Good News from Goodiscon

Finally made it into Phily. I'm having bad luck getting to this town via Northwest Airlines ("NWA fucking up the program" as Ice Cube would say). Seems that each time I try to get here I actually leave at the time that the flight was scheduled to arrive. Good thing I padded my timetable a bit.

The good news on Goodiscon (Day 1) is that the agenda is far more packed than the agenda lead me to believe. I was kind of afraid that I was coming down for three little "events." No, tomorrow is packed full of stuff starting at 9 AM and going until 5 PM. Some of the stuff sounds like it might be kind of cheesy (a city official recognizing one of Philadelphia's favorite sons -- perhaps declaring "David Goodis Day"?) but, for the most part, it seems spot on.

There's a nifty program booklet (I should have asked if I could contribute), a tote with some paperback cover reproductions, and they even had hor'dourves and a free drink waiting when I arrived. Muy bueno. I chatted with a few fellows, including Duane Swierczynski, author of a few pulp novels (The Blonde and The Wheelman) and editor of the Philly City Paper.

There were about two dozen folks at the Society Hill Playhouse. We were situated in the "Red Room", a cozy cabaret. There's a table touting books from some of the authors involved in conference including some new paperback reprints of Goodis's work that I had not seen before. I finally got a chance to thumb through the new reprint of Black Friday to see what (and how many) of Goodis's short stories are in there. Looks like a bunch. I'll probably pick this up.

I "discovered" South Street on my way to the theater tonight. It's a pretty hip little area -- lots of bars, coffee shops, record stores, et cetera. Walking down it reminded me of walking down Yonge Street in Toronto. I stopped off at a comic store where I wished I had Mike Thompson to guide me in the ways of the force and tell me which books, if any, I needed to read. This was a very nicely stocked place (Atomic City Comics) and I picked up probably too many books. Got some Bizarro comix that I'd not seen before along with an interesting-looking Superman book. Why is it that I couldn't stand D.C. comix when I was a kid but now they make up half, if not more, of my preferences?

I'm planning on making South Street my preferred route tomorrow to and fro. I felt just like Peter Riegert tonight as I crossed Delancey -- wrong city, I know. With so much exotic cuisine along my path, I hope that something is open for breakfast on the way other than Starbucks.

P.S. I can't believe that it's January 5th and too warm to wear a jacket while walking around at 10 o'clock at night. I think that President Gore might be on to something...