David Rees Lectures on Artisanal Pencil Sharpening at Pete’s Candy Store

@adam_orbit just snapped this pic of  David Rees lecturing on Artisanal Pencil Sharpening, last night at Pete’s Candy Store. Rees, best known for his political cartooning, including the now-classic Get Your War On, strenuously insists that his artisanal pencil sharpening service (at $15 per point, PayPal accepted) is a totally serious endeavor:

“If you think it’s a joke, why don’t you poke yourself with your newly sharpened pencil?” asks David Rees’s website. “Or better yet, don’t – because it’ll really hurt. In fact, every pencil David Rees sharpens is shipped with a signed and dated certificate authenticating that it is now a dangerous object.”

Last night’s lecture was a preview of an upcoming nationwide pencil-sharpening tour coinciding with the release of Rees’s upcoming book, HOW TO SHARPEN PENCILS (Melville House). Not a bad path forward for a “used to be” political cartoonist who “gave that career up to pursue his dream of getting paid to sharpen pencils.”

OK… getting paid, writing books — that’s serious. The plan is starting to make sense now.