Ben Katchor (was RE: jewish comics -- particularly for h.s.)

[Seth Rogovoy <rogovoy...>]

> also, btw, he was at klezkamp last year. word has it he's not
> much of a speaker, so don't kill yourself trying to get to one of
> his talks.

I respectfully but fervently disagree with this notion. Ben Katchor is
equally as compelling a
lecturer as he is a comic strip artist, and he takes as much great care in
constructing his lectures --
the text, the visuals, and the actual lecturing style -- as he does his
strips.

I think that his lectures, or his speaking style in his lectures (if that is
what is at issue),
requires some getting accustomed to. As Yakov wrote of his strips, "someone
who sticks
with it will be rewarded many times over" -- same goes for his lectures.
I find the combination of growing accustomed to reading his work, and
hearing him
speak, works together to help create an overall "Ben Katchor" aesthetic --
visual, textual,
aural, conceptual -- which is brilliant, poignant, culturally resonant,
unique and hysterically funny.

Just as Ben Katchor is revitalizing or even reinventing the art of the comic
strip, I
believe he is doing the same with the great, lost art of the public lecture.
People used to
flock to lectures the way they go to the movies today. Ben is working within
that old
tradition (and of course, reinventing it and even subverting it in some
ways).

Go see his presentation of "Carfare City" or "Yiddish Halftones" (I may have
the title of this one wrong) or whatever he is talking about, and you will
see what I
mean.

Speaking as someone who has recently expanded his domain from the written
word to
the public lecture, I have to say I count Ben Katchor as my number-one
inspiration when
it comes to public-speaking and particularly the art of the slide-lecture.

Seth Rogovoy
author of "The Essential Klezmer: A Music Lover's Guide to Jewish Roots and
Soul"
http://www.algonquin.com/catalog/pagemaker.cgi?1-56512-244-5
"invaluable" -- New York Times
"indispensable" -- George Robinson, Jewish Week

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