Funky but what?

Do you like dancing? I mean reaaaaaally dancing? To funk, soul, rhythm & blues, jazz, ska, etc? You do?

Are you in the environs of Newcastle upon Tyne? You are?

Then you should know about the Funky Butt Club. Upstairs at the Cumberland Arms in Ouseburn usually on the last Sunday of the month, 5-10pm, £3 in. Best dancing music and best dancing vibe in toon - and no taxis required!

Although it's generally on on the last Sunday of the month, it has been on its summer holidays and is now returning to bring funk to the dancing public of Newcastle on Sunday 13th October.

The resident DJs Lady Koo and Lord Leigh are amazing, plus they regularly bring in guest DJs to provide new funk directions. The atmosphere is great - a really mixed super-friendly crowd who are all into great music and dancing like fools.

You really should come.

Incredibly, the organisers have permitted THE CREATURE FROM THE FUNK LAGOON (ahem, you know how some people just love weird pseudonyms eh?) to do a guest spot at the 13th October event. He is very excited about this, as he loves funky music, and dancing like a fool, and the Funky Butt Club; but he is a little bit terrified, having not DJed for many a year, so he will be trying his hardest to make a good first impression...

Asteroid Belt, er

So: it's the British Science Festival coming up and it's happening in Newcastle. A bunch of excellent Novocastrian comic-makers have organised an AMAZING comic to teach science to, well, everyone, but it's mainly aimed at 8 to 13 year-olds. The comic is called Asteroid Belter - The Newcastle Science Comic. It's got the work of all kinds of top-drawer comic creators paired up with university scientists within it.

Knowing the good folk behind this endeavour, I was keen to see how it turned out, but felt that I couldn't provide art at the necessary professional level for a publication that was going to get a 10000 copy print-run, so did not initially put myself forward as an artist for the project. HOWEVER: late in the day, due to a few drop outs, I think they were kinda desperate I guess, and I was probably drunk and I agreed to try and do something that made sense and didn't look terrible. I did a one page called 'Astoundishing Science' that is about avoiding the clichés of how science is portrayed in popular culture. Also: it's full of silliness and the clichés of how science is portrayed in popular culture.

Fortunately, I had Paul Thompson on my side to digitally compose my scrawlings, before then colouring and lettering them to make it into something that actually looks pretty dang good.

I also worked with Paul to make some puzzles to fill in a few gaps in the comic. The main one I worked on (and provided artwork for) was a topological puzzle based around finding the best route for a courier around a complex road system. That was fun too and I'm interested to see if people find it easy or tricky.

Anyway, "where is this comic available?" and "how much will it cost?" - it will be available at various events around the Science Festival and will be FREE. If you're interested, you should come to the launch event at Newcastle City Library on Saturday 7th September. There's workshops on the day and an exhibition of art (yes, including mine I'm afraid) that runs until the 21st. Oh, and did I mention the free comic that does the incredible job of making complex science easily digestible and interesting to kids? Yes, yes, I just did.

Here's a bit with me making up silly answers for a contributor profile thing for the comic's blog.