The Weird Is Wearing Thin

I sold my car on Friday. I'd had it for just shy of 13 years. It was a 1992 Honda Civic LX and was originally maroon, but had faded to more of a purple-ish color in the past few years. It had a few long-standing nicknames: The Red Rascall, The Maroon Maruauder, or, as my friend Stacy called it, The Purple Thing. I had to clean out the trunk of the Purple Thing before I could sell it. A lot of crap can accumulate in the trunk of a car over 13 years. Including:

Interviews for an old skate zine I used to make with my buddy Lee Brooks in the early 2000s called Keg Party. I'm sure I'll drink some beers in my garage some night soon and pop this in a jam box and get all nostalgic and sentimental. Anybody got a jam box I can borrow? And some Kleenex? (For tears, not for anything gross.)

Don Pendleton's artist statement for a show at Camp Fig Gallery (a gallery I used to run with my wife and some friends) from probably around… 2003?

Don rules. Thrasher stickers for the kids at the ditch. Too bad I'm afraid to talk to kids. They're too intimidating with their tie-dyed t-shirts and their rock 'n' roll hairdos.

An old vinyl Bueno ice chest. Leaks.

Bought this for a camping trip about eight years ago. Still works.

I found my thrift store cassette case buried under a mound of crap. It's "thrift store" because I bought the case at a thrift store as well as all of the cassettes contained within.

There's easily twenty-five dollars worth of music here. (Retail value.)

It felt like finding buried pirate treasure. If pirates buried warped useless pieces of plastic crap. Probably shouldn't have left these in my trunk through multiple Texas Summers. They still look cooler than an .mp3 though. And I bet I could remove the tape and place them into un-warped cassette bodies and they'd play just fine. Sounds like a good project for the retirement home.

Ah hah… that's where my beret was hiding. Guess my art career is back on track.

It was kind of sad to let my car go after having it for so long. Knowing it was going to a buddy made it a little easier.

My friend Kevin bought the car. This is a picture of him doing a skateboard maneuver (eight years ago or so) at The Banana Farm R.I.P. (Photo by Phil Jackson.)

God Speed Red Rascall. I hope you go another 150K. But if not… no backsies.

And speaking of old skate photos and buddies, here's a photo of my friend Adam Young skating the Skatepark of Austin R.I.P. (Photo by Lee Brooks? Or Shaun Mefford?)

Adam had his first solo art show this past Saturday at Common House.

And in my opinion he knocked the proverbial ball out of the proverbial park.

Lean-to shelter sculpture.

Adorned on one side with sculptures made by friends.

Awesome.

Father and Son Inhabitants.

Twenty-four new paintings. Hello, River.

I'm not going to say that Adam isn't aware of contemporary art, but he's definitely self-taught and never had the luxury of attending art school. He owns his own construction/landscaping company and in my opinion is making genuine folk art vs. trying to appropriate a style or fake naivety.

I was planning on buying this "Shovel" painting but it had already been sold by the time I got to the show. Bummers for me. Not bummers for Adam.

There was also a video installation.

And like most video art, it's one of those things that you kind of have to watch vs. looking at a still image to get the gist.

But essentially: 120 different methods of opening a beer bottle without using a bottle opener. So… things like belt-buckles, hammers, railroad spikes, trees, forearms, motorcycles, pizza… I'll try to convince Adam to upload the video to YouTube so I can share it with you at a later date. It's one of my favorite video art pieces I've seen recently. Mainly because it doesn't involve somebody wearing a unitard and a wig talking about their parents and crying.

Congratulations, Adam. Thanks for keeping Austin awesome instead of weird. The weird is wearing thin.

Movie Review: THE STUFF I was planning on reviewing Soul Man this week, but I didn't make it to the video rental place in time so I just had to see what NetFlix On Demand had available. I was torn between Jack Frost and THE STUFF, but ultimately went with THE STUFF. I'll try to review Soul Man next week, but if I don't make it to the video rental store again, look forward to a review of Jack Frost next Monday. OK, so… THE STUFF. This movie is actually pretty progressive and is essentially a social commentary on the FDA and the politics behind the garbage that most Americans eat. There's even an Alex Jones type of character in this movie, which might predate the actual Alex Jones. How long has that dude been conspiracy theorizing? I'd recommend watching this movie on a Sunday when you're super hungover and you can lay back on your couch, hit play, and fall asleep ten minutes into the film and not wake up until it's over. Watching this movie in its entirety would be a mistake. Unless you like watching total garbage. In which case you should just watch the last Indiana Jones movie.

Previously - You Never Know When Radical Is Going to Strike

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