Kurt Weill's STREET SCENE plays more like a spoof of an opera than an actual opera. By the time they get to their ice cream number, the resolve to hold in my laughter is all but obliterated and it isn't long before we make our exit and instead go rendezvous with friends.

Balmy night, all glass in sight fogged up. Music, drink, and nibbles abound. New characters continuously introduced without rhyme or reason. All in all a rather Clowesian evening.

That was Friday night. Sketch above dashed out at Agora's patio Saturday afternoon over an $11 Duval, followed by some reading. These days it's the newly released (speaking of Clowes) THE COMPLETE EIGHTBALL 1-18 paperback which I preordered maybe a year ago and it arrived precisely on its official release date of Nov. 1st. I'd only ever read 3-4 issues of the original EIGHTBALL releases due to the difficulty of getting ahold of them and boy am I enjoying finally getting the chance to read them [in order] in their entirety in this new format. What a singularly demented vision it presents, and what a high standard for comix-making it encapsulates.

Already on issue #7, which over the course of five days I realize isn't much for many but it is for me. Quite a lot on the docket these days. Trying to wrap up inks on the latest THE SOLAR GRID in addition to another comix thing, poster thing, and a writing thing.

The New York Times tells me of Aaron Carter's passing who I haven't even heard of since “Crazy Little Party Girl” was released in 1997. Celebrities passing isn't something that typically phases me, but because the first and last I'd seen of this person was his innocent 9-year old version, in my mind it's that 9-year old boy who was found dead in a way. That child didn't have to be brought into the world just to be raised and exploited by alcoholics or be subject to a jaded version of fame at such a young age. Been doing a quick skim of what this clearly disturbed person has been through over the past 25 years, and you can't help but see the singing/dancing ghost image of his 9-year old self in your mind's eye and think how terribly tragic it all is. How it was allowed to happen at all, all while society watched on, as we do most things.

#journal