Behind a Wall of Books

Anybody ever watch that old movie Night Train to Munich? For some reason every time I get on a tr ain I expect spies and espionage. The night train from Portland to San Francisco, lovingly called, “The Coast Starlight” has a time schedule based on approximations at best, and aside from the uncouth and suggestive remarks from the café car over the loudspeaker, little to no excitement is what you can expect. But for anyone tenured to the ways of rail transit, I’m sure you could amalgamate a fine story, riddled with excitement from all your Amtrak adventures.

Last week I journeyed by way of the “Starlight” to the Bay area for the great Alternative Press Expo (APE). I was to be joined by Corbett Redford of the nefarious satirical duo, Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNugget’s, for a two day tabeling event behind a wall of Microcosm! The event took place at the Concourse; this place was, to my guess about the size of two football fields, that’s approximately 116,000 square feet of comics, books, fans, and various collected art from all facets and corners of the imagination.

I arrived a few days early to pound the sidewalks and disseminate the volumes of Microcosm’s gamut to the eager public. Most of this I accomplished on foot, however my friend DJ Freshstep occasioned to scoot me about the city on the back of his Vespa. This was the one, quasi euro transit attack I managed.

Corbett, harnessing his impressive clout, succeeded in shepherding me, during one of my afternoons, though the  backdoors of some of the great legendary record and comic shops of the city. The two Amoeba’s,  Rasputin, and 1-2-3-4  Go, gave us the royal welcome and what seemed like every comic shop in the city was well enthused to shake the hand of an affiliate of Henry & Glenn. 

A who’s who mixer at the opulent office of Last Gasp prefaced the two days of the APE. If you’ve ever wondered what it’d be like to walk around in a Robert Crumb drawing, while glancing through old photographs of William Burroughs gripping his iconic pistol, Last Gasp wont disappoint. It was like a museum but more along the lines of the home of your parent’s awesome hippy friends. Think of the Barthes collection, but superimpose all the bizarreness of the 1960’s drug culture.

The two days of the APE, Corbett and I huddled, side-by-side behind the great wall of Microcosm titles I created for our display. Corbett was mostly occupied preaching the good word from his newly debuted Microcosm release(s), The Bobby Joe Ebola Song Book, and Meal Deal With the Devil; Signatures were given and reluctantly received! No time to sit and a near 19 hours of collected alternative press left us dizzy and hyper-conscious of the mistake of building a wall, behind which there can be no sitting, less you leave the books to speak for themselves. 

APE, see you next year!