Paper Ritual
Prepping for Zinefest
It’s Houston Zinefest week!
Alongside the day job and house hunting duties, I’ve also been prepping some zines for this Saturday, November 16th. Many of you checked out my newsletter about Planet of the Apes and the impact that the classic films have had on my creative life. I received some really good feedback on that one… so much that I decided to do something cool with it!
I made a printed zine version of the write-up, titled A Call to the Planet of the Apes. In addition to the essay, I’ve also added some Apes sketches that I did over the course of a couple weeks. I had a lot of fun with these loose inks and watercolors.
I know that Apes is sorta niche, but as I began to put theses images together, the zine idea called out to me loud and clear. Also, in the random event that a Apes comic book editor crosses my table and sees the zine, maybe it would be a good calling card? Haha. I know… wishful thinking! Regardless, I think any of you Apes fans would get a kick out of this. The booklet is 20 pages and in full color.
In some capacity, this is exactly what making zines is for - passion projects constructed in a DIY method. This zine will be my last new printed material for the year. It almost feels like my creative output went full circle in 2024.
I also printed more copies of a couple of old zines. Those of you who have been following this newsletter for a bit may have read The Electrician mini comic in web format. I decided to print this one as well. It’s little fantasy comic with some heart behind it.
In addition to The Electrician, I also reprinted a small folded zine called Trees and Monsters. It’s just that…monster versions of trees, two of my favorite things.
If you will be in Houston this weekend, come by Zinefest on Saturday and snag one or two of these! Otherwise, they’ll be going up on my webstore. Speaking of the webstore…
I know that I mentioned before that the webstore would go live in October, but unfortunately, things have just been crazy busy for me lately. I want to make sure that I have a good method for shipping set up so that things will go smoothly once you all place orders. So, I promise, it’s still high up on my to-do list. I just need to settle down and find a good time to launch, count stock, gather shipping materials, etc. And very soon, I’ll be packing and preparing to move, so shipping during all of that chaos would not be fun. You will be the first to know once it’s ready for lift-off. Thank you for being patient.
Blast Beats
This week, I attended a show for one of my favorite bands, The Devil Wears Prada (yea, their band name was certainly a product of the early 2000s). As always they put on an amazing show. My friends and I have been going to Prada shows for the last 15 years, and it’s almost as if they keep getting better. When the band started out, they were straight metalcore, aka the heavier, the better. Lots of breakdowns and circle-pit tunes. But just like us artists, they keep evolving. They continue to provide a refreshing voice to the heavy music scene and always manage stick to their heavy roots.
There was a great line up this time around, especially the pre-headliner, Silent Planet. These guys were sick. Spacey metalcore that had some great grooves and story-telling stage presence. If you dig a heavy sound in your music, check them out.
Houston peeps, see you at Zinefest on Saturday? Have a great week!
Thanks for your time,