TINARS@TCAF
TINARS@TCAF presents two special comix related events!
Pages Books & Magazines is proud to sponsor the upcoming Toronto Comic Arts Festival with two exciting This Is Not A Reading Series events. TCAF is an amazing weekend-long festival celebrating comics and the graphic arts. It is organized by Peter Birkemoe and the good folks at his store The Beguiling. The festival will take place from May 27th to 29th in Mirvish Village (aka the one-block stretch of Markham Street running south off Bloor St, right behind Honest Eds at Bathurst & Bloor). Check out the TCAF website to learn about all the exciting events planned for the weekend!
We’ll have books’n’stuff by the artists below for sale. As well, buy a TCAF festival pass (on sale at The Beguiling & Pages) or attend either of the events below to receive a sale coupon for 20% off at Pages Books & Magazines, 256 Queen St West.
TINARS@TCAF SHOW #ONE
Saturday May 28th, 2-3:30pm
@ The Hacienda Lounge
794 Bathurst Street (upstairs, across from Bathurst TTC Station)
Marc Ngui, author of the graphic novel The Unexpurgated Tale of Lordie Jones (Conundrum Press)
A comix storytime performance of the Unexpurgated Tale of Lordie Jones by Marc Ngui. What terrible thing happens when you try to double cross the Toothfairy? Find out as the author performs this twisted little fairy tale in a false operetta-style accompanied by sound effects and video projection.
Marc Ngui is a jack of many trades, probably best known for his syndicated comic strip Zak Meadows. Zak Meadows was collected under the title Enter Alvariz (Conundrum Press), including a great deal of new material that never initially saw print. Marc Ngui studied architecture at the University of Waterloo. He now spends his days doing illustration, comics, diagrams, storyboards, animation, multimedia installations and performances. He lives in Toronto.
Sonja Ahlers, author of the graphic novel Fatal Distraction (Insomniac Press)
Sonja’s Ahlers’ work has been described as “Beatrix Potter meets V.C.Andrews”. Bitch magazine called her new book, Fatal Distraction: “A fever dream of a book.” Riddled with tales of obsession, drugs, rock and roll, copy cats and scapegoats, Fatal Distraction is a play on Fatal Attraction, a Hollywood movie from the mid-eighties about female obsession and gender stereotypes. Sonja Ahlers will be giving a “director’s commentary” to a slide-show from Fatal Distraction.
Sonja Ahlers is a self-taught visual artist and writer. Her work is a blend of the artist book and zine. Ahlers is a pioneer of what could be called the highbrow zine, a writing style pertinent to the West Coast underground. She shows her visual work regularly, running the gamut of public spaces. Her work is also published in magazines and anthologies. She lives in Vancouver.
Lorenz Peter, author of the comic strip Gregory Spalding The Most Boring Vampire Ever
In his graphic novel Chaos Mission (Pedlar Press), Lorenz Peter took us into the world of Klag and Lawd, two teens who dreamed of living the imagined lives of famous poets and rock stars, untouched by the pedestrian demands of the world. Now, Lorenz Peter treats us to a slide show about his latest disenfrachised pedestrian dreamer: Gregory Spalding The Most Boring Vampire Ever. As seen in the satirical tabloid The Toronto Special Gregory Spalding lurks in the park at night longing to exercise his bloodlust, unable to overcome his own the indecisive, guilt ridden and nerdy nature.
Lorenz Peter began studies in northern Alberta 1990-1993 and travelled throughout Canada in pursuit of musical and romantic interests before taking up permanent residence in Toronto in 1996. Disciplined mainly in comic art and illustration, he completed two graphic novels, The last Remaining Ancient Mellish Bird and Chaos Mission, the latter published by Pedlar Press. A third graphic novel, Dark Adaptation, is to be released in the fall of 2005.
TINARS@TCAF SHOW #TWO
Saturday May 28th, 4-5pm
@ The Victory Café, 581 Markham St. (upstairs, one block south of Bloor) Victory Café
Admission is $5 for a pass to all daytime readings.
The Harvey Christians, co-authors of The Dead Beat Scrolls (Cumulus Press, forthcoming)
Brought to you by the creators of the Harvey Christ Radio Hour, a live weekly radio show produced by a collective and heard on CKUT 90.3FM in Montreal since October 2000. Inspired by gospel radio, the Harvey Christians offer sermons and storytelling , hymns, baptisms, exorcisms, barn burning, etc…. They satirize dogmatic beliefs–whether religious, political or pop cultural–and seek to mix the serious with the bizarre as an antidote to mainstream radio and religion. Their collected teachings will be released by Cumulus Press in May 2005 under the title The Dead Beat Scrolls.
The Harvey Christians are…
Reverend Joalian once studied philosophy and currently studies composition at McGill University. She has a BFA in Jazz Studies from Concordia University. She has also sung and played fiddle in numerous Montréal bands over the past 15 years. She currently plays magical folk music with Jordi Rosen and Friends, righteous bluegrass with Honorable John and is the lead singer and ukuleleist of a folk-pop ensemble called the Special Interest Group.
Reverend Randy Peters was born into a congregation of reactionary Mennonites in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba in 1967. A congregation who preached of the fires of Hell and the End of Time that were coming Soon! Randy’s family was kicked out of this church for their liberal beliefs, or for Randy’s coming-on to his Sunday school bible study partner. The events are unclear but they ended up in the local Seventh Day Adventist church, worshipping on Sundays to avoid the SDAs who worshipped on Saturdays. Since then, Randy has been awarded several degrees including a Doctorate of Divinity from a now defunct University of Belize.
Reverend Norm grew up in McCreary, Manitoba. He participated in church as an altar boy for many years, providing him with the only sure venue where he could wear a dress and play with smoke and fire on stage. As a student in Winnipeg he discovered music, art, sex, self respect, booze, spin the bottle, punks, new-wavers, eye-liner, alternative living and moderation. A graduate of the University of Manitoba School of Art, Jan is a predominantly visual artist currently based in Montréal.
Reverend Anna Montana gave her first sermon in the Church of Harvey Christ on February 25, 2000, on the subject of groundhogs. Little did she know what vast secrets would be uncovered. She was born and raised unbaptized in Vancouver, BC, though her family has default Lutheran roots on both sides. Her father’s family can even lay claim to an ancestor who was the sidekick of Martin Luther. Anna is a sound and radio artist who has presented installation and performance works incorporating low-watt FM transmission in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, and Montréal, as well as at the Third Coast Audio Festival in Chicago, PS 122 in New York, Ars Electronica 2002, the Akademie der Kunste and Bootlab Berlin, Digitales in Brussels, and various other bunker-like venues in central Europe.
