Greetings true believers, special warm thanks to all the new people who showed up tonight at the first CLAW open meeting of transparency!  We got to meet JEFF HAWLEY CREATOR OF LOGJAM! (World’s only comicstrip devoted to sentient trees).  With special guest appearances by ANDREA TRENBEATH LOWEN of UNSTABLE ART, ERIK BJORNSON  aka THE TACOMA URBANIST and Tacoma’s foremost divorce attorney, AMANDA RAYMOND of NEWSPAPER ILLUSTRATION FAME. Last but certainly not least a very special surprise appearance by cosmic talent STAN SHAW of DRAW STANLEY recent cartoonist for CITY ARTS.

We all swapped photoshop secrets, gave folks a small taste of the PRO-FEZ LIFESTYLE and periphery semi-sacred CLAW rituals.  Sadly one of our founding members ELECTRIC ELLIOT had to leave early to attend to his ULTIMATE FRISBEE commitments.

Many of us were able to sketch.  Below is a small sketch of  what my life was like before I joined CLAW.

And now here is a sketch of what my life is like now that I am part of a team.  I certainly know who my true friends are.

Each month the CLAW holds an open meeting for both members and non-members to attend. The CLAW is involved in many project requiring it’s unique skill sets. This meeting gives a us a chance to work on those projects while kibitzing with our friends and associates who also take an interest. More than anything, it’s an excuse to get together, draw and share our talents with each other. You’ve heard rumors about the CLAW. Come and see which of them are true. Or just come to see the fez.

We are meeting in the back room to the left of the stage. In order for creative juices to flow freely and uncensored this is an adults only event. No kids.

7:30 pm Wednesday, January 28th 2009
The Mandolin Café
3923 South 12th Street
Tacoma, WA 98405

These are the semi-official meeting notes prepared inside the hyperbolical steel trap that is the mind of CLAW!

• ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIPS – memberships for people who aren’t cartoonists but still want to hang out with cartoonists, support amusing community art-stunts and most important wear a fez.
• HONORARY MEMBERSHIPS – would be like Mormon “baptism for the dead”… call people members even if they have no interest in joining.  Something you bestow on people.
• OUR NEWSLETTER AS A “ZINE” OR MINI COMIC – talked about newsletter names Elliot liked ‘claw and order’ each member would draw page numbers from a fez and be responsible for cartoon content on that page.  zines would be distributed to coffee shops and or stuffed into City Arts and other unsuspecting host publications. Think old-school mad magazine… comics and fake ads.
• NON-PROFIT STATUS – would allow us to apply for arts grants, etc.  drawback: can’t offer political endorsements.
• OPEN TO THE PUBLIC MEETINGS – second meeting of every month would be open to the pubic.  Come join us at Mandolin Cafe!
• STUDENT MEMBERSHIPS – NO REDUCED PRICE for students!  it’s to hard to keep track of who is actually a student and who is looking for a handout.
• SCHOLARSHIPS – need more members to build up scholarship funds!
• 24HR COMIC DAY MARATHON -  John from comic book ink and Warren from Tacoma Art Supply are onboard for corporate sponsorship!
• VIDEO MEMBER PROFILES – Electric Elliot thought it would be fun to do micro documentaries for each member on the website.
• WAYZGOOSE – We all agree to collaborate on group design and that 3×5 foot slab of linoleum is the way to go.

Subsequent Email Correspondence!

Dear James,

You missed two hours of sheer relaxing bliss last night.

One of the projects we want to work on is a mini-comic to distribute around in coffee houses. If you fold the mini-comic out the hidden section would be a clear description of the group and the scholarship. So, to start this project we each drew two numbers from a hat representing the pages we would work on. See the zine template here

You pulled: Cover & Page 2
Me: Page 1 & B
Elliott: Pages 3 & 4
RR: Pages 5 & 6

Keep in mind that we need to photocopy the art for mass production. This means that there should be a quarter inch space between the edge of the art and the live image space.

James job on the cover will be tough until we settle on a name for the Newsletter.

• Truth and CLAW
• CLAW-Marks
• CLAWtoons
• CLAWarts
• CLAW and Order
• CLAWful
• I Am the CLAW

Sorry Elliott, RR, but some of the names we came up with last night and which I thought I posted did not get on there. Please go in and add them.

Other than having the newsletter name and website address on the active section, it was agreed that there should be no rules governing content other than to be Pro-Claw. All the clear stuff can be on the hidden page your see when you fold it out. Guys please correct me if I have this wrong.

I will type up some minutes for posting. Most the time we sat doodling and working on our hats.

– Mark Monlux

Stowe says:

Man, I missed you guys last night. I didn’t leave work until near 9 and I am already back in here at 6am today. I needed some Washingtonian Absurdity. On the newsletter name front… has anyone come up with Claw and Punishment yet? I still have a CLAW check to give to someone (Mark?) and I would like to hand that off as soon as I can. My catalog ships to printer next Wednesday… after that I will need some serious cartoonist bonding. Mark, is there a bad movie coming out soon? Maybe something with zombies in it?