Events Calendar
In This Section
Artists challenge limits and rules
'Transformers,' 'Ice Age' tie for No. 1
North Canton native lands leading sci-fi role
See 'Equalizer' in earlier life
Catch 'Road Trip' along Route 66
Modern-day father has warts and all
'Friends for Life' provides insight into war families
Most Read Stories
Blogs:
Pets:
Summit teams up with Rescue Waggin' to save dogs
The Heldenfiles:
Songs for an American Day
Patrick McManamon:
Touching on the Browns, Cavs
Akron Zips:
Opponent outlook: Northern Illinois
Browns Bulletin:
Single-game ticket sales begin July 11
Tribe Matters:
Wedge assured of job through season
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth test showed marijuana
Kent State Sports:
Men's Basketball Scheduling update
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Updated: Free Agency: Another Gone - Apparently
All Da King's Men:
The Obligatory Palin Post
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Wow….Sarah Palin Resigns Governorship
Akron Law Café:
Abraham Lincoln and the Fourth of July
Varsity Letters:
Highland senior receives honor
See Jane Style:
Picnic Wear
Car Chase:
Where do We Go from Here?
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Happy 4th of July!
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Tom asks where to stay while visiting the football Hall of Fame.
Sound Check:
Rundgren fans rejoice!: Second night of AWATS at The Civic added
HRLite House:
Morscruethal Behaviors or Just Lip Service?
Akron Gamer:
Hot link: Best of Nintendo at E3
Published on Sunday, Oct 12, 2008
The year is 1979, and Akron is the music capital of the world. No, really. Punk Rock and Trailer Parks, the new graphic novel by former Beacon Journal artist Derf (John Backderf), is set during the brief but white-hot period when Akron supplied the world with new wave and every punk act came to the Bank on South Main Street.
The main character is Otto Pizcok, a senior at Richford High School (it's really Richfield). By day he's a band geek who lives with his uncle in a forlorn trailer park; by night he and his friends hit the Bank to see acts like the Ramones, whom he introduces to Sky-Way burgers. Otto gets hired to work at the club, and befriends Clash guitarist Joe Strummer and rock critic Lester Banks. There are plenty of compromising situations and some nudity.
Derf has a bang-on sense of time and place (do you remember those fuzzy foot-shaped rugs?). A news release says that Punk Rock and Trailer Parks (144 pages, softcover) is the first graphic novel set in Akron. It costs $15.95 from http://www.slgcomic.com.
Derf was among the cartoonists chosen for inclusion in The Best American Comics 2008, an annual anthology. Four selections from Derf's syndicated The City appear. The 352-page hardcover costs $22 from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Derf will sign Punk Rock and Trailer Parks from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at Square Records, 824 W. Market St., Akron.
Cab driver takes
us along for ride
Brooklyn cab driver Thomas Jasany says a year in physical therapy gave him plenty of time to write ''A Fares'' of a Street Savvy Cabby: 75 True Stories. Jasany, who uses the pseudonym Harry Longfellow, says he was struck in downtown Cleveland by two Akronites who ran a red light.
A Fares is a tell-all of ''Harry's'' passengers and their quirks and kinks. He lists 16 different kinds of drunks, from arrogant to lonely (a lonely drunk is the ''American Dream''), and recounts conversations with hookers and visits to crack houses. This book carries a strong R rating, like its 1998 predecessor ''A Fares'' of a Cleveland Cabby. The late Craig Wilson here called Cleveland Cabby ''fender-denting brutality and un-PC honesty.''
Street Savvy (136 pages, softcover) costs $9.95 at Visible Voice Bookstore, 1023 Kenilworth Ave., Cleveland, or $14 by mail to Jasany, 8261 Memphis Ave., Apt. 8, Brooklyn, OH 44144.
Events
Joseph-Beth Booksellers (Legacy Village, Lyndhurst) — William Heath discusses and signs his novel Blacksnake's Path, about Miami Indians and settlers in the late 1700s, 4 p.m. today; Susan Orlean (The Orchard Thief) signs Lazy Little Loafers, a picture book, 6 p.m. Monday; Marcia Pledger signs My Biggest Mistake and How I Fixed It, about business messes and solutions, 7 p.m. Thursday; Chicago crime novelist Sean Chercover signs Trigger City, Saturday, 2 p.m.
Holiday Inn Cleveland South (6001 Rockside Road, Independence) — Ghoulardifest 2008. Chuck Schodowski (Big Chuck: My Favorite Stories from 47 Years of Cleveland TV), 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday; Carlo Wolff (Cleveland Rock and Roll Memories), 5 to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday; John Gorman and Tom Feran (The Buzzard: Inside the Glory Days of WMMS and Cleveland Rock Radio), 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday; Mark Dawidziak (The Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companion to Dracula) 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; Neil Zurcher (Ohio Oddities), noon to 2 p.m. Sunday; Charles Cassaday (Cleveland Ghosts) and Dave Schwensen (Beatles in Cleveland), 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday; James Renner (Serial Killer's Apprentice), 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday. Admission is $15 per day; $30 for all three days. Visit http://www.theghoulardifest.com/ for more information.
Learned Owl Book Shop (204 N. Main St., Hudson) — Artist and author Kathleen Whitmer will sign her books as part of Hudson's monthlong ''In the Pink'' month promoting breast cancer awareness; Whitmer is a cancer survivor. 2:30 to 4 p.m. Saturday.
— Barbara McIntyre
Special to the Beacon Journal
Send information about books of local interest to Lynne Sherwin, Features Department, Akron Beacon Journal, P.O. Box 640, Akron, OH 44309 or lsherwin@thebeaconjournal.com. Event notices should be sent at least two weeks in advance.
The year is 1979, and Akron is the music capital of the world. No, really. Punk Rock and Trailer Parks, the new graphic novel by former Beacon Journal artist Derf (John Backderf), is set during the brief but white-hot period when Akron supplied the world with new wave and every punk act came to the Bank on South Main Street.
Get the full article here.
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