Apr 12, 2016 Friends in and across town: Nikki McClure at the LAT Festival of Books, Adam Pfahler at Jawbreaker Day, Eric Nakamura at GR2
One of the best things about being in L.A. is that you don’t have to travel to see your friends from all over the place. Eventually they come to you, like Nikki McClure coming to the LAT Festival of Books. She was on a panel called Children’s Books: Pictures on the Page with fine artist Jose Lozano, illustrator Eliza Wheeler, and Caldecott Winner Dan Santat.
Expertly moderated by the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ official blogger Lee Wind, the event was more like a dinner party conversation than a Q&A. I liked the parts where they talked about expressing the passage of time (with a shout-out to manga) and the more-rigid-than-you-think relationship between authors and illustrators. If they aren’t the same person, a publisher might discourage them from ever communicating.
Jose and Nikki shared DIY approaches, although coming in at different points in their childrens’ books careers. Coming from fine art and indie punk, they bring an energy that makes their books unique, and it showed in their outlooks too. Eliza and Dan were much more seasoned. Dan had an interesting story about how to handle the pressure of following up on the pinnacle of book awards. His agent told him to take a month off and let the storytelling come to him.
Nikki was offered transportation and a hotel, but Wendy, Eloise, and I jumped at the chance to pick up our friend from the airport, invite her into our home, and take her around L.A. before she returned to Olympia. All of that added up to a lot of hanging out and catching up. Who knew that decades after she played with Kicking Giant at the Atomic Cafe that we’d be taking her to ramen right down the street from it? Hopefully, we’ll get to do that with her family next time.
We see my friend Adam Pfahler more often because he’s in bands and plays down in L.A. now and then. J Church stayed at my house, Whysall Lane played the Chinese banquet after Wendy and I got married, and California has been playing our Save Music in Chinatown benefits. This time he was in his hometown to talk about his most popular band, Jawbreaker.
I saw them a lot in the early ’90s at indie and underground spots like the Anti-Club, Raji’s, Jabberjaw, UCLA’s Cooperage, and Gilman Street. Their final album was released on a big label and they toured with bigger bands like the Foo Fighters. I remember driving down to UC Irvine to see that show… It was an epic and awesome album but also a dark ending for the band because its fans, for the most part, hated its more polished sound and the label immediately pulled the plug on the record. The band imploded.
But then a funny thing happened. Although Adam, Blake, and Chris moved on to new projects, the Dear You album gained a cult following. Newer bands cited it as influential, creating a new audience and old fans revisited it after time and decided that it was actually pretty great. To celebrate the album’s 20th anniversary, Adam shared with old and new fans and friends and family anecdotes about that time in the band’s evolution–the mind frame, heartbreak, and end. After a band starts playing to crowds of more than 200 people, he said it just isn’t the same. Friends and family stop going to shows, the audience is just a bunch of dots, and it isn’t as much fun.
Adam previewed a clip from a documentary that is being made about the band that has quotes from all three band members, the producer, and others from the scene. It paints a rough picture and also leads audiences to wonder if Jawbreaker will ever play as a band again. They’re still friends, Adam says. It just isn’t easy for three people in three different cities to get their act together even if festival offers them a boatload of money. Adam says he’d do it for free but wouldn’t say no to the dough, either.
I think it’s awesome how Adam sought out the rights to all of the band’s records and has become a custodian to its legacy. He makes sure the music is available (except maybe the Dear You album which has major label strings, so buy it at your local cool record store while you can) and keeps the other guys in the loop.
Adam brought some records as well as vintage T-shirt designs to sell and gave away buttons, stickers, and zines. Buying stuff online sure is easy but there’s no better way to support a band than spending some money at the merch table. Where was the brand-new debut LP from California, Adam’s current band? I guess you’ll have to buy it at the next Save Music in Chinatown show…
I also picked up From the Pit 2 from my old friend Eric Nakamura, who runs GR2 and made the event happen. He and I used to make Giant Robot magazine together, and it’s pretty rad that we could trade new zines this weekend. The 16 years we spent making the zine get smaller in our rear view mirrors but from our respective ends of Los Angeles we still actively participate in the subcultures we love and protect our family’s respective neighborhoods. I think that’s really interesting and cool, and love catching up with him when I can.
Having friends visit from out of town is great, but sometimes I need to make an effort to visit them across town as well.
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