AudioShocker

... from Tom DeFalco last weekend. I was a volunteer at the Pittsburgh ToonSeum's annual fundraiser, KA-BLAM. Amazingly, when I agreed to help out, I had no idea this Nemo Award was going to be given out. From the looks of it, it caught Ron by surprise as well.

I was roped into helping via Wayne Wise, my friend and comics mentor from Phantom of the Attic Comics in Oakland (make sure to be at Phantom @ 12PM on June 14th for an awesome podcast experience!!!). By roped, I mean recommended. And by helping, I mean sitting behind a table and reading comics while occasionally selling a few art prints. It was a fun night, especially after I received some company in the form of the Comic Book Pitt.

The strangest thing about the fundraiser was the crowd. It was a bizarre mix of indie artist types (from Pittsburgh's Dr. Sketchy's, mainly), comic book creators and/or fans (like myself), and well-dressed (seemingly) rich people (who I assume are frequent patrons of the arts). Oh, and I almost forgot about the cougars. That's right. Hot, sexy, mature women in their 40s and 50s walking around in tiny tight dresses. It was surreal to see them mixed in with everyone else.

The arts patrons were an odd mix unto themselves. There were young couples that looked like they should be going out to the clubs in the Strip, and there were older couples that looked like they should be attending a lecture at the Carnegie Museum. The indie artists and the comic book people? I expected them. But the rest of the crowd caught me off guard.

Seeing Ron get the award was by far the highlight of the night. Of all working artists in comics today, he certainly deserves it. Apparently this was his first award, too. That's criminal.

The runner-up highlight? Sitting down to sell prints and noticing a stack of old Iron Man comics at the table to my left. I was wearing my War Machine t-shirt, and I coincidentally snagged Iron Man #269-272, where a drunk Tony Stark's behavior first forces Rhodey to put on the Iron Man armor. AWESOME!

Sadly, none of the other attendees noticed the confluence of shirt and reading material that I had going on. They were too busy clapping for Ron Frenz and Tom DeFalco... and, of course, ogling the cougars.