nom nomaha… + more cats and vegan cookzines!

thru nebraska….

the zine mobile’s next stop was omaha — new home to post punk kitchen and vegan cookbook extraordinaire isa chandra moskowitz; her special peer john, creator of the laziest vegans in the world blog; a hilarious trio of cats (more on them in a minute); and the headquarters for isa’s latest endeavor, the teal cat project — which upcycles donated ceramic kitties into stylish teal kitties and gives the proceeds to kitty rescue organizations. like this…

bodies painted first, then heads

i was pretty partial to this lounge kitty in front

completed teal cats, ready for their new homes

not only did isa make us grilled pizzas for dinner and orange pecan waffles for breakfast (thank you isa and i swear to everyone it’s not usually so decadent, this life on the road…), she also donated some awesome vegan cookzines — Gas Tank: A collection of vegan recipes; The (Incompleat) Cheap Vegan; Cookin’ with My Crawdaddy (a Cajun vegan cookzine); Barefoot and in the Kitchen; The Art of Making Vegan Love; Vegan de Guadalupe (Mexican food authentically vegan); Soy Fucker; and Zen and the Art of Brownie Baking.

o lovely zines, i'm sorry this picture doesn't do yr loveliness justice

as much as i’d wanted to set up and do some spontaneous open library hours in omaha, we were already behind schedule so needed to get on the road. we talked of a future visit, as well as a cook/zine/tour, and i bid farewell to these fuzzies…

kirby

avocado

fizz, rolling in a spot of spilled pancake flour

… then back to the road!

thank you, madison!

madison zinefest was awesome and a lot of work!! i feel shy and awkward on either side of a table, but there would’ve been too much distance between the van and zinefest space to set up outside. i brought the healing/wellness, do-it-yourself/how to, comics/comix, political, librarian-made, and bike sections inside, and set up next to rainbow bookstore cooperative : ) everyone was supportive and excited and doing all kinds of amazing work — lots of zine-makers donated copies of their zines to the library, 14 people checked out zines to be mailed back to the zine mobile in a couple weeks in California, and people chipped in for gas money to help the zine mobile actually get to the west coast — coooool!!!

later that night it was post-zinefest karaoke at mother fool’s coffeehouse — despite some technical difficulties it was super fun — lotsa people sang and we feasted on vegan pumpkin cupcakes, blueberry kombucha, teas, and coffee. outside the fly away zine mobile was open for library hours and lounging — and as a special last-minute surprise, the junk drawer (zine) mobile, curated by eric who does Junk Drawer Zine out of chicago, was also parked and open for visitors!

so much thanks to:  j (unich) horn for co-organizing the karaoke festivities; allie for the purrrfect emceeing; john and stephanie of mother fools for giving karaoke night a try; claire (snaggle tooth arts, madison) for the beautiful poster; josh(uA) and brian for last minute help; eric for creative joining; kevin for help schlepping the fly away library into/out of the zinefest space; ani, lily, andrew, monica, sarah, nina, ian, and all former and current mother fools staff for being the best; celia for the special halloween delivery; jenna for the zine and ongoing enthusiasm and support; madison zinefest organizers jessica, matt, and jennifer; megan/Wisconsin Book Festival; Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative for hosting an open mic zine reading; Project Lodge for hosting a zines/music night; Paradise Lounge for hosting post-zinefest boozing; and to the amazing Madison InfoShop for hosting an open house in celebration of their awesome zine collection ; )

apologies for neglecting (once again) to take photos of the festivities. here are some chicken friends i said farewell to before getting on the road —

and a tiny manx kitty i had the pleasure of spending time with in madison : )

meow!

Look at this beautiful flier!!

So excited to be co-hosting this event!!!  Madison, come out!

y o u k n o w y o u w a n n a . . .

Madison Zinefest!

Excited for all the events in celebration of Madison Zinefest, which is part of the Wisconsin Book Festival!!

THURSDAY, October 20: ZINEFEST OPEN MIC…  7pm, Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative, 426 W. Gilman St. A place for all zine-makers to try out their material in a format they might not normally get to:  out loud, in front of a receptive audience!  All ages and free!

FRIDAY, October 21: ZINES, COMICS, LIFE (AND MUSIC)… 7pm, The Project Lodge, 817 E. Johnson St… presentations, discussions, and music in celebration of zine culture!  $5 requested donation.

SATURDAY, October 22: *****ZINEFEST*****… 10am-6pm, Varsity Hall at Union South, 1308 W. Dayton St… tables of zine-makers and space set aside for people to make their own zines!  All ages and free!

SATURDAY, October 22: POST-ZINEFEST KARAOKE, HOSTED BY THE FLY AWAY ZINE MOBILE… 8-10:30pm, Mother Fool’s Coffeehouse, 1101 Williamson St… The zine mobile will be parked outside with open library hours and will provide a space for a free swap!! All ages and free!

SATURDAY, October 22: POST-ZINEFEST BOOZING… 10pm, Paradise Lounge, 119 W. Main St… informal gathering of libation-seeking thing-makers!

♥

Come one, come all!!

Madison, Wisconsin

Took a last minute quick trip to Madison… Visited the InfoShop, which is housed in the same building as Nature’s Bakery, a collectively-owned/-managed bakery that started in 1970.

Their zine library… I often see zines organized in file drawers like this and wonder how many people actually open the drawers to see what’s inside (I understand of course that space limitations don’t leave many options!).

Anyway… I got a handful of zines for the library and talked with InfoShop volunteers about cataloging….

Later on I reorganized the zine mobile — with mixed feelings I disassembled the Zine Rainbow, which featured zines with covers the color of the rainbow… It was a lovely sight, but I figured it was time to take a teeny step toward a more sophisticated organizing system ; ) I kept intact the Little Zine Rainbow (a handful of quarter-sized zines with rainbow-colored covers).

 

 

 

Des Moines!

Huge thanks to Finder’s Creepers, a HORROR-THEMED ART GALLERY (!!), for hosting this event! Huge thanks as well to Becky Kessel, who organized it — and to her and many others for making food, donating zines, and coming out with enthusiasm despite the extreme heat (97 degrees!).

I took a few photos, but neglected to ask permission from people about posting their pix, so I’ll just post these…

THANK YOU DES MOINES!!!

 

4th stop: Pittsburgh

We arrived in Pittsburgh after a day off in Yellow Springs, OH (and visited some goats on the way).

goat baby

But oh yeah, we also read, at the Lili Coffee Shop in Pittsburgh, and were introduced by letterpress goddess Artnoose:

Artnoose at Lili Coffee Shop

• The coffee shop was a really nice reading spot and small enough that it looked packed without much effort. Maybe 20 people attended?
• It was a joy to see some library workers from the Carnegie Library’s zine collection
• In PGH restaurants they ask you how hot you want your food on a scale of 1-10. Hint: 10 is not that hot. The scale really goes up to 50.
• We stayed at the Cyberpunk Apocalypse house

More photos