The House of Irony / May, 2006

Yesterday morning, one of the most influential comic book artists of the past hundred years passed away at his drawing table doing what he loved most.

Rest in peace, Mr. Toth.

Get Up Edina – Desmond Dekker
Desmond Dekker Came First – Toots and the Maytals

Last night I went to the new Capital Music Hall to catch a ska show. Before I left, I spent close to an hour debating on whether to wear a suit or not. It was hot yesterday, and I would be spending hours in a poorly-ventilated club with hundreds of uncoordinated kids pathetically trying to mosh to the rocksteady beat. Common sense told me not to wear the suit. The weight of history convinced me otherwise.

At around the same time as I was making my decision, the voice behind my all-time favourite ska song passed away. He will be missed.

J. and I were feeling lazy yesterday so we ordered a large pepperoni from the Pizza Pizza on the corner. 20 minutes later I left to pick it up, and during my half-block stroll I noticed a number of incredibly pale and awkward-looking individuals roaming around, picking through garage sales and dodging traffic.

The Pizza Pizza was packed. People kept coming in, waiting five minutes, then leaving in disgust. There were no individual slices on display and the meagre staff were scrambling to make fresh ones. Reinforcements were called in. They barely made a difference.

I looked around to for an explanation. Three skinny middle-aged men with long, grey hair were bent over their table scribbling on a piece of paper. A group of acne-scarred teens were discussing the merits of Battlestar Galactica at the counter. And the geeks kept pouring in, avoiding eye contact and squirming uncomfortably in the bright light of day.

I hadn’t seen anything like this in years, not since a trip to Kitchener/Waterloo years ago. A second glance at the table with the older guys confirmed my suspicions. Sitting in the middle of their table was the world’s largest dice bag. Somewhere in my neighbourhood someone was holding a gaming convention.

Later that night I passed the curling club one block away from where I live. I could just barely hear the sounds of Salt-N-Pepa coming from within. The cool geeks were outside smoking in the rain. I kept walking.