2014 was a long, busy year for ol' John P., and in 2015 I'm looking forward to hunkering down a bit more and getting a lot of drawing done.
First thing on my plate is King-Cat #75, the All-Maisie Issue, which I'm aiming to have out by TCAF or at least CAKE. It will be a double-sized issue.
Following that I plan on finally releasing South Beloit Journal, my daily diary comics from 2011. And working on the Strange Growths collection by Jenny Zervakis, which I hope to have out in 2016 -- the first non- John P. Spit and a Half release since 1997!
Travel-wise, I'm cutting way down, with my longest trip likely being TCAF in May, where I hope to table with Zak Sally and Noah Van Sciver. Otherwise I'm concentrating on more local, easy-to-get-to events, like CAKE, the various Midwestern zine fests, and Autoptic in Minneapolis.
I also hope to spend less time online in the coming months, which paradoxically means (I hope) I can keep this blog updated more regularly with full-length entries. I have a lot of stuff backed up that I just haven't had the time to post, including bird-banding adventures, two (TWO!) trips to Okefenokee Swamp, the Pierre Feuille Ciseaux event, and a travel diary from my recently completed 25th Anniversary Tour. So.
Thanks everyone for all your support in 2014 and beyond! It was wonderful getting out and meeting so many people, both new friends and old. My best to you-- see you soon!
I'm back at last from tour-- 31 dates in 74 days. Now I'm home for good through the long cold winter. I'll be drawing King-Cat #75 (in hopes of an April/May release), revamping my distro site, and otherwise cuddling with a variety of mammals.
Look for my tour diary to appear here sometime in the next week week or two, and then lots of pictures of birds and alligators.
So, I'm heading out to the west coast in a few days, for the third and final leg of my Hospital Suite/Root Hog or Die/25th Anniversary Tour. I'll be traveling via Minneapolis, and, apparently, about 9"-13" worth of snowstorm, so wish me luck.
I don't want to sound alarmist, but if you're on the West Coast and want to see me, have me sign books etc (and you don't make it out to the Midwest or Northeast often), please come out and say hello on this tour. I really don't know when or if I'll be making it out to the Pacific Coast again anytime soon. It's just too much travel, and I'm getting old.
Meanwhile, here are my tour dates; PORTLANDERS please note that the venue for my event has recently been changed from the Hollywood Theatre to the Q Center (event time stays the same):
The famously clichéd answer to the question "Beatles or Stones?" is "The Kinks," right? It's one of those clichés that's really kinda true. The Kinks had both the songwriting chops of the Beatles and the ragged edge of the Stones, and created a body of work that stood on its own, transcending the limitations of those other two groups. I started listening to the Kinks when my pal Mr. Mike played their entire Singles A+B collection on the newfangled CD jukebox at a tiki bar in San Francisco once, on a west coast road trip. Of course I'd heard "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night" on oldies radio, but hearing all their early 45's, in order, was an ear-opening experience. Brilliant slashes of melodic, smart rock and roll.
Sometime later I heard the Kinks Kronikles record and was stunned by the breadth and depth of the songwriting on display. Not just the songwriting, but the shambling attitude they took with their music, and the brilliant, sometimes viciously applied humor. This was something that the Beatles and Stones lacked. Ray Davies wasn't joking around in his music, but used sarcasm and wit to lash out at a world gone evil and stupid, and I could relate.
There's another thing the Beatles and Stones lacked -- a real sense of social justice. The Beatles were rich from the time they were young and never really dived into political, class-conscious critique; The Stones were too jaded to care, and songs like "Street Fighting Man," no matter how menacing, felt a bit phony. The Kinks, on the other hand, took pains to side with the working class, even going so far as to break with party lines in criticism of union bosses who lorded over the workers below them that they'd ostensibly sworn to serve. Songs like "Get Back in Line" broke through political gamesmanship to focus on the actual, living, breathing workers who were exploited on all sides from birth to death.
Somehow, I'd never heard the Kinks' Muswell Hillbillies album until a few months ago. Even Lola, its underappreciated predecessor, had the hit title track to guide listeners through its tales of hope and resignation. Muswell Hillbillies, though, never seemed to gain much traction, especially in the States, where its weird mix of British music hall tunes and American country must have sent a lot of people head scratching.
What Muswell is though, is the Kinks most distinctive and perfect record of their long career. On it, Ray Davies' disgust with the modern world, and its mistreatment of the "ordinary man" is grim, funny, dark, and powerful, and the nuance and misdirection is beautiful. In "Have a Cuppa Tea," a rollicking ode to the English Pastime, he cuts suddenly to the bone with the refrain, "For Christ's sake, have a cuppa tea." In that one line there lies all the hidden suffering and latent anger of the working class.
In "Uncle Son," he paints a portrait of a working man who's faced exploitation on all sides from day one-- Unionists, socialists, conservatives, and preachers have all had their way with him, using him for the symbolic power his authentic life stands for. When Davies sings "Bless you, Uncle Son-- They won't forget you when the revolution comes" you know damn well that this ordinary working stiff, who just strove to get by, will simply be dumped on the pile of those who came before him, who were used, abused, misled and wrung dry, for one selfish purpose or another.
The other songs on Muswell are equally fine. From start to finish it’s the Kinks' greatest accomplishment. Give it a listen, for old Uncle Son's sake, if nothing else.
Hey everyone, the long-awaited King Cat documentary, ROOT HOG OR DIE, will debut at this weekend's SPX Festival in Bethesda, MD, where DVDs will also be available for purchase. After that I'm taking the show on the road with combo screenings of the movie and signings for my new D+Q book THE HOSPITAL SUITE. Tour dates are here. Can't make it out? ORDER the DVD now direct from ol' John P. or stream it online for only $5 at www.gumroad.com/kilgorebooks.
The DVD includes the entire full-length 100 minute documentary, plus outtakes, bloopers (!), and an all-new exclusive 8 page comic book!
Prices for mailorder (INCLUDING postage and packing) are as follows:
USA: $18.00 via cash/check/mo OR $18.82 via PayPal CANADA: $24.19 USD via PayPal REST OF WORLD: $26.22 USD via PayPal
Hey Gang -- we're printing up these nifty tee shirts to sell on tour! If you're not going to be able to make it out to any of the tour stops, we're making them available for pre-order too -- order now and we'll ship them right to your door once they're available!
Shirts come in S, M, L, and XL and are two-color black and cream prints on 100% ORGANIC RED COTTON! Nice.
Prices (including shipping and handling charges) are as follows:
USA: $25.00 via cash/check/mo OR $26.00 via PayPal
CANADA: $29.00 USD via PayPal
REST OF WORLD: $33.00 USD via PayPal
Send well-concealed cash/check/mo payable to:
John Porcellino
PO Box 142
South Beloit, IL 61080
Or PayPal to kingcat_paypal AT hotmail DOT com
BE SURE TO SPECIFY WHICH SIZE YOU'D LIKE!
PLEASE NOTE: I'll be on tour until the end of September, so pre-ordered shirts will ship in OCTOBER. Rest assured we'll get them out to you as soon as possible!
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