Some artists are held in high regard for their whole lives. Picasso was acknowledged as a genius before he hit his teens and everyone still worships him. Most of us aren’t so lucky. In the back of every creative person’s mind, I have to assume, is a voice that asks,”When I wake up tomorrow are people going to no longer care about the things I make?” For every The Beatles there were thousands of bands with equally silly names who had passion, talent, intelligence and charisma and they just never got anywhere close to achieving their life’s greatest desire. The world is cruel.

We all like to imagine ourselves as the heroes of a movie that we star in but what happens when the exciting part of your life ends before your ready for it to? When I was three I told my mother that “Brave days come and sad days come.” One day you’re up and the next you’re down. One day your show’s up at the Mishka store and the next some of it is stacked in the back office and the rest is in a warehouse while Dust La Rock‘s art adorns the walls now. I don’t begrudge the guy his taking my spot. He put together a rad show and the opening night was was a beautiful time that upped the TOPI Youth.

I had to keep reminding myself that I only needed one of these B.K. Scum mix CDs to keep from scooping them all up. This is a really nice mix and if you think “Oh it’s just some “best of” bullshit, I know everything.” Then you better shut your mind’s mouth up because it also features Gen talking about stuff over it.

My pal Thomas’ car is full of the Psychic TV live albums that look just like this and we listen to them on roadtrips. “Do I want to hear PTV play the version of Roman P that starts off with Gen yelling “One and a two and a doogie doogie doo!” or a different one?” He’ll mutter to himself while shuffling through the little cardboard CD sleeves like they were playing cards. “Jesus Christ! Keep your hands on the wheel!” I usually shout in response.

Noted tattooist, JK5 was milling around, being a positive man with a lot of rings and tattoos. I like photographing his hands. There’s more going on on this man’s hand than in most party buses.

Hey, Handsome Man, what’s that growth coming out of your neck? Oh, it’s just Michael Cohn! Haw haw haw! I hope he is benign.

As you may have read in the interview I conducted with Gen, we both fall asleep watching “mindless television.” Gen likes things pertaining to science and nature and I like Kids in the Hall. There’s one sketch featuring the Sizzler sisters where they are holding up a bank and start pointing at people and saying “You two, fall in love!” I’ve been using this technique when I take photos a lot lately, especially in group shots.

With this photo I said “You girls hate this guy and he doesn’t know it!” You should try this, it is ridiculous how well this trick works for getting interesting photos.

Goddamn pigs. That’s not a drink caddy.

This Psychic Cross guitar not only worked but it was plugged into a powered amp. People would casually graze their fingers across it.

I mentioned it to Thomas and he told me he would have just played the opening riff to Satisfaction over and over again.

This is Мишка’s art director,  Mike Jones and his hilarious girlfriend Julia Segal.

This is her funny Weezy shirt and hilarious boobs.

Good badges.

Here’s Dust La Rock who made the pieces in the show with Genesis he/rself.

Gen had some great badges as well, most of them having been Lady Jaye’s. I saw s/he was sporting a Vaughn Bode cloisonne and explained who Bode was to Gen. I felt very cool.

Jesus walked on the water but Genesis walks on the bar. Gen proselytized for he/r belief in ultimate freedom and changing the way you were and becoming new people. The audience loved it and respectfully remained silent and avoided setting off their flashes.

We all laughed at Gen’s jokes, enjoyed the sharp English slithery quality of he/r voice which is friendly but always feels a little menacing. At the end we all were moved by Gen’s reading and applauded heartily.

Ryan from Dais Records took this photo of me with Gen and s/he signed a Psychick Bible for me. It’s hard not to want to talk with Gen. S/he has amazing stories and is an interested conversational partner. It’s easy to forget that this is the person who created so many beautiful things I know, popularized ideas that are commonplace nowand has done and been everything.

This isn’t the best photo of either of us but it doesn’t have to be. When I got involved with Мишка years ago I never imagined that I would witness something as boss as what I saw happen on Friday.

Look, it’s Ellen Stagg. I told her she was like a beautiful elf creature and that photos didn’t capture her beauty. She told me I looked like a hobbit.

I was talking to this woman while she told me about how much she liked my interview with Gen and only realized that she was Star Eyes, the DJ, when we decided to follow each other on Twitter.

A few people actually approached me to say just how much they liked my interview. And while that felt good, what felt great was that they all mentioned liking it for the reasons I had hoped they would. I had wanted them to get it and they did. Star Eyes mentioned wanting OJ of X-Ray Eyeballs to show up and present her with one of the tees that I drew for the band.

And he did! And then OJ reminisced about wanting to see Lesa, a Мишка Mastress, who he was once good friends with and she was right behind him. I had wanted to have a good time and feel connected to other people and I did.

It was an evening where it seemed like wishing for things aloud would make them appear. I left the event wanting nothing more.

I started this article talking about how grim the world of creativity can be and trailed off to talk about other things. Maybe I was just being overly dramatic. If the internet forgot about me tomorrow I’d probably just find something else I enjoyed doing and become a new person.

- Toilet Cobra