The Beesting Conspiracy

Michael Jackson, eh?
I'm not a big fan, really.
I was as a child, I remember that.
I don't have any specific musical memories until Thriller, possibly the first cassette I owned -- a Christmas present in 1984, I think -- but I remember puffy stickers of Jackson from the Off the Wall era. And I was aware of The Jackson 5. Everyone in my family loves music -- it's sad but true that some people have no real relationship with music -- and I was exposed to everything (everything mainstream, anyhow) early on, for which I am deeply grateful.
Oh, and I remember the bit in the Thriller video when he transformed scared the shit out of me. And I caught a lot of shit for being such a wuss. All I can say to those folks now is: go fuck yourselves, you insensitive assholes!
So here's the deal. I'm going to list the few songs that I REALLY like that Michael Jackson sang on. That's it and that's all.Only the first three are in order of how much I like them. That it's all pretty much in chronological order is what it is.

I Want You Back
Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough
Leave Me Alone

She's out of My Life
The Girl is Mine
Beat It
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
Human Nature
Billie Jean
The Way You Make Me Feel
Man in the Mirror
Smooth Criminal
Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground

Space Panic! recorded a new song on Sunday.
It's called Exogorth.
Shot a video, too.
You'll know more when I do.

http://www.garageband.com/artist/thebeestingconspiracy

event horizon is a keyboard instrumental.  
it will be the last of 3 tracks on everything is reversible part 2: intermission.
that little nugget drops SOON!

THE STUDIO WORKS!
New music as soon as garageband.com gets around to accepting the upload.

1.  It was HOT.  Shorts and basketball jerseys next year.  And one of those cooler bags filled with ice from the hotel.  Yes.

2.  Star Wars fan comics!  I made exactly one purchase, thanks to a shoestring budget.
www.harvestcomic.com

3.  Molly Crabapple is hot.  This might have had something to do with the stifling conditions at the con. 

4.  Low sales seemed to be the buzz words of the weekend.

5.  I spent more time behind the table this year than the last two shows combined, and I enjoyed it. 

IT FUCKING ROCKED.
Here's 11 random things, in no particular order:

1.  Who took all those pictures (we have a suspect in mind), and what am i going to see when i get the camera developed?
I'll keep you posted.

2.  $ell-outs lives!
Details SOON.

3.  Dick Clown lives!
idrewsomestuff 

4.  Jerry Robinson might just be the coolest guy that ever lived. And still sharp as a tack at 87. 
Seriously, just look at  what he's done:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Robinson

5.  Some things are best kept secret.

6.  There's a flipside to that.  Of course there is.

7.  Patience.

8.  Faith.

9.  It was GREAT to be in a room with so much love for comics.   

10.  EVERYBODY LOVES SEEDS!!
Its true.   

11.  MY FRIENDS ARE SOME OF THE COOLEST PEOPLE TO EVER WALK THE EARTH.   

MONTPELIER, Vt. – Trees & Hills comic group releases its first book collection of comics this week at the MoCCA Arts Festival in New York City.

"First Harvest: Trees & Hills comics volume one" features more than 150 pages of cartoons from two dozen creators in Vermont, New Hampshire and western Massachusetts.

The book contains reader favorites from Trees & Hills’ first four mini-comic anthologies, published between Fall 2006 and Summer 2008, along with new work by creators in the New England region. Contributors include industry legends such as Stephen R. Bissette and Mark Martin and up-and-coming talent like Colleen Frakes and Marek Bennett.

"There’s some amazing work in here and we’re proud to put it in book form where it will remain in print," said Dan Barlow, a Vermont writer and the co-founder of Trees & Hills. "These are the roots of the Trees & Hills comic group and they are strong."

"First Harvest" will be available on June 6 & 7 at the Trees & Hills table at the MoCCA Arts Festival. The book features a color cover by Vermont artist Megan Baehr and will sell for $10. The book will also be available to purchase from the Trees & Hills Web site one week after the show.

Trees & Hills comic group formed in 2006 with the mission of developing a strong community among cartoonists and other comic creators in Vermont, New Hampshire and western Massachusetts.

Last year, the group published the successful "Seeds: An Anthology of Comics About Food" mini-comic, featuring comics about nutrition, eating organic and local and alternative food lifestyles. "Seeds" sold out just months after the debut and is now in its second printing.

Copies of "Seeds" will also be available at MoCCA this week. The $5 comic comes with a recipe booklet and a packet of organic seeds from a Vermont farm.

New Hampshire cartoonist and Trees & Hills co-founder Colin Tedford said the publication of "Seeds" last year has inspired the group to a new focus on socially-progressive comic anthologies. "First Harvest" closes the door on the first chapter of the group, he explained.

"Each new anthology we produced marked a progression, but Seeds was a real turning point for us - we realized, 'This is what we need to do,'" Tedford said. "First Harvest is a record of where we've been. It feels good to have that, where a few years ago there was no such thing."

Fall 2009 sees the release of "Shelter," a new Trees & Hills mini-comic anthology focusing on issues of housing and homes. The comic will debut at the Small Press Expo in Maryland on Sept. 26.

"First Harvest" contributors include Megan Baehr, Matt Levin, Chris Grotke, Matthew Reidsma, Anne Thalheimer, Mark Martin, Bryan Stone, Colleen Frakes, Morgan Pielli, Stephen R. Bissette, Daniel Bissette, Meagan Frappiea, Colin Tedford, Keith Moriarty, Blake Parker, Benjamin Kalish, Miles Cota, Ray Prado, M.R. Wilson, Bill Couture, Marek Bennett, Jade Harmon, Mark Gonyea, Jennifer Omand, Matthew Young, Tim Hulsizer, Cayetano Garza Jr. and Gregory Giordano.

For more information, visit www.treesandhills.org

reposted fromdanielbarlow 

Trees & Hills Comics Group is proud to announce the impending release of First Harvest -- 166 pages (!) of comics goodness from New Hampshire, Vermont & western Massachusetts.  Comprising a healthy dose of stories from the first four Trees & Hills anthologies and some new stuff, First Harvest showcases a wide variety of content and talent, all within T&H's family friendly format.  There's something here for everyone, and you can make book on that.
God willing and the creeks don't rise, the book will be for sale at MoCCA Art Festival 2009.
Details on contributors coming soon.  We at the Conspiracy have it on good authority that we're in it. Most notable is The Cosmic Cocktail Conundrum, 3 pages of fun brought to you by venerable co-writer Daniel Barlow and equally venerable Tim Hulsizer, and me.  I'm quite proud of that story.
The cover to the book is by the lovely and talented Megan Baehr.
Barlow worked hard pulling this thing together, so go praise him, or we will send Space Panic! to destroy you.  They can do it, too.  Stardust von Destroyer is very powerful, and Zeeb carries all the rage of an oversexed male who's gone a year without getting laid -- and then some.
Link-O-Rama:

danielbarlow 

tundraboy 

gummibaehr 

The Cosmic Cocktail Conundrum, page 1:
http://ignatz.brinkster.net/timages/daily/2007spaceanth01.gif

Jerry Robinson! Al Jaffee! Dave Mazzuchelli!  And people I might know if my reading habits were more inclusive!
Still!
Jerry. Fucking. Robinson.
Too cool!
(And don't think the presence of another Moriarty is lost on me either.)

Picture it: New London, Connecticut.  Autumn, 1981.  My sister Jill, doubtlessly influenced by MTV, at least indirectly, picks up Allied Forces by the other Canadian power trio, Triumph.  I couldn't tell you a damned thing about the album.  Check the Wiki, I did. 
Anyhow, I remember this song quite fondly.  Hope you like it.
And thank Jill if you see her.