So you want to be a star?

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The original image came from using Wombo AI with the prompt "the devil at the crossroads". I wanted to work with it here and was delighted when R. Crumb made the looming devil look more like a leather jacketed producer than a bestial demon. It suited my whole reason for making this dream: to illustrate the old myth about meeting the devil at the crossroads.

"Robert Johnson, perhaps Mississippi’s most famous bluesman, traveled the Delta playing parties, dives, clubs and even front porches. His playing in 1936 differed so much from his playing in earlier years that many people believed he sold his soul to “The Devil” at the crossroads.

The myth of the “crossroads” comes from Africa and some of its traditions brought to the U.S. and Mississippi with its slave population. The story goes that if you need something bad enough, you can make a deal with “Elegba”, or Satan. You go to a crossroads at midnight and wait until he shows up. That’s when you sign your soul away and lose your chance at salvation in exchange for whatever gift it is you want or need."
from Spooky Mississippi: The Story of the Crossroads and Its Mythology With Robert Johnson by kim. October 28, 2014 on SuperTalk,Mississippi Media