Sorry for the delay in updating my Scrapbook. I'm just now recovering, I was very sick last week, but I'll get into that later.

This week's cartoon, "Meditation", was inspired by a concert I went to back in the early 70's, where the music was so beautiful, but when the guitarist spoke, it was so crude - and I loved the contrast between his music and his voice. This cartoon was done out of art school, and you can clearly see the influence of Saul Steinberg.

I winged my way to L.A. on April 28, for two reasons: 1. to do a documentary about myself for the French TV channel Canal Plus that will be broadcast to French audiences while I'm in Annecy. Why I had to do the documentary in L.A., I don't know – something about the "center of animation", the French said. And 2. to get more voices for "Hair High".

The first interview was with Corky Quakenbush, famed animator for Mad TV. We had it in his spacious "Space Bass" studios, and he was hilarious. We tried to get an interview with Matt Groening, but it was impossible, he's way too busy. The French were very disappointed with that. Our last interview was with the hot young animator Don Hertzfeldt. He lives near Santa Barbara, so we all drove up to his studio, had a great time eating and talking, and he also recorded the voice of Dill for "Hair High" – he was great. Watch for the documentary, it was a lot of fun.

I then rushed to the sound studio for a recording session with Dermot Mulroney, he was fantastic! He sounded just like his character, Rod. Besides, I loved him in "About Schmidt".

Back in New York the next day, I was sleeping and suddenly I got a terrific pain in my side – "Whooa! What’s this?" I rushed to the hospital, and they said it was kidney stones. They gave me an I.V. and pain pills, I was laying there next to a tourist that got beat up and robbed, he looked like he had been in a car wreck.

When I got home, I was on a steady diet of pain killers, which made it difficult to draw, so worked on shadows and prepping scenes for the camera. This is not a good time for me to become infirm, it's the last few months of "Hair High" art before it all goes to the editor, and I don't want to fall behind now – so even though I was sick, I went to the studio.

The highlight of the week was the ASIFA East Animation Awards gala – lots of great films this year, very tough competition. To get the list of the winners, go to www.asifaeast.com. Everybody who is anybody in animation was there, what a glittering assemblage of artistic star power – I even saw Joan Rivers and her ubiquitous daughter outside, trying to get interviews.

The big winners of the evening were: Signe Baumane for "Woman", Alex Budovsky for "Bathtime in Clerkenwell" and Mike Overbeck for "Tongues and Taxis", all three brilliant films and deserving of prizes. We all gathered in the New School foyer for wine and food and tried to chat with everyone, but there were too many friends, so a bunch of us went to Spain (the restaurant) for a more intimate soiree. Unfortunately, I had to cut out early because my pain killers were wearing off.

The next big event was the "Plethora of Plymptoons" book signing held at the headquarters of the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, hosted by Lawrence Klein of MoCCA and Thierry Nantier of NBM Publishing. I was there to celebrate the release of both of my new books: "Sloppy Seconds" from Plymptoons Publishing, and the "Hair High" graphic novel from NBM. Also displayed on the wall was original art from both books. It was great to celebrate the books and the gallery show at MoCCA - I even did some drawing demonstrations, but near the end the pain killers were wearing off again, and I rushed home to bed.

The next day, feeling better, I took a train to Red Bank, New Jersey, where I hosted a Bill Plympton evening for the Red Bank Film Festival's Freedom Film Society. I was joined by Maureen McElheron to talk about my films and the music before a standing-room-only crowd. It was a wonderful audience, I even felt a lot better, and I think the sickness has passed.

Now, I can get back to finishing the animation for "Hair High".

See you all next week,
Bill Plympton