R. Crumb

When I started this thing, I mentioned that I had very few heroes. That got me to thinking and I realized that I do indeed have some very important heroes. I'm older and jaded now, and I don't need heroes. But I look back on the heroes of my youth, people whom I looked up to and who helped form me, by my imitation or my admiration, and I approve of my early choices. I've already written about Kurt Vonnegut. He will always be a hero. I can't get enough of him. When he was still writing regularly, getting a new Vonnegut book was like getting a new Beatles album. Something very special. Something you wanted to roll around on your tongue and savor. It was only new once.

Another hero of mine, from the time that I went through some major league changes, is the great R. Crumb. Anyone interested in a little taste of his greatness can go here Along with his unique, brilliant, instantly recognizable, and beautiful artistic style, comes his brilliant, twisted, hip, yet unhip point of view. His unbridled id tickled my unbridled id. I'll never forget reading Despair #1. It was perfect, cover to cover. Funny, insightful, outrageous, just plain cool. He is a fan of the music of the early 20th century and of the blues and the pioneers of the blues. Well words don't work. See his work. There's quite a bit of it on the web. Go see what I saw. And if you want to see a nexus of two towering talents, have a look at the cover of the single greatest rock album ever made, Cheap Thrills by Janis Joplin. A perfect package for a perfect work of art. R. Crumb - An American treasure.