Jump to: Satellites | Broken Lines | One More Cup Of Coffee | Everything You Didn’t Ask For | Easthampton Mural | Misc

To read reviews of my band, hop over to The Demographic Reviews page

---

Satellites

This Bay Stater is a modern-day Renaissance Man. As a singer-songwriter, cartoonist, graphic designer, and author, he knows how to tell a story. This is his fifth book and his first of all short stories. His love for coffee and Massachusetts shows up regularly. Pappalardo’s book is creative, entertaining, humous, and thought-provoking. It is a fun read for fans of illogical fantasies. In my opinion, Pappalardo has penned the greatest line in literature. Without giving away too much of a spoiler, it has to do with a Basset Hound not being a terrorist threat, but one will have to read Satellite to find out. — Eric Smith, San Francisco Book Review

---

I spoke with Monte Belmonte of WRSI about my latest book, Satellites.

Also available on Soundcloud.

---

I love how Tom Pappalardo guides readers between the “real” world and a range of created worlds beyond our own. He employs settings and characters especially well to take us on unexpected and gripping journeys, sometimes with humor, sometimes with introspection, always with the incandescent insight of a master fiction writer. — Amazon review

---

“Fun, interesting, well crafted and heartfelt science fiction and apocalyptic short stories of varying lengths.” — Goodreads review

---

“Pappalardo keeps things moving swiftly, comedically, and at turns movingly.” — Amazon review

---

“Believable and sympathetic characters are at the core of even the most absurd scenarios–you’ll get this when you meet the cat.” — Amazon review

---

“This author really shines when it comes to dialogue, and he skillfully blends surreal humor, bizarre premises, some big-budget action movie-type life-or-death thrills , and most of all, memorable characters faced with tough decisions. ” — Amazon review

---

Broken Lines

Pappalardo’s playful illustrated novel (after One More Cup of Coffee) tells a bizarre and frenetic story of pyromaniac demons dressed as firemen and a group of avenging heroes. Maggie, a waitress, asks for a ride home from work when her car won’t start, and she’s obliged by two characters named Cowboy and Spaceman. After she arrives home, the demons (ominously depicted in drawings with captions such as “WE’RE HERE TO BURN AND KILL”) set fire to her trailer park. Cowboy and Spaceman rescue Maggie, drawing her into a fundamental fight of good against evil. They travel in a rented moving van on a hellish road trip as the demons pursue with orders from their “Chief.” Sometimes the humor is just silly, but it can also be laugh-out-loud funny. The characters are well defined, and postmodern commentary bubbles to the surface. (Cowboy, during a pit stop at Pump ‘N’ Zoom, says to a kid enthralled by their quest: “Life ain’t a comic book and this ain’t an adventure!”) Lurid mixed media illustrations and satirical collages reminiscent of Adbusters add to the charm (an ad for Pump ‘N’ Zoom shows a customer gleefully putting a nozzle to their head like a gun). This author is bound to find an audience that has been waiting just for him. – Publishers Weekly

---

“Very weird but charming. Unlike anything I’ve read.” – Goodreads review

---

Broken Lines Is a Rollicking, Careening Adventure Unlike Any Other

With a bizarre plot, metafiction that breaks the fourth wall, and lots of visual candy, Tom Pappalardo’s Broken Lines is entertainingly unique. Pappalardo has written stories, essays, and comic strips and worked in graphic design, all skills that come to bear in Broken Lines. The plot revolves around a waitress, Maggie, and several strange characters whom she meets: a cowboy, a spaceman, and a frail, aged vampire. The four band together with a loose goal of getting the vampire to a distant town, while avoiding the firemen—agents of evil who start fires, not put them out. The plot could be considered secondary, however, to its delivery. Pappalardo breaks up passages of prose with illustrations, including photo-realistic drawings, photographs, fake ads, footnotes, quotations, and a massive number of different fonts in various sizes. It might sound like a bit much, but somehow it all works.
At one point, the somewhat ignorant Spaceman acquires a dog named Banjo, and their first interaction gives a sense of the character’s innocence, as well as Pappalardo’s ability to sharply convey humor:
“Who’s the dog?” Spaceman asks the only dog in the room. “You!” he confirms. “You’re the dog!”
Perhaps the most delightful section of the book stems from Pappalardo’s struggles to finish the project. When the author imposes himself on the characters in a food court, he recounts the creation of the story thus far: “I scribble notes for this scene on my porch in March, 2003 … Now it’s half past 2017. Fourteen years compressed into two heavily-revised paragraphs.” A few pages later, after informing his characters that they are, in fact, fictional, Pappalardo describes Cowboy’s reaction as “a dark and serious look, the dead-eyed stare of a Richard Scarry cat piloting a tugboat.” Such references are fresh, if esoterically resonant.
Broken Lines is most likely to appeal to Pappalardo’s own demographic—men in their forties who are familiar with pop culture and ready to poke some fun at it—but all will appreciate that Pappalardo has created a world, and a book, unlike any other.
– Peter Dabbene, Foreword Reviews

---

“It’s wild, funny and engaging; freely intermingling sci-fi, comedy and a good chase.”
– reader G.M.

---

I was skeptical of Broken Lines throughout the beginning, and, though I ultimately enjoyed the book, not all of that skepticism had gone by the end. Broken Lines is, in the book’s own terms, an “illustrated novel.” Author Tom Pappalardo’s interpretation of the idea explores the line between purely textual and graphic novels. While that offers a plethora of intriguing options, Pappalardo’s book only takes partial advantage. Some of the book’s use of arrows, boxes of relevant (or not) factual information, and stylized photos works quite well. Others times, the additions feel pretty unnecessary. After the amusing novelty wore off, I increasingly questioned whether the irreverent bits and bobs really added anything substantial to the experience of the story.

The story itself is something like a Douglas Adams-inspired roadtrip in which a handful of eclectic characters in a moving van flee demon fire-starting firefighters (haha, yeah, irony). Though some of the “unexpected” plot and character choices feel a bit twee–like the author was trying slightly too hard to be kooky–by the end, I ultimately found the book fun and endearing enough. Broken Lines plays at the boundaries of the novel in form as well as content, but it doesn’t always succeed in its ambitions. Yet enough of the story’s features are amusing and irreverent to warrant a read.

– Danielle McManus, Tulsa Book Review

---

“Well. I certainly found myself laughing long and hard at some of the trials faced by our ragtag quartet of protagonists. Let it be said they all had guts in the face of some scary-ass axe-wielding antagonists. The author did nothing to allay my fears of gas masks; thanks a lot.” – Goodreads review

---

“…engaging characters, story that keeps moving, great artwork, wanton violations of the fourth wall…” – Amazon Review

---

PROS: An engaging, gonzo novel with classic illustration elements and a large dose of silliness.
CONS: Sometimes the level of insanity gets annoying and you need to take a break.

Broken Lines is an illustrated novel by Tom Pappalardo. It is short for a novel, and peppered with illustrations, photo-manipulations, pop-culture references, and the occasional marginalia. Unlike regular novels, it also makes heavy use of white space and those illustrations to play into the pace of the novel and how it reads. They aren’t just things added on to look cool; they impact how the book is read and are part of the story, taking cue from Pappalardo’s graphic design background. It reads like the hipster bastard child of Burroughs’s Naked Lunch and B-list horror, if you took that hypothetical literary child, and then fed it several pounds of sugar and a few carafes of coffee.

The tale concerns the travels of a spaceman and cowboy, and the waitress they rescue from her burning trailer as they hunt down demons and try to return a non-sparkly old man of a vampire to his home. If you expect a serious adventure, you’re reading the wrong book. This is a bubbly, snarky adventure in the land of the absurd. It’s a pleasant read and a good escape, if you need a breather from the land of stories of dark dystopias or gritty heroes.

The references the book makes should be familiar to most of you internet denizens; though some of the graphic design elements may seem a bit esoteric, taking hints from everything from vintage advertisements, text-based computer games like ZORK, and early comic book art. They add to the story, but if you don’t get every reference it doesn’t matter: the book will still be enjoyable and fun.

If you enjoy gonzo and light adventures into the land of the strange, this is the book for you.

– Jessica Wagar, Bleeding Cool (2017)

---

“Out of the thousands of books I’ve read in my life, this is the only time I’ve ever laughed out loud while reading the introductory pages.” – Goodreads review

---

“I’m not even sure how to categorize this book, which is a common feature of most of my favorite books. It’d be a disservice to just label it humor, though it’s very funny. Adventure doesn’t quite cut it either, though it’s full on road movie of an adventure. It’s lively, thoughtful and fun.” – Amazon Review

Older Broken Lines Reviews

An occasionally unflattering archive of reviews for the earlier graphic novel incarnation of Broken Lines (2007-2011ish).

---

Even if the comic in question weren’t worth reading (and it is), Tom Pappalardo’s Broken Lines is worth your examination because man! Look at the design of that page and those books. I couldn’t possibly tell you why, but the design visuals just hooked themselves into my brain and are making me say Preeeetty.

Possibility: the typography is similar to a lot that I saw at the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp, which is like the Louvre for type geeks. I spent a happy afternoon there drooling over Claude Garamond’s original punches and matricies, whose proportions and aesthetics I find reflected in the pages of Broken Lines. Plus, the comic itself has a cowboy and an astronaut on a roadtrip to adventure!

– Gary Tyrrell, Fleen (2010)

---

[A review of Chapters Five and Six] The adventures of Cowboy, Spaceman, Vampire and Maggie the Waitress continue as Tom Pappalardo moves his wickedly insane illustrated novel closer to the finish line. But this time out, their strange adventures take a backseat to a new character introduced into the mix: a demon named Sticky Buns.

BROKEN LINES is the story of a young waitress named Maggie who winds up fleeing on a cross-country road trip in the company of her three odd companions after the demons and vampire hunters chasing the trio burn down her home and tries to kill her. As these chapters pick up, Spaceman has crashed his robotic suit at the bottom of a lake, Cowboy has been sent to a lower level of Hell, and Maggie and the Vampire have fled in the hopes of staying ahead of the creature’s pursuers. Each has their own plot while separated, but it’s Cowboy’s that takes center stage and captivates. He first battles, then allies himself with, a large demon named Sticky Buns. That demon’s awesome power? He can make things adhere to his ass. In fact, his ass cheeks can act independently and snatch items from the air, people’s hands, you name it. He literally has… well, you know.

This Tom Pappalardo fellow? Either a genius, or a candidate to wind up on some sort of neighborhood “registry.”

The whole book is one cheerily absurd moment after another, and BROKEN LINES remains one of those little treasures that not enough people know about, but I suspect someday will. Find out for yourself why.

– Marc Mason (Comics Waiting Room)

---

“(a) gonzo mix of story and art, both confusing and oddly effective” – Bookslut (2007)

---

Pappalardo’s illustrated prose novel returns with a new chapter, and fortunately it was worth the wait. BROKEN LINES is shaping up to be a classic oddity, full of strangeness and lunacy; hopefully he’ll be able to get it in front of enough eyes so that it gets the recognition I’ve begun to believe it deserves.

The basic plot sounds a bit like the setup for a classic joke: a cowboy, a spaceman, and a vampire go on a road trip… picking up a waitress along the way. But there’s a bit more to it than that. The group is pursued by a nasty group of demons called “firemen” (because they chop up people with axes and set things on fire), a trio of British vampire hunters, and now a third group of players with a mad-on for one of the group. But perhaps the most dangerous thing of all? American consumerism, as the waitress must navigate a shopping mall, her strange attraction to a retail salesman, and the d-bag trying to sell mobile phones from one of those kiosks we all hate so much.

You have to give the author credit for a number of things he tries with this book and manages to get away with. He breaks the fourth wall without being too annoying about it. He writes BROKEN LINES in present tense, which is almost impossible to do well. He does a solid job of adding in the illustrations and working them into coherent, mixed pages. And after about 120 pages, you still don’t really have an idea exactly what the hell is going on or what the ultimate goal for the characters truly is (beyond “take the vampire home”). But somehow, all of this (mostly) works and tickles the funny bone.

Maybe my favorite moment in this chapter comes late in the proceedings as Pappalardo takes a moment to explain the “atmosphere” to his readership, layer by layer. When he finally gets to the top, outer space, he describes it as thus: “Fuckin’ wormholes and shit.”

Not exactly NASA, but executed with panache. Good stuff.

– Marc Mason, Comics Waiting Room

---

I have nothing clever to say about this book that the book does not say for itself. Seek it out. You will not be disappointed.

Tom Pappalardo and a slew of artists working in conjunction with Standard Design have created what is quite simply a masterpiece. In the first of what is tellingly called Book One of Four, Maybe, Pappalardo introduces his readers to Cowboy, Spaceman, Vampire, Maggie, and Myron, five almost archetypal heroes whose adventure dances the edges of reality like Fred Astaire on crack. But fair warning, this is NOT a comic book. It is the first in a series of four illustrated novellas that will leave you literally salivating for more.

I first saw Pappalardo’s work a few months back when I reviewed the surreal and entertaining Famous Fighters. In that comic Pappalardo, along with his intrepid collaborator, Matt Smith, introduced readers to Cowboy as well as a slew of other characters loosely connected by a twisted definition of heroism that simultaneously parodied and paid homage to some great comic book, fantasy, and sci-fi motifs. It was a funny, entertaining, and excellent little independent comic. But compared to Broken Lines it was weak.

With clever dialogue, present tense, conversational narration, and asides that will make you laugh out loud if you are, say . . . sitting in the dentist’s office waiting room quietly leafing through your copy, Broken Lines offers something few novellas do these days. It is intelligent, entertaining, and in a word, freaking awesome.

The story begins when a waitress, Maggie, meets two strange customers on a cold winter’s day in a Colorado diner. One is a stoic cowboy called Cowboy, the other is a childlike spaceman called Spaceman. Their personalities mix as if they are our culture’s answer to Oscar and Felix—and if you don’t know who they are, go to the theatre—they bounce off each other and balance each other out with a comedic flair that makes their story hard to put down. Later Firemen (not firefighters, firemen—demons whose job is to kill and destroy) burn down Maggie’s trailer park and because Cowboy “had a feeling” something bad would happen, Maggie is saved and swooped away on a twisted adventure involving a rehabilitating vampire, demons who talk like stoners, vampire hunters who are far less noble than one would think their career choice indicates, and a hapless nerd and his dog working at a gas station in the middle of nowhere.

These clever words are balanced by the art. As mentioned above, this book is NOT a comic book, graphic novel, collected volume or anything like that. Rather, it is an illustrated novella. With periodic panel-to-panel art done by Pappalardo and various other independent and amazing artists, this book fires ahead where others would bog you down. There is a mixture of illustration, Photoshoppery, and collage filling the pages between the prose and continuing the story along with a finesse that belies and benefits the oddity of the actual tale being told.

And what an odd tale it is; odd, fun, well written and with likable, intriguing characters, a plot that never stops, intersections of panel-to-panel art, and a quote from William Blake for the cherry. Do yourself a favor and buy this book, seek out future issues, and become a fan. You will NOT be sorry.

– Aaron Stueve, Broken Frontier

---

I’m not sure what I expected when I began to read Broken Lines: Book One of Four, Maybe but it surpassed whatever thought I might have had. It is so unlike everything else that I have ever read that I hate to make any sort of comparisons.

Cowboy, Spaceman, Vampire, and a waitress by the name of Maggie are the good guys. You know the kind of good guys I’m talking about right? Yep, the kind that fight evil. When firemen show up at the trailer park Maggie is living in and start to set fire to things, she can’t imagine why. She asks the two who show up on her doorstep and they are kind enough to fill her in:
‘Oh, no, ma’am. You’re confusing us with firefighters,’ the second fireman explains through the door, “They put out fires and save people.”
‘They’re America’s Heroes,’ the first fireman chimes in.
‘Yeah. We’re firemen. We’re basically evil. We’re here to burn and kill.
But since we know, well at least we guessed, that Maggie is one of our heroes, this can’t be the end of her. That is when Cowboy and Spaceman show up. With the help of Vampire they rescue the lady in distress and hightail it out of there.

What follows is a slightly peculiar journey to… well, we aren’t exactly sure. They travel around in a rental van, which, by the way, is more than it appears, with Vampire hanging out in the back. Where they are from and who they are – those are questions that are never really answered. They simply are. Believe me, it is more than enough.

Coffee imbibing and all-night stints stocking-up at a grocery store also figure in Broken Lines, adding to its unique quality. There are some illustrations, a few traditional comic book boxes, but for the most part it is comprised of words – very funny words I might add. The characters are simply brilliant and the dialog is smart and entertaining.

Broken Lines is unusual. It starts out with a character washing his hands and ends with someone asking where the microwavable chalupas are. Completely irresistible once you start reading, you will not stop until you have reached the last page. Once there you will immediately start looking for volume two.

– Katie, McNeill – BlogCritics Magazine

---

The world does not need more superhero comics. It also doesn’t need weird little illustrated novellas halfway between The Poor Man’s Almanac and an old volume of Edgar Allan Poe poems with captioned picture plates. But I’d much rather more of have the latter than the former, which is why I was so pleased to read Tom Pappalardo’s Broken Lines: Book One. It’s the story of a waitress who hooks up with a spaceman and a cowboy to transport a vampire across the country in a rented moving truck. If you’re either confused or irritated by the concept thus far, reading the book in its entirety will alleviate neither condition.

So, it’s a good thing that Pappalardo’s humor strikes such a chord with me. It probably won’t with some people, primarily the type that buys Friends on DVD and goes to Adam Sandler movies on opening day, but those that prefer a more literary type of humor will find something to appreciate in Broken Lines. That’s not to suggest that the book relies on high-brow pretension; quite the opposite is true. While Pappalardo clearly appreciates the finer points in humor specific to the written word, and has steeped Broken Lines in various literary traditions that suggest he’s at least walked by a library or two, the sense of humor is truly absurd, and references to modern culture both high and low pepper the pages. At a hefty 70-plus pages, that’s a lot of pepper.

But what’s most arresting about this independently published book is its design. Not only has Pappalardo apparently read a few books, he’s also paid quite a bit of attention to their layout and design. From the dry edition notes on the back of the title page to the chapter breaks, every element of the book has a unified sense of style, best described as ‘olde thyme’, so detailed it belies the independent nature of the book. The illustrations are varied but consistent, alternating between diagrams, comic pages that bridge gaps in the prose, and illustrations with captions so absurdly chosen (“About halfway through Yojimbo” being my personal favorite) they complement the book’s sense of humor perfectly. The spaceman is cute, the cowboy, who we’ve met before in Pappalardo and Matt Smith’s excellent Famous Fighters, is suitably gruff, and the waitress character is almost as baffled as the reader is. The only real downside to the book is its rather abrupt end, which stops short as if a filmstrip caught fire halfway through the final reel. Broken Lines is ostensibly book one of four, but the build up doesn’t work, because we’re not left teetering on the edge of a cliffhanger, but rather thinking a few pages got left out at the printers. But though the end is confusingly sudden, the reader is still left wanting more, so while the world may not need any more superhero comics, it may need at least one more illustrated novella. – Rating: 9 on 10

– Al Kratina, Comic Book Bin (2007)

---

Well, this isn’t a comic exactly, and it’s not a short story exactly either. It’s mostly a short story with comical interludes thrown in, but what a story it is. I can’t remember the last time I was this impressed by a story where I had no real idea what’s going on. It starts innocently enough in an all-night diner with a cowboy and a man in a spacesuit eating dinner. Their waitress can’t work up the enthusiasm to be too curious about them, and things proceed slowly for a bit until Maggie ends up having to get a ride home from these two. After they part ways, Maggie meets a group of demons from hell dressed as firemen (firemen make fires and kill people, firefighters are the ones who put them out, you see) before eventually ending up back with Cowboy and Spaceman and their silent friend, Vampire. She joins them on their journey across the country, trying to make enough money to survive along the way, while being chased by… well, we’re not sure what. Nor do we know where they’re going or why they’re going there. None of that matters even a little bit, as an engaging cast of characters (I haven’t even mentioned Myron or the Vampire Hunters because why not leave a few surprises for you?) and a constantly funny dialogue keep things moving even when they’re stuck doing inventory in a grocery store to make a few bucks. Spaceman is possibly a small retarded child judging by his actions, Cowboy is the stereotypical cowboy except with a clumsy streak, and I don’t have the slightest idea what Vampire is yet, except that he seems to have given up drinking blood. What can I say, I was mesmerized and damned sad to see the last page of this book. It’s projected to be the first of four issues, so at least there’s plenty more to go. I can’t recommend this enough for those of you who don’t mind a lot of really wonderful text thrown in with the pretty pictures. Oh, and Thomas did most of the drawing himself, except for a page each by Mister Reusch, Jason Goad and Matt Smith.
– Optical Sloth (2007)

---

A couple of years ago, I reviewed a self-published comic called FAILURE, INCOMPETENCE by Tom Pappalardo [link – tom], and gave it a pretty heavy panning. The biggest problem was that Pappalardo was just not a very accomplished artist as far as comics went. Now, many times when you lay out an indy creator in a review, you’ll never hear from them again; I say that, because I tend to have a healthy respect for those with the stones to come back for more. So I tip my cap to Pappalardo for standing up and taking another swing.

BROKEN LINES, to his credit, is something completely different. It is actually a prose work, with some illustrations spread throughout the book. But while the illustrations come across weakly on the whole (there hasn’t been a lot of artistic growth here), the prose part is absolutely terrific fun. Pappalardo’s true gift kicks into gear when he puts the pencil down and starts typing.

Maggie is a waitress working at a highway diner when her life takes a bizarre turn; one of her morning tables is comprised of a cowboy in full-regalia and a man in a spacesuit. But that isn’t the weirdest part of her day; when she gets home, her home is attacked by demons called “firemen” whose job is to burn property and kill the owners, sending them straight to Hell. Fortunately, Maggie has a chance to survive when the cowboy and spaceman show up to save the day and rescue her… along with the help of their other friend, a vampire.

Swerving between quirky and flat-out strange, BROKEN LINES is a very amusing little tale. It’s completely unpredictable, and not once do you ever feel like you know where it’s headed. That’s a nice feeling to have, and even though you’re only a fourth of the way into the full story, you still walk away from this first part feeling satisfied. The story is also told in the present tense, which is rare these days, making it an even more unique read. Congrats all the way around to Pappalardo on delivering a solidly creative effort.
– Mark Mason, Comics Waiting Room

---

With Broken Lines, Thomas Pappalardo has created a charming world where Sharpie drawings and text narrate a rag-tag gang’s journey for the good and true, two values that manifest themselves mostly in threats and brawls against the many nefarious groups who wish harm upon Maggie, Cowboy, Spaceman and Vampire. The Illuminated Concern for Fastidious Bloodkeeping (vampire hunters), Firemen (demons from Hell), and the Space Agency (paramilitary agents) are each looking to destroy one or more members of the gang of four. Through these foils, the reader learns that vampires are being poached, arsonists are burning up the American landscape, and sophisticated aeronautical technology has been stolen. These storylines are introduced erratically, which has the cool effect of producing a universe vs. the heroes binary, and the uncool effect of rushing character development.

Pappalardo’s dialogue and narration lean towards caricature too often to sound genuine. In particular, the narrator addresses the audience in the patronizing voice of a pedant; I used to be all for reflexivity in literature, but it’s no longer cheeky, now it’s chumpy. While I enjoy the illustrations and all of Spaceman’s dialogue, I can’t say it’s worth the asking price.
– Megan Polley, Broken Pencil

---

These hilarious shorts are a perfect snarkfest, combining people watching and café criticism with abundant humor. Pappalardo visits coffee emporiums in Northampton, Amherst, and other towns in western Massachusetts to sample brews ranging from fabulous to putrid and to jot his impressions of baristas and customers. He ranges from local coffeehouses to Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks locations, going so far as to reference the noncontroversy of the 2015 red holiday cups; he even experiences coffee in his local public library. In one riff, he rails against the ludicrousness of far-distant coffee pickup counters; elsewhere, he visits a Dunkin’ Donuts dominated by painful country music. Pappalardo’s enjoyment of doughnuts, pie, and other comestibles adds delight to the collection, as does his recording of overheard conversations and scenes. This collection is good for a consistent supply of laughs, regardless of whether readers live in Massachusetts or drink coffee.
– Publishers Weekly

---

“The laughs-per-dollar ratio is well in your favor, Dear Reader.”
– A.C., Amazon review

---

“My favorite comedic author in the world. Brilliant.”
– P.S., Amazon review

---

“…a laugh out loud love letter to the Valley.”
– Amazon review

---

“Tom is a gifted observationalist — a bit biting and sarcastic in his views of the world, perhaps, but he has a keen eye for overheard conversations.”
– Kevin Hodgson

---

“…(a) keen comment on our caffeinated culture…sketching out the subcultural infrastructure in the collegetown-pockmarked Pioneer Valley. A great read.”
– A.D., Amazon review

---

“…tangents of surreal imagery, social commentary, and self-awareness brought to life with a natural, personable, and comedic narrative voice.”
– Amazon review

---

In “One More Cup of Coffee,” Pappalardo, of Northampton, has created a hybrid book that’s not easy to classify. It’s part review of coffee from cafes, diners, donut shops and other places around the Valley, part journal in which he records his observations of those places (including snippets of overheard conversations), and part meditation on his general alienation (though that’s delivered with a good helping of irony).

It’s mostly a droll and deadpan (and sometimes snarky) trip, where you can learn about his preferred places to eat and drink, like Jake’s in Northampton (“I hope someday somebody holds my wake here”), as well as the places and things he’s less enthused about. Pappalardo, who’s also a guitarist, is not exactly a fan of singer-songwriters, as it turns out.

His vignettes of the odd behavior and conversations he comes across make for some of the more entertaining reading, like the “coffee date” a man and woman appear to be having at the Cup and Top Cafe in Florence, where the guy monopolizes the conversation: “The man keeps talking. … It’s been nearly fifteen minutes now, and she’s only peppered in a few scant ‘mm-hmmms.’ This is a terrible thing to earwitness.”

Along the way, Pappalardo also describes the weird vibes that can abound in places where many people (including him) eat and drink by themselves while staring at their phones, laptops or notebooks. That atmosphere can make him a bit paranoid; he imagines someone swiping the money he leaves for his meal on a cafe serving counter, making him look like he’s trying to skip out on his bill.

“It’s an irrational fear, like when I used to be worried about being accused of stealing my own clothes out a laundromat dryer. I am under constant surveillance. People are watching me, waiting for me to step out of line so they can judge me.”

Oh, he’s also got some nice black and white sketches in the book of the places he visits.
– Daily Hampshire Gazette

---

“At times, it’s laugh out loud funny, and at other times, you are like what the f—.”
— GoodReads review

---

Tom Pappalardo talks about ‘One More Cup of Coffee’ in new book

Nearly two-thirds of adults in the U.S. drink at least one cup of coffee a day, according to a Gallup poill. But even if you’re not one of that group, you probably would enjoy Tom Pappalardo’s new book, “One More Cup of Coffee.“

If fact, it might even be better if you don’t care much about coffee. This isn’t a book of java joint reviews.

Although the book is centered on Pappalardo’s visits to various coffee venues around Western Massachusetts, it really isn’t about coffee itself much at all. It’s more about the author’s wry — and mostly hilarious — observations about people and life while sitting in these community establishments. Think Holden Caulfield of “Catcher in the Rye” crossed with Agent Dale Cooper from “Twin Peaks” and you’ll get the picture.

Pappalardo, 43, hails from Haverhill, but lived in Northampton for two decades and now resides in Easthampton. A locally renowned graphic designer by trade, he also mines his creative side through drawing (he illustrated the book), cartooning, music, and, of course, writing. Pappalardo will read from the book at White Square Books in Easthampton on Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. He answered a few questions about the book, coffee culture, and his pet peeves about coffee shops.

What gave you the idea for this book? And what is the point of it?

I’ve always been an introvert, and I went through a stretch where it got rather acute. I work from home, and I found myself staying in even more than usual. I decided the best way to get myself out among humans was to give myself creative assignments. Visit some new places, write about my observations, and post them on Facebook. Sort of a mindfulness exercise, a writing exercise, and an occasional adventure wrapped into one. My goal was to be funny and observant, not, like, write Yelp reviews or anything.

How many coffee joints did you visit and were there any restrictions on what you considered?

There are 30 or 40 places in the book. Some were one-off visits, others are my regular haunts. I didn’t bother counting them up. I worked off a list I made and only got through half of [it]. I started off with obvious choices, like cafes and diners, and then expanded to places like convenience stores, Trader Joe’s, a church pancake breakfast. I began to see coffee as a common denominator that could tie an interesting mix of places together. I tried Town Fair Tire, but they didn’t have any coffee brewed that day.

What is it about coffee culture that makes it interesting to you and/or others?

Coffee shops are unique meeting places, because people are there to use the place in different ways, for different purposes. It can draw an unusual group of people into the same room and sit them right next to each other. This can lead to wonderful things, or nothing at all, or spectacular trainwrecks.

Are you a coffee snob in any way? Or do you just like what you like – irrespective of so-called “quality”?

Depends who I’m comparing myself to, I guess. On one hand, I can drink Dunkin and I avoid “fancier” coffee drinks — espresso, etc. One the other hand, I buy decent organic French roast beans and do pour-overs at home. Most of my coffee intake is based around drowsiness, habit, and the weather — warm up in the winter with a cup of black coffee, cool down in the summer with iced.

What are some of the best cups of coffee you had while doing the journeys for this book?

I’m a big fan of Woodstar’s coffee. I like to mention how much I liked the coffee at Bird’s Package Store in Florence, but I don’t actually know if it was any good, I just know it far exceeded my incredibly low expectations. As a non-connoisseur, I’d rate about 93 percent of the coffee I consumed for this book as “shrug/fine.”

The book is hilarious, but are there any particularly funny stories that you care to share from the book?

One of my favorite moments was overhearing a first date at Cup And Top. The guy seemed normal at first, and then nosedived into an unrelenting monologue, critiquing the portrayal of serial killers in movies, a deep analysis of the Batman franchise, misusing words. The woman stopped talking after a while. It was a terrible thing to earwitness. It was amazing.

Do you have any peeves about coffee or coffee shops?

I’m easily irked by customers who don’t respect the business or other customers. People sneaking in food from other places, manspreaders, a Smithie taking up two tables during a lunch rush. And, you know, I say that as a person wont to camp out with a laptop for a few hours. But I at least try to avoid busy times, and make a point of buying things.

And what is your favorite thing about finding a good coffee shop?

My real-life criteria for a coffee shop is minimal — a table that doesn’t wobble, decent wifi, and coffee that doesn’t make me wince. For this writing project, my hope is to find myself seated next to a loud, oblivious jerk.

– George Lenker, masslive.com & The Republican

---

“One More Cup of Coffee has not made me a better person, not by a long shot, but it has made me a more entertained bad person, and perhaps a somewhat better regarded one at that.”
– B.J. Amazon review

---

“If you’ve ever eavesdropped on people at a trendy cafe, a roadside diner, or some weird hipster blend of both, this is the book for you.”
– P.O. Amazon review

---

“…surreal imagery, social commentary, and self-awareness brought to life with a natural, personable, and comedic narrative voice.”
– Amazon review

---

“I was going to write a letter to your publisher asking them what they were thinking by publishing your book. I am not the least surprised that it was self published (I nearly laughed aloud), because no professional team would approve this book … If you ever wonder why people don’t like you, you can refer back to this email.” – Jayna Rubin, via email

---

The Bill Dwight Show Interview – I sat down with Bill Dwight and Jaz Tupelo of The Bill Dwight Show for a rambling conversation about the book, the Valley, and I dunno, Stop & Shop for some reason. A fair amount of giggling. This segment features readings of “Sack Stabber” (Esselon, Hadley) and “37 Minutes” (The Yellow Sofa, Northampton).

---

Self-styled humorist and cartoonist Tom Pappalardo records his impressions of the quality of coffee and at the same time he also judges the patrons in various coffee houses and fast-food sites across collegiate Western Massachusetts. While he does comment on the caliber of the coffee, his biting comments regarding the patrons of these establishments reflect a rather acerbic personality. From his sardonic throne, he criticizes the old folks, is annoyed by children and their caring mothers, scorns the college females at their computers, mocks the youths, and laughs at the baristas. Apparently this is the type of mocking vision enjoyed and applauded by the youth of this country. He portrays the customers with a glacial indifference and imagines the worst in them. In displaying his somber, off-putting mood, he employs the descriptor “goddamned” about as frequently as the “F” word. While he likes his donuts and pies, a mood enhancer along with an antacid added with the sugar might evoke some more genial perceptions. The too few black and white sketches hidden between the written pages describe a more gracious story than the caustic wit. This coffee venture would do better as a graphic book. — Aron Row, San Francisco Book Review

---

“I don’t drink coffee but I assume it’s bitter and delicious, just like this book.”
– S.N., Amazon review

---

“…it takes a certain kind of mind and philosophical approach to life to enjoy this book to the last drop.”
– P.N., Amazon review

---

“It’s a funny book. You should read it.”
– Amazon review

---

Scene: Busy coffeeshop just after dusk. Location: Northampton, MA. In walks a bedraggled, white-bearded, black coffee-swilling, grump-meister named Tom Pappalardo. His laptop is scratched, stickered, and held together with a clamp. He looks like Liam Neeson about to do someone some very serious damage. “I used to be a semi-professional curmudgeon,” he says, “but now it’s more of a persona. I think I’m actually much nicer than I used to be.”

Pappalardo, an Easthampton, MA-based graphic designer, musician, and longtime comic book artist (Everything You Didn’t Ask For, 2014), has written, designed, and, through his new press, Object Publishing, self-published One More Cup of Coffee(2016), an observational compendium of his visits to coffee shops throughout Western Massachusetts. The book really doesn’t have anything to do with coffee, except insofar it’s the liquid folks gather around to talk life, death, and pretty much everything else in between. Tom visits these spots, gets himself a cup of their darkest coffee, sets his back to the wall and just listens. The locales range from classic New England coffee shops like Shelburne Falls Coffee Roasters, to supermarkets (Trader Joe’s), to the most ubiquitous of middle-America coffee sellers like Dunkin’ Donuts and a Starbucks inside Barnes and Noble.

“It came about as a way for me to get out of the house,” Pappalardo explains. “I made a list of places, some of which I’d been a regular at for years, then others – hey how come I don’t go there?” He developed a following writing weekly Facebook updates of his observations, which became about 90% of the book, “though,” he promises, “the book is much better edited.” The book’s subtitle, “In Which the Author Barely Talks About the Coffee” was by design. “A lot of the Facebook fans thought they were café reviews. I’ve lived in the area for 20 years, I knew a lot of the owners. I wanted it to be clear that this wasn’t an extended Yelp review.”

Instead, Pappalardo reviewed the customers inside the shops, telling their stories through his story, which is most often full of rage at the base foolishness of our entire culture. With lines like “I’m trying to be less of an asshole,” it’s clear that Pappalardo enjoys being a character in his own book. It also allows him to offer up some wickedly brutal assessments of the most mundane or overwrought conversations.

Behind Pappalardo’s umbrage is the sense that we’ve lost touch with being, and feeling, part of a larger community. “Even folks our age or older are blindered and not mindful of what’s going on around them,” he says.” A big part of this book was a mindfulness exercise. I’m going to a place just to observe. I try to make it as funny as I can, because that’s the genre I work in.”

Though it seems the antithesis of his old-school coffee shop haunting, Pappalardo also made One More Cup of Coffee available on Kindle, a move that strips it of its design, physicality, and character. It’s a sign of the times, one he acknowledges with a wince. “I’m more interested in the object  of the book,” Pappalardo explains. “I just wanted to make a nice book. It’s the same with albums vs MP3s. I’m certainly from that era where I remember growing up and buying a cassette at the mall. You’d sit and listen to it and read along with all the lyrics. You build a connection to the album. I’m also a graphic designer; you can’t have an album without a cover. So yeah, to me this is the closest I get to art, whereas the Kindle version is the raw data. If someone wants to consume that, that’s fine—I’m not going to stop them. But the book is way cooler.” – Take Magazine

---

“A grumpy love letter to the contemporary culture and coffee shops of our little Happy Valley.”
– H.N., Amazon review

---

“A fresh-out-of-the-oven slice of modern day America.”
– J.M., Amazon review

---

“sharply written and very, very funny observations”
– B.L., Amazon review

---

“Tom’s prose has punch (or maybe a jolt of caffeine)”
– K.H., Amazon review

---

“…a grumpy, funny, kind, snarky, intelligent read.”
– P.N., Amazon review

---

“I took a chance on this mostly because I like coffee. I was really disappointed at first because the whole thing tastes terrible. I couldn’t determine what the blend was. I kept thinking- ‘Where are these beans from?’ Well, let me tell you, these beans are from Tom Pappalardo. These are Tom’s beans. And they’re not for oral consumption. Take Tom’s beans from your mouth.” – A.R., Amazon review

---

Through the Wood, Beneath The Moon

Creating a sense of horror in a comic book can be a daunting task these days. With the current profusion of wanton gore, insane clowns, and killer toys throughout the zine world, are there any novel ideas left to send chills down the collective spine of a jaded audience? Luckily for Caliber Comics, their new one-shot book successfully identifies and exploits one of those novel ideas: the nursery rhyme. While fairy tales have often been transformed into film horror (e.g. Neil Jordan’s The Company of Wolves), never before has a comic taken such a benign genre and twisted it into a more grotesquely frightening final product.

The main character of this Dr. Seuss-styled nightmare is Alec Dear, a merry soul who resembles a cross between Freddy Krueger and a Nazi soldier. Alec prances into a rural burn facility, sticking used lollipops on the heads of horribly deformed children and promising to rescue them from their critical conditions. As should be expected from a story that’s subtitled “a dark poem,” that rescue takes on a grim form as the hero pulls the children off their life-support systems one by one. After the local police and media stumble upon the purported samaritan, he begins a series of increasingly demented tactics to outsmart them, the most horrible of which involves dangling the children’s lifeless bodies from their IV units and manipulating them like puppets for the captive audience outside the hospital.

The point of this Kevorkian escapade is questionable, but the authors’ vivid illustrations and wonderfully fluid storytelling fit perfectly into the nursery-rhyme format. And although their rhyme techniques leave a bit to be desired (“But wait,” mumbled Alec, “A clever idear!”; “Hey, clown!” he called out, “come stand over here!”), this magical yet maniacal diversion from the standard comic gorefest is quite entertaining. It provides horror not through severed limbs but through the repulsive behavior of a sick individual who, believing he’s doing the right thing, seems disturbingly more real than any fairy tale. – Kemp Powers, City Pages (Minneapolis)

---

A REVIEW, TRANSLATED FROM FRENCH BY GOOGLE: Perhaps attention, a small jewel hides in your salesman of comic and if you do not hurry, there’ will have some more! Through the Wood, beneath the moon (dark poem has) is as its name indicates it a poem. An illustrated poem. Just images illustrating of the text. A little with the manner of a book for child like… The Nightmare before Christmas de Tim Burton. The book, not the film. The poem which is much blacker than film.

It is the full moon. Appears Alec Dear, it carries a large dark coat, a wide hat and a gas mask of the second world war. This night, it will visit the sick children at the hospital because it trouble. It will try to go up the moral one to them…

They is at the same time magic and monstrous, luminous and sinks, childish and perverse. These is small jewels which was worth has its authors to gain a subsidy of Xeric Fondation (Foundation which helps the US authors) and who has one defect: A very ugly cover. (Paper is not formidable either but this small defect is transformed into quality because it allows “magic” transparencies)

---

Easthampton Mural

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND IT’S UGLY: Comments culled from the Masslive Easthampton forum & elsewhere about the mural I painted in Easthampton, Massachusetts.

---

“less than mediocre” – 00013

“I know what is appealing to some isn’t appealing to all, but in my opinion, the proposed artwork (?) that is going to be displayed on the side of Wiskerz Pub will be an eyesore. I know the merchants on Cottage Street have worked hard to bring the street to what it is now, but to cover an entire side of a building with what looks like nothing more than graffiti is not going to do a thing for the area or Easthampton.” – FreedomMom

“it’s ugly” – fizzar

“Looks like a sweet design” – Mr Blonde

“The particular graphic design seems more suited to be shown on a smaller scale–perhaps on the cover of a brochure for Easthampton. These large jumbled letters will be mostly meaningless and confusing to drivers-by. I think that to please the majority in a fairly traditional New England community like Easthampton, a design that is in keeping with the traditional tone of the town would be more accepted and appropriate.”

“It seems like it is more inner city 1960’s urban renewal, than small “town” mural.”

“Lets see how many accidents it causes” – newowner1

“I think the mural will look nice. I live in that part of town & am delighted at how nice the Cottage St area has become. I love that’s it becoming such a creative and funky street with great little independent shops, and hope this trend continues. Public art will make it an even more intersting area.”

“I lke it and I think it meshes well with the art atmosphere.”

“Mural—Disgusting !!!!” – watchem

“The mural is very handsome and well suited for the location. Should be nice when it’s finished, in person.” – James R (via Art Parlor)

“this mural will brings thousands to E’ton, somewhat like the healing water of Lourdes does” – farandaway

“THAT IS SO UGLY!” – bubbleheaded

“Make Easthampton look bad!!!” – zippenby

“it’s done with flair.” – coyneup

“come out of the bar, about 12:30 am, in the dark, and it`ll probably look great” – newowner1

“came out killer, great work” – derekdeal

“The only thing “Easthampton” about the mural is the way it abstractly says it, although it imparts a feeling of ‘inner city Chicago 1978′” – HarleyRdKng

“I especially can’t wait to see it in 30 years when its all flaked off and bleached by the elements and looks like shit.” – crosshair

“I haven’t seen anything like this since the Bronx in 1975” – some dude

“LOVE IT!” – orangecream

“vandilism” – newowner1

---

Tempest in a Teapot – Artwalk Easthampton Newsletter

In search of the mythical unicorn, so something equally rare, public art that everyone can agree on… The Easthampton forum on MassLive has been crackling with comments about the selection of a mural design to go on the side of Whiskerz Pub on Cottage Street. The project will begin in the spring.

Just like the transitory fit of pique over the installation of nude sculptures outside the old Northampton Courthouse, this too shall pass. Public art is like all art, it’s a subjective take. People decorate the inside of their homes differently, so it’s not to be expected that all will agree on how to decorate their community. What’s important is that it happens. More voices and expressions of art is better than fewer, or none. Whining is easy, doing is hard.

We tip our hat to Tom for putting in the time to develop a proposal and hope he keeps his chin up (while keeping his head down) during the process. Calmer seas are ahead.

---

---

Coffee, Design and The Story Stylin’ Of Tom Pappalardo (FOE Gallery)

I’m not trained to write about art and design. Luckily, I’m pretty skilled at knowing what I like and doing what I want. I really like this print , and so do lots of other people. I’m also regularly impressed by the wit and humor of Tom Pappalardo. He was kind enough to answer my weird coffee questions.

FOE: Hi Tom. Is it ok if I imagine you at home drinking your whole bean ground and poured Ethiopian Yirgacheffee black coffee with a blind fat cat and dog at your feet?
TP: That’s strangely specific.

FOE: What made you start drinking coffee?
TP: In my hometown, there wasn’t much to do at night except hang out at Dunkin Donuts. The cup of coffee was micro-rent on a booth.

FOE: Same here, but it was a Friendly’s. Are you still friends with any of your high school DD crew?
TP: I’m still friends with most of my high school friends. Your readers might appreciate Mark Reusch and Matt Smith. They’re both amazing illustrators.

FOE: Wow, talented friends! Smart, creative teens hopped up on too much caffeine, you must have some good stories?
TP: Me and Reusch were at a Dunkin Donuts in Haverhill during a holdup. I ended up writing a little radio essay about it.

FOE: That’s some nice story telling. You have a self-deprecating sense of humor. I find that quality to be more prevalent in my Massachusetts friends. Do you think it’s a regional trait? And if so, any theories as to why?
TP: I think any place with harsh seasonal weather changes produces jerks and wiseasses.

FOE: Interesting. And your graphic novel BROKEN LINES opens in a diner, with coffee. Would you say those early experiences at your local DD had a formative relationship on your story telling style?
TP: I dunno. I think we just sat around being jerks and wiseasses to each other.

FOE: Exactly, I’m gonna call that Massachusetts story stylin’. Let’s get back to coffee. Are you a fussy coffee drinker? One of those people who insists on their half-caf soy latte from an upscale national chain?
TP: I think western Massachusetts spoils a coffee drinker. There are too many places to get a good strong cup of coffee: Woodstar, The Roost , Haymarket, Esselon, Rao’s, Northampton/Greenfield/Amherst Coffee. But whenever I go back to my hometown in eastern Mass., I revert to Dunkin Donuts and gas station coffee. There’s probably good coffee out there, but I don’t bother seeking it out. There’s a comforting familiarity of shittiness in drinking that stuff – it’s part of my aesthetic of the place.

FOE: Have you done design work for any beverage other than coffee?
TP: I designed a beer can for a microbrewery, but the job came to me via an ad agency and a nondisclosure agreement.

FOE: That’s work. Your coffee print seems to come from a deep love of coffee, design and music. Did you know the print would be so popular?
TP: I never have any idea what work people will respond to. Especially on the Internet. The larger and more diverse the audience gets, the weirder and more mixed the responses get. I’ve seen certain (comics, posters, blog posts, whatever) that I’ve made get huge amounts of attention and feedback and can’t quite fathom what makes them any different from the stuff that’s completely ignored. I think some things just get traction, some don’t.

FOE: Well, I think fans of coffee and design should buy your print. It looks clean and hip custom-framed like we have in the shop. But it would also be fun to just tack it up and custom age it, a sort of Petri dish of your current living condition. You could even frame it later if there’s a particularly funny story involving a stain.
TP: Someday, when I have a kitchen that doesn’t suck, I hope to hang my own poster there.

FOE: Thanks for the awesome design and entertaining answers to my weird questions. One more. Have you ever been burned by coffee?
TP: Once a cup of fair trade Guatemalan burned me with a scalding “yo mama” joke.

– Nicole Shea, FOE Store and Gallery

---

Rock Poster Artists series (crewkoos.com)

(2011)
Graphic designer and illustrator since 1995 or so, Tom Pappalardo is running Standard Design which had received the honor of featuring in the new Gigposters book. Is this the only reason why Standart design is today featuring on the blog ? Certainly not as working for bands like Built To Spill, Clutch, Ween, Neko Case, Mission Of Burma, High On Fire, Mike Doughty, Bob Mould, My Morning Jacket is already THE good reason.

Hello, of course as every Crewk interview, first question: what are we listening to when we come to visit you?

I am a big fan of iTunes shuffle, so it’s usually some random-ass thing. As I type this, Iron Maiden Powerslave is on, followed by the Treme soundtrack, which has some excellent New Orleans music on it.

Can you tell us more about yourself, who are you, where are you from, what do you do?

I’ve been cartooning and illustrating for a couple of decades. I’ve got a weekly comic strip (The Optimist – http://www.the-opt.com/ ) and a graphic novel/illustrated book (Broken Lines – http://www.broken-lines.com/ )
I’ve been working on for a few years. I’m also in a guitar/drum duo called The Demographic ( http://www.the-dem.com/ ). All that plus being self-employed graphic designer ( http://www.standard-design.com/ ).

When did you start drawing?

I’ve been drawing cartoons since I was a kid. I just was too dumb to stop when I got older.

Did you follow any course or did you improve by drawing in the margins of your schoolbooks?

I took a bunch of studio art classes and a drafting class in high school. I went to Massachusetts College of Art in Boston for a couple of years, first as a graphic design major, then as an undeclared, then I dropped out. So I ended up feeling self-taught.

Today are you living from your art, or do you do something else for a living ?

I’m a freelance graphic designer and illustrator. I also do a lot of corporate After Effect animations. Stuff for like, PowerPoint presentations and meetings. And along with that, I’m a cartoonist.

Are you collaborating with magazines/fanzines, regularly?

I publish my comic strip The Optimist in the local weekly paper.

Where does your influence come from? Is there any artists/graphists you particularly like, what are your influences?

I’m a big fan of Reid Miles and his classic Blue Note LP cover work. Syd Mead and Ralph McQuarrie for illustration (not that they influence my work, they’re just cool). Berkeley Breathed, Ted McKeever, Mike Mignola, and Charles Schulz for cartooning & comics. For contemporary artists, I love Tooth’s work ( http://www.ramenroyale.com/ ).

What are the principal steps in your work ? Do you do everything by hand or on computer?

For posters (and lots of other graphic work) I tend to think in two or three colors. I like a good limited palette. I have a small variety of approaches. I don’t do much illustration for posters, usually. I lean towards collaging stuff in Photoshop. Sometimes futzing around with clip art or found little bits of stuff. I’m a despicable over-user of the halftone filter. I do all the color seps in Photoshop/Illustrator.

How long does it take you to do a poster?

I’m not very good at keeping track of time. I have no idea.

You have a very distinctive style, are you doing only what you feel like or if tomorrow somebody asks you an oil painting with horses running out of water with a sunset backdrop, is it a problem or are you up for it ?

I have a few different styles and graphic approaches I can fall back on, but oil painting is not a skill I ever acquired (nor do I care to learn). I also probably couldn’t draw a horse to save my life. Unless the project specifically required a poorly-drawn horse.

For which band have you already worked for?

Built To Spill, Clutch, Ween, Neko Case, Mission Of Burma, High On Fire, Mike Doughty, Bob Mould, My Morning Jacket.

For which band would you love to work?

Pixies would be great. The Sword. Paul Westerberg. I’d love to do some hip-hop stuff. A Mos Def or The Roots poster would be wicked fun.

Do you choose the artists yourself?

I’ve approached a few specific bands/performers, but most of my poster work has come to me via show promoters.

What is the most difficult part in designing a poster ?

Cutting out all the bullshit n’ keeping the design focused. I’m not a producer of intricate things. Every time I put in too much stuff I end up regretting it. My strengths lie in taking things out, paring things down. I try to do that as much as I can. It takes a surprising amount of time to make something simple looking.

You feature in the new gigposters 2 book, how did you find yourself involved in it ?

I’ve been a part of the gigposters.com community for a long time. Almost since the site started. I even handled one of the site designs a couple of years ago. Clay Hayes has done a great job on that joint. He’s been the shepherd of a lot of friendships and a lot of business connections. I’m surprised he hasn’t been asked to officiate at a poster-maker wedding yet.

Do you think you are part of a “Graphic Scene”, if so who else ?

I don’t go to any of the Flatstocks or other poster conventions, and I don’t hang out with too many people locally. I suppose I’m a part of the GP community, but only in that sort of abstract online-buddy sort of way. Apparently, in some places people are friends in real life.

A bit of self-promotion, take advantage of it, it’s free, where can we see your work , on the web or in real life?

My portfolio is at http://www.standard-design.com/ and my blog (where I actually have posters and prints for sale) is http://www.tompappalardo.com/

The best praise you received lately?

Every anonymous Facebook Like, retweet, and reddit upvote of my work makes my small heart grow three sizes too big.

What can we wish you for the future?

I’ve been focusing more on my comics and writing lately. We’ll see what actually gets published. I’ve been moving away from rock posters and more towards art prints. My future involves making lots of stuff and seeing what sticks.

See the original post at Crewkoos Rock Poster Artists Interviews

---

gigposters.com Interview

(2002)
How long have you been making posters?

Well, since 1992 or 93, probably. But, you know, I’ve only been taking it seriously for about, oh….three weeks or so.

Do bands or venues tell you what they’d like their poster to look like?

No, not really anything beyond “Don’t do color – we can’t afford it.”

How did you first get in to making posters?

Trying to hype my own band. I hear that’s how Albrecht Durer got his start, too.

What’s your day job?

I make graphics and animations for corporate sales presentations. Like, PowerPoint slideshows for salesmen guys. It’s sorta goofy, but the job has taught me mucho computer skills. The other cool thing is that I get to work from home. It’s just like being a freelancer, except without that sinking feeling of dread stealing over my soul when the rent’s due.

Where do you get your ideas?

Jesus, I don’t know. I come up with all sorts of stupid ideas all the time. I fill sketchbooks with ’em and don’t use most of them. To me, thinking up a good idea or concept is more fun than actually making a nice finished piece of art. I guess my only criterion for an idea is that it has to amuse me until I’m done drawing the damned thing.

What are your favorite bands?

Uhhh…. Clutch, Tom Waits, Clash/Strummer, The Police, Replacements/Westerberg, Tindersticks, Maiden, Stevie Wonder, Jimmy Smith, Bjork, Johnny Cash, Run-DMC, Nick Cave, Fugazi, Soul Coughing, Meters, fIREHOSE/Watt, random turntable people. I dunno, lots of stuff. I worked at a music store for a bunch of years, so I sort of developed that annoying eclecticism that goes along with the job.

What would you say is the best show you’ve ever been to?

Nick Cave. Amazing mix of super-pretty sorrowful piano ballads and heavy, amazingly heavy Evil that punches you in the sternum.

What techniques do you use to make your designs? Computer, silkscreen, copies?

When I actually draw, it’s Sketchbook+Sharpie+Pilot Precise pens, touched up with that ProWhite stuff. I almost always go out to coffeehouses or somewhere to draw, so I usually have to cut the ProWhite with medium roast, sugar and half & half. Everything eventually ends up in Photoshop for layout, color & cleanup. The only Photoshop filters I use are blur, sharpen, and color halftone; I arch my eyebrows suspiciously at all the other ones. My output is either laser copy or photocopy. I stay away from bright colors, usually. I avoid bright green or bright yellow like I avoid twentysomethings wearing ironic Goodwill-purchased T-shirts. I stay away from hand-lettering because my hands hurt alot when I do it and it just doesn’t come out very good. I like clipart, but only if I screw around with it. I like a limited palette.

Which other designers have influenced your style the most?

I like Saul Bass, Reid Miles, old Russian posters, Charles Shultz, Chris Ware, Ted McKeever, and I have a bunch of those Chronicle Books collections of different logo & poster stuff. I like all that junk but never really spend alot of time looking at it or thinking about it, so I’m not sure what influences the crap I’m putting on paper. And Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee influences me. His style is no-style.

Do you do any other art? Graphic design? Fine art?

I’ve done two-and-a-half buttloads of cartoon stuff in my day, most of which will never get published. I wrote a comic for Matt Smith (“Through the Wood, Beneath the Moon” from Caliber) and a hopefully-upcoming one for Mister Reusch. I’ve recorded 2 CDs with my lame-o band No-Shadow Kick and we’re working on another. I’ve done a handful of web design stuff and Flash animation. I have a rusty old Mustang that I work on myself. I have a stinky old house that I work on myself. I consider all of these half-assed endeavors to be creative art.

What do you consider your best poster? Why?

The two dudes about to get hit on the noggin by the pickup truck. Why? Because I’m not sick of it yet.

---

No-Shadow Kick – Spatializing Sound in the Time Domain

Listeners are likely to decide by the very first song whether they love or hate Northampton’s No-Shadow Kick (according to the EP’s cover, now “The” No-Shadow Kick): the lead singer has an intense low nasal yowl, which works well with the mischievous lyrics and turbulent guitars. Those who enjoy the voices of Frank Black (Pixies) or Peter Garrett (Midnight Oil) will likely be charmed; others may find frontman Tom Pappalardo’s singing style a turn-off. At seven songs, one of which is crap (aptly named “It Doesn’t Matter (You Motherfucker)”), Spatializing Sound in the Time Domain is short, but with so few duds on the list, the overall effect is more one of pithiness than of brevity. – Caleb Moon, The Valley Advocate, July, 2005

---

No-Shadow Kick – The Promo EP (2001)

Northampton, Massachusetts band No Shadow-Kick’s holiday six-song promotional EP is a short but diverse introduction to the band’s style. The opening track “In the Snow”, the only holiday song on the EP, is a holiday song for those unable to always muster up the expected amount of festive spirit. Its power and depth are highly complemented both by lead singer Tom Pappalardo’s deep and moody vocals and Elizabeth Street’s graceful backing voice on the choruses. The horns add to the subtle yet pervasive sadness buried among the lyrics. The EP’s other songs include two new and three old tunes, from the band’s 1999 LP, Basement Make-Out Party.

The second song, “Double Nothing”, billed as a “song probably about a girl”, rocks with the intensity of both loss and the recognition of growth. “Monks Don’t Tell Lies”, the second new track on the EP, is the band’s road song, complete with traffic sounds and Pappalardo’s appropriately preoccupied-sounding low-toned vocals. Herein, the road is transformed into a surprisingly spiritual locale, ripe with possibility, illustrating what the band calls the “Mike Watt metaphor of van-as-vessel”: “He reads my palm, proclaims me king, drops to his knees, averts his eyes, I stay calm, and say a joke, and he says to me: ‘monks don’t tell lies’”. Shawn Reynolds’s background vocals complete the harmony needed to transcend the everyday mundane experiences of life as represented by the road into a series of memorable and beautiful occurrences.

“The BMX Song”, from Basement Make-Out Party, is the rare instrumental that rocks, with a swoon-worthy beat that makes it incredibly hard for this listener to sit still. “Scarecrow Waltz” slows the pace down, expressed from the point of view of one who can “no longer discern life’s subtle shades”. Filled with touching, if a bit simplistic, lyrics, it takes a slow yet determined gait, while the music hypnotizes the listener into empathy with the melancholy tone of the track. The EP’s final song, “The Saviour Made Me Do It”, is a rocker complemented by powerful yet subdued guitars and is complete with the hilariously pathetic sounds of a televangelist’s pleas for more money for his ministry. Very sarcastic and tongue-in-cheek without losing authenticity or credibility, it is the most memorable track on the EP.

As an EP, this one fits together and works quite well. However, the lyrics could use a bit of punching up. Even so, these songs are beautiful seemingly without intending to be, the vocals are powerful and intense and the band can rock and elucidate without seeming either crass or that they are trying too hard. This is most definitely a band to watch-one that can combine indie rock sensibilities with the talent and wit needed to build a steady fan base and achieve sincere success. Pick up this EP, it’s worth it.

Miranda Hale, January 2002, JunkMedia.org

---

They had me at “hello.”

Their version of “hello,” anyway. I opened the envelope with No-Shadow Kick’s EP in it, and out fell a lovely, snowflake-covered holiday card with perfect script that read, “Happy God-Damned Winter.” Inside, they offer helpful instructions on how to classify their music: “Holiday, some sort of indy rock, and/or local, if we happen to live near you.”

I played the first song, “In The Snow,” three times straight. I really liked this morose ode to crap hanging in windows, dead trees with limbs hacked off and hung on the doors, and accident-causing black ice. This is the perfect song to play next year while you’re slamming Bacardi by the Yule log, waiting for Christmas to be over. I would pay an enormous amount of money to see NSYNC spring this one on their unsuspecting fans at their next holiday concert:

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night,
On 34th Street, it’s a wonderful life.
Thanks for the gift; it’s just right.
I’ll exchange it later for something I like.

For all their dark humor, No-Shadow Kick does take their music seriously. The word that kept popping up in my notes was “creative.” One track in particular, “Monks Don’t Tell Lies,” is an intriguing, groove-intensive, mind-expanding, surrealistic walk across a sonic desert, complete with trippy visions and paranoid vibes. I like the image of a priest doing a palm reading.

The bitter, dark “Scarecrow Waltz” also stood out for its hollowed-out vocal recording and lyrics such as:

My head is caving, my colors fading,
I can no longer discern life’s subtle shading….
You’re just the crow sitting on my shoulder, pecking at my eyes….

I especially like the way the vocal was recorded on this song. The microphone stays on during music solos, catching the singers breathing, swallowing, coughing. The mood is immediate and real.

No-Shadow Kick is a band that will try anything, using the studio as a musical playground. There’s a lovely trumpet solo on “In The Snow,” accompanied by a fake glockenspiel. (No, I don’t know either. I’m just reading the notes.) I strongly recommend this music, especially if you’ve been listening to the same kinds of artists for a while and need to sandblast the slate clean. If you like the promo CD, No-Shadow Kick also has the full-length Basement Make-Out Party CD available at their web site. – By Jennifer Layton, indie-music.com

---

No-Shadow Kick are an unsigned pop-rock band from Massachusetts. Surprisingly, given the general track record of unsigned pop-rock bands (whether they’re from Massachusetts or Fiji), No-Shadow Kick are quite good — their songs, especially the newer material, are intelligent, hummable and undeniably enjoyable. Their only problem, really, is anonymity; the Billboard charts notwithstanding, the world is full of pop-rock bands that play intelligent, hummable and undeniably enjoyable music, and our culture has scrunched them all into a massive, dense gestalt. The few acts that reach the top of the pile are often disappointed to find that their major-label deal results in an inept or nonexistent marketing push, public indifference and an eternity in one-hit-wonderland — which, in all fairness, is still far better than bands like No-Shadow Kick ever do. It’s not fair, but it’s the way the world works.

Which brings us to Promo EP. This holiday offering is apparently half new tracks, and half material culled from 1999’s Basement Make-Out Party. Although the odds are against you having heard (of) Basement Make-Out Party, the distinction is important, as the new songs blow the older ones out of the water. There’s nothing wrong with “BMX Song”, “Scarecrow Waltz” or “The Saviour Made Me Do It”, other than their busy, slightly dated, funk-derived sound and the general bulkiness of “Saviour”‘s central conceit, but the simplicity and clarity of the holiday-themed “In the Snow” beats them all. “In the Snow” is just plain gorgeous — a jangly, melodic, beautifully simple indie rock song with a hint of shoegazer fuzz. Guest vocalist Elizabeth Street adds a much-needed female contrast to the chorus, interacting wonderfully with the crystal-clear guitar melody; I hope the band can use her more in future. The surprises don’t end there, either; there’s a lovely horn and (I think) music box interlude that introduces the looped beat that guides the song to its finish. There’s more fun to come: “Double Nothing” is a more riff-intensive song, rich with indie-rock dischord and Britpop-style harmony. “Monks Don’t Tell Lies” debuts a stripped-down version of the band’s quirkier work, pairing chorused vocals and whining guitars with a canned beat, unleashing thunderous live drumming and processed vocals during its chorus. Like “In the Snow”, these songs work well because they’re not as busy as the other tunes — the production is clean, the variety high.

My advice to No-Shadow Kick: burn “In the Snow”, “Double Nothing” and “Monks Don’t Tell Lies” to a new CD and send that to labels. There’s enough variation and skill on display in that fourteen minutes to get you a deal — if that’s what you want. – George Zahora, Splendid E-Zine

---

If you’re looking for music to chase away the winter blues (so what if it’s April) then No-Shadow Kick’s Promo EP may be just what you’re looking for to put a smile on your chapped lips. This trio of power poppers from Northampton, MA serves up smart, solid, and ever so sarcastic indie rock. The first three tracks are the latest from the band. They cash in on the winter motif with “In The Snow,” a poppy little tune full of one liners and word play aimed at the Yuletide. Sure it’s an easy target, but nonetheless the song will keep you chuckling and acquaint you with the band’s tongue-in-cheek nature. The second track, “Double Nothing,” is the highlight of these half dozen songs. A lovesick indie rock song, it’s full of contemplative angst over the oft-lost gamble that is love. The rhythm section keeps the track punching along on cruise control as guitar drifts through like a breeze. This track is perfect for that mix tape made especially for those long, post break-up drives to clear the head. The last of the new songs is “Monks Don’t Tell Lies,” a slightly dubbish ditty relating a moment of Zen clarity come upon during the chaos of a broken down tour van. The remainder of the promo EP is made up of tracks originally released on their debut full length Basement Make-Out Party. “BMX Song,” “Scarecrow Waltz,” and “The Saviour Made Me Do It” continue to exemplify No-Shadow Kick’s pension for bouncing from sound to sound. Stylistic A.D.D. aside, this EP helps to showcase No-Shadow Kick as a band that one hopes will continue to grow and continue to produce music that strikes a balance between talent and humour. – John Lefler, Performer Mag April 2002

---

Strange stuff. We got zero info. so I’ll have to make it up as I go along. Let’s see…got a drummer, I hear bass and guitars and a guy and girl singing these rather bizarre songs. I’m gonna guess that maybe the recording is home grown. Not that it stinks or anything, it’s just the EQ and compression, etc. But the hell with all that. They’ve got an unusual way of turning a song and it’s loaded up with wacky percussive bits, swooshes, and echoey thangs. I’m loving the in-your-face vocal mix on “Monks Don’t Tell Lies” with its synth-guitar textures, drums panned left (except for that side stick) and trashy FX loop. Very creative, that. My fave of the bunch is “In The Snow.” It opens the CD and paints a lovely vignette of a winter’s day, lyrically. I also like “Scarecrow Waltz.” – L.A. Wha, Soundcheck Magazine

---

Well, it may be a little late now, but this is a six-song holiday EP from Northampton, Massachusetts’ No-Shadow Kick. Hence the “happy god-damned winter” greeting card that comes along with it and the opener, “In the Snow,” being a cutesy but melancholy holiday song with adorable supporting vocals from Elizabeth Street. “Double Nothing” rocks out a little more as a simple indie pop song about a girl, followed by the rather lethargic “Monks Don’t Tell Lies,” which is the band’s song about being on the road. Then we get three already released songs, from the band’s Basement Make-Out Party album. There is the groovy instrumental, “BMX Song,” as well as “Scarecrow Waltz,” a slow and mildly depressing number, and an edit/remix of “The Savior Made Me Do It,” a bass-driven rock number that stands out as one of the better songs offered. All together, the six songs provide a diverse introduction to a band that blends standard indie rock with hints of playfulness, melancholy and wit. (EF) – Alarm Press Oct 2003

---

No-Shadow Kick – Basement Makeout Party (1999)

AMG EXPERT REVIEW: No-Shadow Kick’s Basement Make-Out Party does a good job of showcasing the band’s chops, sense of humor, and musical influences, but none of these elements really jell into a cohesive album. Their stripped-down sound and the album’s slightly rough-around-the-edges production values are appealing, however, on tracks as varied as the quasi-emo of “Daft”; the jazzy, math rock-influenced “Sat Through Tues. in July”; and the pretty Beck- and Pavement-inflected “Scarecrow Waltz.”Quirky songs like the lounge singer parody “I’ll Love You in the End” add even more eclecticism to Basement Make-Out Party, but what the band really needs is more focus and consistency in their sound, not less. Still, No-Shadow Kick displays enough ideas and ability on this album to make their future efforts worth anticipating. – Heather Phares, All-Music Guide

---

With a skewed version of blues and Funk, No-Shadow Kick reside somewhere between the realm of die-hard Classic Rock enthusiasts and tongue-deep-in-cheek Indie nutcases. Either way, their mixture of heavy guitar riffs, funky basslines, weird keyboard sounds and vocal wailing should keep many a music fan happy. – Listen.com

---

This is somewhat of a mixed bag, kind of like Haribo Star Mix; they are all good, just in different ways. It’s difficult to review an album that is so seemingly random, but soon it becomes evident that the order of the day is predominantly funk. Although the feel of the songs changes they are all held together by a great rhythm section, throwing about influences ranging from Captain Beefheart to what is apparently the soundtrack to a low grade erotic movie (‘Three in the Afternoon’ being a prime example of this). The range of sounds throughout the album is pretty varied but if you have a love of 70s funk, psych and low-fi indie, this may well be the band for you, I suppose I can hear echoes of Eels or Beck…..but that isn’t really any sort of guide as to what No-Shadow Kick sound like. Overall it stands as a very confusing, yet enthralling listening experience, quite odd. – Drew Millward, Tasty Fanzine

---

Northampton-based No-Shadow Kick has enticed me into their dirty cellar of a CD with Basement Make-Out Party. There are fourteen cuts (plus the now inevitable secret bonus track) here and most were recorded in various Valley basements (with three exceptions recorded in Valley bedrooms). Everything was then mastered at the Monkeyhouse by none other than local fave Zeke Fiddler. The resulting effect is a great raw and primitive sound quality that the listener can actually hear and distinguish.
The band consists of Shawn on drums, piano, digital clip remover (whatever that is), and percussion; Josh on guitar and vocals; and Tom on bass, vocals, and percussion. Why they list no last names is probably their own business and I will choose to leave their personal lives the mystery they want, because this disc stands on its own in every sense of the phrase. No-Shadow Kick blend a bunch of styles including ’60s Detroit blues, ’70s funk, a certain late ’80s indie spirit and throw out hellos to various performers including Sly Stone and a really funny (and perfectly done) nod to Tom Waits. The style is mellow, but even so gave me a bit of a Mission Of Burma feel now and then. The bass anchors the band here and Tom goes from intricate funk to simple punk with no trouble and regardless of what he’s playing is solid, forceful, and a powerhouse. The drums and guitar are minimalist, but still come in with great effect. The sparseness of the guitar defines the sound here in many ways. Vocals? Seedy is an apt description. Very low-key and fits well with the music. The groove seems all important with these guys and Basement Make-Out Party has more than enough groove to spare. I liked everything on the disc except the secret bonus track. Very annoying; long, and needless. Luckily it starts so long after the last track that it will be easily avoidable for anyone getting the disc. – Duke Aaron, Il Duce, VMAG, FEB 2000

---

Basement Make-out Party has an experimental feel about it. The impression is that No Shadow Kick is a young band exploring sounds, moods, styling and recording techniques (“recorded mostly in basements”). Throughout the CD it seems the bassist carries the songs with a perpetual groove while the drums, percussion, piano and guitar often create the eclectic, oddity of Haverhill MA’s No Shadow Kick. Not without humor, I’ll Love You in the End, is a great send up of the lounge piano singer. The potential is there. Unfortunately, the recording is weak and suffers from poor production. – Nick Casino, Musician’s Trade Journal, issue #3, March 2000

---

This is the kind of record that you would assume was made after smoking about a trash bag full of dope. That may be why I couldn’t grab all the subtle nuances here, and probably why the purpose of this album was lost on me. The band brings new meaning to the word sparse, with loose musical arrangements comprising most of the album, and trippy vocals interjected from time to time. There are moments of clarity, and some nice bass work strewn throughout, but often little to tie it together.

At the beginning, we get “Daft”, which has what sounds like a sick snare drum being repetitively hit, drowning out almost everything until the vocals start – which isn’t until about a minute into the track. A lot of the vocals on this album are odd, too. They were definitely trying for a different sound – which is either hit or miss. “Sat. Through Tues. In July” is a miss. Its plodding, bluesy vocals never seem to quite catch, leaving you waiting for a hook that never arrives. But, the album does have it’s moments. One example would be “Scarecrow Waltz”, which shows how loose arrangements can be a good thing. It has the feeling of one of the slower, pshychedelic Pink Floyd tunes from the Roger Waters era, with the filtered vocal sound used throughout most of the album. “Super Press-Down” also has potential, with a 70’s funk sound.

But then, the return of the sick snare in “OC2”. Please, kill the snare. It’s done enough for one lifetime. And, the lounge hit “I’ll Love You in the End” has that dripping, Wayne Newton overtone to it, with none of the production value. I think it’s supposed to be up close and personal time with the band, simulating the live experience (complete with chinking glasses, background voices, etc), but it’s an odd way of going about it. “Von Chow Soul Suck”, aside from having the coolest name on the disc, also starts out with the most potential. The bass is great, a good groove with a flanger making it sound even cooler. But then it just drags on – with little else going on at all. The only vocals are some “ooh-ohh”‘s and an “oh, yeah” here and there. It just made me want to skip on to the next track. By the final official song on the album (yes, there’s a bonus track, too), “The Savior Made Me Do It”, there’s actually a full song worth of material. There’s some great jamming, with powerful vocals that aren’t understated like the rest of the disc. Basement Make-Out Party has moments. Unfortunately these moments were spent getting to the meat of some of the tunes. The carnivorous general public just doesn’t have the attention span to wait 1 to 2 minutes for vocals to kick in. They’re more likely to just stop listening. – John MacLeod, Music Revue Magazine, May 2000

---

Daily Hampshire Gazette’s Hampshire Life Q+A (2011)

Letter X Q+A, 2006:

---

back to homepage