Reubens on the Hudson pt 1

Well we're back!

In the interest of timeliness I will be posting about the weekend in stages as I get organized.

I'm going to start with the posed cocktail type shots because there are a boatload of those and I want to get them out of the way :-)

You will notice that most of these fall into the "John standing next to someone famous" category. This is because of all the cocktail parties that happen at the Reubens - I think I counted about 12. Well..... maybe only 5 but, still - it's a weekend with a lot of standing around drinking and talking.

And for me that usually includes high heels. I added it up and I spent total of 18 1/2 hours standing with a drink in my hand. That includes the marathon session on Saturday - about 2 hours before the awards ceremony and 5 1/2 hours after that. (This would be because all the hobnobbing carries on until 2-4 a.m. each night). Needless to say, my knees and feet are still recovering. (Would totally do it all over again, though!)

Here goes:

John with Lynn Johnston - I need to put a little explanation by this one: when John got his development deal with King Features, I contacted Ms. Johnston for guidance. She not only called John, but spent about an hour giving him some very important advice and also the name of Stu Rees, Intellectual Property Lawyer Extraordinaire. John knew at the time that this was a generous act on the part of Ms. Johnston, but now that he is in the trenches of producing a daily strip he really understands how hard an hour of non strip time is to come by. Thanks again to Lynn so much!

With Tom Richmond, winner of this year's NCS award for Best Newspaper Illustration

With Tom Stemmle

With Rocky Shepard - President of King Features

With Chad Frye - note how I have cleverly positioned them so that John appears to be wearing an illuminated mortar board.

With Bob Rich - nominee for Best Newspaper Illustration

With Frank Pauer - Editor of "The Cartoonist"

With Anne Gibbons

With Dan Thompson, Dave Blazek - nominee for Best Newspaper Panel Cartoon, and Bucky Jones

Sam Viviano (Vivainio), Frank Caruso, and Patrick McDonnell - another note - if you have not seen this video on how to get your work into Mad Magazine you must watch it right now!

Rocky Shepard and Rina Piccolo

Linda Houden and Amy Lago

With Norm Feuti - apologies John - I think I ran your hair through a blender before I took this one :-)

With Mark Parisi

With Caroline Roth

With Rina Piccolo

More pics on John's blog here and more to follow tomorrow!