Classical Mystery Tour – a Beatles tribute backed by a Symphony Orchestra – is coming to Sony Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto this Thursday!

This is a note-for-note live Beatles tribute performance with full costumes and, most excitingly, accompanied by the Kitchener/Waterloo Symphony Orchestra and I will be there!  How about you?

Crazy to think about how part of the reason The Beatles stopped playing live at all in 1966 was because they felt like they could not reproduce on stage what they were doing on their records.  Did you know that the longest concert The Beatles ever played during their touring years was 33 minutes?  They just took their nightclub act and put it in an arena or a stadium.  Their historic Shea Stadium concert in 1965 was only 27 minutes.  This was obviously long before the days of 3-hours-plus concerts with elaborate stage set-ups and guest performers.

It goes without saying that this is the most popular music of the 20th century and when it’s recreated on stage like this, it’s nothing short of magical.  I’ve downloaded a few performance clips from the show’s website and they sound totally authentic.  And the crowd that comes out for these kinds of shows runs the gamut from people who were there when Beatlemania was happening to pretty twenty-something girls dancing in their cutest retro-styled dress.

Get tickets to Classical Mystery Tour from the Sony Centre’s website (click).

And if you can’t make it, I’ve got you covered with a Beatles tribute of my own….

But where did they get the idea to crash an amateur hockey league and give them the ‘big show’ treatment?

As it turns out, the idea came from another video that you may have seen if you have been visiting my website for any length of time.  Remember this goodie from my ‘year of daily vlogging’?

A lot of the marketing and PR companies in Canada are based in Toronto. I know that a lot of PR people watch my videos and count on me to know what’s happening in the streets, so I always love it when some video or song or comic book of mine sparked an idea that ends up on a billboard or in a commercial.

Remember this 2010 Olympic billboard?

Where do you think the Toronto-based marketing people got the idea for the slogan from?

I’m not claiming it’s a rip off or anything.  I just know that a lot of people in these kinds of marketing & PR positions watch my stuff on the regular and I keep seeing so many of these ‘coincidences’ that at some point I have to stop wondering about it and just enjoy that my work is that impactful.

Love to everyone who ever saw any thing I made and thought that it was hot material.

“In the streets, my inspiration’s profound
You see my style copped all over town
I go to the club, the DJ’s dressed like me
I even heard some jokes I wrote spoken on TV”
- True stories as found in the lyrics to Intergalactavida by The Wizard of Rock featuring MC Sean Ward

(l-r) @seanward Me, @NaughtyByNature Vin-Rock, @pixeladdikt Greg

Greg, with Mobicartel, made Naughty By Nature‘s Android app.  Now they’re working on… well let’s wait a bit before we reveal that.

Vinnie gave Greg the heads-up that he was in Toronto and told him to bring whoever could make it from the bnotions & Harth TV family to meet him at the hotel bar. Greg and I were the ones who could make it out, so Vinnie brought us along to a private charity gig that Naughty By Nature was headlining at the Royal Ontario Museum.  Also on the bill: Sugarhill Gang, Rob Base, and Young MC.  It was amazing.  The whole roster of artists met in the lobby and went to the Museum together.  We walked down Philosopher’s Walk to a back door at the ROM.  We were led down a few halls and then took an enormous freight elevator to the backstage area where Vinnie and Kaygee encouraged Greg and I to enjoy the feast of treats and drinks that were waiting for them.

They rocked the show, and then Vinnie and Greg and I went back to the hotel to get into a long session of talking about the Internet, Naughty by Nature, and Harth TV, and then started cooking up schemes to collaborate on.

Naughty by Nature were my heroes in high school.  I had a full-page magazine ad for 19 Naughty III cut out and posted in my locker.  I had all of their tapes and even tried to shop for clothes at the mall based on what Treach had worn to a MuchMusic Rap City interview.

To be part of their entourage for an evening was a thrill.  I know how to play the game so I was cool on the outside but inside I was geeking the fuck out.  It was also a big moment of pride for me to look at it as a symbol of the trajectory my life and career have taken.

You can imagine my chagrin at my phone dying early in the evening.  These performance pictures were all I got.

But you needn’t worry, dear reader, my commitment is to you.  That’s why we’ve got a couple of epic collaborations on the horizon.  Stay tuned…

These pictures were posted over the weekend to my Tumblr blog.  I post to my Tumblr constantly.  Click here and then follow me there.

UPDATE: Winners have been drawn!

• JW
• Amy Wong
• Phillipe Escayola
• Pratik Parmar
• Elizabeth Liu

Remember when I told you I went to see The Adventures of Tintin last week?

Well let me tell you, it’s better than I was even ready for (full review coming this week!).  And after the overwhelming show of enthusiasm for that screening, I am thrilled to be able to announce that my friends at Paramount Pictures Canada have booked another advance screening and…

You could win one of 5 double passes to see The Adventures of Tintin on December 17!

***Please note that this is an extra-special 10AM screening on Saturday December 17, strictly for the hardcore people who really want to see it early.

I’ve got 5 double passes to this exclusive advance screening of The Adventures of Tintin taking place at 10AM on Saturday, December 17 at SilverCity Yonge & Eglinton in Toronto.  If you want to go, just leave a comment below telling me which was your favorite Tintin book and why.  All eligible entries will go into a draw and winners will be announced early on Friday, December 16.

Thanks so much for your continued support, and see you at the movies!

It’s almost time for your favorite annual Toronto hometown Christmas tradition to return to the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern. Electric Christmas Freak-Out 3: A Very Harth Christmas!

This year Electric Christmas Freak-Out is supporting Free the Children. They do amazing work with kids in the 3rd world as well as at home, and it’s important to think about them at Christmas time. Click here to check out Free the Children’s amazing work.

Electric Christmas Freak-Out this year is starring:

• Fucker and the Men

• MCSW

• Wordburglar

• Melissa Azore featuring Philippe Escayola

• Joey “Accordian Guy” DeVilla

• and many more

If you remember last year, you know this was the party of the season.  Check out the blog post if you need a refresher.

Click here for the Facebook event page (confirm your attendance)

Click here for the Atendy page (advance tickets)

Come party with us at the Horseshoe in Toronto! See you December 7!

It’s time to vote for your favorite villains! Teletoon Retro is having a big contest where you vote for your Top 5 villains and you can win a Super Villain Prize Pack that includes round-trip airfare for four to New York City, three nights’ hotel accommodation and $500 in spending money plus loads of super villain swag.

Since I’m a comic book creator, and a guy who generally lives with his head in the clouds twenty-four-seven, I felt compelled to campaign for my favorites. Vote for these awesome bad-asses!

#5: The Riddler

The Joker gets more time in the limelight, but at least Batman knows what to expect: the Joker is going to launch a massive prank and Batman’s going to have to stop it. But the Riddler is all about messing with Batman’s mind. I’m really disappointed that Christopher Nolan is not using The Riddler in his movie series because The Joker pushed Batman to the limits of his ethics and worldview but The Riddler would have made him question his mind and his grip on reality. It takes a great writer to write a good Riddler story. For a little skinny guy, he’s bad-ass all the way.

#4: Destro

It’s enough that he’s an entrepreneur with a strict code of ethics, kind of a cartoon Tony Montana. But get a look at the guy! Between those clothes, that metal head, and the hottest babe in the HQ – the Baroness – as his little missus, Destro is the baddest man in the entire G.I. Joe universe. In real life Destro might have done just as well as a rapper or a pimp where his metal head would alert you that he’s bad in the hip hop sense. But in cartoon world, it lets you know that he’s not to be trifled with and I’d kind of rather have to tussle with Cobra Commander himself than with Destro.

#3: The Misfits

The Misfits had swag before there was even such a thing as swag. I can’t speak for 1986 when the Jem show was originally on TV but if The Misfits came out today with the exact same look and act, they would be your new favorite group. You would go to their show and fall in love with them because they’re such bad bitches on stage. You wold try to chat them up after the show and get made a fool of. And then they’d be on their way to hatch their next plot to knock the Holograms off the scene. They added some much-needed bad-assery and flair to the proceedings on Jem, and they’re still the most interesting and memorable part of that show. I even took The Misfits as my inspiration in this comic strip.

#2: Darth Vader

I battled over whether or not I was going to include this man just because he’s such an obvious choice. But if you look at Star Wars as just three really great movies like I do, Darth Vader is the baddest man to ever fly around the galaxy. His is one of the greatest cautionary tales ever. He teaches us the dangers of power and obsession, but also that no matter how far we’ve gone there is always hope of redemption.

#1: Doctor Doom

I have always thought Doctor Doom was the greatest bad guy ever. He’s crazier than Kim Jong-Il or Gaddafi. He’s got the Lex Luthor thing where he’s driven to show up his foe. He’s got the Andy Warhol thing where he sends in doubles himself whenever possible. He’s got the supervillain thing because his armor gives him great power. And he’s got the sympathetic and relatable origin story. Something about that mask has always captivated me, and as I grew up and got to know the character I realized he’s just the most interesting and he’s got the total package. We still have yet to see Doctor Doom portrayed on screen in any truly iconic way, and still he’s regularly at the top of most ‘greatest villain’ polls. How about a Doctor Doom movie, kind of like Scarface on a much more epic scale?

There’s what I think! Now cast your vote!  Click here to vote for your top 5 villains and enter for a chance to win a supervillain prize pack including a trip for 4 to New York City.

Need more inspiration? Watch this video…..

Even though my mother is from the Halifax area, I had never been to the east coast in my own home country. But after Conor McCreery told me at Montreal Comic Con about how amazing Hal-Con was last year, I had to pack up my product case and make the trip.

And what a trip! The Saturday of the convention was my biggest single day for sales ever. Sunday was a little slower on account of how the big ticket programming was on Sunday, but if you count the books that stores bought from me to sell for Christmas gift-giving, this was my highest-grossing convention weekend ever.

Three conventions in the last couple of months and each one more successful than the last.  It occurs to me that this is living the dream.

My deepest thanks and appreciation to everyone at Hal-Con who came by my table, bought my pop art wonderworks, and gave me a very warm welcome in Halifax.  And extra special thanks to Harth Publishing for sending me on this trip to represent our book, Tomorrow Never Knows – A Comics History of the Psychedelic Beatles.  This partnership just gets more fun by the day.

Thanks so much, everyone!  If you were there, drop me a line and let me know how you liked the books you got. Send me your pictures and I’ll put them on the blog or the Facebook page!

Here is the vehicle in which I arrived to Halifax. First time flying Porter!

Pondering the wisdom of Yoda. This, probably my favorite costume of the convention, was knitted by the person wearing it. She said it took her three months to make it!

Here are my custom monogrammed bags. Buy something, and then advertise me all weekend!

Homeboys chillin’. Let’s kick it on November 5.

This girl came running to the table with money in hand to buy everything Beatles on the table. It all made sense when I saw the tattoo on her wrist.

And after the convention, Strange Adventures (Legendary Halifax comic book that regularly wins awards for being the best comic book store in North America) hosted the after-party where I got to catch up with a bunch of artists I haven’t seen in forever, and make a bunch of new friends.

Speaking of Strange Adventures, Tomorrow Never Knows is going to be on their featured products wall for the Christmas gift buying season. If you are in the Halifax area, make sure you pop in to pick up a copy.  Also available in Halifax at Monster Comics Lounge.

Thanks again to everyone who made my first-ever visit to Halifax a big success and a lot of fun. This is just a sampling of the photos I took. Check out the complete gallery on my Facebook page: facebook.com/SeanWardSuperParty

Last year, I got approached to draw comics and illustrations to accompany the new single This Chick is Crazy! by Famous featuring Melanie Durrant.  I was not prepared to see my drawings come to life in the animated video!

Great job to everyone on this project, and congratulations to Famous on the new single which is blowing up as you read this!

Check out the animated video for THIS CHICK IS CRAZY! by Famous feat. Melanie Durrant and the art of Sean Ward (me!):

For a deeper look at the making of This Chick is Crazy, watch this vlog from the day that Famous and I first started brainstorming this project:

Show your love in the comments! And follow Famous and follow me on Twitter!

For more from The Kid Famous, check out his website at thekidfamous.com

Here we are, back with Raymi discussing The Issues for the first time in over two years! In this, our third episode, we touch on such topics as celebrity lookalikes, travel, money, and cupcakes.

This episode was recorded at Harth TV in Toronto.

Click here to party with me and Raymi!

Watch previous episodes of The Issues – Volume One and Volume Two.  And follow Raymi and I on Twitter!

HarthFEST is all over, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and that’s kind of understanting it. People were god damn stunned by it, not even joking!

HarthFEST was the giant, colorful, chaotic after party for AndroidTO which itself was a huge success by any measure. The BNOTIONS people are on a roll here with two giant hits in one day! We had performances by headliner Andy Milonakis, Tiny Danza who did their own material and jumped in to back up Andy and TALWST, we got food raps by Heavvy, and we closed it out with Fucker and the Men. We had food, roller derby girls, the Harth Airlettes airline personnel, and everyone was basking in the glow of both colorful lights and beautiful ladies.

I have to send thanks to everyone who came, and special thanks to all of the talent and exhibitors who made it an awesome night.  There’s been some amazing coverage of HarthFEST on Raymi’s blog and all over Facebook and Twitter, but here’s a look the event from my point of view as both producer and the MC/ring Announcer…

Look at this crowd! Not even a cold, rainy, crappy night in Toronto could keep people away.

Meet the HarthFEST performers!!

Tiny Danza:

TALWST:

Heavvy:

The food (modeled by the lovely Sura) was by Pegasus Catering, who hooked us up with over 1000 pieces just because Raymi was involved. How’s that for pull??

FLY HARTH AIR

These are the Harth Airlettes – (l-r) Bunny Angora, Raymi the Minx, Jasmine Valentine. These were the lovely faces that greeted you upon arrival to the Harth Air departure lounge.

These graphics were all done by me. Clouds whipped by the Harth Air jet on screens all over the venue, and the Harth Air arrivals board was fully animated. I worked my ass off on this show like I work my ass off on every show. There’s a whole magic trick around setting up a few key dazzling moments, and when those are in place the party is set and the rest is controlled chaos to see how good it’s going to be. The work that I do behind the scenes is always in a bunch of different areas and disciplines. A big thing in life for me in 2011 has been coming to the realization that this is the thing that makes life singular to me, that I will never relate to anyone over how it all fits together.  People only see what I do out front of the thing and think it’s all glamour & show biz and that it’s easy, or that I’m just looking for my moment in the spotlight or something.  But it’s work!

Now let me ask you this: What do you do when these guys walk up to the edge of the ring, other than invite them up and into the middle of the action??

And now check it out… me and Andy Milonakis!!

Me and Andy Milonakis, talkin’ serious business.

One of my favorite attractions was the Roller Derby Girls. They were literally skating circles around me!!

Put on some skates and be your own hero!

Here is guest of honor Andy Milonakis chatting it up with Zaira:

And Raymi the Minx:

Call it what you want, bay-beh…. I calls it loooooooove……..

There’s just so much to report!! Between people showing up in their Halloween costumes, the roller- and airline ladies, the scenery, the performances… Just too much for this blog post!!  I’ll be putting up more material over the next few days here and on the Harth TV blog & Facebook page, and in the mean time you can check out Raymi’s and Rob’s posts.  If you have any pics or if you put up a post about HarthFEST, let me know!!  Get at me on Twitter or comment right here!

HarthFEST was the brainchild of the BNOTIONS crew who gave birth to HarthFEST with a series of meetings in the Harth TV studio.  It was all a bunch of silly ideas on a white board and now here it is, having come beautifully and spectacularly to life.

You have these men (and several more) to thank for this silliness!! What up Alkarim (Batman) and Mark (Green Lantern), and Farah and Lutfiyya and Puleen and Chantelle and Mary and Paul and Zemina and Zaira and all of the dozens of people who worked to give Toronto something really special on October 26.

Special thanks as well to Eliot Lazor, Speedboats & Big Explosions, J_Lab, Groin Twins, and Numeric for holding it down on the party music tip.

Love you bitches, and I’ll see you at the next party!

Click here to read THE MAKING OF HARTHFEST…