True story! Every word of it. I found out about the ersatz event just a couple of days earlier, through someone I know who’s involved with the Mint Museum in some way. “How in the world does no one know about this?” I asked naively, but I did indeed check the website; although unfortunately didn’t read very far past “Educator and performing artist Nick Cave has gained an international reputation for his innovative and provocative work…” That’s my guy, I thought.

It was not my guy. But before we found that out, I wish someone had been filming us. Dylan’s not a very smug person, but I certainly can be, and I was brimming with it when we showed up at 10 in the morning, to find a little room filled with maybe 40 art patrons, the youngest of which were maybe in their upper 30’s. Lots of moms, women in floral prints, people who needed help with stairs, etc. Not a single person that we knew–not that that’s so uncommon, but Charlotte is a small town culturally, and we’ve both been Nick Cave fans since high school.

The best moment was when one of the events directors at the Mint inexplicably singled Dylan and I–who until then had been standing alone peering around trying to figure out what the heck was going on–out and introduced herself. She seemed surprised to see us: “How did you hear about the event?” I wanted to tell her to fire her public relations firm, but held my tongue, flattered that she seemed so excited to welcome us. Turns out it was just a rarity to see strangers (especially males in their 30’s) at one of these events.

But the BEST part was when Dylan and I decided to go “grab some primo seats”, as almost no one had sat down in the small theatre where the lecture was going to occur. Fools! We grabbed two front row seats, almost within an arm’s reach of the lectern. Amazing!! Dylan unpacked his sweet medium-format camera and fretted a little about how close we were, in case the shutter and winder were too loud. He even took a couple of test pictures from different parts of the room, although it was such a small room that you could hear the “click” from everywhere.

But even BESTER was when the woman politely asked us to move back a row, because we were in Nick Cave’s seats! In our new position, I could have, without even bending forward, given Mr. Cave a neck massage, or brush his long hair for him, or whatever. But it was at this point when I started noticing a lot of attention being paid to a bemused looking black man, who hovered suspiciously around this “Nick Cave”-designated seat, and was addressed numerous times as “Nick.” But THIS is what MY Nick Cave looks like:

And THIS is what this OTHER Cave looked like.

He seemed like a nice enough guy; don’t get me wrong. But I did catch him numerous times looking at us as if wondering what the hell we were doing there. At this point I was wondering too; then I realized that I was holding a copy of Nick Cave’s 1989 novel “And The Ass Saw The Angel,” which I had brought in case I got a chance to meet Mr. Cave (although if we’d stayed I almost certainly would have had this newer, less-Australian Cave sign it just for fun).

When I explained all this to Dylan, he pointed out that either we left BEFORE things got started, or we’d have to sit through the whole thing out of politeness’ sake. He made it clear that he had no interest in anything called a “Sound Suit” (this Cave’s claim to fame) if it wasn’t by OUR Nick Cave. So off we went. But now that we were all showered and breakfasted and ready for Saturday morning, it seemed a shape to waste the drizzly misty morning, so we repaired to the Common Market’s back porch, where I enjoyed a delicious Schneider Weisse. Just look at that label!

Tune in next week, when Dylan and I pay $65 apiece for Paul Simon tickets, only to find it was a fundraiser for the bow-tied conservative politician! Hijinks galore!

You can see the cartoon bigger on my Flickr page, where there is also lots of other stuff.

I love my man Obama–DON’T GET ME WRONG. But I would love for these guys, who are obviously incredibly intelligent, charismatic men, to take a stand on a single side of an issue. This endless dissembling is so frustrating–no one wants to tie themselves to a position, lest endless soundbiting chain them to it forever. Is it so wrong to change your position? Is changing your mind such an awful thing for a leader to do, especially a POLITICAL leader, doubly especially a political leader who must build consensus, make compromises, and work to get anything done?

It’s not as if these formative economic plans that McCain and Obama refer to are just going to magically be enacted when they’re president–they’re going to have to push and wheedle and whine them through Congress, and they will be fundamentally different on the other side of that process. After all, they’ll have to contend with 535 other people, all of whom are similarly terrified of being tied forever to a mistep. Not to mention allegiances to money, influence, etc., which must surely weigh on their decision-making process. It must be hard.

Before I forget: that episode of “Charlotte Talks” I was part of is up in the WFAE archives, if you’d like to listen to me talk about politics. I’m the one that keeps bringing up race, affirmative action, and other issues GUARANTEED to result in foot-in-mouth disease.

I say Witness! Tomorrrow morning (September 22) at 9am, I’ll be on WFAE as part of their monthly “Average Joe” segment. The short version is that, rather than talking to people who are experts in their field ABOUT their fields, they talk to some schmoes (in this case, “joes”) about whatever. In this case, I believe it will mostly be about politics, considering the impending election; although surely there will be some discussion of the recent economic disasters, which none of us average joes will know the first thing about.

If you’re not from around here and would like to listen, I do believe they have a streaming broadcast at their website. I hope that someone out in the wide world will witness this first-ever foray for me into the world of the average. I will try to bring back a souvenir of some kind.

ALSO, I have posted some brand-darn new drawings to my ever-swelling Flickr site, which will either delight or depress you, depending on which you look at. Tip: stick to delight whenever possible.

Quickly, while enjoying a bowl of Raisin Bran Crunch with banana: I am selling, via the respected internet auctionhouse “Ebay“, volumes 1-19 of The Spirit Archives, published by DC Comics, and retailing for about fifty bucks a piece. While I am a fan of Will Eisner and the Spirit, I’ve never read EVEN A SINGLE ONE, and they are being crowded out by my bajillion other books. Please feel free to help me with this as you see fit–I think the auction ends Saturday or Sunday.

WUXTRY WUXTRY! Presenting three things of interest to all of those people who just CAN’T GET ENOUGH information about young Dustin Harbin:

ONE! I’ll be appearing at the Small Press Expo on October 4-5, in Bethesda, Maryland. This will be my very first comic convention as a guest, not an organizer or comic book seller, etc., which is very exciting for me. Even more exciting is that SPX is super-fun regardless of why you’re there, and it’ll be fun to see some of my cartoonist friends from across the wide world. I’ll be sitting with Chris Pitzer of AdHouse Books, who published my 12-page Kid Medulla story in the recent SUPERIOR SHOWCASE #3. Also in that issue is the well-dressed Jim Rugg, who I believe will also be sitting with us. Not in that issue is the potentially-inebriated Josh Cotter, whose SKYSCRAPERS OF THE MIDWEST hardcover is garnering praise from nearly every corner. Except mine: that reminds me, I need to finally sit down and read that thing. Anyway, me, Josh, Jim and Chris will be sitting together and meeting you all weekend, so bring it.

TWO! It looks like I’ll be one of four AVERAGE JOES on our local NPR station’s (WFAE) show “Charlotte Talks.” They have these once a month or so, where instead of talking to people who know much about anything, they talk to people who know a lot about nothing. You can see how eminently qualified I am for this conversation. I believe things will be focused more or less on this fall’s election; I need to provide a list of potential topics I’d be interested in discussing, so if you have anything to suggest, please suggest away in the comments below.

THREE! Tomorrow is my mother’s birthday. I’m not exactly sure how old she’ll be, as that number has been shrouded in mystery all of my life. Even my older siblings, who are in their 40’s, can only make educated guesses. Out of deference to my mother, I would estimate her to be about 17 or so. I love her very much, and will be helping to fete her this afternoon at a WILD PARTY out in the country.

BONUS TOPIC! Interpol still sucks. I think they always sucked. Why do people like this band so much? It sounds like five people banding together to push mediocrity to new heights. Dullsville. Let’s not even talk about it anymore, ok?

BONUS TOPIC TWO! I have posted more new art from my sketchbook on my Flickr stream, which is a veritable cornucopia of delicious mastery of the cartoon form. Gaze upon my works, Interpol, and despair!

I think this might be the first time I’ve ever used a dirty word in a cartoon. Weird, huh–it’s not like I’m afraid of them in real life. Forgive me, any persons offended. Make sure your supervisor isn’t looking over your shoulder before reading this titillating NSFW cartoon. You can see it much larger by clicking on it (or right here) which will take you to my sweet Flickr page.

So I finished this cartoon yesterday, although I did some more tweaking and half-toning today before I uploaded it. Yesterday was also my 34th birthday, which good ole Kelly was nice enough to commemorate with the portrait (the front part of a hand-made birthday card) above, in which she’s captured some of my most impressive traits.

Moreso than 33, the number 34 seems to have grave import attached to it, and I can’t shake the feeling that I need to dust off my boogie shoes and get on with whatever I’m planning to get on with in life. I don’t what else to say besides that.