Nowhere Band News

We’re about to leave for vacation, but we still found time to talk about Dead Poets Society; my side of the conversation somehow managed to include Led Zeppelin and Wolverine.

So, Dan’s a pretty good drummer, but he’s got other skills. He just sets them aside out of concern for the happiness of his friends.  What a guy!

This one isn’t ripped straight from real life like the whole Great Big Schmooze deal was, but there’s sort of a historical precedent.  Back in my first band, Red Hay, our drummer was a sextuple- or septuple musical threat who pretty much limited himself to drums.  I doubt that he ever had any conversations where he flat-out said he was holding back to spare our feelings (although he’s a hell of a nice guy, so I wouldn’t put it past him), but I was still always conscious that he could probably step forward and go all Gary Louris on us at any moment if he got the itch.

So, then, it’s Hiatus Time.  I’m off to California for a week, with production starting back up when I get back.  That puts the next strip up at, what, some time in June?  Let’s say June 9th as a probably-hard deadline.  Although you never know, it might be worth watching this space to see if things run more quickly for some reason.

Once again, an illustration for a blog post of Rebecca’s; this is an awesome, awesome (or creepy, creepy, depending on your POV) at Mancini’s in St. Paul.

While I’m here, I might as well mention that Nowhere  27 (featuring Dan, who’s been absent for a while) is in the Photoshop stage now, and could be up tomorrow if things break right. Otherwise, Friday for sure.

Friend of Nowhere Band John Ralston has part one of his series The Hole in the Wall up at the Top Shelf Comix site, and it is highly recommended. It’s a surreal story about a couple of cats who go exploring, gorgeously drawn in a style that reminds me a lot of 1930s newspaper strips. John’s a hell of an artist and a great guy, and he could use your clicks!

And conclude that Reality Bites even more now than it did in 1994.

…aaaand now we see Aaron reap the wages of cock-blocking his bandmate. Poetic justice? Just the way things go? All in the game, yo? It’s not for me to say.

OK, I guess it is for me to say, since I wrote the damned thing. And here’s what I’ve got: like several other Nowhere strips, this whole Great Big Schmooze business is at least partly rooted in something that happened to me (in this case, about 10 years ago), back in the days of my band Red Hay. I was the Aaron figure in that little piece of Kabuki (here’s a hint: whenever a strip’s based on a real-life event, all you need to do to identify which character’s taking my role is to look for the one who’s being the biggest chump or asshole; that seems to be the way I write the reality-based scripts). I really was thrilled to have actually picked up a girl (so I thought) by playing guitar, and I really did sort of elbow my way past one of my boys to get there, and the whole thing ended more or less the way 26d does, except without a righteous drawing of the Hindenburg (actually, the night of the initial pickup also included a crazy little side adventure wherein my friend Chad and I spent a hair-raising half hour with a completely insane dude who wanted to be called “Hustler Pete.” I’m still on the fence about whether The Tale of Hustler Pete will ever be transmuted to comic form).

So, May is a crazy month for me. My wife’s birthday, our anniversary (5 years!), a week’s vacation at the end of the month, and some family visits. Which is to say, sorry the schedule’s been a little choppy, and there’s still some chop to come. One more strip will come out next week, and then there’ll be like a 2-week lull while I travel and recharge and all that. Full service will resume in early June.

It’s true!  The boys sit down to talk love, life, and music (well, just music, really) with the folks at isroxxor. It’s a must-read, especially to people who think Sting should have been assasinated in 1986.

Also, 26d is being inked, and will be up by the end of the week FOR SURE.

So, if you’re over here, you must have at least a passing interest in Twin Cities music; if you want to further that interest, you should go take a gander at the new music site is roxxor, which features interviews and music and reviews and general funosity.

That funosity may include some Nowhere/Derailleur/Awesome Boys-related stuff before too long, if you’re into that sort of thing…

And part 3 of the most action-packed night the Awesome Boys have ever experienced is up. How thick is the tension in that car?  Thiiiiiiiiiick.

Part 4 will conclude the mini-storyline, although there will of course be reverberations for a while afterwards.  And Part 4 will be a little late, even more late than this one was.  May’s just that kind of month for me.  Sorry.

Also: I didn’t mean it this way, but Aaron’s expression in panel 4 reminds me a lot of Ray Smuckles when he’s being remorseful.