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A Sock and his Ward

For any Canadian artist, being a guest in the hot tub on Ed and Red’s Night Party is a pretty sweet gig. You get to promote your latest CD, your website, or your latest graphic novel to a national late night audience and you get to do it while splashing around with a choice selection of topless beauties and a set of bath time toys. Ed’s tub never did for indie artists what Carson’s couch did for comedians, but that may change this season as underground comic artist and former tub guest, Sean Ward joins the party permanently. Sharing the spotlight with a foul-mouthed sock and his buxom redhead sidekick is a long way from Ward’s beginnings, hustling his handmade comics on Toronto’s Queen St. for food and shelter. Times were tough and his parents were constantly on him to get a real job, but Sean persisted. “You never know when you’re going to get that phone call and you don’t want to have to say, ‘I’d love to, but I’ve got work in the morning,’” he says. Ward was hardly waiting though. He was too busy building a following.

Meeting people on the street, turned into booking bands to launch each issue, and soon Sean himself was rapping in clubs across the city, bringing in people who would never grab a comic. “I considered myself a capital A-R-tist,” he says, “certain people I look up to, like Paul McCartney and Jay-Z have done different things in their careers, but everything they do serves a core persona.” For Sean that core means living with congruence. “You think about the ideal lifestyle you want and that’s how to start living, if you want to be a rock star, start behaving like one.” he says. The sock became his boss with an email: “Hi, my name is Sean Ward and I’m a famous comic book artist, perhaps you’ve heard of me?”

“I hadn’t,” insists Ed’s redheaded co-host Liana K, “but I figured the guy had such balls, it was worth a response. Despite the fact that he carries himself like a work of art, she found his comics surprisingly lacking in ego. “Sean’s not afraid of a happy ending, so many people are about gritty and making an impact, losing sight of things that are just entertaining. Sean is a rare reliable performer who understands that life is a conscience journey.”

Sean’s come up through Toronto’s segregated comic scene and brought exposure to friends like Tyrone McCarthy, Zen Rankin and Andy B while editing the show’s annual graphic anthology. “Just because someone walks with confidence, doesn’t mean that confidence comes at the expense of other people,” says Liana. The recent cast reshuffling provided the perfect opportunity to bring Sean’s positivity to the air. “I wouldn’t wish adversity on anyone, but he regularly turns it into a positive. He didn’t do it the same way everyone else did, he did it in a way that was right for him, and that’s what makes him a good fit for us,” she says.

See Sean Ward on Ed & Red’s Night Party, Friday nights at 11:30 p.m. on CityTV

(by Aaron Broverman)

posted: Jan 30, 2008

The Scandelles Present Neon Nights: May 10 - 12

Sasha Van Bon Bon and Kitty Neptune star in Neon Nightz, a theater piece driven by Bon Bon's stripping career in Montreal's 1980s peeler scene. The piece explores the parallels between Strip Clubs and Churches. "It tackles sexual shame." says Bon Bon in this week's issue of Xtra. "Neither a virgin priest nor a 21-year-old stripper is an expert on sex, yet everyone goes to them to deal." Neon Nightz runs Thursday, May 10 to 12 at Buddies (12 Alexander St, Toronto). Tickets are $15; call 416-975-8555 for more info. For more on burlesque and Sasha Van Bon Bon's The Scandelles, check out Laura Hatcher's "Burlesque Not Dead: A roundup of Resurrections" (Broken Pencil, Issue #29) http://www.brokenpencil.com/features/feature.php?featureid=82

website: http://www.buddiesinbadtimestheatre.com/events/show.cfm?i_key=311
posted: may 10 2007

Zines, Comics, and other Hip Lit Fair: MCA Chicago

The Museum of Contemporary Arts (220 E. Chicago) is holding a zine fair on Sunday May 13 from noon to 4pm. Celebrate independent press in all forms, including zines, comics, graphic novels, artist books, and much more with readings, signings, and serious book shopping featuring emerging and well-known authors, artists, comics, and poets selected by Quimby's Bookstore and the MCA. Featuring Doug Fogelson's Graffitecture, Ruth O-R's The Skeleton News, Al Burian's Burn Collector, Ed Marszewski's Lumpen, Lauren Barry's Truckface and So Midwest, Jake Austen's Roctober, Paul Nudd, Eric Labrat, Aaron Cynic's Diatribe, Jeb Gleason-Allured's THE2NDHAND, Chris C. of Pin Monkey Press and many more), Sara Ranchouse Publishing, Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson, Christa Donner Featherproof Books, Anne Elizabeth Moore of Punk Planet, and Loop Distro.

website: http://www.mcachicago.org/programs/event_detail.php?id=59&page=genev
posted: May 9 2007