We never expected to write that headline either. But it’s happening. It is real. And nothing can stop it. Artist Andrew Pepoy (THE ADVENTURES OF SIMONE & AJAX, LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE) writes to give us the astonishing details:

Last year I co-wrote a superhero tapdance opera, “The Hourglass”, which ran at the Chicago Tap Theatre last summer and returned in a revised and expanded version for another run this summer. It’s now coming to New York as one of the few non-local shows invited to the New York Musical Theatre Festival at the end of this month, and, being in the New York area, I thought you might be intersted.

No, I’m not in it, so you won’t see me doing the actual dancing, but I co-wrote the plot the show is based on and designed many of the costumes, plus a few other contributions. And when I say “opera”, a tap opera is all tap with music, no spoken word, so there’s no singing, but we do have word balloons. It’s a fun show with lots of dancing, action, adventure and romance.

Here’s a link to the show’s NYC website where you can get times and buy tickets.

Here’s a link to the Chicago Tap Theatre’s own website where you can find more info, reviews, and photos:

This LJ writer got a sneak peak at the upcoming Spider-Man musical, which is directed by Julie Taymor with music by Bono and The Edge. We’ve heard a few whisperings ourselves, but this sounds like a must-see:

It’s fairly well-documented that Julie Taymor is a genius, but I was dubious when I first heard about this project. It’s Peter Parker plus Arachne (you know, from the myths about spiders) and it’s Green Goblin and Mary Jane and a greek chorus of geeks (geek chorus, snort snort) and, of course, J.J. Jameson. Glen was kind enough to show us all of the set design sketches and they are amazing - stylish and graphic with forced perspective and vertigo-inducing angles. Lots of LED stuff, also. We also got to see test footage from the swinging and flying and a short video of the team figuring out how to shoot webs. As Glen said, obviously there are going to be a lot of wires in this show. If it bothers you to see them, this is not the show for you.

We also got to hear some music from the workshop they did recently and, you know, it rocks. It’s undeniably U2 in the very best way. There’s a beautiful duet between Peter and MJ that I’m sure we’ll all see at the 2010 Tonys.

One of these days, the Spider-Man musical is going to open and it’s going to be pretty incredible. With theatre genius Julie Taymor on board and songs by Bono and the Edge, people will be talking. That day won’t be for MORE than a year yet, but there is movement, Vulture reports. It looks like James Sturgess and Evan Rachel Wood, the stars of Taymor’s ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, won’t be playing Spidey and MJ, but a casting call has gone out:

In addition to Spidey and MJ, the show is also casting a third part, with this description:

Female, 25-35 years old [with] amazing rock vocals. Think Sinead O’Connor with a Middle Eastern/Bulgarian/Greek twist. Foreign, world music types are great, foreign accents are great.

This part seems likely to be the role of Arachne, described in a much earlier casting notice as a kind of chorus/spider spirit/dark goddess of vengeance, and easily the most Taymorian aspect of the show so far.

Fanboys will love it!

Low Key Comics will be premiering Snug Comics #1 at their rock show/party party Saturday at heroes Con: Details below but more info here.

Low Key Comics presents: Snug Comics
featuring Calabi Yau, Young Tom Fury, Battle Beasts, and the Lights, Fluorescent
Saturday, June 21st 9PM
Snug Harbor
1228 Gordon St.
Charlotte, NC 28205
www.snugrock.com

18+ $7 – 21+ $5; free minicomic with admission!

Calabi Yau: http://www.myspace.com/calabiyau
Young Tom Fury: http://www.myspace.com/youngtomfury
Battle Beasts: http://www.myspace.com/battlebeaste
The Lights, Fluorescent: http://www.myspace.com/thelightsfluorescent

They’ll also be premiering two comics at the show:

Everyman #2: Justin Crouse’s satiric look at superheroes continues when James Johnson, our garbageman-turned-superhero, tries to turn his luck around by using his newfound powers for fun and profit…but first, he’ll have to tangle with the town’s protector, Titan. Check out the book that PLAYBACK:stl’s Byron Kerman says is “not just LOL-funny…it’s gloriously subversive.”

Journal Sanders: Kentucky Fried Sketchbook vol. 1: Juan Ruvalcaba left behind his hometown of Chicago for a career in Hollywood, and this daily sketch-diary is the result. This first 100-page collection is a look at a Spring packed with the pangs of Hollywood corporate politics and general boredom in the big city. Think American Elf for the sarcasm generation.

EW spotlights the new Method Man graphic novel and finds out what the rapper thinks of comics:

All the miniseries and things of that nature, like Crisis on Infinite Earths, Secret Wars part I and II. That was when comic books were big events. It was real. They didn’t have a bunch of variant covers. But I think it’s getting back to its core now. You got writers like Mark Millar with this new book, Kick-Ass, which is so hard to find right now. But it’s a dope book, and it’s penciled by John Romita Jr., who’s also a dope artist. I liked when he did his stints on Daredevil and Iron Man — when Iron Man had to go shut down all of his technology. Sort of like the storyline they had in the movie, but a little different. He was attacking people like the Crimson Dynamo and the Titanium Man, anybody who had his armor. One of the last people he went after was War Machine, who was actually his friend, James Rhodes.

MEANWHILE, at the NY MAgazine blog, Dash Shaw imagines a Ghost Rider revamp:

“I think Ghost Rider should really be drawn as if the target audience is people in motorcycle gangs,” Shaw told us. “Totally badass tattoo imagery. Because right now, it just feels like he’s a superhero who rides a motorcycle. So I really see that as having a crazy oddball aesthetic, culled from tattoo art.”

We didn’t have time to memorialize the late, great Stan Winston, but we couldn’t let Cyd Charisse no unnoticed:

This CNN profile of singer Aimee Mann reveals yet another celebrity comics fan, but the source is an unlikely one!

Mann was approached about a year ago about doing a graphic novel, an idea she at first dismissed out of hand. “And then I ran into this guy named Joe Matt, who’s one of my favorite graphic novelists,” she recalls.

Matt, the “Peepshow” cartoonist, lives nearby and encouraged Mann to maintain a sketchbook and practice, practice, practice. So Mann has diligently worked toward that end.

“I take a sketchbook and I bring it out at dinner … and I’ve got this one friend who always says something ridiculous, so I’ll try to write it down and put it in [graphic] form, and it kind of amuses everyone at the dinner table,” she says, while saying it’s “kind of a long-term project.”

We’d like to hear Matt’s side of this story, except that it probably involves a lot of jerking off.

Creator Shannon Wheeler blogs about the opening night of the expanded Too Much coffee Man opera:

Opening night was a hoot. We had a fuse blow so we didn’t get to use the cool light effects for the second act. Stacey (too much coffee man) is feeling much better. He’s still sick but he’s not throwing up every half hour.

Showbiz!

As if writing and helping produce ONE opera wasn’t enough, crazy Shannon Wheeler has gone to the Black & Decker auto-drip one more time for a SEQUEL to his well-received Too Much Coffe Man Opera. PR in the jump, production info below:

Too Much Coffee Man Opera the Refill

What: Too Much Coffee Man Opera: The Refill
The world premiere of the sequel to the highly acclaimed opera
Who: Music composed by Daniel Craft
Libretto and original comics by Shannon Wheeler
Additional lyrics by Damian Willcox and Carolyn Main
Directed by Randy Rollison
When: April 4 - April 20
Where: Brunish Hall, Portland Center for the Performing Arts
1111 SW Broadway, Portland OR
Admission: $20 - $25, through ticketmaster.com
Show: The show is two hours with a 15 minute intermission
More info: www.tmcm.com/opera

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Oh God.

Some days it is hard to get out of bed. This is why.

PS: Not to get all serious, but as ICv2 points out, Britney adapting an anime cartoon style is an attempt to ally herself with something cool and up-to-date…not the other way around.

In the category “cartoonists who are also rockers,” Lauren Weinstein definitely can hold her own. She dropped us a note to let us know her band, Flming Fire, is hitting the stage after a bit of a hiatus.

I am excited to report that after a long hiatus on The Goddess of War’s Planet, exploring stars and time zones, I will be appearing from the caverns for one weekend only, to join my band, Flaming Fire for the purpose of PLAYING MUSIC TO HUMANS!

We will invade twice in the Tri-state area. SO HERE IS ADVANCED WARNING!
THE BAND HAS NEW PEOPLE AND NEW SONGS. EVERYONE IS ATTRACTIVE AND CHARISMATIC!

FRIDAY February 15th, at 8 PM: Union Pool, 484 Union Avenue, Brooklyn, with Beat Circus (from Boston), Unicornicopia, and Jared Whitham!!

SATURDAY February 16th at 8pm at Maxwells 1039 Washington Street, Hoboken, New Jersey NJ with American Watercolor Movement and Dragons of Zynth!

Tunes, flyers, etc. at the band’s MySpace page.

NP: Ultra from the album “Nihil” by K.M.F.D.M.

By the way, Brute, aka Aidan Hughes, has a blog believe it or not.

On his blog, he posted this old LIFE magazine cover.

Do you see how it all fits together now?

Today’s renovations uncovered an electrical outlet in the bedroom we didn’t know we had!

It seems that Kiwi Karl Urban, who will portray young Doctor McCoy in J.J. Abrams upcoming STAR TREK XI movie, didn’t have to be persuaded to take the role: he’s a lifelong STAR TREK fan and actively went after the role:

Well, I’ve been watching Star Trek since I was, oh gosh, seven years old so I was very familiar with the original series and with those characters. I didn’t actually even have to go out of my way to re-watch old episodes. I’ve just been watching them for over 20 years!

Urban also reveals that his time signing autographs at SF cons was well spent, as he avoids the use of the pejorative term “Trekkie:”

I just will say that the project as a whole is very faithful to the original series and I think that J.J. has a very fresh and exciting approach and I think that he’s an incredibly talented visionary. I believe that he is going to reinvigorate this franchise in a really healthy, positive and exciting way. I really think that the Trekkers and the long time fans will be really pleased with it, because it really does honor the very spirit of what we are all really quite crazy about, in a good way.

Looks like its time to rev up our Karl Urban programme here at SBM!

Here’s an early must-have spotted at the PictureBox website:

A fantastic new publication by old pal Mike Reddy (and Comics Comics designer, not to mention Ganzfeld contributor) and cohorts The Fiery Furnaces. This is the illustrated lyrics for the Furnaces record Blueberry Boat. Reddy created over a dozen beautiful illustrations to accompany the lyrics (printed in multiple languages) and designed the whole thing, to boot!.

Given as how lyrics from “Blueberry Boat” were in our sig file for a year or so, we’ll definitely be securing a copy.

Many blogs, including Colleen Doran’s are reporting an item from Spin Magazine regarding COMIC BOOK TATTOO, a new anthology based on the songs of Tori Amos. The book will run some 400 pages and stories will be based on individual songs. Long-time Amos cohort Rantz Hoseley edits. Doran has a bit more:

I will be illustrating a 12 page short story for the anthology in fully painted color, using the style I used for the Orbiter cover art. The story is written by noted writer Derek McCulloch.

Other announced contributors include Lea Hernandez, Chris Arrant, Russell Lissau, and doubtless scores more. Hernandez had this to say:

I don’t know if I can say what mine is, but I can say no one will expect my take on it. Nope. Never. Being a fan of Tori’s since Little Earthquakes, and what a profound effect her music has had on me emotionally and artistically, this is not only a dream come true but an honor.

Amos is one of early adapters in the comics/media crossover trend, due to her friendship with Neil Gaiman (the two were introduced by Hoseley) resulting in many lyrical and comical mentions of one another over the years.

Some rumors about the upcoming Spider-Man musical are beginning to leak out:

Director Julie Taymor revealed that they recently had a workshop of the Broadway musical version of “Spider-Man.” Julie who directed “Across the Universe” is working on the show with U2’s Bono and The Edge. At the recent workshop, Evan Rachel Wood played Mary Jane and her “Across the Universe” co-star Jim Sturgess played Spider-Man.

The Beat’s quest for ‘08 is very simple: we are not resting until we have scored an interview with Bono about what it’s like to write a SPIDER-MAN musical. This is right in our wheelhouse!

#22 - Most Viewed (Today) - Music
#92 - Most Discussed (Today) - Music
#87 - Top Favourites (Today) - Music

Frightening, isn’t it? And that’s in ENGLAND where they have GOOD music.

This weekend’s Big Apple con was pretty well blogged with LOTS of photos from everyone. Including far too many of The Beat doing things like holding up purple pants.

Val D’Orazio.
ComicMix Part 1
ComicMix Part 2

There’s also this. And this. As far as the latter goes, we can only say you should hear us sing “Bali Hai.”

If the idea of Bob Dylan, Mr. Mumbles himself, having a radio show sounds like some kind of comedy sketch, you’d be wrong. He has a show on XM Satellite radio called THEME TIME RADIO HOUR, on which he simply spins his favorite records, and the show is highly spoken of. Now, one of the producers has commissioned Jaime Hernandez to draw a promo poster for the show, which you can see above in all its glory — the various vignettes refer to incidents in the show opening. You can see the poster in much better detail here.
[Link via Boing Boing.]

A few musical notes. One of our correspondents is sad we didn’t note the release of the new Radiohead album last week, but we only now had a chance to download it (paying £5 which seemed only fair) but we need a few more listens before it becomes a part of us. We were also enthused about Moog Acid, the mashup of Luke Vibert and Jean Jacques Perrey, the French electro pioneer. That is primo noodling, bleeps and blips, especially the track that sounds like Delius.

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International rock star, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE hearthrob and comics writer Gerard Way will be signing his new comics UMBRELLA ACADEMY at Forbidden Planet NYC. There are only a limited amount of tickets available and they may have already sold out, so call before going on down:

Gerard Way, writer of Dark Horse’s Umbrella Academy and lead singer of My Chemical Romance, will be signing at Forbidden Planet to celebrate the premiere of his new comic book.

Where? Forbidden Planet. 840 Broadway @ 13th Street. New York, NY.
When? 4pm - 6pm. Wednesday September 19th, 2007.

Please Note: THIS IS A TICKETED EVENT.
Limited to the first 200 participants.
Tickets may be purchased at Forbidden Planet starting Monday, 9/17 @ 4pm and include:

* One (1) copy of Umbrella Academy #1
* One (1) autograph from Gerard Way

Way signs TOMORROW in Boston at Newbury Comics.

Thursday, September 20th
4-6 PM Newbury Street
Boston, MA location
Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance will be autographing copies of his new comic book, The Umbrella Academy #1: Apocalypse Suite available Wednesday, September 19th.