photographer, i am missing...

after what is called "the martini shot", we wrapped.
thanks everyone! THE EXECUTIVE coming to a film festival near you, soon....

VOODOO DONUTS

2009-02-11T20:37:00.001-08:00

it is written on the stars that my favorite foods are popcorn and sushi.
blueberries are a close third.
but for my sweet tooth?
the donut sings my siren song.

i don't keep these beautiful rings of sugar anywhere nearby while at home,
but on the road, they are mandatory roadie rider food.
they are there every day, really, EVERY DAY.

there is a rule I share with those who work with me:
"if you see me with a donut, slap it out of my hand"
and this Has happened. I have been donut-smacked.

while on tour with the mighty Motley Crue, our stop in Portland contained a surprise...

(here we are celebrating Tommy's birthday)

we opened our sleepy little road weary eyes to pink boxes with amazing things inside,
labelled VOODOO DONUTS.

in the boxes I was to put in the band's dressing rooms:
for Vince, Nikki & Mick:

for Tommy, this we found:

if you don't get it, that's ok. you'll just need to brush up on your Tommy Lee lore.

so while in Portland this last week for the CORALINE premiere (full account here)
Drew and I went to Voodoo Donuts to see what they were all about.

it was a chilly Sunday morning but the place was fully crowded, when we got inside, a line was running outside.
The smell of baking donuts was knock-out amazing. The decor was punk-slasher-donuty goodness.

here is their menu, and Drew was very disappointed that they were OUT of the blood-fliied. He settled for a bacon maple bar,
which sounded like a bad idea even to this donut lover. If you look closely, you can see in the bottom right hand the price for what they sent on over to the Crue boys...now, do you get it?

here is the sweet perfection that I chose, a plain cake with chocolate frosting...can you taste it?

more Portland adventures, next installment....

FURRY TIGER VS. KITTY'S NEVERWEAR

2009-02-09T14:49:00.000-08:00

so, to avoid confusion and double posting---or double commenting,
this FURRY TIGER blog will be anything non-Neverwear related.
I mean, lots of things will STILL be Neverwear related, if you see what I mean,
but this will be a place to look for my tour blog or for example, my Portland
VACATION stories, but I am separating the two. Sorta like the two kids that sit together
and giggle in the back of class.
They will do much better in their work and can play together on their own time....!
thanks for your time and soon up here will be a whizbang-up review of Portland proper,
and on Neverwear, some more great shots of people wearing/using their Neverwear.
(and announcements of some more poster winners)
xoxo Kitty

(beautiful art from the Portland hotel--by glass artist (tim) CHILINA

CORALINE press junket part 3

2009-01-31T17:06:00.001-08:00

another day of hotel rooms and people packed in to roundtables, all clamoring for the attention of the creatives.
lots of tape recorders thrown across the table to sit right under the speaking gentleman.
let’s not forget the banks of microphones!

this time I sat on the plushy chair provided (no bathtubs available?)
and watched, listened, learned as thoughts were verbally batted around in the air.

Neil was asked many questions on the themes of what he felt stop-motion lent to a story like CORALINE and why he chose Henry as director. He explained that when he saw NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS he noticed (like so many others might not have) that while it said "Tim Burton’s NBC", it was directed by Henry Selick. After he finished writing CORALINE, years and years ago, he asked his agent to get it to Henry first because he believed that he had the vision to bring it to the screen.

When the option ran out, Neil even did the unspeakable in HOllywood, which was to extend Henry’s option for free based on NEil's faith in him. (the Holywood reporters practically stood up and cheered on that one, it really was a beautiful thing to do, rather than yank it away because by that time, there was plenty of big studio interest in it)

The allure of stop-motion versus the machinery of CGI was that it was real, Neil went on to outline a perfectly charming story of a conversation with a set carpenter, who had been involved in building the pirate ship for STARDUST for two months that was slated to be scrapped after filming, and Neil was apologetic. The carp then replied to the effect of “No, man! If it weren’t for you, we’d be building shelves.”

Another reporter asked if Neil was considering any other of his stories for animated film versions, he said that ODD AND THE FROST GIANTS (one of my personal favorites)
would be a good candidate. Also, he was very clear about GRAVEYARD BOOK being live action. When I heard announced (on the Today show, no less) that Neil “THE COMPANY OF WOLVES” Jordan was slated to helm it, I cried a wee Irish tear of joy.
I remember going to see WOLVES in the theatre on a date, and I couldn’t talk after, was so moved, most especially by the little doll crying in the birds’ nest... and a naked Danielle Dax! (needless to say, the date went south)

Of course, talk moved over to the Sandman-as-movie subject, many of the reporters wanted to talk about
what may happen in this film climate of graphic novel mania. Neil said (and wisely so)
the way he saw it, things may happen if a director came along that had the mad passion for the project like Peter Jackson had for LORD OF THE RINGS.

Afer each roundtable, the reporters whipped out their books etc to have Neil sign, which he graciously did.

and he even signed for non-reporters as well:

we watched as the sun went down over the city of Los Angeles and finally everyone went home and our poor hero got some food and sleep.

Next up is his Canada run,
one I am not going to be there for, sadly, as the schedule looks like a serious nightmare.
I will put a super-duper shield on him before his plane whisks him away.

Next stop for me, Portland. I will post a little youtube movie shortly, but for now, I have a batch of fan mail for him to sign (yes REALLY!)

Words to end this, Neil did say that CORALINE was a story about bravery and a lesson that children may follow the rest of their lives in that it shows that you CAN fight big things and win. We can all stand by that.

CORALINE press junket part 2

2009-01-29T15:16:00.000-08:00

sitting on the floor of a swanky Beverly hills hotel,
listening to the soothing sounds of Neil speaking to various and sundry reporters
on the domestic part of his Coraline junket.

Last night was the big industry screening at the Graumann’s Chinese, that venerable old Hollywood landmark. Publicist Maggie won me over with the free popcorn and the clever use of a deck (or ten) of Bicycle playing cards as tokens to get in to the afterparty. (i drew the nine of diamonds, Boss got the eight of hearts) It was Almost as clever as the Fabulous Lorraine using buttons as passes......

The 3-D so well done, it nearly overwhelmed me, in the way that I was feeling dizzily disoriented at even the Real D logo in the very beginning.

about the movie--

A shout-out toTeri Hatcher, girl, you were truly impressive with that buttery honeydripper of a voice for all the incarnations of Coraline’s mother.

also lovely was the fact that there was a cat character (devilishly voiced by Keith David)
that wasn’t a stereo-typical mean kitty. finally!
I could listen to Ian McShane’s Mister Bobinsky’s accent forever. I have been saving the whole of Deadwood for a snowed-in someday, but now I may just get that out of the way to spend more time with Mister Ian.

FRENCH AND SAUNDERS as SPINK AND FORCIBLE. I want to be them for Halloween, both of them, and have jewelled eye glasses on stems, with big glittery ocean colored gems on as a costume. I was literally drop-jawed in all their scenes.
Those ladies, worth their weight in gold.

I was moved and frightened at different turns. Without giving anything away, I had to be reminded by the videos playing at the afterparty of the animators moving the little gorgeous puppets, that silicone puppets moved by human hands evoked those emotions in me. I gave a big love-punch to the shoulder of director Henry Selick for fooling me so perfectly. His sense of put-this-here and place-that-there, his is a true director’s heart.

Neil had Fairuza Balk accompany him to the screening, and she was a sparkler, a starlet-y firecracker. My Drew, who years ago told me she was his ultimate Hollywood crush, was a bit gaga. Neil asked him at one point in the evening if he could sort of stay with her, while he got whisked away on a wave of well wishers---the look of love and gratitude on Drew’s face towards Neil, priceless. Here they are together :

Drew left this morning for the Elton John tour, here he is on Captain Fantastic’s star, last night in front of the Chinese Theatre with Mr. Selick in the background. {Bye honey}

Neil has to move on to another location to do more press. So I wrap this up.
Will say this, that man is terrifyingly smart, with one hell of a spicy charming bite. The press is getting their best quotes out of him, as he valiantly strives to give each one a bit of a different story.

I always learn so much, perched in the corner, ticky tapping on my MacBook.

(not sure if this is a junket leak, but Boss just made me laugh with saying to some reporter that he could now relate to the Jonas Brothers, because of the tweener age group girls coming and asking for his autograph)

beautiful/delicious

2009-01-26T00:56:00.000-08:00

something very beautiful:

JOUNI & NEIL SAUCERS PRINT on INFINITE CANVAS

something very delicious:

CORALINE press junket part 1

2009-01-24T19:51:00.001-08:00

for all you sun-starved wintery people, a view from the hotel where the CORALINE press junket kicked off. I can hear the waves crash on the shore...it is gorgeous, just a bit breezy and 68* F.

before the rounds began, our hero got what is called a bit of "grooming". It has long been my personal opinion that if NG hadn't hit the genius lottery and he was just, say, a punk rock record store owner, juggling his rent check and getting his cell phone turned off intermittently, he still doesn't need very much grooming. Looking good, boss. And our stylist guy Tyson really agreed, calling him very low-maintenance, in that tone, where you know, maybe this isn't normally the case in Hollywood. Cathy, who is having a bit of coffee in the background, was the Universal rep, who didn't drop the ball once. Thanks, girl. She's off next to Toyko---

In spite of what the term "press junket" might conjure for you--- for me, vaguely covert operations, with a bunch of steno pads thrown in---the word "junket" just has the whiff of illegal danger, maybe a lost weekend.
Not so. It is iPhone/Blackberry-toting good-natured reporters coming from all points on the globe, to meet in hotel rooms and fire questions at the principals involved in the film.

we began with France and headed south to Brazil and north to Finland etc.
lots of Australians roaming around.
As always, I learn so much while sitting and waiting (this time perched on the edge of a hotel bathtub, with big Pelican cases for the video gear stowed in by my knees).
Neil was telling the Brazilian lady that 20 years ago, her countrymen were the first to put SANDMAN into reprint. He likened Brazil his first favorite girlfriend, which delighted the lady.

of course, the crew filming and doing the coordinating were a little loud as these things happen, so i got posted outside on "shhhhh" duty, and was very librarian-esque with my stern glances. Felt like my little librarian Mom-- ahah...

here Immanuel from France gets a little scribble in his book.

the hotel got a few black marks for bad behavior this morning, which I shall not detail here, but I gave it a gold star on the cute rooms and the good carpeting.
Here is a little Coraline promo poster, I am so ready to see the finished film---
Wednesday night!

among other things, swedish vampires

2008-12-31T11:18:00.000-08:00

The SAUCER prints are now all shipped, we have sold about 500 of the 750 and we at Neverwear would love to hear your feedback on them.
Dave, one of our customers new to my old hometown of Baltimore, reports that his print arrived and he loves it--he also sends wishes that we weather the Economic End of days, which made me laugh. It is so good to hear from the world. We got a beautiful message from Benita from Anchorage, Alaska: "May Amun Ra walk between you and all darkness in your path." My personal favorite was a thank you from one of our customers Brandon in Utah, who got the gemstone bracelet bonus, he tells me that it is now one of his favorite possessions. That means so much to me.

In fact, I did send some of you jewelry IOUs since we got so many orders, I was a bit swamped and didn't want to delay the shipments. So there are many who will have the bracelets coming under separate cover. A new year surprise... I put myself through college without student loans with my gemstone jewels, so it is a return to my roots...I made the necklaces for Tori's Beekeeper tour, here is a photo of her modelling one of the three designs we sold on that tour.

To celebrate getting all the prints shipped, Drew took me to see the movie I have been hearing so much about, a film from Sweden, "Låt den rätte komma in" or "Let the right one in" in English. A little trivia, the title refers to a Morrisey song... If it is playing near you, go see it. I can't stop thinking about it. It is haunting and gorgeous....take a look....

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN

post office elf

2008-12-23T14:35:00.000-08:00

The prints have arrived and they are beautiful. Jouni and Neil, you are supermen.

We Neverwear elves are very busy filling orders and challenging the lines of the post office.
My local post office here in Los Angeles is never quiet and at Christmastime, it is a madhouse. When I was little, I told my dad I wanted to be a postman. I love all things stamp-y and mail-y. Now I am an honorary postal worker. I was at the automatic postage machine in the lobby at 6 am this morning
and left hours later--- Jun, my favorite USPS worker helped me. I told him I wouldn't blow his cover, but I wanted to show him processing some of the many international orders.

We are have sent prints to Japan, Ireland, Scandinavia, Italy, Spain, Philippines, the mighty United Kingdom, and countless points in between. Drew, Ethan, Red and I have been fulfilling orders to try to get as many as these out as quickly as possibly. It has been a whirlwind. A lovely madness.

even little Selina Kyle, our new crimefighting kitten, lent a paw.

Thank you all for your support. We are having a great time in the treehouse, trying to get these out to their new homes as quickly as possible.
Happy holidays all.

SAUCER madness

2008-12-14T21:44:00.000-08:00

I got the funniest email from Jouni yesterday, wondering if we sold any of the Saucers prints.
Happily, I was able to give him great news, this thing blew up---like fireworks.
Neil's dead clever words
matched with Jouni's truly gorgeous artwork made for a grand marriage.
A cyber home run!
I was down to 17 prints this morning when Neil called me with even more generous good news.
As he said on his blog, we printed 1,000 of these and split them, he kept his to use for his holiday greetings.
He decided to release 250 back into the wild---so this will be an edition of 750. Neil's present to you all.
isn't he magic?
We even got a mention on Gillian Anderson's website, anyone who knows me knows THIS makes my inner X-Files fan very happy---thanks Skully and Mari!

some other reviews and mentions:

IO9 the "strung out on Science Fiction" site

kaboodle.com reviews SAUCERS

I am getting lots of emails from people who are spreading the news about The Graveyard Book,
next blog will have some of the lucky winners.
Thanks so much all!

NEW Neil Gaiman print: The Day the Saucers Came

2008-12-11T09:59:00.000-08:00

all the way from Finland, the smokin' hot Jouni Koponen illustrates Neil's poem:
"The Day the Saucers Came"---a personal favorite of ours here at NEVERWEAR

This full-color print will be arriving any day now, hot off the presses.

It is a high-stakes take on obsession. This print is filled with magical imagery: zombies and geniis, UFOs, giants, fairies...even killer bees. Sized at 10" x 28", you can practically fall into this wonderland. I will have 500 prints, each hand-numbered---I expect them to arrive in hand on the 16th Dec.

They will not be guaranteed for a holiday delivery, while they illustrate magic, I am only one kid in cahoots with the United States Postal Service. go figure...They should arrive--- if ordered now--- by the 27th December. They will be shipped in a practically bullet-proof shield made of recycled cardboard. For preorders, I will send out a little Neil postcard saying it is coming, if you want to give it as a gift.

We are donating 20% of the poster price to 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! they are available here:

NEVERWEAR thanks you....with some specials...

2008-12-05T14:50:00.001-08:00

We are running a little holiday spirit special...

When you buy any NEVERWEAR teeshirt:

(like this GRAVEYARD BOOK babydoll being modeled by
the amazing Amanda Palmer )

you will receive a FREE handmade gemstone
bracelet, made by me, Kitty...our gift to you.

it is made with glass sead beads from Japan, Svarowski Austrian crystals, garnets from India,
woven with love & magic. I then "clear" the gems by burning sage and whispers, so that it is ready for your own personal imprint.
Garnet has long been thought the stone of passion, worn to stir the blood.

I call this the "phone-ringing-off-the-hook" stone, get ready for some attention!
They are sized to fit the average size wrist (7-7.5") but feel free to drop me a note with special
size needs, I make them-- not robots--- so you can get what you want...

you CAN also purchase them, if you like. They are under "Kitty's Treasures" in the NEVERWEAR store.
I will be putting more things up, like treasures from past tours,
other jewels, one-of-a-kind specials, my glass comic-book magnets....check back often...

ALSO!
a FREE Beowulf promo hat (officially licensed promo-not for sale)
with purchases of fifty dollars of Neverwear..while supplies last...

so... here I am at Neil's....

2008-11-29T23:30:00.001-08:00

...and he gets all these great ideas, i don't know how, or from where,
but he always seems to be brewing up one thing or another--
maybe because he's British and living here in the United States,
or maybe it is because his IQ is exponentially off the charts,
who can say.
Maybe during his childhood, he shook hands with a demon on a highway
or perhaps saved an angel from drowning, not certain.
There are legends...certainly he was born under some kind of lucky stars...

Anyway, last night, Neil came up with a plan which he posted on his well-read blog
a blog which brings people from every undusted corner of
this planet, people who love to witness his ideas, to watch over his shoulder
as his stories spill like gems from his pen...
this plan of his was simple.
He put me in charge of fifty precious GRAVEYARD BOOK posters,
fifty which I watched him sign, to give to the bright stars out among you...

here is Neil's plan and i quote:

So what I'm going to do is this:

First I'm going to sign a bunch of posters -- probably about 50. Then I'm going to give them and the BPAL Graveyard Book scents to the wonderful Cat Mihos. And I'm going to tell her that we're running something that isn't exactly a competition, but is sort of smaller and more informal and a bit more easy-going. It's this:

From here until the end of the year (and further out than that, if the stuff holds out), if you do something effective to help get other people reading The Graveyard Book, tell Cat, and she'll send you a signed poster.

(Something effective in this case would include persuading your bookshop or library to do a Graveyard Book display, and taking a photo of it and sending it to Cat, teaching it in your school, reviewing it for your local paper or doing something equally as imaginative.)

If you do something Awesome and Amazing to get other people reading The Graveyard Book (for example, talking your whole town or city into having one of those months where everyone in the town reads the same book, and it's The Book In Question...) then you get a signed Graveyard Book poster and you get one of the BPAL Graveyard Book scent collections. And she'll probably throw in one of the Graveyard Book Neverwear tee shirts as well.

(Like this one.)

Possibly even give you a Kendra Stout Graveyard Mousepad.

(Like this one)

Send email, photos, cuttings from your local paper, proof that it was you and you alone who talked Oprah or Richard-and-Judy into doing The Graveyard Book on their TV book clubs, etc., to Cat Mihos, Furrytiger@Gmail.com . Do not send them to me. I will not have the swag. I will not be handing it out. I'm merely going to set this thing in motion and sign fifty posters -- twenty five on the McKean side, the other twenty five on the Riddell side.

Cat's decision is final. She'll blog the things she gets in as she goes along at the Neverwear Blog (http://kittysneverwear.blogspot.com/). And then every now and then I'll do a round up here.

How does that sound?

It is Kitty here again,
I have already started to receive some emails with big claims, so I will be evaluating them,
and in the meantime, will be doing some specials here at Neverwear.net.
Thanks go out to all of you readers, with each book you read, you earn an angel some wings...

ps it is snowing here at the Gaiman Mansion. Thank you, Quiche!

moonlit planets and new kittens

2008-11-28T16:31:00.000-08:00

Look up to the southwestern sky around twilight....

Last evening (Thanksgiving) Jupiter and Venus began moving closer so that by Sunday/Monday, they will appear right next to eachother. On Monday night, they will be joined by the crescent moon...

The three celestial objects come together from time to time, but often they are too close to the sun. The next time the three will be as close and visible as they are this week will be in 2052. Venus and the moon will be rejoined on New Year's eve this year, though.

I am out at Neil's Addam's family mansion for a week, with hopes for a snow storm while I visit, just a little winter to take me through to the new year. In LA, an east coast girl can get bit tired of sunny & 70*. Last night at Quiche's Spooky House, we had a punk rock Thanksgiving. Vegetable soup from the big garden with oven-toasted crusty bread. Dessert was an oddly perfect tombstone cake, which Q calls "The Death Cake". I loved this Thanksgiving, even though I wasn't with my cute little parents.

I am bringing Batman home a fellow crime fighter, miss Selina Kyle:
(she looks as if she is part screech owl in this photo)

This week we have a to-do list a mile long, but it will include a drive to Chicago to see Miss Amanda Palmer play a show and to pick up Q's newest Bengal cat additions. I will also attempt to get over my age-old fear of horses, whether I was kicked to death or rode one into battle to the end, I am not sure. More in the next report from the magic midwest. FIngers crossed for snow...and now we are going for just a quantum of solace, no more, no less...a little sad about a connery-less bond, but needs must....

a Chi update

2008-11-21T20:17:00.000-08:00

This is a video posted by the Deftones filmed here in Silver Lake at Spaceland, I thought I would put it forward.
Chi is making some progress, and can still use as much healing love possible.
His Mom has been giving out homework for his fans to do,
simple things such as forgiving someone or bringing blankets to the homeless.
I never met Chi's mom, but she is surely where his lovely energy comes from.
On the Deftones blogspot, they report that Chi moved his lip on his Dad's request,
so he is in there, will come up to the surface when the time is right for him.

Check out this video: For Chi...

my little Mom

2008-11-18T20:30:00.001-08:00

Someone with very blue eyes is having a birthday,
and it is a milestone.
SInce we ladies stick together, I won't say how old she is turning
but let's just leave it at: my Mom is amazing.

here she is at my brother's wedding:

and here she is with my sister on the boat she won (luck o' the Irish) :

at the old Ninth Life location:

No wonder my Dad married her, *wolf whistle!

Happy birthday, Aliki!
your #3 kid

a week of shows....

2008-11-16T08:22:00.001-08:00

Watching the build for the Madonna rig was an educational experience for me,
it grew and grew.

Spent 5 days at DOdger Stadium looking after the touring and local crews that were constructing
the stage. At one point, I saw a crowd of guys fast-walking away from the ball field,
and all i could think "there's a fight in the parking lot"...Not a fight, the stage roof had
some faulty hardware, and they were cleared from the area but the show went on.

Hodgey was there doing his stage managing duty, i love this photo of him.

He was out with Drew for the year of Timberlake, who also was there, JT making coffee in the big tent.
Spinky and Abby on the tour as well, so it was a good dose of old friends. I worked the VIP tents, and there was a glittery crowd of supermodels, actresses, etc. My favorite sighting though out of all the beautiful people, Donald Sutherland. He is a very commanding performer, same in real life. (thanks Red for the heads up)

my old boss Britney was there as well, looking good and ready for her comeback. Madonna handed her back the crown...

then on to the Who. Just hearing Pete Townsend's voice in regular conversation, it really got me. i am a huge Who fan.
i mean, a sight like this gives me a real chill:

Beck opened the Nokia Club right next door to the Nokia Theatre. I was working the Who, but then went to the show the next night with Red & Lily (thanks Rabbit!) The club is quietly beautiful, with a clever layout, you can view the band from above or level. They are really turning downtown around in that Staples LA Live area. We are watching the map unfold.

I have seen Beck several times, always a master, but this time, he was positively lit up, the crowd was responding in kind.
It felt like the start of something new.

Almost forgot Halloween in all the shuffle. Miles and Malena invited us to the Magic Castle, and we had a spooky night of it.
I dressed up as a Wish Granter (cross between a genii and a fortune teller) and gave out over three hundred wishes. Red was a sort of alien bondage fairy queen, Malena a red-eyed geisha, Sylvain...a religious leader and we had a Mr Hyde in Bob. But the Dude! Miles was not only the most outrageous Dude, he also won first prize in the costume contest. A feisty Dude, indeed.

The Magic Castle was full of little nooks and levers and bits and passageways. I only took a few photos, out of respect. You must go there. You must.

I walked over to the Marilyn Manson party at the Roosevelt, to see my friend Tori in town for AFI, and we found ourselves up on top of the hotel (this is the back view of the huge neon sign):

then went down and hung out by the pool.

It made up for my last Halloween, in which i did nothing....thanks, friends!

Chi

2008-11-06T09:19:00.001-08:00

This is a heart-felt plea to the gods of rock to watch over our friend Chi Cheng,
he is laid up from a car accident in California.
Please send him your thoughts and love.
My first tour was with Chi, he plays bass for the Deftones, and there is no brighter spirit to be found. Be well, little Chi.

i took this photo on the 2001 tour, Jones Beach.
Steve Kidd, Chi, Rabbit, Linus & Abe

now back to the Madonna work camp.

Halloween & Bernie Wrightson....

2008-10-30T15:55:00.001-07:00

Wendy and I both had little missions to accomplish today, we agreed to co-pilot for eachother. She had to go to Fry's to exchange something. Yes, Fry's with the endless aisles of gadgetry and bits, as you can see, even the stores here in Los Angeles gets dressed up for Halloween...

actually it is a permanent UFO embedded in the building, i should have photographed the inside of the place, with the other side of the craft (complete with neon!) hovering over shoppers. In the computer section, a giant Kraken, tentacles everywhere...it got me in the mood for Halloween...

from there we zipped over to Dark Delicacies for my part of the mission.

Bernie Wrightson was signing in Burbank.... celebrating the 25th anniversary of his illustrated version of Frankenstein.

Frankenstein, the story of the cobbled-together being and his creator, Victor. Wikapedia says this is "arguably considered the first fully-realized science fiction novel." Hmmmm, that I did not know. I honestly never thought about it. I didn't even remember that it was subtitled "Modern Prometheus", after the cheeky Greek human who stole fire from Olympus. (and received a fairly harsh punishment for it as well...) It has been so long since i have read this story, written by Mary Shelley, who wasn't even yet twenty years old...

I remember Michael Stewart (he of Beauty Bar fame) gave me a copy of the Frankenstein book in the good old days, illustrated by one of my very favorite artists from horror comics...He could draw the look of fright perfectly, complete with what we called "mouth strings" when we were little... i mean, look at this cover...gives me a good chill.

That book Michael gave me--it is long gone... the artist, very alive and well. I was telling Del of Dark Delicacies that I once had that edition of the book, and he said, "well you are out about 200 bucks then..." I loaned it out and never chased it down. I don't know who has it, honestly.
The new version is out on Dark Horse and at thirty bucks, a true classic of a treasure. (Bill, I DID get you something, but it wasn't this. Sorry, my brother!)

Here is the gracious Bernie and his sweet wife, Liz, i took this today at his signing:

tonight is Sharle's birthday party, which i will go to after babysitting the tiny elf Ava.
Happy 30th, little "big Shurl"!!!
She is the one that I will always love for taking my parents to a Redskins bar on one of their visits to California...
she shoved everyone out of two seats right in front of the big screen tv, so my Mom and Dad could have a unobstructed view.
You see why I adore her...
here she is (grey coat) with Red at Miles' art show last October...(see a painted Malena in the background?)

tomorrow is Halloween at the Magic Castle... when I first moved to LA, i drove past this, and thought, well I must go there.
Then I was told, mere mortals cannot just "go there". You have to be invited by a member, and that to become a member, you must be a magician. I do know you can stay at the hotel, without being a member and I have been to the hotel...

proof!

as for the actual Castle, this is the most I have seen:

so tomorrow promises to be a wonderland adventure. Extra thanks to Miles for getting us in. (well, let's not put the cart before the horse, how about for getting us Invited..)
Malena is going as a geisha, I am going to be a spooky wish-granter, Red has amassed a fortune in rubber clothing, which looks spectacularly flattering when on (well, when on her!), don't know what Miles is going to be....sadly, I heard no photos allowed.
(WHAT?!!!)
we will just have to see about that...none allowed at many places I go, but those rules, I look at them more as guidelines.

and a final word, as next week I am going to be off-the-hook busy in Madonna-land:

Please remember your right to vote is a precious one, don't take it for granted.

{what, did you think my final word would be a plea to Joachim Phoenix to just take some time off, not quit acting entirely???}

(ok, well, maybe he will consider it)

ten dollars = forty quarters...

2008-10-29T13:07:00.000-07:00

growing up in a half-Greek, half-Irish household,
we had many visitors: some relatives, some family friends.
I just recall a revolving door of people that my parents would entertain.

There is a story about me, tiny hustler that i was,
walking around with a nickle in my hand, telling these family friends:
"If i had two dimes, I would have a whole quarter..."
this could actually bring in a whole dollar if neither of my parents
were witness to it, but usually they'd rush over, "Haha isn't she precious---go to your room now".

Then later, as we grew older, the Greek side would press folding money into our hands,
we'd protest, but ever so faintly, and i will always remember the rushing off to compare notes with Chris.
(like we would also do on Halloween with our candy haul)
Thea Popi, Uncles John (both S & V), all big supporters of the fund, just to name a few...

We would also always see our Dad pressing money into the paws of our cousins---
so it was a family fund, circling the world.

When in Cleveland this summer, I had to continue the tradition, with Abra & Thalia.
I don't know if it was ok with C&B but i still had to do it.
and here is what "Ant Cat" got in the mail...

we all SCREAM....

2008-10-22T18:25:00.001-07:00

it is my birthday week.
I spent my technical real day of birth working the Tina Turner show @ Staples Center, she was simply amazing.
Drew is on the tour and he is running hard on this one.
Look at this production, she is over the crowd in a Mick-Jaggeresque cherry picker.
Tina really seemed to be in awe of her back-up dancers, each of them a genetic miracle. I didn't get a photo of the gigantic lights that spelled out T I N A, but trust me, a show not to miss. She says it is her last world tour...

Drew had a day off and he took me to the Arclight, where we saw Rockn'Rolla, i jumped and cheered in my seat. The soundtrack was perfection. Looks like Guy Ritchie is back to himself.

That night we met a bunch of friends at the Good Luck bar on Hollywood, even though I was still fighting off the dread sick.

i took this with my birthday present, the new iPhone. thank you honey. I named phone-y "One-Two" after the character in the film.

Last year @ Comicon, Neil was told that he was going to be presented with the Scream/Spike TV ICon Award (& deservedly so, says me.)
This year, they invited him again, only George Lucas was being honored as the Icon.
He was unable to attend and, very sweetly, gave his tickets to Red & Malena. (I had been invited by HRH Michael Levitt, thank you buddy)

we girls all gathered at the treehouse. Christy was in town on a break from Maroon 5 tour, and she got a kick out of Red & Malena flinging around the latex and false eyelashes. Red & I met Christy on the Rob Zombie tour, she is our roadie sister.

we went in through the security gates and Malena got stopped with her camera. For some reason, the guy looked directly at mine and waved me through. My mind meld ability? perhaps. ANyway, the first person I saw going in the gates was the tour manager for Smashing Pumpkins...Doug went and rescued Malunka n' her camera. The Pumpkins played the show as did this little lady:

Brandy, my aerialist buddy from the Motley Crue tour, opened the show by dangling high above the stage. My photos of her didn't quite cut it, sorry Brando. Here we are at my birthday party the night before, I hadn't seen her since the Tool show last year.

the stage was a huge chrome and neon dragon, and the Scream sword logo spit pyro fire from the top.
here is Mr. Manson:

Batman took many of the honors, and Gary "Drexel" Oldman was his charmingness as he accepted his crowd-favorite award.

more fire....

this photo I pulled from the LA Times site:

is confetti littering?

they brought Tim Burton down in a balloon basket and he seemed a little green around the gills as he disembarked...

there were Watchmen previews-- (all of which I had seen, but never the less---stoking the anticipatory fires..)

the show closed with a four star tribute to George Lucas, complete with a great number of Stormtroopers.
In his speech, Lucas did something that was very touching, almost brought a tear to my glass eye, he wished us all bright futures. LIke Bill Murray said in Caddyshack, at least I got that going for me.

Afterward we piled over to the Roosevelt Hotel for the afterparty, a real fairyland.
There was an absinthe bar, and I tried a little glass. Yes, I saw fairies...but not from the drink.

here is our Red in front of one of the many mostly-naked-sprites...

but the highlight of my evening, i turned around right into Kyle Gass, Jack Black's partner in Tenacious D. I really was a goofy fan girl, shouting "KYLE!" he was a sweetheart and we talked for awhile, he says they are doing some shows in November. I told him I wanted ON that tour...but I didn't make him take a photo with me.....shoulda.....

it was another smashing event and I really thought they would have scaled back in light of the financial world we are now finding ourselves in, but they went man overboard. The show aired last night, but you can catch it in reruns....

now to get rid of my sick...it is really hanging on for dear life....

at tour's end...

2008-10-13T21:32:00.000-07:00

the last night of Neil's book tour was autumn-y, a crisp fall day in the twin cities.
I had been at Lorraine's, she was kindly nursing my evil illness. We made some salsa and guacamole
from items grown in the Garden, and shopped for cheese...

we drove into St. Paul to meet up with the tour, the night was being sponsored by
the fine people of the Red Balloon bookstore.

a very interesting gentleman Steve brought a femur for Neil to sign, (note the Bernie Wrightson signature, ooooooh)
i wish I had gotten a little more information on this entire-skeleton signing, anyone have details?

after Neil signed (with Dog's full attention on bone), he got a phone call which caused us all to jump and shout, The Graveyard Book hit #1 on the New York Times Children's list. !!! insert exclamation point here !!! i am so proud of you, boss...

(photo of me by Mimi Ko)

Lorraine wrangled Dog and he rested in the back while Neil did his reading.

my aunt Athena and her Jim joined in the evening:

and finally here are the weary three at the very end of the run, Elyse & Brady bookend Neil.:

i fly home tomorrow.

next blog: Lady-cation....

"New York, New York, big city of dreams...

2008-10-07T07:23:00.000-07:00

...everything in New York ain't always what it seems"
-Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five

We hit the streets running.

MTV interview w/ Neil, in which I learned quite a bit...
http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2008/10/02/master-storyteller-neil-gaiman-talks-steampunk-and-neverwhere-influence/

I was staying next door the Beauty Bar at the home of my old friend Michael Stewart, part-owner of said bar.
He had Stephin Merritt of Magnetic Fields as his DJ, so i finally got to meet the man. We talked neighborhoods and he spun candy-colored tunes in the glittery room. I have always felt at home there.

Other highlights of the evening, Claudia Gonson, in the flesh, actress Anne BOOBY, and that foxy Peri Lyons, all front & center for the reading. It was the first chapter and hearing Neil zig where he wanted to and zag where he knew he should, made the story that much richer for me. Me and everyone else, I suspect.
Charles and Jill from Comic Book Legal Defense Fund appeared like superheroes in the New York night to vend the Neverwear tees. Thank you so much, you two. A major chunk of profits from the sales will go to the CBLDF.

After the dizzying dinner at Sasabune, where I tried my first (and last) oyster, and was shamed into eating more than i could, I went back to Beauty Bar to meet Charles and we hung out with miss Joey, our lady of e. 14th street.

In the music business, we say a record "drops" on first day, not sure the terminolgy for books, but the Graveyard Book debuted on September 30th, making it a Libra like me. Just look at these beauties:

Neil signs in blood-colored ink, bought on the way to the event:

New York sure makes 'em goodlooking, the patient line waiting to get in to reading:

on to the city of brotherly love (anyone, what does this mean?)
Kyle Cassidy, in this small world, turns out to be the photographer for Ego Likeness, my buddies, Steve & Donna. He took this photo of us after our Indian dinner in downtown Philly. We look very happy and full, (from right to left) myself, Gardner Dozois, Michael Swanwick and Mister Neil, as Shelley calls him.

Kyle took this one sneakily and I coveted his fancy camera. Such a Nikon girl, i am.

As we touched down to Chicago, we had, bar none, the smoothest landing I have ever had.

here is a view of Chicago from the plane, i love this city:

then my favorite of all, the vintage Tivoli theatre in suburban Chicago, they sure had their Halloween on inside, gravestones and cobwebs, all layered in a fresh popcorn scent, perhaps no better combination for me.

As Neil did his reading each night, the voices he chose became expected and familiar. I listened as the audience became a part of the background, breathing as a unit, laughing together, spellbound. My favorite part though, the Q & A he did nightly, answering the little index card questions that people turned in. I learned so much about his process, the card questions turning out surprises each night. His humor shone through every turn, the man is a steadfast miracle.

Our girl Elyse took us to dinner in the hotel, Brady our faithful videographer...let's not forget Jill Thompson (how did I not get a photo of this lady?) the Palin/Biden debate went on without us, we tried to watch some recap on the hotel bar TV but the various sports feed drowned it out---hmmph.

and me Drew was in town with the Tina Turner tour, just in time for me to get sick sick sick ...we rented a spectacular sports car to zoom around in. Here he holds open the backlift in his Graveyard Book tee:

we stayed in the James downtown, parking to the tune of 40 bucks a day, more than we rented the car for, ouch.
this hotel had room service for pets though, and a gorgeous red fainting couch which I lounged on, getting through my viral illness.. ...watched HBO's True Blood on the plasma screen, still haven't turned in my verdict in on it but vampires are always watchable... always.

so I was too sick to attend the Beck show at the Aragon, sorry Rabbit. Now I am back in Minneapolis, Quiche is taking good care of me, with her kitten Kali at her side. We will do some photos and post more, tomorrow is the last night of the US Graveyard Book reading tour and we will be there...grateful for this amazing opportunity, thanks so much.

cat on a rainy tin roof

2008-09-27T20:55:00.000-07:00

Paul Newman, you blue-eyed devil with the heart of charity gold, may your spirit rest in sweet repose.
my dear Mother is the only other person I have seen with eyes so blue. "Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid" always in the back of my mind.

in DC tonight, with my parents.
they came to the Book Festival with me to hear Neil's mini-reading, a salty, clever bit on revenge excerpted from the Graveyard Book.

Washington Post's eloquent Mike Dirda introduced him:

see Dan Guy in the front row:

Neil signed and signed and signed some more with his broken finger and his big heart.
the line seemed to grow and grow, until finally at five pm, after all the volunteers and all the guards and anyone connected to the festival went home, Neil got up and went down the line and signed each person's outstretched soggy books. The festival was sold out of Neil's new book by 1 pm, which disappointed many a book buyer. (It will be out domestically on Tuesday...)

Next door to us, Salman Rushdie signed away. He asked my parents if he could join them at their table in the author's tent.

I suppose because they so look very approachable and non-threatening...

here is our champion line-wrangler, Tim and friend:

Danth Guyth came bearing gifts of the robotic nature, I didn't even know what he had... here is his tiny offspring showing his real feelings about the rain:

DC is full of amazing museums and public art, this little guy caught my eye on the pavement on 3rd Street:

the day was an unpredictable weatherfest, raining full tilt and bursts of sun, ending in a rainbow.
(yes, the placement of that light pole vexes me, VEXED i say)

finally, sushi at Sushi Taro in Dupont Circle, a lovely dinner.

on to New York tomorrow.

beekeeping 101

2008-09-24T23:30:00.000-07:00

Last year, Lorraine really impressed me with her incredulous descriptions of her first beekeeping experiences.

As we all suited up our bee gear, i felt much like the crew of the Nostromo, and we all know how that turned out...
(anyone?) I wasn't nervous, I have been stung plenty, however, there was an air of respect, we spoke in hushed tones...

She promised me I could help harvest some honey from the Kitty hive but first we visited the other hives in the new electric-fenced area. A good thing we went to these hives first...

the Mimi and Kelli hives were very peaceful, sweet bees tumbling out, bumping into us politely...
here is my favorite picture of Quiche, the picture of calm:

they showed me how to use a smoker to control the bees (somewhat):

Sharon our birdchick & her husband Bill were great guides...he sacrificed a bee suit so that others would be protected...
here Shazz holds a tray of pollen and bee debris:

pointing out how to harvest honey from the frames:

she even wrestled me in my bee suit:

Neil carefully attends to the bees:

although i look puzzled, am more entranced really, the buzzing is hypnotic:

bee on my glove:

Kelli bees:

we ventured over to the Kitty/Olga hive and the mood grew a bit darker.

within two minutes of taking the lid off, Neil and Euan were both stung, and then quickly after, Dog went dashing away, licking his wounds:

here Sharon has a snack direct off the comb:

and Quiche cleans the frame of the delicious honey:

so grateful for this chance.

"my first name ain't baby...."

2008-09-18T09:06:00.001-07:00

"it's Janet, miss Jackson if you're nasty!"

Worked the Staples Center show of Herself last night,
pyro buttons galore!

rumors of Prince in audience, but I didn't see him.
LL Cool J opened the show...the ladies love cool James.

the touring crew is made up of many of my former crew mates,
so there was a reunion every five minutes, healed my weary heart.
Ck & Todd , KVL & Kahuna....to good to see you all.

Red came over and we went out into the audience to watch the show,
with Francis and Jon at front of house mix position.
amazing!

oh girl, you have grown up.
and for the record, I never thought the infamous "wardrobe malfunction" was her fault.

here for the gore fans,
stage manager Kahuna sliced his leg open on stage and bled all over his keds.
who says rock n' roll isn't dangerous..?!

the light pours out of me....

2008-09-16T15:37:00.000-07:00

things i like:

from the Kell exhibit:

Hank and his Pez collection:

Norton w/genii lamps:

Hank and Gumbo:

Batman in the new tshirt shipment:

back lot of Universal STudios:

w/me Juli!

Sarafina gave me this perfect catering blunder:

kitty back on the road...again!

2008-09-16T09:53:00.001-07:00

i had a nice little rest and battery recharge.
yesterday i worked at Universal Amphitheatre, with the sounds of the studio tour behind me, it was a Jonas Brothers charity event. Great to see the band, the crew and the boys themselves.
tomorrow i am working the Janet Jackson show at the Staples center and then it's a weekend working with Beck.
Next week I will be flying out to help Neil and to see Quiche.
We will be in Washington DC on the 27th Sept, Neil speaks at the Library of Congress Book Festival.

The Mall
Washington D.C.

Event: 11:45am - 12:15pm
Signing: 1:00pm - 3:00pm

Neil has an appearance in NYC @ Columbia University on the 30th of Sept. @ 7 pm.
This is the day The Graveyard Book drops, Bod and Silas will fill imaginations everywhere...!

Teachers College at Columbia University
Horace Mann Auditorium
525 W. 120th Street
New York, NY 10027

We travel to Philadelphia the next day:
Wednesday, Oct. 1 6:00pm
Levitt Auditorium in the Gershman Y
401 South Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102

on to Chicago:

Thursday, Oct. 2 6:00pm
6pm Tivoli Theatre, hosted by Andersons Bookshop
5021 Highland Ave
Downers Grove, IL 60515

The venue is a beautifully restored 1920s movie palace with seating for 1000. This will be a ticketed event, 1 ticket = 1 book. After the reading (Chapter 3) and Q&A, 'Stardust' will be shown.

I will stay in Chicago for a couple days visiting family and Drew will be there with Tina Turner tour, so i will see him at last.

Then I return to Minneapolis and see Quiche at Spooky House until Neil comes back for his St. Paul appearance.

Wednesday, October 8th 7:00pm
Saint Paul's United Church of Christ
900 Summit Avenue
St Paul, MN 55105

after that I head to Baltimore to have some "lady-cation".... reunion with my girls!

We have the Graveyard Book tees ready for shipping now, and they look great--I will put one on and model it when I return from the post office, here is the proof in the meantime...I will be selling them at some of the appearances with a percentage of proceeds going to Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

You can get it here if you can't make it to a tour stop:

back in the treehouse, another tour over...

2008-09-11T08:49:00.000-07:00

this post will cover much ground, as i see i haven't posted since NYC. bad kitty.
the tour is finished and i am hanging out with Batman in the treehouse, life is good.

Jonas Brothers in Madison Square Garden, we did three nights there. When we arrived, the two blocks were covered in police cars, I don't know if it was a drill or because of the JoBros?

Their fans are beyond devoted. Every night, countless handmade items were delivered:

the creativity of the fans was impressive, from hairbrushes (email contact edited out!) to finger puppets, they found a way to send their messages to the boys.
this is Misty, the mistress of the Jombies:

Here is a slab of the basketball floorboards backstage. It really was a piece of magic being there.

I got to meet with Charles Brownstein, head of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, he of the charming league of gentlemen, we had a great time at the Irish pub across the street from the hotel.
I got to see Wendy, my partner from many years ago in the Harborplace pushcart scene, her adorable little family came to visit me. (I do believe Haven is a real vampire living in Brooklyn...?)
Michael Stewart and his girl Joey entertained us at the Beauty Bar, grateful as always, my Rehoboth brother!

The sponsor bus was parked out in front of the Garden and it got completely tagged. Even with security around the clock, the fans proceeded to cover every inch with paint and who knows what else.

We were following around several of the summer tours, one being Elvis Costello & the Police, saw their directional arrows in many of the venues:

another being Slipknot, who forgot to eat their greens....

the Burger King came to one of our shows, and i ran away, he was so scary:

I got to see my family on several of the day-off stops, Denver, Cleveland, DC---here is my cute dad with my nieces, Abra & Thalia (who wanted to know if the Jonas boys could play at their slumber party):

Drew and I decided to have a movie date, although we were in different cities.

We both went to see The Dark Knight on the same day, my theater was completely empty, until about two minutes before curtain, and a lady with a baby came in. Yes, the baby cried. I almost did too, the film was so powerful. go see it. do!

I got to be an honorary pyro crew member for the day, thank you Kev-o, here he is pointing out how to push the button:

Jonas camp touched down on a string of state fairs. Our gear didn't really fit on these postage stamp stages, but our stellar stage manager Brian did his very best. The crew, of course, had a blast at the fairs. I think many of us are roadies because of going to carnivals in our younger days and being entranced by the carny lifestyle. Set up in a city and then tear it all down...

Big Rob (the boys security detail) made us tshirts as a thank you to the crew (modelling for us is darling Sherman from the Veronicas, our opening act....)

carp Dana & video Jessie:

Jakey and me w/Big Rob:

the foxy Veronicas in Florida:

Tech Chris, in action, in Chicago:

Ironman Matt and Teeter from lasers, my new friends for life:

I toured with my girl Steffani all last year on Tool and she turned up on this one as well, shown here with Drew from the Demi Lovato band, at our end-of-tour party:

in Florida, with the gracious lady whose DNA powers the star brothers, she was incredibly cool to tour with, true grace under pressure:

and finally, me and all my tour brothers, i'll miss you.

more photos from the road...

2008-08-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

to continue:

we had a day off and instead of barreling straight to the hotel in scranton, pa, we had our driver stop at a beautiful park with a lake. the boys rented boats and i lay on the dock, watching the dragonflies and soaking up the sun...when i started to burn, i took shelter in the bus and watched old Hammer horror films...

scranton was an interesting little town, lots of model train stores there---
our production manager had a BBQ for the crew at the venue, so we went over there and got our grill on. thank you, joel...

we did a show in upstate new york and it was our last with the Avril lavigne crew. i made friends with her fantastic dancers,
shown here with our own superhero body guard Big Rob. I was out with Big Rob on the Britney tour...

...and there is Hutch, finding his hidden gatorade. I am going to write a movie role for him...

then 3 days off in Baltimore! .
view from my downtown hotel:

the Jonas camp went on to LA to be on a tv show, so the crew stayed in Baltimore, my old neighborhood...

we had a tire blow out on the tour bus on the way to B'more, something that i have never experienced, thank goodness, my driver Doug is an excellent driver, we were thrown forward hard, but no one was hurt...

My Drew flew from his tour (Rod Stewart) to see me for a great 24 hour visit...thank you, baby.
here he eats mussels, at the harbor's edge...

Annie and I got to hang out, she finally met Drew.
here is one of my favortie theaters in charm city, the charles...

next post will be NYC, baby!

in which i come up for air...

2008-08-12T16:25:00.000-07:00

it has been a month since my last post.
am today in new york city, right across from madison square garden,
we just did six shows in a row, and now have two days off here in gotham.

tonight i will have sushi with an old friend in the east village and some time to sort my things.
this hotel has a kitchenette, and i went to the corner market and bought some Greek-style yogurt (not as good as yours Mom, but pretty nice) and heated some spanikopita...mmmmm, the whole room smells like baking.

we had to sign a non-disclosure agreement for this tour, but i wouldn't be posting anything compromising anyway--my writing is more about what's happening than who it is happening to. That said, these people are very down-to-earth and personable, the boys, very sweet. I have toured with much of the management camp, so it was like a reunion.

the LA shows had us doing the 3-D film shoot, a fascinating process, they let us look at the show in 3-D in a special tent, really astounding how it comes off the screen. The Anaheim venue was full to the ceiling.
then we trundled on through northern California to Denver, where I got to hang out with my favorite sister, Sa. We went to sushi and saw the big blue bear. I love you, Sa, happy birthday, late. (but also early)

we travelled through Nebraska, where I found a great record store, called Drastic Plastic, and bought myself a picture disc of Bridgette Bardot---(photo to follow one day, it is in my bunk) and though st. louis and indiana. Day off in Philadelphia, checked out the comic book store (good, spent some money there!) and i met the crew at Tattooed Mom's ...the ants were some more needed public art...

will do another round when i come back from sushi....

Ironman and Bugs Bunny

2008-07-11T22:41:00.000-07:00

On my last day of freedom before tour kicks in,
Wendy and I went to the 2 exhibits at the Academy of Motion Pictures, home of the Oscar...

the first, a mind-blowing collection of hand-drawn animation cels laid out in such a way that each looked like a jewel in a crown. from Bugs Bunny lathering the head of an unsuspecting victim with his toes...to the gorgeous 60's drawings of Gay Purreee...Sleeping Beauty's dragon battle...and Queen Malecifent...Lock, stock & Barrel from Nightmare...
SO many of these pieces I wanted to look at every day, no photos allowed though, so i can not show them here--but they will live in my mind. Amazing what a human can create.

Upstairs at the exhibit of set decoration, photography was allowed. They had assembled several set pieces from GET SMART, INDY 4, SPIDERWICK, MUMMY 3, IRONMAN and more. The attention to detail, incredible. Can you see the name on the checkbook on Indiana Jones' desk? The tiny labels in the Spiderwick set? The tiles on the floor of the Jet Li character in Mummy 3 are the only thing made here in USA, all the rest was crafted in China, as accurately as possible, copied from original pieces. The tile was reproduced from an original, but the work was done here. Going with Wendy was fascinating, as she was able to tell me, step by step, how things can be recreated.

Outside, we took off our shoes and put our feet in the sinky green grass outside the Academy, our version of Graumann's cement footprints.

These exhibits are free, up until August 24th. Go see them: 8949 Wilshire Blvd. Beverly Hills, CA.
your homework: go to the movies and help to support this kind of amazing work....

tomorrow I leave on tour, and i will not have many days of down time. Will try to post as often as I can.

kitty's latest tour dates

2008-07-04T14:42:00.000-07:00

getting things organized to go back on the road, these seem to be the most up-to-the-minute dates...
time to get back on the tourbus!

JONAS BROTHERS w/AVRIL LAVIGNE

7.12.08 Irvine, CA Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
7.13.08 Anaheim, CA Honda Center
7.14.08 Anaheim, CA Honda Center
7.15.08 San Francisco, CA Shoreline Amphitheatre at Mountain View
7.16.08 Wheatland, CA Sleep Train Amphitheatre
7.17.08 Concord, CA Sleep Train Pavilion

7.19.08 Denver, CO Coors Amphitheatre at Fiddler's Green

7.21.08 Omaha, NE Qwest Center Omaha
7.22.08 St. Louis, MO Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
7.23.08 Indianapolis, IN Verizon Wireless Music Center

7.25.08 Hershey, PA Hersheypark Stadium & Star Pavilion
7.26.08 Hartford, CT New England Dodge Music Center

7.28.08 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center
7.29.08 Charlotte, NC Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Charlotte
7.30.08 Raleigh, NC Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek
8.1.08 Scranton, PA Toyota Pavilion
8.2.08 Saratoga Springs, NY Saratoga Performing Arts Center

8.6.08 Baltimore, MD 1st Mariner Arena
8.7.08 Boston, MA Comcast Center
8.8.08 Wantagh, NY Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
8.9.08 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
8.10.08 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
8.11.08 New York, NY Madison Square Garden

8.14.08 Bethel, NY Bethel Woods Center for The Arts
8.15.08 Buffalo, NY Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
8.16.08 Homdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center

8.18.08 Washington DC, Nissan Pavilion
8.19.08 Virginia Beach, VA Verizon Wireless Virginia Beach Amphitheater
8.20.08 Atlanta, GA Lakewood Amphitheatre

8.22.08 Cleveland, OH Blossom Music Center
8.23.08 Columbus, OH Nationwide Arena
8.24.08 Chicago, IL First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre

8.26.08 Pittsburgh, PA Post-Gazette Pavilion
8.27.08 Philadelphia, PA Susquehanna Bank Center

8.29.08 Syracuse, NY New York State Fair
8.30.08 Allentown, PA Great Allentown Fair
8.31.08 Essex Junction, VT The Champlain Valley Exposition

9.2.08 University Park, PA Bryce Jordan Center

9.4.08 Tampa, FL Ford Amphitheatre
9.5.08 West Palm Beach, FL Cruzan Amphitheatre

FLY HOME!!!!

HELLBOY 2 and the week of magic....

2008-07-02T23:13:00.000-07:00

Drew came home to see me at the same time as Red came home
from tour
and FabLo came to visit from Minneapolis...
thanks go to Pantagruel Val for picking her up at LAX...

it was Grand Central Treehouse.

It was also the same time that George Michael came to town,
so we had a little roadie reunion.
and can i just say: his show was amazing---
some people have it! He thanked the crowd for
spending their non-existant money on his show
and also congradulated CA on being a place where
he can legally marry his partner.

if i can ever retrieve the photos of Red dancing
that I took on her iPhone, you can see the dazzling video screens
and the blur that is our Ace, dancing with stars in her eyes...
GM is tall, handsome and by all reports, a dream to work for.
this is good news. Mel and John are both on that tour,
and they are some of my favorite roadies.

The next day was Malena's Midnight Chocolate event.
photos!

Malena vamped up the store mannekins with her corsets and her Gothic Statue of Libertyness style:

here are some of the jewelry designs...

i lost count of Maddy's bat cookies that i comsumed...perfect blend of purple and melty sugar...mmmm

Cesar showed up!

we stayed until the late hours...
Lorraine saved the day by getting the correct cups and the luscious strawberries...

now, here is whre Quiche would tell me to end my blog, but i have to continue...so much happened in just a short time..

we went to the flea market where we all found treasures,
mine being a print entitled "House of Shadows" numbered 5/8 and signed by Welch dated 1961.
when i saw it, i knew it had to be mine, i didn't care that it had some festering masking tape on the back,
and a hideous orange mat framing it. I was ready to bargain, and when the sweet old guy, said, "five bucks"--i couldn't believe my luck. I will give this beauty a new life. future heirloom!

Spinky found a dragon bracelet, that the seller was telling us the "drummer for Duran Duran" was just looking at it, funny, I said, he is in Europe on tour---DOH! then he said, well, maybe it was Billy Idol. slick! Red bought two oustanding neckpieces, an in-perfect-shape Monet long drop and a faux opal (fopal?) tiered number.

QUiche found the stunning amethyst necklace, a woman stopped her on the way, to alert her of its' value, and sure enough, when we looked it up on line, she found that she was the tomb raider deal-breaker. Best deal of the day!

that afternoon we went to the Vista to see WANTED. Glad that Quiche and Malena liked it, i had a few problems with it,
but some delicious action sequences....bending bullets and an unbelievable train wreck....and of course, Angie.

that night, it was full-on karaoke!
here Drew wails on Metallica's Whiskey in the Jar at Quiche's request.
there are some more photos, but must get the a-ok from our MMM.

the next day Quiche was leaving, so we went over to Melrose and shopped among the dead things in Necromance, I needed a wedding present for a friend who collects that sort of thing, yes, Chris X is getting married. Sending out the best wishes!!!

It was coming up on Drew's last night in town, before he went back to his tour. Malena and MIles invited us to see a pre-release screening of HELLBOY 2, which really delivered on the goods.
Any movie that starts off with snowfall and Christmas music, you know I am in.
Terrific monsters and while I don't want to give anything away,
i am rethinking the myth of the Tooth Fairy.
They even gave us each sawed-off Hellboy horns. Remind me to photograph Malena in hers, she looked so cute in them--

Meeting Guillermo del Toro after the screening was dreamy, and since they took our cameras away, I made a little sketch--
he is a visionary artist and a very funny warm heart of a man. I missed the first Hellboy, although I am a big fan of the BRPD comics, but I didn't need backstory or re-cap, this film stood alone. I highly recommend it.
I will be hard-pressed to beat this week. We still have half the year to try though...
leaving on tour next week-----xo

MIDNIGHT MAGIC w/MALENA.....tonight!

2008-06-28T11:13:00.000-07:00

today is the Malena Midnight event---
FREE WINE and CHOCOLATE, and MALENA!

Ventura Place

12053 Ventura Place

Studio City, CA 91604

818-760-3200

Malena will be doing her psychic readings and selling her designs,
I will be there with Lorraine as back up, and I will be reading the tarot cards---
and we wil have sparkly jewels and many treats.
Quiche made bat cookies, which i feel it is not too early to eat at this point---

Please join us, four pm until midnight or so---

TORI COMIC BOOK TATTOO OUT JULY 23, 2008.

2008-06-24T10:06:00.000-07:00

A beautiful book is about to be born into the world. I saw the proofs at the Book Expo, while I was there with Neil. The pages are stunning...and the fact that Rantz did so much work under great personal strain, i am in awe. It is the shape and size of an album cover, a medium near and dear to my LP-lovin' heart.

I am the luckiest girl to have been involved in it, writing my take on my favorite Tori Amos song, SUGAR...my first published script...
and Neil does a wonderful introduction to the book.

Available for pre-order at the Tori Store:
http://www.thetoristore.com/go/cart.php

***LOOKS LIKE THEY ARE ALREADY SOLD OUT OF THE LIMITED EDITION....

this from Tori's website (www.everythingtori.com):

This July the ever-growing relationship between comics and music reaches new heights as Tori Amos and Image Comics release COMIC BOOK TATTOO, a 480-page, full color anthology adapting the themes and ideas behind her songs into a lush volume of sequential art.

"I have been surprised, excited and pleasantly shocked by these comics that are extensions of the songs that I have loved and therefore welcome these amazing stories of pictures and words because they are uncompromisingly inspiring," says Amos. "It shows you thought is a powerful formidable essence and can have a breathtaking domino effect."

To assemble COMIC BOOK TATTOO's diverse roster of talent, Amos worked alongside editor Rantz Hoseley, co-creator behind the upcoming DISPLACED PERSONS and VIX. Together they formed a line up featuring Y: THE LAST MAN's Pia Guerra, Leah Moore, John Reppion David Mack, Hope Larson, Ryan Kelly, Jonathan Hickman, Colleen Doran, Eric Canete, Ted McKeever, Jock, Anthony Johnston, Dame Darcy, Carla Speed McNeil, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Mark Buckingham, Ivan Brandon, C. B. Cebulski and many more, including an introduction by SANDMAN creator Neil Gaiman.

COMIC BOOK TATTOO, a 12" x 12" 480-page anthology, will be in stores July 23rd. (this makes the Tori book a LEO!)

Tori Amos Comic Book Tattoo cover art and colors by Jason Levesque

Below is a list of creators involved in the Tori Amos Comic Book Tattoo:
(LOOK AT SOME OF THIS TALENT....signed, your geeky comic book fan, Kitty)

David Mack
Josh Hechinger, Matthew Humphreys, Kristyn Ferretti (L)
Jonathan Tsuei, Eric Canete
Jason Horn, Dean Trippe
Sara Ryan, Jonathan Case
Rantz A. Hoseley, James Stokoe
Tristan Crane, Atticus Wolrab
Kako
Nikki Cook
Drew Bell, Kevin Mellon, Mark Sweeney (C)
Jeff Carroll, Mike May
Jeremy Haun, Amber Stone (C)
Leif Jones
Elizabeth Genco, Carla Speed Mcneil, Mark Sweeney (C)
Kelly Sue Deconnick, Andy Macdonald,Nick Filardi(C),Kristyn Ferretti(L)
Cat Mihos, Andre Szymanowicz, Gabe Bautista (C), Kristyn Ferretti (L)
C.B. Cebulksi, Ethan Young, Joey Weltjens & Lee Duhig For Guru Efx (C)
Omaha Perez
Irma Page, Mark Buckingham
Rantz A. Hoseley, Ming Doyle, Mark Sweeney(C), Kristyn Ferretti (L)
Mike Maihack
John Ney Reiber, Ryan Kelly, Kristyn Ferretti (L)
Alice Hunt, Trudy Cooper
Jonathan Hickman
Matthew S. Armstrong
Neil Kleid, Christopher Mitten, Kristyn Ferretti(L)
Stephanie Leong, Sonia Leong
Peov
Kelly Sue Deconnick, Laurenn Mccubbin
John Bivens
Hope Larson
Emma Vieceli, Faye Yong(C)
Chris Arrant, Star St.Germain
Mike Dringenberg
Paul Maybury
Jim Bricker, Craig Taillefer
Dame Darcy
G. Willow Wilson, Steve Sampson
Neal Shaffer, Daniel Krall
Adisakdi Tantimedh, Ken Meyer Jr.
Mark Sable, Salgood Sam
Tom Williams
James Owen
Seth Peck, Daniel Heard
Ivan Brandon, Callum Alexander Watt
Leah Moore & John Reppion, Pia Guerra, Mark Sweeney(C), Kristyn Ferretti (L)
Jessica Staley, Shane White
Ted Mckeever, Chris Chuckry (C)
Jimmie Robinson
Lea Hernandez
Derek Mcculloch, Colleen Doran, Jason Hanley (L)

"... wear my war wounds like a crown"...

2008-06-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

busy month of June...

Drew has been out on the Billy Joel tour but they get several breaks in between show dates, he has been coming home.
We made a little road trip to Santa Barbara, where he got a beautiful new tattoo for his birthday present from me...
a pair of ravens on his forearm in Celtic/Pictish style, done by Pat Fish of Lucky Fish Studio (www.luckyfish.com)

happy birthday, baby. I am grateful for you every day.

after his tattoo was finished, we drove down to Ventura, for a sunset stroll where we window-shopped while waiting for the Peter Murphy show to start...

Peter was amazing, even if the sound system was pretty poor. I couldn't get a good shot in that venue...oh well.

I send my thanks to the band Strange Rebel Frequency, who sent us the tickets. (www.strangerebelfrequency.com)

It was a dream come true last summer when I met Mr. Murphy in Istanbul, I fake-fainted in front of my crew after he shook my hand. I am fairly shy about asking people to pose for photos but he hung out with us all night and was so interesting with his stories of life in Turkey, his opinions about the music industry, that i didn't feel shy at all. We got caught in a torrential downpour and that really broke the ice, all of us scattering for cover since the show was in an open-air venue overlooking the waters of the Black Sea...

Last week, I worked the Tone Loc/Lisa Lisa show which was a blast, I challenge you NOT to move to "Funky Cold Medina".
Kim is my new co-worker, an actress with flavor! Here she is posing by the dressing room signs, too bad you can't see the major crowd behind her...

between shows, I silkscreened the road cases with Michael at the warehouse:

Yesterday was spent working the 106 radio show in Anaheim, featurning Ice Cube. Born O'Shea Jackson, Ice Cube shares the same birthday as my dad, sooo of course, I am a fan. He was so great live. Ali and I ran out to stand/dance under the crowd at side stage while he belted out his songs. We stepped aside as it started raining beer as some kind of commotion broke out up above. Next we saw a camera fall... then more beer...Security guards ran over with their flashlights shining up, and we were just watching the show. The promoter came over to us and we thought he asked if we were having fun, "Yes!" we said. He said, "WHAT?? You DID?" we stopped dancing and looked at him, he said, "No, I asked if you got covered in blood--", and pointed his flashlight at our feet, it was a CSI scene, with bright red droplets all over the floor...ouch.

even so, as Mr. Cube would say "it was a good day".

(When I was talking to my parents this morning, telling them the story of the blood, my Dad said, oh That will make a good blog entry, haha Dad, hope you are right, even though i think you were kidding.)

Getting ready now to leave to get miss Red at the airport returning at last from her Megadeth tour...

Tomorrow i work the Death Cab for Cutie show and the end of the week, I will work the George Michael show...cannot wait!
next post will be about the MALENA MIDNIGHT SHOW. We have brewing up gorgeous glittery gems for you all. She will be doing her psychic readings and I will be reading the cards...MAGIC!!

"Tombstone hand and a graveyard mind..."

2008-06-19T15:40:00.000-07:00

from one of my favorite songs of all time....

"I walk 47 miles of barbed wire,
I use a cobra-snake for a necktie,
I got a brand new house on the roadside,
Made from rattlesnake hide,
I got a brand new chimney made on top,
Made out of a human skull,
Now come on take a walk with me, arlene,
..... tell me, who do you love? "

RIP Bo Diddley (who died of heart failure this month...)

when on the Tool tour, Bo was playing next door at one of the venues, here is a great shot of the boys with Bo.
i will always remember his cameo in the film "Trading Places"---perfection...

my new tour dates....

2008-06-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

I am about to descend into teenybopper madness, touring with the Jonas Brothers (a three brother Disney act that is catching fire like Hannah Montana, shown standing with them in photo below...)

My librarian Mom sent me this New York Times link on the tour, so you can check them out: (and then my schedule is below)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/arts/television/17jona.html?ex=1214366400&en=b9b675c144345d65&ei=5070&emc=eta1

I join the tour already in progress at this venue:

Sat 07/12/08 Irvine, CA Verizon Wireless Amphitheater

Tue 07/15/08 Mountain View, CA Shoreline Amphitheatre

Wed 07/16/08 Marysville, CA Sleep Train Amphitheatre

Thu 07/17/08 Concord, CA Sleep Train Pavilion At Concord

Sat 07/19/08 Englewood, CO Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre

Mon 07/21/08 Omaha, NE Qwest Center Omaha

appearing with Avril Lavigne

Tue 07/22/08 Maryland Heights, MO Verizon Wireless Amph. St. Louis

Wed 07/23/08 Noblesville, IN Verizon Wireless Music Center

Fri 07/25/08 Hershey, PA Hersheypark Stadium

Sat 07/26/08 Hartford, CT New England Dodge Music Center

Mon 07/28/08 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center

Tue 07/29/08 Charlotte, NC Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

Wed 07/30/08 Raleigh, NC Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion

Fri 08/01/08 Scranton, PA Toyota Pavilion At Montage Mountain

Sat 08/02/08 Saratoga Springs, NY Saratoga Performing Arts Center

Wed 08/06/08 Baltimore, MD 1st Mariner Arena

Thu 08/07/08 Mansfield, MA Comcast Center

Fri 08/08/08 Wantagh, NY Nikon At Jones Beach Theater

Sat 08/09/08 New York, NY Madison Square Garden Arena

Sun 08/10/08 New York, NY Madison Square Garden Arena

Mon 08/11/08 New York, NY Madison Square Garden Arena

Thu 08/14/08 Bethel, NY Bethel Woods Center For The Arts

Fri 08/15/08 Darien Center, NY Darien Lake Performing Arts Center

Sat 08/16/08 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center

Mon 08/18/08 Bristow, VA Nissan Pavilion At Stone Ridge

Tue 08/19/08 Virginia Beach, VA Verizon Virginia Beach Amphitheater

Wed 08/20/08 Atlanta, GA Lakewood Amphitheatre

Fri 08/22/08 Cuyahoga Falls, OH Blossom Music Center

Sat 08/23/08 Columbus, OH Nationwide Arena

Sun 08/24/08 Tinley Park, IL First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre

Tue 08/26/08 Burgettstown, PA Post-Gazette Pavilion

Wed 08/27/08 Camden, NJ Susquehanna Bank Center

Fri 08/29/08 Syracuse, NY New York State Fair Grandstand

Sat 08/30/08 Allentown, PA The Great Allentown Fair

Sun 08/31/08 Essex Junction, VT Champlain Valley Exposition

Tue 09/02/08 University Park, PA Bryce Jordan Center

Thu 09/04/08 Tampa, FL Ford Amphitheatre @ State Fairgrds.

Fri 09/05/08 West Palm Beach, FL Cruzan Amphitheatre