WALL TO SCRAWL MARKETING...

by Heywood McGillicuddy, Chairman:

"Yukon Honeymoon No.2" by the men and women of the M.S.Co.

Yes, the Company is back in Chicago; now only days away from home. The anticipation is almost unbearably palpable.

As much as the members enjoy spending half their year living like carnies, they are also eager to sleep in their own lumpy beds, with their own lumpy lovers. There is also only so much time the misanthropes can spend cooped up in cars and motels together, breathing in eachother's b.o. day in and day out.

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(photo by Rufus Spaulding)

It has been the Company's unofficial custom in previous years to open up the Clubhouse present a homecoming party and exhibition promptly after a lengthy tour. This year, however, the decision to push the usual summer hiatus back to September will keep the Company Clubhouse doors closed until October. Same goes for the Museum of Natural & Artificial History.

The M.S.Co. assures it's loyal friends and eager followers that it will make it up to them just a little further down the line. Yesterday's motion to host a Hallowe'en / Dia De Los Muertos party and event was passed unanimously.

More details will be forthcoming, pending further deliberation at next week's meeting. There are many a detail to iron out.

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Paperboy's interim exhibition. A work in constant flux.
(photo courtesy of Paperboy Chicago)

Though Toronto audiences are going to have to wait, citizens of the windy city are invited to stand in awe at the Company's contribution to the impromptu group show at Paper Boy.

The misanthropes dropped by the boutique-slash-gallery's yesterday to the staff taping hurried doodles and half-finished sketches up in the gallery space. The scheduled exhibition had fallen through at the last minute, so the intrepid women of Paper Boy were mounting their own eleventh-hour show in its place.

Selected highlights from the art wall thus far (photos courtesy of Paperboy)

The doodles were only there to get the ball rolling. A basket of magic markers and a stack of virgin paper were place conveniently nearby, along with an invitation for one and all to complete the drawings, and/or start their own. It was too much to resist.

The Company spent the rest of the day gleefully scribbling in the gallery, embellishing on or otherwise defiling the groundwork the fine folks at Paper Boy had laid. This fast and loose collaboration was a refreshing departure from the more rigid and protocol-laden work the misanthropes had become accustomed to in their regular Sunday sessions.

The Misanthropes get in on the action (photo courtesy of Paper Boy)

Why not drop by and make your mark? The wall will only continue to evolve and expand over the course of the show's run.

PAPER BOY COMMUNAL WALL
September 1 to September 30, 2010
1351 West Belmont Avenue
Chicago, Illinois

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Limited edition message card by the Misanthrope Specialty Co.

And while you're at it, why not check out the latest in M.S.Co. ephemera? The Company has restocked the store's inventory with all manner of freshly made goods, including a few limited edition cards made using some ultra-rare vintage embossing tapes.

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B.C. BUDDIES...

by Rufus Spaulding:

(photo by Rufus Spaulding)

Though still weeks away from home, the Company is back in the homecountry for the next little while, after a pleasantly uneventful border crossing into British Columbia.

(photo by Becky Johnson)

The Company's reasons for being in Vancouver are twofold: a round table discussion of secret business with their contact at Little Mountain, and the gluttonous consumption of ridiculously tasty sushi at suspiciously low prices.

How to eat sushi in the Japanese tradition

A deeply rooted Japanese population and the abundance of salmon, tuna, prawns and crab fished off the B.C. coast have made Vancouver the only city in North America where sushi joints outnumber burger shacks three to one. This abundance, means restaurants are forever competing to outdo each other by offering better quality sushi at lower prices. The sashimi-crazed misanthropes have been banned from more than one all-you-can-eat establishment over the years.

If only the members of the Company could get over this city's apathetic mock-liberalism and conservative hippie snobbery.

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APP of GOD...

by Tallulah Lastname, Company Clerk:
The good folks at levimacdoogall.com didn't waste any time putting the Company's work to good use.

(photo courtesy of Levi MacDougall)

The beta version of the Bullet in a Bible i-phone application is ready. Keep it near your heart. This little technological miracle fits right in your breast pocket -- so it's always handy when you're in need of some divine intervention.

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FRISCO INFERNO...

by Erkuden Sakana, Company Secretary:

It's been another busy weekend for the men and women of the Misanthrope Specialty Co. Yesterday and today at Fort Mason were all-day affairs.

(photo by Matthew Wade Davis)

San Francisco marks the last of the big game craft fairs on the Company's summer itinerary. There is still another month of touring ahead, though, and the misanthropes were determined to lighten their load; freeing up some legroom for the long journey home.

(photo courtesy of Angelika)

Intent on riding itself of as much of its remaining inventory as possible, the Company hocked its wares to the shopping hordes like rabid costermongers. Luckily, this town remains as receptive as ever to what the misanthropes are pitching.

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Once business at Renegade was over and done with, the Company found itself in a celebratory mood. Though there was still the matter of sitting down to todays Sunday protocols a well-deserved interlude was in order. After a quick show of hands, it was agreed that any further work should be preceded by the imbibing of silly cocktails at the Tonga Room.

(photo by Ted Mills)

The historic Fairmont Hotel once boasted a number of gimmick bars and restaurants; including a circus-themed cocktail lounge, and a merry-go-round bar. Today, only the Tonga Room tiki bar remains.

It's raining at the Tonga

Designed by one of MGM's set designers in 1945, this nautical wonderland features a floating stage and a fake thundersotrms. Rain pours down from concealed sprinklers every twenty minutes.

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One drink lead to another and, seeing as the members were all assembled anyhow, the Company decided to hunker down where it sat, holding it's meeting at the tiki bar.

(portrait of Heywood by Reverend Aitor, Rufus Spaulding, Cottonwood Fields and an anonymous member)

One of the topics up for discussion was the The Misanthrope Specialty Co.'s taking over the reins of its subsidiary, the Unflattering Portrait Project.

With Aitor's eyeballs steadily disintegrating, and demand for Unflattering Portraits exceeding the amount of time he's able or willing to dedicate to the project, a proposal was put forth last week calling for the rest of the misanthropes to step up to the plate.

More like Reverend eye sore

Whether this is a temporary or indefinite measure has yet to be decided. In the meantime, the bleary-eyed Impresario spent the evening tutoring his peers in the fine art of unflattery. The goal is to preserve the integrity of the portraits' style and sensibilities whether they be drawn by the Reverend himself, the Company as a whole, or any one of its members.

Variations on a subject: Aitor's rendition of Matt Groening vs. Heywood and Erkuden's joint interpretation

To dispel any trepidation among those who have commissioned portraits on backorder, the Company assures that all portraits on Aitor's waiting list will be drawn by the Reverend himself. New commissions, however, may be taken over by the rest of the Company unless otherwise requested

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