From there, the kids had the opportunity to write their own music and lyrics in their own bands. The result was a full-length album titled, Chickens in Love, with 12 songs from 826LA students who then had their songs covered by Los Angeles-based musicians including, She & Him, Fiona Apple, Cold War Kids, Tim and Eric, The Submarines, Summer Darling, The Happy Hollows, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Dum Dum Girls, The Growlers, Crystal Antlers, and The Pity Party. Check out some videos of the original songs, followed by a sample track of the recording artist who covered it:

The Peeps: “Mamacita”

Coldwar Kids cover of “Mamacita”

The Taco Shells: “Mexican Food”

Summer Darling cover of “Mexican Food”

The Gummy Bears: “So Sleepy”

Fiona Apple’s cover of “So Sleepy”

The public can listen to these songs and bid on their favorites, with all proceeds going directly back into the organization itself, that will help fund writing and tutoring workshops for kids in L.A. (Pledges of $30+ will also be tax deductible!) When the bid closes on April 30th, 2010 the band that raises the most money will win the ultimate bragging rights with the 826LA Gold Record! The one-day Mini Music Festival showcasing Chicken in Love songs will also be held at the Echoplex on March 6th

Support children’s literacy and creativity through this great cause! Pledge now!

The book’s illustrations are done by Rachell Sumpter and comes in all forms– paperback, hard back, audio, and if you’re feeling fancy there’s also a special edition fur cover. Check it out. Pure awesome.

If you don’t know already, “Where the Wild Things Are” is set to release on October 16th in the US. Don’t miss it!

Last fall ’08, we did a really great collaboration with the kids at 826LA and some of our local artists. It was an awesome and gratifying experience for everyone and we had a lot of fun doing it. The story of our collaboration was recently posted on the TED Prize website. It is also posted on OnceUponASchool.org. Make sure to check it out!

For more pictures and info, check out our past blog about Poketo+826LA.

We have been talking about 826LA for some time now, especially since our special collaboration of wallets we did with young authors of 826LA and top notch artists of Los Angeles. 826LA is a non-profit writing workshop and tutoring center for youth ages 6-18. That is the heart of the organization, but, it’s partly fueled by the storefront, The Echo Park Time Travel Mart. We stopped in to say hi and get some more info about their amazing store and all the goodies they sell.

Hi Christina! You are the store manager over at 826LA’s Time Travel Mart. Tell us a bit about what you do there.

Hi! As the manager of the Echo Park Time Travel Mart it’s my job to make sure we are stocked with great merchandise from the past and the future and for folks coming from the past or future looking to blend in LA, 2008. I am also in charge of events, so I organize in-store events like Dead Author Readings and fundraisers like the 826LA Echo Park Paddle Boat Regatta.

What is the ideas behind the Time Travel Mart? Why did you guys choose that theme?

LA is such a car culture and travel marts are ubiquitous, so, it was a natural conclusion… The Echo Park Time Travel Mart is a leader in convenience retailing and sells everything you need before you take a road trip through the fourth dimension. Literally behind the Time Travel Mart is 826LA a non-profit writing and tutoring center for kids 6-18.

Tomorrow’s News…. Yesterday’s News from Poketo on Vimeo.

What would one find at the Time Travel Mart? Tell us about some of the products that you have at the Time Travel Mart. What are some of your favorites, what are some best sellers and why do you think people love them?

You can grab time-machine fuel, a can of mastodon meat, and a souvenir t-shirt in one quick stop. We have some great interactive components; a community bulletin board with postings from all eras, a time travel office where you can get your “pastport” picture taken and a “SPECIALTIES” window that peeks into the tutoring lab. My favorites are robot milk, chauffeur wax and I am obsessed with one of our new fragrances called Studio 54. Our best seller is definitely viking odorant. I think in this economy – even if all the proceeds go directly to 826LA programming – it is easier for people to spend their money on something useful. I try to make sure that we always have a good assortment of useful products in addition to the novelty items, toys and books.

826LA also has a Venice location. The new, second location in Echo Park is amongst some really great places…. The Echo, Downbeat Cafe, El Prado Bar, and soon to be open Stories book shop and Out of the Closet store. How do you like being in Echo Park, tell us about the energy, the kids, the people discovering The Time Travel Mart for the first time. Any funny anecdotes for people coming into 826 and wondering what is going on??

Echo Park is an amazing neighborhood with a rich history. It’s a great blend of families and young singles. I often run into the kids (from after-school) with their families when I am running errands on Sunset Blvd. It really is a community in every sense of the word. It’s exciting to be a part of the energy that permeates everything around here these days. We get a lot of inquisitive folks when it comes to the Time Travel Mart. We get asked a lot if it’s an art installation or if the stuff is actually for sale. We are happy to say that we are here to stay and it’s all for sale! – except for the tutoring, that’s free.

You guys have an amazingly crazy storefront, window display with a caveman and robot shaking hands. It looks so great and very lifelike. Tell us a bit about that. How you came up with the design and executed such craziness.

We were very fortunate that Bad Robot (JJ Abrams Production company) offered to do our window display. When we told them that it was our dream to have a museum like diorama with a caveman a robot shaking hands to commemorate the historic peace treaty between cavemen and robots, they obliged. The installation is a collective effort, the Caveman and Robot were designed at Bad Robot and built by the prop builder who does Star Trek. The rest was installed by me and Amy Martin.

The support from the community is amazing. What other fun things do you have coming up that has not yet been realized? We’re always on the look out for new product and new collaborations.

I am very excited about our next collaboration because it’s also a fundraiser. We asked Amy Martin (Amy designed our popular Time Travel Posters) to design a letter press holiday card and then we found Christine from Flora and Fauna Press to print it. The cards will sell in pack of 5 for $15.99, but you can also buy them individually as holiday donation cards. So, you specify the amount and give us the information and we will send the card to the recipient with something along the lines of “a donation has been made in your name to 826LA for $____. After that, it’s a line of clocks designed by David Byrne, Spike Jonze and Tucker Nichols! And 2009 brings us the launch of a monthly 826LA curated variety show called Tiny Vaudeville!

Wow, that sounds so exciting!! Does the Time Travel Mart help fund the afterschool tutoring and workshops for youth that happen at 826LA? How important is the store to your organization?

The store is very important in that it sets a tone. The kids pass through this amazingly creative space into the tutoring lab, which is another exceptional space where they are expected to complete their homework and work on creative projects. All of the proceeds from the store go directly to support the organization.

We just did the Poketo + 826LA, When Wallets Eat Words wallet collaboration. It was so much fun! What other collaborations have you done? What else is in the works? How do these collabs come about? Are you looking for them or do they happen naturally?

We love the wallets and were so excited to see them come to life! We feel very strongly about how important it is for kids to realize how writing can open up the world for them. The project with Poketo was a great example of how writing and art combine and make something unique.

Collaboration is crucial to the success of 826LA. Most of our product is created through collaboration, from actual products for sale in the store to services we offer like tutoring and workshops. We could not do it without the help of such talented and generous people. Another of my favorites is the Time Line of Fragrances – it’s 10 different fragrances that span 34,000 BCE (Caveman) to 77778 (Dystopia). They were created by Yosh, a perfumer who once managed the Pirate Store in San Francisco, so she really knew what we were looking for and they are just amazing.

Anything you are hoping, wishing, aiming for in 2009?
We look forward to celebrating our 1st anniversary of the EP tutoring lab in January and the store in April. We continue to grow and always need volunteers to come down and help tutor – we have up to 40 kids some days! And of course we are always looking for projects with great folks like Poketo.

You can visit the store and find out how you can be part of 826LA at www.826la.org.

You can see videos, read interviews, and purchase the Poketo + 826LA wallets at poketo.com and the Time Travel Mart, 1714 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026, (213)413-3388

I’m spending my Sunday evening brewing with excitement and ideas. TED.com is a great place to be in the same room with thinkers that shape our world. Listen to this talk with Dave Eggers, an inspiring talk of how one person, YOU, can change your community and our world.

Hi Martha!! You were one of the first people to join the 826LA project. We have been a big fan of your work and it’s great to do something special like this together. What was it about the project and 826LA that you love?

I have worked with 826 Valencia on a book project and it was an excellent experience. I love the idea behind all these 826 stores. I think it’d be great if we could do some art tutoring there too!

What did you like about the stories you illustrated for? What were your thoughts and approach to taking on the students stories? Is there anything you want to tell the young authors??

I like the authenticity and rawness of the stories. They are just being themselves and that is so refreshing. I’d tell the authors to keep on writing as much as possible and trust your own ideas!

You have great interaction with your fans on your website, you give a lot of opportunity for people to follow your work and get to know you. In particular, I love your Freedom Wig project. Can you tell us a little more about that project? Is it something you do to motivate? Is it something you do for your collectors? What is the idea behind Freedom Wig? Where does the name come from?

The name Freedom wig comes from the old wig ads in the back of tabloid magazines in the 70s. It was the name of a specific wig you could buy. But I saw that imagery first on the cover the Stone’s “Some Girls” album. The name is struck me as awesome and wrong. Wearing a wig isn’t really freeing, but when I was younger my mom had cancer and had to wear a wig and for her it was freeing. This made me obsessed with wigs.

I started Freedomwig as a challenge to myself to stay motivated. I did one painting every day for a year. I am much better with a goal. It was super hard but when the year was done I kinda missed it so now I do it Monday thru Friday. I am not as disciplined as before but it keeps me trying new things. I also like the idea of having affordable art. Everyone should be able to buy art, don’t you think?

Totally agree, that is the basic philosophy behind Poketo too. What drives the imagery in your work? How would you describe the work that you do, the inspiration, the meanings for the pieces to you. I’m sure each piece has a different meaning to you, but, your subjects and aesthetic is strong…. generally, is there something that drives your work?

Being annoyed with the way things are drives my work. The issues usually center around my insecurities. It is a diary with pictures.

You also recently finished up Beauty Road Trip with friend and artist, Esther Pearl Watson, who also contributed to the 826 project. Can you tell us how the project started, what it was about, what you were hoping for, looking back now, what are your thoughts on the roadtrip? Any anecdotes, favorite moments you want to share that stuck out to you from the trip?

The trip started because I love road trips. Esther and I teach at Art Center College of Design and they offer an enrichment grant to teachers, so we started thinking about an enrichment project that involves art and road tripping. We collaborated a while ago on a McSweeney’s published book “Dear New Girl or Whatever Your Name Is” and the pieces we did had a beauty theme. So a Beauty Road Trip seemed like a natural next step. We wanted to find out what people outside of hyper-superficial L.A. thought about beauty.

There are so many good moments but one that stood out was our discovery that everyone in Marfa, TX has a chainsaw. Don’t ask!

I want to know! I’ll ask another time. You share a studio space with some amazing artists, including Esther Pearl Watson, Mark Todd, and Souther Salazar. Is there ever any melding of the minds, collaboration in a studio full of creativity? Do you guys usually keep to yourselves or do you ever make time to share ideas and projects that lead to some sort of collaboration? I can only imagine the energy in your studio!

When our studio first started there was a lot more interaction. It has changed and evolved with people leaving and new people coming in over the years. We definitely keep to ourselves more. Even though we are not a frenzied hotspot of collaboratin’ right now, there is a creative energy that each person shoots off that does have an affect on you. I can completely feel it.

Last but not least, any projects you are currently working on that you want to talk about, what’s coming up in 2009?

I have a show at La Luz de Jesus in April 2009 and Esther and I are figuring out what we are going to do with our crazy Beauty Road Trip experiences. Stay tuned!

Thanks Martha, we should do something at the Poketo space for Beauty Road Trip. We’ll talk later!

Check out Martha’s two wallets here and here.
Visit Martha at www.martharich.com.

Tim Biskup worked with Poketo and 826LA to create a Poketo wallet for the collaborative project, “When Wallets Eat Words”. 826LA students wrote a story and we got top Los Angeles artists to illustrate them as covers for Poketo wallets!!

In this short interview, Tim Biskup shares his thoughts on working with kids inside a vibrating dj booth at his weekly music gig, Moon dogg, at the Verdugo Bar, Los Angeles.

Check out all the wallets from Poketo + 826LA.
Visit Tim at www.timbiskup.com.

Hi Mark and Esther! I am super excited that both of you are part of this special collaboration with 826LA. What was it about this benefit that you loved?

This was a fun project for us. a challenge to create some work that compliments the writing. We are happy with the results.

Is there anything you want to tell the students that you made the illustrations for?

I hope all the students who were involved in this project continue to be creative, to have their voices heard.

Of course the stories directed the images, but, how did you decide to use those images and what was the process?

Since the writing was literally “dreamlike”, the visual look to the work was important. Its a two sided thing. one one hand, since the writing is “loose” and freeform, the work can go into a more abstract route. On the other hand, you can’t just throw anything in there, you want to capture the writers style, his or her way of saying things. We would read the story over and over, pulling things that seemed interesting to illustrate, that capture the essence of the piece. Then arrange them into a eye pleasing illustration.

I love that, how you can look at something over and over and find new information, ideas, and details. I like hearing how you found the imagery to their stories. I know you were involved in some of the McSweeney’s publications. Can you tell us a bit more those projects?

Esther is currently working on a book for Mcsweeneys about her work and her relationship to her father, who built large scale “flying” saucers in the yard. It’s turning out to be a wonderful father/daughter story, their similarities, both being artists in their own way. The book will have a lot of Esther’s paintings, based on her memories on her childhood alongside her dads doodles and schematics of saucer designs. This book has been in the works for years. Hopefully it will be available in early 2009.

Esther was also in the “Dear New Girl” book that Mcsweeneys released.

We have also done some work for “The Believer”, a magazine they publish. And, we are both part of a new postcard set they are releasing.

You guys do so much! Books, zines, prints, art shows. Is there anything in particular that you really love? Do all the projects sort of melt into your art? Do you approach commercial projects in a different way that you approach making art?

We love it all! We love jumping around, we never get bored. And we love not really knowing whats coming down the road. Lately, it seems like books and gallery shows are really interesting to us. Everything does melt together. A show idea may become a book project, or a series of illustrations for a magazine. We have had zines become actual book projects on many occasions. “The Pain Tree” and “Bad Asses” for example. Esthers zine, “Unlovable” was picked up by BUST magazine years ago, running for years in there. Fantagraphics is releasing a huge 2 volume Unlovable book in January of 2009 and Esther has been working with a few people on turning Unlovable into a short live action/animated film.

What is Funchicken? Is it an exhibiiton of your work? Where did the name come from?

Funchicken is our online shop. We thought it would be fun to have a place to sell our zines, shirts, etc. We wanted something separate from our websites, a place to goof around and just have fun. Our other websites estherpearlwatson.com and marktoddillustration.com are geared more towards gallery and illustration work. It all melts together, like we said, but we wanted to have a place that does feel different. The name came from a vending machine we saw one day in Brooklyn. We were walking down 7th Ave., near our old place in Park Slope. We had just bought a computer, this way back in 1996 or so. We needed an e-mail address and we wanted to share one for some reason, we didn’t really know that you could have several e-mail names at once. So we thought, “what about funchicken?” something silly, nonsensical, meaningless. We wanted a one word name that could grow with us, that we could make into whatever we wanted. A name people would easily remember.

That’s so cool, kind of like Poketo, it can be lots of different things and whatever we want.

You also teach at the Art Center College of Design. What do you teach there? How do you balance teaching and doing your own projects?

At the moment we teach “Illustration for Publishing”. In the past we have taught “Children’s Book Illustration”, and a few others. We usually only teach 1 or 2 days a week so its manageable. It’s actually inspiring and motivates us to work that much harder. When you are freelance like we are and there is no real structure, it’s nice to have a place you have to be at a few days a week. We have to prepare for classes, figure out what to say and show to students. It organizes our thoughts for us. “Whatcha Mean, What’s a Zine?” is a book we did with Houghton Mifflin and was actually helped along by teaching at Art Center. We always show students samples of our books, and the road we took to get there. With the zine book, we decided to work on a book project alongside the students, and by the end of the class, we had a book pitch ready to show.

You are closely involved in zine making, I always pick up all the latest zines you guys are doing at the Comic Con. You have actually written a book, “Whatcha Mean, What’s a Zine”. Where does teaching and storytelling come from? Has it always been in you? Why is it important to you?

We were so inspired by zine artists when we moved to California from New York. All these people creating handmade gems of love. Storytelling has always been a huge part of our work. Esther has often said, “You know, I tell stories with my work, that’s just what I do, and I think I always will.” I think some of us just work that way. Like in music, there are songs, good songs with a cool beat or whatever, and then there are songs that are stories, that evoke an emotion, that have a beginning, a middle and an end. We have always been drawn to storytellers.

Tell us a bit about making a zine and your approach to making them. Do you have something in mind before you start creating? Is it more organic and spontaneous? So many of your zines go through different xerox process’ and pages often feel random, spontaneous, but, when looking at it whole, it’s complete. It’s almost like sharing bits and pieces of your work and life. Is this your intention? Do you think zines are the best way to get your work out to people?

Usually when we make a zine its quick and fast. We get an idea and we put it down on paper. Most of the time we have a theme or formula we use. For example, a zine about Chuck E Cheese, or friends I grew up with in Vegas. Esther’s zines tend to be more character driven, actual stories or events, mine tend to be more in the form of lists. Like a bunch of drawings of tv characters or a zine I did called “Things I Grew Up with in Vegas”, basically a collection of drawings of objects in my parents house. Zines are great way to promote your work and tell stories. But not every idea fits well into the zine format. Sometimes, ideas seem better suited for larger scale book projects, t-shirts, etc.

What projects do you guys have coming up? Anything you can talk about?

Esther: Book for Mcsweeneys in 2009, exhibition at Billy Shire Fine Arts in January 2009, Unlovable vol 1 released by Fantagraphics in January 2009, Unlovable short film sometime soon we hope, be on the lookout! Currently, Esther is part of a show at the Oakland Museum of California.

Mark: Show at Laluzdejesus Gallery in January 2009 and a few other projects in the works.

Check out all the wallets from Poketo + 826LA.
Visit Mark and Esther at www.funchicken.com.