JOHN P/Map Of My Heart=ZAK SALLY/Like A Dog book release party OCT 24

my very good pal John Porcellino has been on the road for the past 5 weeks, traversing our great nation in celebration of the release of his new book "MAP OF MY HEART: selected comics 1996 -2002" (Drawn & Quarterly) and not only that but GET THIS: also marking 20 YEARS OF KING-CAT.
i know, it's crazy. so, yeah; John has been doing his zine for 20 years, and it's pretty well agreed that King-Cat is perhaps the greatest mini comic, uh...ever. John has been HUGELY influential and i'm not even going to get into all that because i'd be up typing for another 2 hours, but it's a big deal (in a very quiet, small way).
and John has said to me many times on the phone about the comics that make up "MAP OF MY HEART"..."they're the best comics i've ever done". and you know-- they ARE. and with someone like John, and a magazine like King- Cat, that's saying something. i'm not kidding, this is a VERY SPECIAL BOOK.
and not only that, but MY new collection of old stuff is coming out too-- it's called "LIKE A DOG", and it's a fancy hardcover book with a bunch of full color stuff in it, collecting the first 2 'zine issues of "Recidivist" as well as a bunch of other stuff i did for anthologies and whathaveyou, all decked out with extensive "liner notes". my pals at Fantagraphics were nice enough to publish the thing, and i've got to say-- i'm extremely proud of this book. i really am; it came out better than i could've possibly hoped.

so it's a RELEASE PARTY FOR BOTH BOOKS!!! HOORAY!!!
michael's puttin' it on, so we'll both be at BIG BRAIN COMICS (that's 1027 Washington Ave S Minneapolis, MN 55415 (612) 338-4390) signing and shooting the breeze from 5 til 7:30 or so on SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24.

then after that, we're heading over to the WEST BANK SOCIAL CENTER (501 Cedar Ave. S (Second Floor) Minneapolis, MN 55454 http://westbanksocialcenter.org/)
from 8 to 10 or so, where Johhnny will give a presentation about 20 years of zinehood.

as always, short notice, but
come on down and say hi.
ok all, bye.
best, zak.

damn, i don't have a pic of Johnny's book, but here's mine:
(whoops, that's it up top there and i'm too tired to change it...)

ANALYSIS: DISNEY BUYS MARVEL COMICS

apparently, Disney has bought Marvel Comics.







--zak.

Jason T. Miles' "DEAD RINGER" nominated for IGNATZ AWARD!

for "Outstanding Comic"; just announced today.
i've got to say, this is great because i honestly feel (both as a cartoonist myself, and as PUBLISHER of the thing) that DEAD RINGER has not received the amount of attention that it deserves. maybe this'll get it a little more (remember: it's there for the ordering in the La Mano store, right at the top there...). i sure hope so.

my hearty and deserved congrats to Jason.

and, i've got to add... La Mano has released three books that could be considered "comics", and let's see here; John Porcellino's MOSQUITO book won an IGNATZ, and, hmmm....the final issue of RECIDIVIST got nominated for TWO "Eisner"'s, and now with DEAD RINGER getting the nom, that makes...wait, hold on, let me do the math....wait....wait....

EVERY SINGLE BOOK LA MANO BOOK HAS RECEIVED INDUSTRY AWARD NOMINATIONS?!?! REALLY?!?!

WHY, THAT'S 120%!!!!
that makes La Mano the GREATEST COMICS PUBLISHER OF ALL TIME!!!

(yeah, i know La Mano puts out less than a book a year, and awards are kind of goofy but still...)

the award'll be given at this years' Small Press Expo (SPX) the weekend of September 26-27 in Bethesda, MD.
LA MANO will have a table, and i'll be there, as will John P, and maybe hopefully Jason as well.
more details as they arrive.

I'M ON VACATION AND DON'T KNOW HOW TO USE AUTO RESPONSE EMAIL

in FACT, i just tried to write a nice thing that said "if you just sent me an order it'll be a week before i can get it out to you because i'm away on vacation, sorry about that" that would go out whenever i get an order, like it's SUPPOSED TO, but it somehow SENT THE DAMN THING TO EVERYONE WHO HAS WRITTEN ME AN EMAIL EVER, IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. god i hate these fucking machines. if you got one of those emails and have, you know, ALREADY RECEIVED YOUR STUFF A WEEK OR THREE AGO, please disregard.
for the rest of you...i'm on vaction. will get you orders out asap when i return home. sorry for the delay.
cripes.

MORE AND BETTER

my pal Karl comes through with the classy filmwork from the release show...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQls4CaEo5E

SO MUCH FUN

so, just over a week ago, that thing happened at Eclipse records. if you weren't there, you missed out, and you are probably kind of upset about it. man, i don't blame you. fact is, from the store (thanks, Joe x 2 an everyone else), to everyone in the bands (who were, each and every one of them, GREAT) to most everyone i saw in attendance, this event was just what i hoped it'd be: a fun-as-hell 5 hours surrounded by pals (nevermind that it was CHEAP). and La Mano raised some much needed cash, for which i am really, REALLY appreciative. my sincere thanks to everyone who hosted, performed, sold zines, or just showed up.

really. as i wrote in my original email when i was hitting up folks to play; there's a part of me that feels strange about having a "benefit" for my business; i mean, you have your own CHAIR SHOP or whatever and you need $, you don't have a benefit, right?
and then i realize; you know, if you're a friend of mine and you're making beautiful chairs and you need a little hand and it sounds like a great event, well-- maybe you should consider having a benefit show, because I'D probably play it.

still and all: thank you.

but let's be honest-- all anyone who was there remembers is this:



and this:


(and before you go calling social services, my boy's got earplugs in)

LA MANO BENEFIT JULY 22 ECLIPSE RECORDS st.paul mn: JIM AND THE FRENCH VANILLA, PAUL METZGER, SKOAL KODIAK, TOGPTFFSOTWOTER, SEAWHORES

big things are happening; expect a big site update and new la mano product (!!) tomorrow, but in the meantime, COME TO THIS:
("official""press" release follows)

all right; this is "Steve", the official La Mano "publicist".
here is the deal: Zak Sally (musician [Low, Dirty Three, Kid Dakota, etc], cartoonist [Recidivist, Sammy the Mouse, the forthcoming "Like A Dog" hardcover collection due this fall from Fantagraphics], and publisher [La Mano 21]) somehow ended up making a record; wrote, sang and played every damn thing on it, recorded it with his old pal Ben Durrant (Andrew Bird, Dosh, Shearwater) at Crazy Beast Studios.

it's called "Fear Of Song" (as in: "Zak Sally's Fear Of Song", get it?). 9 songs 37 minutes, and will be released on CD in a signed and limited edition, with all the packaging and such done BY HAND on the La Mano press. very pretty.
his old pals at the venerable Sub Pop records also did a 7" from that record, featuring the single "Why We Hide", and an exclusive track "When I Said I Missed You I Just Meant My Aim Was Off (The Quiet Life)". see, look here:

http://www.subpop.com/releases/zak_sally/singles/why_we_hide

there is also probably going to be a video for that first thing by Phil Harder (Foo Fighters, and, uh...Prince).
release date for the single is JULY 21, release for the CD is JULY 22.

to this end we are setting up a HUGE, AMAZING RECORD RELEASE SHOW/ LA MANO BENEFIT, etc etc see above i'm not typing it all again.
it'll be hosted by the good folks at Eclipse records (and therefore is ALL AGES and CHEAP) right on University ave in St. Paul.
starting at 5:30-ish, you will se performances by these local luminaries:
JIM AND THE FRENCH VANILLA (Jim from the blind shake's solo venture)
PAUL METZGER (solo treated guitar unbelievableness)
SKOAL KODIAK (sorry everyone else, but the best damn band to come out of minneapolis in a decade solid)
T.O.G.P.T.F.F.S.O.T.W.O.T.E.R.A.T.S.Y.O.A (Three Old Guys Play The First Five Songs Off The Wipers' Over The Edge Record And The Song Youth Of America, featuring Zak Sally, Dale Flattum [Milk Cult, Steel Pole Bath Tub], and double duty from Freddy Votel [Cows, Skoal Kodiak, a million other bands]
and the SEAWHORES.

and besides that, there will be tables selling ZINES, POSTERS, BOOKS and whatever by a bunch of your favorite local arteests.
like i said; ALL AGES.
and CHEAP? how does SIX BUCKS SOUND?
good? yeah, well see the aforementioned mention of a "benefit" and what that means in this case is that that $6 you just spent gets you SIX BUCKS OFF OF ANY LA MANO BOOK OR POSTER (and aside from all that, the first hundred or so people in the door will almost certainly get some free thing from the La Mano archives, not sure what exactly yet, but...).

oh who am i kidding there is no La Mano publicist. you knew that.
if you are getting this it means you are either a) a friend of Sally or La Mano, b) someone i've talked to about this thing but haven't yet said hey dammit you want to come sell stuff at this thing (if so, email me and say so posthaste) c) a writer or dj or press person or most likely
d) some combination of those things.
this thing is just a couple weeks off (and this email should've gone out a month ago), so spread the word, come down, whatever.
you got questions?
zak@lamano21.com

ok all. see you down there.
--zak.