June 2012 - A bitter taste of podcasting

P.U. what a stinker! Some would call what happened a learning experience, but this left such a bad taste in my mouth that I didn't try again until three years later! Now that I'm almost 70 shows in, its exactly what I wanted it to be in the very beginning! Since this lost pilot, I continued on my merry way creating art and doing table shows. I got that down pretty well and made some good cash from it, but I put the breaks on all that as I got more into podcasting. I still love to draw but now I only do it for myself or the show.  It not only sucks time, but creative energy because as always, do the best I can possibly do with the resources I have.
DIY or DIE!

As some of you might have heard, I am taking underway a new project. The Revenge of the World podcast should be up and running very soon. Producer Brennan Burch and I will be doing some audio testing tomorrow. I am however missing some key components for recording guests. I’ve footed the bill on this all by myself so far but alas I am only a humble artist. So for the very first time in my life I am passing the digital hat around. If you are a fan of my art, personality, or Houston culture I assure you that I will produce a podcast that will meet some level of learning, goofing, and possible on-air debauchery that will be entertaining to at least some if not all of you. My goal for the next two weeks is $400. A meager sum for some, even for me had I not exhausted my funds already. This money will be going toward a new machine and finishing up mic set-ups. Oh also, Rene Cruz will be my co-host on the show! We’ve been friends for over a decade and have a great chemistry when it comes to the funny. So get excited, I am! Please send donations to my paypal at: revengeoftheworld@hotmail.comAlso leave your mailing address so i can send you a limited print as a thank you.

8/18 Return To Wasteland (solo show)Tapia House 313 Center St Pasadena,TX 77506

10/6 (3-8PM) Houston Zinefest (Not-to-miss!) Super Happy Funland3801 Polk Street Houston,TX 77003

May 2012

As best I can tell from my tumblr account, I used to be the most productive sonofabitch in history. I dont know how I found the time to produce art and art merch, do table shows, and adopt a stray crawfish.

JMV Comic Show Austin

Ok well first off this trips post will have a lack of proper pics documenting how fun last weekend was. Sorry. I'll have to do better. The ol lady and I stayed at the Marriot where the show was going to happen. This was a good call on our part as that place is dope as hell and not stabby at all.

1st stop into town was Domy books where i picked up these rad zines. The one on top impressed me so much i contacted Matt Rebholz and he's agreed to be in the next ish of 22VEINS. We hit up a couple other places and went to the hotel for some much needed rest.

The hotel had a good gym so we went to wal-mart and bought the cheapest shoes i could find. I call them phucks. Super comfortable for the workout but as soon as i got back to the room the room my feet started burning like crazy. They turned red and felt like they had been in the flames of hell. Phucking fake chucks!

So to lighten the mood i challenged my girlfriend to a feat of strength. I have never been dragged across the floor by a topless beauty before! Way to go babe!

The morning of the show Jess opened the curtains to our dark room and I swear to god it was if a star exploded inside my brain! White lasers shook through my optic nerves! I yelled out as I went blind and grabbed at my face to make sure it was still there.
"oh sorry, let me close that."

Well this pic is from after i set up, tore down, and set up somewhere else. The dude in the stripe shirt is James. good guy/his gig.

Coffee with a water chaser. It was a looong day.

This carped reminded me of a cosmic kirby drawing.

On the way home we stopped at a bead shop and i found this rad blade.

April 2012

I am grabbing stuff off my tumblr so that I can keep my past in one place as I move on to something else in the near future. Its so strange to look back on some shows I had back then and look at the excitement in my writings.

Two Shows Tomorrow!

If you live in the Houston area, you probably dont want to miss these. Both shows are stacked deep with talented artists and should be a lot of fun. both will have non-dubstep DJs and free beer!

Nighthawks at the Last Supper @ Diverse WorksI’ll be there showing art from 6-8PM. Show ends at 10.
1117 East Freeway

Hello Everything @ El Rincon SocialI’ll be here shortly after 8PM to show art and man my merch table.
3210 Preston

ZINEFEST 2013

I know that you know I love doing festivals, but I really enjoy doing Zinefest in particular. Its really great to be around people with the same passion as you. I often hear that normally my fellow zinesters are introverts by nature, but not today. Today is their day and Zinefest is their fest. Our fest. Surrounded by fellow artists, readers, and writers, the Museum of Print History settled into a warm groove of positive energy where we all talked and met each other again or for the first time. Of course this is only my experience and I did observe a few grumbling psychos here and there, muttering to themselves and staring into empty space, but overall spirits were high.

Zinefest was really well organized and seemed to run smooth from where I was sitting. I missed out on all the special activities in the stage area of the show but I'm sure they were very informative and inspiring... honestly I have no idea. I just saw little Maria Heg trot in and try her hardest to yell stuff. I pretty much missed everything except what was going on at my table.
The best part of my time was getting to chat with all kinds of people coming by to check things out. Most of the people were there because they loved zines and came to collect. There were also some people from the neighborhood that came in to see what was going on and they were fun too. 

The room I set up in. I believe there were three.

Favorite pics. Sucks I missed some tables in all the fracas.

To the guy who proclaimed he would "use" my button packaging idea: if you're too lazy to think of your own ideas, you're probably too lazy to execute mine. There's a lot of work that goes into producing a tangible thing. It's not like you can just order something like that, you thieving piece of phlegm. 

WTF IS THIS?!!

To the mother/daughter team of noodle-brained mouth breathers: my button machine is not indestructible. You can not insert the coin you found in the garbage disposal and expect it to work. It is barely recognizable as a quarter. You can also not get away with being inconsiderate to the owner of this machine. I am not Walmart. I do not have unlimited resources to reverse your idiocy. Some day you will encounter the right person on the wrong day and you will have your eyes opened.

THE SAME NEW THINGS

It's that time o year again. Busting out hard for ZINEFEST HOUSTON 2013, and then a table show at LONE STAR BAZAAR. Then I'll be taking a small break til the BIG ONE! STAPLE Independent Media Expo in Austin! I can not wait for these three shows! I only did one table show this year so that I can actually produce some new artwork. Hopefully a new solo show is on the horizon because its really piling up.

These past few weeks I've been dedicating time to zine creation. Not only Psychoplasmics#6, but also a big issue of 22Veins#3, a new book of Rene Cruz's great airbrush portraits,  and an illustrated short story by Pizo Meyer. Lots of great stuff. I even started an unfiltered Vine account. Shit! I just started an Etsy Store, and this weekend I'll be launching a new revengeoftheworld.com! Fuck I'm tired! Uh, OH! I just did some work for the GREATEST COMEDY PODCAST IN THE WORLD! THE BIG 3 PODCAST! From that I got hired to do a gig for a podcast out of Phoenix called The Brickwall Sessions. Fuck I'm tired. I'mma go to bed now. Good night!

THE BRICKWALL SESSIONS!

My number one listen every Friday!


Workin it! Four hand cut prints each!

RETURN TO WASTELAND

So about a year ago a friend of mine said he was buying a house and asked if i wanted to do an art show there.

 "where is it?" i asked.

"Pasadena" he said.

"OK" said i.

Well he didnt end up with that house but he did get one eventually.

This was going to be so cool because i had'nt had a solo show in over a year but i've been doing group shows and building up a body of new work and welcomed an opportunity to show it as part of my entire collection. Since my bio says i come from the chemical wasteland of pasadena, i named my show "return to wasteland'.

The day before the show i made this sign for the place so people could see it from the street. I hope it comes in handy again mr tapia. 

Of course the first people to show up were my family. this was my nephews first art show. he's cute as fuck! anyway i was pretty nervous at this point because a lot of work and money had been put into the show and i had no idea if people were going to show up. now that i'm thinking about it, this is the first show that i was responsible for! i promoted it, and set it up, and took the financial risk! of course i had help, but it was my failure to make. 

 No failure happened. AT ALL. lots of people showed up, bought work, had laughs, got drunk, and didnt break anything or burn the house down. Success!

Minus the two people holding solo cups, everybody in this pic bought at least one piece of art! craziness!#humblebrag

This is the cake my badass girlfriend had made for the show. its tres leches from el bolio. the black ink stained everybodys fingers and mouths but it tasted yum-my!

This little kid named Gordo ate the biggest piece of cake i'd ever seen. i told his mom he was going to shit the bed if he didnt sleep in the bath tub. who knows what happened. 

This is Natalie Irish talking to Jose Tapia. she's going to be on conan soon. best o luck kid! 

quick! look elsewhere! 

i wish i had taken pics of the backyard where people were mingling around the keg. lots of laughs were being had. oh well, i had a good time. i raffled off a little box of merch in between beers. among other things was a paddleball i am now officially sold out of...finally.

 It was all just so exciting!

Pasadena has a lot to offer in the way of art appreciation after all! i had such a good night! thanks to all who helped me put it together. i realy appretiate your support. also thanks to all the people who bought my work. without you guys and gals i wouldnt be able to do half the shit that i do! EXCELSIOR!

PS, if you would like to talk to mr tapia about hosting a show, let me know.

WOOT!

"I was looking at your blog this morning and i saw that picture with everyone in the living room and it hit me that there was a picture of my house on the internet having an art show and how bad ass Saturday really was. I guess seeing all the behind the scenes stuff and even when everything was going on I'm walking around checking on stuff it never really sank in how great everything turned out and how successful your show really was."

-Jose Tapia

EXCELSIOR! EXCELSIOR!