I took advantage of the sugar high i was on after seeing the American Idol Live concert last night at the Pepsi arena here in Albany and stayed up late to finish my latest strip! This is the quickest turnaround for any strip I have done since my deadline-filled days back at Nightlife Magazine in Buffalo. Which is actually pretty sad since it took me several weeks...but it is done! Now to move onto the next one! I have been feeling more focused on getting my book done lately, and that is a good sign. i am already looking forward to slapping together the next bunch of strips! i have several ideas sketched out in my sketchbook and a few that I have scribbled on napkins and other sundry scraps of paper ephemera.

A few words about the American Idol concert last night...

I had a much better time than I expected and a few of the performances bordered on awe-inspiring with their vocal pyrotechnics. Ultimate season 3 winner Fantasia Barrino continually proved why she deserved it, belting out with both power and passion, something that her fellow Idol divas lacked on a regular basis. this is not to say that Diana DiGarmo, Jennifer Hudson, and LaToya London were bad, but they were missing that spark that seperated Fantasia from them. The biggest surprises were fan faves Jon Peter Lewis and John Stevens. JPL brought his incredible charm and stage prescence to the show and it was noticeble missing when he was backstage. He put on an incredible version of Outcast's Hey Ya that, to me was the highlight of the evening. John Stevens, the red-headed crooner from Buffalo really redeemed himself after the critical drubbing he took during the show. He stuck to the classics he is so good at and really played to his strengths. His versions of My Funny Valentine and Come Fly With Me would have made old blue eyes himself proud.

The American Idol concert tour was sponsered by Poip-Tarts and they didn't let you forget it, hitting us over the head with a constant barrage of commercials and ads showing up on the huge screen above the stage during the 20 minute intermission halfway through the performances. I guess I should complain too loudly, they did hand out free Pop Tarts at the end of the show! The oddest thing though was a new music video they showed from...VANILLA ICE! He's back, apparently, with a new version of Ice Ice Baby which this time is set to the melody and riffs of She Drives me crazy by Fine Young Cannibals instead of the David Bowie/Queen classic, Under Pressure. Very surreal and made me laugh out loud at the absurdity of it all.

I am 3 days into my 38th year and I am just getting started.

---Doug