*KEEF INTERVIEW ON THE STORY WITH DICK GORDON
My interview on American Public Media’s The Story with Dick Gordon will be repeated on Dec. 28th. Hopefully it won’t be preempted in Los Angeles like the original broadcast. If you ain’t heard it, you can check it out here.
the K Chronicles by Keith Knight
(th)ink by Keith Knight
*YOU’RE DAMN RIGHT I WANT A HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS!!
Why not? I’m sure someone’s got one just sittin’ around. House, apartment, condo, trailer or houseboat. We’d like one in the Bay Area, but will gladly take one in Boston, Denver, Seattle or Milwaukee…
*(TH)INK IN COLOR!!
96 Hours in San Francisco wants the strip in color so I started doing it a few weeks ago. So I may as well post in color here. Enjoy!
*I’LL BE A SPECIAL GUEST AT COMIC-CON IN 2010!!
I am most pleased to announced that I am official guest at the San Diego Comic Con in July 2010, alongside Sergio Aragones, Berkeley Breathed, Carla Speed McNeil, Nicholas Gurewitch and a ton more. Check out the site here.
*IF YOU ORDER SOMETHING AFTER THIS WEEKEND, YOU WON’T GET IT TIL JANUARY!!
..so get your orders in NOW!!
(th)ink by Keith Knight
the K Chronicles by Keith Knight
*THE SAN FRANCISCO PANORAMA..
I contributed a piece to this one-time, super-badass homage to the newspapers of old, put out by the one and only McSweeney’s. Top notch writers (Vollmann, Alcaron, Eggers), designers, photogs and cartoonists (Tomine, Bechdel, Ware) have all contributed to this monstrosity, with the intension of showing what a newspaper can do better than the web.
It’s hitting shelves next week! Order yours here.
*LAST WEEK TO GET ORDERS IN FOR XMAS DELIVERY…
I’m going overseas for the holdiays so I gotta get stuff out next week. Everybody waiting on Kommissions, please be patient.
*CONGRATS TO RECENT FRIENDS OF LULU WINNERS…
Danielle Corsetto and Kate Beaton! Two cartoonists that I just started following earlier this year. If you ain’t hip to ‘em, take a look!!
*INTERESTED IN ORDERING THE 2010 LITTLE VICS/MEGA-MIX CALENDAR?
Just noticed the home page on the site isn’t coming up, just the blog, so people are having a hard time getting to the store. Click this link or type in http://www.kchronicles.com/store to order all you holiday keef krappe.
(th)ink by Keith Knight
the K Chronicles by Keith Knight
*KEITH KNIGHT KOMMISSIONS ARE COMING IN!!
Thanks to everyone ordered an art commission from me for the holiday. I’m having some fun with the drawings –please be patient–just make sure if it’s a caricature you want, SEND A DECENT PIC!! Stiil taking orders til the end of this month. $125!!
*WHAT’S THE OTHER MARGINAL PROPHET DOING?
If you ever wondered what the Noble Def G is doing, click here.
*I’M IN THE COMIC RABBITS AGAINST MAGIC!!
Immortalized for all to see!! Check it out here.
*OFF TO VEGAS!! GOING TO MISS MY HIGH SCHOOL REUNION!!
Stefanie Bello! Where are you?!!
(th)ink by Keith Knight
the K Chronicles by Keith Knight
*THIS WEEK’S COMICS..
I know, I know.. I effed up. It’s a guillotine, not a gallows.
And happy 70th to the mouse formerly known as Mortimer!
*EXCELLENT L.A. WEEKEND WRAP-UP!!
Thanks to all who came out to see me at the Afropunk/Saul Williams show at the Roxy and my first official signing in L.A. at Meltdown Comics. Plenty was purchased. Beer was gone by 9:30pm. Turnout was dandy for a Saturday night, with folks bringing their kids to bond with the Incredible Cuteness of Being.
Special thanks to Chris at Meltdown and Matthew at Afropunks for letting me do my thing.
*EMAIL OF THE WEEK…
Dear Keith,
I consider it one of “life’s little victories” when two people I like a lot get together and enjoy each other’s company. This happened for me when I tuned in a favorite NPR show last night and heard Dick Gordon interview you for “The Story.” What a treat! It was great to have you talk about your background and how you got into cartooning.
I’ve been reading the “K Chronicles” for a number of years in a monthly I subscribe to called “The Funny Times.” I regularly read “The Knight Life” on Comics.com as well. I love the far-flung topics you cover in your work and am glad to know you are reaching a wider audience. A note of personal humor for me is your wife’s German connection. I was “imported” to the US by my mother in 1952 at the age of 4 but have always kept up with the language and culture. Your comics on the intersection of you and the German in-laws were a riot.
Thanks for all the pleasure you bring me and your other fans!
D.
Pittsboro, NC
(i know it’s old–i meant to throw it up a while ago-kk)
the K Chronicles by Keith Knight
(th)ink by Keith Knight
*BIG WEEKEND COMING UP HERE IN L.A.!!
!t’s my first big signing in the City of Angels!! I will be at MELTDOWN COMICS (7522 W Sunset Blvd, (acroos the street and a block away from Guitar Center) for my “Welcome to L.A.” shindig. I’ll have art up, a slideshow and BEER!! So git on down there!! (Gifts encouraged!!)
*AFRO-PUNK FESTIVAL..
I just got word that i’ll be jumping up onstage at the Afro-Punk Festival L.A. stop at the Roxy on Friday evening. I will be doing a shortened version of my world-famous slideshow just before Saul Williams (“Slam”, the Niggy Tardust Experience) performs with his band.
If you ain’t hip to the Afro-Punk Festival, get acquainted. It is quite fabulous!!
*LETTER OF THE WEEK..
I don’t get too many letters via post anymore, so I always enjoy when I do:
Dear Mr Knight,
I recently discovered your daily cartoon strip The Knight Life. I find it one of the funniest strips produced. You have a solid grasp of society and our individual struggle to find our place in it. You communicate our foibles entertainingly. Thank you for adding a little humor to my day. May you find success in all of your future endeavors.
Sincerely,
S. from Longmont, CO
(nice!!-kk)
(th)ink by Keith Knight
the K Chronicles by Keith Knight
*SAW R. CRUMB AT ROYCE HALL, UCLA LAST WEEK..
..and he was quite charming on stage (so don’t believe the hype). FAR more charming than the folks in the audience. Although it was pretty foolish to allow audience members to shout out questions at him.
Crumb was in town to talk about his new book in which he draws the entire book of Genesis. Every page is up on the wall at the Hammer Museum here in Westwood.
We took the Incredible Cuteness of Being to the Hammer for a “Halloween Hoedown” party. It was fun to watch the boy hide behind his stroller when I got the 6 foot 5 drag queen host to come over and say hello. She was dressed as a scarecrow, with the emphasis on scare (Bette Davis/Joan Crawford scary makeup).
*THOSE DAMNED YANKEES…
The only solace I find in a Yankee win is that it’ll put the pressure on Sox management to spend some $$$.
*EMAILS/LETTERS OF THE WEEK…
(the letter to the editor below was taken from the Rocket online, re: my Slippery Rock U. controversy)
In 1939, African-American jazz singer Billie Holiday began performing a song entitled “Strange Fruit.” But when she sought to record the song, Columbia, the recording company that had Holiday under contract, refused.
You see, the “Strange Fruit” to which the title referred was a “Black body swinging in the Southern breeze.”
“Southern trees bear a strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,” went the opening two lines, and the song later compared the “Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh” to the “sudden smell of burning flesh.” Columbia was fearful of the reaction of Southern record retailers, and of the offense the song would give to many powerful politicians, including the “Dixiecrats” in Congress. Columbia allowed Holiday to record “Strange Fruit” with a much smaller company, and this particular protest song sold well, reaching No. 16 on the pop charts. Still, it got very little radio play, and some nightclubs where Holiday worked wouldn’t let her sing it.
At another, Holiday complained that a bartender rang the cash register all through her performance. Keith Knight’s “K Chronicles” has appeared in The Rocket for several years but was absent this past Friday, as was the rest of the comic page. As a satirist who sometimes includes the uncomfortable and troubling in his strip, such as the image in an opening frame of a black man with a noose around his neck, Knight is probably used to strong reactions to some of his work. But it isn’t his loss but our own whenever a voice is silenced.
Even if we feel the need to drop his comic strip, I think we also need to keep two simple but important truths in mind. Depictions of racism in order to convey an anti-racism message aren’t in themselves racist. Censorship never serves to foster change, but struggles instead to prevent change from happening.
Censorship attempts to freeze the forward movement of thought and action, to sustain current power structures and to shut down potentially transformative conversations regarding perceptions and attitudes. Censorship is usually motivated by a fear of difference.
We need, instead, to find the courage to confront our differences, and to have a long, overdue, honest and forthright conversation about America’s racial history and that history’s ongoing legacy.
Cornelius Cosgrove
Professor of English
——-
re: One Black Kid..
I just wanted to say that was one of the coolest comic strips I have ever
read.
L.
——-
Hey, Keef!
I know it’s not something you did, but I wondered if you were aware that Salon is
displaying the PUNCHLINE for K Chronicles at the TOP of the page that displays the actual
comic. It’s ruining everything. If you have any influence on them, I implore you to write
them and make them stop doing this.
To wit: http://www.salon.com/comics/knig/2009/11/03/knig/index.html
Plus, even if I did want my comics ruined by a crappy layout that makes no sense in the
first place, they’ve edited the punchline panel at the top of the ‘First Halloween’ page
to where you can’t even tell which character is saying the line.
Banging comic, by the way!
Go Kings!
-M.
——-
Hey, Keith:
There’s no real point to this message except to assure you I make sure
to read The K Chronicles every week in Seven Days — Burlington,
Vermont’s stalwart alternative weekly.
I dig your strip, man. The art style has a vibrant energy that
practically jumps off the page, and your writing has a nice, earnest
tone. I’m glad they’ve selected it for their comics section, and if
they ever cut it, I’d send them a nasty letter or two.
Why can’t strips like yours get even half the exposure that, say,
Cathy gets? It’s just not right…
That is all.
Regards,
E.
———-
I do believe that you were the cartoonist (oop! sorry, artist) that had a
wonderful cartoon about children calling their mothers, and not asking for
anything in return, especially money. I have three daughters, but one, when
I call, says “I’m busy now”, or “I can’t talk now”, and I always want to
say…”Wow” “you have to be the busiest person on earth”..”How’s that
feeling?” Anyway, I would like very much to have a copy of that particular
comic you did this week so I can send it to my recalcitrant child.
Fondly,
C.
Bye the way, I’ve love your strip for so long, even in the old days!
(aaah! the old daze!!-kk)
(th)ink by Keith Knight
the K Chronicles by Keith Knight
*INTRODUCING THE KEITH KNIGHT KOMMISSIONS!!!
Looking fer something unique and cool to give yer loved ones this holiday season? How ’bout getting a one-of-a-kind personalized sketch from your very favorite, friendly neighborhood cartoonist?
If they’re too busy, get one done from me! You tell me what you want and I’ll draw it for you (within reason) in black ink on white bristol, suitable for framing, and graciously signed by the arteest. All this for the tiny, miniscule cost of $125!! What a bah-gin!!
Caricatures!! Superheroes!! Pets!! My characters in compromising positions!! (Almost) anything goes!!
I did this once before to raise money for the Coup after their bus accident. The response was so overwhelming that I ended up not doing as many as I’d hoped. Here’s yer chance to hit me up again. Please note that you cannot use the drawings for commercial purposes.
Just email me at keef@kchronicles.com and I’ll let you know what you gotta do. Put “Keith Knight Kommissions” in the subject line.
Act fast!! I’m only taking them from today til the end of November.
Cheers!! And don’t forget to order your 2010 calendar here!!
(Hope to see your Southern California bee-hind at my coming out event!!-kk)
KEITH KNIGHT WELCOME TO L.A. PARTY AT MELTDOWN COMICS!!
Yeah, I know it’s a few years late, but I’m having my first official booksigning/art show in L.A. at one of the finest comic book shops in the country: Meltdown Comics!!
Sounds like it’s gonna be pretty elaborate: Original art show, Q&A, slideshow..Hope you can come by and pick up your–
2010 LITTLE VICS/MEGA-MIX CALENDAR!!
Now available in the store is your 2010 Keefie Kalendar!! A delicious mix of K Chronicles, Knight Life and (th)ink comics, this calendar is limited edition, so git to ordering now or pick it up at the LA. signing.
