Sorry for the hiatus. Harvest season is gearing up here. And for my poor cohosts, the stupid pizza robot has a secret special robot power to suck organized creative discourse right out of their brains through their eyes. We’re all trying. I mean, they’re trying. I sadly have reserved only a quarter ass for blogging since I need at least half of my ass for farm chores. (The final half-cheek is dedicated to napping.)
Links to previous installments.
Summary for those not wanting four tabs open at once: Eugene brought Lil a box of old Summit Park photos. She saw Larry Dinkle’s band in one and asked Harry about it during choir practice. Harry and Lil and Cranky went to Harry’s house, where Harry explained that his dad was the scatterbrained genius trope.
I have changed the formatting for these final installments, since all the paint editing, even with just text boxes, was fiddly as all hell and took up more time than it was worth IMO. If you hate it enough, let me know and I’ll back to higher effort posting.
MONDAY:
Panel 1: everyone sitting in living room. Moon outside window to show it’s laaate. DINKLE: “On weekends, my mom would take me to see my father perform. She never missed a chance to see him in his element.”
Panel 2: sepia toned flashback of Larry directing his family sitting by, mom looks smitten, boy Dink looks amazed. DINKLE: “When he was standing on that podium, controlling all that sound with just the flick of a stick, I was in awe.”
Panel 3: living room again, Harriet looks lovingly at Dink because she’s dumb. DINKLE: “In that moment, I wanted to be him.”
LIL: A director?
DINKLE: A wizard.
TUESDAY:
Panel 1: living room, Crank is flipping through a photo album in the background. LIL: “Your father was only known locally?” DINK: “Yes, but he dreamed of making it big. Every piece he wrote, he’d say…”
Panel 2: flashback of Larry scribbling in his office in the dark, wife looks on from the door with a flashlight, little Harry peering around her. LARRY: “This is it, this is going to be my breakout hit!”
WIFE: “Dearest, did you forget to pay the electric bill again?”
Panel 3: Living room. LIL: How many compositions did your dad write?
DINK: Hundreds.
WEDNESDAY:
Panel 1: Living room: CRANK: “So every song was a dud?”
DINK indignant: “No! His songs were perfect! He was a master craftsman! Every tune more masterful than the last!”
Panel 2: Living room, CRANK: “Then why did…?”
LIL smug: “As an artist myself, I can guess what he was lacking.”
LIL and DINK at same time: “Salesmanship.”
THURSDAY
Panel 1: Living room: DINK: “I remember the last piece my father ever wrote, ‘Concerto for Trumpet’ He seemed twice as excited as normal about it. Twice as sure it would finally be his big hit.”
Panel 2: “He was set to debut the composition at a performance at the Wisteria Ballroom at Summit Beach Park on the night he died.”
Panel 3: LIL hand to heart, tearful: “He died?”
CRANK: “What’s your problem? It would be more surprising if he was still alive.”
FRIDAY
Panel 1: sepia toned flashback of an empty stage with a crowded dancehall and frantic Larry. DINKLE: “We heard that his band never showed up that night. We never found out why.”
Panel 2: sepia toned flashback of Larry driving away at night with Summit Beach in the background. DINKLE: They found my father’s car the next morning half sunk in a canal. Maybe he’d fallen asleep, or he’d veered for a deer, or another car had run him off the road.
Panel 3: Harriet has her hand on Dink’s shoulder. DINKLE: “Maybe he just got distracted.”
SATURDAY:
Panel 1: Living room. LIL: “How old were you when your father died?”
Panel 2: Sepia toned back yard, young Dink stands with his bat, ball in the dirt in front of him.: DINK: “Young enough to miss him. Just old enough to blame him.”
Panel 3: DINK frowning: “Not old enough to forgive him.”
SUNDAY
Panel 1: word bubble coming from Dink house sky is rosy. LIL “Do you have a recording of ‘Concerto for Trumpet’?
Panel 2: Living room, Cranky is looking at album again. DINK: “I wish! I don’t even have a copy of the sheet music.”
Panel 3: sepia flashback of sad lil Dink and Mrs Dink with boxes walking past the still packed music room. DINK: “Money was so tight after my dad passed that we lost the house.
Panel 4: Sepia flashback of driving away in a taxi, Mrs Dink clings to a trumpet. DINK: “We had to move in a rush, so we couldn’t even begin to sort through the chaos of papers my dad left behind.”
Panel 5: living room. DINK: “Some photo albums, records, and a few instruments are all I have left.”
Panel 6: DINKLE “Sadly, ‘Concerto for Trumpet’ is lost media.”
Crank: not looking up from photo album “Naw.”
Panel 7: closeup of a picture from the album, young Ralph is standing with the band. CRANK: “I know who would have it.”
NOTE: I did change the dumb song, it was spurred by this comment.
Instead I picked a more period appropriate piece as inspiration. Something eclectic sounding, composed in the big band era, that people really danced to.
