Revelation; I despise those ubiquitous $6.98 plastic outdoor chairs. I believe if every last one of them were to be melted down we could cover our planet with a thin skin of white plastic. The idea frightens me. Perhaps this is why my favorite curbside find is lawn furniture. I break for it.
The problem is that it’s costing me. I’m currently waiting to get back four chairs and a table from B D & G Sandblasting East 54th street (take notes). Fifty bucks for the table and fifteen apiece for the chairs. The worst part of it is that I’ve hit a wall in terms of selecting a color scheme. This is where Martha Stewart and I part company. Of course the service makes a nifty tax write off; and this is where Martha and I reemerge.
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I was recently invited to a Monster Truck rally at Irwindale Speedway. It’s my college friend Chris, and wife Lisa’s idea of fun; dressing up as white trash. Note: I’m choosing the term “white trash” (sparingly) over their use of “red neck” to honor the Trash Tuesday theme (however loose). In the end, I wisely decided to take a pass on this opportunity to get killed. That’s Lisa with the dripping bra strap and T shirt that says “daddy never hugged me”.
Lisa is sitting in today as my guest blogger. In her own words
“Oh yes, feel free to blog about us. There were a few moments when we thought the locals had caught on to our “joke”, but we only came close to getting our asses kicked when I couldn’t stop laughing during the star spangled banner. I’m sorry, but there is nothing funnier than Chris waving a flag about! Folks were covering their heart with their right hand. For gosh sakes people that’s for the “Our Father” – for the life of me, I couldn’t remember what the pledge of allegiance was called. I held my flag over my heart for extra patriotic blessing. It was a riot! We thought we were so funny! There was this really scary Harley family a few rows ahead of us with a completely tricked out infant in full leathers! If my camera hadn’t have been acting up I was gonna go ask if I could have my photo with the baby. It was a sweet night indeed !!!!”
Note: The opinions expressed above are not necessarily those of Pasadena Adjacent
Seeing Chris wave a flag really is funny
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Maybe it’s not apparent at first glance but R.F.Q’s/Procrastination and Galco’s do have a common connection. Me.
R.F.Q. Request for Qualifications. In my world it’s called a job application. The deadline…..4:00pm Monday; across the desk, no post marks accepted. Each application is never quite the same. This one wants twelve images, that one wants four. This one wants a 4″x 6″ dpi 300 numbered format, that one wants a 12″x 14″ dpi 72 numbered one through four (to be seen on the first round) format. I might gear an application more towards design while favoring the three dimensional for another. It requires a certain degree of strategy. The commission in question thinks I should go out and visit each one of the twelve proposed sites, select one and then describe why. This is asking too much. I googled map quest (love them) took in a street view, made a selection and then came up with a superficial line of intent that should pass muster. Of course in the meantime I’m plowing away on Face Book Farmville, reading Sedaris, blogging and feeling guilty. ADD? yes, I was raised on Ritalin. I often think of going back to it. It’s an option. I just keep putting it off.
Looking for diversion, I remembered Galco’s. I wasn’t really hungry, eating is a diversion too. Down the hill and west of the bridge to Galco’s house I went. I’ll spare you the reason I quit going to Galcos out of respect for the family, but things have changed. The Blockbuster is now $4.95 as opposed to $.95 when I first visited back in 74. I’m old. So is Cheerwine. They started in 1917 and use pure cane sugar. There really is a taste difference between cane and corn. Subtle
Galco’s is a kind of soda museum now. It’s also adjacent to my other favorite; the Highland Park Police Museum. Don’t want to do what you should? may I suggest a small diversion?
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Meet painter John Kilduff. John is a man with a plan. For someone with a degree in contemporary art, he did the unthinkable; John displayed his paintings at a municipal art fair. He’s not an idiot, he chose Beverly Hills; ching ching. When OJ took over our airwaves 24/7 you could catch John, in his plein aire mode, sequestered among the media. Locals may recall the media’s massive presence down at Parker Center. Desperate for a story, reporters took to interviewing nattily attired John in front of his easel. John’s subject matter? satellite dishes.
Long before blogging, John used technology to get noticed. This video is from Kilduff’s long running cable series “Lets Paint TV” (part of his M.F.A. thesis at U.C.L.A.). His tenacity seems to be paying off. The man’s created a following. It’s not John’s first stint with cable television. In the mid 90’s I was the object of his reportage. He waited until I was completely inebriated to conduct the interview. He gave me a copy. It’s embarrassing. No…humiliating.
Inspiration: Stephs Sketches
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The moment you confess your love, you know that this day awaits. 11/02/09
In my world cats mark the passing of time. I can tell you what was happening when they came into my life and what was happening when they left. Ti Ling was a young Siamese cat who showed up at the Lacy Street Shelter back in September of 1988. The newly built shelter replaced the Anne Street Shelter which had been destroyed in the Whittier earthquake. This site also marked my first public art commission (now destroyed) as well as my artistic partnership with Mr V. An interesting career beginning and I have the stories to back it up; more on that in a bit. I walked into the shelter that morning, caught site of Ti Ling and immediately laid claim to her. That afternoon I surprised Ramona with her new birthday gift. Ramona was none to happy. I also knew it would pass. Looking for something asian sounding, mom made up the name Ti Ling. It was a good call since it turns out that Ling means “compassion and understanding” in Chinese. Ti Ling was a lover. Extremely adaptable, she never fought with other cats and moved into the niche that my father left with his passing.
What does this have to do with Trash Tuesday? The baby blanket. I found it curbside on a walk through South Pasadena. It seemed a good choice.
About those shelter stories…Anyone remember the “Great Burmese Give Away” fiasco? A little German woman (one time cat breeder of Siamese and Burmese cats) had 50 plus descendants from her original breeding stock holed up in her east Hollywood apartment. The cats were confiscated and brought to the shelter. They were “old style” and the most beautiful cats I’d ever seen. Every day the little German woman would come to visit her cats (they were in quarantine). Afterwards she’d come out and yell at me over and over again “get me a cab!!”while I painted. The situation was eventually plastered all over the local news and people were lined up the next day to adopt them. That “next day” the shelter pulled up the red carpet when the younger cats started breaking out in sniffles. Outside a few of the older cats, they euthanized the entire lot. I managed to use my newly acquired power to get two of the older cats into the hands of a friend. They would later come down with the same “said” sniffles. It was nothing more then a upper respitory illness easily treated with antibiotics.
Feeling kind of bummed out? come sit next to me.
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