An Open Letter to John P.
After Reading the New King-Cat

November 8, 2008

Dear John,

Used to be I would write you longhand. But I type faster than I write, and to be speedy (you may say 'to be efficient') is more and more important these days. Sigh.

I just finished King-Cat 69, and right off I'll tell you my first thought was the old boy's got some spark left in him yet. "Comb-over" ranks with "New Wave" from way back. The letters were wonderful. The last comic feels like something from lighter days of 5 or 10 or 15 years ago. In an overarching assessment, I say thank God for the new cats, cuz otherwise this would be one helluva downer.

I left work today and took a bus to an office where I dropped off some rollover forms for a pitiful retirement account I'm opening. Then I got on the train and decided not to go home. Instead, I went downtown for no good reason. I've been listening to the Clash lately, and I was doing that again tonight--listening to the last few songs of Combat Rock as I wandered down these dark sidewalks wearing work clothes. This was one of the first LPs I ever bought, paid for with cash at the Southgate Sears in Colorado Springs back in 1983. Now it's 25 years later, I just bought it again on iTunes with a credit card, and that weird song that wraps the album, "Death is a Star," is still softly rolling around in my head.

When I got home around 8, both Jane and Elena were worried. For a moment I thought I'd pretend to be drunk, but I couldn't make it work. I had no good explanation other than I went out to buy a Christmas gift. Then we had dinner, and Elena got into bed, Jane got to work, and I sat down to read King-Cat.

The effect was what it usually is: mindfulness. Thank you for that.

As so, as they used to say,

Funk power. Over and out.