I sit here in my study, wearing my Mermaid Parade T-Shirt, nursing a non-hangover, listening to the Big Lebowski soundtrack, and recapping the end of what was an infinitely nutty year. As you can see in Hobo Lifestyles 21, which recaps January through September 2005, we Great Hoboes gather no moss. The end of the year was slower moving than the first 9 months, but eventful nonetheless...

Halloween is of course when I and my bride were married, last year. There was never a question in our minds what we'd do for our anniversary - throw another costume party. Yes, as you can see in Hobo Lifestyles #20, me and the Mrs. are big on Halloween. Well, this year was no disappointment... To the right, you'll see Gabe the TARDIS, Rosie the Dark Side of the Moon, Marlene the St. Pauli Girl, and Dr. Gareth Edel goofing around...
Amy as David Bowie in Labyrinth, Benni the mullet-wearing early-80s zombie, Gabe the TARDIS again, Rosie enjoying a Guinness float, and Stephan the Pirate...
Jacob as Ernest P. Worrell, Mark Hugo as Cecil B. Demented (Yes, Mark owns his own Straight Jacket), Gwynne as Dr. Who (get it? Her husband went as a phone booth...), Adrian and Kristen as the King and Queen of the Prom...
Gwynne and Gabe - Dr. Who and her sweet ride...
Marlene and myself as the St. Pauli Girl and DuffMan!
Michelle and Travis as the King and Queen of the Universe. Stephan the Pirate helps Travis keep his costume together.
The end of 2005 saw the demise of Splendid e-Zine, a magazine that Great Hoboes Tyler and Christian Carey had written for, for a loooong time. Both of the fabulous Carey boys were contributors to the "Bookshelf" section, contributing book reviews. Christian being wiser in the world of music also wrote a tremendous amount of pieces (several hundred all told) for their music criticism columns. Splendid, we're gonna miss you.
Great Hobo artist extraordinaire Jacob Chabot has been hella busy, lately, illustrating books, developing new characters, and even drawing some strips for Mad Magazine's new title - Mad Kids. Pick up Issue #1, on stands now!
I always love when we get contacted by folks who we've referenced in the pages of the Great Hoboes of New York. Recently, a fairly anonymous graffiti artist contacted me to tell me who painted one of the pieces in Julio's Graffiti Journal #12. A piece that we had labeled as artist "Unknown" has now been identified as the work of the EAZ-FX Crew of the Bronx. We've updated it in the journal itself, but want to highlight it here. Please enjoy the copy of the image to the right, now identified.
While we're talking about graffiti, it's worth mentioning that Great Hobo artist Chris Stain has updated his site. To see his latest works, please visit: www.chrisstain.com.
Hey Kids, wanna see a movie made by Great Hoboes Michael Benni Pierce, Mark Hugo, Karl Moore, and company? Get your butts to: www.misplacedplanet.com/antebellum NOW to see the trailer for their horror classic-to-be, Antebellum!
And in the world of great movies made by my buddies there is ...To Skin a Cat by auteur Dan O'Berry. Dan and I worked together in the dot.com trenches a number of years back, and as any dot.com vet cum artist can tell you, working for stock options and pennies can give you a few war stories that serve as grist for the mill. The pimp in Dan's movie is very directly based upon a delivery guy who swung by our office frequently, even when he had nothing to deliver, just to hang out and try to impress us with tales of his savvy at gambling and the romantic arts. Ah, those were the days... Dan gave me some interesting bits of trivia about his movie to share with you: The '67 Cadillac with leopard skin interior was the car from the movie To Wong Foo... The editor of ...To Skin a Cat, Alexander Serpico, is the son of Frank Serpico (the cop played by Pacino in Serpico). The jail cell scene was shot in the cell where Bruno Richard Hauptmann (Lindberg baby kidnapper) was locked up and awaited trial. The courthouse is a historic landmark and ...To Skin a Cat was the last film to be shot there before it was turned into a museum. The Director of Photography, Richard E. Brooks, was the second unit DP on The Great Gatsby.
Lastly, I'd like to highlight the work of John Hodgman, author of The Areas of My Expertise, an excellent and amusing book. In and amongst the wisdom imparted in that tome is a section of Hobo Names. A number of these are becoming illustrated, name by name, at: flickr.com. Check 'em out. They're great.