photo by J. A. Ellingson

In April our friend the amazing artist Tom Kennedy died in a tragic downing accident at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. The Ripper Journey Foundation has been established in his memory and a three-part art auction fundraiser will take place from October 28th through November 12th at the Jellyfish Gallery in San Francisco.

Friends and family of the legendary San Francisco artist Tom Kennedy will host a three-part benefit and art auction to benefit the Ripper Journey Foundation beginning October 28 and running through November 12 at the Jellyfish Gallery in San Francisco. The public is invited to participate and attend free of charge.

Tom Kennedy passed away April 12, 2009 while body-surfing off Ocean Beach in San Francisco. He left behind a legacy as a pioneering sculptural artist, social agitator and builder of more than twenty art cars. As a founding member of the art car movement, his works of art work evolved into symbols of political protest and peace keeping. Tom envisioned his beloved and most recognized art car, Ripper the Friendly Shark, traveling around the world with a crew called the Friend Patrol. Together they would inspire and support friendship and peace in conflict zones where people perceived as enemies live and work together. The art auction will raise money to send Ripper the Friendly Shark on this mission at least once a year.

The three-part fundraiser will kick off on October 28 with a silent auction and live performances and wrap up on November 12 with a live auction. An ever-growing list of artists have donated artwork to be auctioned with all proceeds to benefit the Ripper Journey Foundation.

Featured artists include Tom Kennedy, Haideen Anderson, Margot Duane, Karen Cusolito, Michael Christian, Brian Goggin, Dan Das Mann, Jon Alloway and Kal Spelletich.

The event will also showcase photos, art and videos about Tom Kennedy and the Ripper Journey Foundation created in his memory. All pieces in the silent auction will also be online at tomkennedyart.com.

EVENT DETAILS

Venue: Jellyfish Gallery at 1286 Folsom Street, San Francisco

October 28th ~ Opening Night
6:00 pm until Midnight

Wine, Cheese, Music – Silent Auction begins.
A special performance by Mark Growden and Phat Mandee

November 7th ~ Rock Star Hat Party
6:00 pm until Late Night

Everyone MUST wear a hat.
Main Act: Tom Jonesing + more entertainment to be announced.

November 12th ~ Closing Night
6PM until Midnight

Silent auction ends at 10:00 pm
Live Auction featuring Hal Robbins and Chicken John

About Ripper Journey Foundation

The Ripper Journey Foundation was created by the friends and family of Tom Kennedy to make his dream come true: to send his first art car Ripper the Friendly Shark around the world inspiring and supporting friendship and peace. By raising money the Foundation will make it possible for the Friend Patrol to accompany Ripper the Friendly Shark on at least one journey per year to conflict zones where people perceived as enemies live and work together in the name of friendship and peace. For more information go to: tomkennedyart.com

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guest post by Violet Blue

photo by Scott Beale

In a completely non-ironic and potentially exciting move, KQED and the University of California, Berkeley School of Journalism have snatched $5 million in kindling to start the Bay Area News Project. The money is being fronted by the Hellman Family Foundation to create online (and sideline print) media outlets as a “nonprofit, nonpartisan publicly supported news organization.” The first post on their fledgling Twitter account (@bayareanewsproject) announces that they’ve joined forces with the New York Times and the rumor is that it’ll be basically a New York Times West. The veritable Grey Lady herself said — one day after the NYT’s involvement was announced — opines that it’ll be “the largest and most ambitious of dozens of similar local news operations that have cropped up around the country.”

The venture is set to launch next year, which is really just around the corner in old media time, and to get a good sense of what the various people involved have to say about the scope and intention of the next possible Chron/Gate/Examiner killer, there’s a lot to be gleaned in KQED’s roundtable audio interview from Friday. Forum’s recent episode with host Dave Iverson The Future of News? is worth a listen. The topic of local news coverage here in the heart of technology (and the Hollywood of tech) is nothing if not a morbid topic, and there have been many contenders for the title they’re going to be more than a few rounds in the ring for. They’re hiring for freelancers right now (email: jobs at bayareanewsproject dot org). Although on Iverson’s show, when directly asked by a caller self-identified as a journalist, they said there would be compensation but were not transparent about any pay scale. I guess we’ll have to wait until they choose a name for more details (BANP is a temporary title). But they do tell us that distribution will be through a website, mobile applications, KQED will funnel them through radio and television dissemination, and they’re “exploring” print options with the NYT.

On the show, guests (and members of BANP) include Carl Hall, former representative of the SF Chronicle’s newsroom and commercial departments; Jeff Clarke, president and CEO of KQED; Neil Henry, professor and dean of the UC Berkeley’s J-school and author of 2007’s “American Carnival: Journalism Under Siege in an Age of New Media”; Noelle Leca, chair of the board of directors of KQED; and Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. In all it looks to be a very exciting venture, and we’ve been waiting for that local news wake-up call for decades — after all, we really should be leading the world in a revolution for combining democratized reportage and cutting edge technology. But instead most of us just gnash our teeth, watch the lag, read SFist, SF Appeal and SFBG while going elsewhere for… everything else.

Bay Area News Project is nothing if not ambitious. Will they really be the shock troops for journalism’s revolution as they hope? I’m reminded of when GETV was invited as citizen journalists to the 2006 San Francisco International Film Festival in a groundbreaking step to incorporate indie media with mainstream media. Only to discover in our on-the-spot interview with Graham Leggat that while courting us — no: in fact, bloggers and web TV reporters like us were not going to be granted equal access. Bait and switch, or perhaps yet another case of misunderstanding the medium. In the KQED Forum show, they tell us that BANP wants to “engage, listen, communicate with one another… with professional heart for news gathering and dissemination.” While also bantering that unlike citizen journalism, “truth” is at the heart of professional journalism, hence their preference for pro over citizen reportage — a sentiment many of us might find dismaying, at odds with our experience, and simply old fashioned.

Well, we can take heart that KQED’s Noelle Leca can be quoted as saying (at 37:35, in case we need it later) that Bay Area News Project “is a risk taking venture.” We certainly hope so. And Lillian Hellman was a very interesting and cool woman. BANP, whatever it will be called, could be just the kick in the [body part] that is needed, not just locally but nationally or even internationally. And that would be something to finally be proud of, indeed.

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xkcd: volume 0, the first xkcd book has just been published by BreadPig and xkcd creator Randall Munroe will be going on a book tour, making stops in New York on September 19th, San Francisco (111 Minna Gallery) on September 21st (a fundraiser for EFF) and Mountain View on September 22nd.

xkcd: volume 0 is the first xkcd book! It features selections from the first 600 comics, including various author and fan favorites. It was lovingly assembled from high-resolution original scans of the comics (the mouseover text is discreetly included), and features a lot of doodles, notes, and puzzles in the margins.

Proceeds from the sale of the xkcd book will go to Room to Read, a San Francisco based non-profit that builds schools and libraries in the developing world.

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On May 20th, 2009 my friend Drew Olanoff was diagnosed with cancer (stage 3 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma), since then he’s been having his friends blame anything and everything on his cancer through his website Blame Drew’s Cancer.

Next Wednesday, August 5th Drew is hosting a BlameDrewsCancer Blowout at the Dragon Bar in San Francisco. The event is a benefit for Livestrong, a foundation created by Lance Armstrong to help fight cancer.

If you can’t make the benefit, but would like to contribute, donations can be made through the BlameDrewsCancer sponsor page on Livestrong.

UPDATE: Here’s Drew up on the screen doing a video chat with the crowd at the Blame Drew’s Cancer Blowout.

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photo by unknown

A few weeks back I wrote about my friend Dr. Creep (aka Barry Hobart), the horror host of Shock Theatre in Dayton, OH, who was a childhood influence as I was growing up. Dr. Creep has been going through a rough time lately, experiencing some health and financial difficulties. I recently went out to visit him in Dayton and we talked about ways to improve his web presence and also raise funds for his recovery.

I’m working on getting access to drcreep.com in order to make a few updates, but in the meantime I’ve setup a blog for Dr. Creep so that we can post the occasional update and I’ve created a Dr. Creep Twitter account which I will update as well.

video still of Dr. Creep and my Mom as a nurse in the 1970’s on the set of Shock Theatre

I’ve also setup a Dr. Creep Recovery Fund, where donations can be made via PayPal.

If you are in the Dayton area this weekend, there is a Dr. Creep Benefit Show taking place this Saturday, July 18th in Springfield.

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In November 2008 underground comics artist S. Clay Wilson was in an accident resulting in a serious brain injury. A Special Needs Trust has been setup to help with his recovery.

S. Clay Wilson fell and hit his head on nov 2, 2008, suffering a severe traumatic brain injury. After teetering on the brink of death for the first month, he has survived with his humor and cartooning talents intact. His eyes have suffered, as well as his neck and brain, but time and an innate orneriness gives hope to his gradual restoration.

Wilson rose to fame in the 1960s as a founding artist for Zap Comix along with Robert Crumb, robert Williams, Victor Moscoso, Spain Rodriguez and Rick Griffin. (Paul Mavrides was later added to this talented roster.) His infamous character the Checkered Demon first appeared in Zap. wilson Challenged censorship by depicting wild characters like the Checkered Demon, Captain Pissgums and Ruby the Dyke (to name a few) and made the world a more liberal environment for all artists and cartoonists.

Although he is still recovering in the hospital and beginning to draw again, (in his signature dense-pack style) his ability to earn a living in the future is in serious question. a depleted bank account and mounting bills make it imperative that his fellow man (and woman) come forward now and donate what they can to help this iconic artist develop a healthy, independent quality of life when he comes home to Lorraine Chamberlain, with whom he has lived for the past nine years.

He will need loving care for the rest of his life. Please help us do that for him.

via Last Gasp

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During ROFLThing NYC in January Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit and swine-defender of Breadpig, went around collecting DNA samples from Internet personalities which he then sequenced and framed via DNA11 creating “ROFLDNA: Deoxyribonucleic Awesome”. This DNA art is currently being auctioned off on eBay by Breadpig with 100% of the proceeds going to Science Commons.

At the original ROFLcon, Breadpig auctioned off a signed OLPC laptop.

UPDATE: The auction raised $455 for Science Commons.

photos by Alexis Ohanian

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guest post by Aaron Muszalski

Samantha (aka longtime Suicide Girl “Fractal Suicide”) is currently leading a fundraiser for cancer research in honor of our friend Lou Genise, who succumbed to the disease earlier this year at the age of 38. A multi-talented fire performer, philosopher, artist and clown, Lou was an unforgettable individual who was much beloved throughout the Los Angeles and Burning Man arts communities.

Lou participated in numerous experimental treatments for cancer after being diagnosed, and thus aiding future patients to perhaps one day receive a treatment that would result in a full cured recovery.  In light of that, his friends and family have asked that donations are made in honor of his name to his primary treatment facility, The City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Donations can be made via Paypal here. Any amount is welcome, and any contribution of  $25 or more will receive an (uncensored) 8×10 print of the photo of 18 Suicide Girls above, all raising their fists and yelling FUCK CANCER, taken by none other than Cherry Vega, an extraordinary photographer and individual.

I had the distinct pleasure of having known Lou since 2002, and cherished his company every time our paths crossed. Even in a community rich with outstanding individuals, Lou was unique, and I will forever remember him as a gentleman, and a uncommonly generous, open-hearted friend. It feels most fitting that he be remembered with an act of generosity.

And he’d have appreciated the nekkid girls too. 

photo by Cherry Vega

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guest post by Chicken John

So our friend Hollis Hawthorne (who’s part of the bicycle dance team The Bay Area Dérailleurs) falls off a motorcycle in India while exploring the planet. Hits her head and tumbles into a coma. Sad. Scary. Mom flies over, hospitals, information gets passed around… and this thing happens. I’ve seen it before. It’s amazing. Activation. People activate. It’s almost like a hive mind thing. It’s like: boom. All business. Someone found a program at Stanford Medical Center for head injuries that she qualifies for. The program is free. Hollis has no medical insurance. So we just needed to get her from India to Stanford. She would ride in an air ambulance.

$150,000 meter on that cab ride. So fundraising started on Monday.

Today we are somewhere between $60 and $70 thousand dollars.

Huh?

We have collected over a thousand donations from $1 to $5,000. It’s incredible. But that’s not the juiciest part. We contacted the Motorcycle Association. Someone knew someone that was part of that group. Someone else was the ex-boyfriend of the lobbyist of the Head Injury Association. Someone from Senator Dianne Finesteins office called asking if we need a jet that Bank of America’s has jets and are looking for good press… maybe they can donate. Knows a guy. In our small community, we were able to find plane people, doctors, lawyers, lobbyists, immigration people, fundraisers… on and on. I’ve got the cell phone of the #7 guy at Paypal. There isn’t anyone we don’t have access to. Really.

Hollis cast the chains of her respirator aside yesterday, and today is banging out 24 breaths a minute. She forgot how to breathe for a bit. Hopefully in a minute, she’ll remember to wake up. Stretch her legs. Complain about the food. (is hospital food in India terrible? Can that even be possible?) We are all hopeful. She’s young, strong. Did a lotta yoga and all that crap. I think that stuff matters.

It’s just an inspiring and amazing thing to watch unfold. It’s like basic Chaos… possibility turning into actual with no blueprint. And the most beautiful part is that it’s all action and people and emails and donations and 7 fundraisers to be booked and shows and dinners and art auctions and blogs and facebook and mailing lists and on and on and on and on……. all happening whilst this delicate little flower just lays sleeping. A slightly Elven look to her… you could almost see pointy ears tucking out from her hat. Trucks being loaded and unloaded, banks changing money, DJ’s blaring that awful music, artists feverishly applying paint to canvas, the stages being set up, the bloggers ticking away on their laptops in a café, signs being painted, people standing in front of the benefit shows smoking, 20 million phone calls… all this chaos in a million different directions costing billions and billions of calories, and in the center: this peaceful creature. Snoring.

To donate something to Hollis to reach the $150,000 goal to bring her home, or to check in on her, please visit the blog that has been set up:

friendsofhollis.blogspot.com

Or write something here in the comment section. Thanks to everyone who kicked down. It’s really just amazing.

And I’d like to leave you with this:

“The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

UPDATE: “This just in, if you give today before 6:00, a donor known only as Mr. Dragon will match your donation… up to $3,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Please put “Dragon match” in your donation note field… Thank you, Mr. Dragon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please add your donations to the comments, so we can keep trackk. At this rate, Hollis will be home for dinner on Monday!!!!!!!!!!!!!

photo by unknown

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Our friend Cheri “Rat Girl”, who is part of Cyclecide Bike Rodeo and currently living in Turkey, is going to need major surgery soon and is trying to raise money to cover the costs. A PayPal fund has been setup for Cheri for anyone who would like to help out.

Jon Sarriugarte wrote about Cheri’s situation as well on his blog.

photo by unknown

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The Twitter community is organizing simultaneous Twestivals in 100+ cities around the world on Thursday, February 12th to help raise awareness and funds for charity: water, a non-profit that helps provide clean and safe drinking water to developing nations.

On Thursday 12 February 2009, for 24 hours, cities around the world will be hosting “Twestivals”, volunteer-run, fundraising events for people who know each other through the micro-blogging service twitter.com. Launching in the week the world watches Obama’s historic inauguration, inspired Twitter communities are making plans to come together through the power of the internet. Twitter users from every continent will be forging local and global connections, to raise money for a good cause and in the spirit of fun, change, charity and communication.

The San Francisco Twestival will take place at Harlot. Follow @twestivalsf for updates.

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Cyclecide is hosting a Benefit Carnival for Paul “da Plumber” Cesewski this Saturday, January 31st at the MonkeyBrains office space in San Francisco. The benefit is to help with Paul’s medical bills related to surgery he recently had on his hand which is preventing him from working for months.

Paul was recently an Artist In Residence at the San Francisco Dump and he’s long-time member of Cyclecide, building many of their amazing rides. Make Television recently interviewed Paul as part of their excellent segment on Cyclecide.

See Previously: Paul Cesewski, Artist in Residence at the San Francisco Dump

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Here are a few photos I shot last weekend at the SEEMEN warehouse in San Francisco at a benefit for Big Daddy of Cyclecide who was recently injured in a motorcycle accident. Donations to his recovery fund can be sent via PayPaL to imilky@gmail.com.

Here are two SEEMEN machines that were constantly fighting throughout the event.

Photo Gallery: Big Daddy Benefit

photos by Scott Beale

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guest post by John Law

Kal Spelletich is hosting a benefit at his warehouse this Friday night (January 9th) for Tim “Big Daddy” Anderson. Big Daddy was injured in a motorcycle accident recently, creating new injuries and exacerbating old. Cyclecide stalwart, old old school BRC-DPW, unparalleled DJ, all around gentle giant, gracious friend and SF underground fixture, Big Daddy is one of the people who make San Francisco a great place despite how hard it is to make a living here. Come out for some SEEMEN robotic performance fun, Paul the Plumber bike powered rides, performances by Moses & Spy & much much more.

As some of you might know, Big Daddy was involved in a motorcycle accident that left him w/ a dislocated knee and all 4 ligaments torn. He is unable to work and will be needing surgery in the near future. So we are throwing a benefit show for him this Friday, featuring interactive machines and robots from Kal Spelletich and the Seemen, pedal-powered amusement devices from Pauldaplumber and Cyclecide, RAT-TAC-TOE (tic tac toe w/ rats), with performances by The Amazing Jarico Reesce, and SPY & MOSES! There will also be refreshments and tamales as well as some secret surprises! For those of you who would like to help but can’t be there, a paypal acct. has been set up for donations: imilky@gmail.com

When: Friday, Jan. 9th, 8-12pm
Where: 1043 Marin st. SF, CA 94124

Space will be limited!
Dress warm!

photo by Rick Abruzzo

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Underground comics legend S. Clay Wilson, whose work has appeared in Zap Comix and Weirdo, had an accident on November 2nd resulting in a serious brain injury. To help raise money for his recovery a Jomo Jam Blues Benefit will take place this Sunday, December 28th at The Bistro in Hayward.

Jomo Jam Blues Benefit For S. Clay Wilson Sunday December 28th at The Bistro in Hayward

On November 2nd, legendary Underground cartoonist S. Clay Wilson of Zap Comix fame, creator of The Checkered Demon, suffered a serious brain injury. His recovery will be long and difficult, and he is currently too disoriented to return home to his normal life.

With expenses mounting, long-time friend and musician Dave Hodtwalker has rallied Wilson’s friends in the San Francisco Bay Area artistic community by organizing the Jomo Jam Blues Benefit for Sunday, December 28th at The Bistro in Hayward. In addition to The Dave Walker Band’s regular jam session featuring Hodtwalker, Kenny Gross, Andrew G., Vic and Whitt Vicena, and Roger Lind, special guest musicians will join in, including Underground cartoonist Mark (Cobalt 60) Bode. There will be food, free amplifier service coupons donated by Father’s Amp Repair, an art sale with Wilson’s comic books and other collectibles, and at the end of the evening a special raffle will be held. Prizes include: Wilson-signed posters donated by Hippy Comix, Inc., unique beverages donated by the Celebrator Beer News Magazine, a special S-type guitar created by Andrew G., paintings and drawings by Annette Hodtwalker, and more!

Come and celebrate the holidays by honoring S. Clay Wilson: a unique, original, and outrageous artist!

Where: The Bistro, 1001 B. St., Hayward CA (near the Hayward BART station)
When: Sunday, Dec. 28th., 2-8pm.

S. Clay Wilson’s work was recently featured on the cover of the November issue (#293) of The Comics Journal and 10 Speed Press published a career retrospective of his work “The Art of S. Clay Wilson” in 2006.

Here’s info on what happened to S. Clay Wilson:

- S. Clay Wilson Suffers “Severe Brain Injury” (The Oregonian)

- S. Clay Wilson Out of ICU (The Oregonian)

UPDATE 1: Two more benefits have been organized for S. Clay Wilson”

S. Clay Wilson Noise Benefit is taking place at Hemlock Tavern in San Francisco on January 11th.

Another benefit is being planned at the Mojo Lounge in Fremont on January 24th.

UPDATE 2: A S. Clay Wilson Special Needs Trust has been been setup for donations to aid in his recovery

image via Fantagraphics Books

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On Thanksgiving someone broke into our good friend Katy Bell’s place and stole almost everything she had, including her car. Katy has helped out with almost all of our Laughing Squid events, along with many events and fundraisers over the years in the San Francisco art community and now could use our help.

Donatations can be sent to Katy via yogaperv@gmail.com using PayPal.

photo by Lady Bee

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NIMBY is having a Halloween Celebration & Fundraiser this Friday, October 31st at the ACME Warehouse in Emeryville. All proceeds will go to The NIMBY Relocation Project.

Rising from the rubble!!

Department of Spontaneous combustion and Acme will be hosting NIMBY’s First fund raiser since the 9-11 closing of the space. Please join us just a few blocks away.

Friday, October 31st
9 pm – ??

All proceeds go to deposit on the new NIMBY space.

ACME Warehouse
1281 30th St.
Emeryville, CA 94608

Admission:

$10 w/ costume
$15 w/o costume
$30 VIP bracelet which will get you: a bar pass for the night, 10 raffle tickets and your choice of the zombie make-up photo booth or a single serving of absinthe.

We have an awesome new home and hope to be able to announce the location soon. A few more details can be found at nimbyspace.org.

Hope to see you there.

Mr. Snook

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Playa Love presents Spiderball 2008, a fundraiser for Black Rock Arts Foundation (BRAF) and Giveback, this Friday, October 31st at the Bently Reserve in San Francisco. Advance tickets are now on sale.

This is no grungy warehouse or underground-low ceiling, sticky floor venue, this is the finest event space in San Francisco – the prestigious Bently Reserve, formerly the Federal Reserve Bank of San Fran-bloody-cisco! It’s the third year for Spiderball and definitely the biggest and best by far! This year, the main hall is slammin’ with massive bass provided by a 6-point surround sound from JK, a very sexy chill space, and 6 full bars.

The DJ lineup is sure to be off the chain, with world-class beats throughout the evening, including:

Freq Nasty
an-ten-nae (Get Freaky) &
Laura (El Circo)
Ana Sia (3WS)
Smoove
Tamo (Angels of Bass)

Plus! Mystery Cirque, a midnight spectacle, body painting by Jessica Atreides and many more surprises throughout the night. Leave the weak costumes at the door – this is a freak show so impress us and get your freak on!

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I Can Has Cheezburger? along with curator Marianne Goldin are organizing a LOL Arts Show which takes place this Thursday, October 23rd at Coffee Bar in San Francisco. The art show and silent auction is a benefit for Partners in Reading which helps with adult literacy. Advance tickets for the LOL Arts Show are now on sale.

This show is comprised of artists from around the world: professionals, students, and lovers of art. There are painters, draughtspeople, comic artists, sculptors, glass artists, media artists, musicians and conceptual artists. All these individuals responded to an open call for a very new kind of art show. Their work creates a visual vocabulary required for the concept of LOLcat art to exist.

See Previously: I Can Has Cheezburger? Book & San Francisco Invasion

UPDATE: Mark Day made a video of the LOL Arts Show.

LOLcat art by Marianne Goldin

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Robots and Monsters is a project started by Joe Alterio where he will create a custom drawn robot or monster of your choice for $50 based on the words and phrases you provide him. He will then send you the original and donate the money to a good cause. This quarter Joe is donating all proceeds to The Electronic Frontier Foundation. Here’s the menagerie of robots and monsters that Joe has created so far.

RobotsAndMonsters.org is a charitable art project that matches goodwill and charitable giving with custom-made commissioned cartoon and pop art. Giving just a little bit gets you an original drawing of a robot or a monster of your specification sent to your door – and in the process, you get to sleep better at night, because you know you’ve just helped out a great cause. C’mon in, and wipe your feet, stranger.

via Hugh D’Andrade

illustration by Joe Alterio

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