Got home late last night and missed the beginning of "No Reservations." (Some day, I'll remember to set the DVR.) Aside from "Top Chef," this is my favorite TV show - ever. (It's on at 10 p.m. Mondays on the Travel Channel) "No Reservations" is a travel/food show hosted by the fabulously witty Anthony Bourdain. Last night, Bourdain visited Cleveland. He broke bread with Harvey Pekar, best known for his autobiographical slice-of-life comic book series "American Splendor", and his wife Joyce Brabner, who used to co-own a Wilmington, Del., comic store with, I believe, artist Tom Watkins. (What happened to Watkins? I thought his style was really original.) Scenes from "No Reservations" morphed into "American Splendor" illustrations. Very, very cool. No big surprise this series got an Emmy nomination. I've got to catch a re-run.
8 comments:
I did not think the Travel channel was available here????
I watch it on (Comcast) Channel 188.
Yes, I used to go to that store "back in the day!" Xanadu it was called. I wondered about Tom myself. He was a very friendly guy and we used to talk a lot even while he good naturedly made fun of my weight! Tom, where are ya!?
M Werkheiser
Xanadu! Wow, what a memory jogger. I remember Watkins once illustrated a national Absolut vodka ad; it had a Tim Burton-esque vibe to it.
Yeah, I remember I saved the big page in USAToday of that painting! (Don't have it now, of course).
Tom Watkins had a great costume shop, too. Does anyone remember the late 70's and his "TV Dinners" or his "Sleaze Con" held at Rob Jones 5th Street Gallery (the former Queen movie theater at at 5th & Market Streets in Wilmington?). The Wilmington event got a two page spread in The Village Voice. Yes, Tom, where are you? I am having an Art Show in February focusing on "Love & Eroticism". Where are you when I need you?
Whatever did happen to Tom? My mom was dating him around the early 1980s when I was a child. I remember his work vividly...wish we still had some of his work!
I would love to know where Tom Watkins is. I met Tom around 1968 at Mr. Macelhone's comic shop at 8th and Tatnall St. We became good friends and I watched him grow as an artist through the years. I still have some original pieces of his, including a full page of his Sgt. Skullmoss strip. One of his many ventures was a Newark-based paper called Emergency Illustrated, and I still have all of those somewhere.
Post a Comment