Publication Date: June 11, 1997 | Series: Live girls
An intelligent and self-deprecating romp through the "out there" humor of one of today's funniest women
A collection of comic narratives that are hilariously incisive and illustrated in her splashy, apropos style, Lap Dancing for Mommy runs riot with mainstream perceptions of "underground" lifestyles -- and with just about anything else that crosses this artist's keen eye. Whether she's revealing "Phallusies: The Fake Penis Exhibition", relating the psycho antics of "Therapy Girl" or the troubles of "Camaro Joe", or taking friendly shots at sexuality and the '70s Sisterhood, Lopez's talent and intellect take her work far beyond the usual comic fare.
"Erika Lopez's cartoons are so corrosive they should come with a hazardous material warning. Buy this book now and surrender to her exquisitely vile and depraved genius". -- Alison Bechdel, creator of Dykes to Watch Out For
Maybe Lap Dancing for Mommy is a graphic novel, or maybe it's a collection of illustrated essays. However you'd describe it, Erika Lopez's narratives are funny and smart and make you cringe in the way of the best self-deprecating humor. The lesbian characters that lurch through Lap Dancing for Mommy include a pissed-off ex-lover, an ingenious and world-class dildo collector, and a very hairy half-Puerto Rican, half-white girl. Edgier than Nicole Hollander, nastier than Alison Bechdel, Lopez is a radical cartoonist who makes you laugh at and be glad you're not the wild, wonderful characters she creates.
Erika Lopez is back, and ready to take back her place at the head of the rickety kids' table... in September 2010, she's publishing "THE GIRL MUST DIE" with a matching book of "THE GIRL MUST DIE POSTCARDS" through their new publishing company, Monster Girl Media!
To follow updates, go to her Cartoon Log, http://clog.ErikaLopez.com
----
(Biography from www.ErikaLopez.com ...)
After poor--but happy--frolicking years of art school in Philadelphia at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (and stints at Moore College of Art and The University of the Arts), Erika was surprised to find herself out on the streets with a lot of attitude and an inability to hold down a job. So after a couple of crappy jobs, bad room mates, and a couple of days in jail, Erika was losing the dream of being a rich and famous artist strung out on heroin supplied by NYC gallery dealers.
Erika quickly adjusted her ambitions and aimed to become a famous cartoonist for porn magazines. That didn't go so well either. But her cartoons kept getting published in San Francisco and so she moved there and ended up living with a Gothic meth lap dancer and a bleach-blonde Eskimo call girl from Canada.
Soon after getting her own apartment with no job in sight, Lopez got a couple of grants she'd--half-jokingly, but desperately-- applied for during one of her previous "fired" periods back in Philadelphia: She was a Pew discipline winner a couple of times, but the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts each gave her $2500 to write. Write? Write what?
So following through on her own dare and having nothing left to lose, she learned to ride a crappy motorcycle in a week, and rode cross country so she could at least write about doing something. When she made it safely home, she penned her way through her first novel, "Flaming Iguanas," sprinkling it with enough illustrations to distract the reader from the writing.
It worked. It sold. Her editor at Simon & Schuster offered her more money to write again and again, and so she wrote and wrote until she realized she was getting weird and creepy after so much time alone. The future seemed so bright for young Erika, she thought she'd have a Victorian house in San Francisco within an hour. But with a shrinking economy and "creative differences" with her publisher, the jig was up. She unwisely shot herself in the foot at the beginning of what was to become a massive economic downturn. In no time at all it seemed she was going down in flames...
Again, Erika simply went with the flow. She embraced this challenge with a pinch on the cheek and a pat on the head, by gaining weight, wearing muumuus, listening to AM talk radio too loud, and calling herself "Grandma Lopez." She was going around calling people "toots", pinching their cheeks too hard, and giving everyone unsolicited advice as she limped on over to the welfare line.
Becoming a burden to the state and calling the welfare checks her "special mini art grants," she turned those salmon-colored notes into "Nothing Left but the Smell: A Republican on Welfare." As far as anyone knows, it's the first known Food Stamp Variety Show with lots of theatrical complaining, some papery cartoon moments, and tender, bitter singing. It's a show about being a sorely-mistaken, middle class pipsqueak ... one of those totally unsympathetic characters who grows up thinking all the civil and voting fights have already been fought so now she's free to sit back and buy lots of crap from mail order catalogues. Instead, she ends up in the welfare line so she can star in her own variety show about it later.
This started a new chapter in Erika's adventure, one that embraces a multi-media approach to life. No one focus, but a broad view on that "what's next" question buried inside each and every one of us. This new and improved Erika has been travelling around the world, Oslo, Edinburg, London and Manchester, performing and inspiring other pipsqueaks all over the planet.
She has now set her sights on making movies with Monster Girl Movies, based on books published by their new publishing company, Monster Girl Media.
Watch out for "The Girl Must Die," to be published in September 2010, available with a matching set of art postcards, in the U.S., Canada, and online.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 starsErika Lopez at her wacky prime!, May 27, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Lap Dancing for Mommy: Tender Stories of Disgust, Blame and Inspiration (Live girls) (Paperback)
I picked up this book after searching and searching for it. I'd already read They Call Me Mad Dog! and Flaming Iguanas, and loved both. Anyone who's read her should read this; this collection of stories and comics cannot be labeled. It's insane, and albeit, a little uneven. But hey - parts of it are more than worth it, like Erika's personal quest for guy-guy porn, and her charmingly witty quest for acceptance as a Puerto Rican bisexual. It's completely worth reading, but let me simply warn you that you may want to ease into this book. It's not for the faint of heart.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
This review is from: Lap Dancing for Mommy: Tender Stories of Disgust, Blame and Inspiration (Live girls) (Paperback)
I love Erika Lopez. She seriously has me going- men, do I really need them, and why?! Any love life is fraught with perils and inconsistencies, and ego-deflating self-doubts, and "Lap Dancing For Mommy" pokes some serious phallic phun at that. It is more centered on visual humor, to some extent, falling back on graphic yet stimulating cartoons. I was somewhat disappointed at the brevity of the book; I was left wanting more, more, more! But what was there, especially towards the end with the longer essays, was really nice.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
This review is from: Lap Dancing for Mommy: Tender Stories of Disgust, Blame and Inspiration (Live girls) (Paperback)
Erika Lopez is a very funny woman. She says the things that we only think about and never say aloud. This book is short and can be read in an hour, but it's really funny! I highly reccomend this book if you enjoy almost peeing your pants with laughter.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
