ACID & Skippy the Hippy

Skip, here are more thoughts, may be useful. As I was saying, drug taking
with other people was of little value to me, because they were not
seeking the same things I was seeking. I was seeking the state of
Nirvana, Art, and a path that was beginning to unfold. I peaked into
several times with you, but trying it with others was almost a waste
but still I did what I could to redeem the situations as best I could.
I got into elaborate story telling, as in entertaining. From there I
eventually moved into cartooning the main story I used to tell, which
was Frog and The Gungarasas. I eventually finished illustrating it but
by that time, Nirvana had found me so I had to answer the call, that
was 1973, August. But before that there were a few attempts at trying
to re live some state of ecstasy that we had arrived at earlier. One
such failed attempt was a trip back to Canton Mo in 1969 to visit and
hang out with Glombecki, his senior year. I took some tabs of LSD and
probably some pot too. Anyway, I did the honors and pass the tabs
around, but it was a real bummer, not as in a bad trip just that the
people there were trying to be hip but they were not. I felt out of
place tripping and hence it sucked. Plus, re visiting the scene of my
infamous crime of dropping draws and flashing the moon in a college
lecture hall just did not get me off. It was a real drag. Why I went
was anyone's guess, I think I was going "Back to The Future" a little
early. The timing was off. I should have stuck with "Don't Look Back".
But anyway that trip sucked. Then the only other time that I
think was notable was the time we were all at Mike Dempsey's house in
La Grange. His parents were on vacation, so the party was on. I
remember taking some tab of so called LSD but who knows and it was
pretty bad stuff. Anyway we were all crashed out when sometime in the
morning, there was a loud crash and the whole house was shaken awaking
everyone hung over still in deep drug sleeps. We looked out the
window, to our amazement, to see a car had crashed in to the porch of
Dempsey's folks house all the way to the window shield stuck right
into the house!!!!!!!! Everyone of us came out to look at it, and I
dont know if the sight of the car stuck into the porch was freakier
than all of us freaks out on the porch looking at it???? When the cops
got there, we all decided it was time to leave as they were starting
to ask us the wrong questions.........
Then there was the incredibly bad experience with Angel Dust
at my childhood friend's house down the street from where I grew up in
Brookfield, Il.. I was playing music with John Lange in the suburbs
while I was living in the city. I used to go to his apartment above
his parent's house in Brookfield. Cecil went there a few times too to
see John. But John had this stuff and it was the worst nightmare drug
ever, I will never forget it. By that time, it was getting time to be
done with drugs, although I could not quit getting high. I began to
relate to the freaks in movies, like Quasimoto of The Hunchback of
Notre Dame, Frankenstein's monster and the Bride of Frankenstein were
easy to relate to in the early 70's. Also Boris Karloff in the
original Mummy was interesting as he transformed through the tea
leaves, remember? Peter Lorrie in M was another freaked out character.
I felt akin with these characters because outside of your circle, i
was considered a freak and others were very uncomfortable with my
presence by that time.
There were some other painful experiences, maybe i will write
them out someday. Anyway, you know what happened next, by August 1973,
I was ready for a change, that is when I met the Lord through the
Jesus People right there on the corner of Broadway and Roscoe. It was
the Nirvana i had been looking for, for a long time. i took it slow,
but I took it over the next several years, I came out of it with a
degree of mastery of Art, comics and realism as well as some writing
skills, acting, and I got pretty good with music, as i was in a real
band for about 8 years. That was fun. Then I starting doing the comics
for Cornerstone in 1982-1985 and I was back hanging out with you as
often as i could at the Playboy building. Finally Robert Crumb comes
back into the picture and everything changed and very fast. But all
for the good, though some of those days in the late 80's in the South,
after having to leave the Jesus Commune in Chicago for good, were as
bad as doing Angel Dust at John Lange's house. And that is no lie.
But all is looking good regardless. I have achieved some of my
goals in life and now looking to a bright future even more exciting
than the previous life i lived in Chicago (and it was pretty awesome,
as you know firsthand). Some of this is unnecessary bantering about
but still it is great to reflect on where we have been, and how we got
here, like you said.. Since re connecting I have learned more about
what forces were at work early on in my life. I remember clearly
watching an interview on TV with a young poet, Allan Ginsburg, talking
about smoking Marijuana and it effects. I was interested right away
and it was inevitable that I would try it the first chance I got. My
youth leader at church was a graduate of Culver-Stockton. There is no
doubt that he had your father as a Prof and heard the speakers that
your father brought to C-S. He was a beatnik himself. So early on the
die was cast. The early beginnings of the Underground comics in Texas,
and with you and Harvey Kurtzman was very enlightening as well. I was
meant to follow the path, and continue as we go forward into the new
decade. i think that was about it, for me and drugs, it was a short
but intense part of my life, from 1967 to 1973. I dont think I would
or could tell someone else to do it the way I did. But at the same
time if someone takes one of my classes or reads one of my comics,
then there is no telling where it could lead. I followed my leads and
they brought me this far, so I wont say "dont go this way" but I wont
say this is The Way, walk in it either for someone else. It was The
Way, the path for me, and I will try to "strengthen the things that
remain". There is one more thing, of which I am not sure how or where
it fits in but it is but my name. I started out in life as Bobby Cox,
then it went to Bob, then in college it was "Frog" (I am a direct
descent of French Hugenots). And then it went back to Bob Cox at the
Jesus People joint, then I started to sign my comics Lil' Bobby Cox,
and for the past 23 years it has been Robert W. Cox of RWC Graphic
Designs, Inc. I will let you do as you will, what is right for your
book and how you bring me in. I trust it will all be fine whatever you
decide, whatever works best. Thanks for inviting me to tell some of my
tales. I may have learned to be more self effacing then one should be
in the Entertainment biz, but what credit can a man take for things
that are clearly Divine? Have a great year Skip in 2010 !!!!