SPX PLUS Part Three

So every occasion I've been to, or through, Washington DC, I've never been able to spend time there.  I've always had to be somewhere else the next day.  This time I arranged to have a day off on the Monday after SPX, so Noah and I could check it out a bit.

At breakfast we found out that Joseph Remnant needed a ride to the airport, so I agreed to take him down there if he didn't mind tagging along on our little tourist jaunt.  We drove down together to the National Mall.

The Washington Monument is very impressive in person.

World War II Memorial

Lincoln Memorial in the distance.

View from the Lincoln Memorial steps.

After that we walked over to the White House.

Wasps' nest on the White House fence.

We ended up at the Smithsonian for a bit before it was time to take Joseph to Dulles.  

Afterwards, Noah and I admitted we were too tired to walk anymore, and decided to head up to Pittsburgh to visit good ol' Jim Rugg.  One of the treats of my life over the last few years has been discovering what a cool city Pittsburgh is, with so many cool people too.  I've managed to make it out there about twice a year since then, and any excuse I've had to visit I'm happy to make use of.

Jim Rugg's neighbors' cat.

KIRBY!!!

I love this cat.

We stayed up late talking about art and comics, as we are wont to do.  I told Jim I wanted to visit Copacetic the next day to look for a copy of the out-of-print Four Color Fear.  Then we went to bed, and Kirby only bothered me once.

Next morning after the rain, Jim Rugg's neighbors' other cat put footprints all over my car.  (They're still there.)

We hung out looking at old comics and talking about stuff, waiting for Copacetic to open for the day.  When Jim found out it was my birthday, he instantly reached into his shelf, pulled out a copy of Four Color Fear, and placed it in my hands.  Happy birthday, he said.  I was speechless. Are you kidding me?  Thanks Jim!

View from Copacetic's balcony.  Yes, what other comic shop in America has a balcony?

And then we were back on the road, heading to Columbus, where I wanted to sell some King-Cats, and where Caitlin McGurk had offered us a tour of OSU's Billy Ireland Cartoon Research Library.

Zzzzzzzz.

NEXT: COLUMBUS, INDY, CHICAGO

MARCH TOUR DIARY, Part Two: Pittsburgh

Bill and Phyllis' cat Baby, Pittsburgh

There are only a handful of major American cities I've never been to, and one of those was Pittsburgh;  so I was excited for my first chance to visit the Steel City.

I left Columbus early in the morning, heading east into Wheeling, West Virginia (another town I'd really like to check out some day...) and up into Southwestern Pennsylvania.  I kept looking and looking for the exit to 279, and by the time I was about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh I realized why I wasn't seeing it:  it doesn't exist.  So I turned around and headed back, jamming out to Made to Be Broken for the third consecutive time.  Whoa, that record has to be in my top ten favorites of all time!

And on into Pittsburgh.  Bill at Copacetic had given me good directions and in no time at all I was at his shop, a third floor walkup above a coffehouse and used record store.  Nice setup!  The store was great and I immediately began putting aside a few items in my To-Buy stack:  Chris Ware's Quimby The Mouse book, a couple recent Cometbuses, a Monty Python documentary (3 discs for $10!), and a copy of that old Ganzfeld with the Hairy Who article.

After the shop closed we went over to Pittsburgh Filmmakers, where Bill teaches a class in comics and film, and I spoke for a bit.  Then dinner and sleeping like a rock.

Next morning we got up early-ish and went into town to buy organic bananas.  Went to the Warhol Museum, at which point Bill took the bus back to open the shop, and I hurried through the seven floors of great art (only had 2 hours on the meter).

In Columbus I was discussing with Lauri whether or not Warhol was the most important artist of the 20th Century.  In my mind only Duchamp comes close.  When I brought this up, Bill (who's a lot smarter than me), pointed out that you really can't compare the pre- and post-WWII art worlds.  Which is probably true.  Anyhow, I nominate Warhol as King of Post-War 20th Century Art.  He just nailed it.

My favorite part of the museum was a temporary exhibit where a couple sound-artists took Warhol's collection of Maria Callas recordings and ran them all simultaneously, all beginning at once.  So at first it's just this incredible cacophony of sound, but gradually, as the shorter pieces clock out, a greater sense of cohesion and comprehension drifts in, until finally just one piece, the longest one in his collection, spills out of the speakers in absolute purity.  Amazing.

After that I drove around town a little before heading back to Polish Hill, the neighborhood Copacetic's in.  I wandered around the area for a few hours, taking pictures.  I was kind of falling in love with Pittsburgh.  It was beautiful in that semi-decaying midwestern rust-belt way, but also with a great, palpable spirit.  It didn't feel like a city on the decline.  It felt like a real place, with real people in it, going about their lives.

This scene totally reminded me of a Matchbox® Car Playset.

Beautiful set of gold, spray-painted birdhouses, along the hillside.

That orange-tan building in the center is where Copacetic's located.

Did the slideshow and signing at Copacetic, and it went great!  Hung out a bit with my new Pittsburgh friends, and then stayed up til 3 AM talking about comics with Jim Rugg.

NEXT STOP:  Chicago

(Click here for Part One)

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