You may know Midwest micro-celebrity Thomas J Gamble as the author of the INFINITE HESH comics for Humor and the Abject. Or, you may know him more casually online as Twee Jay, Erie’s absolute boy. Either way, he was in New York this past weekend for his show at Interstate Projects and I dragged him into the kitchen for a conversation. I love Thomas so much that it makes me want to get him really angry. Does that make sense? Well, despite my best efforts to rile him up, he maintained his thoughtfulness and cool the entire time. We talked about uncanny perceptions of time, his new paintings, Rust Belt ennui and being an artist outside of major art cities, Tom Brady vs Tom Hardy, good books, sinking ships, whether it’s “Leviathan” or “a leviathan,” the trappings of making political art, Daniel Day Lewis, Superman’s death, that rhythm between horrific political events and pop culture aesthetics, how punks and hippies are the same people with the same logos, his early exposure to radical leftist politics, Little Dicky Spencer and the alt-right’s impotent rage, and why Italians love saying “Cincinnati.” We’re sponsored this week by Blue Takeron and when Thomas J died in “My Girl” because he went back to find Vada’s mood ring in the forest and was subsequently murdered by a swarm of wild ass bees.