The Bluesman Project

Thanks for all the memories

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 05:31:00 +0000

This is likely the final posting I'll be making on this blog. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to Bluesman's success in ways both large and small. Early thanks go out to S. Edward Irvin, Farel Dalrymple, Paul Hornschemeier, Chris Lutes, Brian Winkeler, James Sime, Matt Price and Rafer Roberts. Special thanks go out to Terry Nantier, Jim Salicrup, Bryan Talbot, Eddie Campbell, Alan David Doane, Jason Koornick, and Jim Johnson for their support of Bluesman at what always seemed to be just the right time.

Last, I'd like to thank Pablo G. Callejo without whom none of this would ever have been possible and Kendra, without whom success has little meaning.

Much love, RV

Bluesman October Update

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 05:12:00 +0000

Man, there is nothing that I love more than fall and, in less than seven days, I’ll be enjoying it even more surrounded by gorgeous trees and mountains at the Lake of the Ozarks. I was born in the Ozarks of Southwestern Missouri, raised in same and still, to this day, refer to the portions of the mountain range that stretch in Oklahoma and Arkansas as the Faux-arcs. I know how dumb that is. This amazing terrain is the only place in the world that I feel like I’m ever really at home, at peace. So before I wander offline into the terrain of my homeland, I thought I’d share a few goodies from Bluesman Central.

Bluesman Experience

We did our first Bluesman Experience shows at the end of September. It felt really good. We had exceptional turnout at two of three shows and mitigating circumstances surrounding the third so all in all, I was very pleased. We haven’t gotten any good photos from one of these shows yet (or audio for that matter) but with at least two more booked and several more in the process of date confirmation, I hope to be able to make some of that material available later in the fall.

“Throbbin” Rob is in the house…

For those curious about what exactly goes on at one of the Bluesman Experience shows, all is not lost! In preparation for a new music project I’m working on, I’ve created a MySpace Music page to showcase this side of my creative persona. By zipping over to http://www.myspace.com/throbbinrob you can take a listen to three tracks from the Bluesman Experience show that I recorded back in May for Jim Johnson at KGOU. The last three tracks are material I recorded for a solo project back in “the day”. The mixes are a little rough but I’m still proud enough of this material almost ten years later that I don’t mind folks hearing it now.

Anyone who is interested to check out new material as it develops is invited to add "Throbbin" Rob as a friend!

Bluesman Reviews

Two here for your enjoyment. There was a third one I read yesterday but wasn’t able to track down in time to add it to these so there’s something else to look forward to!

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/38571 (Ain’t It Cool News)

http://theoceancountylibrary.org/Teens/booklists/Learning%20History.pdf

Thanks again for your continued interest in Bluesman. I’ll be posting the second leg of Bluesman Experience dates when I get back from the ‘Zarks. Be good to each other and, in the immortal words of Charlie Dunn, don’t forget to vote Democratic.

The Bluesman Experience Comes Alive!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 05:23:00 +0000

The Bluesman Experience Comes Alive!

Writer Rob Vollmar begins a series of concerts/booksignings to promote his latest graphic novel, Bluesman at the Borders Books and Music at 3209 NW Expressway in Oklahoma City this Saturday. Bluesman is a taut period thriller that pushes the boundaries of the graphic novel form in its celebration of blues music as an artform while addressing crucial issues of race, class, and faith that continue to define American life today. The tour, dubbed the Bluesman Experience, features Vollmar playing a collection of country blues and gospel songs from the early part of the 20th century and discussing his graphic novel.

“My goal,” Vollmar notes, “is to rescue this fantastic music from the dry historical context in which it is usually consumed and present it to a new audience with fresh ears. Bluesman is about that crossroads between the secular and the divine and so, it is only fitting that we pay tribute to it by enjoying a potent mixture of gospel and country blues.”

Simultaneously published in three languages, Bluesman has already shipped well over 10,000 volumes worldwide and has received critical praise from venerable institutions like Publishers’ Weekly, NPR and the Boston Globe. The Bluesman Experience is slated to travel all over Oklahoma with limited engagements in Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, and Texas through the fall. The show this Saturday begins at 2 PM and will feature a question and answer session as well as a book signing afterwards. Interested parties should call (405) 848-2667 or visit http://www.bluesmanproject.com for more information.

Other Bluesman Experience dates in September- September 25th, 2008-

Full Circle Bookstore
1900 NW Expressway (inside 50 Penn Place)
Oklahoma City, OK
(405) 842-2900

September 27th-

Borders Books and Music
300 Norman Center Ct
Norman, OK
(405) 573-4907

Just Cause I'm the Proud Sort

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 05:11:00 +0000

All,

Hey. Newsarama posted an interview with me conducted by Michael Lorah. I thought the questions were nice and punchy and I am pretty pleased with my answers as well. Any way, check it out if you like.

Also keep your eyes posted here from news of a radio interview complete with strumming and singing that may be streaming online this weekend. News as it develops!

Bluesman News and Reviews

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 06:44:00 +0000

Hello, race fans. I thought this would be an excellent time to pop in and offer up a few review links for the Bluesmaniacs out there who might be interested. Before I get to those, though, I'd like to take a moment, with your indulgence to update those folks out there who have generously expressed concern over the mysterious health issues that kept me from attending the San Diego convention.

I have heart arrhythmias that have been alternately described as supraventricular tachycardia and/or idiomatic tachycardia. When I initially was confronted with this exciting development in my personal well-being, I wrote about it at BLOGMan on December 10th, 2005 entitled, "Dem Ol' SVT Blues" though you'll have to search the archives to find the article.

The week before the San Diego convention I had an attack that was sufficiently dramatic in its scope and duration that it just sent up too many red flags for me to travel safely. I made this decision only after consulting my doctor, my wife. I also made it at considerable monetary expense not to mention the severe disappointment of not being able to attend in order to promote BLUESMAN. For the record, the problem turned out to be medicinal and does not appear to represent a genuine downturn in my general management of the condition which is the best news I could have hoped for under the circumstances.

So, in short, I'm fine, having this condition still sucks but is not going to kill me, and I'm really, really sorry for anyone (besides myself) who was inconvenienced by this unavoidable situation.

One final note before we get to the reviews and whatnot, it looks like we are about a month out from the kick off of the Bluesman Experience tour coming soon to a bookstore near you (Disclaimer: provided that you live within a reasonable driving distance from Norman, Oklahoma). We should have the first string of dates up by this time next week as well as news about your chance to listen to me perform some of the material I'll be playing at those shows live on the Internet AT ABSOLUTELY NO CHARGE.

Content is dead; Long live content.

And on that particularly discordant note of dada, I turn you over to the able hands of a bevy of wondrous internet folk who had things to say about the Bluesman HC edition.

Much love.

RV

http://jbspins.blogspot.com/2008/08/bluesman-complete-twelve-bars.html- JB writes an interesting blog focusing on topics of faith, music, politics and other pithy topics including graphic novels. As a writer (and not specifically as the writer of the book under consideration), I enjoyed reading this piece and I think you might too.

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2008/08/17/the-graphic-novels-just-keep-coming/ Greg Burgas, Comics Should Be Good for CBR

http://alandaviddoane.livejournal.com/11087.html -100 Must Read Graphic Novels. Not only does Alan shows us the love but it reminds me of a bunch of stuff I need to re-read!

http://usreligion.blogspot.com/2008/08/graphic-therapy-for-religiously.html Bluesman and Castaways mentioned in an interesting presentation on religion on contemporary comics. Not a review per se but an interesting and succinct discussion from a position of analysis alien to most reviewers and/or critics.

http://www.curledup.com/bluescom.htm Review by Lance Eaton. Also a well-written review from a site that caters to general audience, rather than comics specific one.

If I Could Save Time in a Bottle

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 01:36:00 +0000

The first thing I'd like to do is take a snapshot of this moment in time where Bluesman is the #5 selling mystery graphic novel on Amazon. As these things tend to fluctuate from moment to moment, you'll just have to take my word for it. It was also the #87th best selling historical fiction book of any kind an hour ago but apparently there was a run on SHOGUN.

So my thanks to Laurel Maury writing for NPR who included a 6 page preview of the book along with her review currently running on the front page of the NPR website.

You are also invitied to check out former Ninth Art editor and wonderful human being Andrew Wheeler opining on Bluesman here for ComicMix.

Thanks to everyone who is pitching in to make Bluesman the success I always knew it to be.

Much love, RV

San Diego

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:06:00 +0000

All,

Due to some pressing health concerns, I will not be appearing at San Diego Comicon this weekend as originally scheduled. For those of you convinced that "pressing health concerns" are ALWAYS an euphemism for a nasty cocaine habit, I can only assure you that these aren't.

My apologies to any who made a special trip to come out and see me.

Best, RV

The polls are starting to close in some states...

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:49:00 +0000

Here's a short list of Bluesman reviews worth noting-

The Oklahoman with Matt Price

A Review by Rob Clough

A Review by Matt C at the Paradox Comics Group

A Kindly Mention over at Newsarama

I also wanted to take two second to crow that the Washington Post gave us a B+ in the Media Mix section for Sunday, July 13th. If I knew how to link to it, I would. But, I don't so I give them a B+ for making not my life easier.

Bluesman Collection Ships Today, June 25th, 2008.

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:38:00 +0000

Bluesman Collection Ships Today!

The Bluesman single-volume edition from NBM Publishing debuts in comics shops around the world. Please indulge me as I point out one last time that this is the best looking printing we’ve seen yet in its most accessible format to date for about $3 cheaper than you can buy it in its three-volume soft cover form.

To celebrate the book’s release, I participated in this short but sassy interview with Johanna Draper Carlson over at Comics Worth Reading.

If you need assistance in finding a reputable comics shop to purchase Bluesman, I’d invite you to review this blog entry on the topic or shoot me an e-mail at bluesmanproject (@) gmail.com minus the spaces and parentheses and whatnot.

Expect updates soon about signing schedules for SDCC, the launch of the Bluesman concert/book signing tour, and much more!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 05:15:00 +0000

Greetings! Just a friendly warning that I'm headed out for NYC tomorrow and will be on limited internet access until my return on Monday. My thanks to those who wished me a safe and not terrifying flight!

Best, RV

Bluesman Launch Party and Blues Jam in NYC, June 8th, 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:15:00 +0000

June 8: Comics Get Da Blues!
BLUESMAN Book Launch & Live Blues Jam!
Benefiting the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund!

What: BLUESMAN Graphic Novel Launch Party, featuring a special performance by legendary blues singer Bill Sims Jr (Lackawanna Blues, PBS's American Love Story) & blues diva Pat Cisarano (Sundance Channel's Flying Confessions) with Bluesman author Rob Vollmar!

When: Sunday, June 8, 7 PM - 11 PM

Where: Village Pourhouse, 64 3rd Avenue @ 11th St, New York, NY

How Much:

General Admission: $10 suggested donation at the door.

Hosts:

NBM Publishing & JahFurry

On June 8, comix and blues come together for a night of sizzling tunes and sparkling stories at the CBLDF Benefit Book Launch Party for Rob Vollmar & NBM Publishing’s graphic novel Bluesman! Bluesman author Vollmar will be joined by by legendary blues singer Bill Sims Jr (Lackawanna Blues, PBS's American Love Story) & blues diva Pat Cisarano (Sundance Channel's Flying Confessions) for an evening of live music and comic goodness!

Addressing themes of racial oppression and injustice, BLUESMAN tells the story of blues musician Lem Taylor’s harrowing journey across Arkansas of the late twenties, hunted for a crime he didn’t commit.

"An explosive and emotional climax. Bluesman mixes the mythic and dramatic with the nitty-gritty reality of the hard parts of life, just like a good blues song does." -Publishers Weekly.

"Consider Bluesman a worthy shelf mate for such other historical graphic novels as James Vance and Dan Burr's Kings in Disguise and Kim Deitch's Boulevard of Broken Dreams." -Booklist

To help celebrate the marriage of comics and the blues, the CBLDF recruited legendary blues musician Bill Sims Jr. who throughout the evening, will be singin' and slingin' some authentic and rockin' blues. Bill starred in PBS's 10 week American Love Story (a documentary about Bill and his family), was 1/2 of the Obie-award winning original two-man stage version of HBO's Lackawanna Blues. Joining Bill is Pat Cisarano, who Tony Bennett once described at a Grammy's party as his "favorite white blues singer," and who is currently features in the Sundance Channel documentary Flying Confessions of a Free Woman. Rob Vollmar, the author of Bluesman will be opening up the evening with a special set, and will be on hand throughout the night to sign copies of the graphic novel!

About the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund was founded in 1986 as a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of First Amendment rights for members of the comics community. They have defended dozens of Free Expression cases in courts across the United States, and led important education initiatives promoting comics literacy and free expression. For additional information, donations, and other inquiries call 800-99-CBLDF or visit http://www.cbldf.org or http://www.myspace.com/cbldf .

For More About Bluesman, visit
NBM Publishing – http://nbmpub.com
Bluesman online- http://www.bluesmanproject.com
Bluesman on MySpace- http://www.myspace.com/bluesmanproject

First Bluesman Convention Appearance of 2008 and more!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 19 May 2008 05:19:00 +0000

Greetings, Bluesman-iacs! It’s been a busy month here at Bluesman central as we square away the final details prior to our debut early next month. But we’re never too busy to pass along a little good news to folks looking for some so, without further adieu, on with the show, this is it!

Bluesman Debuts at MoCCA Art Festival
New York City, June 7th, 8th 2008.

Lord willing and if the creek don’t rise, the first copies of the new Bluesman Hardcover will make their glorious appearance at the MoCCA Art Festical in New York City. Regardless of the aforementioned creek (but with the Lord still willing), I will be attending said Art Festival in my first ever visit to the nation’s other capital

You can read more about the festival here but suffice it to say that the exhibitor list is borderline ridiculous with all the talent slated to attend. Keep an eye out for details in the days to come about a special Bluesman event in New York City on Sunday after the convention or pester me about it personally at bluesmanproject@gmail.com if you plan to attend and want more information.

Bluesman trailer mash-up at Amazon blog

I got a lot of good feedback from friends and readers on the Bluesman Flash trailer now available at the NBM website, Youtube, and MySpace. Many of you enjoyed Robert Butler’s expert Flash designed but wondered, like Todd Lynch of Oklahoma City, “Is there supposed to be a soundtrack? I'm not hearing anything.”

Well, the answer is no and yes. I’ve been working on score for this trailer with Ryan Jones, who did most of the heavy-lifting music for the Inanna’s Tears trailer last year. While Ryan and I are edging ever closer to finish said score, timeliness dictated that we would release this silent version first in order to help promote Bluesman before its official release. I’m hoping to have the scored version assembled and up online in time for the debut at MoCCA.

That said, blogger Jeff VanderMeer offered this ingenious solution and drove several hundred people to check out the trailer in the process. Merci beacoup to M. VanderMeer. Y’all show him some love and check out his excellent blog, would ya?

New Bluesman Interview at Sequential Tart

Last but most certainly not least, Rebecca Buchanan has published this Bluesman-centric interview at Sequential Tart this week. Rebecca wrote one of the first reviews on The Castaways back when it was being serialized in the Absence of Ink Theatre and it’s always a pleasure to chat with her. Here’s a small excerpt where I give a recommend listening list to new blues fans. Some good music in here for any likeminded folks out there.

ST: Have you always been a blues fan, or did you become one while researching Bluesman? If so, can you recommend some great blues to someone new to the style?

RV: I got turned on to the blues when I was a teenager. I'm not the kind of blues fan that listens to it to the exclusion of all other music, but I've met very few people who are. With a tradition like the blues that is over a hundred years old, there are different periods and styles that might appeal to people for different reasons. Here's a few short lists of artists to check out across the span — your readers should be able to run any of these tunes down on iTunes or Amazon.

Pre-WWII

• Blind Willie Johnson — Dark was the Night, Cold was the Ground
• Tampa Red — Tight Like That
• Skip James — Devil Got My Woman
• Lonnie Johnson — Hot Fingers
• Ma Rainey — Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
• Bukka White — Shake 'Em on Down
• Blind Lemon Jefferson — See that my Grave is Kept Clean
• Son House — John the Revelator
• Bessie Smith — Any Woman's Blues
• Blind Willie McTell — Georgia Rag
• Robert Johnson — Cross Road Blues
• Charley Patton — High Water Everywhere

1950-1970

• Sonny Boy Williamson II — Eyesight to the Blind
• Howling Wolf — Evil
• Muddy Waters — Mannish Boy
• BB King — Sweet Little Angel (preferably from Live at the Regal)
• Albert King — Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven
• Buddy Guy — I Got a Strange Feeling
• Johnny "Guitar" Watson — Hot Little Mama
• Magic Sam — Love Me With a Feeling
• Michael Bloomfield — Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong
• Otis Rush — She's a Good 'Un
• Nina Simone — I Put a Spell on You
• Eric Clapton/John Mayall — Hideaway
• John Lee Hooker — This Land is Nobody's Land
• Lightnin' Hopkins — Please Settle it in Vietnam
• Janis Joplin — Kozmik Blues
• Johnny Winter — Highway 61 Revisted
• Jimi Hendrix — Red House

1970 to the present

• Freddie King — Woman Across the River
• Taj Mahal — The Cuckoo
• Roy Buchanan — The Messiah Will Come Again
• Maggie Bell — Coming on Strong
• Snooks Eaglin — Funky Malaguena
• Hound Dog Taylor — Give Me Back My Wig
• Bonnie Raitt — Angel from Montgomery
• Stevie Ray Vaughan — Scuttle Buttin'
• Robert Cray — Got To Make a Comeback
• Tracy Nelson — Tennessee Blues
• Otis Taylor — Saint Martha Blues
• Jeff Healey — Confidence Man
• R.L. Burnside — Glory Be

That’s all the news I’ve got for now. Stay tuned for updates (hopefully this week) on the Bluesman event at MoCCA Art Festival!

Bluesman Trailer Available Online Now

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Wed, 07 May 2008 03:48:00 +0000

Offered for your enjoyment, a two minute Bluesman Flash trailer to promote the upcoming collection. I'm still working on a score to this but I'm damn proud of what we've put together here. A cleaner, hi-def version can also be seen at the NBM website

Blues on the Brain: Lightnin' Hopkins pt 1

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 05:10:00 +0000

Blues on the Brain 1.01
Lightnin’ Hopkins

I have this weird tendency in my head to differentiate in my head between the blues-y music that I heard literally from the moment of my birth and the “real” blues that I discovered when I was fourteen. It seems ungrateful in a way to characterize genuinely gifted musicians like Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, and even Elvis Presley as pseudo-representatives of a form of music, the blues, which they all obviously loved and emulated to the best of their ability. While anyone of them might play a blues song credibly, their interpretation would, at best, crossover the blues with some more popular form.

Of course, I didn’t understand any of that the first time I heard Lightnin’ Hopkins but I did know the blues when I finally heard it. Having explored hundreds of different performers stretching over a hundred years of recording and performing, I’m grateful that journey began with Lightnin’. He is an important transitional figure whose influences, both received and transmitted, blend fundamentally into the core of the blues canon and the performers who filled it with their genius.

Lightnin’ Hopkins might best be described as a progressive anachronism. He was a guitar player and a singer, based out of Houston who began his career recording the blues in 1946. After a short stint with pianist Wilson “Thunder” Smith, Hopkins spent a lot of the 1950s recording on the electric guitar, veering more towards rhythm and blues as acoustic blues slowly drifted into the rural past. With the explosion of interest in country blues in the early 1960s, Hopkins picked up the acoustic again and found great success playing to young, predominantly white audiences. During those times, he was playing a role of the grizzled old blues man resurrected from anonymity to dust off music that he hadn’t played since the Great depression that had little to do with his actual musical legacy. But, his recording output was prolific during this period, justifying effectively the marketing subterfuge employed on his behalf to get his excellent music to a larger audience.

Lightnin’ Hopkins does however share at least two important element in common with many of the original country blues musicians that set him apart from many of his contemporaries; one, an idiosyncratic sense of rhythm and technique that is instantly recognizable and, two, a disdain for the complexities of copyright law as antithetical to the blues as he lived and performed it.

You could literally write a book on the intricacies of Lightnin’ Hopkins guitar technique but I’ll do what I can to describe its essence without dwelling too much on the technical aspects of how he played. Still, some historical context is helpful to appreciate how very different Lightnin’ Hopkins approach to playing the blues really was. In studying country blues guitar players of the 1920s and 30s, there is a tendency to lump them into various schools based on a variety of criteria. While this list making leads, at one extreme, to the way of madness, these categories are often suggestive of real, historical lines of musical influence whether direct or via recordings. As so much of blues music was regional during this period, there is a tremendous diversity of styles and technical approaches to be explored in trying to gain a complete picture of what the blues was becoming.

In the period between the two World Wars, there was a great migration in the black community from South to North that profoundly affected the blues ecosystems as they had existed. As musicians from various regions came into direct contact with one another in these cultural centers like Kansas City and Chicago, those musical dialects within the blues language lost much of their distinction. Contributing to this blending effect was the changes in technology that saw the rise of the combo, the electric guitar joined by the piano, upright bass, a full drum kit with an amplified singer at the helm, and, in some cases, horns and even strings. This demand to codify a blues performance into something that several people could learn and perform changed the nature of many blues which came before it, which had been composed more spontaneously from musical and thematic elements common to the tradition.

This led to a homogenization not only of technique relative to playing blues guitar but of blues music itself. While the electric guitar enjoyed many advantages over its acoustic forebear, the addition of melodic and rhythmic counterparts to the guitar in the performance necessitated that the guitarist rethink how he might best fill the remaining space. Following the example of the wildly successful T-Bone Walker (himself the archetype for Chuck Berry), guitar accompaniment was reduced primarily chords once associated with jazz, simple riffs that didn’t interfere with the rhythm section, or single-note lines that emulated the more fluid saxophone. By the late 1950s, while a plethora of electric blues guitar players had staked out their own recognizable styles, the essential technique of playing the blues guitar had become codified to the point of caricature. It was, in fact, this caricature that first British and then American rock guitar players often mistook for the blues itself.

There are, of course, exceptions to that rule and Lightnin’ Hopkins is but one of them. His technique is, at once, simplistic and very difficult to replicate. In some ways, his playing can be formal to a fault, sometimes using the same fill to begin or end every song on an album until it starts to grate. Most of his songs gravitate towards the key of E and draw from a surprisingly limited palette of accompaniment patterns. He has at most five different tempos and rhythms in which he seems most comfortable playing and doesn’t vary much from them, creating over time a small batch of archetypes of which each new song discovered can be considered part.

But where so much of Lightnin’ Hopkins guitar work can be frustratingly pedestrian, more often does his sense of phrasing and structure defy expectation in a way that overcomes these limitations and, indeed, much of what makes many modern blues competent rather than transcendent. In Lightnin’ Hopkins world, there is no such thing as a wrong note, just one played without enough conviction and they are a rarity in any of his many recordings. There is also no such thing as a right number of beats in a measure, or measures to a phrase.

It is always a source of perverse pleasure for me to listen any rhythm section playing behind Hopkins struggling to anticipate when the chord will change and for how long. To some, this might seem amateurish or, at best, suggest a lack of rehearsal or planning. The blues, for Lightnin’ Hopkins was an experiential medium and had no meaning beyond the moment of performing it. For Lightnin’, the idea that you could write that down or rehearse it in advance would be like trying catching wind in a butterfly net.

I’ll leave you with a nice clip of Lightnin’ playing one his better known songs, “Mojo Hand” with the promise of more on other aspects of his legacy to come. Thanks!

For the Sake of Purty

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:18:00 +0000

The Bluesman Cometh

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 04:44:00 +0000

Welcome. Artist Pablo G. Callejo and I are proud to announce the release of the definitive English hardcover edition of our graphic novel, BLUESMAN in Summer of 2008from NBM Publishing. At the risk of alienating our many fine readers that enjoyed Bluesman in its serial form, this is literally the moment that Pablo and I have been eyeing since we began this effort back in 2003.

Over the years, I’ve been asked a number of times why we chose to offer Bluesman in its original serialized form and I thought I might take this opportunity to respond publicly.
There were a number of factors at work in that decision, some creative, some pragmatic. When we started this project, giant graphic novels were all the rage and there was a lot of pressure to finish the project as a whole before delivering it to market. The problem with this is that 180 pages of comics take an extraordinary amount of time, effort, and (yes) money to complete. The format, three volumes at sixty pages each, was crafted to emulate the old-school French album. We both felt like we could use it to deliver a substantive, if not exactly self-contained reading experience in each book. The triptych also tied into the form of the book as a whole, broken into three “stanzas” as it was to reflect the twelve-bar blues structure at its narrative core. The dramatic break at the end of each book forced us to think about the story in three distinct pieces, inspiring a narrative discipline that kept us focused on moving our major characters and themes forward in a unified manner.

Other reasons were more pragmatic. I have been intimately involved in the ordering process of a Direct Market comics outlet for over seven years. In this time, I have received the benefit of over fifty years of combined DM experience from Atomik Pop owner, Steve Richter and longtime employee, Bart Bush as well as the irreplaceable lessons learned from trench retail; how to cultivate a diverse audience for good comics and then successfully speculate on their likes and dislikes to earn profit. It was this kind of experience that led me to view the direct-to-graphic novel trend with some suspicion. From a retail standpoint, they make for difficult product for a number of reasons. They are often more expensive than other comics collection of similar size. As untested material, it was more difficult for me to gauge in advance how many copies of this more expensive book I should speculate on without expending a lot of time and attention to research each one in depth.

Certainly, there were and continue to be exceptions to the rule, but for every Blankets that was able to get some traction on word of mouth and critical acclaim and start selling in comics shops and chain bookstores, there were fifty other graphic novels that were released and gone from the public eye in a month. When I look back on the graphic novels that made the deepest impact in this first decade of the 21st century, those OGNs are still going to be an anomaly in contrast to the works that took years to complete, in the public eye, and then were successfully collected and marketed afterwards as tested material. While it is feasible that the economics of producing the kind of comics that Pablo and I have here may someday change dramatically and open up the possibility of working for three years on a graphic novel without concern for living expenses, we can not feed our families now on the promise of a better future tomorrow and I suspect that many other creators feel the same.

Whatever variables that we were considering as the game began have changed dramatically over the last few years. Bluesman is no longer an untested property, having received fair and warmly favorable reviews from major media outlets like Entertainment Weekly, LA Times, Publishers Weekly, Boston Globe, Booklist, and Vintage Guitar Magazine among dozens of others. It has been published now in three languages (English, Spanish, and French) and has reached 10,000 copies in print worldwide.

While none of these achievements make Bluesman any better or worse than it was when very few people were aware of it, it does give us more tools to use in bringing it to a larger and more diverse audience in its completed form. It gives us a second chance with comics shops that passed it in over the first time and a better first chance with bookstores, both corporate and independent, across the English-speaking world.

Another hard lesson won from retail is that resting on one’s laurels is hard to distinguish from sitting on one’s ass. To this end, I’m in the process of organizing the Bluesman book signing tour this summer that will feature a musical performance celebrating blues and gospel music from singer Shelly Phelps and myself, as well as a multi-media exploration of the book to accompany us. I will also be attending the MoCCA Art Festival in New York City on June 7th and 8th with announcements on other major convention appearances in the works. The goal is to get out there and spread the Bluesman gospel to as many people as time, money, and geography will allow.

Over the next year, I hope you’ll consider coming back to the Bluesman Project website every now and again for updates on the book and the tour. Expect new features developing in the blog as well as we will explore the world, both past and present, of blues music and the curious place that we intersect it with our graphic novel. I hope to see you on the road out there in 2008!

Rob Vollmar