Montana through Idaho into Washington: SONGS OF THE ABYSS Tour

As we left North Dakota the sky opened up.  Montana really lives up to its name.  Mountains and clouds ran together and horses and cattle dotted the landscape.

 

 We drove most of the day until we got to Bozeman.  

There we stayed at a small place called The Bozeman Inn.  

By early afternoon we had arrived in Missoula.  Neither of us had ever been there.  We immediately saw a mountain man, a beatnik and a hippie.  It reminded me of a Matthew Thurber comic. 

After getting a cup of coffee, we went to meet Theo Ellsworth at his studio.  

This two-headed baby guards the building. 

  

Theo’s imagination is rivaled only by his work ethic. His studio looks like one of his comics. The walls and surfaces are covered with beautiful surreal drawings. They are all carefully made and carefully placed. The cover to Understanding Monster 2 looks amazing.  

Afterward he helped us load our stuff into the venue, Zootown Arts Community Center, which was right across the railroad tracks.

By the time we set up and scarfed some dinner in the car, the show was getting ready to start.  First up was Lost Dog Productions “The Musical Stylings of Sigmund ind Amalia  Freud”

Full audience at ZACC- around 50 people.

Their show was hilarious and professional- laughing throughout the show enough that I forgot to be nervous.  Our show was received well and people were excited about the book.

Missoula was good to us.  There were two articles about the show.  A large audience showed up and were appreciative and Craig ruled as a performer and organizer. 

At night we went back to Theo’s house and spent some time with him and his wife Heather.  We woke in the morning and got to meet Griffin -their one year old.  He is a solid little man, good natured and full of wonder. 

The five of us went to see Heather’s acupuncture center before breakfast.  Lisa and I go to T’ai Chi 3 times a week so we have a basic understanding and appreciation for Traditional Chinese Medicine.  Heather has a calm way and her clinic reflected a peaceful state.

The three of them together are a real model family. It would have been nice to stay longer. We left town with a warm feeling, reflecting fondly on the place, the people and our experience of both.

The road out of Montana continued to be breathtaking.

In a matter of hours we went from snowy mountains to plains to desert. 

Wild Horses, WA

 

We were surprised to find out the Ginko Petrified Forest State Park is actually a scrub desert.  I think we were imagining Jurassic Park.   We set up camp right by the Columbia river surrounded by a fence of Gingko trees.

Eamon, planning for a big-ass fire.

The grass was so inviting that I immediately laid down. 

Life is rad.

Then Lisa joined me soon after.

We walked down to river to eat dinner as the sun set.  1 can of tuna fish, fritos, one orange, and water.  The full moon appeared from behind a cloud.  Walking back it became clear how lucky we are.  I’m on an adventure with my creative partner and best friend. 

With a full moon, a fire and desert breeze what more could you want?  What could be better than this moment?

Next up: Seattle show at Richard Hugo House.

LINK to The Seattle Stranger article.

Minneapolis to North Dakota SONGS OF THE ABYSS Tour

On the way to Minneapolis we got word from Tom Kacynski they had gotten 10 inches of snow the night before. It was late in the season for even Minneapolis to get so much snow. Luckily the sun was very bright as evident in this picture so the streets were fine.

We both have always really liked Minneapolis. And we especially like hanging out with Tom and Nikki. Nikki is a projectionist and has read more books than any person on the planet. Actually she’s probably read more books than every person on the planet combined. Their house is a fantastic library and has become even more so now that Tom’s publishing house Uncivilized Books has taken off. Cool books are everywhere. Finally got a copy of Tom’s Beta Testing the Apocalypse which I am looking forward to reading.
Tom’s comics are unlike anything else. They are philosophical essays in comic form dealing with the repercussions of technological advancement and the consequences societies face under both Socialist and Capitalist governments.

Our performance was the next day at Moon Palace Books.

When we made the show it was assumed that we would perform in comic or book stores. However the size shut that down. It’s kind of worked out nice though because we have been able to perform in a variety of spaces. Anyway we were excited to have our first bookstore event.

Amazing mural on the side of Moon Palace Books

Within 10 seconds of our show a child started crying. Parents beware! We are vultures! Preying on your children with our evil puppet show!! …just kidding. Turns out it was Zak Sally’s daughter. We felt bad that she got scared and disappointed Zak didn’t get to see the show. Sorry Flossie!

The show went on and we brought some heavy weirdness to an otherwise very bright place. My cousin, Christina, came so there was another Espey in the house.

Photo: Tom Kaczynski

Thanks to Angela at Moon Palace for hosting us!

Photo by Nic Breutzman

Afterwards Nicholas Breutzman’s little guy Drake got a behind the scenes look and had marionette 101 class with Lisa. I got a copy of Nic’s fancy new newspaper comic split with Noah Van Sciver. Nic is one of the few friends I made at SVA. His draftsmanship is killer and his stories always push the limit.

The next day we left knowing we be spending a lot of the time in the car. We drove through most of North Dakota.

Endless hills and fields and snow, occasionally broken by absurd visions

...or dotted with beautiful decay

Geese In Flight, attempting to lure us to The Enchanted Highway

Duh

Earthlings welcome, but probably not glu-lactarded ones like Lisa. 

At the end of the day we made it to our destination: Medora, North Dakota.

Badland Pizza Parlor was closed.

In the morning we wanted to walk around. Unfortunately due to the weather many of the roads were closed. Probably for the best because we were not prepared for winter and it was pretty cold. We still got to see some buffalo, prairie dogs and more beautiful landscapes than we could take photos of.

The only grim aspect to North Dakota was heavy presence of Fracking.  Seeing all these machines violently plunging into the ground really makes you feel like a heel and think hard about driving a gas powered car.

It was disturbing to see the pumps with their raping motion just outside one of this country’s first conservation efforts, Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  We continued in silence, counting pumps and Fracking towers-while Earth provided an appropriately atmospheric doom soundtrack.

These postcards and ornaments in a convenience store near the National Park were also really bizarre and unsettling.

Next Montana : Big Sky Country

Looking forward to our show Tonight in Missoula!
Tuesday April 23- 7:30pm
Zootown Arts Community Center
235 N 1st Street, Missoula MT
Facebook event

Thursday is Seattle (FB event), and then Portland (FB event) for Stumptown this weekend!

- Eamon and Lisa

GRIDLORDS Portland: INTERVIEWS with Eamon Espey and Lisa Krause

GRIDLORDS, a monthly comics performance/reading series in Portland OR, arranged for some interviews of us and our process to promote our upcoming show at The Hollywood Theater on 4/27 during Stumptown Comics Festival.

Eamon Espey interviewed by Daria Tessler

Conversational Interview with Lisa Krause and Chelsea Kamm

Uh, yea that's us- Awesome!

Columbus to Detroit to Chicago: SONGS OF THE ABYSS Tour

Eamon here...thought I'd post over here since my blog is a ghost town that even I abandoned.

I got comfortable in Columbus on Monday. At the end I was feeling like I could sit on the porch with these two for a long time.

Columbus should really just make Caitlin the mayor and call it a day. 

J.T. Dockery’s new comic Despair Vol.1 is the real deal.

We left for Detroit on Tuesday. Before the show we checked out the Heidelberg Project. 

 It was inspiring to walk around and see how an environment had been transformed using discarded items. I especially liked the rotten animals. I made friends with this rabbit.

Trumbullplex is anarchist collective that’s been around for 20 years. Lisa played a show there with her noise band back in 2003. As soon as we arrived we were greeted by an awesome dog named Clark, but unfortunately we didn’t get a picture of her.

Afterwards we went to Mark Rudolph’s place. We got to see his studio and various awesome projects he’s worked on. Mark does a lot of art for metal bands and metal magazines. His comics are also metal.

Check out more of his work here.

                   

We ate breakfast together the next day and he took us Hamtramck Disneyland.

 

                        

On the way to Chicago, dark clouds started appearing.

                                                 And then it got bad.

Real bad.

Not what you want to see when you're traveling with a cardboard puppet show.

We made it though and were greeted by this fellow outside of Roxaboxen Exhibitions.

The show went well and Wume played great. Thank you Rhonda. Afterwards we packed up in the rain. We did a good job considering it was dark, wet and Lisa and I were both beat. We sat in the car in the parking lot and split a leftover omelet from breakfast. It tasted better than expected. Then we headed to meet good friends Brittany and Matt in a bar that had a fireplace. Brittany aesthetic assessment of the place was “masculine Marie Antoinette” which was right on. When we got back to their apartment we passed out in Lord’s room. 

Lord.

Breakfast with Brittany and Matt
Check out their amazing store in Pilsen: Angel Dust

Next we'll be heading to Minneapolis!