Month: November 2008

Harry Manx at Ridgefield CT’s Acoustic Celebration

Temple Shearith Israel hosted Harry Manx as part of the Acoustic Celebration in Ridgefield and we were fortunate enough to get over to Ridgefield and catch the show.

First off, Harry’s down from Canada doing a bit of touring stateside after coming back from playing shows in Australia. It really was a good catch by Jay to find him playing a small show over in western Connecticut tonight before heading back home for a spell.

Musically, his repertoire is a combination of Blues and Indian music, both in their own and blended together into an original strain of picked music. Quite a few of the songs are played on the Mohan veena which Jay accurately described as coming across like a combination of a sitar and a dobro.

In any case the venue was great for a small show with a 40 or so person audience and the technician did an excellent job tuning the audio setup in a tight enclosed environment. It was quite a show.

Graphic Novel “The New York Four”

The New York Four cover image
The New York Four cover image
Brian Wood (DMZ, DEMO) writes about something he knows pretty intimately, NYC. Add in accurate to life art from Ryan Kelly to the witty writing style and you’ve got a good novel.

Although I’m not sure Minx will survive as an imprint. Hopefully it does well with it’s target, I’m guessing, young(ish) female audience. Or someone! It looks like there’s a few gems in there that could work up to classics like La Perdida or Love & Rockets.

In any case our store follows along our protagonist through the foibles of starting up college at NYU on an true to life New York City -scape (although they don’t mention Dumpling Man on St. Marks. For shame.) and making new friends.

It’s a fairly clever and entertaining slice of life story, hopefully to be followed by more. Check it out.

Minx, New DC Imprint, Publishing non-Hero Graphic Novels

Looks like DC Comics has another non-spandex related imprint. It almost seems like a softer side of Vertigo, without the over-the-top-ness that line tends to engender. Focused more on drama and interesting social stories it’s line-up so far features quite a few top-rate authors.

Think Love & Rockets and you’ve got the right idea.

Needless to say, I approve. You can catch their current issues at your local bookstore and check out what they’ve got to offer at the website.

Sweet Cioccolata in Wallingford, CT

Found at SweetCioccolata.com and in mortar at 28 North Colony Road in Wallingford CT, Sweet Cioccolata offers up a bevy of chocolates at the usual confectioners prices.

The truffles (of the batch we tried at work) were flavored well, with one of the thicker fillings I’ve had in a truffle. What we were really after, the chocolate covered strawberries, weren’t available. Probably due to the season.

Service was good and the small shop has about the most chocolate confections I’ve seen per square foot.

So if you’re looking for some specialty chocolates next time you’re in downtown wallingford (it’s on the North Avenue side of the town center area at the bottom of the hill, coming down from the post office and muni buildings) give them a shot.

We’ll see how the caramels are the next time I’m by there :).

Shooting War by Anthony Lappé & Dan Goldman

Shooting War
Shooting War
War sucks. That’s pretty much what Jimmy Burns finds out in the graphic novel Shooting War. Jimmy was a video blogger who got his 15 minutes after being in the right place at the right time and live streaming the destruction of his apartment building by a bomber.

Newly homeless, he’s conned into parlaying that brief experience into a wider role in the field of journalism, traveling to the Iraqi front of 2011. As it turns out broadcasting from the front lines of a war-zone has little in common with railing against the evils of corporate eminent domain.

Throw in a over zealous military commander and a terrorist strong man actively making Jimmy’s life a little more interesting than it needs to be and you’ve got an intriguing plot. “Ripped from the headlines” as TV media likes to tout.

Featuring an interesting artist’s perspective, coming as it does through the lens of a camera, Dan Goldman throws up a view of Jimmy largely from a lens eye. It’s a rolling look at the atrocities of war, and the web comic left me wanting a bit more.

If you’d like to see if it’s to your tastes, check out the first half of the story up on Shooting War’s website. The print version with it’s extra 110 pages of content is available pretty much everywhere.