News Archive 2006
- or -
'Some Stuff that Got Done, Some by Us, Some by Others.'

27th November 2006

Coming up on the 8th of December: me and David Prater reading at the Hawthorn Town Hall - in the Mayor's Room, no less. That's first floor, 358 Burwood Road, Hawthorn. It's a big town-hally kind of building. You can't miss it.

There's good laksa to be had across the road, as I recall, if that place hasn't closed down in the last five years. Used to go there for lunch a lot when I worked at Lonely Planet, coming back to settle in front of fresh galley proofs with my shirt delicately spattered in coconut milk and chili oil. But no regrets.

Anyway, me and Davey are all poetry-reading and stuff at this December Boroondara Soiree, 8th December, 7.30pm. There's a door charge - $7.50 and $5.50 respectively, and that modest price'll get you we two poets, host and raconteur Matt Hetherington, an open section and some natty door prizes too. Bargain!

Flyer's here, listing me as four things to Davey's one. Which begs the question: is it better to be four things or better to be one?

15th October 2006

Ah, dial-up modems. You forget what a snob broadband makes you. This update comes to you at a rate of 56 kilobytes per second, compensated for by a front-seat view of sunset against the glorious drizzle-soaked gardens of my in-laws’ home, our transplanted cat roaming unfamiliar rooms and my darling Anna asleep in the guest room halfway through listening to her meditation CD.

But enough pastoralism. I'm here this evening so I can regale you with the details of a couple of things I’m involved in later this month. Just, you know, in case you were of a mind to wonder what I've been up to.

1. Publish or Perish

On Thursday October 26 at 6.30pm I’m chairing a discussion called 'Publish or Perish? The Future of Comics and Zines' at the State Library of Victoria right there on the corner of Swanston and La Trobe Streets.

In line with the implications of the above vaguely sensationalist title, I’ll be enticing comic and zine luminaries Bruce Mutard, alicia sometimes, Bernard Caleo and Luke Sinclair to chat about how comic-kids and zine-dudes get their creations into the hands of the great unwashed masses for ease of conspicuous consumption.

It’s all been inspired by the generous donation of Australian comics to the SLV by a Melbourne comic collector by the name of Kevin Patrick. There’s an exhibition of the new acquisitions starting up on October 20, called ‘Heroes & Villains: Australian Comics and their Creators’, and a whole slew of comic-related activities planned, of which the 'P or P' sesh is merely one.

I read a thing in this month’s Black and White about the exhibition – Mister Patrick was talking about the Crimson Comet, Australia’s longest-running superhero comic. Big guy with wings and a Biggles helmet.

I once wrote a short story about the Crimson Comet’s grandson. Maybe one day I’ll get back to it. I thought it was pretty good.

2. Scene in Darebin

On Sunday 29th October at 1pm at the Northcote Town Hall (that's 189 High Street Northcote for all you non-Darebinites), as part of the Northern Notes Festival there’s a bit of a celebration of writing set in the city of Darebin, that unrepentant rag-tag agglommoration of the suburbs of Thornbury, Northcote, Preston, et al.

A chapter of Man Bites Dog has scored a possie on the program, set as that chapter is among the hilly slopes of Northcote. It's being brought to life by two actors I’ve never met before, which should be exciting. Always interesting to see other people interpret your words.

The inimitable, incorrigable and indomitable Barry Dickins is MCing the event, and other authors whose words will be part of the day include Shane Maloney, Maureen McCarthy, Pamela Freeman and Marg Vandeleur. Such grand company I don't know what to do with myself, I surely don't.

So there ya go. A couple of public appearances from yours truly, one proxy and one in person. They’re both free, so, you know, if you’re in the area and you’re at a loose end, by all means come check it out. It’d be nice to see you.

21st August 2006

I'm sitting at the kitchen table, a strawberry and cardamom cake baking in the oven, recipe courtesy Vanessa Berry's brilliant A Little Bit Nice recipe book/zine. In the introduction to this recipe Vanessa extols the seductive powers of this particular cake:

This is a cake to make when you are in love. If someone used this cake as bait - woah baby. I wouldn't go as far as marriage, but definitely a pash.

The list of ingredients includes "object of desire (optional)" - with the footnote "NOTE: can be yourself" that kindly includes single or dateless people - and the final step in the method is:

eat swoon prepare the boudoir

I've got something less carnal in mind for this particular cake. It's intended as a token of appreciation for our new neighbour/old friend Matt, who came to my rescue last week when I fell asleep on the train from Melbourne and woke up just as it was pulling out of Castlemaine station, delivering me half an hour later to Bendigo only to discover that there were no more trains in the direction of home until 6am the next day.

The delovely Matt was overwhelmingly generous enough to drive from Chewton to Bendigo and then back with me in the passenger seat, thus saving me from the unattractive options at hand: a night in Bendigo or a seventy-dollar taxi ride home. Nothing against Bendigo - it's just not Chewton, and I'm increasingly a Chewton kind of guy.

(For those keeping score at home, my usual rescuer, the delightful Anna, was over a hundred kilometres away in Melbourne that night, and so unable to perform her wifely rescuing duties on this occasion.)

Anyway, this talk of zines and cakes brings me gracelessly to the latest issue of Jutchy Ya Ya, which is now available in the zines section for your perusal, covering the usual grab-bag of subjects including three-legged greyhounds, leftovers, the Incredible Hulk movie, blood-plums and water tanks.

If you'd like a paper version of the zine, just drop me an email or send me something nice in the post (email me for my address).

And with that, the cake is out of the oven and the zine is on the internet.

13th August 2006

I've got a bit-part in the Nick Earls celebration that's being hosted by Sleepers Publishing as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival. Gus Treyvaud and I will be reading excerpts from Nick's back catalogue. We'll also be competing in the Super Mini Nick Earls Quiz. Nick himself will be in conversation with Andrew Stafford, talking about many things, including his latest book, Monica Bloom, whic is a sweet little novella about crushes on Irish exchange students and first encounters with the indifference of the 'real world'.

Nick, as you will all remember, was generous enough to provide a lovely quote for the back cover of Man Bites Dog. I've been a long-time fan of his work, which had a significant influence on MBD, so it's a pleasure indeed to be sharing the stage with him in some small way.

The gig's on the 31st of August at 7.30pm in the the Malthouse Theatre in South Melbourne. Bookings can be made through the Melbourne Writers Festival.

28th June 2006

Plus also I got name-dropped on the radio as a zinemaker who also does 'legit' writing. The name-dropper in question was the fabulous Dr. Anna Poletti, who may not technically be a Doctor of Zines per se, but is as close as this wide brown land gets. Dr. P was on Radio National's book show talking about her curated feature, 'A people's history of Australian zines', which is in the current and latest issue of HEAT.

You can listen to the interview here and go looky-look at HEAT here.

(Thanks be to Ms. Jo for the Radio National link.)

27th June 2006

I have a few pages in the zine that is part of Omnific Assembly's 21 Dead Bugs as a Gift project, which is taking place between the 11th and 23rd of July at Artery in Fitzroy. I'm also reading some poetry and such at the launch of the exhibition on the evening of the 11th. The project is a combination art exhibition/zine/CD involving far more artists than titular bugs, including deloris, alicia sometimes, Dan Walker, Sayraphim Lothian and Melody Henderson.

More details about the launch as they come to hand. For now you can download a flyer.

14th February 2006

And as a small gift from me to you, my loyal readers, to celebrate this arbitrary annual gift-giving holiday that makes us oil the wheels of capitalism by disguising its true intent with the irresistable camouflage of love, I would like to share with you my very first review for those erudite exponents of sequential artforms over at Comic Book Galaxy. I'm dead chuffed to have my words uploaded beside the rest of the CBG team, and looking forward to inflicting my opinions on the world at large on a more-or-less monthly basis. This month I'm waxing lyrical over a little old comic book called G0DLAND. With a zero.

Yeah, I know. It's a crap present. I'll do better for your birthday, I promise.

4th February 2006

Neuronn, the Creature from a Human BRAIN! is the second minicomic I published, waaaay back in 1999 or something. I can't remember. A long time ago, anyway. Since that first print run (25 copies run off in red toner on my mate Jodie's work photocopier) I've reprinted it (in glorious black and white) a bunch of times, but this is the first time the bugger's been seen in (partial) colour. It's been seen in pink, it's been seen in grey, but this is your chance to finally discover what colour the mysterious beast known only as Neuronn truly is.

22nd January 2006

There's a wee cartoon by yours truly on the Cardigan Press site at the moment, as part of the announcements regarding the forthcoming launch of their latest anthology, Five Minutes Before Bed. Just click the link and make sure your browser settings allow for popups.

The Heavy Product Gallery entries keep rolling in. This time Vanessa Colan of East Brunswick sent us a series of shots taken in aisle 13 of her local supermarket. "I'd seen it there a few times, and then I heard about your web site," said Vanessa in her accompanying email. "I brought my camera with me the next time I went shopping, and took a bunch of shots, just to make sure they came out okay. This guy tapped me on the shoulder and it turned out to be the store manager and one of the security guards, telling me it was illegal to take photos in their store. I tried to explain that it was all about the sticker, but they didn't seem convinced. I apologised and got out of there before they could try to take my camera. I guess they thought I was an industrial spy from another supermarket or something. Anyway, hope you like them."

We like them very much indeed, Vanessa, and we commend you for your intrepid photojournalistic instincts even in the face of corporate intolerance. For your efforts you will receive (as does everyone who reports their sightings or sends in photos) a patented Adam Ford Zine Pack(tm), brim-full with photocopier-generated goodness.