Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for January 13, 2023

Zonker and reality parted company about the time he was born.

Zonker has gone to his safe place.

I even had to look “Seinfeld” up, never watched stuff like that … so, for next week!

Zonker is in Walden Pond?

Zonker is such an innocent soul.

“ribbit”

Got a burr in your helmet, BD? Was you ever bit by a dead bee?

This was years before cannabis became legal, so avoiding reality was more difficult.

Reality is overrated.

And still, today, so many get upset over made up stories.

“I’ve wrestled with reality for 35 years, Doctor, and I’m happy to state I finally won out over it.” – Mary Chase, Harvey

This from the guy who spends most of his life hiding in his security helmet.

He has a TV set down there

“Seinfeld” running continuously on Comedy Central, with this storyline in “Doonesbury”, and I find myself enjoying both? A clear case of “Arrested Development”.

Hey one of my best friends is Zonker. He’s been stoned every day since 69’, Best thing about him is that if you need to be driven safely anywhere, he’s your guy. Absolutely paranoid of being pulled over which is why I never hesitated to ask him to pick me up at the airport on returning stateside. Of course, it goes without saying that I also had to pay for pizza or burgers on the way home.

Reality, of course, means “Live my way.”

Zonker has been an unreconstructed hippie since his inception in the strip!

Mike and his friends are of the first generation to celebrate youth culture as a permanent, preservable state. I’m of the same generation, and I can see the effect. We tried to hold onto our adolescence, and all of the influences that we held as so profound, and to make them our mainstream culture. Prior to boomers. adolescence was a tunnel of new ideas and confused hormones that people passed through, with the expectation of coming out into ‘adult’ culture. It was something people left behind. BD seems to be the only one of the gang who did that, or attempted to.

Most of us live in a consensual reality. If you decide not to do so, I’m fine with it as long as you don’t hurt anybody and, as the Victorians would say, “don’t scare the horses”. :)

I’m sure Patty the Potted Plant would vouch for Zonk’s sense of reality.

Reality is for people who can’t handle drugs

Okay, light years off topic here, but when one of your heroes dies, you gotta say something.

In my admittedly biased opinion, Jeff Beck was one of the most innovative and imaginative guitarists to ever touch steel strings. I first saw him with The Yardbirds in ’67; “Over Under Sideways Down” has never sounded as electrifying to me. His fluid styling, combined with his mastery of the many voices of his guitar, turned his music from songs to sonic landscapes.

A lot of male musicians seem to believe that women, except as vocalists, can’t rock. Between live shows and concert DVDs, I have seen him onstage with women in the band on 4 occasions: 3 playing bass, one playing guitar.I strongly recommend checking out the ‘Live At Ronny Scott’s’ DVD not just Jeff’s performance, but the bassist, Tal Wilkenfeld, who was 21 years old at the time of this performance, totally kicks the he!! out of it, and is clearly having the time of her LIFE!!!

I sympathize with Z. Life is getting uglier and more beyond control by the day.

Happy 62nd birthday to Julia Louis-Dreyfus today.

I Love Walden Puddle and Zonker in it.