The last sixth months? Well, they've had lots of cool stuff going on (read on), and also a few wonderful distractions. Most notably, The Great Hobo is gonna be a daddy. Messed up, huh? I'd post a sonogram photo here, but despite protestions from a few of the hoboes, I have not gone all thirtysomething quite yet.

So, aside from that monumental announcement, what else is doing in Hobo Land? Well, let us look into the past to try to discern the present and future.

In early February, I nearly weeped when watching Comedy Central's The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show, when they featured an episode about hoboes, including a recurring segment throughout the episode called "Hobo Lifestyles". Well, Mr. Koechner, I'll take my royalties on that bit now, if you don't mind… Just keep in mind - The Naked Trucker appears to have disappeared from the airwaves, but the folks with real 'hobo lifestyles' are entering their sixth year as a publication. Yessir, six years.

Later on in February, a far greater tragedy occurred - our beloved hero Kurt Vonnegut died. Most of the Hoboes are actually only two degrees away from him in a bizarre game of Kevin Bacon. You see, when a few of us were in college, we had this friend named Ben who worked at the local computer shop. One day, the door opens and in strides Kurt Vonnegut himself. "My computer's busted," he said laconically. My friend looked at him - not the computer that was now sitting on the counter - and said, "Holy crap, you're Kurt Vonnegut! I've read all of your stuff!" Vonnegut stared at him, sighed and said, "Well, if you want to read any more of my stuff, kid, you're going to have to fix this computer." Ben did so, and snuck a peek at a manuscript or two, thrilled to have the opportunity. Ever the genius of insight combined with dry wit, I think many of us in the hobo circle will also remember him for saying "I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center." Congratulations to a life well lived, Mr. Vonnegut.

	In March, Skullboy and friends accompanied Jacob Chabot to WonderCon in San Francisco. While he signed autographs and drew sketches all day, the gang from his comic - The Mighty Skullboy Army - browsed around at the convention, buying comics and interacting with the guests. Check out their adventures on Skullboy's MySpace page Copies of the new Skullboy compendium and even a Skullboy figurine are available for purchase. Pick them up at beetlebugcomics.com.
Mid-March saw the debut of Stephan Edel and Tyler Carey's "Hallelujah Holler", a Call of Cthulhu role-playing game adventure, at Stamford, CT gaming convention "ConnCon". It was an honor to have this game rolled out at one of the longest running gaming conventions in the country, where tickets actually sold out for this two-round tournament. Another hobo highlight came when the players voted Mark Hugo as "best roleplayer" in the tournament, and he took home a nice box of prizes. Mark's nerd ego is now of Bill Gates proportions. (btw, if folks would like to play this game, email Tyler - he and Stephan would love to run it again.)
	On March 28th, at Unnameable Books in Park Slope, Brooklyn (456 Bergen Street - www.unnameablebooks.net), Great Hoboes fellow traveler Gabe McKee read from and signed his new book, The Gospel According to Science Fiction: From the Twilight Zone to the Final Frontier. Covering the nature of divinity in sci-fi literature, cinema and television, it explores how we treat god within speculative fiction. Fascinating stuff, and well worth picking up at Gabe's site: SFGospel.com.

Mere days later, Jacob had a signing at New York's premier comic-guys comic shop, Jim Hanley's Universe. Who else was signing that day? Oh, just some dude named Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino was in the shop before Jacob's signing to promote the Grindhouse comic book - y'know, the one behind that smash hit…block…buster? Man, I feel bad that that movie didn't do better. The grim irony is that people are actually still talking about Skullboy. Better luck next time, QT.

The other big news is that the Hoboes will be back at the Mermaid Parade again, this year. Their marching plans are literally and physically bigger than ever. This is going to be awesome. Visit coneyislandusa.com for more info on the parade, slated for June 23rd, rain or shine. See you there!

-May 12, 2007