Baker Mansion, Peter $$, Hellholes and Last Mail(er)

Random pics, linx, musings:

I had a dream this morning that I was back in Kubert School at the Baker Mansion.

I can't remember more than that, really, just shards of semi-events and splinters of motion -- the Baker Mansion (photos here by fellow XQB Tom Foxmarnick, thanks, Tom!) was the grand heart of my Kubert School experience from September 1976 to our graduation in the spring of '78, and a bit beyond. I've no doubt my dream was inspired by recent events at The Center for Cartoon Studies; it's been a remarkable month or two this semester, and this time of year -- as fall grows colder, and winter's temperatures ease in, and it's ideal to stay in and draw -- is irrevocably linked for me with The Kubert School experience.

Today, the school is located in the old Dover NJ school building, down Blackwell Street, which I understand has been completely renovated this year, and the Baker Mansion is now a dorm. It must be sagging a bit under that duty. In our day, it was a glorious building.

Our classrooms were in the Mansion; first year, we were on the main floor, and with the arrival of the new class in the fall of 1977 (including John Totleben, Marc Vargas, Tom Marnick aka Tom Foxmarnick since his marriage, Tom Mandrake, Jan Duursema, and many more), we were bumped up to the second floor. There was an apartment above that: first year, that's where vet cartoonist and beloved instructor Lee Elias would stay during his one overnight a week; after our second year and graduation, classmate Ben Ruiz and his family lived there, changing the complexion of the Mansion further.

Rick Veitch saw a benevolent 'ghost' on that second floor the first week we were in the building, when he and a few others waiting for their half of the carriage house (which were our dorm rooms that first year) to be ready for them to move in.

It was a blessing, it seemed, and everything that followed was indeed a blessing. My life, our lives, were forever altered, and for me it was for the better.

I just hope CCS means something like that to its students. This all seems to be working, though when it's happening the rush of hours/days/weeks/months seems breathlessly rapid. This week was a breath of gresh air, a meditative pause. That's what my dream felt tied to, stretching back to my JKS experience and memories, I think. With Lynda Barry's workshop this week, and more visiting artists to follow, it feels like we're having our visiting spirits giving their blessings, sharing their gifts, opening new possibilities and new paths. It's all good.

That's how my dream, unremembered save in fragments, left me feeling, lying in bed next to Marge and our cats Tuco (laying by my shoulder, purring as I stirred) and Lizzie. It's all good.

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More about Peter Money, poet, CCS sponsor and fellow instructor, kindred spirit; he's just posted an interview of sorts here, check it out.

Peter talks about his life, work, headspace and there's a bit about CCS, too, with links, so check it out.

The new downtown White River Junction presence of poets and writers like Peter and our fellow CCS instructor (and novelist) Sarah Stewart Taylor (with whom I teach Senior Thesis Workshop this semester) is another seed in the sorely-in-need-of-seed WRJ community, and Peter's one of the folks at the heart of that, too.

This brings to mind the similarities, too, between the late '70s-early'80s depressed downtown Dover NJ experience that was integral to my JKS years and the almost identical nature of downtown WRJ VT scene. The differences are many and striking, but emotionally they're very similar landscapes: the weight of the past is heavy, the light of new growth and future potential at times blinding, in short bursts. Let's see where it goes, and what I can do there as part of it. Kudos to Peter and Sarah and James (Sturm) and Michelle (Ollie) and Matt (Bucy) and everyone behind this change, this new presence in WRJ -- but most of all, the CCS students. It's their harvest, not ours.

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My paleo crony Michael Ryan just fired off these two links to me to share with y'all:

The Video Vulture,

which Michael tells me "has been running for over ten years now in Calgary [Alberta, Canada]'s free weekly FFWD (Fast Forward) newspaper. Written by John Tebbutt and illustrated by ace-cartoonist Tom Bagley (aka Tomb) it covers all the video/film items of interest that anyone who knows the name Mario Brava would appreciate."

Ahem, you mean "Mario Bava," I presume, Michael! A slip of the key, and you blow the evocation, like Ash in Army of Darkness. Bravo!

Michael adds,

"Tom -- as 'Jackson Phibes' -- also fronts the Halloween inspired band Forbidden Dimension, who have just released their new LP, Cool Sound Outta Hell." Here's that link, folks, enjoy!

Thanks, Michael, for brightening our collective Saturday.

BTW, Norman Mailer just passed away at age 84.

The news hit 11 minutes ago (as I'm posting)...

I think I'll go reread Armies of the Night...

This, That, Paddywhack, Give That Cat a Bone

Just wrapped up my part of a roundhouse discussion with Tim Lucas, Kim Newman and Shane Dallmann about Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse for an upcoming issue of Video Watchdog, and more work on the Christopher Golden/Hank Wagner book on my amigo Neil Gaiman, which I'll be sharing some co-author credit on. Thanks to Chris's busy schedule, I'll be the one joining Hank in a couple of weeks for a weekend visit/interview session with Neil, too, which I'm greatly looking forward to. Haven't seen Neil face-to-face for quite a stretch, though we've stayed in touch over the years.

That said, the Center for Cartoon Studies is keeping me busy, too, and oh, the folks I've met and get to work with, primary among them the incredible CCSers themselves -- man, I love seeing/reading their comics! Anyhoot, a lively week is ahead: CCS hosts Lynda Barry this week, who's coming in and giving a full two-day intensive workshop for the students. Whew! I'll be dining with Lynda and alumni Colleen Frakes Monday night, which should be big fun. Marge and I are having breakfast with Colleen and her partner and fellow alumni Jon-Mikel Gates this AM, just socializing; life is good.

Fellow CCSer (and among the school's funding co-founders) Peter Money is making his own waves with his new tome, Che, and as a publisher with exiled Arab poet Sinan Antoon's The Baghdad Blues.

Peter's latest poetry/publishing venture landed a piece in Time Magazine -- kudos to Sinan and to Peter!

As for last Saturday's White River Junction Halloween Parade, in which CCS figured mightily, Main Street Museum's David Fairbanks Ford just shared these links with us all hereabouts, sporting photos from the parade shot and posted by Matt Bucy and Dennis Grady,

here and

here. Enjoy!

And, for your Saturday AM amusement, CCS freshman Jeff Mumm shared this link with us all, and you might dig it, too: a venue for reworked Garfield strips, sans Garfield's dialogue.

As Jeff put it, "There's a fun strip called "Arbuckle" in which cartoonists send in comics based on Garfield strips, removing the dialogue by Garfield (to see the world through Jon's eyes, considering that it's canon that he doesn't understand what Garfield says) and rendering it in whatever style they deem appropriate. I did one a couple years ago and thought it might be fun if people wanted to do a strip for it or even just to read through it a bit, because it's a pretty funny concept. Because really, who doesn't like making fun of Garfield?"

Check it out; click backwards from the lead page strip using the little arrows beneath it, and read the source Garfield strip for each via the link. Consider it a morning laxative, folks, if nothing else...

Have a great Saturday, one and all...