Showing posts with label Baltimore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baltimore. Show all posts

Friday, September 28, 2007

Sept 29: Baltimore Book Festival - Comics Conversation

5:30 at Mount Vernon Place, at the Washington Monumenbt, near the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.

Paul Karasik, I Will Destroy All The Civilized Planets
Phil Yeh, Dinosaurs Across America
Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Steven Parke and Jonathan Scott Fuqua, In the Shadow of Edgar Allan Poe

Also, there's a 'zine or "Mini-curated micro-books" section.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Geppi's Entertainment Museum news

The Star Wars exhibit is extended until early October - GEM reports, "The Force™ is with Us: 30 Years of Star Wars® opened June 23 and will run through October 7, 2007 due to overwhelming response. Geppi’s Entertainment Museum at Camden Yards is located at 301 W. Camden St., Baltimore, MD 21201. For additional details log on to www.geppismuseum.com or call 410-625-7060. Group tours are welcome, and admission is free to museum members."

Remember, they're having the launch of Arnold Blumberg's zombie book soon too. Everyone who reads this blog semi-regularly or more should visit this museum.

Also, they've made a promotion from within, which I reprint without comment:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Date of release: Sept. 17, 2007

Melissa Bowersox named executive VP at Geppi’s Entertainment Museum

BALTIMORE – Melissa Geppi Bowersox has been appointed executive vice president at Geppi’s Entertainment Museum at Camden Yards (a k a “GEM”). Previously, Bowersox served as director of Events & Special Promotions for the 17,000-square-foot pop culture mecca, providing critical expertise during the museum’s pre-launch and first year of operation.

In her new role, Bowersox will lead a team of experienced professionals in developing new programs and special events while at the same time overseeing both permanent and changing exhibits. Bowersox said an important goal is spreading the word to civic groups, schools and the travel and tourism industry that Baltimore has added yet another world-class museum to its atmospheric landscape – one that appeals to all ages.

“We have the location, the exhibits and the support of the community,” Bowersox said. “My goal is to raise GEM’s profile so it is recognized not only locally, but also on a national and international level as an outstanding destination for families, students and tour groups.”

Bowersox has had a lifelong passion for pop culture and her native Baltimore. The daughter of GEM’s founder and CEO, Stephen A. Geppi, she began working in the “family business” at age six. “In the early days, my dad had a comic book shop in the basement of a TV repair shop in one of the city’s suburbs,” Bowersox said. “I would go in on weekends, sweep up or count comic book bags, which used to sell for 100 for a dollar – someone had to count the bags. Even as I got older, I continued to work at his retail shops, eventually being ‘promoted’ to working behind the counter, handling subscription orders and assisting the customers.”

As her father’s commercial ventures grew and prospered, Bowersox was always there to pitch in and do her part, whether it was working summers in the back of the warehouse, collating orders for Geppi’s Diamond Comics, or later working as a receptionist for another Geppi firm, Diamond International Galleries.

Bowersox is particularly proud that she represents the first of the Geppi children to join her father’s businesses in an executive capacity. “I know that it was always my dad’s fondest wish that one of his children would want to be involved in his businesses, but he would not have thrust it upon anybody,” Bowersox said. “He wanted us to come to him and let him know if we were interested.” Bowersox recalled that the right moment came in February when she represented the Geppi companies at a major comic book industry event, the New York Comic-Con. “I saw all the people I recognized from my youth when I was working for my dad. I saw the excitement in their faces when they realized that a younger Geppi was involved now, and I realized the timing was perfect. I invited my dad to lunch and told him what I wanted to do, and he said, ‘This is what I’ve been waiting to hear. You’ve just made my day.’”

Steve Geppi remarked, “We are very pleased to have Melissa taking on these new duties at GEM. We look forward to her continued enthusiastic efforts to get the word out about the museum, its facilities, and what we have to offer.”

GEM’s president, John K. Snyder Jr., praised the patient, lifelong course Bowersox has followed en route to her new position with the museum. “Melissa has spent years studying the whole foundation of collecting, interacting with the people who collect and learning how the element of emotion fits into the hobby,” Snyder said. “She’s an idea person, very much like her father. She has taken the knowledge she acquired during the time she spent working in the gallery and watching how her father does things, and is now eminently capable of moving into this high-level position. She spent her time in the arena of learning – it was a baptism of fire, so to speak. Now she’s getting her chance and bringing in a fresh approach that we all wholeheartedly welcome.”

Geppi’s Entertainment Museum is located at Baltimore’s world-famous Camden Yards, immediately adjacent to Oriole Park and across the street from the Baltimore Convention Center. Its displays are arranged in a timeline fashion, incorporating pop-culture memorabilia from the late 18th century through contemporary times. Among the many characters permanently “residing” at GEM are Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Howdy Doody, Betty Boop, Hopalong Cassidy, Elvis Presley and the original hand-made prototype of G.I. Joe.

To learn more about GEM, log on to www.geppismuseum.com. Tel. 410-625-7060 or
e-mail info@geppismuseum.com.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Sept 25-29: Phil Yeh in Baltimore

Randy T. reports Phil Yeh will be appearing in Baltimore later this month:

Graphic Novel Workshops with Phil Yeh, "godfather" of the American graphic novel

This interactive program, for all ages, will introduce you to many of the world's famous graphic novel creators and show you how to create your own unique characters and write a comic strip. Each participant will receive a copy of one of Phil Yeh's books.

Phil Yeh has written, illustrated and published more than 80 books of his own and another 50 from other authors. He has experience in television, radio, animation, licensing and book publishing and has owned galleries in Long Beach and Lompoc, CA.

Schedule:

* Central Library Saturday, Sep 29, 2007 (2:00 p.m.)
* Govans Branch Tuesday, Sep 25, 2007 (4:00 p.m.)
* Light Street Branch Thursday, Sep 27, 2007 (6:30 p.m.)
* Patterson Park Branch Wednesday, Sep 26, 2007 (4:00 p.m.)
* Washington Village Branch Thursday, Sep 27, 2007 (4:00 p.m.)

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Baltimore City Paper article on Geppi's Entertainment Museum

It's the Baltimore City Paper's comic issue*. Can anyone grab me an extra copy?

For the big GEM story - read "Iron Men: Geppi's Museum May Preserve Comic Book Heroes in Amber, But They Don't Need the Help" by Violet Glaze, Baltimore City Paper (September 12, 2007).

I love this museum, but one should remember what blog one's reading, and take that as it's worth.

The issue has an intro, and there's another comics column too - "Comics and Me" by Vincent Williams, and somewhere in there, they have a comics jam which isn't online, although a description of it is.


*and shouldn't the DC City Paper have one? They're not owned by the same multi-media conglomerate though.