106. Painting the town, part 2.

105. Painting the town, part 1.

 

The illustration is from The Grand Escape, the next chapter of the ongoing Pia Zawa story.

To be continued...

104. The story so far.

Because of some changes since I started publishing the new Pia Zawa, below you'll find the whole thing, including two new pages, the end of Part 1: Roadkill.

103. Jingle bells.

102. Urban cowgirls.

To be continued...

Because the shop clerk grew tired of Christmas music weeks ago, the song playing on the hat shop's stereo is a chill version of Canned Heat's On The Road Again with Katie Melua.

101. The War of the Subtitles.

Back again. And again. And probably again, but that'll be the future's problem.

During these last lost weeks I've done some rewrites and stuff on the Wolf's Blues animated movie project. It's still moving forward, even though it currently seems to be going at a snail's pace.

Wulf Greybones and his favorite dish/arch enemy The Moose - sketch from Wolf's Blues.

  

I've met a flu I didn't like, entertained a bunch of kids with live cartooning, fucked up my back and finally fixed it by changing the chair I work in, and done the first in a series of commissioned posters. You'll see it when it's approved by the customer. 

But on the side, I've scripted most of the Pia Zawa story. There will be some tweeking along the way though. I already know a few scenes that will change, dialogue that needs my attention - but the main structure's there. Except for the epilogue. I want to keep this unwritten, like a little surprise for myself, while I draw and color the rest of the 144 pages. Yes, this is a big one.

While I've been working on the story, it has been pointed out to me (by myself) that the story needs a subtitle. Pia Zawa and the Something Or Other. There are other Pia Zawa publications out there which it may now be confused with. So...

This is the story of Pia's first investigation - she'll later become a private investigator - and an obvious choice for a title could be...

Am I the only one getting a whiff of X-men: First Class? Maybe the subtitle could point to the fact that the whole thing takes place during one Christmas?

Or...

But I do like my titles to be a bit more cryptic. I run through a bunch of them, before finally settling on the one below. Which is now the official title of this restart of the Pia Zawa series.

This, in classic crime tradition, is a title which won't make total sense to you until the last chapter, which you'll find on the freshly edited contents page. It may contain spoilers, I guess.

Finally, back to the story, and the pages I finished today. Yes, you've caught up with me. Last time you read, the police officers Chris and Jurgen were involved in a wild car-chase through the streets of Urbanburg, on the heels of a Bugatti with diplomatic plates.

It's still in the lead.

Next: Urban cowgirls.

100. Urbanburg by night.

Let's start the celebration of Travelogue #100 with some fireworks.

Okay, I've cheated a bit here. This photo's from New Year's Eve here in my hometown. But I did go on a photo-shoot yesterday, for the next picture in the Funky Muzak-series. We'll get to that - first, a new tune for the same soundtrack. This one, or the first version of it, was made for Pia Zawa Cafè in Oslo (2003) by LineUp, and is a remix of The Beat Tornados' number Theme From Pia Zawa - which was made for the show Pia Zawa Live (1996).

Me and LineUp, alias Ketil Christensen, at Pia Zawa Cafè.

Photo: Kristin Ellefsen. 

Here it is, Urbanburg By Night by LineUp. Play and read...

To be continued...

And now, back to Funky Muzak, and yesterday's shoot with Rikke Norby.

Just like the playlist at Pia Zawa Cafè, there will be a lot of cool cover versions in the collection. And, since I don't really feel like trying to get the rights from The Artist And Symbol Formerly And Currently Known As Prince, this rather funky Chaka Khan version of Sign O' The Times will do nicely, thank you.

She walks away, not looking back. What images flashes behind those green eyes? There is a back-story to this image, and probably a violent one. Whatever it is, it's a mystery to everyone but the girl. In the first sketches for this piece, I had placed obvious clues to what had happened. I won't show you these, as it would ruin the mystery. But I will plant a few ideas in your head.

So, what could have happened?

Maybe she's just a believer in an old Apache tradition? When somebody died, to avoid the low feelings of greed and envy over heritage, all of the deceased's belongings were burned. Many in-family feuds could be avoided if we took up this practice...

Or--

I start to think about an axe-murder which happened in my neighborhood when I was a pup. Story was, what us kids heard, anyway, that a guy had killed his wife because she wouldn't come down to watch the news with him. This is supposedly the motive he gave the police. When you're a kid, and your neighborhood isn't exactly Beirut, a story like this one is exciting. We discussed the lunatic axe-murderer often, after riding our bikes past the crime scene. Later, I've thought about what terrible abuse, what hell his wife must have gone through before the axe came out.

Maybe that's her in the above image, in a different reality, having acted before it was too late. Perhaps she put sleeping pills in his dinner, tied him to the bed, and lit the house on fire. Or she took a self-defense class behind the husband's back, so when his murderous attack happened, she simply took the axe away from him... And placed it in his skull. Before she lit the fire. Norwegian wood burns nicely, just ask The Beatles. Or it's something entirely different. In fact, forget my theories - then look at the image again and make up your own story. 

Sorry I spoke.

99. Smooth cellos.

Before we finish up the Pia Zawa-prologue, here's some more music.

Smooth Criminal is, as I'm sure you know, a Michael Jackson song, but the chosen cover-version is, in my humble opinion, way cooler than the original. I know M.J. fans will disagree, and it's probably bad form to provoke them now, with the murder trial and everything...

Still - here it is, and you may have heard it before: Smooth Criminal with 2 Cellos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjOQac1vOEc

Now, after having watched the video, I suggest you start the song again in a different window, before reading the following pages.

Next: The main girl's finally in the house, so to speak, in the episode ROADKILL. This being the Travelogue's 100th entry, expect some other goodies as well.

98. The tale of the fictional record sleeve.

As usual, all images will magically become larger if you click them.

Let's first meet our stars. A slightly customized, white hardtop 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air, imported from Miami by Jon Inge "Doc" Halvorsen from C&C Rider in my hometown. Many thanks to Jon Inge, a great sport with great taste in cars.

It may surprise regular Travelogue-readers that a nature lover like me also love cars. I don't. I hate most cars. But I love the beautiful cars. The Ferraris. The E-types. And the classic Chevys, like this one. Here's some details in black and white.

Beneath are the human stars Mimoza Hasani and Rikke Norby, on their first meeting with The Car. They seemed to like it. And if you're male, and don't see anything you like in this image, it's time to face facts. You're gay, dude.

But back to the reason why we're in this schoolyard after hours. This is the making of a record sleeve and booklet for the fictional (so far) Pia Zawa Soundtrack album, which presents music from the fictional playlist in a fictional club in a fictional town. This (fictional) 70's-styled cocktail-bar - Funky Muzak - will soon become an important part of the new Pia Zawa universe, and the record sleeve's design will have to be inspired by it's design. The car points back to a more elegant time, and is a contrast in the sauce - like a splash of Floridian citrus.

What I do now is combine the shot below, from the schoolyard, with the background from Setesdalen's Western Hills.

And then we have this.

A little splash of 70's design and graphics - and BAM! The fictional cover is a digital reality, at least.

The theme of this series of photos IS inspired by Thelma and Louise, yes. But also by Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! Kill!, and True Romance, and Bonnie and Clyde, and Badlands, and Natural Born Killers, and almost every decent road-movie ever made, perhaps excepting Rain Man.

Time to go to sleep.

Next: The conclusion of Prologue In Urbanburg.