San Fran Media Blitz...

...AND A SF RLSH ON THE RUN

By now, I think the readers of Heroes in the Night know how this shakes down- one media outlet goes "Hey! We got superheroes here!" and then the rest of the local press dog piles on.

We had a fair media blitz here in Milwaukee in October/ November last year. New York City/ New Jersey is a perennial favorite. London has pretty "keen" on the story the last couple of months. An of course Phoenix Jones has Energize Bunny'd the Seattle media since November.

Even smaller towns have had mini blitzes--consider for example the Bar Harbor Batman or the Viper.

Next up looks like San Francisco.

It starts with an article in a publication called The Bold Italic by Justin Juul titled "San Francisco Bay Guardians" in which the author follows around Motor-Mouth, Night Bug, Justified, and Kingsnake. Juul has a humorous and frank take on the story, dressing up as a RLSH himself ("Nightman") for a patrol and sharing the ups and downs of being on street level. The lay out of the article is pretty spectacular- it includes several illustrations of an artist's interpretation of RLSHs and a video at the end.
You can find the article here:
thebolditalic.com/JustinJuul/stories/777-san-francisco-bay-guardians

The story was then picked up by the local NBC affiliate and a website called SFist.

My only complaint is that two out of three of these sources have one very major fact wrong- they claim RLSHs were born because of Kick-Ass in 2008. That is completely false. As my well informed readers know, the term Real Life Superhero can be dated back to the 1980 secret superhero manual "How to be a Superhero," penned by the mysterious Night Rider. Other prototypes existed before him. The more modern incarnation of the RLSH began to develop in 2005-2006.

HELLPOOL ON THE RUN

Also related, this breaking news out of San Francisco: Motor-Mouth claims that his former team mate, Hellpool (formerly Hellhound), not only swiped half his name and his aesthetics from comic book character Deadpool, but engaged in actual thievery as well. Heroes in the Night did a Hero Profile on Hellpool back in early September HERE.

In a bulletin titled "RLSH WARNING ABOUT THE RLSH KNOWN AS HELLPOOL" Motor Mouth warns:

"So it was brought to my attention on Saturday by a fellow Californian RLSH that Hellpool, my former teammate, is city hopping (currently in San Diego). To give all of you fair warning, he is NOT to be trusted. He is wanted for a burglary case in San Francisco besides having a lengthy rap-sheet from Oregon to California (a journalist I know & trust investigated that via the SFPD). Again, he is nothing more then a con-man & is NOT to be trusted."

Motor Mouth also added to me in an e-mail: "(Someone)did some digging into Hellpool and discovered that he is indeed wanted by the SFPD. Any RLSH's doing work with him are for sure putting themselves at risk, both legally & reputation wise."

KRULOS ON THE STUPH FILE

I was a guest on The Stuph File program today, discussing Real Life Superheroes with show host Peter Anthony Holder. The Stuph File's site is at www.thestuphfile.com, where you can subscribe via iTunes. The show is also picked up on radio stations in New Zealand, Singapore, and China Airlines, among other places. You can hear the segment which features the interview with me by clicking the media player below.
Peter was a great host and I'd like to thank him for having me on the show.


The full episode is here: www.thestuphfile.com/podcast-0084.htm

RLSHs CHAMPION CHARITIES

Capes provided by Heart Heroes

Spring is in the air and several Real Life Superheroes have launched campaigns to raise attention and donation for a variety of charities.

CAPE DRIVE FOR HEART HEROES

Crossfire the Crusader, for example, has been encouraging people to donate to Heart Heroes, a charity campaign associated with a company called Power Capes.

Crossfire is a costumed activist from Arkansas who hosts the weekly RLSH themed internet radio show Superhero Academy. He describes the efforts of Heart Heroes in a blog entry:

"These folks are doing something simple, yet powerful. They provide custom superhero capes for children with congenital heart disease. These capes help the kids to find their inner hero and gain the courage they need to face the surgeries and other issues that plague them in their day-to-day lives.

At the beginning of 2011, they had given out over 200 capes. However, they still had a waiting list of over 200 more kids who needed capes but could not afford to send them yet." Crossfire is making an effort to buy a few capes himself and trying to spread the word on his radio show and online.

You can read his full blog entry HERE and hear his interview with Heart Heroes HERE.

Heart Heroes site:powercapes.com/heart

HELPING BUILD A WELL IN AFRICA WITH GENEROSITY WATER

Peter Tangen has launched a "Water for Africa" campaign on his Real Life Superhero Project site. Fundraising will go to Generosity Water which will construct a water well in Liberia.

From the Real Life Superhero Project site:

"In terms of world health, more than 3.6 million people die each and every year, simply because they don’t have access to clean water. To drink. To cook with. To wash themselves. In fact, 80% of all illness and disease around the globe is caused by lack of sanitation and unsafe water."

Teaming up with the project is Lion Heart, of Liberia, and the first known RLSH on the continent of Africa. The Project site explains Lion Heart's mission:

"In Liberia, where Lion Heart works tirelessly to educate his fellow villagers, thousands of school days are lost every year because kids are spending at least four hours a day hauling clean water back home from distant sources. If that well was in their own village, they could be spending that time building a brighter future for themselves and their countrymen."

"You can help deliver life-saving, clean water to villagers in Liberia. Join Lion Heart and the men and women of The Real Life Superhero Project in creating a clean water well in this West African nation that will serve 300 people for 20 years. And all it takes is $10 and one click."

The money raising goal is $3,000- the cost to build one of the wells.

More info on the project can be found HERE.

The donation page for the project can be found here:mygenerositywater.org/rlsh


THE ALTERNATES LACE UP FOR MARCH FOR BABIES

Zetaman and his team, The Alternates, are continuing their annual tradition of raising funds and walking in the March of Dimes event March for Babies in Portland, Oregon. The fundraising continues through April 30.

Zetaman posted this announcement at www.reallifesuperheroes.org:

"Every day, thousands of babies are born too soon, too small and often very sick. The Heroic 100 PDX team is walking in March for Babies because we want to do something about this. I know you care, too. That’s why I’m asking you to join us. It’s easy: just click the join this team button.

If you can’t walk with us, please help by donating to our team. You can do so right on this page. Thank you for helping us give all babies a healthy start!"

Zetaman's personal fundraising page is HERE
And The Alternates team fundraising page is HERE

Zetaman

HERO PROFILE #67: Acme

Operates out of: Madison, WI aka "Mad City"

Also known as: Mad Man, The Madison Man in Black

Activities: Hand outs and assistance to the large groups of recent protesters in Madison,hand outs to homeless, calling in drunk and disorderliness, bicycle safety advocacy

Quote: "I am vocal in my politics, which I think any citizen with a brain should be at least a little. I may be described as Left, but I like to think I see both sides. Though most things I stand for are mainly supported by the Left. Those things are welfare, health care, the homeless and basic human rights."

Author's notes: My home, the great state of Wisconsin, has been the site of a political battle for over a month now. Newly elected Governor Scott Walker has been trying to pass a controversial budget bill that would take away collective bargaining rights for union workers. Lots of high political drama followed- the Senate Democrats fled the state rather than being forced to vote on the bill, and a court order has temporarily suspended the bill. Massive demonstrations with tens of thousands of protesters at the capitol building in Madison have been happening since mid February.

All of this has also influenced a "Madison Man in Black," Acme, to hit the streets and offer food and supplies to the masses.

RAINN WILSON TALKS PHOENIX JONES

WILSON TELLS SURPRISED JIMMY KIMMEL ABOUT SHARING LUNCH, TAZING WITH JONES
ALSO DISCUSSED- CONFISCATING CRACK PIPES

Rainn Wilson made an appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel Show, there to promote his new film, Super, which looks to be the most unflattering take on superheroes this decade. However Wilson spent much of the conversation talking about the famous Phoenix Jones:

Wilson says Jones has "taken 197 crackpipes away from people."
What's up with all this crack smoking in Seattle?
Also:
If I was walking through a parking lot and saw Rainn Wilson tazing Phoenix Jones, I might nominate it for one of the strangest things I've seen.

SUPER MOON PATROL

The super moon- as photographed by The Watchman in the woods of Riverwest

Note from Tea Krulos: On Saturday, the night of the "super moon," local Milwaukee RLSHs The Watchman and Blackbird hit the streets in two neighborhoods- Riverwest and Bay View. Since I couldn't join them because of a prior engagement, I asked The Watchman to share an account of the night, which is pasted below.

Here is my summary of the patrol Blackbird and I did Saturday night:

Blackbird and I met up in Bay View around 9:30pm and went over our plans for the night. We wanted to patrol Riverwest on foot to make sure people there still knew we were around since the last couple times out there we had stuck mainly to rolling patrols and wore plain clothes while on foot. We also wanted to spend some time in Bay View because there have been recent reports of shootings and unprovoked beat downs in the area. We decided to do a short rolling patrol through Bay View before visiting the homeless camp in Riverwest.

The Watchman

The first problem of the night was an obstruction in the road. Somebody had used a large branch to prop up a wood pallet right in the middle of the road for no other apparent reason than for the sake of blocking traffic. Blackbird pulled to the side of the road and I jumped out and removed the obstruction, placing the pallet and branch up on the curb and out of the way.

From there, we went to pick up a couple bundles of firewood and headed off to the homeless camp. As we walked down the trail leading to the camp, we could hear loud voices coming from across the river, which we determined was from some young people partying in the woods. We agreed that we would go around to the other side of the river to make sure the people were being safe after stopping at the camp. Using night vision at the camp, we were able to see a few of the partiers moving around across the river, but were not able to see well enough to get a count or descriptions. By the time we checked on the homeless folks and dropped off the firewood and some water, the party broke up and left.

Blackbird

Since there was no longer anything to check out in the woods, we covered some more ground by vehicle before beginning a foot patrol up and down Center Street and surrounding areas in Riverwest. Though not real late, traffic through there had slowed down quite a bit, but the overall attitude of those who remained seemed positive. We talked to some people, allowed some of them to take pictures with us, and even saw some familiar faces. Among them were the gentleman who once repeatedly referred to Blackbird as "Blackberry" (something we still joke about) and another who once could not recall my name while being interviewed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Both apologized for their previous errors. Afterward, we spent some time watching a couple suspicious looking characters who seemed to be scoping for lone people walking to their cars, but that went nowhere.

After that, we headed back to Bay View where we spent the remainder of the night walking around looking for signs of the types of problems reported there lately. Thankfully, it was a quiet night despite the full moon, or perhaps thanks to the "super" moon.

-The Watchman

Phoenix Jones in Action!

Film maker Matt Harrison has been following Seattle superheroes on the streets for a documentary titled Citizen Heroes: The Rise of the Rain City Superhero Movement. Harrison says it will be a feature length documentary scheduled for an October release. He recently posted this clip of Phoenix Jones and Black Knight in action.

Phoenix_patrol_3-12-11 from Matt Harrison on Vimeo.

Heroes in the Night asked Harrison to explain exactly what we were seeing in this clip, to which he replied:

"This clip was us talking to Phoenix on a patrol, we hear a loud crash and see a man throwing detour signs at a parked Subaru's windows. Phoenix takes off to question the man, he asks him "is this your car?" The obviously intoxicated young man states it is not, so Phoenix asks us to call 911. The man takes off, I attempt to trip him, but Phoenix tackles him, and I fall in the process. (You can barely see me in the take down, looks like I'm helping tackle, but Phoenix was all over it.)

While waiting for police, Phoenix checks in with the man, showing concern for his welfare, in fact, Phoenix asks us for a coat for the guys head as a pillow. Police come and take the guy into their custody, but no arrest is made as the victim (car owner) was unreachable that night and there is no drunk and disorderly charge in the city of Seattle. The police reputedly told Phoenix that the citizen arrest was justified and no unnecessary force was used by PJ."

FURTHER READING:

-For more Seattle adventures, read the previous two posts which are a firsthand account by Knight Owl of the Emerald City Comic Con and patrols that tied in with the con.

-Heroes in the Night has recently been mentioned in a lot of international media, including People magazine, British and Colombian press, and most recently in the Russian newspaper Akzia. The article, by Daniel Nash, is about Phoenix Jones including an interview with the superhero. An interview posted here on Heroes in the Night is cited in the article which can be found HERE (but you're going to have to brush up on your Russian if you're going to read it without Google translate!)