The Official K Chronicles and (Th)ink Website

*ALTERNATIVE PRESS EXPO WRAP-UP…

APE 2005 was disappointing. it wasn’t as crowded as past shows and many of the folks i talked to did about 60% of the business they did last year. a coupla reasons for this:

1.this was the first year that ape was in april. it used to be in feb. but was switched with wondercon…so i think it’s lost a little steam cuz ape is no longer the first event of the year. (and wondercon was crazy busy for the first time ever!!)

2.it always rained during ape weekend when it was in feb. but now that it’s in april, the weekend was beautiful and sunny for the first time in weeks..people wanted to hang out outside and enjoy the weather.

on the other hand, a lotta folks who were doing ape for the first time had a fabulous time.

don’t get me wrong, i had a lotta fun. steve notley (“bob, the angry flower”) crashed at my pad once again. we got silly at the last gasp party with tom beland (“true story, swear to god”) and garrett izumi, who just recently moved to portland.

we joined shannon wheeler (“too much coffee man”) and Doug Paszkiewicz (“arsenic lullaby”) and the uclick.com folks for lots of meat at tommy’s joynt on sat. night.

by the way, canadian steve notley is migrating across the border and moving to seattle, home of my “evil” twin sister!!

speaking of the pacific northwest, the may west coast book tour has morphed into a pacific northwest book tour. i’m gonna do southern california later this summer.

here are the dates, times and venues:

“Ink, Sweat & Tears: A D.I.Y. Cartoon Concert & Book Tour”
Keef is hittin’ the Pacific Northwest with graphic novelist Eric Drooker (“Flood”,
“BloodSong”) and urban humorist Jon Longhi (“Wake Up and Smell the Beer”)
for a night of arresting images and suggested laughter…

5/18-SAN FRANCISCO Weds., 7:30pm
@ Artists Television Access, 992 Valencia St. near 21st
w/ special guest: Keef’s “Evil” Twin Sister!!

5/19-EUGENE, OR Thurs., 7pm
@ DIVA gallery, 110 W. Broadway @ Olive
w/ special guest: TBA

5/20-OLYMPIA, WA Fri., 6:30pm
@ Last Word Books, 211 4th Ave.
w/ special guest: TBA

5/21 (Day)-BELLINGHAM, WA Sat., Noon
@ Village Books, 1200 11th St.
w/ special guest: TBA

5/21 (Night)-SEATTLE, WA Sat., 7pm
@ Confounded Books, 315 E. Pine St.
w/ special guest Ellen Forney!!

5/22-PORTLAND, OR Sun. 7:30pm
@ Liberty Hall, 311 North Ivy St.
w/ special guest: TBA

5/24-SAN JOSE, CA Tues.
@ Anno Domini, 150 S. Montgomery St. Unit B
w/ special guest: TBA

ACHTUNG!! i need people from each town to hang up fliers
and pass out handbills…if you’d like to help out, email moi at
keef@kchronicles.com

*FROM MY MAN JEFF G.

You don’t have to be poor anymore. US Army Psyops needs you to produce a Mid-East comic. Apply now! Details are below.

Later,
Jeff

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4396351.stm

US army to produce Mid-East comic
The US military is planning to win the hearts of young people in the Middle East by publishing a new comic.

An advertisement on the US government’s Federal Business Opportunities website is inviting applications for someone to develop an “original comic book series”.
“In order to achieve long-term peace and stability in the Middle East, the youth need to be reached,” the ad says.

“A series of comic books provides the opportunity for youth to learn lessons, develop role models and improve their education.”

‘Psyops’

The comic is to be a collaborative effort with the US Army, which says it has already done initial character and plot development.

It will be based on “the security forces, military and police, in the near future in the Middle East” and is being produced by US Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

Fort Bragg is home to the army’s 4th Psychological Operations Group, known as “psy-op warriors”, whose weaponry includes radio transmitters, loudspeakers and leaflets.

The unit, whose slogans include Win the Mind – Win the Day and Verbum Vincet (The Word Conquers), is schooled in marketing and advertising techniques.

In the past few years, its soldiers have been deployed during conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan dropping leaflets and cartoons urging surrender and broadcasting pro-American messages via radio and television.

Marketing

A spokesman at Fort Bragg told BBC News website that the initiative for the comic-book project came from the US Department of Defense’s Central Command, which is responsible for US security interests in 25 Middle Eastern and Arab nations.

According to the advertisement, the successful applicant will ideally need to have experience of law enforcement and “small unit military operations” – along with a knowledge of Arab language and cultures.

The aim is to involve the ministries of interior of some of Middle East countries.

The army is aiming to test initial comics on focus groups and based on their success or otherwise, will either be developed further or dropped completely.

The US army’s comic could see competition from a new Egyptian publishing venture which has created what it bills as the first Arab superheroes: Zein aka the Last Pharaoh, Rakan, a hairy medieval warrior in Mesopotamia, Jalila, a brainy Levantine scientist and fighter for justice and Aya, a North African described as a “vixen who roams the region on her supercharged motorbike confronting crime wherever it rears its ugly head”.

AK Comics says its goal is “to fill the cultural gap created over the years by providing essentially Arab role models, in our case, Arab superheroes to become a source of pride to our young generations.”

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*LAS VEGAS WRAP-UP…

woo boy!! talk about march madness!! i got together with some folks i grew up with, plus some crazy white people, and had a tremendous time in the city of sin…

if you go, understand that it’s okay that the sun is already up and shining bright as you head back to your hotel room…it really is okay….

the signing at alternate reality comics with my pops was really cool. thanks to proprieters kate and ralph. swing yer ass by their place next time yer in l.v. also, f. andrew taylor for hyping it up in the local rag (r.i.p. l.v. mercury). shout outs to leticia and mohammed, the big white truck driver who went muslim ten years ago…

also got to visit with las vegas artists iceberg slick and vezun. slick runs an art studio called “five finger miscount” in the ever popular art factory section o’ vegas. all the studios participate in a “first fridays” event that brings in a ton o’ folk. be there or be square.

*THIS WEEK’S STRIPS
the k chronicles: been reading up on a lotta deepak chopra lately. the question is: how old is he? i look at his current pix and think to myself, “this dude better be like, eighty years old or something..” that why i’ll know all his stuff really works…

(th)ink: oh..what can i say? i was digging deep for an idea and realized, it was right under my nose!!

*UPCOMING EVENTS
hey..come by the north beach’s purple onion this thursday if yer in s.f. i’ll be doing my infamous slideshow in a comedy club!! and on saturday i’ll be at the anarchist bookfair in san francisco’s golden gate park…

rock on, ya’ll…