The Official K Chronicles and (Th)ink Website

*SOME OTHER FAVORITE SAN FRANCISCO MOMENTS..
-Meeting Maya Angelou at Masonic Auditorium

-Going to a wake full of strippers and cartoonists at the Edinburgh Castle

-Catching the Beastie Boys with some new band (Cypress Hill) at the I-Beam (LOOONG time ago)

-Getting locked outta my apartment and going downtown in my pajamas and slippers to look for my roommate

-Beatin’ down this clown who elbowed the Wifey on the 38 Geary

-Getting a Marginal Prophets sticker up on the wall behind the cash register at Tommy’s Joynt (it’s still there!!)

-The annual Last Gasp Holiday Party

-Gettin’ profiled by four different cop cars whilst waitng for the 33 at Fulton and Arguello

(I’ll be posting a lot more of this stuff over the next few weeks..so stayed tuned..)

*MAN, THIS MOVE HAS BEEN SORTA CRAZY..

Apologies for delayed replies and delayed art concerning the Coup fundraiser. It’s still going on and I will get back to you concerning all of your requests..

We now have a place in San Francisco AND Los Angeles…It’s only for 30 days, but I figure I can boast about it for this very brief time.

Our first night in L.A. was spent at a fundraiser for 826LA, an offshoot of the organization I’m on the board of up in San Francisco. It was called a “Night of Best Intentions”. A celebration of comedic actor Seth Rogan, and the charity that he may someday do.

It was put together by Judd Apatow, the dude who did “40 Year Old Virgin” and “Freaks and Geeks”. It was hilarious. He got all these famous folks to do stuff. Will Ferrell opened the show with Dave Grohl. Ben Stiller and Edward Norton did stuff (and sat at the table next to us). Garry Shandling and Ted Danson did stuff. Video tributes were done featuring Jack Black, Brad Pitt, Jim Carrey, Chris Rock and more..

We were telling everyone there that this was our first night in L.A. And everyone was like “Whoa..This is a great first night for you..”

I said “Isn’t it always like this?”

*EMAILS OF THE WEEK..
Keith-

Just heard your Fanboy Radio show. Fantastic. You came off really funny and real. On behalf of the entire Los Angeles based cartoonist community…I say: WELCOME TO LA! (I in no way can speak for the entire community). I do alot of the artwork for FanBoy Radio (as well as being an indie animator: www.jimlujan.com).

When I heard your MJ impersonating days, I thought “That is a person I can relate to….mama say mama saw ma makusa”.

You rock! Your strips are amazing. Glad I finally found them. Best of luck. Feel free to drop me a line sometime.

-J.

(yuh..I was on this cool podcast called fanboy radio(http://www.fanboyradio.com/)..I think it’s still up on the site. can you tell that i’m drunk and watching the Pats game while I’m being interviewed?-kk)

Keefe,

Back in the 1975, San Francisco flats not only came with no fridge,
they came with no stove! You went down to S. Valencia and bought
them at the used appliances stores there. We paid $110 for a used GE
fridge (70’s brown), that finally gave up the ghost in 1998. Best
deal I ever got.

Good luck in LA, Keefe.

Regards,

E.

Hi Keith,

How are you?
I just wanted to seek some advice from a
sagacious fellow such as yourself.

Um. I have a question regarding art schools and
illustration programs. I know you’re from Boston
originally, and one school that offers a
professional cert. for illustration is the Art Institute of
Boston. Is this a good school? Are there others you’d
recommend?

I already have a BA in Studio art and Art
History, but hadn’t taken a lot of drawing courses. I also
don’t want to get a MFA or anything. Just have enough
education to improve techniques and networking.

thanks,
D.

(this is the answer i gave.-kk)

D..

I’ve been away from Boston for so long, I don’t
know what to recommmend.

I think any art school is good because they give
you the facilities and equipment and naked models to
draw. Is one better than the other? Mebbe on
paper. Mebbe by reputation. But I really think
it’s how much you take advantage of the campus
you’re on.

I went to Salem State College. The art program
there was incredibly small..but I took advantage
of it. That’s all you gotta do.

Good luck!

Keef

*PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR THE DELAY..
in replies and filling orders. The Wifey and I have been spending all of our time searching for a place in L.A. and we FINALLY found one. It’s in the lovely Palms neighborhood in West L.A., just north of Venice Blvd. and Culver City.

Now comes the hard part..

The next few weeks will consist of us purging our stuff to make the move from a luxurious rent-controlled palace to a one bedroom spot. I will be selling as much krappe as I can for CHEAP at this weekend’s book release at the Cartoon Art Museum. See you there!!

*EMAILS OF THE WEEK..
Keef,

I feel like I got smacked around after reading the
strip Gravestones and Nightsticks. I really wonder
now how the family of that man that was killed at his
bachelor party feels. The story is being slowly
forgotten, but they will never forget it, for them it
will always be front page news. What an awful feeling
it must be, to have to wake up every day, realizing
they can never see him again.

I believe the mark of a Great Artist, is when their
audience has to keep coming back to view the same
material, maybe not even realizing why.
The Why I think is the need to make sure you haven’t
missed anything. You have a talent for making people
stop and think, there is a lot more to this strip than
humor; the humor draws you in, warms you up, and helps
to make you more receptive to the issue of racism.

I think the issue of racism will always be an issue,
as long as we look at each other as white people and
black people, instead of just as people.
The use of the colors white and black bring out all of
the stereotypes behind the use of these colors to
identify someone.

With that Keith, I want to say Thank You! you really
have challenged my perspectives, and made me think in
a way I never would have, if I didn’t read your stips.

Some one should kick your butt up to the big time,
your talent and perseverence in working on these
isssues should be recognized on a national level.

Sincerely yours,

Greg H.

Dear Mr. Knight,

I enjoyed your strip this week and thought I’d drop you this note, since I was born in Los Angeles, lived there for 23 years, and then moved to San Francisco for 20 years after that. I write to you from Chicago, my current home, so hopefully my advice is now unbiased. I see both cities, from my vantage point here, as historical products of the California Gold Rush when tolerance was conferred on one and all through a freak accident of history (it wasn’t, what bloodline you were from, it was what you could do and be).
Someone (Herb Caen maybe?) once wrote that Los Angeles and San Francisco are locked in a bitter rivalry, but only San Francisco is aware of the fierce struggle of the two cities. That really sums up the reason for the strong reaction you are getting from your SF pals.
So Keef, go to Los Angeles and you will have a fine time. You will be not far from the beautiful Santa Monica mountains and canyons (Topanga, Malibu, + Tuna canyons) , and some beaches that are far, far finer than the Bay Area’s. Go to the Getty museum or LACMA and give a big “ptooi” in the face of anyone who says there’s “just no culture there.”
In general, there is always something amusing happening there, the adrenaline level is higher in general and can prolly kick a cartoonist’s a$$ into a higher gear.
Good luck to you and your career and don’t look back, it sounds great!

-G. in Chicago