On July 11th, Lynn sat down with Kurtis Findlay of the Pullbox Podcast, a monthly international graphic novel book club, hosted by cartoonist and comics historian Kurtis Findlay, and graphic designer and prolific podcaster Michael J. Cohen.
They talked for an hour about the history of For Better or For Worse. You can enjoy the podcast here on their website. Enjoy!
Here’s a note from Lynn about the Canada Day festivities she enjoyed, near her home in Vancouver:
I live a 15 walk from the waterfront, where the Sea Bus comes in to the Quay. There are family parks are on all sides.
I walked down with my daughter and her family, to see the Canada Day spectacle. There were tents set up everywhere with the usual buskers, crafts, and balloon animals…but the food trucks are the big draw. There are dishes from everywhere: Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, China, India, Persia, the Caribbean, Greece, Germany…and then you have Québecois poutine, English pot pies, and the Canadian grilled cheese sandwich vendor (with the best mac’n’cheese anywhere), whose stuff is so good he had to get a second truck.
People-watching is the best here. WASPS are in the minority, and even if you do run into a European family, you can’t expect them to speak English. You hear Russian, Dutch, Danish, and Spanish…it’s a real melting pot, with couples of all colours going hand in hand. My mother used to say "We should all intermarry, then the population would all be the same colour. There would be no racial differences, everyone would get along." So, I said "Mom, you’d be happy if I married a Japanese man?" She looked shocked, and said sharply in her British best, "Not US, dear!!" Well, Mom. The day has come. There is mixing and matching, and it’s all working out just fine.
We stayed most of the day. Large tugboats came up to the wharf, and did what they called the "tugboat ballet". These things have monstrous engines and side thrusters, which allow them to be maneuvered in every direction. Four of them, polished and new, did movements in unison, facing each other in square dance fashion, lining up side to side, then swirling as fast as they could in place…the way they whipped the water up looked like a frothing storm—everyone on the jetty was sprayed, and the kids were mesmerised. None of us will ever watch the tugboats now without thinking about the day they danced at the Quay!
We stayed until 3:00, just in time to walk up to the movie theatre and take in a show. It was quite a day. We then went back to Kate and Lane’s. We were all full from the food trucks, so my granddaughter, Laura, and I had painting time in the basement studio. I’ve been working on a rather goofy cartoon painting of a dog, and Laura puttered about with watercolours. What’s good about her being there when I’m painting, is that I’m too focused on what I’m doing to watch her closely. I can’t answer her questions the way I normally would, and she can only break my concentration if she needs clean water or has an accident. This means she has become independently creative. She’s doing lovely abstract designs, learning to mix colours, and is enjoying the freedom to see whatever materializes from her hands.
When he’s in the mood, my grandson, Ryan, is also fascinated by colours and paper, crayons and clay. I think we have more artists in the family.
So, I have given you our version of Canada Day! We celebrated our wonderful mixed nationality with food, music, and fireworks. And in the end, it really was a great way to express our joy and relief. To be able to live in freedom and harmony is not something one can take for granted!
Lynn was interviewed by Maclean’s magazine recently for their Canada’s Stories feature.
When Lynn Johnston was growing up in 1950s North Vancouver, she loved the challenge of going into the woods and painting rivers. “But I didn’t get any laughs,” recalls the famous cartoonist. “And I was the kind of kid who would do anything for laughs.” In school, Lynn’s antics would get her in trouble. “The teacher would say, ‘Do you want to be the class clown?’ I would cringe and say, ‘No.’ ” But the truth was, “Yeah, I do!”
Read more here, and watch the video of the interview (at Lynn’s new home in North Vancouver).
As I mentioned in this earlier blog entry I took my friend, Paul Lucas, to the Reubens. I thought that taking a musician to Memphis would be a lot of fun. It was!
Paul has played guitar professionally for many years and has musical friends, of course, everywhere. At Sun Studio, he introduced me to Lahna Deering and Rev Down of "Deering and Down", and we were lucky to be able to hear some of their work.
Deering and Down
If you visit their Bandcamp page, you’ll hear one of their many original compositions: "Ain’t no Secret".
After listening to them, Paul said "isn’t it amazing that they’re not famous." I agreed. Lahna has the most unique voice, and both are outstanding musicians and performers. As co-creators of original lyrics and melodies, they have received praise from coast to coast. I thought it would be fun to introduce their music to a completely new audience.
I’m wondering: if you listen to their album, "Out There Somewhere", can you tell me why they aren’t famous?
You can find my friend, Paul, at www.paullucasmusic.com. He is a composer, performer, and teacher. We’ve known each other since grade 5!
Well, the Reuben Awards is over for another year. Once again, a group of tireless comics created an opening stage act worthy of Broadway—and then the awards began.
So many wonderful talents, so many awards! The National Cartoonists Society has expanded since I joined in the late 70s. I found it hard to recognize the people whose hair was dark, and whose skin still fit properly. The old guys, I can pick out right away. We are the ones who’ve grown old together over the past 40 years.
The event was held in Memphis this year. I took a musician friend with me, which was a very good idea. Professional musicians know folks all over the planet, and Paul had two right there in Memphis. Lana, a singer with the most amazing voice, and her partner, Rev, are professionally called Deering and Downe.
With them, we saw the workings inside the fabled Sun Studio, where Elvis recorded with legends like Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins. Besides being a tourist destination, it is still an active recording studio.
Because there were so many NCS members wanting to see Graceland, we were able to take over most of the complex for our farewell party. I had imagined Elvis’ house to be large, gaudy, and overdone. In reality, it is a lovely family home with enough space for company and some recreation. The interior was left as it was in the 1960s. There are some whimsical features, like the mirrored stairwell, and a billiard room completely decorated in ornate fabric, but the house itself is warm and inviting.
As we walked through it, we had a sense that we were intruding, somehow. Several outbuildings hold exhibits, like Elvis’ car collection, and his many gold and platinum records. There are a couple of restaurants, and the inevitable gift shops.
On a busy day, there would be lineups for everything, but we were able to look around in relative quiet. There are four graves in the garden. On Elvis’ stone is a particularly moving family tribute. He loved and was loved, and the experience left us all with the feeling that we had known him. The man was evident in everything around us. I was never an Elvis fan, but after this experience, I feel lucky to have been around when he was alive and well, and performing at his best.