Opus: 25 Years of His Sunday Best
Sat, 12 May 2007
Long long ago, when I was free to speak and when I believed many of the things that I read and heard, I did not have access to a computer like these people probably did, I did, however, have Opus.
Rabelais is taking back his thought centuries later after his brains have been replaced by a Greek salad. Donna Summer is upside down while eating from this plate and balancing a can of kippered herring of which the sparrow there has no concern yet the penguin would like to eat. The jukebox had a way of playing the same song over and over again and the TV channel was always on ABC. Me and my music choices were studying physics and astrology. I had only been smoking cigarettes for 10 years at that time.
Two different friends stole letter collections of mine then. A beloved teacher had taken a journal a few years earlier.
Missing from this image is the water tower that is across the street, with a one man band/universe living at its scrotum. To the east was a music bar with some of the best live music (a wonderful mixture probably due to the not-big-citiness of the location) and three times as far to the west, a corporate owned fine dining establishment for those who like to be herded like cows into massive seatings for upping those volume sales. I had a difficult time recommending the kool aid that was being sold there.
Smokers were just beginning to be segregated. My table was always filled with mixed smokers and non-smokers and mixed gender as well. Crossword puzzles, discussion of the news, classes and of each others family gathering. In that time, the students in China were quoted in the newspaper as saying "we do not know what this democracy is, we just know that we want it", Andrew read that quote. I found a good quote from Ted Nugent when he had had a car accident before a concert that was scheduled at a University that was not this one: "You don't need a face to rock-n-roll". These were good days there and then; they were all like that.
It wasn't just Opus and the Detroit News. Calvin and Hobbes along with Cathy and the Detroit Free Press were there as well. The Dave there (with red hair) would read Calvin and Hobbes to me and I would try to understand what he thought was so funny about it. Zippy the Pinhead had made it into the paper with Opus and Sylvia and once a week the Metro Times would appear and have Life in Hell and Ernie Pook's Comeek and Rob Brezny. The thrice a week school newspaper was read there as well.
I heard about the signing about an hour before it was to occur. When we arrived at the host bookstore, we were early for the signing, but late to get any book that was meaningful to me. I also was not anxious to fight the moms and dads and other fans that were showing up for the few remaining books that meant not that much to me. I admit, I did not completely understand Outland when Bloom County ceased to be. I am somewhat anxious to see what the new book Mars Needs Moms. The name sounds once again familiar. He spoke of his mom staying in a loveless marriage until he and his sibs had graduated. I am still having problems with a mom who decided to pick up where she left off in high school when she got pregnant with me -- she was looking for a husband then and started to look for that perfect mate among my peers while I was in school. Lately, I wonder how many of my problems are because Moms my age failed to teach their children to be honest and additionally if this war is because moms don't want what they raised to be alive and living near them. Perhaps passing the buck has turned into passing the young buck....
Due to the lack of books at the host store, I grabbed a copy of Yukon Ho to see if he would sign it. My copy of Bloom County Babylon a gift from another Dave (a photographer who also took an awesome photograph of the college telescope then) is out of my reach now for several years. Perhaps here on earth, we need more and better moms first -- I am certainly seem to be failing greatly while working with the children of other women.
Seemingly uncomfortable with the book that I considered to be exactly wrong, yosh went to the nearby Borders, bought the 25 year collection of Opus and the author graciously signed it.
While waiting in line, I happened to notice a funny book on the table that I could have picked instead. The title was How To Go To Hell and while many things were perfect about that book, that is just not how it was for me. Calvin and Hobbes was exactly the wrong book, since none of the right books were available.
It was embarrassing when my turn finally came up. I misquoted the name of the Opus Christmas special (that I loved so much) -- possibly in a predictable way. And, an extremely attractive woman shooed me away, mid-sentence, even. The whole thing turned out to be really embarrassing.
Did this author sign the wrong book?