2020: Where I Stand Now...

So 2019 was a pretty crazy year that completely derailed many of my creative projects that I was hoping to complete and even hoping to start. In February, Third World Sun’s drummer, Mike Driml, had a heart attack. I spent much time going to the hospital to keep him company as he began his recovery and, after a series of unfortunate events for him, he lost work and his residence. He ended up in his car and then ultimately on my couch. The result ended up with all of the members of Third World Sun going their separate ways. There was more to it than this, but that was how it turned out. I’m now renting the basement that we used to rehearse in to a tenant. The financial increase has been welcome.

Nevertheless, not to belabor these personal issues, but my focus was not what I expected it to be in 2019. Let’s go through where things now stand based on my last post.

Third World Sun: Eclipse
The new Third World Sun album became available in mid-2019, just past the original mid-April target release date. Once Mike had his heart attack, Scott and I decided to complete the album. His drums had already been recorded and we didn’t know if he was going to make it or not. Turns out, thankfully, he did recover. The album is only available in download format. If you’re interested, you can download the album at this link: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/thirdworldsun2. We’re all incredibly proud of it. In September, we disbanded Third World Sun. We’d been together since Lori’s passing (5.5 years) and our lives had all grown in different directions. It was no longer very easy to keep it going. It was a mutual decision. So that project has come to a close. I do miss playing with the guys. But it was a huge drain on my time. And so, now in 2020, I should have more time to tackle other projects, many of them I had hoped to address in 2019. Download Third World Sun: Eclipse: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/thirdworldsun2

A Stranger At The Gallows (Worlds Collide #2)
I still have one more editorial pass to go. I could not get to it last year. But I should be able to get this out this summer. So May or June of 2020. I’ll release cover art as soon as I have it.

Website: paulcarhart.com
I did give the website a bit of an overhaul at the end of 2018. But I’ve started a new homepage refresh concept that I hope to do in the next couple months. So, something else for the middle of 2020. More info to come.

The Paul•Barers
With the shuttering of Third World Sun, I reverted to some material that I had written near the end of my marriage, stuff I wrote just before Lori’s stroke, while she was in the hospital and immediately following her passing. For The Paul•Barers, I did the drum programming myself, play bass, play synthesizers, and sing all the vocal parts. And I’m producing it. Sitting in on guitar is my friend Ryan Carbonara, who I’ve known since high school. He’s probably the best guitarist I know and his playing and contributions to these songs have elevated them far above what I could have made them on my own. Also, my daughter Melody, played ukulele on one of the songs. So far, there are eight songs. The goal is to do about 14 and release the album. Stylistically, these songs have an alternative-80s vibe to them, harkening back to when I first fell in love with music. Duran Duran has always been my favorite band. And I’m striving for a sense of that in this music. Whether I succeed or not is another matter. The hope is that, mid-year or so, I’ll have a band put together around these songs and we can get out and play them live. For now, you can hear the first eight songs on the band’s reverberation page. https://www.reverbnation.com/thepaulbarers
 
Elvin's Pet Peeve
Work continues scanning of the original Classic 1991/1992 Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strips. I’ve got probably 30-40 storyboards for NEW Peeve comic strips. Just need to make the time to do them. Would like to set up a schedule in my life to start turning them out on a regular basis. Maybe not once a week. But maybe between new ones, I can still get the backlist up (which will be new to most people anyway). I love this property and really have enjoyed writing new material for it. But it requires time to pencil and ink new comic strips. And since no one is paying me at this point, the schedule takes a back seat to the day job, raising my daughter, and other creative projects. Now, if I could get a couple sponsors for the strip online…

Elvin's Pet Peeve T-shirts/Merch
"Peeve's Back" shirts and "Sir Loin Emotions" shirts are still available. For now, Peeve merch is only available online: Elvin's Pet Peeve online store.

Secret Project
Still hoping to do this secret project. Lots of ideas have been put down. Tons of notes. Still need to brainstorm with my partner and figure out how to get it off the ground with a bit of distance between us. It can be done, but we just need to figure out the best way to get it going.

Secret Podcast
Also hoping to get a new podcast off the ground with a secret partner. We’ve been talking about it for awhile. But we’ll see… Maybe 2020 is the year.

Faith Restored (Fairlight #4)  
Started on Faith Restored, the fourth novel in the Fairlight series last year. But then life took over and I never had a chance to get back to it.

Other novels
I've also got some percolating ideas to follow up Planetfall with and am doing some reading an research on that front. Either there will be a new Planetfall trilogy. Or there will be TWO new Planetfall trilogies. Whatever the case, I recommend that you get your copy of Planetfall and read the first trilogy (it’s three books in one volume). I’ve gotten good responses from it. Planetfall in print. Planetfall in digital formats.

The Creative Underground YouTube channel
I WANT to keep this going, but I just haven't had the time. It needs to be re-launched. And 2019 just didn’t get me there. Hoping 2020 is the year for the return of The Creative Underground as well as my new podcast with my friend.

Peeve Comic Books
I originally drew a handful of Peeve comic book stories back in 1991 and 1992. I'd like to get those published for your reading pleasure and do new stories as well. In fact, I've recently come up with a few new characters that would be best introduced in a longer story. However, I'm focusing on the comic strips first. Once the 1991 and 1992 comic strips have been scanned, I can scan these and colorize them for publication. So, once the comic strips are scanned, this will move into that slot.

Melody Midnight children's books
I've written three and a half of these. They're written in an every-two-lines rhymes meter that reminds me of Dr. Seuss. My plan is to illustrate these myself. I have already done some character designs. So the next step is to break apart the text into pages and start storyboarding the book. It's a big step and not something I've had time to tackle. Once some of these other projects go through the pipeline, this one is very close to my heart so I want to get to it but I don't want to start it until I can dedicate the time to it that it will require.

So now that Third World Sun is wrapped up, I’m hoping to have time to get to more of these projects. My creative work (as well as raising my daughter) is really what makes living my life worthwhile. I can’t wait to start rocking it.

So, what are YOU working on?

2019 Projects Spring Update

Here we are a third of the way into 2019 and I thought I should provide some sort of an update, since I've disappeared. To be honest, I found myself COMPLETELY OVERWHELMED and had to take some time off just to rest. I've got a lot of projects I WANT to do and some of them have had to shift in and out of my periphery based on timing and what is feasible. But it's still ALOT, especially since I work a day job in advertising and am raising my teenage daughter on my own. 

So I've had to re-organize my time and focus on completing some projects to make room for the other ones. Based on the list from my last post, I'm gonna go through all of my projects. Please feel free to let me know which ones you're most excited about because if I get comments on one over another, that may influence how I organize my time in the future. Thanks. 

PROJECTS COMPLETED OR NEARING COMPLETION: 

New Third World Sun material

All of the new songs have been mastered. However, do to some health issues with our drummer, Biff Wellington, the band is currently not playing any live shows. Local Music Experience, www.localmusicexperience.com has been playing the first single, Find Me. The B-side is Little Miss Sunshine. The album will drop digitally in mid-April with a physical CD following later. For more up-to-date info, please visit the Third World Sun blog frequently: http://thirdworldsun.blogspot.com/

A Stranger At The Gallows (Worlds Collide #2)

My editors have provided their notes and I've incorporated them. One more editorial pass from me to go. Also, keep your eyes peeled for cover art coming soon. I expect it to be available in print and digital formats in summer, 2019.

The NEW paulcarhart.com

The website was redesigned this year. From here, you can visit Third World Sun's pages, Peeve, The Creative Underground and get information on all of my books. You can also get more personal info on me including the backstory on my career and places I've traveled to. Enjoy. www.paulcarhart.com

ACTIVE PROJECTS: 

Something new. Something Nasti

Tons of ideas for this secret project. Hoping to brainstorm with my partner in the coming weeks and jump-starting this opportunity. Can't say more or I'd have to kill you. Suffice it to say that it will be fun and hopefully somewhat popular and therefore lucrative.

New Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strips and Classic Peeve comic strips

The first new Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strip (a two-parter) was posted at www.paulcarhart.com on 7/18/18 (part one) and 7/21/18 (part two). There WILL be more to come (I've already storyboarded at least 10) but not until some of the projects above fall off my plate. Scanning of the original 1991/1992 strips also continue.

Elvin's Pet Peeve T-shirts/Merch

"Peeve's Back" shirts and "Sir Loin Emotions" shirts are still available. Got another one in mind (Long Beach themed because I'd like to get Peeve items into Made by Millworks on Pine Ave.). For now, Peeve merch is only available online: Elvin's Pet Peeve online store.

PROJECTS ON-DECK: 

The Next Novel  

I've decided to write Faith Restored, the fourth novel in the Fairlight series, next. That said, I've also got some percolating ideas to follow up Planetfall with and am doing some reading an research on that front. Either there will be a new Planetfall trilogy. Or there will be TWO new Planetfall trilogies. Whatever the case, I recommend that you get your copy of Planetfall and read up in preparation. Neither will come, however until after Faith Restored is finished. And even that won't get started with any steam until A Stranger At The Gallows is published.

Re-Launching The Creative Underground YouTube channel

I WANT to keep this going, but I just haven't had the time. Once the Third World Sun album is out and A Stranger At The Gallows drops, I can move some other projects into the Active lane. Hoping to do a new video on the cover art for A Stranger At The Gallows. Part of the challenge is to have things that are visually appealing to do videos on. No one wants to watch me with headphones on mixing the latest TWS song or typing into MS Word the next chapter in the latest novel I'm writing. BORING. So as some of these projects drop away, there will be more interesting things to film. And when that happens, my plan is to capture it and to do videos on it. That's when you'll see an increase in video posts at The Creative Underground channel. In the meantime, catch up on old videos, subscribe, like, and hit the notifications bell. Share with your friends to increase my subscriptions. The more people I KNOW are watching, the more important this channel will become in my workload. Check it out! Thanks.

 Music outside of the band

With Third World Sun currently on hiatus from playing live shows and writing/recording, my thoughts have turned to some music I might do outside of the band. Still toying with it but it's percolating.

Peeve Comic Books

I originally drew a handful of Peeve comic book stories back in 1991 and 1992. I'd like to get those published for your reading pleasure and do new stories as well. In fact, I've recently come up with a few new characters that would be best introduced in a longer story. However, I'm focusing on the comic strips first. Once the 1991 and 1992 comic strips have been scanned, I can scan these and colorize them for publication. So, once the comic strips are scanned, this will move into that slot.

Melody Midnight children's books

I've written three and a half of these. They're written in an every-two-lines rhymes meter that reminds me of Dr. Seuss. My plan is to illustrate these myself. I have already done some character designs. So the next step is to break apart the text into pages and start storyboarding the book. It's a big step and not something I've had time to tackle. Once some of these other projects go through the pipeline, this one is very close to my heart so I want to get to it but I don't want to start it until I can dedicate the time to it that it will require.

The key to completing projects is being able to focus. By re-organizing my time and breaking these projects apart into these categories, I've improved my ability to focus on projects that are closer to completion so I can move them off of my plate and then move on to a smaller number of projects. I'm sure these things will shift around more as I work on them, but it is NOT my goal to abandon any of them.

So, what are YOU working on?

2018 Recap

At the beginning of this year, I ran through a laundry list of things I was hoping to accomplish this year. Besides more frequent blog posts (which I clearly haven't done), let's take a look at how well I've done this year... 

Producing new Third World Sun material

The mixes are done. Mastering starts this week and at least one new song will hit Internet radio station, LME (Local Music Experience, www.localmusicexperience.com) before 2018 ends.

Elvin's Pet Peeve T-shirts

Done. Elvin's Pet Peeve online store.

New Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strips

The first new Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strip (a two-parter) was posted at www.paulcarhart.com on 7/18 (part one) and 7/21 (part two). More to come. Also, have been posting the original 1991 strips throughout the year.

The NEW paulcarhart.com

The website was redesigned this year. Enjoy. www.paulcarhart.com

Re-Launching The Creative Underground YouTube channel

Although it's been many weeks since I've put up a new video since I was making edits to A Stranger At The Gallows, I DID re-launch this in 2018 and will likely post another video this weekend (about that book). The new paulcarhart.com links to the channel from the top banner. So make sure you go check it out, subscribe and hit the notification bell. Thanks in advance!

A Stranger At The Gallows (Worlds Collide #2)

My editorial pass is now done. One of my test readers has completed reading it and I've made many fixes to the manuscript based on her feedback. Should go to my editor this weekend. And then it'll get one more pass from me. I expect it to be available in print and digital formats in early 2019.

Returning to the studio with the rest of Third World Sun

We did record the two additional songs. The eventual CD will likely be eleven songs long. But we plan to release one or two songs digitally prior to releasing a physical CD in mid-2019.

Family time

This was Melody's first year of high school and I've been making sure I'm available to be present for Marching Band, Orchestra and homework-helping duties. We also hosted Thanksgiving this year, first time we've hosted a holiday since Lori passed away.

The Last Jedi

I don't hate this film as much as many do. But I think it's not a great Star Wars film and I hope the third film in the trilogy fixes some of the decisions made in this one. I did, however, dig Solo.

Music outside of the band

I've gathered many songs that I might do outside of the band. Toyed with the idea of doing some of them with a friend of mine but it seems that I don't really have time at this point to do this, stay involved with Melody's school-life AND remain in Third World Sun. So this may have to wait. Or it may have to take a different form.

Something new. Something Nasti

Much discussion here. But it's still a secret. And no REAL movement, other than tons of notes of tons of ideas.

New Year's Eve tradition

Yes. We played this. In fact, Third World Sun will again be playing, for the FIFTH consecutive year, New Year's Eve (12/31/2018) at Angel City in Bellflower, CA.

The band is also playing two sets at Rebel Bite in downtown Long Beach on 12/15/18 starting at 7pm.

Classic Peeve

I began this and the task continues. So far, the first 10 Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strips from 1991 have been posted. I plan to scan and post more of them over my holiday break. Available at www.paulcarhart.com (click the picture of Peeve in the top, right corner).

Peeve Nerdiness

No movement on the Peeve comic book stories. Focusing on the comic strips first.

What to write next?

Still haven't decided. A Stranger At The Gallows will be done in a few weeks and will be published in early 2019. I've got many options. Psychick 2? Fairlight 4? Planetfall vol 2? Start the Melody Midnight children's books? Ideas are percolating. What do you guys think?

All in all, I don't think I've done too bad this year. I need to make more frequent blog posts, post the Classic Peeve comic strips more frequently, do NEW Peeve comic strips more frequently and make Creative Underground channel video posts more frequently. Oh. And I need to start writing the next book... Ok. Onward and upward! 

What are YOU working on?

On Growing Up Walt Disney

When I was growing up, every Sunday night, there was a television show called The Wonderful World of Disney. Maybe you remember it. It was always hosted by Walt Disney (despite the fact that Disney passed away two years before I was born) and Mr. Disney, Walt, was my first and is still my longest lasting hero. When my dad asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I told him I wanted to be Walt Disney. I learned how to draw the Disney characters at a very young age and I used to dazzle my friends and schoolmates with my drawings.

My dad wanted more for me. He told me there were more starving artists than there were anything else.

What he didn't get was I didn't want to be JUST an artist. I wanted to BE Walt Disney.

Fast-forward to the late-eighties. I was working in a factory (Douglas Aircraft), about as far away as I could have ever imagined from being Walt Disney. But it wasn't a secret that I was both a Disney fan and an artist. Many told me I needed to go down to the Disney studio and "go get a job there," as if that was all there was to it. And, at the time, I would have been thrilled to be offered the opportunity. However, I didn't have the schooling and there was no way in. It wasn't like it was in the 20s and the 30s where "decent" artists just showed up at "Disney's" and showed a handful of drawings to a guy and was given a desk. This was Eisner's Disney. Pretty much a different place altogether.

Another thing many people at the airplane factory told me stuck though. "They sure don't make comic strips like they used to. Have you read the comic strips in the newspaper lately? They're not even funny."

Challenge accepted.

At the time, I was reading Disney comics reprinted by Gladstone publishing and Disney was starting to branch out and publish their own new comics, much of it based on the Disney Afternoon batch of characters. I had grown up reading Carl Barks' Donald Duck comic books. And I was a bit of a punster myself. Ren and Stimpy was tweaking the heck out of cartoon expectations and I decided I wanted to fall somewhere in between. I wanted to have a character that was antagonistic and cutting-edge, but maybe the rest of the cast of my characters would be more like Disney characters. And I landed on the idea of a Pet Peeve. And since he's a pet, he's got to be someone's pet. I had always loved Tolkien's books and fantasy in general. My brother was very involved in the local Rennaissance Faires. So I set my fictional world in a fractured fairy tale-like fantasy world that was populated with cartoon versions of knights, elves, dwarves and dragons. And since Peeve had to be someone's pet in order for the pun to work, I made Peeve's straight man a pudgy little elf named Elvin. And that's how "Elvin's Pet Peeve" came to mind.

The idea was to do a series of comic strips and have them syndicated to the newspapers the same way Peanuts, Ziggy and Garfield was.

I studied hard. I studied copyright and trademark law. I studied how the Disney artists used to draw their comic strips. And I studied syndication and distribution of comic strips. I even stopped by the Long Beach Press-Telegram offices to see if I could interest them in running my comic strip locally (they weren't interested). In the meantime, hoping for a grass-roots interest, I put my high school print shop knowledge to work and made T-Shirts, caps, and other screen-printed items. I even sponsored a softball team and had a four-page newsletter that co-workers took home to their kids. I was so convinced Peeve was going to be a hit, I bought a personalized license plate for my car that said PEEVE. I wanted to get it before someone else did!

I was highly motivated. I drew 185 Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strips as well as three and a half comic book-style stories (there were four, but only three were fully-inked) before I shelved it to focus on going to school for graphic design (I decided to study graphic design, which was something I excelled at in high school) after I was laid off from Douglas.

From there, I went into a graphic design career, holding Art Director positions at a swimwear company, web design company, screen printing company and then moving into advertising. I revisited Peeve briefly when I was working on potential animated properties with Joe White. But then I moved to Colorado, got married, had a kid, etc. All the things that one does when one grows up.

And then life hit me like a bus.

My wife of ten and a half years was gone. My daughter was fast-approaching her teenage years and I was left with little more than a handful of unrealized dreams.

And a box full of Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strips. All sealed in plastic.

And I realized that this is a wonderful time to be an artist. We have the Internet. We have Do It Yourself filmmaking, publishing, print-on-demand books, T-shirts, digital studio-quality recording, wide-reaching distribution. The only limits are your imagination, inventiveness and wherewithal to get off your tail and do good work.

So I found myself pondering what to do with it all. And, after much prayer and soul-searching, inspiration struck. I'm gonna do it all! And I'm going to tie it all together with the re-launch of the TV show that I did right after Lori passed away (The Creative Underground... it started out as an online radio show in Colorado Springs, CO, then was part of PADNET, Long Beach's cable-access channel and aired simultaneously on my YouTube channel). With the re-launch of The Creative Underground YouTube channel, now focusing mostly on what I'm doing (although I'm sure I'll highlight other artists from time to time, as has been my want), I've come full circle to that kid who's head took up most of the TV every Sunday night.

I have my chance to be Walt Disney!

Everything I'm doing I've cribbed from my hero. His TV show was basically a commercial for whatever the studio was doing. And that's what I'm doing too. It is my hope that you come away inspired to do your own BEST creative work.

So check out the show. Every week, we're going to go behind the scenes on something I'm working on, be it the "Elvin's Pet Peeve" comic strip (which should be soon available to view every week at the soon-to-be redesigned paulcarhart.com), my writing (check out my books at Amazon), or my music (which may or may include my cohorts in Third World Sun... I'm using a piece of one of the band's new songs as the Creative Underground's new theme song).

This week, we're gonna watch me draw the first "Elvin's Pet Peeve" comic strip since 1992. I hope you enjoy it. Click here to watch.

Also, please note: Just as I've left all of my blog posts here on this blog from over the years, all five of the previous Long-Beach Creativity-based episodes (1x01-1x05) of The Creative Underground video show are still available on the YouTube channel. If you're so inclined, just scroll on down to find them. Also, I think there are a couple clips of the band as well that I hosted there when the channel was more or less dormant. I left them there for your enjoyment. The new episodes are labeled 2x01 and 2x02, etc.).

2018 Update!

Yes. I know. The year has barely begun. And I had a bunch of things (see my previous post) that I was hoping to wrap up in 2017 and begin in 2018 and then... I hit the speed bumps. 

First, when I got off work on Friday, December 22, I went straight home to export my Peeve T-shirt artwork and upload it... only to find out my version of Photoshop was expired. What the heck? And in order to get a new version, I needed to get the latest Mac OS (High Sierra). So I started downloading the new OS, and it was taking forever, eventually timing out! After a couple days of troubleshooting, I realized that it must have been my bandwidth through my wi-fi. As an aside, we own a 1915 two-story (three if you count the basement that we use as a rehearsal studio for the band) Craftsman house that is built like a bunker (lots of thick redwood).

But before I could resolve THAT, I got sick!

In order to resolve the wi-fi issue, I would have to bring my computer from upstairs down to where the high speed internet modem is and plug into it. And since I was not feeling well, I didn't feel like carting that sucker downstairs. So I put my Amazon Prime membership to work and ordered a one hundred foot ethernet cable and paid the extra six dollars for next day delivery. I hooked the cable up to the modem, ran it up the staircase and plugged it in. Turned off the wi-fi and downloaded everything I needed lickity-split.

In the meantime, I had to get well enough to play Third World Sun's last show of the year on New Year's Eve at Angel City in Bellflower.

So here's a break-down, an update if you will, as to where I'm at on all these things I was hoping to do over my two-week break. 

Producing new Third World Sun material

I'll be taking the tracks that Third World Sun recorded (so far a total of 11 new songs) and cleaning them up for future instrument overdubbing.

I did this. There might be five left to do. But I'll squeeze them in over the next couple weeks between other projects.

Elvin's Pet Peeve T-shirts

I expect to get two brand new Peeve T-shirt designs produced and available online.

Done. There's a nee "Peeve's Back" shirt (double-sided) and a new Sir Loin Emotions shirt (featuring Sir Loin of Beefe). Both are available at my Elvin's Pet Peeve online store.

New Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strips

I haven't drawn a new comic strip in quite a while. I have, however, now storyboarded 13 new comic strips and I expect to draw the first BRAND NEW Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strip in 25 years.

I did NOT get around to drawing the first new Peeve comic strip in 25 years. However, I AM up to 15 comic strips storyboarded now.

The NEW paulcarhart.com

I'll also be designing a facelift for my website that will better point people into the various facets of work I'll be doing in the coming year. 

No movement here.

Re-Launching The Creative Underground YouTube channel

The idea is to put out a weekly 10-15 behind-the-scenes video on whatever it is I'm doing that week. 

No movement here, although we did shoot video footage of me drawing the "Peeve's Back" T-shirt artwork for an upcoming video. Hoping to re-launch this in mid-January.

A Stranger At The Gallows (Worlds Collide #2)

There are only four stinking chapters left and I outlined the entire story from the get-go! I have no excuse. With two weeks' break coming up, I will be facing compete and utter failure if I can't wrap this book up. At least the first draft. Once that's done, it's all about the editing.

No movement here. Complete and utter failure on this front. Also, I need to line up my cover artist. I know who I want to do it, but I hope she's not too busy and is still willing.

Returning to the studio with the rest of Third World Sun

We've been recording new songs and there are two left ("Little Miss Sunshine" and "There Is A Name").

We DID go back into the studio and put down the drum tracks for the two remaining songs.

Family time

As usual, I'll be spending Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with Melody and my extended family.

Did this.

The Last Jedi

I look forward to partaking in fan theory weaving and debate with my brother-in-law as we did after the release of The Force Awakens.

Many theories were bandied about. I didn't see the film again, however.

Music outside of the band

I've written a lot of songs that we don't do in the band. I'm toying with recording a batch of them and releasing them myself. I'll start preliminary work on that once the Third World Sun drum tracks are cleaned up.

No movement here. 

Something new. Something Nasti

At least several hours of one day this break will be dedicated to brainstorming a business venture with one of my closest friends. More info to come when I'm at liberty to do so.

I'll be doing this over THIS three-day weekend.

New Year's Eve tradition

Third World Sun will be playing, for the fourth consecutive year, New Year's Eve at Angel City in Bellflower, CA.

Did this.

The Musical Journey

I'll be taking Melody, at her request, to see Hugh Jackman's latest film, The Greatest Showman, from the people who brought you Dear Evan Hansen and the music in La La Land.

Did this. The film was inspirational!

The Happiest Place On Earth

Hopefully, there'll be a visit to Disneyland in the coming weeks as well. It's been a couple months since I've been. And I'm going through withdrawal.

Did not get to this. Ended up helping a friend in need for a few days instead. Hoping to return to Disneyland near the end of January.

Classic Peeve

I'll also start the arduous task of scanning all of the original 185 Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strips so they can appear online once the website gets it's facelift. I'm also hoping these original 1991 and 1992 comic strips will make their way into book form followed by a third book of the NEW ones.

No movement here. But will start this month. 

Peeve Nerdiness

There are also two or three Peeve comic book-style stories--I believe one of them still needs to be inked--that I'd like to scan and figure out how to get into the hands of the public as well.

No movement here. But hoping to start next month.
 

What to write next?

I've got many options. Psychick 2? Fairlight 4? Planetfall vol 2? Start the Melody Midnight children's books?

Haven't' even contemplated this yet. But it will be bouncing around my brain as I move forward.  It's only a matter of time (and effort). 

So that's where things stand. Lots to do and see coming up. Stay tuned and rock on!

Looking Forward To 2018

Expounding on a recent Facebook post I made...

So, what am I looking forward to as we go into 2018?

Producing new Third World Sun material

This weekend, I'll be taking the tracks that Third World Sun recorded (so far a total of 11 new songs) and cleaning them up for future instrument overdubbing. Will we get around to laying down the additional instrument tracks this year? Probably not. But look for a song released digitally very likely in the first couple months of 2018. Since it seems like many or most people download or stream their music these days, we may do a few digital releases before we put out an entire new CD. I'm old-school though. I like having the CD. 

Elvin's Pet Peeve T-shirts

I expect to get two brand new Peeve T-shirt designs produced and available online this weekend. So stay tuned for an announcement on that. The artwork for both designs is done. So it's just a matter of setting up the Paul Carhart store and putting the shirts together. Shouldn't take too long and it's one more a step in the right direction for feeding the monster.

New Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strips

Yes. I've done some new Peeve artwork recently but I haven't drawn a new comic strip in quite a while. I have, however, now storyboarded 13 new comic strips and there will be more to come. So, I expect to draw the first BRAND NEW Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strip in 25 years this weekend. And I expect the effort to be recorded (see The Creative Underground below).

The NEW paulcarhart.com

I'll also be designing a facelift for my website that will better point people into the various facets of work I'll be doing in the coming year. I probably won't implement this facelift until early next year, however but at that time I'll be...

Re-Launching The Creative Underground YouTube channel

The idea is to put out a weekly 10-15 behind-the-scenes video on whatever it is I'm doing that week. Might be cartooning. Might be writing. Might be music. I hope you'll tune in.

A Stranger At The Gallows (Worlds Collide #2)

There are only four stinking chapters left and I outlined the entire story from the get-go! I have no excuse. With two weeks' break coming up, I will be facing compete and utter failure if I can't wrap this book up. At least the first draft. Once that's done, it's all about the editing.

Returning to the studio with the rest of Third World Sun

Third World Sun's blog just recently got an update. And that's not the only thing band-related that's new. We've been recording new songs and there are two left ("Little Miss Sunshine" and "There Is A Name") that we didn't get to the last two times we went into the studio. So we're going to do that on the day after Christmas. That will bring the total we've recorded since the last CD (not counting the cover of Air Supply's "Don't Be Afraid") to thirteen.

Family time

As usual, I'll be spending Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with Melody and my extended family. This usually takes place at my sister's family's house and I don't think that will differ this year.

The Last Jedi

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a Star Wars fan from the time I was ten years old. So I'm hopeful that we'll see The Last Jedi one more time (I actually liked it) in the theater... maybe in Dolby Cinema with my sister's family on Christmas Eve prior to the feast. THEN, I look forward to partaking in fan theory weaving and debate with my brother-in-law as we did after the release of The Force Awakens.

Music outside of the band

I've written a lot of songs that we don't do in the band. I'm toying with recording a batch of them and releasing them myself. I'll start preliminary work on that once the Third World Sun drum tracks are cleaned up.

Something new. Something Nasti

At least several hours of one day this break will be dedicated to brainstorming a business venture with one of my closest friends. More info to come when I'm at liberty to do so.

New Year's Eve tradition

Third World Sun will be playing, for the fourth consecutive year, New Year's Eve at Angel City in Bellflower, CA. We'll be ringing in the New Year with distortion! Come out and join us. We go on around 10:30-ish. Click for more info.

The Musical Journey

Also, probably after Christmas, I think I'll be taking Melody, at her request, to see Hugh Jackman's latest film, The Greatest Showman, from the people who brought you Dear Evan Hansen and the music in La La Land.

The Happiest Place On Earth

Hopefully, there'll be a visit to Disneyland in the coming weeks as well. It's been a couple months since I've been. And I'm going through withdrawal.

Classic Peeve

I'll also start the arduous task of scanning all of the original 185 Elvin's Pet Peeve comic strips so they can appear online once the website gets it's facelift. I'm also hoping these original 1991 and 1992 comic strips will make their way into book form followed by a third book of the NEW ones. 

Peeve Nerdiness

There are also two or three Peeve comic book-style stories--I believe one of them still needs to be inked--that I'd like to scan and figure out how to get into the hands of the public as well. And, who knows, maybe there'll be more of those to come too. 

What to write next?

Once I complete the first draft for A Stranger At The Gallows, I'll need to decide what to write next. I've got many options. Psychick 2? Fairlight 4? Planetfall vol 2? Start the Melody Midnight children's books? If you have an opinion, let's hear it. Convince me!

Lots to look forward to and reasons to get up in the morning in 2018! Rock on! - PMC

Thoughts on Hamilton There's a million things I haven't done... But just you wait...

Melody is REALLY into musicals now. In particular, she really likes Dear Evan Hansen, Heathers: The Musical, Be More Chill and Lin Manuel Miranda's game-changing Hamilton.

If you've seen Disney's Moana, you've heard some of his work (he's one of the songwriters for the film and his voice is in the song at the end). 

Last night, I took her to see Hamilton at The Pantages in Hollywood.

This has been coming for some time. Melody has been playing the soundtrack on YouTube around the house for months. Finally, I purchased the soundtrack for her and now it's in the car too. The rest of these musicals aren't playing locally or touring on the west coast at this time. But the Hamilton touring company has been parked in Hollywood since August.

So I really had no excuse not to take her. Hamilton is literally her favorite thing right now. Far more important than her favorite band (Twenty One Pilots). My only remaining excuse was monetary. Hamilton seats do not come cheap and it's still selling out only two weeks from the end of its four-month Hollywood run.

Of all of the things I've exposed Melody to since Lori's passing, I feel that musical theater is probably the most Lori-ish thing I could have done. Lori loved the theater. She would play music from Phantom of the Opera and West Side Story on the piano in our living room and get Melody to sing along with her. We all went together to see Les Miserebles. Melody was just little at the time but it still sticks with her. In fact, now that I think of it, I suppose it's not me doing the exposing. Lori did it. And now Melody is sort of doing it to me.

I mean, I'm not a newbie. I've seen Cats twice. I've seen Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast (also twice), Camelot and that's just off the top of my head. And just this year I took Melody to see Musical Theater West's production of Lin Manuel Miranda's first hit, In The Heights at Carpenter Center and a local production of Hunchback of Notre Dame that used the songs from the Disney film but a story that matched more-closely to Victor Hugo's original novel. This production was expertly directed by my sister-in-law, Megan O'Toole and the costumes were impeccably designed by my brother, James (Melody knows them as Aunt Megan and Uncle Jim). I told Melody earlier this year, if we're gonna start going to musicals, we're gonna at least see the ones that family is involved with first.

So financial hurdle or not, it wasn't much of an excuse to hold out any longer. I didn't really have a choice. I disguised it as part of her (our) Christmas. But really, I still bought stuff for under the tree so that's a superficial disguise. Nevertheless, I buckled down and purchased two tickets to see Hamilton. And last night, immediately after Melody's Holiday Orchestra concert, we rushed up through Los Angeles rush hour traffic, paid our $20 to park and had the cast of Hamilton put on one HECK of a show.

Melody knew all of the words. And Miranda's hip-hop-like songs lend themselves to the sing-along in a fashion that is more akin to a rock concert than musical theater. But most of the audience were not singing along. So Melody refrained. But she was bouncing up and down in her seat and cheering. Applause after every song. And tears. Tears throughout the second act up until the end. Until the end. But AT THE END, standing ovation!

Me too. Tears and standing. Both. Most impressive, Lin. Most impressive indeed.

Before we sat down, Melody and I each purchased a shirt. Melody wanted to get the one with Hamilton and Lafayette high-fiving that had the line from the play, "Immigrants, we get the job done" on it. I talked her out of it. It's a great line and relevant in the context of the story. But here's the sad state of where I live in Downtown Long Beach, California as some of the only white people we know: Someone would have given her crap for that shirt in our neighborhood. Never mind that Hamilton, who was an immigrant from the Carribbean, was as white as Melody is. And never mind that Lori's ancestry on her mother's side came over from Ireland as immigrants... making Melody directly descended from Irish settlers (Colonel Thomas Carhart came over in the late 1600s from Cornwall, England so I guess he was an immigrant too). For Melody to go around with that shirt on, I'm afraid she would have been likely been accused of "cultural appropriation" (which I think is a laugh when you consider that every historically white person in Hamilton is portrayed by a person of color). Nevertheless, I cautioned her against the shirt because I didn't want someone giving her a hard time when I'm not around to protect her.

It's too bad that Melody can't be as openly proud of her own ancestry as others are. But that's the state of the world we live in. And I'm not going to put her in harm's way so she can wear a certain shirt.

So I caved to the (perhaps non-existent, or mis-perceived) pressure. We both got the standard black shirt with the star-shaped Hamilton logo.

The show itself was fabulous. For those of you who are not familiar with Hamilton. It's a hip-hop style musical that tells the story of one of America's founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton. It uses a diverse cast to tell a story of the founding of our country then with a cast of what America looks like now. I'm okay with that. I don't judge talent by skin color. And this cast has got loads of talent. The entire cast sings, dances and acts their way through the story impeccably. It soars and it tugs at the heartstrings. The songs have a beat and, despite its hip-hop pedigree, a melody as well. Miranda did an excellent job of crafting music that has a hip-hop base but is still accessible to the average listener through engaging melodies and snappy lyrics. And, even though I had heard the soundtrack for months (there is little spoken dialogue in the entire play... almost everything is done in song, almost like an urban opera), there were still little humorous surprises for me (just about everything King George does, for example). And I appreciate that.

After the show, Melody used her allowance to buy a set of six Hamilton buttons and then we were motoring back home, pulling into the driveway around 12:30 am. Work and school for both of us the following day. But the whole thing was worth it. Even the money--and it was nothing to sneeze at--it was worth it.

One thing of note that I find encouraging: When we look at the political landscape we're in right now, it's nice to know that, even in the founding of this great country, there was just as much disagreement and political in-fighting as we see right now. That gives me hope that we can iron out our differences without (God forbid) sparking another civil war. Which is the direction it sometimes seems we're going (I got the same takeaway from Spielberg's film, Lincoln, when I saw it).

For me, an artist re-finding himself after the loss of a loved-one, the story of Hamilton was important to me. As Hamilton says when he's first introduced, "There's a million things I haven't done. But just you wait. Just you wait..."

That resonates with me. And I don't have forever to do what I want to do.

"Why do you write like you're running out of time?"

I've got a lot more to write. To say.

So as we enter into the holiday season, no matter what holidays you choose to celebrate, my challenge to you is to think on that. Find something you haven't done. Something that maybe you've always wanted to do. Or something you feel like you need to say and haven't had a chance to get it out. And find a way to do that. Or at least try it.

That's what I'm going to do. So stay tuned. I've been gearing up for a couple months now to launch a few things in 2018. Puzzle pieces are coming together. New music. Cartoons. Books. 2018 is gonna be a year of changes and shifts. New paradigms and new directions.

And I'm not throwing away my shot.