The highly esteemed and acclaimed Cul de Sac creator Richard Thompson (see photo to right) was kind enough to round up cartoonists in the D.C. area for a get-together Tuesday night. Should be an enjoyable evening of shop talk.
And yes, Richard, I’ll be happy to tell you of my exploits whilst enlisted in Her Majesty’s Royal Navy if you’ll tell me one thing – while you were up there playing with Bob Dylan, did you really tell him to stop mumbling?
UPDATE: Had a wonderful meal with Richard (the REAL Richard), Matt Wuerker, the editorial cartoonist for Politico, Nick Galifianakis, an illustrator/cartoonist whose work regularly appears in the Washington Post and Mike Rhode who maintains the comicsdc blog. We met up at the Off the Record bar a stone’s throw from the White House (not that I suggest you go throwing stones – the security in this town is unbelievable!). The bar has original caricatures of politicians throughout the room. Most were drawn by “Vallot” (didn’t recognize the name) and there was a wall dedicated to work that Richard had drawn. I took pictures of the group and some of the caricatures. I’ll post them when I get back home.
Alan, that photo is of the other Richard Thompson, the amazing guitarist/singer/songwriter as seen at http://www.richardthompson-music.com . (I’m a fan of both Thompsons.)
He knows. It’s an intentional joke in response to this:
http://richardspooralmanac.blogspot.com/2007/12/dinner-with-alan-gardner.html
Stranger things have happened. Many years ago, Dexy’s Midnight Runners had a UK hit with the track “Jackie Wilson Said,” a tribute to the late, great “Reet Petite” singer. To promote the single, they appeared on the TV show “Top of the Pops.” TOTP was a weekly run down of the charts, and a BBC institution for four decades. But it had the cheesiest production values, with inane DJ presenters, artists miming “live,” and a troupe of girl dancers who did literal interpretations of hit songs (eg: “Send In The Clowns: would see them in Pierrot outfits and sad clown make-up …) So when Dexys took the stage for the live show, they performed in front of a giant backdrop photo of the song’s subject. Except that the producers evidently didn’t have a clue who Jackie Wilson was, and had mistakenly featured professional darts player Jocky Wilson instead. Cue a bemused Dexy’s playing in front of a giant photo of a short, fat, pasty white Scotsman with no front teeth, squinting in concentration, dart in hand.
LOL! that is a great story
Nice story, Steve, and true, er…sort of. There is always a story behind the story.
Kevin Rowland, Dexy’s front man explains:
“When we did a song called Jackie Wilson Said in the early 80s, there was a big beer-swilling darts player around called Jocky Wilson. For a laugh, we told the producer to put a picture of Jocky Wilson up behind us. He said, “But Kevin, people will think we made a mistake.” I told him only an idiot would think that. The morning after, the DJ Mike Read said: “Bloody Top of the Pops. How could they mix up one of the great soul singers with a Scottish darts player?”
That is HILARIOUS!!!
No, no, that’s the Richard Thompson who came to dinner. He refused to draw on the napkins though.