The Minneapolis Cartoonist Conspiracy meets at 6:30 until 10:00 the first Thursday of every month at Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe in Northeast.

Generally, we draw collaborative “jam” comics, socialize and drink caffeinated beverages. Afterwords, we often have uncaffeinated beverages somewhere else.

The meetings are open to anyone who wants to draw with us, and the results are posted here sooner or later (and sometimes even printed).

Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe
1618 Central Avenue Northeast
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Bus info here.

Please spend some money at Diamond’s while you’re there, even if it is just a cuppa coffee… they are excellent hosts, and we wanna stay welcome there.

Big Time Attic hosts our monthly jam meetings at Diamond’s… they will be supplying us with a big old plate of pastries or something. Thanks fellas!

Well tomorrow is the second comic Jam in San Francisco for August 2008, will you come and draw with us. We expect a good turn out even though some of our group is at Burning Man.

The Cartoonist Conspiracy San Francisco meets every SECOND and LAST Thursday of the month from 6:30 pm till about 9/10 pm and artist of all skill levels and talents are invited to come on out and draw with us. So grab your favorite drawing tools and join the fun.

WHERE: We meet at the Church Street Café at 260 Church Street San Francisco, CA 94114.

WHEN: 6:30 pm to 9/10 pm

TRANSPORTATION: We encourage you to take public transportation if at all possible since parking can be hard to find.

– From BART on Market St.: 1) You can take the above ground F line going away from the embarcaradero twords the Castro neighborhood. 2) Take the K,L,M on the Underground Muni and get off at the Church St. Station 3) take the J underground and get off at the first stop above ground, next to the big Safeway store or the next stop which is past the café 4) Take the other underground lines and get off at the first outside station which is only two or so block from the café.

Visit http://www.511.org/ to get the full details on how to get to the JAM.

At Bubonicon this past weekend, 7000 BC created an illustration of 40 rats in honor of the sci-fi convention’s 40th year and its mascot, Perry the rat. (Click for larger.)

Artists from the group starting on the drawing Saturday morning, raffle tickets were sold all day and into the next, the drawing was held Sunday afternoon — and the lucky winner had himself drawn in as the 40th rat. Proceeds from the raffle ticket sales went to Bubonicon’s charities.

Thanks to everyone who bought tickets — it was a huge success and great fun, and we plan to do it again next year.

For your eyes only, we present the Minneapolis August 2008 jam, entitled:
TALES FROM THE BLACK LODGE

Click image for pdf — careful, it’s 9 mb!

The next jam is on Thursday, September 4, 6:30pm to 10pm, at Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe in NE Minneapolis. Check back to this blog for more info!

Congratulations to the St. Paul Cartoonist Conspiracy Cell for once again creating an entertaining jam comic! Also, thanks to myself for posting it in a timely manner — our brethren across the river have yet to post a new jam comic in a little over a year, I think.

Like Russia and NATO, our uneasy truce with the LARPers* nearly dissolved when one of their members continued to do horrible impersonations of Andrew Dice Clay** — or was it The Fonz***? At any rate, Jon Sloan**** was about to show them, as he termed, “a Live Action Sa-Bom Jim Ass Whoopin”. However, seeing as how he would be the only one of us pansy artists to actually do something about it, he thought otherwise and opted out.

In somewhat unrelated news, the St. Paul cell members are still waiting to hear back from the Cream City cell***** on whether or not they are going to post their jams — or better yet whether or not they actually exist.

I’ve posted our latest jam comic below. This month’s title was “Fact or Fiction at The Minnesota State Fair: AAAAAAAAAYY!” The “AAAAAAAAAYY!” is a contribution from our Andrew Dice Clay lovin’ cross-coffee shop rivals. You can click on the image below, which will link you to the PDF directly.

Want to start up your own cell? It’s easy! Just follow this link: Start a Conspiracy in Your Community. Are you one of the many rival cells that we trash? Maybe you should do something about it and post something here.

Footnotes:
* LARPers - Live Action Role Players - a group of individuals that attempt the craft of socializing by enacting various scenes and, sometimes, dressing up as characters found within a role playing game; in this instance it refers to people who think they are vampires who and horrible at doing impersonations of obscure Jewish actors.
** Andrew Dice Clay - a comedian made famous in the 1980s and early 1990s by a standup routine that consisted of insult humor directed at women, sexual orientation, and ethnicity. “The Diceman” is not somebody I would be really interested in impersonating, but then again I am not obsessed with vampires either.
*** The Fonz - one of the more important characters of the popular sitcom Happy Days, which ran from 1974 to 1984. The Fonz, played by Henry Winkler, was a leather jacket wearing, Italian-American mechanic, who later, was part owner of Arnold’s restaurant, and made residence in Milwaukee, Wisconsin during the 1950s.
**** Jon Sloan is an independent comic creator based in the Twin Cities. Jon creates the comic Sa-Bom Jim, instructs martial arts, and is a real bad ass that shouldn’t be messed with. TAKE NOTICE LARPERS!
***** Cream City Cell - also known as the Milwaukee Cell - AGAIN, who belongs to this cell? Does it even exist, or is it a myth? McCarthy and Amado need to do something about this!

Now available for download — Exact Change, the jam comic produced at the August 7000 BC meeting.

Conspirator Andy Singer has a show of his cartoons up in St. Paul at the Black Dog Cafe along with another excellent looking show of Minnesota poster artists, coinciding conveniently with the Republican National Convention. Here is what Andy has to say about it…

Dear Friends, Editors, Acquaintances, fellow humanoids,

I currently have a show of over 40 cartoons at the Black Dog Cafe and Wine Bar in downtown Saint Paul–
http://www.blackdogstpaul.com/events/news-73.shtml

I am sharing the space with the Minneapolis Poster Offensive who is exhibiting 30 of its posters in the other half of the space–
http://www.blackdogstpaul.com/events/news-13.shtml

The show(s) will be up through the RNC convention, probably until mid September.

There will be a reception for both of us on Friday evening, August 29th, from 5pm until we all fall down. I will be selling original cartoons, books, and maybe my soul. Come check it out!

For some photos of the show as I set it up, see–
http://www.andysinger.com/rants.html

Please forward or post this event anywhere that people might see it.

Thanks,

Andy Singer
www.andysinger.com

More info on the Poster Offensive show happening simultaneously here.

Our good friends at Puny Entertainment have a gallery show called 30% More Commercial opening at First Amendment Gallery this Saturday… here is the info:

“Best known for their animation on Emmy Nominated TV Series “Yo Gabba Gabba” and high-end interactive development; PUNY’s twenty-two artists, designers, and programmers throw shit against a wall to see what sticks. For one night only their corporate overseers allowed non-billable hours to be put towards un-artdirected art, interactive pointlessness, and animated mash-ups. On display are secret passions, resume killers, and a clear bias against race, gender, and economic backgrounds..

Is it art or a capabilities pitch? We’re not sure they know the difference. Salary DOE.”

Live Music by

CAVERNS IN CAVERNS
and
Mark Fox is a DJ

See a preview of some art from the show here.

First Amendment Gallery
1101 Stinson Blvd
Basement rooms A & B
Minneapolis, MN
55413

Bubonicon 40, the New Mexico Science Fiction Convention | August 22-24, 2008 | Friday 3:30-8:30; Saturday 10:00-7:00; Sunday 10:00-4:00 | The Albuquerque Grand Airport Hotel | Albuquerque, NM

Once again, 7000 BC will be in the dealers room at Bubonicon, along with group member Jamie Chase, with an assortment of comics, art, and prints.

This annual event is one of the premier gatherings of science fiction writers, artists, and fans. This year’s guest of honor is David Weber, the toastmaster is Daniel Abraham, and the guest artist is Bob Egggleton.

Our friends Robert Stikmanz, Darla Hallmark, and Hadrosaur Productions will also be back in the dealer room