Rockin’ the party, way old school

Here is a story about the time that I learned how the big kids party.

When I first moved downtown, the first place that I stayed was my Auntie’s boyfriend’s room in a house he rented with a bunch of local rock ‘n’ rollers. My Auntie’s boyfriend was never there since he was always at her house, so they figured why not let me use it while I get myself situated in the city.

I didn’t know it at the time, but the roommates in that house were a bunch of the movers and shakers of Toronto’s music scene. One of the dudes living there was Steve Banks who at the time was just a cool guy to me. I wouldn’t find out until way later that he is a legend.

One night there was a band’s CD release party. The next afternoon, everyone was sitting around the kitchen table talking about the night before.

Steve Banks tells the story of the end of the night when he was already more drunk than he wanted to get, but couldn’t stand to see all of the abandoned half-finished beers go to waste. He ended up getting way smashed.

I got thinking about how my parents always told me as a kid that you should never finish a beer that isn’t yours because you don’t know what someone has done to it. I didn’t know what they meant, I just thought that maybe people go around poisoning drinks for fun.

So I say to the group “Aren’t you not supposed to drink other people’s drinks?”, and the whole room burts with cacophonous laughter.

Steve, between chuckles, says “If someone put drugs in it, that’s a bonus!”

It was one of those moments when my whole universe did this huge 180-degree turn on me.

Comic Con Weekend is all done.  It was great fun to see some old friends and even bump into some people I hadn’t expected to see there at all.

The dude to your right in the picture above is Marvin.  He’s been a big supporter for several years now, I always enjoy seeing him at Comic Cons and Free Comic Book Day.  Which is coming up on Saturday May 1.  I’ll be at the Silver Snail drawing you awesome pictures.

To the left in that picture is Bobby Lee.  Bobby plays in several bands including La Casa Muerte, who were the headliners of our Electric Christmas Freak-Out this past year.  I’ve also performed with Bobby Lee as the bandleader….

Performance for a Private Birthday Party, February 2008

Marvin and Bobby went to the same high school.  Their lockers were two apart.  And they hadn’t seen each other since, until they were both standing in front of my table at Comic Con.  What a touching reunion.

Bobby came with Brandon, who plays bass for La Casa Muerte.  He’s in the middle of getting a big tattoo on his arm.

It’s a full page from an old Dick Sprang Batman comic book.

Marvin brought a sketchbook (like you do to these sorts of things) and got me to draw Two-Face for him.

I thought this was one of the best quick headsketches I’ve done, so I took a picture of it. And then Marvin flipped a ways back in his sketchbook and showed me this:

I drew The Riddler for him at Free Comic Book Day two years ago. He missed it last year. But this year, it’s on Saturday May 1 at the Silver Snail.

This Batman drawing came out after a couple of LOST enthusiasts were conversing excitedly about the show.

In the middle of the day on Saturday, the fire alarm went off.  The lobby is not happy.  Ken Wheaton said that he heard the firetrucks.  l-r: Zaira, Alana, Jason, Tyrone.  Tyrone’s shirt is Guerilla Printing, my sponsor!)

Thankfully they put the fire out fast and everyone got back in to keep rockin’ Comic Con.  I don’t actually know that there was a fire, but Ken Wheaton says he saw the fire trucks.

I heard from some of the other artists that sales were as good as some of their best convention appearances.  Even with the cold snap and a rainy Sunday, it sounds like the first Wizard World Toronto Comic Con was a success.

Thanks to Paradise for bringing the convention back, and to Wizard for blowing it up.

Thursday night was the big Twestival party in Toronto.  For those in the know, the night was made even more epic by the launch party for Samsung’s 3D TV.  Julian Brass, I have to hand it to that guy.  That dude is damn good at his job.  I have been to a few NotableTV.com parties and he always knows how to make them hot.  The corporate clients who get involved with him to launch their products must think he’s the shit.

Of course, a hot party is nothing without the right people.  I went to the NotableTV.com party with Chris Brooker and we had fun drinking flourescent blue shots and sponsored liquor, but it was a little ho-hum for us until I got a text from from one Carly-Anne Fairlie, letting me know that she and her sister, Kristin, were in a cab and on their way.  Those two ladies come in and it’s like flicking a switch, how much more fun it was once they joined the party.  Love for the Fairlie sisters, no doubt.

So sad to not have any pictures from the epic night.  Here’s the scoop.

I just got this phone:

This was the phone for me because it’s an Android phone, and because I did my research and found out that the camera on this phone is better than most of the phone cameras out there.

Not having a camera has been really hurting my blogging, so here I am on my first night out with my new phone that’s got this awesome camera…. and the battery dies on my way to the party.  What a disappointment.

Thankfully, I managed to snap a few pics during the day so I got to have some fun with it.

The Samsung 3D TV is the bomb.  I went to the party expecting it to be bullshit but it is awesome.  It’s an LED TV so the picture is super-bright, not like seeing 3D at the movies where it’s light bouncing off a screen.  I would literally rather watch Tron 2 on this TV when the movie comes out than see it in the theatres.  The Samsung rep was telling me that the TV can re-sample 2D shows and fake a 3D presentation.  I can’t wait to watch contestants spin the big wheel on The Price Is Right in 3D.

Twestival was the main event of the night.  I got some face time with a bunch of my absolute most favorite Twitter peeps and, as is expected, tore the dancefloor a new one with the Bite TV crew.  The Twitter scene is packed full of pretty girls.  You should get down with it.  Twestival was a great party and an even greater success, raising over $20,000 for Concern Worldwide.

A spectacular night was had by me, filled with pretty girls and super cool dudes.  I can’t wait for the next Twitter party to hang with everyone again.

What have you been up to?

We like any party where there’s complimentary liquor and Twitter peeps (one of the greatest combos known to man – complimentary liquor and Twitter peeps) so I – along with Casie and Carly and Christina- represented at the Notable.TV launch party for Annex Loft Houses in Toronto. Food was provided by The Food Dudes, wine by Yellowtail, and beer by Steam Whistle.

Watch Part One – Click Here!

Follow me on Twitter!! @seanward

Also follow my party posse from this event:

@casiestewart – @kaponetwo – @mscurrybomb
casiestewart.com – kaponetwo.com – currybomb.com

It’s a special gift for the hometown fans!

it’s An Electric Christmas Freak-Out!

Featuring Music and Comedy with

• La Casa Muerte
• Barry Taylor
• Raymi Lauren
• Sadie May Crash
• plus special surprises
• hosted by yours truly, Sean Ward!

This event is free to attend with a CASH donation to the Daily Bread Food Bank.  Everyone kind of forgets about the Daily Bread Food Bank after Thankgiving, but kids need something to eat more than they need new toys.  The daily Bread Food Bank did pretty well this year for food donations, but came up way short on their cash donations so we’re going to help them out.

Come get your pre-Christmas party on!  Monday, December 21 at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto!

Just to celebrate a sunny day outside here in Southern Ontario, Canada, here are some more pictures from Derek’s birthday picnic last Saturday with the dudes from Wildlife. Wildlife, one word. Not Wild Life.  Click here for Part One of picnic adventures.

Dean is wild.

Once one guy goes up a tree, that’s it. It’s treetop party time. Now birthday boy Derek is wild.

Dean was constantly worried about whether or not his poses were “gay enough”. What do you think? Is he pulling it off?

I love this picture of Derek and Graham, who are both wild. I absolutely want to do something in a video where Graham is a superhero.

Q’est-ce que c’est?

Oh hey Julia! You just stay chillin’.

Julia has earned a rest because you see all of this party food? Yeah, she made it all. This picnic was her wonderwork.

Graham is either waiting for a frisbee to get thrown at him, or is holding his place for when.

A whole different kind of Wildlife…

Now I’m on a walkabout.

“Hey Sean. Hit ‘em with some more of that famous ‘custom album art’.”

No, I don’t think they’re ready for the ‘custom album art’.

“Oh, I think they’re ready…”

Well here they go…

“Sean, was that just three angles on the same scene?”

I think it was.

“How very artful!”

Thank you.

As I was creeping up on this scene, I knew we were in album art territory…

…and WHAMMO! Check out the band at www.wildlifemusic.ca

Graham, Chuck, and Chris have a folded arms convention.

Ain’t got much in the way of pics from it, but me and these guys were playing frisbee, and we had it going pretty good. Only thing is that we didn’t have a frisbee so we had to improvise. Have you ever seen those sets for playing catch where you get a tennis ball and two velcro pads to catch it with? Yeah, we had to use one of those velcro pad. The plastic on those things is hard! But we worked it out. Especially notable when you consider how much of ‘the most’ we were making of the box of white wine that was brought to the picnic!

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Speaking of plastic, you should check out the latest in pvc trim!!

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Communing with nature. Glorious, perfectly landscaped nature.

Here’s yer famous custom album art for your meditation CD.

That meditation CD is going to handy thing, since your’e going to want to rest up before the evening festivities:

Sean Ward joins Wildlife, live on stage! ONE NIGHT ONLY!!

R2D2 knows how do party. You press a button on the front of him and he comes to life.

After the hilarity of Herman K. Bobbie a.k.a. Human Kebab’s birthday party, our next stop was three streets over for Trish‘s housewarming party…

Hey Tish! Hey Olivia!

Hey Mira!

Hey Graham and Dwayne!

And here is the hostess with the mostess herself, Trish. What up, Trish.

We got to the party and I went looking for the hostess, who was out back in the alley practicing her pogo technique. I gave it a go and only managed 4 jumps. Trish got up near a dozen. She and some dude had a showdown and I heard that the winner won with ninety-something but I missed it on account of having gone to get my people to see the pogo competition.

She was getting super serious, and I was shouting at her like Mickey, the coach in Rocky. This photo is when I said “Give me yer Rocky Face!” This is Trish’s Rocky face.

Oh hey Julie, standing around like you’re not even the mayor of Coolsville. Julie is a former Hip Hop Karaoke regular who I have not seen in about a year.

Pogoing so hardcore that she’s right out in the middle of the road.

It is worth saying that while I was out pogoing, I had left my belongings by the side of the road. I didn’t want Aaron leaving his scooter out in the middle of the sidewalk so I lifted the fucker up a step so we could get it over by the house. To perform this feat, I had set my bag down by the sidewalk, and then proceeded to leave it there when we went into the party. It had my computer in it, my ipod and phone in it, and a few other personal effects. It wasn’t until after I had been out taking those pogo pictures and then gone to find my peeps that I realized what I had done. Went out to the street and what a relief to find that it was still there, all contents intact. Almost unbelievable. Let’s hear it for Jesus on that one.

Keith fixed the bubble machine!!

To celebrate her terrific pogo achievement, Trish treated the whole party to in impromptu concert.

Then an encore in helium voice!

Now here are some artful laser lights:

And then this party ended with the cooking of burgers at roughly two in the morning. Good call!

Zaira’s movie poster.

Mike and Sean say: “Good Night!”

Friday night saw a perfect storm of partying, almost enprecedented in it’s scope of star power. Almost everyone I spend time with was representing at some point over three parties.

Stop #1 was Zaira’s boyfriend Cam’s house. Cam plays in a band called Clouds That Look Like Things. The couple had me over for dinner before the rest of our party mates arrived.

With fruit and chocolate fondue for dessert! Yumz!

Cheers, guy. At this point we’re drinking Amaretto and some juice, I forget what. Tasty stuff though.

Mira was the first of our party posse to arrive, wasting no time in preparing more to drink. She had brought all the fixin’s to whip together some impromptu Sangria.

Next to arrive is Mike from Sadie May Crash! Apparently we are having our picture taken for the office bulletin board or something. Anyway, I asked him if the rest of his band was coming and he said that he’s taking a page out of the Sean Ward play book in that he hasn’t spoken to them, he just came down because he knew where the party is at, and if they know what’s happenin’ he’ll see them there. Well said, Mike. Even when I’m paraphrasing you, you’re so eloquent.

Here Cam is putting on some party music. His picks only got a song or two into the album because I kept harassing him about “that bounce”, how I need “that bounce”. Eventually Zaira and I just took over his computer using Zaira’s ipod. I don’t know why his computer could play Zaira’s ipod but not mine. Oh well, Zaira’s got some good shit so it works out. Dancing The Hustle to Yeah Yeah Yeahs is a vital start to any outing.

I have known Zaira for many years, 5 or 6 at least. In that time I have seen her craft her fashion sense and today she’s one of the most unique and skillful fashionistas I know. She’s crafted this wonderful ’40s movie star who has just married a Beat Poet’ look that she ought not to be capable of for another few years yet, but pulls off with flair and gusto.

Andrew from upstairs had to come down to see what’s ’bout it, by which I mean get a beer in his hand and take in the vibe.

Time to go. Everyone starts packing up their booze. We’re on our way to a bar, but we’re gonna be going to a house party after that so we need to get prepared.

Waiting for the College Streetcar…

That man did not draw any attention to himself except for to stand near us, pose, and patiently wait for us to notice him. Mira was all “no I’m not taking your picture” but you know how I do. “No wait, come back! I’ll take your picture!”

A quick streetcar ride…

…and we’re at the bar for Herman K. Bobbie’s birthday party!!

Aaron in the house. Say what? That man is crazy. And every time I see him, he’s always Mr. Charmszers with the ladies.

It’s almost too bad we already ate. Look at this spread of food!

That is the only picture I have of the birthday boy. You can’t see it here, but he is wearing the headphones medallion that I gave him two years ago. That was awesome. No link yet? Oh shit! Well here you go. Herman solo: Human Kebab. Herman’s band: Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker.

I could also steal some pics from Madd Hattere who snapped that one from when Herman was getting his cake. You can see the medallion better in that one.

One of my favorite things about making that TV money was throwing it around like that. I was always buying dumb stuff for people that I would see and think they’d get a kick out of. I love it.

Hey, it’s Alon and Anna from Reactiv Pictures, the fine production house that made the I Was Made For This video!

Hey, it’s Tish!!

Hey, it’s the Sean and Tish waltz pic that we get every time we are out together. What is Zaira doing in the background???

If it didn’t look like the party was poppin’ off upstairs, that’s because it was going crazy downstairs where the dancefloor was. You couldn’t hardly move down there but that didn’t stop us from taking over about half the dancefloor.

This one is called The Magic Moment…

Hey, it’s Olivia! Just in time for the next party!!

All right! Two Seans and a John! Me, Johnny Lombardi, and Shaun Downey!

And then we were off on a voyage to Trish Robb’s housewarming party…

CLICK HERE FOR PART TWO!

Benny Bunny On Wheels is now bi-coastal!

You can get it at Isotope Comics Lounge.

Isotope Comics Lounge is located at 326 Fell Street in San Francisco. Click here for the Isotope Comics Lounge website, or go into my Links page at any time to find them there.

Me and James, owner of Isotope Comics.

OK everyone in Toronto, this is going to be the ultimate party to kick off the summer. I don’t mean summer as in the season, I mean summer as in the state of mind.

This will also be my homecoming party after many months away.

This is a Star Wars themed party to celebrate the tenth anniversary of one of the grossest mistakes cinema has ever made: Jar Jar Binks. He sucks, but this party in his honor will rock the spot in inverse proportion.

There will be music performance, video, dancing slave girls from other planets, prizes, chaos, and GALACTIC SPACE RAPS by yours truly – created special for the occasion – playing the dark Sith lord himself.

Special Thanks to 3 Guitaros for inviting me to take part in this. It’s going to be lavish, chaotic, and unbelievable.