Have a Cow: Simpsons Creator Matt Groening To Attend His Father's Retrospective

Well, that bigulated quickly: Just yesterday, we reported pretty extensively on the upcoming retrospective on Homer Groening, which will feature a panel discussion with the likes of Bill Plympton and Lisa Groening. But what we didn't know—since it was kept under wraps until just now—is that Simpsons creator Matt Groening is confirmed to be attending. Holy flurking schnit!

The Groening siblings themselves curated the program, featuring commercial work and short films by their father, who's considered to be one of the most overlooked yet influential filmmakers in Portland's history. His films—from a documentary about Linfield College to experimental shorts and homemade children's movies—are undercut with a droll, surrealistic humor that undeniably found its way into his son's groundbreaking work with The Simpsons and Futurama.

“Homer was like his son Matt," said family friend and former Oregonian critic Ted Mahar, who will also be present at the event. "They were both extremely simple, rudimentary artists, but they’re both creative geniuses. They both had an apparently instinctive skill to perform in public. You look at one of Matt’s cartoons or Homer’s films—they had the ability to know exactly what they wanted to say and the simplest way to say it.”

This is your chance to witness a live Groening family reunion, learn a bit about Portland film history and catch one of Portland's most famous sons in person. Which is to say, tickets are probably going to go faster than a box of doughnuts at the plant. Act accordingly.

SEE IT: The Homer Groening retrospective, presented by Midcentury Oregon Genius, is at the Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd., 281-4215. 7 pm Saturday, Jan. 17. $12-$15. Tickets here.

WWeek 2015