PIGEON ACTIVITY BOOK EVENTS PAST

I just got back from a week on the East Coast 

doing sooooooo much awesome stuff

that it's gonna take multiple posts to 

fill you in!

It all started in Boston.

I got in around 6pm.

My luggage didn't.

Which kinda stunk since Mr. Willems 

and I had our first event promoting

DON'T LET THE PIGEON FINISH THIS ACTIVITY BOOK

at 11am the next morning.

Fortunately, my errant luggage turned up around 8am.

So I got dressed, had breakfast with Mo and former 

KND storyboard operative/Bostonian Jesse Schmal,

and then headed over to the Cambridge Public Library.

Twas a good crowd:

Mo got up to read (and dance) his latest Elephant and Piggie book:

LET'S GO FOR A DRIVE!

Then we did a photo shoot together:

Afterwards, we had everyone make Pigeon and Mad Cow finger puppets

and then performed a puppet show together.

 I smell a Tony Award.

Or maybe Mo forgot to wear deodorant.

Finally, we sat down to sign books for the 

fine folks who came to the show.

There were even copies of

1000 TIMES NO on hand!

Some people even bought one!

The next day,

our plush, richly furnished tour bus

(Mo's car)

took us to The Odyssey Bookshop in

South Hadley, MA.

They had copies of 1000 TIMES NO, too!

It was a smaller, but just as fun crowd:

Mo danced.

We had a photo shoot.

We made puppets.

We had FUN!

Massachusetts?

Consider yourself 

ROCKED!

DON'T LET THE PIGEON FINISH THIS PUBLICITY!

If you haven't yet bought a copy of this:

You probably will after you see this:

And if that doesn't convince you, then you should probably check out THIS wonderful review from Publishers Weekly. Here's a fun excerpt:
The two have what sounds to be a rather spirited history of collaboration. Willems, who began his career (and won six Emmys) as a writer and animator forSesame Street, worked with Warburton on two Cartoon Network shows that aired between 2000 and 2006. “I was Tom’s boss, then he was mine, and we were terrible to each other while we were on top,” Willems says. “First he was a director on my show,Sheep in the Big City, and then that was canceled to make room for his show,Codename: Kids Next Door. So he said, ‘Now that you’re no longer my boss, and I know how awful you were as that, I want to hire you as my head writer.’ So I became that.”

AL HIRSCHFELD

I've always loved Al Hirschfeld.

The Line King.

The master caricaturist.

The guy who puts NINA in all his drawings.

So imagine how excited I was when we 

got to work with him at J.J. Sedelmaier Productions!

Check it:

I even got to meet him at the wrap party!

(NBC had done a whole bunch of new ID's with cool and interesting artists)

I told Mr. Hirschfeld that while I was a big fan of his,

I was also a big fan of

S.J. Perelman.

Humorist.

Author.

Playwright and screenwriter.

How can you NOT love the guy who wrote the Marx Brothers movies

Monkey Business and Horse Feathers?!

Perelman pretty much exclusively wrote book after 

book of hilarious short stories,

but this was what got me started on him:

In 1947 Perelman and Hirschfeld were paid by 

Holiday magazine to travel the world and then draw and write about it.

What ensued was a series of laugh-out-loud

stories that were later collected into this book.

After meeting Mr. Hirschfeld,

I thought...

Why not ask him to sign it?

So I sent him a letter.

This is what I got:

In the mail?

Screw THAT!

I took the 'in person' option.

And I got invited to his iconic house in uptown Manhattan.

The visit was brief.

And I blathered like an idiot.

But I got this:

Almost 10 years later,

the master passed away at the young age of 99.

But what a life.

How awesome to have met him.

PERPETUAL MOTION PICTURES EVENT

Didja ever hear of a studio called 

Perpetual Motion Pictures?

Neither did I until I started working here:

These two were my bosses:

And they told me countless stories about the guys,

who used to be their bosses:

Buzz Potamkin and Hal Silvermintz

started Perpetual Motion Pictures in 1968

and spent almost 15 years animating stuff characters like these:

Perpetual was the biggest studio in NYC for a long time,

creating boatloads of groundbreaking commercials 

as well as long-form animated productions

until it splintered into separate companies in the 80's.

And now,

many moons later,

ASIFA-EAST is proud to present,

for one night only,

 a retrospective of Perpetual Motion's work 

presided over by a panel of folks 

who were 

THERE:

Mordecai Gerstein (designer)

Tommy Schlamme (producer/editor)

Candy Kugel (animation director)

J.J. Sedelmaier (assistant animator)

Russell Calabrese (assistant animator)

That's a LOT of talent to wrangle.

And there'll be even more in the audience!

That's why they're bringing in

the one person that can host 

and evening of this scale...

ME!

That's right.

Mr. Warburton is flying in to make his 

triumphant return to ASIFA-EAST.

And I can' t wait!

So if you're in New York City

on Friday, October 12th.

Come on out to 

The School of Visual Arts

Beatrice Theater

333 West 23rd St

NYC, NY

ast 7:00pm.

For more info,

pictures,

and 

 go

HERE!

DON'T LET THE PIGEON FINISH THIS ACTIVITY BOOK IS FINALLY HERE!

It's October 2, 2012!

A date that will forever be known as the day

THIS book became available to the public:

Mo and I have spent decades

 packing this 270 page monster with 

way over the recommended dosage of

story

drawing

mazes

puppets

posters

sandwiches

ducklings

mad cows

and

(of course)

a very

persistent Pigeon.

In short,

this is the activity book

that ALL other activity books 

want to grow up to be.

Get it while you can.

And if you're in Massachusetts

this weekend,

don't forget to come see Mo and I

jump up and down,

shout, laugh

and summarily exhaust ourselves

in BOSTON and NORTHAMPTON!

WILLEMS AND WARBURTON IN BOSTON!

Hey.

What's up?

I hear you're gonna be in Boston on October 6th.

Like, around the Cambridge area, right?

Good.

'Cause this is gonna happen:

Yup.

It's gonna be,

"WILDLY INTERACTIVE"

So if you miss this,

you'd better be dead!.

Or in jail!

And if you're in jail...

BREAK OUT! 

For more details

go to the library's website 

conveniently linked right

  HERE.

But if you don't feel like dealing 

with the usual Willems/Warburton nonsense,

you can always just buy the book here:

WILLEMS AND WARBURTON IN NORTHAMPTON, MA

Hey.

Whatcha doin'?

No. 

Not right now.

Whatcha doin' on October 7th?

Nothin'?

Well, why dontcha come on out to Northampton, Massachusetts?

'Cause Mr. Willems and I are gonna be at the Odyssey Bookshop

to promote this thing we wrote together:

Check it:

Odyssey Kids! Presents 

an activity & signing with Mo Willems and Tom Warburton. 

Mo & Tom will lead an activity from their new book and then sign books. 

The Pigeon really, really wants to finish this

activity book! But that pesky Duckling keeps getting in the way. Oh, and

there's someone new on the scene causing all kinds of problems.... 

Follow the Bus Driver's lead as you write, color, draw, create--even build an

airport!--in this fun-filled book starring the Pigeon and YOU!

There's more details on the Odyssey Bookshop website,

but they've neglected to mention the abnormally high levels of

 awsomosity guests will be exposed to.

Wear at least 60 spf awesome-screen.

If you can't make it,

DON'T WORRY!

You can always just order the book,

close your eyes,

and pretend Mo and I are there with you.