[Elspode]

I have a lot of awesome friends and associates in the local Pagan community. The first pic is my friend JC, my successor as President of Heartland Spiritual Alliance, and just a really great guy, drunk or sober. This pic was taken of him while he was preparing to do a sabre battle at Renfaire this past Fall. He'd make a great pirate if we lived anywhere near a large body of water, and he could go home to his wife and kids each night after a hard day of raiding.

The second pic is Russ. Russ and his mother own the longest running, most ridiculously successful Pagan/New Age store in Kansas City, in business for nearly 20 years now, while many others have risen and fallen. Russ is a consummate jeweler, a rake nonpareil, and just a generally good person to know. It is his place of business where I do the bulk of my sound gigs. My musical relationship with him goes back to 1991, when my longtime partner Lane and I, along with another Pagan talent, did the first real serious public performance I ever was involved with in his old location's performance space. Russ and his mother Barbara have provided our community with a nexus of sorts for nearly two decades now. HSA, the organization which puts on our local Pagan fest, meets there once a month. If you go there and spend more than five minutes, you'll see at least three people you know, and they don't even work there. Oh...and Russ has a totally hot girlfriend who is about 15 years his junior, a local newsgirl who has perhaps the finest pair of real boobs ever displayed at our festival.

This pic is from the Witches Ball this year...Russ was Pan. He made his entire costume, including the hooves.