Saturday, June 29, 2002

      
     Not much sleep on the plane...Plane gets in at 5am, by the time I make it through Immigration & have my bags it's seven. Nurse a cappuccino & sleepily scope a morose Whitlams video on  'Rage'. Yep I'm back, and despite the overlay of fatigue I'm really quite happy to be here.

     Head to the Stork Hotel. It's centrally located, plus for me there's an element of nostalgia, we used to have comics pub nights here, back in the day.  

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have some t-shirts and comics to share, sort those out, toss some photos in to be developed, and take a nap. Saddened by the apparent disappearance of my favorite record store, Au Go Go.
     Off to comix meeting with three bags of t-shirts and comics. (I don't do things halfway.)

     First familiar face is Scott Stuart. Barbara Kerr also is here, as well as Darren Close (OzComics.com, Killeroo) and some fella doing a comic ('Violin Girl') about runaways.

     Soon after, Bruce Mutard and Greg Gates arrive. I see a heap of new stuff from Bruce. He's gotten some professional nibbles for his stuff, which is good to hear.

     A warm hello from Michael Fikaris, Tim Danko, and Greg Mackay. Woo hoo! Lots of yakking and swapping and stuff. I'm given new copies of anthologies Pure Evil and Silent Army, invites for the Inside Out exhibition, and more. I distribute textiles (t-shirts, Cambodian 'Krama' scarves) and Southeast Asian comics.  Quite impressed with the look of the new Pure Evil, it's a nice looking product! Wish they'd printed more than five hundred of them...like maybe five thousand. 

     Angelo Madrid shows up with a swag of new samples too. He's getting a fair bit of commercial work. Comix overload! 
     No sign of Q-Ray, Kieran, Pox Girls. Which means I've got to lug stuff back to the Stork Hotel. We head back, then Greg, Barbara, Michael and I park it in the bitter cold outside the hotel, and have a pint. Still getting used to this weather. For now, it's got novelty value. I'll start bitching about it tomorrow.  

I garner more goss on the 'Silent Army' exhibition, which sounded like fun. Michael suggests going up to Newcastle as a posse this October, which might be fun. Greg and Michael are past the age limit. That's us, aging zinesters, past our use-by date. Hmm...maybe we could do an adjunct comics conference?       Meanwhile, in the pub, Barbara is waylaid by an ex-boyfriend, but we drag her off. Since I'm Michael's favorite anti-American-policy American, he's into us checking out a gig at 'Shantytown' recording studio/performance space in Northcote.      After some walking and tramming we manage to find the place.

Obligatory picture of cutesy Oz wildlife. Now get off my case.

Who's on? 'Jihad against America', which seems to take the standard Chomskian line. (i.e., that an endless war against terrorism is bad, civil liberties should not be cut back, etc.) The sentiment I don't mind, but I'm not sure the band's name will play in Peoria. Certainly the band won't.

Run into Natalie Cupri, a friend who's now starting her own music promo company. There's Tim of the Sea Scouts, and Monica from the same band is on stage. Turns out the band is a Ben Butler effort, who I didn't even recognize.

One from Royal Chord, and also Eye See Sea Scouts.

It's really nice to see some familiar faces, as well as some live music.  There isn't much of an alt. music scene in Cambodia, it's all karaoke. I'm having fun, and thinking, 'why did I leave in the first place'?             But just as I wander to the loo to drain my lizard, I spot a gig poster. It's got a picture of Pol Pot on it. Can't escape Cambodian topicality, even on a vacation.      Crash out at Barbara's, since she's close by... Plan to move to Michael's the next day.

Greenies tabling at the back: Food Not Bombs, Rainforest Action folks.

 

Next: Sunday June 30 2002