Book cover for Evelyn Evelyn: A Terrible Tale in Two Tomes.
I have been so busy drawing the Evelyn Evelyn graphic novel I haven't had a chance to see them perform their show.
Sketches for the book line my studio floor.
One Friday I added real blood drips to some of the the pages.
Blood on my hands.
On Saturday I uploaded the art for book one to Dark Horse Comic's FTP site. My conjoined parasitic twin Cynthia Cynthia and I decided to head to the West Village to see the girls in action. Cynthia Cynthia is extremely shy, but she was inspired by Evelyn Evelyn to come out from her shell and be seen. Usually she hides under my armpit.
Cynthia Cynthia, my parasitic twin.
Author extraordinaire Adele Griffin (Picture the Dead, Vampire Island, Where I Want to Be) was our date.
The show was wonderful. Sxip Shirey started the night performing with a variety of musical instruments made from found objects. My favorite song was played with an instrument made from several wind-up music boxes. I tried to play his bicycle bell instrument (made for him by Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer), but it sounded like out-of-tune bicycle bells. When Sxip plays it, it sounds like magic!
Sxip cuddling with Cynthia Cynthia
Next up were the Evelyn Evelyn twins. They were shy, but once they got going they were transformed into true performers. I loved the old-timey style of their songs. My favorite part was the puppet show where Sxip, their manager, moved shadow puppets behind a screen while the twins explained their unusual and grisly birth. My iPhone couldn't take any good pictures of the show so instead here's a sneak peek of this same narration from the graphic novel.
The Birth by Cynthia von Buhler from Evelyn Evelyn: A Terrible Tale in Two Tomes
The Death of Samuel Neville by Cynthia von Buhler from Evelyn Evelyn: A Terrible Tale in Two Tomes
The Car Accident by Cynthia von Buhler from Evelyn Evelyn: A Terrible Tale in Two Tomes
The type above is all for position only. I drew a beautiful new typeface and Dark Horse Comics had it made into an official font for me.
The Cynthia von Buhler font. Soon to be available from a variety of font companies.
Then came Jason Webley. I have never seen Jason perform. He was intense and wanted the audience to perform with him. He sectioned the audience into string and horn sections and we all sung along as he conducted us. I was amazed at how he made his hat moonwalk around his head without falling off.
Jason and John Cameron Mitchell with Cynthia Cynthia (and I'm smiling in the background), Photo by Katie Sokoler for Gothamist.
Amanda Palmer then appeared powerfully onstage as though she was entering an arena. She played an intense, personal set. The highlights of which were a song about her family and another song (on ukelele) about how she is happy to do what she wants now because she is sick of doing what other people want her to do. I loved this song. You can download it for free HERE.
Amanda and Cynthia von Buhler after she accidentally smashed Cynthia Cynthia's head in. You can see how bad Amanda felt about crushing Cynthia Cynthia's head. Cropped version of the photo by Katie Sokoler for Gothamist.
Here is another picture of Amanda. When she isn't making a scary face she looks like this. Photo by Katie Sokoler for Gothamist.
Don't worry about Cynthia Cynthia! Now that she has come out of her shell, we have been medically separated, and her head is smashed wide open, she has plans to star in a Brother's Quay film.
After that Amanda, Sxip, and Jason performed together and brought the audience in for a sing-a-long.
Jason Webley, Cynthia von Buhler, Cynthia Cynthia, and John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch), Photo by Katie Sokoler for Gothamist.
Corn Mo and Cynthia Cynthia
Sean Francis and Cynthia Cynthia
A group of us decided to cab it to my castle on Staten Island for the night. Sxip slept on the round bed in the purple tower room and Jason slept in the master bedroom. The next day, wearing the same clothes from the night before, Jason, Rachel, and I headed to chinatown for young coconut juice which we drank from straws stuck into the actual coconuts.
Jason, Cynthia, and Rachel.
I picked up my car in the West Village and headed back to my lake house in Connecticut because Land's End was beginning to shoot their catalog there on Monday morning.
