RTP-area local music and culture

["Todd Morman" <tmorman AT nc.rr.com>]

Quoted at Tom Spurgeon's widely read Comics Reporter blog:
http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/more_thoughts_on_the_present_recession/:

Eric Knisley

One good way for people to respond to the economic downturn and possible 
hardships in obtaining comics is to quit *buying* and start *making*. I've 
been making and publishing my own comics for nearly forty years now, and 
there are very, very few comics I've ever bought that give me a fraction of 
the pleasure that I get from putting pen to paper. And it's the cheapest 
hobby you're gonna find this side of train-spotting -- all you need is 
pencil, paper and ideas.

My experience at the recent 24-hour comic day at Chapel Hill Comics really 
drove it home for me. That was the most fun I've had in a long time -- just 
sitting and working alongside other folks doing the same, all of us making 
comics (and the book came out pretty well, too). None of us are Alan Moore, 
but we all had a great time, learned some stuff, made some friends. That's 
not bad! And it only cost us just some ink and paper, and some time. There's 
a whole hand-made DIY revolution going on these days, and for good 
reasons -- stuff you make is better than stuff you buy. Making comics is 
more fun than buying them, and cheaper; you don't have to go anywhere; it's 
something you can do with any of your pals any old time. Sieze the means of 
production!

todd that ol' chapel hill spirit *sniff* warms the heart it does morman