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April,
2001
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BIG
PICTURE QUOTE OF THE MONTH:
"Money doesn't make you happy but it's
a comfortable way to be miserable."
- Claire Booth
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Hey
Everybody,
Happy Spring. Here's to tulips on your face and sunshine ready to bloom.
Wait. Tulips ready to...oh, forget it. Happy Spring.
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LAST MONTH'S
NEWSLETTER
TONS of you
did not receive last month's newsletter and I would apologize for that except,
number one, many of you are quite HAPPY you didn't receive last month's
newsletter and number two, it wasn't my fault. Blame stoopid Netscape for
that one. For once, it wasn't my complete ignorance of computer technology.
About a thousand of you are still in my Netscape address book as that's
where these dopey newsletters originate from and I never bothered to transfer
the address book because I trusted that Netscape would never lose it on
me. Silly me. Anyway, they found it (must have dropped behind their stove)
and here we are. Together again. Lucky you.
If you want
the March newsletter, drop me an e-mail at planetlennie@hotmail.com with
the heading "MARCH!!" and we'll send it out. Also, Lee posts all
the past newsletters on PlanetLennie.com for me so you can go there to read
it, too.
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THE WORCESTER
TELEGRAM AND GAZETTE
For those of
you asking, the Telegram STILL isn't done with it's goofy comics poll so
I don't know what's doin' there yet. If you want to bug them instead of
me (hint, hint) you can write 'em at www.telegram.com/comics. I think this
is the last week they're doing it but one never knows, does one.
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THE ORANGE
COUNTY REGISTER
Once again,
the contacts are (I think)-
ocregister@link.freedom.com
or
Tonnie L. Katz, senior vice president and editor
(714) 953-7986
Tonnie_Katz@notes.freedom.com
or
Robin Doussard
comics editor
(714) 796-6989
You guys and
the sales people at the syndicate got me back in on Sundays with the OCR.
Much MUCH appreciated. They promised us back in on the weekdays as well
cuz they said they got tons of mail and calls but apparently um..that didn't
happen. I dunno. Anyway, thanks for all you did and are doing. Awesome.
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NEW MARKETS
The Big Picture,
thanks to a great sales staff at Universal Press Syndicate and some incredibly
PERSISTENT fans and supporters of the strip, is picking up newspapers and
markets at a nice steady pace and we appreciate it muchly. We're looking
forward to what sales folks term as a "breakout". Not like the
kind your sister used to get right before the prom, but more that the strip
will build and build from the steady progress it's experiencing now. Thank
you, thank you, thank you.
For all of
you that have asked how to get The Big Pic in your local paper, here is
an INCREDIBLE website to find the way to contact the editor and editorial
page of every single newspaper in the Universe. Easy to find yours and VERY
easy to make your voice heard. to find YOUR newspaper go to-
http://www.abyznewslinks.com/index.html.
The editorial page is an open forum and editorial page editors pay attention
to that stuff.
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KANSAS CITY,
MO.
I'll be in
Kansas City on Big Pic business from May 1 to May 3.This is not a book signing
thingy. Sorry if I gave the impression that it was a "public"
event. It's the annual sales meeting of the syndicate and I'm the guest
creator (oooh. "Mr.. Guest Creator". well, excuuuuze me) this
year.
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BOCA ROTAN,
FL.
Not gonna be
at the Cartoonist Convention in Boca this year. Sorry 'bout that, too. Cancel
your reservations,doods. I know all your plans were revolved around me being
there, right? Seriously, I can't make it this year. Hector. Carlos. Mark.
You know what to do. Raise some hell. The six... never mind. This is a family
newsletter.
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LENNIE'S
FIFTH ANNUAL 39TH BIRTHDAY BASH
YESH!! We're
all looking forward to this year's bash at The Plantation Club in Woosta
next Friday the fourth ('cept next year I'm gonna start taking those NUMBERS
off of which year it is EXACTLY. Enough of announcing my stoopid age). This
is one of my very favorite events of the year. We run this benefit annually
for "Why Me, Inc." a charity organization that helps kids with
cancer and their families. The bash is a GREAT time with GREAT bands, GREAT
friends and a GREAT cause. The spirit in the room is indescribable (is that
how you spell indescribable?). And ALL profits go straight to the charity.
This year features
the bands (in this order starting at 8 p.m.) GEARHEAD, THE BUBBLEHEADS,
PURE FICTION, PROBABLE CAUSE, and o' course, CLUTCH GRABWELL (we go on about
midnight). There is also a free buffet and lots of local businesses contribute
goods and services for raffle.
The whole night,
all that included, sets you back just twelve bucks American. Again, ALL
of it goes straight to the kids. Join us, please. You won't be disappointed.
We're expecting a huge crowd this year so you might wanna get there early.
For those of
you that live out of town, out of state, off of continent and/or off of
planet, you can still contribute to the cause and FEEL a part of it if you
want. here's how-
1) You can
check out the "why me" website at www.whyme.org to get further
information on the good work they do. It is a truly personal and "grassroots"
organization that helps their kids directly. It's not a big mega charity
where you're not quite sure if your money is going where it should.
2) Donations
can be sent directly to Why Me, Inc, 316 Main Street, Worcester, Ma. 01608
If you want to mention that your sending in care of "Lennie's Birthday
Bash", that's cool but not necessary. And, I'll tell you what. Send
a check to me, any amount (I trust you), made out to Why Me, Inc. and I'll
send you back a drawing of me 'n Fuzzbucket or somethin'. Howz THAT? Hell,
you can sell it on E-Bay for like, 25 cents or something. or wait 20 years
and sell it for THIRTY cents!! Whoa!
3) If you'd
like a special edition (I design a different one every year) "Birthday
Bash" t-shirt, drop me an e-mail at planetlennie@hotmail.com or just
send a check out to me for at least $10 plus some dough for shipping (like,
3 bucks extra should cover it) at The Big Picture, P.O. Box 729, Norwell,
Ma. 02061 and I'll get it right out to you. Profits go straight to Why Me.
This year,
the t-shirts are black with white print. On the front chest is a graphic
of Ginger in rock 'n roll pose playing a guitar. On the back is a listing
of the event, the bands and some other good stuff. If you want to see the
design, Lee is putting it up on PlanetLennie.com soon (might be there now).
If it's not there yet, drop me an e-mail if you have any questions. Or you
can trust me. The worst case scenario is that you hate the shirt but at
the very least you helped some kids and got yourself a nice rag to polish
the car with. Not a bad "worst case".
There are sizes
large and x-tra large only. Always. Cuz I like it that way, 'k? I've got
a few left over from the last 2 years as well (like a half dozen) that I
can sell for $8 each if you're interested. Give me a couple weeks to get
it out to you, though because things will be busy here when I get back from
K.C.
They sell pretty
quickly at the event itself so, if you're interested, we'll do what we can
to set some aside. And, if you do decide to support the cause in ANY way,
thanks in advance. I can't think of a better.
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INTERVIEWS
THIS MONTH
Thanks to WBZ
(AM1030) radio's Jordan Rich for the phone interview and plugs last night
for the upcoming Birthday Bash. Jordan's show reaches a WIDE audience ('bout
38 states) and I appreciate the help with the fund raiser. Jordan's a good
guy. We've spoken off air a bit and he's the same guy you hear on the air.
Somewhat..um..unusual in that business. We'll be doing an interview and
taking calls sometime over the summer so I'll keep you posted.
I did a two
part interview (the first part is up this week and the second part will
be posted next week) with J.R.Cook, creator of the on-line comic strip,
"The Normal Guy". Good questions and a nice exchange with J.R.
And not the usual "Where do you get your ideas?" dopey questions.
If you wanna check it out, this week's link is:
http://normalguy.keenspace.com/lennie1.html
next week,
http://normalguy.keenspace.com/lennie2.html
I also did
an interview with a trade mag, Cartoonist Profiles, which will come out
in June. More on this next time.
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THAYER SYMPHONY
Tonight's Thayer
Symphony Orchestra concert, featuring Jerry Seeco (and moi, playing in the
orchestra and soloing on a couple of tunes) is sold out. Sorry 'bout that.
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THANKS AND
KUDOS
-Thanks to James Baker at S.E. Shires in Hopedale, Ma. for fixing my horn.
Trombone players reading this- trust me. He's the man.
-Thanks to UComics.com for getting my new photo up on my section of that
site. Finally a photo I like. Hey, maybe it's cuz my face is all covered
up. Hmmm. Anyway, sorry i dragged my butt getting it to you. Much better
than that old one from 3 years ago. Now to get Ginger on there. Sheesh.
It never stops, does it??
-Thanks to the band Joe Rockhead. I had the opportunity to design the cover
for their new c.d. plus take a solo on track three. If anybody wants to
contact Joe Rockhead, go to Joeroc.com. ask for Tom.
-Thanks to Jeff (aka Andre). Dood, you know what you do. It's friggin' awesome.
From pushin' The Big Picture to keeping us idiots in line and focused on
what's real.
-Thanks to Lee as always (leetotten.com) All that stuff you do is above
and beyond what you came to do. I call and you do. Amazing. Someday I'll
pay you properly.
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DAWN.
Nope. Haven't
heard from Dawn. We've gone a long time without contacting each other before
and the connection always remained strong so don't worry. Course, she wasn't
married living in Paris then either....
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CLUTCH GRABWELL
As those of
you that follow the band know, the shows have more and more energy (if that
was possible) and Mark's tunes get stronger and stronger...It's never been
better for me. We're finally now talking about doing a new c.d. No date
set yet but we're all anxious to get the new material recorded. We WILL
get to the West Coast in the fall. We're concentrating on New York right
now and the first date there is in June. More to come.
Updates for
all gigs and info at all times can be found at grabwell.com. or by calling
(781) 925-9050
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That's it for
now.
Thanks, as
always, for your support, everyone. As I said in the "Normal Guy"
interview, "For me, it's all about the readers that give a hoot. That's
why I do this." But I didn't use the word hoot.
Anyway, thanks
for giving a hoot.
Best.
Lennie, Ginger, and all of us at The Big Picture
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