(DO THE) PETE DUNCAN!

For a personal history of my involvement with this comic, please see King-Cat #70.  Meanwhile, enjoy!

SNAPDRAGONS

"Snapdragons," from King-Cat #50 (Available in King-Cat Classix).

JOHN RININGER

I met John Rininger in DeKalb, in the late 80's, when I was publishing my zine Cehsoikoe.  He worked at the Kinko's on Lucinda and printed it up for me.  Soon enough he was contributing to it as well, and we became very good friends.

Though we were good friends, John was a little inscrutable to me.  His mind moved at a much, much higher rate than mine, and held in view, simultaneously, seemingly hundreds of disparate ideas and directions.  Looking back, his art was really a tangible record of this thinking.

We hung out at his place on Lincoln Highway, where he lived with Katherine.  The apartment was full of books, old junk, cups of coffee, and various, as he called them, "devices."  He liked to listen to phonograph records at the old spoken word speed of 16 rpm.

On one of the only two "dates" I've ever been on (a "first date" no less!), I took my gal to John's house for Friday Night Movies, which consisted of two (or three?) projectors running simultaneously onto one screen.  I will spare you the contents of the films, but suffice it to say, to John, there were no restrictions.  Amazingly, I went on a second date with that girl, and more.  She was cool.

After a few years John moved into the city, and I moved to Denver.  We corresponded through the mail.  John sent me his weird, dark zines, Catalyst Komics, and I sent him my sappy zines.  We'd visit each other from time to time.   He started having gallery shows, and became deeply involved with the Artist's Stamp sub-culture.  His prized possession was an old-school perforating machine.

"Telegraphes"

Cyberstamp, 225 x 225 x 16 million,

from a full sheet of 14

John Rininger, aka Rausch Post

It was no secret that John was troubled.  How could a brain like that not be?  He became somewhat infamous for being held against his will in a psych ward, his experience of which was written up as a cover story, featuring his artwork, in Chicago's New City weekly.  Afterwards, he was delighted that he finally achieved an enormous press run with some of his work.

John's masterpiece was what he called "The Scroll," a 1200 foot long continuous image, which he worked on for years and years.

In November of 2006, John passed away at home.  He was 45 years old.  I feel lucky to have shared some of life with him.

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Other John R. links:

Photos, Postcards, and Ephemera
Xerolage #39
Tom Long's reminiscences of John

THE SOUND OF BIRDS

Happy Spring!

"The Sound of Birds", from King-Cat #62.

ZEN BUDDHIST BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

This is kind of a weird thing to post about, and I hope I don't come off as proselytizing, but I'm oftentimes asked from readers for a list of recommendations for books on Buddhism.  If you're not interested in such a thing, please feel free to ignore this post!

Of course, there are hundreds upon hundreds of books in print on Zen, but these are some of my favorites, titles that I always recommend to people starting out:

Taking the Path of Zen by Robert Aitken Roshi.  Aitken Roshi was one of the first westerners to bring back to the US an authentic practice experience from Japan.  His writing is warm and clear, avoiding jargon, and very inspiring.  He's written many books, all of which I recommend, but this one was specifically made for beginners.

The Dhammapada, translated by Eknath Easwaren.  The Dhammapada is a collection of the earliest Buddhist teachings, and Easwaren has provided a vivid and lyrical, yet simple, translation. But the real gift to beginners is that his lengthy introduction provides the most accessible description of the Buddhist worldview that I've ever read.

Opening the Hand of Thought by Kosho Uchiyama Roshi.  Uchiyama Roshi was a Soto Zen iconoclast, and these teachings for modern practitioners are direct and no-bullshit.  This book contains down-to-earth discussions about and instructions for zazen, Zen meditation.  Thoroughly contemporary and rock solid.

Other recommended titles:

The Three Pillars of Zen by Philip Kapleau Roshi.  The first book written by a westerner that presented Zen as a practice and way of life, rather than a philosophy, this classic work presents talks and commentaries by Kapleau's teacher Yasutani Roshi; a selection of first person accounts of practice; and supporting texts, sutras, and teachings.

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi.  You really can't go wrong with any writings by this modern day master, but this is his famous book for "beginners."  Another fascinating and beautiful book is Crooked Cucumber, a biography of Suzuki Roshi, by David Chadwick.

The Roaring Stream: A New Zen Reader, edited by Jack Shoemaker and Nelson Foster.  An exhilarating, chronological anthology of Zen Buddhist stories, teachings, and poetry.

Flowers Fall:  Commentaries on Zen Master Dogen's Genjokoan, by Hakuun Yasutani Roshi.  Dogen Zenji is the main figure in Japanese Soto Zen, who brought the practice from China to Japan in the 13th century, and Genjokoan is perhaps his best loved and most studied work.

The Wholehearted Way: Commentaries on Dogen Zenji's Bendowa, by Kosho Uchiyama Roshi.  A beautiful book with rich, fascinating commentary by one of my favorite writers, Bendowa contains a Q+A format section, in which Dogen Zenji answers questions from a beginning student.








I should of course point out that the whole purpose of Zen is to go beyond limited notions.  Books and words are, as they say, a "finger pointing to the moon," not the moon itself.  To get a real sense of Zen practice you have to do it.  Simple online instructions for Zen meditation can be found here.

For Dogen Zenji's own instructions, please click here.

MY DAD'S BIRTHDAY

This was my Dad's favorite comic of mine.  That's him in the last panel.  Happy Birthday Pops!

"NIGHT OF TEARS... NIGHT OF TRUTH!"

Well, I don't have much to day about these, except I used to own Night Nurse #2, and I remember reading it in the High School cafeteria with all my friends, and having a good time.  I'm not a comic book historian, and I was surprised to find that Linda Carter, AKA Night Nurse, was a repeating character in the Marvel Comics universe.  The four issue series ran from November 1972 to May 1973.

Below are the covers, as well as a link to download the series, with commentary:

Click here for more on Night Nurse, and comics downloads.

(Free CBR reader)

Early 60's Marvel comic.

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More Night Nurse commentary and history:

Not the Real Kid Shirt

Don Markstein's Toonopedia.

Comic Book Catacombs

Night Nurse Wikipedia entry