Thanksgiving Story: How The Jive Turkey Hustled The Street Musician
Back in the 90s, I did a weekly cartoon feature for a local arts & entertainment paper. It was about a little street musician named Busker. Most of the time he could be found on a street corner, with a tin can and his trusty saxophone.
The strip dates back to my pre-computer days. It was completely hand-drawn and lettered. I used to drop it off to the editor in person. Seems very strange to think there
was a time when I didn’t have email!
The strip was mostly pantomime, with no spoken dialogue. Most of the gags involved music. However, Busker would sometimes have unusual adventures, as in the following Thanksgiving strip. The only change I’ve made here to the original is to replace the hand-lettering with computer text to make it easier to read.
For those living outside the United States: Thanksgiving is still a time for Americans to gather with family and feast on turkey with all the trimmings, but many spend a good portion of the day drinking, snacking, and watching college football on television.
“First and ten” is a term one hears a lot during a football game. When a team takes possession of the ball, it has four chances to advance the ball ten yards down the field. “First and ten” simply means here comes their first chance to do just that.
The Busker strips usually ran 5-6 panels, but the feature was always published as a large single panel with two rows. Here’s what the original looked like in all it’s hand-drawn, hand-lettered glory.
Our American Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. This year, it falls as early as it possible can: today, the 22nd.
I have much to be thankful for, and that certainly includes all the wonderful people I’ve met through this blog. Thanks for visiting, special thanks to all those who follow the blog, thanks for all the Likes, all the comments, all your support. It’s wonderful to know there are so many delightful people in the world, all doing their best to make it a better place.
Happy Thanksgiving to all, and to all a Good Digestion… burp!
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What do you think? Do you see a lot of street musicians where you live? Do you usually give them a coin or two? Have you ever performed as a street musician yourself?? Hope you’ll leave a comment.
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