Kyle and Evan, Critics At Large #2 (Fishbone/BWP) (Patreon)

Here's the second of the Critics at Large concert (non)reviews. I wasn't sure if it was the second appearance, so I had to find a copy of Dork #2 to find out what order these comics ran. It took me a while to clear off the longbox that (most) of my file copies are in, but as I thought, this was the second comic Kyle and I did for Reflex. 

(The longbox in question. Single copies of comics I have work in (and reprintings), excluding Beasts of Burden and Blackwood which are in another box with extra copies. I think I still have six or seven copies of the first printing of Milk & Cheese #1. I should sell them before I die.)

Once again I am surprised to realize that there were only five installments, and the strips started falling apart by the third one. I always think there were more strips, and that the original concept (Kyle and I going to shows together) was maintained a little longer. It just felt like we did more of these for some reason. Encroaching senility? It's always possible. 

Kyle moved to Los Angeles before we did the third installment, eventually followed by Robbie and Stephen (if I remember the timing correctly). Kyle had a development/producer deal with Warner Brothers based on the success of Why I Hate Saturn. Stephen went out to do animation work, I'm pretty sure, and Robbie went out to room with Stephen while he himself looked for animation or film work. Mark Badger has moved to the Bay area, so, the Instant Piano gang of five in NYC ended up with everyone but me moving to the west coast. That was a real bummer for me. 

The strip became a bummer, too, for several reasons, but I guess that comic book scuttlebutt can wait until I post the third or fourth example of our collaboration. 

Anyway. The second comic. Let me read the tear sheet and see if there's anything embarrassing, memorable, hypocritical or just plain dumb going on. I can't find my reading glasses so the scan I posted is too blurry and unreadable for my aging eyes. These strips are wordy as heck, which is, for good or bad, a sure-fire sign of my writing. And Kyle's too, at least here. We never had enough room for these things.

While I'm reading this old thing, here's what's on the back of this page from the September/October 1991 issue of Reflex magazine:

Enjoy that little slice of 90's nostalgia, huh? GG Effin' Icky Allin, lots of U.K. bands trying to keep the act up after personal and personnel problems, the great (and much-missed) Maxwell's of Hoboken, NJ (although, happily, the club managed to keep going until 2013), the end of Rough Trade and Sounds and controversies in the world of rap music. I like the bit about Brazilian drummers named Spaghetti and Tortellini. Now that we have the internet, we can all go look that up to see if it was true and what the hell that was all about. Hurrah for the internet!

Okay, back to business. I read the comic. Nothing too crazy or embarrassing this time out, besides some of my very awkward dialog choices. I think Robbie Busch wrote his own "Peace to the Zulu Nation" joke or said it while we were kibbitzing. Panel 7 made me laugh out loud but not because it was particularly hilarious banter, maybe one day I'll tell you the story that goes with it. It's funny to see ex-girlfriends (Kyle's ex-fiancee, Robbie's ex) and an ex-friend of mine in the comic. The years, they do go by, and the people we meet, they do go bye. 

I didn't remember that Kyle was leaving for Los Angeles at this point, and had mentioned it in the comic. So, I was right about Robbie leaving afterward. Stephen didn't go to shows with us, not that I could ever recall. 

Boy, was I an angsty little so-and-so. I mean, you're exaggerating to be funny, and we were being hyper-critical, but I was trying way too hard here. And look at me pissing and moaning about feeling old again! Oy gevalt, look at me now! (don't). What a maroon. 

Despite my bitching and moaning, I remember really enjoying that show, and I spent the entire Fishbone show in the pit. Angelo Moore hung from some fixture in the ceiling above the stage and I can't remember if it broke or not, but I have a vague memory of something weird happening at that point. I did have tickets to see Fishbone again that week, I'm pretty sure Robbie went again, as well. I think it was at The Ritz, which was always a fantastic place to see Fishbone, they just put on extra good, extra long monster shows there. The space where The Ritz existed is still a club, called Webster Hall. The Ritz was a really fun club, it was a really good size with a big stage, no seats on the main floor, they had very cool DJs and videos playing while you were standing around waiting for the bands, and they didn't throw everyone out right after the show ended. 

CBGBs was a pretty shitty venue in many ways, but like Maxwell's you got to be up close to the bands and I had a lot of great times there. Thank goodness I rarely had to go down into that goddamned bathroom, though. Unlike Maxwell's going to the bathroom was like a trip to one of those hells envisioned in a Jack Chick tract. I'm kind of surprised we never reviewed the bathroom at CBGBs in the two strips that took place there. You can't even call that rank dank shit-dungeon a bathroom, if you've been there, you know what I'm talking about. It's pretty legendary. It was included as a trap in several early 80's AD&D dungeon modules. The GG Allin of bathrooms. Oof. ugh. Ack. 

Well, that's enough of that. My desk is a disaster and I need to organize and clean everything up. And fold some laundry. Still living small!

More, soon, later.