The other day I saw a posting from a friend on their Facebook saying how they were tiring of so many death reports and while I can agree with her with every inch of my person, it is just a sad, cold fact of life that we have to deal with. That being said I am afraid that I must post a memorial reflection on yet another loss and this one saddens me all the more because I actually knew this dude in my media life and frequently ran into him at shows. It’s with a heavy heart that I must share the news about the passing of Mr. A.J. Confessore who fans around the world knew as C.C. Banana. A.J. was a quick thinking improv comic who created the personas of C.C. Banana and Maul Stanley who would run around the comic conventions and shows doing interviews. It was always a lot of fun seeing him do this and if you chanced upon him at a show you would never forget it. For the last bunch of months it had been reported that A.J. was facing some dire straits and there were auctions and events that were trying to help him get a number of issues under control. Unfortunately his family home was lost despite the efforts and it appears that the burden of this was all too tough to take because this sometime this morning A.J. decided to take his own life. He was only 43 years old.
The last time that I actually saw A.J. was at the NY Comic Con from 2011 where he was all made up as the mighty mutant C.C. Banana in a Wolverine costume. We crossed paths at a booth where there were two very lovely Japanese girls so I snapped a couple of photos of him doing his thing. I posted the pair of photos since its how so many people remember his antics. It was really some clever means of making ones impact in a generally strange scene.
I always appreciated the positive interest that Banana showed in the PiercingMetal brand when we ran into each other at the shows and I looked forward to his next adventures when he spoke of them. A.J. was also a talented music and song parody creator and his latest effort was an All-Star tribute to Fat Chicks called “Whole Lotta Love”. I admit that I had not yet heard this but did find the premise and song selections that he shared to be a riot. It’s rather hard to realize that I will not see him around the music scene anymore and I cannot say enough at how much it sucks that he felt this was the only path that he could take. I’m a firm believer in that anything can be overcome no matter how hard. All that suicides do is leave the people behind very hurt, confused and wondering if they had done enough for the person lost and could have helped any more than they might have.
As I said my own interactions were minimal with C.C. but in my book he was a really fun guy and I’ll miss that. In this time of sadness and questions I send the deepest condolences to his family, friends and business partners along with all of the fans that he had in the concert scene and on the interwebs. Rest in Peace A.J. May you finally find the answers you were seeking.
