Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)

IT’S ALWAYS a good time for more CAKE! We’ve barely gotten over our TCAF jet lag and here we are, flying off to celebrate the Windy City’s finest comics hour of the year. CAKE’s been around for three years and we haven’t missed a show. This year, we are a husky-free Chicago crew, and the slimmer, bitter half of Secret Acres will be reporting on the proceedings. So dial down your post-convention expectations; it promises to be a somber affair.

But we’re not just losing husky. Sadly, our comrades-in-arms, the leaders of the ever-remarkable Koyama Press and AdHouse Books, Annie and Chris, won’t be joining us, either. We’ll miss them, but at least they won’t remind of us our misbehaviors on the road. Alas, Edie Fake is no longer one of the festival organizers, but he is a bonafide Special Guest with his own setup right next to yours truly. Of course, we’ll have many copies of Edie’s latest and greatest, the giant-size Memory Palaces. Edie, along with Eric Kostuk Williams, and the one with one hundred crushes, Elisha Lim, will be participating in a panel discussion on Saturday, with the lively title of “Magikomix, Queer Comics and Visionary Cartooning,” led by the brainy Brian Cremins, no less.

First things second, though, we will be pre-gaming at Quimby’s! Tonight, at 7PM, at perhaps the greatest bookstore on earth, our very own Mike Dawson, the ever-present Elisha Lim and superstar MariNaomi will all be reading excepts from their recent books. By now you probably know all about Mike’s new graphic novel, Angie Bongiolatti (not to be confused with Anna Bongiovanni unless you really want to). If not, you can read an excerpt here on Mike’s site. Mike will be headlining his own table at the show, where you can gorge yourself on his comics including Secret Acres’ own Troop 142 and perennial favorite, Freddie & Me. He’ll also have a bunch of even newer mini comics for you to consume and probably some HeroClix, just to mess with us.

Notorious Chicago resident, Corinne Mucha, author of the critically lauded Get Over It!, which debuted from us mere weeks ago up in Toronto also has her own table, where she’ll be hawking comics and signing books. Get a load of some of the recent, high profile reviews of the book, here and here. See? There’s plenty of love for the brokenhearted. The divine Ms. Mucha will have some new minis of her own and, if you ask nicely, she might even have a tiny, little original painting just for you.

Speaking of Ms. Mucha and Friday night events, don’t forget Corinne will be back in New York City, Friday the 13th, at Brooklyn’s own Bergen Street Comics with books, beer and bubbly. In case you missed it, and in case you are not on Bergen Street Comics’ e-mail list, they wrote this:

“As it’s a Secret Acres party, you can rest assured that the evening will be fun for most, embarrassing for some, and doused in the throes of romance for one lucky couple. (Every single Secret Acres party we’ve ever had has resulted in at least one loving relationship, even if said relationship was relatively short termed. Numbers don’t lie!)”

We’ll have maybe a little challenge built into that event, but we’ll save that for our CAKE wrap-up post.

And now, some very sad, quite devastating news: Ms. Casey Gonzalez is terminating her active Secret Acres duty to get ready to pursue an MFA at Brooklyn College this fall. Oh, yes, we DID try to talk her out of it. Casey is generously staying in our orbit, but most of her energies will be focused on complete social dominance at school from here on out. We’re sad to see her step down, but glad she won’t be far away.

We’ll return with our thoughts on CAKE 3 in a few. If you see us in Chicago, don’t be alarmed. We’re supposed to be there, so come say hi!

Your Pals,

Leon and Barry

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