JONOblog

BAGGAGE / comic writer

[dienerjonathan]

After years away, Im back on Tumblr and I can let the world know... I’m officially a comic writer! My first released work is part of a charity anthology I coordinated to help Flint, and it’s being published by the wonderful people at Source Point Press. HOPE: A Comic For Flint is giving ALL of our proceeds to THE COMPASS, a program of Michigan Community Services Inc. that helps adults with disabilities in the Flint area. September 1st is the release show featuring four bands that include the creators of HOPE! We put together something special, and to celebrate my return to Tumblr... you get the first chance to preorder it!!!! https://hopeacomicforflint.bigcartel.com/product/hope-a-comic-for-flint

[dienerjonathan]

Tried to help explain the reality of being in a band and make people feel better about their work situation. Up now at Alternative Press! http://www.altpress.com/features/entry/your_job_doesnt_define_you_unless_you_want_it_to

[dienerjonathan]

Baggage / Detroit

[koyamapress]

Ahead of the launch of their all-ages adventure Night Air, Ben Sears is interviewed by Inverse.

“Sears’s work is a rare treat, at once hauntingly atmospheric and undeniably inviting, his stories are marked with an all-ages sensibility that makes for some truly engrossing arcs.” — Justin Andress, Inverse

Check out the whole interview, as well as some of Ben’s art and inspiration, here!

[dienerjonathan]

Hey Chicago, my new band plays your lovely city again this Friday!

[dienerjonathan]

[bensears]

capsule man

[buzzfeednews]

Bathrooms in North Carolina have become a lightning rod for transgender rights across the country with the passing of a law that, in part, requires people to use only public bathrooms that correspond with the sex they are assigned at birth.

Sarah McBride, a 25-year-old transgender woman, decided to take action against the law. 

“Here I am using a women’s restroom in North Carolina that I’m technically barred from being in,” she writes. “They say accepting me as the person I have fought my life to be seen as reflects the downfall of a once great nation.”

She lists some of the terms that underscore the mounting hysteria around transgender women who use the women’s restroom — “pervert,” “man dressed as a woman,” a “threat” to children, “confused,” and “dangerous.”

“I’m just a person,” she writes. “We are all just people. Trying to pee in peace.”

Continue reading.

[dienerjonathan]

[dienerjonathan]

I feel like I'm due for a total freak out with all of the changes, decisions and added pressure in my life lately, but conveniently I'm in a band writing a new album...

[dienerjonathan]

Get tickets. This will be wild.

[dienerjonathan]

Head to Baggage HQ for news, music, tour dates, merch and more!

[dienerjonathan]

on Live Nation Concerts

Wow. Baggage gets to play Motion City Soundtrack’s final show at The Fillmore in Detroit on June 5th!

The Swellers played this historic venue and I honestly never thought I’d get to play there again. As one band ends, another begins and I hope you celebrate with us.

[nprbooks]

After he won a National Book Award, and one of the MacArthur Foundation’s so-called genius grants, no one anticipated Ta-Nehisi Coates’ next move – into comic books. Coates has written the latest installment of Marvel's Black Panther story, which follows an African king with superhuman strength and intellect.

Ta-Nehisi Coates Hopes ‘Black Panther’ Will Be Some Kid’s ‘Spider-Man’

[npr]

I cannot wait to go read this. -Mabinty 

[dienerjonathan]

It's so good.

[dienerjonathan]

[dienerjonathan]

Late night thoughts

I think my biggest weakness is letting me get in my own head. Late at night when I'm brushing my teeth I'll look at the mirror and into my eyes and think about all of the times I've done that before. I then start to over-analyze my facial symmetry, my crooked teeth and turn to the side and see my gut thanks to my lack of going to the gym and eating like an idiot. The second I don't have some kind of distraction I start to be pretty shitty to myself. Which would make sense why I always have music or the tv going. If not that, I'm reading something. Growing up I had such a fun, wild imagination and still remember the time I had my dad take a picture of me wearing sunglasses and I was hoping I looked like Rash from the game Battletoads that I loved so much. I was so distraught that I looked nothing like him once I saw the picture I started crying. My imagination would go from fun to distorting reality as I grew up. But what Im starting to realize over time is why I love playing music and writing so much. I combine the distractions with my wild imagination and that way of venting fills a void. It's relief and isn't me staring at myself in the mirror when I should be sleeping. If I could write songs, articles and stories then I should be able to rewrite the way I think. It's like pinching yourself to see if you're dreaming, or in this case slapping myself in the face and telling myself everything is OK (without physically doing that, obviously.) A few years ago I came to terms with who I am, not just who I wanted to be. I learned to start loving myself because I'm unique and weird and could use everything about me to become the most me I could be. That was my strength. Everyone has that. So when you look in the mirror and notice one of your eyes is closer to your nose than the other, or your birth marks are in strange spots or you crack a joke and no one laughs, that's just part of being you. You're never lesser than based on what you think others expect. You're just you and you can do whatever you want with that.

[dienerjonathan]

Cheaper Than Therapy - EP by Baggage on iTunes

Preview, buy, and download songs from the album Cheaper Than Therapy - EP, including ”Flint,” ”Safety Net,” ”Twenty-Something,” and many more. Buy the album for $4.95. Songs start at $0.99.

After my last band broke up for a number of reasons, I wrote songs about dealing with anxiety and growing up. 

The band is called Baggage and the EP is called Cheaper Than Therapy.

Stream/Purchase and please tell your friends!

https://t.co/Yp3lPNQHGO