The Pittsburgh Zine Fair 2-8pm tomorrow @ The Union Project

From Next Pittsburgh

Vendors, who range from teens to veteran ‘zine makers, hail from all around Pittsburgh, across Pennsylvania and even from Ohio and Michigan. Launched in 2011, the fair also aims to showcase Pittsburgh as a growing new media hub for producers of ‘zine-related content across a range of subject matter, themes, disciplines and formats—from politics and photography to sci-fi and identity. Also new this year is on-stage child care provided by Yellow Bridge Collective.

Can’t wait until Sunday? Check out the fair’s week-long series of events celebrating independent artists and media makers leading up to the big day. Meet and mingle with this year’s vendors at a special ‘Zine Fair Mixer on Saturday, September 27th at Bunker Projects, where Nils “Balls” Hanzcar, Juan Fernandez, Catherine Conley/Steer Queer, Maggie Lynn Negrete, Thom Delair, Erin Oh, Natty Soltesz, and Kelly Thomas/Wild Age Press will read from their work during the social gathering.

Don’t miss a signing with international cartoonists Michael DeForge, Simon Hanselmann and Patrick Kyle on September 24th at Copacetic Comics, and a special signing and Q&A event with “Hospital Suite” and “King-Cat Comics” creator John Porcellino, along with a screening of the documentary film, Root Hog or Die, about his life and work.

Union Project
 801 N Negley Ave, 
Pittsburgh, PA 15206
(412) 363-4550

Plans For A Harvey Pekar Memorial In Cleveland

JOYCE BRABNER, Harvey's wife and longtime collaborator has revealed some plans for a Pekar memorial in Cleveland they are already trying to raise money for.

Also, they are likely to start a Kickstarter project soon. Stay tooooned.

Some details here.

Cleveland's Harvey Pekar Dead At Age 70

I am not close to an expert on the life or work of Harvey Pekar but I did see American Splendor. I also, had a fairly long friendship in NY with an ex girlfriend of Robert Crumb who's relationship with Pekar and illustrations for his writings helped create his grass roots legend.

Pekar was not just a guy who became famous who was from Cleveland, or a celebrity like LeBron (actually from Akron) who's legend could have formed anywhere with a big sports franchise. His life's work documented a strange, personal and very mundane life in the aging neighborhoods of a real American city. For many people, he represents Cleveland. Even after substantial fame and success, Pekar kept his day job as clerk at a VA hospital.

Read Merge's take on Pekar on his old blog from a few years back.

"I've since learned a lot about Pekar's life. To be honest, my initial thoughts were that his work was a bit slight. Yet there was something appealing about the quotidian accounts of his life, and my appreciation steadily grew. It's surprising how interesting the life of a file clerk can be. The levels of self-exposure and sincerity in his work make for a fascinating read. They help create a compelling depiction of a little-documented time and place. Most of his adult life was recorded in the American Splendor collections. We learn about his interests in Jazz and literature, and about his relationship with his wife and adopted daughter. He shares stories and observations of his co-workers and others that he interacts with. We see his struggles with money and notoriety."

Pekar on David Letterman



Pekar in a longer interview talking about his work.