Donna Barr's Blog, page 16

Halloween Pah-tay

Minions! I had a lot of fun in Seattle for Hallowe'en.

Because everybody else was busy I stayed at the Green Tortoise Hostel. They were throwing their own party. 

I chatted with a lot of fun people, from around the world, who seemed to think our American costumes quaint. it is one of our better holidays; pretty harmless and hails the silly. Free beer - that's never bad. 
Nice taco supper, too! Needed it before heading off to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Hallowe'en bash at R Place on Capitol Hill. Had loads of fun hooking up back with the crowd, including old friend Maggie Bloodstone. 
Seriously pimped out.Anyway, my sparkly Judy Garland ended up looking more like Steve Bascemi in Boardwalk Empire. I'm trying to remember what Maggie was playing, but I think the Gin Collins kind of got in the way of the brain cells. Did too much dancing and admiring of wonderful costumes. 

Saw the best twerk on the planet and got an unexpected lapdance from a black-winged angel. Then again, as artist friend Mark Campos points out, since when is a lapdance from a black-winged angel not unexpected?
His Holliness da Pope
As usual, received a grand reception from the Sisters, who love my books and - of course - the condom pack I designed for them. Sister Abbess took a moment to discuss the possibility of arranging the appearance of a novice at the Clallam Bay Comicon, because a comicon needs a charity, and the Sisters are best at it. There is a novice in Bremerton, evidently. Bremerton! That town is improving all the time. The Fire Piper, Niall Townley, lives there too. It has quite the art scene.

Out on the street, ran into a guy who was having a bad night - until the conversation reminded him he was no longer sleeping in a Subaru in a graveyard in New Jersey in winter. And got another hug. The Sisters hard at work.
The next day, headed to hit the Three Sisters of Clallam Art Gallery party. They were stepping up in the costumes. And the Soul Ducks - the local hard mud-wallow blues band - was doing their damnedest to crack the air. They said I got them. I hope so; I practically shook my head off the stalk.
On the way home, in Bremerton, stopped at our old house, to check out if Tree was still there. Yes, s/he was, in a neatly-laid-out brick-edged raised bed. We have actually lived Under The Deodars. Or at least one.
We're as nice as we sound.She'd lost that huge limb that really showed her off, but the pruning job was good, and healing well. She used to drop these huge things, the size of trees. I was just sorry we didn't have a woodstove.
Dan made us move because the house was haunted. Looking at it now, I wonder how I ever missed that. 


Thu the Pirate Tree, the deodar fir.After all, it was between a cemetery - and the world's smallest "Indian reservation" - with fireworks stand - with its scattered graves among the trailers and RVs. And of course, all the cats that passed on while we were there. I was concentrating on Tree and forgot to say "hello." I only remembered Vincent, who disappeared so many years ago. Nobody ever gets over someone who disappears.
Prine family home and fireworks (see link in text).The whole street is so obviously haunted. Or was it just because it was the Day of the Dead, on a spooky, red-and-yellow-leaved October? 

No wonder we love Hallowe'en and the Day of the Dead so much. Sometimes we need the real hurt of memories to clear our souls.The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

Donna Barr Live on the Radio

On October 24, there was a radio interview with me. We'll post the link to the recording soon!

"Don't miss it on Empower Radio - with the call-in! It's tonight (October 24).  BE THERE! We need your tough questions:
Corbie Mitleid, of Fire Through Spirit interviews:
Art, Activism and Attitude: An Interview with Donna Barr 
"I've known Donna Barr for over 20 years, and her passion for looking at the world in all its facets -- good AND bad -- is what I love about her. This is no fluffy-rainbows-and-unicorns woman, but one who sees everything about the world that needs repair and redress and dives in. Whether its pointing out human foibles and blind spots through her characters, championing the environment or calling on people to rethink their ossified attitudes, there is never a dull moment around this woman."
Join us live Thursday at 8pm Eastern/5pm Pacific for a conversation that will definitely turn your head around on Empower Radio. Call to take part in the conversation at 248-809-3475! http://www.empoweradio.com/home/index.htmlThe Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

Donna Barr goes Live Radio Tonight

Don't miss it on Empower Radio - with the call-in! It's tonight (October 24).  BE THERE! We need your tough questions:
Corbie Mitleid, of Fire Through Spirit interviews:
Art, Activism and Attitude: An Interview with Donna Barr 
"I've known Donna Barr for over 20 years, and her passion for looking at the world in all its facets -- good AND bad -- is what I love about her. This is no fluffy-rainbows-and-unicorns woman, but one who sees everything about the world that needs repair and redress and dives in. Whether its pointing out human foibles and blind spots through her characters, championing the environment or calling on people to rethink their ossified attitudes, there is never a dull moment around this woman."
Join us live Thursday at 8pm Eastern/5pm Pacific for a conversation that will definitely turn your head around on Empower Radio. Call to take part in the conversation at 248-809-3475! http://www.empoweradio.com/home/index.htmlThe Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

Cartoonists Northwest Talk in Seattle

Art in the WildI'll be in Seattle on October 16, to appear at the Cartoonists Northwest meeting in Seattle.
Come find out how to run your own comicon, with no admission fees or badges, low table fees and just one staff person - and how such a model can expand and re-adapt. Come loaded with questions, because if I haven't thought of the answers for new situations, we'll discover them together.
AND - come find out what T. Brian Wagner and I are doing to make the revival of the our Desert Peach musical - as a concert - happen all over again. This time, crowdfunding will make it more fun and memorable than ever - and that's saying something!
Of course, I'll have books and even the remaining Stinz pins. Yes, I still have them! And sketches and stories and whatever anybody else wants. If you haven't met the fun, happy, highly professional people of Cartoonists Northwest, it's about time you did - and this is a great opportunity!
(Thanks to Seattle friends for making this event possible. You're the best!)The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

2014 Clallam Bay Shop Poster

Shops! Go ahead and download this jpeg of the 2014 Clallam Bay Comicon poster, and print it out for your shop window.

You can print it on a color or black-and-white copier, or use it in to promote your own attendance at the comicon - either way, it will look beautiful.

See you in July!The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

Bad Seattle! BAAAAD!

Men are so lazy....Leaf blowers. Lawn mowers. Edgers. Rowr rowr rowr rowr, hour after hour, no matter where we go, while their clueless macho users bitch and whine about how expensive fossil fuels are (wah wah wah).

There's ONE thing the Ghosts (the future Dead People and their dead DNA) hate more than anything in the whole world: being made fun of. You know how girls get the hit with slut-shaming? Well, this is slug-shaming.
In Seattle, in a nice little apartment-complex area, the entire place was assaulted with the sounds of these asshat things.
So here's the pretty picture and suggestion for going after the noise pollution. Anybody looked into all these shootings and asked if enough noise drove anybody over the edge? We know it does in the rest of the animal kingdom. And we're no different.
Get a fucking broom - STUPID.
And don't bitch about not having an edger. If I can sit on the edges of my yard for a few hours in late August, and edge everything by just ripping, so can you, Mr. Thinks-He's-So-Tough (oh, and can we SAY passive-aggressive with your little machine, you dorkwad?). And then, since you used an electric or push mower, you can use the CLEAN grass hay for your own animals, chickens - or even offer it at farmer's markets for sale!
That's right. Instead of losing money on your yard, you'll be making it.
The Ghosts are also the Greeds. They cannot resist cash. Here's how they can get some. And shut the fuck up.

(And my fellow rural types - yeah, I was raised hick - that don't let you off the hook. Plenty of rural people in cities, now, and even if we've moved back we're calling our own on the arrogance, stupidity, pride in ignorance, cruelty, rank cowardice, narrow-minded industrial greed, short-sightedness, whining when you've been told That's Not A Toy! and fear of wildlife. It's 2013 - get with the program and grow up.)

For you Libertaripoops, Goethe said, "Control yourself or be controlled." New York went there before we did, with Noise Ordinances.The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

Hempfest and Me

Okay, so I don't do the EmJayJay (yes, I'm one of the 29% who have their own cutesy name for weed); I cough my brains out if I try. Or at least nothing but medibles, if legal and available (and please, coconut oil), for sleep and pain.
BUT I do want to hit Seattle Hempfest in 2014 for the first time in years and years and years, just as a party. See the picture? That's me with far too little Seattle of late, at CCAttle's on Capitol Hill. It's also why RuPaul now follows my tweets.
And because I'm a Leo, we could use the August date to consolidate all our birthday parties! Heck, we could do everybody's birthday party - why not?
As usual, looking for a couch. I'll buy breakfast, or one of those Safeway Roast chickens for supper. Hey, I'm an artist. We're always broke.The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

Hallowe'en in Seattle? Maybe?

Am seriously thinking of going to Seattle for Hallowe'en - haven't seen the Sisters in years, or BUMP ever, or a Big City during my favorite holiday for ages. Damnit, I'm due one. 
I'm going to experiment with buses. I'd have to go down on Thursday (the 31st) and come back on the 1st (Saturday) because of the buses (hey, I can sleep on a bus) - unless somebody wants me to stay longer for stuff we can arrange ahead of time. 
SOOOO.... anybody got a couch? Anybody want comics or art? Or there other events you're part of I should be at? And - CANNOT PROMISE. I'm just setting this up ahead of time, because snowing in on people at the last minutes is crap. We could do that when we were kids, but now we need some lead time.
Whether or not I actually arrive depends on HEALTH. If all I can do is sit huddled by the woodstove watching "Arsenic and Old Lace" and handing out candy while wearing my sequin fedora (thank you, Maureen of Cartoonists Northwest), I might have to. But just in case....The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

Cartoonists and a Play Meeting

Grey Cat! Best snuggles ever.Ah, fun in Seattle - and Renton! Went to the Cartoonists Northwest Mad Hatter Party, even scored a sparkly-banded fedora, which I shall probably be wearing at conventions.
Roo Butt!Thank you, Noel Franklin and Roberta Gregory, for arranging to put  me up for the weekend. And Shawn Connor, Noel's boyfriend, who provided space in his grandparents' 1916 house on Phinney Ridge, and Bruce Taylor, who owns a lovely condo on Yesler Way.

And Grey Cat for cat snuggles all night. And Roo for keeping a tired stomach warm.

Noel is the accountant for the Desert Peach Musical concert revival. She and I and T. Brian Wagner, who is one of the original writers on the play, had a very productive meeting Monday, at SeeSee's on Capitol Hill, hashing out some details about accounting, funding, contracts, copyrights - you know, the usual nuts and bolts. Everybody seems pretty confident and happy that this thing is very possible, now.

Roberta Gregory and I ran around Seattle, of course - a must for when I'm in town! I wish I could come in more often - I had promised every month - but I'm afraid that, with travel, illness, recovery and catch-up, it's going to have to be once very quarter. But this site will always have details at the top of the page for when I'll be peeping out of our place on the beach. Yori at Pike's Place Fish Market.
Of course, had to hit my homeland - the Pike's Place Market  - while I was there. Here are a few of the fun people I spoke to while there. Mike's Peppourre, offering their new beer hot pepper sauce! 
While I was working as a vendor at the market in the '80's, I walked past Mike's Pepporri. I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, an older First Nations woman, wearing a basket hat, selling baskets, right in the outer doorway. 

"Huh," I thought. "Doesn't have to have a booth or a slab? Must be really grandfathered in." 
Jonny Hahn - on the piano in the rain.Of course, nobody is allowed to just sit and sell at the market, especially a full display like that. It wasn't until later that I remembered that Chief Sealth's daughter originally sold baskets in the area - and that one never recognizes her at the time, and only realizes later. Oh....
Here's one of the street musicians in the market, name of Jonny Hahn. Any man who can drag a piano out every day, in the rain, AND be a leftie activist - hey, I'm putting money in the hat. And yes, I posted his information, so you can buy CD's. He's good!


Oh, it's worth it.And thanks to Denny Eichhorn and Jane Rebelowski, for allowing me to leave Altima Thule in their driveway over the weekend. These travel plans get a bit complicated. I'm going to try to use the State transport systems more in the future. Organizing now for an Orca card (Washington State epurse card) and I've already got my Car2go card. 

Roberta and I were going to use a Car2go ofter the meeting, but she'd had a beer and I'd had a very nice gin Collins, and one doesn't drive a Car2go in that state, thank you. The next time we thought to use one, when properly sober, it was reserved. No matter. I have my card, we shall drive the tiny blue-and-white chariot yet!

Okay, except for updating my cell phone situation, I'm closer to getting back to drawing pages for Afterdead. 

And Jim, the cat we're teaching to walk on a leash, has decided to sleep in the chicken coop today, the big one, not the little tractor the hens are in. So I should check and see if he's over his nap, yet.The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

Will The Taliban Let Me Travel?

Me in Seattle, ECCC, Prism booth. OOH, I miss that town.I need to go to Seattle November 19, 2013, to meet in one of the twelve - TWELVE - US offices to get my NEXUS travel card (those guys got SO abandoned - it takes 'em six months to do a background check. They must be using computers from 1993).
This is, of course, basically the Taliban allowing me to move outside the borders of a male-built country/boys' club on my own planet. Well, it is. Yes, I'm an old Trekkie - I think in PLANETS. The border patrol ever stops me and asks me where I'm from, I'm saying, "Earth."
Anyway, if anybody wants to see my friendly face for that date, let me know! We'll get together for SOMETHING. Me hunting Seattle real-estate, if nothing else. Because I feel my work out here is done - or other folks need to man up and take it on. Their turn.The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...