My friend Brad Lawrence is a hell of a storyteller and a hell of a guy. I know him from the ever-growing storytelling scene here in New York. When he’s not telling stories or putting on storytelling shows, he’s MCing burlesque shows all over Manhattan.

And when he’s not doing that, he’s writing/editing this cool blog about the NYC storytelling and burlesque scene, interspersed with stories of his own.

He’s been profiling a number of different characters in both worlds over the past couple months … and this week, he’s interviewing and profiling me. I’m flattered all to pieces, to be honest. Check it out if you like …

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I’m back in Norfolk visiting my family for Easter weekend. And man, is it ever different than New York. I snapped this photo of a banner hanging from a restaurant that pretty much sums the difference up perfectly:

For those of you that are reading this in text-only form, it reads: “Listen Less to the News, Spend Money and Support America, And We Will All Be OK!”

Wouldn’t it be great if that’s really all it took, just that one sign! Apparently the owner of San Antonio Sam’s (the restaurant where the sign is hanging) had this banner made up special, just to let Norfolk know how to get out of this mess.

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A while back, I came across a 1968 Big Little Book featuring Aquaman, in a story titled “Scourge of the Sea“. The book is beat to hell, with the binding glue failing and pages falling out, the cover is creased in half with Aquaman’s face gouged out by repeated scribbling with a ballpoint pen, and there are a few holes where the assailant then stabbed the book with said pen… but the contents are gold. Specifically, the captioned illustrations… which are weird and wonderful little self-contained tableaus when taken out of context. I plan to share these illustration pages here for your quiet reflection, in no particular order and without their supporting story text, whenever I feel like it.
This is… Aquaman Zen.

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Plugging like this blog has sprung a leak!

APRIL 3 – JUNE 12, 2009
SYNTHESIS : CONTEMPORARY COLLAGE
Carroll Square Gallery, 975 F Street NW, Washington DC 20004
OPENING: Friday, April 3, 6 – 8pm

CURATED BY HEMPHILL FINE ARTS, and FEATURING WORKS BY:
D.Billy | Billy Colbert | Nathan Gluck | Franz Jantzen | Camila Rivera-Morales | Holli Schorno | Al Souza | Daniel Tierny

These are my contributions to the show… but you’ll have to swing by the gallery to check out the excellent work by the other seven artists. And, of course, to get the full sensory experience of my pieces… which may or may not include olfactory overtones of the studio environment in which they were created. (Hint: think propane heater, macaroni and cheese, Mexican Coca-Cola, and cats.*)

*Kidding. They’re unscented and hypo-allergenic. I swear.

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