MoCCA or How to Sweat Your Body Weight

MoCCA Art Festival is this weekend. What is it? Click on the link to find out! I ain't got time to be telling you everything! It's basically a comic convention for all things independent and small press. Got it? Good.

First off, it was the first of a 4 day heat wave here in NYC. 95 degrees! The ball gravy was flowing. Like an idiot, I assumed the building would be air conditioned. I wore jeans, a t-shirt and a vest. I walked in and it was a bit cool (temperature-wise), but not great. I immediately run into the lovely Molly Crabapple and her friend, Julia aka Lady J, at their table. Lady J asks, "Why are you wearing jeans on a hot day like this?" I reply, "I don't know. I guess I don't have the legs for shorts."

This year, I took the day off from work so that I could really explore the festival. And my pocket was not happy as I shelled out about $200 for independent comics. I don't tend to buy comics at mainstream shows as I usually have the big name stuff. But, small press stuff that isn't readily available....it's fun to sift through and find some treasures. Sure, I hit some of the old standards like Top Shelf and AdHouse, but I also picked up some comics that were stapled together by hand.

MoCCA is spread out across 2 floors. The ground floor and then the 7th floor. This year, I dubbed the 7th floor "The Sauna" or the "7th Floor of Hell". It was so much hotter up there than downstairs. Seriously...invest in some fucking AC! I know it's an old building, but come on! Those poor creators up there. I would have been pissed if I had to sit up there and sweat. Still, to their credit, those creators soldiered on.

I found Monica Gallagher sweatin' to the oldies at her table. I grabbed her for an interview. We tried to find a cooler spot, but just couldn't. So, forgive as most of the interview is us saying, "Damn. It's hot." See that 2nd picture? That's us showing you the heat index. Or us as zombies. Not quite sure. In all seriousness, the interview was a lot of fun and she's a real talent. Lipstick & Malice is a great model/superspy adventure, Gods & Undergrads is her long running webcomic about Greeks, fake Greeks and college, and Boobage is about...well....you guessed it! Check her work out! The interview will be in next week's show, so tune in!

Back to the less sweltering floor at the ground level, I went and grabbed Mike Dawson for an interview.  He just released the massive 300 page autobiography entitled, Freddie & Me: A Coming-of-Age (Bohemian) Rhapsody. All about his obsession with the band, Queen and how it paralleled his life from childhood to adult. It's an incredible read and brutally honest. Many touching moments and quite a few laugh out loud ones as well. While a lengthy read, I did it in one sitting because it was so engaging. Go get it! This interview will also be in next week's show!

After a bit more walking around, I couldn't take the heat any more and had to bounce. The big Indie Spinner Rack party was later on at some bar downtown, so I went home to chill for a bit. I finally made it down around 11pm. Good times with everyone. We kept it pretty tame and called it a night around 2am.

Oh! What did I do between chilling at home and being at the bar? Well, remember those shots of me with my bud, Cass, and Nathan Fillion? Well, Nathan graciously agreed to an interview. So, I went to his hotel and we chilled for a bit and did about an hour long interview! Really fun and laid back. Such a great, generous and genuinely nice guy. That interview will be released in a special Saturday "One-Shot" episode, so look out for that!

More MoCCA on Sunday, but I'm not attending. I did want to go back and see a few other folks and chat, but the thought of sweating in that unbearable heat is not appealing. Besides, work calls later in the afternoon and the dreaded PR day parade is on so the streets will be crowded and crazy. If you happen to go, give them a nice message from me.

TURN THE FUCKING AIR CONDITIONING ON FULL BLAST!!!

Comments

[ZiggyNJ]

Have I mentioned that I hate you ;p

[Bruce]

It was SUPER hot!
I was so disoriented, I missed the room "A" on the ground floor entirely.
I kept going up the elevator, down the stairs, and back and forth in rooms B & C.
Got 2 books signed by Lynda Barry, but only after getting home to MA Saturday night (parade = bad for parking and staying over, even/esp. if your uncle lives on 5th Av), did I realize I had missed fully 1/3 of the floor space! Aaargh.