James Kochalka Superstar

James Kochalka has achieved an international cult following for his idiosyncratic comics and graphic novels as well has for his quirky music. His comics have been translated and published in 8 languages around the globe. He invented the daily diary comic strip (see AmericanElf.com) which has spawned literally dozens of imitators. A small town rock star, Kochalka performs almost exclusively in his home base of Burlington, VT, yet his music has still managed to make a name for itself with fans around the globe. The three albums that we raided songs from to put together this greatest hits collection (Our Most Beloved) all charted on CMJ's top 200. His music videos have appeared on Nickelodeon's Kablam, in Spike & Mike's Twisted Animation, and on the Sci-Fi channel. He's experienced minor development "hell" trying to turn his books into TV series. The television rights to his book Pinky & Stinky (about two piglet astronauts and a moon princess) were optioned by Disney, ultimately rejected, and are now currently optioned by Klasky-Csupo (Rugrats) who are in the process of trying to develop it for Nickelodeon. Monkey Vs. Robot has also suffered through the optioning process. His paintings and drawings have been exhibited around the world, most notably three museum shows in Portugal, a Comme Des Garcons sponsored group show which traveled to Belgium, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the USA, and another group show titled Comic Release: Negotiating Identity for a New Generation which traveled to various museums and university galleries around the USA.