Happy and Sad

Today was a very mixed day for us ...

On the one hand, we are thrilled to announce that Heather has a job (details will be forthcoming once the dust has settled), on the other hand we are very upset to learn that our friend (and theatre maven) Steph Bernal has passed away after a very sudden coma. The facts are not yet all in, but she appears to be a victim of some kind of reaction (or possibly an overdose) to a medicine given to her by hospital staff.

Steph was "one of us," that is to say a pop-culture subversive with a bent for the arts, performance, couch potato-ing to cult movies/tv (from The Wizard of Oz to Doctor Who and many thing in-between) and generally out of the mainstream. She was just recently married, with two teenage sons and a "second family" in the Rocky Horror troupe known as the Rich Weirdos. We didn't know her as well as others, but she made an impact -- and that's more than you can say for a lot of people who pass through this life. We'll miss her.

On a similarly down note, our friend and Reason #47 Why Orlando Is Not Awful, Brian Maguire is currently fighting for his life after a motorcycle accident (no helmet, nuff said). He is the anchor of many a band in Orlando's great music scene (Reason #17 Why Orlando Is Not Awful), and we're keeping our fingers crossed for him -- he's responding to stimuli (not his usual stimuli of babes n booze, mind you, but we figure that if he gets better he can have all he wants!) and the prognosis is still rather bleak, but every little bit helps. All his (many) friends and family in the Orlando area should know that we're pulling for him from up here.