If you're lucky enough to be in Seattle this weekend, don't miss the Bumbershoot Arts Festival. One of many highlights will be Fantagraphics Follies, an evening of eclectic entertainment featuring some of the country's most creative cartoonists, writers, artists, and musicians.
The show begins with Jim Woodring demonstrating his prowess with a giant pen. Over the course of the program, Jim will produce a drawing on paper that publisher Gary Groth procured from none other than Ralph Steadman! We'll check in on Jim's progress throughout the evening. Ellen Forney will show a clip of a new animation and talk about her sensational book Marbles. Eroyn Franklin and Kelly Froh present multimedia performances and reveal plans for their upcoming Short Run small press festival.
The evening concludes in awesome fashion as Danny Bland reprises Jack Kerouac's famous 1959 appearance on the Steve Allen Show. The notorious beat poet read from On the Road accompanied by Allen's piano improvisation. Bland will read from his new novel, In Case We Die, set in Seattle's grunge era. He'll be joined by Steve Fisk on piano, who is ideally suited to the task, having recorded the 1992 Sub Pop album Prison with legendary Seattle poet Jesse Bernstein.
The one-hour production starts at 6:00 PM this Saturday, August 31 at the Leo K. Theater, followed by a signing in the lobby. The next day in the same venue at 4:00 PM, catch Ellen Forney interviewing cartoonist-blogger Allie Brosh with opening act Bella Rowland-Reid, 14-year-old daughter of Fantagraphics curator and Follies host Larry Reid. Then there's Death Cab For Cutie, Gary Numan, MGMT, Crystal Castles, Icona Pop, The Breeders, Mark Pickeral, Redd Kross, Superchunk, The Joy Formidable, Marc Maron, The Zombies, Reggie Watts, and dozens more! Too much Fun! (Oh yeah, them too.)
