Podcast #84, “Post Con Comedown”

lisa-marie-c2e2Three interviews from C2E2 on this week’s podcast that I couldn’t find a way to run on their own. It was a thrill to speak with three Chicago-area English teachers about teaching graphic novels. They had some insights into a completely different segment of the comic-reading populace, and it was probably the most satisfying conversation I had all weekend.

We also spoke with Lisa Marie Varon, also known as Victoria from the WWE and Tara in TNA, about the differences between those two promotions and the restaurant she’s looking to open in Chiacgo, as well as the founder of the new company, Black Action Tees.

All that and a ton of new rock ‘n’ roll on this week’s podcast.

Podcast #84, “Post Con Comedown”
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Tom Brazelton on Theater Hopper’s impending conclusion

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Iowa-based Tom Brazelton has been writing and drawing Theater Hopper for almost a decade now. In that time, he’s self-published three collections of the comic, made quite a few t-shirts, and grown a community around the adventures of a group of friends ever-so-loosely based on the people in his life. Sadly, now that Brazelton has two young children, he’s had to reduce Theater Hopper from thrice-weekly to weekly status, and even that’s been catch-as-catch-can in terms of what day it might appear. We took a moment at C2E2 to finally meet the man we’ve been harassing on various social media sites for the last five years, and ask him a few questions about the impending conclusion of the strip.

Listen to my interview with Tom Brazelton

Cosplay pictures from C2E2

casual-cosplayYou can check out all the attractive ladies who were kind enough to let me snap their photos over at the excellent website, Geekbauchery, where Mr. Geekbauchery’s audience is far more suited to salacious things than we crate-digging, book-reading dorks at Rock Star Journalist.

Look for the rest of our C2E2 coverage tomorrow, where we’ll talk with Tom Brazelton about the future of Theater Hopper and how he plans on wrapping that up. C2E2 was a blast and a half, and the wife and I have already made plans to attend next year when it’s back at McCormick Place on April 26-28.

C2E2, day 2

c2e2-day-02-012Less time on the floor for Saturday, the second day of C2E2. Firstly, we hiked the two miles up to the Loop to record dig for a while at Reckless, as no trip to Chicago is complete without looking for punk singles in at least one of their locations. Once back to the hotel, we knocked back a pint of Three Floyds’ Zombie Dust, and thus fortified, hit the con. The wife and I split up, with me doing interviews with the likes of Theater Hopper‘s Tom Brazelton and the founder of new company Black Action Tees. Those interviews will run tomorrow evening or Monday morning.
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An interview with Joe Maddalena of “Hollywood Treasure”

c2e2-day-01-031Joe Maddalena is the subject of the SyFy show Hollywood Treasure, a “documentary-reality series that delves into the fascinating world of collecting showbiz and pop culture memorabilia, including science fiction and fantasy props and costumes.” Maddalena owns a company called Profiles in History, which auctions off the aforementioned memorabilia. Their next auction will be the props and costumes from last year’s film, Captain America: The First Avenger tonight, Saturday, April 14 at 6pm as part of C2E2. Maddalena took a few minutes to speak with us yesterday about the auction and the excellent props within.

Listen to my interview with Joe Maddalena

For more details on how to participate in the auction, look at the official page on the C2E2 site. Check out pictures of the props and costumes being offered after the jump.
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C2E2, Day 1

c2e2-day-01-002The first day of the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo had a lot of firsts for me — first time randomly accosting strangers for interviews, first time at a big con, first time walking three miles round-trip for breakfast (although, really, Eleven City Diner is totally worth the time and shoe leather), and first time just generally seeing what you can do with a mouth, a recorder, and a camera.
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Panel picks for C2E2

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As stated earlier this week, the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo, aka C2E2, happens this weekend. There are scads of people from the world of film (John Cusack, Sean Astin, Val Kilmer), comics (Tony Moore, Jill Thompson, Eric Powell), wrestling (Jerry Lawler, Ted DiBiase), and books (Anne Rice, Charlaine Harris) appearing, in addition to a slew of other folks. I’m not here to give you the guestlist. That can be found at the event website. What I’m doing is offering a brief rundown of the panels to which I am most looking forward — bearing in mind that I won’t be there on Sunday. So, let’s look at what’s worth seeing, shall we?
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Where the hell have I been?

The Devil

The Devil


The Middle of the Map Festival is where I’ve been. Thursday through Saturday in Westport — something like 80 bands, of which I saw a quarter. Then, the band for which I yell played its first show Sunday night, so it’s been four straight days of holy fuck. Don’t expect much this week, as we’re kind of in a holding pattern until the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo this weekend. That’s right, kids — Rock Star Journalist is covering C2E2. Look for lots and lots of pictures, stories, and the like Friday and Saturday and Sunday. In the meantime, hold tight and check out my coverage of Middle of the Map over at Wayward Blog: the kick-off party, day one, and day two.