It’s not like I don’t have enough to do already but I was recently approached (by email) by Will Drinker who is a film maker living in Los Angeles. He is in the process of making a documentary film about his brother Dan and his everyday life living with Downs.

Will contacted me, as well as other cartoonists to contribute our talents to stories that Will has written about the daily routines and such from Dan’s life for a graphic novel to be completed sometime in the future.

Naturally, I feel honored to be involved in something such as this. Will has sent me three scripts and I am to choose one in which to illustrate. It was difficult to choose as I like all three but I have picked one. However, I have told Will that I just may end up doing the other two as well. Typical of me, I know.

Between another gig I’m working on I am watching clips from Will’s documentary on Youtube to get a better visual of Dan and Will and what goes on in Dan’s life.
You can check them out as well by going to, www.dandrinker.com

I realize that I haven’t been writing on the ‘ol blog much this year but I am one who believes that if you don’t really have anything to say then don’t bother talking, or in this case writing.
That being said, I’ll just keep the two or three people who may (or may not) read this up to speed with what I am up to.

The first issue of Tortilla, my self-published comic book has been out since November of 2008 but I haven’t put it in any stores yet. That will finally happen next week. However, you may obtain a signed copy by mailing $3 (well hidden cash of money order only please) to; Jaime Crespo, P.O. Box 112, San Anselmo, CA 94979 USA.

Also, Slices, the 40 page “best of” Slice O’ Life collection is also available for $4 (same situation and address as above).

I am currently working on my first graphic novel, Turk Street Serenade which is a factual recounting about my time living and working in a San Francisco Tenderloin Hotel as a janitor during the mid-1980’s when crack first came on the streets and Reagan was in the White House and everything was almost as fucked-up as it is now. Think, Charles Bukowski with pictures.

It will be 200+ pages and the first chapter will be featured in Tortilla #2 due out this spring. I plan on releasing it a chapter at a time in my comic Tortilla until it either gets picked up by a publisher or I just eventually waste more money and time and do it myself. It should be done well before I’ve published 15+ issues of Tortilla. Probably by Tortilla #5 if not earlier.

Also, I have to change my publishing name yet again. Thanks to my homie, Norman Zelaya for pointing out that La Calaca was already taken I now have to change it. So, with that I will NOW publish under the Aegis: Corn Tortilla Press! Be warned.

I attended the WonderCon this year on the Saturday schedule with my buddy, E. Francis Kohler and have to admit I was simultaneously overwhelmed and depressed. Overwhelmed by the multitude of people and nerds swarming all over the place and depressed by the current state of the comics industry. Publishing is feeling a down turn (mostly with my genre, the alternative, underground, non-super hero) and it feels like everything is geared towards movies and TV. I get the overall vibe that certain cartoonists and writers are vying for a movie/TV deal as opposed to putting out a great comic.
Okay, that sounds a bit naïve and I realize that the market and world is evolving and one must evolve with it but no matter how much you polish a turd, it’s still a turd. I see these cartoonists who have become extremely self-involved and have these egos that need constant stroking and just having a great comic (book, strip, novel whatever) isn’t enough. What would one expect from nerds?
Well, we are in a certain “modern day Roman empire” where our culture has become blind consumers, which is corporate and famed based. Why do you think shit programming such as, Dances with the Stars, QVC, American Idol and Maury are so popular?
Okay, time for me to quit ranting and climb down off the soapbox before I hurt myself.

This morning as I was ingesting my first cup of coffee of the day as I was greeted by an email from my friend, poet/writer/dj Darren De Leon that our mutual friend, the fantastic Chicano poet, George Tirado was dead.
Man, I can’t say that I was surprised. George shot dope for a lot of years. He lived life about as hard as it gets and weighing in at around 400 pounds on top of all of the drinking, weed, speed and junk, well let’s just say that we were all collectively waiting for the other shoe to drop. Still, knowing all of this doesn’t make his passing any easier. To say George had his demons is an understatement. He indeed had his demons but writing the truth and pain he experienced in his 44 years on this planet wasn’t one of them. His memorial was today in the Tenderloin at the Ambassetor Hotel, which is located literally right on the next block from the hotel I used to live in 23 years ago, so I had no problems finding my way there.
Darren apologized for the short notice but I wrote back and told him no worries, I’ll be there.
I got to Eddy Street a little early just so I could walk around and look at what may or may not have changed since my days in the TL and to reflect a little about George and what he meant to me. I took a lap around the block past my old hotel, the streets still teeming with America’s thrown out and disenfranchised. A line from a Dave Alvin song came to mind, “Everything is different but nothing has changed.”
I thought about George and his poetry, what he and I used to talk about and the artwork I did for his chapbooks and what not. I can still hear him talking about Oscar ‘Zeta” Acosta, Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata, Aztlan, the Chicano movement, dope and music and all the other stuff Chicanos like us used to talk about.
When I got to the memorial at the hotel they ushered us into a small back room filled with about 30 folding chairs and a TV in one corner and an alter with a huge photo of George looking back. “Aw, yeah. There he is.” I said under my breath because that was how I always greeted Tirado when I saw him.
All sorts of people nervously milled about, eyeing the donuts, candy, chips, salsa and guacamole. There were people from the hotel that were friends with George, people from social services that worked with George and in the back were poets and artists who worked with George. On the phone they had his mother calling all the way from Houston, Texas as she listened in to the memorial.
People read poems they wrote about George or they read Georges poems or they just talked about him and said goodbye. On a TV a DVD played showing George at readings.
Afterwards I left with Darren and Josiah Luis Aldarete and we laughed about our favorite George stories as we walked around the Tenderloin.
No matter what is said or written it’s always the bottom line that is forever. George is gone now and I’ll never forget him.

Just got back from the 2008 APE (Alternative Press Expo) last night and I had a pretty good time, I might add.
I was an exhibitor at the first two APE’s in San Jose when Dan Vado of Slave Labor Graphics was still manning the helm and I hadn’t been back since as I was doing crazy stuff like finishing a college degree while working a whole bunch of jobs while simultaneously being a husband, dad, pet owner and home owner… you can see where I’m going with this.

Now I’m back drawin’ and creatin’ and had both Slices and the first issue of Tortilla with me at a table at APE.

Saw a few of the old cartoonists from the “old days” and we all stood there wondering where all of our time went. It was great to see Megan Kelso again at the Last Gasp mixer on Friday night and again at the show. We both reminisced and laughed a lot about being a part of the second, “Golden Age” of underground cartoonist in San Francisco (the first being the late 1960’s and early 1970’s) back in the very late 1980’s early 1990’s.

My homie, Keith Knight who was also part of that 80’s/90’s SF era cartoonist cadre was also there and is always a great guy by kicking me in the ass to sell myself more.
Lloyd Dangle was there and I have always enjoyed his work and Lloyd himself. I’ve watched his work grow and spread throughout the land as well.

Yakked it up with both Mario and Jaime Hernandez there. Great artists and guys. Saw Javier Hernandez (El Muerto) and he and I had a blast catching up as we met a million years ago at the first APE and would subsequently run into each other at other comix/zine fests throughout the land.

It was a great pleasure to see Dan Clowes again as well. Dan and I used to correspond way back when he was only a few issues into his comic book, Eightball when he still lived in Chicago. Now, Dan is chugging along well with many high-end projects under his belt as well as a couple of Hollywood movies to boot (Ghost World and Art School Confidential).

Met some new folks as well. Edgar, Enrique, Eric and a whole crew of extremely talented, up-and-coming artist at the table next to me. Great guys with excellent work.

Big Up’s to my buddy and stupendous cartoonist/artist Larry Rippee. I’m trying to get him to through his hat back into the ring. I know he has projects going but soon he’ll be back. Oh, and thanks for the ride too, Larry!

Well, I had fun and now I have the first cold/flu I’ve had in years (had too much fun, I suppose).
I’m going back to bed.

No sleep, no surfing but I do have a lot of work. I've never been too good at math but this equation isn't adding up.

Anyone out there wanna' buy a bike? It's on Craig's List as Marin 'Highway One.'

Sleep deprivation is a funny thing. It’s after 8 in the morning on a Saturday as I write this. Big deal, right? Well, I’ve been awake since 4:20 this morning after going to bed at 12:30.
In the past couple of years I have been having trouble sleeping. Sometimes I sleep off-and-on for 8 to 10 hours a night but in reality I’m awake for a couple of those hours, in during those rare nights.
The rest (most) of the time I’m averaging about 3 to 4 hours of sleep a night.
This really sucks.
I’m always tired yet I can’t seem to sleep.
You figure the average person sleeps about 56 hours a week. These days I’m lucky if I sleep 24 hours a week.
I take ‘power naps’ every-so-often at my studio, which average about 10 minutes. They actually work (for me anyway) and after one I’m ready to go for hours.
Coffee fuels the rest of my day. And don’t get started with the, “Well, maybe you should quit drinking coffee and then you’ll sleep.”
I already did that and it didn’t work… besides I tend to have coffee in the mornings and maybe a small one after lunch. After about 1 in the afternoon I rarely, if EVER have more coffee.
I drink more water than anything during the day (I average 1 to 2, 1.5 liter bottles daily).
Anyway, I’d rather sleep soundly for 8 hours straight a night like a regular person than take a power nap a couple of times a week.
I’ve always heard that the older you get the less sleep you need. However, that’s usually for people over 60 and I’m not even to 50 yet.
Ah, sleep… perchance to dream.

Was just up in Sacramento for a wonderful reunion with some childhood buddies from East Sacramento (and I mean the original East Sac). We all congregated at the Espanol restaurant (Folsom Blvd.), which is an Italian restaurant and I have never understood the name connection.
I was the first to arrive and was freaking out the whole way there as I was stuck in traffic on I80 from the bay area and thought I would be late. Well, I wasn’t and everyone else was a little late.

It was great to see the guys; Doug, Mark, Tony, Herb, Paul, Jeff and John. There were a few more missing but we had such a great time that we’re going to do it again next year and try to get EVERYONE to go. We’ll see.

After the food and a few drinks we went down the road a little ways to the local, East Sac watering hole, Club 2-Me (J street @ 48Th). What a blast! We grew up with the owners sons (Craig, Brian and Richard) and we were easily the oldest group in the joint that night and to my surprise, one of the bar tenders (Chris, aka Mickey) was another guy we grew up with in the neighborhood and he and I were totally stoked to see each other again. He wants to join in next year! Oh, yeah Mickey…you’re in, bro!
Oh, and the drinks were incredibly cheap (by bay area standards anyway) as I bought a round of 3 pints of Fat Tire Ale, two tequilas (NOT Cuervo!) and a grey hound and the bill came out to $16.50!!!!!! Whoa!
Man, I’m glad I don’t live around there anymore or I’d be in big trouble.

I had a great time and a lot of laughs. I’ve known all of these guys since we were all little kids and it is always great to remember where you came from. Sure, there were a few sad spots too as some guys folks have passed away as well as news of other kids we grew up with are no longer alive but all-in-all it was a wonderful time.

Wait ‘til next year! Whoooo!

I now have all of the programs and whatnot to maintain my website myself except… the actual ability. It’s a very slow learning process for me.

Also, I’m in a couple of group art shows at the moment. The first is going on right now in Point Reyes Station at Gallery Route One (google the gallery for more details). It’s the 10Th annual G.R.O. Box Show. I’m in there somewhere…probably way in the back next to the bathroom.

The other show will be at the MCCLA (Mission Cultural Center of Latino Arts) in San Francisco. It’s a Cartoon/comics deal and I have an original two-page comic in there, which is for sale by the way (hint-hint). This show starts on August the 15Th, I think. Once again, google the Mission Cultural Center for all of the details, as I am totally useless in this capacity.

I’ve been surfing again and even though I am absolutely and unequivocally out-of-shape and stiff I still feel as if it has been a homecoming of sorts. I’m feeling much better and becoming rejuvenated again.

Otherwise, I am penciling-in a comic book (Tortilla #1) and trying to produce more Slice O’ Life strips while rewriting the graphic novel in between it all.

Well, it looks like it’s going to be a bit longer before I can get to my site and make any changes, hopefully just another week.

Also, I’m going to be in the Gallery Route One Box Show in Pt. Reyes Station again but I think after 7 or 8 years of being a participant that this is going to be my last year. The box takes a lot of time and it’s now becoming time that I can’t really spare anymore. I understand that there is one heck of a waiting list of people who want to get in on the box show, so I’m certain that someone much more talented than myself will step in and really make G.R.O. some money.

Check back later for more…

Okay, kids. I have about another week before I begin to decimate…er…I mean, begin to act as the sole custodian of my web site. The web queen herself, Lisa Long is getting me the proper programs and a few pointers on which way to go and then it’s off to the races… I hope.

I’ll keep you all posted. In the mean time I am working simultaneously on the first issue of Tortilla and my box for the G.R.O. (Gallery Route One) box show in Pt. Reyes Station, California.

Also—I am setting up to print a few Slice O’ Life t-shirts which will be for sale through the afore mentioned web site as well as a couple of other designs. As I said before, check back for when all of this will happen this summer.

In the mean time, try to stay cool in this heat!

Forgot to mention in the last post that as of last night, July 1 my radio program, Fault Line Radio (www.kwmr.org) is now broadcasting at the new time slot of 9 pm to 12 am midnight. It’s still Tuesday nights only now I shut down the station. Not much else has changed except that my good buddy, Tony Palmer has moved to Wednesday nights and is now on at 10:30 pm t 1:30 am.

Since we moved the station from the Red Barn to the Creamery Building years ago Tony, Charlie ‘Chazmo’ Morgan along with yours truly have been the Tuesday night line-up and it feels that it’s been like that forever. Charlie has always referred to us as, “The power hitters of the line-up.” Yeah, both Charlie and I are life-long San Francisco Giants fans who both go back to the days of Willie Mays!

In all actuality it’s probably been about seven years but that still is a long time as we do this around 52 times a year, EVERY year and add a couple of years on to that as all three of us have been at the station from the beginning in different time slots. Radio Dogs we are!

As much as I love having three hours instead of the former one and a half I already miss seeing Tony for our program transition. Still, I see Tony socially and we have a band (of sorts) together that needs to get dusted off and begin to play music again. So it’s not a loss for anyone really… it’s just a little different.

I guess this long winded explanation is to say that, as corny as it may sound we are one huge family at KWMR and even though change is sometimes met with indifference it is also necessary and for the over-all good for our personal and collective journey in life.

Change is good.

Tune in tonight (if you live in West Marin, 90.5 fm Pt. Reyes Station or 89.7 fm Bolinas. Or, you can stream it on the web at www.kwmr.org) and every Wednesday night at 10:30pm for Sonic Sunspots and listen to Tony and you’ll know what I’m rambling about here!

Great Oogalee-Boogalee. I'm really bad at keeping these posts going. I just have a hard time wanting to write about every damn thing that goes on.

Okay, I have one thing. I have been corresponding (by email) with one of the big cartooning influences on yours truly. One Mr. Robert Armstrong. I have been a huge fan of this guy since I first saw his work in Arcade (R. Crumb's precursory to Weirdo) in the 70's when I was an impressionable high school kid. Armstrong was the creator of Mickey Rat comics, The Couch Potatoes and is one of the founding members (along with Robert Crumb and Alan Dodge) the musical group; the Cheap Suit Serenader's, painter and modifier of hand-painted Ukuleles and guitars, he is also the musician you hear playing the saw at the end of the film; One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to name but a few of his accomplishments.

He has a web site and naturally I can't remember the web address but you can Google the guy.
Check out his work you won't be disappointed.

I've finally made the plunge into the Mac world everyone. Bought a MacBook today and am fixin' to learn how to maintain the website and whatnot. So far, so good. I'm pretty lame when it comes to computers and such so I'm going to take a couple of the classes they offer and also see what the web site queen, Lisa has to impart on me as well and I guess the rest we'll just see what happens.....wish me luck.

Once again, fight fans my new 40 page comic book, Slices, a selected collection of old format Slice O’ Life strips is available directly from me at $5 ppd. a copy (well concealed cash or money order only)….

Jaime Crespo
P.O. Box 112
San Anselmo, CA 94979

I will soon have a complete listing of which comic book stores in California that carry copies of Slices as well. Stay tuned...

Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I’ll be re-vamping the old web site…actually my web master, the incredible and talented Lisa Long will be doing that as I am pretty much a Luddite with these matters and anything else to do with computers.

I’m looking to have a “store” or “la tienda” page on the site where I will be pimping…er…uh…selling my wares such as comic books, chap books, t-shirts and even a few original art pieces from time-to-time. Who knows what strange and goofy sh*t I’ll have on there…stay tuned.

Other news—I have a piece in the KWMR silent auction/art show at Toby’s Feed Barn in Pt. Reyes Station. There are over 80 artists in this show and tomorrow, Saturday May 31st is the final bidding. Get out there and throw down. You don’t have to bid on my piece by any means but bid on something you like out there…heck, you can bid on as many pieces as you want (hint, hint). The money goes to KWMR which I am also involved in and we really need the $$ to stay on the air and pay our bills (rent, utilities, small staff, equipment and equipment repairs, etc.). If you wish to be more direct with helping out KWMR go to the website at: www.kwmr.org and follow the prompters there. Help support community sponsored radio. Thanks

Is it me or are there an unusually large number of African email scams floating around this year? It seems as if there are way more than usual.

I have received three (3) in as many months informing me that I am to receive somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty million ($30,000,000) from a “distant relative” who perished in a tragic plane crash on March 31st, 2000. I always laugh out loud when the actual locations of these crashes are NEVER in the same place. They have been in either Paris, France or in two different parts of the African continent….but the date is always the same (March 31st, 2000) and if I send certain personal information to the said concerned African bank manager I will receive my “departed relatives” money…..right!

If the nimrods who send these scams would only realize two basic things they might actually have a sucker-on-the-line. 1: You can’t send the exact email scam three (3) times citing different locations of the plane crash in different parts of the globe with the same, exact date and 2: (the more important issue) is that if ANYONE in my family, distant or otherwise had THAT kind of money we would have been all over that pendejo for loans and whatnot from day one!

Okay, Kids here’s the low-down on the Slices comic book.

It’s $5 ppd. by mail. (Sorry, but I don’t make the postage prices up. Blame the USPS. I know that sounds like a lot but this book is HUGE at 40 pages and the mail, like every thing else has gone way up. It costs over a buck to mail just one book).
Sorry, I also don’t except personal checks but do except well hidden cash and money orders.
If you buy the book from me in person (sans mail) it’s a mere $4.

It’s already in Blue Moon Comics in Novato, though I’m not too sure how much they charge. I’ll be distributing it further in San Francisco/Berkeley/Oakland as well as the Sacramento and San Jose areas. I’ll also have it in a handful of stores in-and-around the Los Angeles area as well within a week or two.

I was a bit surprised to find out that the Santa Rosa area stores don’t and won’t carry Slices at all. Slice O’ Life did get its start in the wonderful North Bay Bohemian (where it still appears bi-weekly) which is headquartered in downtown Santa Rosa.
I was told by the store managers that, “People who read comic books don’t read comic strips.” I am not making this quote up. They absolutely and totally said that to me. After I was done laughing I told these incredibly “hip guys” that I found that comment short sighted and profoundly ignorant considering that these “strips” are now reprinted in a “comic book” and comic books started as strips and that I must then be the last person on earth who reads both comic books as well as comic strips. Hey, I figure if you don’t like my work, just say so. I'd respect that.

If anyone reading this lives in Sonoma County either drive to Napa or Marin County or save the planet and gas and just shoot me an email or send $5 to:

Jaime Crespo
P.O. Box 112
San Anselmo, CA 94979

And I’ll send you a signed copy ASAP.
Other than that, Slices will be available on my website and just about everywhere else in California…EXCEPT Sonoma County.

Boy-oh-boy. I finally got into the surf today and even though it was in the 1’-3’ range it was glassy, good shape, un-crowded and even sunny for a change. I had the place to myself for close to an hour (just like the old days…pre-internet) and then Big Ben and a friend of his eventually showed up and the session was on. Fun was had by all.
Missed Mary and Marty and John P.

Well, I picked up the books last week and they look better than I thought they would. I’m figuring out a price (40+ pages means it’ll be a bit more than usual, but not a whole lot) and a way to get them on the web site and also distribute them and get ‘em into a whole mess o’ stores. I’ll try to not drag on this one.

Been riding the “Tanker” to work again and that is where I am going…right now.

I just rode my bike to and from the studio today. No, not the tanker…the “other” bike with “all the gears.” The one that hardly weighs anything. I won’t lie…it wasn’t easy coming home with a head wind being as out-of-shape as I’ve become. I felt like one of those bears on a tricycle you’d see in a Russian circus, only change the bear into an elephant…an elephant that is really out-of-shape…and who can’t spell worth a damn.
One of these days I’ll learn how to import photos from my digital camera onto this here blogger thing and then I’ll be able to give those who don’t already have to endure me in person visuals of the crap that I go on-and-on about.

Anyhow-it was actually nice to be able to roll around again. Now if we can just get some freaking surf I’d be set.

Thanks for the interest in the upcoming Slices-Slice O’ Life “original format” collection. I’m hoping to pick them up this week. They’re all ready to go but the printer doesn’t take credit cards so I’m getting the cash together. Ugh.