Spring time!

We rounded out April pretty nicely with two events in one week. The touring poets and our visiting writer Andy did a reading that was great and included some pretty fabulous food. The Lovecraft reading was spooky and featured a cake with black frosting and a goth soundtrack.

Seeds are sprouting in the yard, and we hope to have a lot of flowers and veggies growing in the garden this year. Our new visiting writer Eva is arriving today. We have friends who are neighbors, and neighbors who are friends.

March cool-off results

Congratulations to Daniel McCloskey for winning the March cool-off with his selection of comics compiled into one zine. In addition to half the door money, he also won the first-ever trophy made off-site. Also presented at the cool-off were sticky paintings, videos, a novel excerpt about a cat using a litter box, a zine idea, a design for a city birdfeeder, and of course, comics.

Coming up is our Lord of the Rings party on March 25. If you come by the house, you might even get to sample some of the tester-cakes building up to the one at the party with the flaming eye of Sauron on top.

Candy-gram-o-rama!

Thanks to everyone who ordered candygrams and singing telegrams this Valentine's Day. It was a successful experiment in goofy fund raising tactics.

February Cool-Off a success!

Thanks to everyone who came out for this month's Cool-Off. There were a lot of cool projects presented, including: two finished novels, two finished zines, a Pittsburgh pamphlet series, creepy cardboard paintings, a song, some screen prints, a plan for growing ginger in Western PA, and a demonstration of a handmade casting furnace with which the trophy for the winner was created DURING the event!

Now off to draw some comics and prepare for biking all over the city delivering candy and songs to people on Valentine's Day!

Stay warm, but do cool things!

November Cool-Off reportback

Our first ever Cool-Off was a success. That is to say, people showed up, the wood stove created a warm atmosphere, and all the cupcakes got eaten.

There were readings, chili necklaces, videos, technological experiments, and a comic book slideshow. The Queer Negation Tour folks who have been visiting this weekend ended up winning, and will be taking half the door money and the golden torso trophy with them on their way to points elsewhere.

This event will be happening every month, on the second Saturday. Start doing cool stuff now so that you can present it on December 11!

Cyberpunk Apocalypse one-year anniversary party

Thanks to everyone who came out for the Cyberpunk Apocalypse's one-year anniversary party at AIR. The party was a lot of fun. Several current and former residents read their work, as did a few other members of the local small press community. Todd recounted a history of the Cyberpunk Apocalypse that spanned centuries and even included a history of the future, which is always nice. DJ Attila the Hunk kept the party downstairs going until open hours ended and Todd became reigning arm-wrestling champion.

Open hours reportback

Unseasonably hot weather may have factored into the low attendance but high fun at this week's open hours. Seriously, it was in the mid-80's--- who'd want to be inside on a day like that? Not us, that's for sure. We brought the household outdoors, even bringing out one of the tables which then Danny and I used to collate the entirety of Ker-bloom! #77, which I had just finished printing this week. Special on the menu were BLTs and bagels with homemade cashew butter. I'm not saying this to rub it in; I'm just letting you know what you missed. Next week we'll fully have iced coffee.

Beyond food and beverage, action and conversation also ensued in the yard between houses. Our new housemate did laundry outside, and Danny and I drank coffee and talked for hours straight while putting 300 letterpress zines together. Mostly the conversation volleyed back and forth between novel writing and house construction. It was like shuffling cards--- no segues were necessary. We jumped back and forth between plot development and partition walls, publishing and copper pipe.