Joel Orff is a cartoonist who (among other things) illustrates “great moments in rock and roll” that people send him. He’s got a book of them, and a website where he keeps putting up new ones and invites you to send him your story. It’s a super cool way to collect and tell fan stories. The illustrations really lend something more than the narratives alone.

On the book-plug site, Orff says this:

My goal with the Great Moments in Rock ‘n’ Roll series has always been to entertain, and to present people’s stories in a respectful way. My favorites are the ones that someone may have never thought was worth telling, but for some reason has stayed with them as a favorite memory. I’ve consciously kept the drawing loose and spontaneous, to reflect what I believe are qualities of the best rock ‘n’ roll.

The most recent strip is of a show I saw last month that was indeed a great moment in rock and roll, and though his illustrations don’t look a thing like the band, it really does nail the show.Reading through them there are so many classic moments of music fan experience. The Duran Duran one is just funny, and the Sonic Youth one, well if you’ve been upfront at enough shows it’s just so easy to imagine it happening. The Gary Numan one about going to your first concert is sweet and blazingly right on. Lots of insightful moments captured in this collection.