Racket’s John Winn sat down with J-Rod between jam sessions, catching his thoughts on everything from touring, the Maryland music scene, and the marshal prowess of one Sidney Lanier.

I understand the last few months on the road have been kind of hectic. How do you cope with touring—being on the road for a long time?
Ah, I don’t know. There’s some pros and cons. Yeah. It’s weird.  Personally and physically, it’s pretty draining. It has an effect after 3 or 4 weeks. But as a band, after three or four months…it sounds better. As far as knowing what people will do…it’s weird. You start to become detached from what you u call “normal” reality.  Everybody’s sleeping on floors every night and waking up in different time zones, not knowing what time it is…I don’t know, but the band sounds the same as it did last night.

What do you miss most when you’re on the road?
My wife…that’s definitely the worst part. Generally, you talk to someone in a band who’s in a relationship back at home, that’s one of the hardest things. I’ve gotten to a point where I’ve barely been home over a week over the last year, between recording and all the other things we done building up to this record. When I get home, I get my books and cuddle with them on the couch. You know? People talk to you like ‘You’re living the dream!’ and a part of you fantasizes about nine to five and you’re staying at home and having normality. Then when we get home for three or four weeks it’s like ‘Oh my God! Let’s get back on the road!’

Do you have like, a favorite spot like a favorite restaurant or dive bar or something you like to frequent when you’re on the road?
We eat out a lot at Subway sandwich shops. It’s not my favorite place in the planet, but it’s definitely where we end up eating. There’s this place in Cincincatti, it’s a beer hall? My friend runs a youth camp called Camp Ernest, that actually Jim Varney, who played Ernest T. World, donated the money for. When we have two to three days off we like to go there and have some weird days at the youth camp…we have a lot of friends in different cities. When we get there earlier we like to chill out. But it’s not like when you’re in this town that you have to eat in this place or that, you know?

Your current album has been called ‘vaudevillian coyness set against hard-edged guitar’. I’m going to be repeating myself but…do you think of your music as musical theater as performance art?
Hmm. I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know, I know how other people describe our music…I think, um, there are a lot of dynamics that are, like, [unintelligible] in the music itself. I mean, I actually like musical theater—I married an opera singer. But I wouldn’t describe this record that way. No big harmonies or overdramatic ideas. This record more like, gets to the point.  It’s kind of abstract, you know? A lot of people put us in that bar band category but I don’t necessarily think that’s true. It’s bigger than that, you know?

As a Southern transplant, what’s your biggest pet peeve about the Baltimore music scene?
Hmmm…Well, a lot of times like I’ve become resentful of some of the more artsy bands that’ve sprung out over the last few years that Baltimore has become famous for. But, that, I don’t know, I’ve come to appreciate that more, bands doing their own thing and getting on the road, you know? You can get some bars for thirty five bucks but you don’t get success without working so hard. My biggest pet peeve is that there are so many bands that I think are great, but they can’t seem to get out of town or work out the financial aspect…I got a lot of friends that aren’t making it, that aren’t making that effort.

You’ve recorded in Sound City Studios in L.A.
Yep.

How does that compare to recording in Maryland or Tennessee?
Um, pretty much the opposite of recording in Maryland or Tennessee. I did go once to record in Nashville–that has a nice studio. But other than that every recording we’ve done is like a basement recording. Like, in Sound City Nevermind was recorded. This is where Damn the Torpedoes was recorded. It kind of felt like, you’re either going to step up and nail it or you’re going to find out that you’re really not that good at what you do. There’s not a lot I would change about the record. I’m pumped up about it. There’s more pressure…You’re working with people who’ve made amazing records but there aren’t any excuses. At the end of it isn’t ‘well if I had this equipment’ or ‘If I had this opportunity’. There’s no safety net.

You’ve cited Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and the Rolling Stones as major influences in your music, yet most of the current description your music by your fans, there’s more references to The Hold Steady and ex cetera. Do you feel like there’s no classic rock from the 60s’s and 70’s and 80’s, like it’s no longer relevant?
It’s hard. You know, they’re definitely relevant to me. It’s weird in the fact that you see a lot of bands ripping off other bands’ tunes and you see a lot of people calling them on it? People aren’t as familiar with older bands as they were at one point. But you know, I love the idea of the music being created right now.  I don’t want music to turn into some Amish culture kind of thing.  But at the same time I think I relate to a lot of Tom Petty and The Rolling Stones. The caliber of songwriting that’s going on, it’s like ‘I like every song on this record’. That’s what I talk about a lot of times.

This question is from left field, so I’m going to go ahead and ask it. If H.L. Mencken and Sidney Lanier got in a fight, who would win?
[laughs]. Hmmm…I’m going to say, Sidney? I don’t answer abstract fight questions normally—I don’t know the physiques of those people, so I’m going to take a wild guess.

I’m going to ask a few questions and you tell me what comes off the top of your mind.
Okay.

Dodge or Ford?
Ford.

Hot dogs versus hamburgers?
Uh, dogs.

Here’s an interesting one. Voltron versus Transformers?
I have an equal love for both of them but I have to go with Voltron.  I love it when mice get possessed.

Long Island Ice Tea versus sweet tea?
Oh my God.  Sweet Tea all the time.

MP3 or CD?
Probably MP3. At least MP3’s don’t get scratched up.

Thank you for your time. I appreciate talking with you.

-John Winn

Despite this, just as many Angelenos take the airport for granted. LAX just as easily could be an empty shell of a facility, its runways cracked and bare as they lay unused for days, weeks…

Decades.

Such is the fate of at least 1300 confirmed old and abandoned airfields in the United States, stretching from Cocoa Beach to Bakersfield, Bethany, Connecticut to Dover, Delaware. Some are former military, civil aviation, general airports or just simply a plowed landing strip. All of them forgotten by history.

Hughes Airport is one such example. Located in nearby Culver City, the former civil-military airport was the brainchild of industrialist Howard Hughes, who envisioned the plot of land as a spot to build and test experimental aircraft. Over a span of 40 years, the airport grew into a veritable weapons factory. It was at Culver City that Hughes built his iconic HK-1 flying boat, where the prototype for the Apache helicopter was born, where his H-1 Racer would make history.

The airport would later be made famous by Martin Scorsese’s 2004 film The Aviator. Hughes Airport is a national historic site now, having escaped the scrap-heap. But others aren’t as lucky—or famous.

Now, thanks to the Internet and the efforts of one determined man, airports like Hughes are getting a second chance at life—via the World Wide Web.

“I receive hundreds of emails per week with contributed information of which there is a dedicated core of a half dozen readers who are longtime contributors,” Paul Freedman, the webmaster of the The Abandoned and Little Known Airfields site said in an email interview.

The key to Freedman’s success is his army of “field correspondents,” men and women from all walks of life who work day and night to supply the site with accurate, often voluminous information. Armed with little more than an internet connection, Google Maps, and first hand sources, they comb through aviation charts, websites, and question witnesses in an effort to corroborate often decades old rumors.

One of them is David W. Brooks. Brooks- who has since branched out and started a website of his own- is no stranger to spending his nights pouring over aeronautical charts and staring at computer screens. As a result, he has accumulated over 2,200 maps, images and other aeronautical paraphernalia, many of which are posted online. The majority chronicle info from decommissioned military airfields and landing strips from the WW2 and Cold War era.

“I have been interested in aerospace for most of my life, until I retired six years ago,” he said. “I started by contributing to Mr. Paul Freeman’s website. I asked a question. ‘Just how many airfields were there, both outdated and operational?’ That has started me off developing a catalog rather than providing historical information on airfields.”

It’s a task he relishes, but it is not easy. Historical documentation is hard to come by. Maps fade or disappear, memories become hazy. Most information arrives from word of mouth.

Clayton Airport is a typical case. Nestled in the outskirts of Burlington, North Carolina, it is a run-down drag, its concrete runways overrun with wild oats and grass. Yet it once was one of the most in-demand general aviation airports in the region, a place where enthusiasts and professionals mingled during the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s.

Yet there is more to its legacy than meets the eye. Though industrialists and generals never set foot in its hangars, Clayton Airport- and the small town of Whitsett, NC which served as its home- has its own, unique history.

In 1955, a then unknown by the name of Elvis Presley pulled into the Brightwood Inn, just across the street from the airport. According to local legend, he ordered a hamburger before heading on his way to perform at the Williams High School in Burlington. Posterity doesn’t make a note of the event, but the town sure did, enough that Abandoned and Little Known Airfields correspondent Jonathon Payne was able to record a recollection of the event by an anonymous citizen.

1955 also saw the airport become notorious for something other than a close encounter with The King. That year, the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, better known as NICAP paid a visit to Clayton. The UFO group, one of the most respected and well known mainstream organizations of its kind, conducted extensive tests, looking into allegations that an unknown visitor touched down on one of its runways- and left a Halloween present to boot.

Although NICAP was unable to make a definitive conclusion about a residue found at the scene, the organization did note that ‘analysts disagreed on whether the substance was of animal or synthetic origin.’

The airport closed down in 2002.

“The difficulty is finding good information about old airfields, especially from 1920 to 1940,” Brooks says. “What charts that were made during those days are extremely hard to find and those who do have them hang to them closely.”

The confusion mounts when one considers the glut of partial and incomplete information dating from that period. Airports that were listed as being active during the 1920s and 30s have either been demolished, renamed, absorbed into other, larger airports, or have been reclaimed by mold and grass.

The only ones who really know the truth are the Greatest Generation, those airmen, women, and factory workers who often took off or worked in the many air fields that dotted the country during WWII. These are the people who could say definitively whether this or that airfield was military or civil, what aircraft were serviced or built there, who owned the land, and as they die off day after day, that knowledge disappears forever.

That makes Brook’s task even more urgent, but he’s up for the fight.

“This way, their [the airfield’s] history is kept and available for future generations with history in this subject.”

Thanks to the abundance of official records kept on government and academic databases, all easily accessible with a broadband connection, that task has gotten easier. Yet there are still unanswered questions. For example, little is known about the social utility that such airports played in the early years of the 20th Century, or how they were financed. The full story may never be known.

In the final analysis, the history of civil airports such as Clayton is the history of the country. From New York to California, to the Rockies and the Great Lakes, they have quietly delivered mail and precious cargo to soldiers and civilians alike. They have ferried passengers to far flung cities, and opened doors to new opportunities previously thought impossible.

Clayton is nothing but ruins now, a wilderness of overgrown weeds. Barring unforeseen circumstances, that is exactly what is on track to happen to others like it, as a slice of humanity’s secret history fades into dust.

–Jack Winn

Just Kids
Patti Smith
HarperCollins Publishers
9/10

New York City, summer, 1969. A hot, sweltering mess full of sweat and musk and bodies colliding against each other, a heady metropolis with a milieu to match. Yet even as the millions of artists and businessmen and intellectuals went on with their lives, history was already unfolding in front of them. In St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, not far from Carnegie Hall, jazz legend John Coltrane was being eulogized. A little further up the street, Andy Warhol had just been shot by model and protégé Valerie Solanas, an event which would shape both of their careers.

And unbeknownst to all, a chance encounter between a young Patti Smith and an unknown by the name of Robert Mapplethorpe would set off a chain of events that would revolutionize music and art forever. Now 40 years later the punk rock poet and impresario tells all in a moving memoir that is part history, part elegy, and all Patti. From their first meeting in the rare bookstore where Smith worked, to the agonizing last days of Mapplethorpe’s life, Smith lays it all out, and little is spared.

There are the usual anecdotes- minor brushes with fame at Warhol’s Factory, run-ins with Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs, and Smith’s first performance at CBGB’s. Yet it is more than just a name-dropping memoir. For the first time, we get to see Smith and Mapplethorpe’s relationship as friends, muses and even lovers. Through Smith’s eyes, Mapplethorpe’s confusion (sexual and otherwise) and artistic drive become flesh and blood, and her own ambivalence and loyalty to her “first love” is illuminated in ways that academics and historians only dream of.

Readers may be shocked by some of the revelations in Just Kids. But as rock and roll memoirs go, it is a compact one, free of titillation, innuendo, and sexual politics. Art historians will receive a rare glimpse into the young life of an otherwise controversial artist. Musicologists will have the pleasure of a tracing of one musician’s journey to fame. But for lovers of all things music and otherwise, it is an intimate and timeless account of two extraordinary lives, as personal as the Smith family heirlooms that sat on Mapplethorpe’s mantle as he died.

At $18, this is a must have for any audiophile’s bookshelf.

–Jack Winn

So it’s no surprise that gossip- morning or otherwise- is more likely to transpire over a cold one than a piping hot cappuccino. But there is another side to Somerville than Little League games, body shops, and Bud Light. Enter Papercuts.

Although it’s the most recent resident to call Somerville home- it planted its roots March 14, 2010- the zine library has been home to punk rockers, political activists, and Sharpie enthusiasts alike for time immemorial. But with the cost of living high and volunteers stretched thin, business promises to be anything but usual.

“The cost of living is very high in Massachusetts,” one volunteer writes in an email. “Many of us have to work at our ‘day jobs,’ in addition to school and other responsibilities. So it is very hard to fill the shifts.”

With high turnover and with very few patrons compared to their previous venue- according to the email, at one time they received at least five patrons a day at their old location- Papercuts is just one of many alternative libraries struggling in a bleak economy, and they aren’t alone.

While there aren’t any hard statistics on how many zine libraries (or “infoshops” as they are commonly known) close up shop for good in any given year, because of their minimal budgets and extremely niche role it isn’t uncommon for small shops to disappear and reappear. At any given time, there are hundreds, even thousands of alternative libraries spread out around the world, hosting everything from zines about favorite television shows to info on family planning.

The result is a fluid, chaotic mix of repositories of information, disappearing as quickly as they appear. The larger ones, like ABC No Rio in New York City, manage to hang on with massive financial donations and publicity. Regardless, in the mist of such chaos zine libraries and zine cultures are experiencing a cultural Renaissance.

In January it was announced that New York University’s Fale Library accepted a collection of zines edited and produced by Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill. The Kathleen Hanna Papers are a collection of articles written by Mrs. Hanna during the early to mid-90s. NYU is not alone in its zest for zines- Barnard, Columbia, and Temple University are just a few of the colleges delving into the zine scene.

But for those in the trenches keeping the movement alive, each day is a battle.

Take Jerianne. Like many, she is plugged into the digital age. She emails, she blogs, she Facebooks, spreading the word about Zine World. But it’s not an easy task for the grad student. In addition to all of the above, she writes, mails out issues to paying customers, and generally tries to keep the lights on with her fellow compatriots.

None of this takes into account issues such as school, family and a full time job. So running Zine World isn’t just a passion- it’s a de facto career. And the stress is beginning to show.

“The biggest challenges are time and money,” she wrote in an email. “There’s never enough of either. I try to rely on the help of volunteers, but sometimes people fluke out. As a result, Zine World hasn’t been published as much as I would like.”

Then there is the not so tiny issue of rate hikes. With the price of stamps going up and printing costs rising, publishing a dead-tree zine is becoming harder than ever. According to the United States Postal Service’s own statistics, the price of sending a circular in 1971 was about 22 cents per pound. By 1983 that jumped to almost 45 cents, or $40. It jumped again to 67.7 cents in 1996, and so on.

“I think a price increase is likely in the future,” Jerianne admits. “I hope we don’t lose readers because of it.”

With rates steadily rising, it is no surprise that zinesters are turning to the Web to get the word out- and publish as well. In addition to Jerianne’s there are countless other zines that are either hybrid print-online institutions or are on the verge of going fully online. But just because they’re replacing their ink and their scissors with Macs and Adobe Photoshop doesn’t mean there is any less hassle.

“There are always people who write to me and say they would like to help out,” the Murfreesboro resident says. “But when I contact those same people with specific jobs I need done, sometimes no one wants to step forward. When someone agrees to volunteer and then falls through, the whole publication can suffer or be delayed.”

Overall though, outreach is good for Zine World, and other zines as well. Thanks to the Internet- once thought of as the nemesis of zine culture- writers and publishers alike are reaching wider audiences than ever before. There are entire websites devoted to keeping old zines alive, and e-zines, previously unheard of before the age of dialup, are almost mainstream.

“The Internet is really a tool to promote zine culture,” says Leah Goren of The Motivated Youth, a blog about the arts and culture. “I think zines are just one element of the culture. The culture is really the art making and music and community. So many groups of artists and young people make small publications to supplement the other things they are doing, like art and music and parties.”

And there’s nothing wrong with that.

–Jack Winn

As all things musical go, Sara Jackson Holman is an infant. No, not literally. But considering that the poet-musician’s career literally sprung out of nowhere thanks to luck and the good folks at Expunged Records (to say little of MySpace!), it’s an serendipitous one. Despite Holman’s stroke of luck, her music is anything but a flash in the pan. With a mixture of classical piano, playful lyrics, and a soulful voice reminiscent of KT Tunstall or early Norah Jones, Holman has managed to craft a debut album that is at times quirky, sensuous and just plain silly. The result is an album that is anything but maudlin.

The first track “Come Back to Me,” an eccentric mix of frenzied piano and offbeat lyrics, gives off an air of, well, peculiarity. But that would be misleading. With an array of songs borrowing from sources as diverse as Austrian waltzes, Vaudeville tunes, and American pop, at times Holman could be as superficial as Tin Pan Alley, or as deep and emotional as the most rueful European folk tune. Case in point? “To Anna,” a moving track that is equal parts wistful and Romantic.

Though a newcomer, if When You Dream is any indication, Holman ‘s trajectory will be more like a hockey stick than a series of steps.

For more information, please check out  <a href=http://www.myspace.com/sarajacksonholman> Sara’s Myspace page.</a>

–Jack Winn

Blind Pilot
Self-titled (EP)
Expunged Records
9/10

The boys from Portland are back at it again. Fresh off a nationwide tour, the duo of Israel Nebeker and Ryan Dobrowski have cut a five single EP, titled naturally enough, Blind Pilot and…it is awesome. Not slang-word awesome, or generically awesome, but truly powerful. Featuring the usual blend of staccato drums and soulful lyrics; at first glance it’s par for the course for the band. But par for the course for these guys is very different from your everyday, mellow Pacific Northwest troubadours, and it shows time and time again in their re-mastered iTunes session.

Take for instance, “Look at Miss Ohio”, a wispy mix of guitar, xylophone and really good mixing that is equal parts wispy and telling. Evoking a cross between early 60’s Simon and Garfunkel and Up era R.E.M., with lyrics like ‘have your arm around her shoulder/a regimental soldier’, this isn’t exactly Top 40 stuff. Imagine if Springsteen had cut his teeth in the Café Wha instead of large stadiums and you get the idea.

At the other extreme is “The Story I Heard”, a catchy upbeat tune owing more to Coldplay and David Gray than, say, the Decembrists. Mix with a little horn and free verse and you got a thunderous cocktail of a record that is equal parts sensuality and thunderous introspection. Price unknown. For more information, please visit Expunged Records or Blind Pilot’s website .

-Jack Winn

1) The Guinness Book of World Records is holding its Luck of the Irish Pub Crawl March 13th. If you’re in Manhattan, and you want to show off your Irish pride and get wasted with thousands of fellow sots (and set a world record at the same time!) you couldn’t do any better. With multiple locations (read: bars) to patronize, getting a little Irish in your veins has never been easier. Tickets available via Pub Crawls.com.

2) If you’re a sci-fi buff or astronomy nerd, and you happen to be in the vicinity of Cornell University on the Ides of March, you’re in luck. That’s because, at 7:30 on the dot, the Le Frak Center at 77th Street will be filled to the brim with the likes of Neal DeGrasse Tyson (the Pluto guy!), former USAF officer Lester Lyles, and Robert Zubrin of the Planetary Society as they discuss what’s next for the Moon and Mars, all in memory of one of science fiction’s most influential and renowned authors—Isaac Asimov. $15 for adults, $13 for students.

3) Elvis fans, has the Grammy museum got something for you! By the grace of the King, a series of candid photos shot by Alfred Wertheimer during the late ‘50s to early ‘60s are on display through March 28 See the King smooch, read letters, and yak on the telephone in his undies. Located at the corner of Figueroa and Olympic Boulevard, in downtown L.A., this is one museum you don’t want to miss. Open weekdays 11:30 a.m.-7:30 a.m. and Saturday 10:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m.

4) Racket loves skaters, and skaters love Racket. So when we found out about the California Heritage Museum’s exhibit this spring, we were stoked. That’s because right now they have an exhibit on the history of the sport. Guest curated by Nathan Pratt, the exhibit traces the history of skating from the innocent 1950s to the raucous 1990s. Featuring an array of antique (read: wood) planks, rare photographs, and much more, this is a rare glimpse into fifty some odd years of some of Dogtown’s best kept secrets.

5) Up ‘til recently, all I knew about Pomona, CA is that The Emperor went to school there. But Pomona College has an exhibit would make Andy Warhol proud. Located in Lyman Hall, the collection of photographs and paintings explores the concept of instant celebrity from Warhol’s iconic celebrity paintings to the ubiquitous text messages and camera phones of today. Attendees can join in on the fun by submitting their own photographs at Pomona’s Picasa Web Server Famous for 15. Runs through April 11.

6) Not much going on in Portland, OR on 13? Check out Atomic and DJ Nate Preston at the Fez Ballroom and Tube, respectively. If you want to start the week the weekend early, DJ Saltfeend is kickin’ it with the Low Brow Sessions at the Low Brow Lounge at 1036 NW Hoyt Street downtown.

7) All y’all Southerners out there got the short end of the microphone this month, but if you’re hanging in the ATL there are a few worthwhile events in the queue. Ben Trickey is playing The Earl later this month. Over at the aptly named Limerick Junction, the folks are holding a block party featuring some in house musicians you’ve never heard of as well as some haggis. Go figure.

8) The Washington Post isn’t exactly known for being hip. Hell, their entire reputation rests on being as un-cool as humanly possible. But sometimes the find interesting stuff, like, for instance, ShamRock Fest. The yearly event in RFK Stadium in D.C. attracts thousands, but if you’re looking for authentic Celtic food and a chance to tailgate, this is the place to go March 13. Get bombed, get happy, and make a few friends. Better than sitting at home browsing through nekkid pics of The Lord of the Dance.

–Jack Winn

Ryan States
Strange Town
Drooling Class Records
7/10

From Roman ruins to decrepit garages, artists of various stripes have found inspiration in some of the unlikeliest of places. But a train? That’s where the muse came to Ryan States. During a years-long tour with the Ringling Brothers Circus Band, States has logged many hours performing for hundreds. But you won’t find a trace of polka on Strange Town. The mixture of earnest piano, jazzy guitar and insightful lyrics is as far from the circus as one can get. The result is an album that is as rich and honest as the train tracks States has traveled.

Take for example, the opener “I Will Find My Way”, a mixture of piano and State’s clarion voice that evokes Julian Lennon more than Ben Folds. If that doesn’t grab your attention, “I’ll Give You (What you Want)”, a song about a married man seeking company outside his marriage (and not the way you expect), features soaring lyrics and an impressive shredding session on par with some of the great guitar solos of the 1980s. In fact, some of the best parts of Strange Town are the studio musicians, many of them States found on the Web. Proof that the Internet rocks. On the flip side, there are tracks such as “Never Forget” an ode to the 9-11 victims, which comes off as maudlin, and the campy “I am A Comet.”

Overall, if you’re looking for a throwback to good ol’ fashioned 80s easy listening, at $11, Strange Town is worth the splurge

-Jack Winn

Hotpress for Leopold
Self Titled
Grove Addicts
8/10

Think classical and rock don’t mix? How about classical, rock, orchestras, and xylophones? Got your attention? Good. Because Hotpress for Leopold has all that…and more. Formed by a composer named Omar after a happy accident left him with a huge budget and lots of time on his hands, the band is essentially a misfit orchestra of brass, string, and that ever present xylophone lurking in the background. The result is debut album that isn’t so serious so much as it doesn’t take itself seriously. And that is ok.

From the upbeat, Disney-fied “Can’t Stop the Bomb” to the wry but funny love ballad “Torturer (Rock Mix),” this is a record that takes silly to a whole new level. With a backup cast of studio musicians that bring to mind the best of classic rock, and original, spirited lyrics by Omar himself, this is like the grade school musical your fifth grade teacher would’ve produced, if your fifth grade teacher had talent. Witness “Fish Market” and “I I I I Me Me Me Me,” two experimental tunes that seem oddly out of place for a cheery album, but seem to work on an emotional and musical level.

Some would say that camp of the sort featured on Hotpress for Leopold have no place in music. But drama has always been intertwined with the musical tradition dating back to Tin Pan Alley, and you know what? It seems to work. Besides, where else can you find a single about cocaine alongside dewy sweet exclamations of love? It’s not for everyone, but then again, what is? Well, maybe Top 40.

At $8.99, Hotpress for Leopold is perfect for the subversive musician/composer in all of us.

–Jack Winn

Not bad for a child of immigrants from Korea. I caught up with Lee, and she reminisced about her life, career, racism, the challenge of being Asian-American, and much worse.

RacketJohn: Where did the idea for Angry Little Girls come from?

Lela Lee: I came up with Angry Little Girls as an umbrella name to house the original character Angry Asian Little Girl and her friends. She was “born” my sophomore year in college at UC Berkeley where I was an angry young college grad mad at the world. I grew up as one of a handful of minorities [in San Dimas], so I was made fun of for being different. My parents were really strict and just trying to assimilate. I couldn’t really talk to them about the mean things kids said at school. One time I did, and they just responded “Be nice.”

They just wanted us to get good grades, and become doctors or lawyers. I was also the youngest, and I could never talk back to my three older sisters or my parents, so I just bottled up a keg of gun powder by the time I got to college.

RJ: What are some of the influences on your work?

LL: Charles Schultz, Jules Feiffer, Matt Groening.

RJ: How has the reaction been from friends and family?

LL: Fans love it, and the family doesn’t really care. My mom doesn’t understand how I feed myself.

RJ: Do you receive criticism from critics that [Angry Little Asian Girls] is “too PC” or “not PC” enough?

LL: No, not really.

RJ: How do you balance your artistic integrity while running a business?

LL: I was making merchandise as another way of making art. Products are just useful pieces of art if you think of it that way. As for running a business, I grew up at my parents’ dry cleaners, so I think running a business was something I learned from being around my mom. She accomplished a lot for a immigrant woman.

RJ: Thank you for your time.

LL: Welcome.

–Interview by John Winn