Wine N' Rhymes 6/29/2018

I was going to write a big ol' blog post about this event that I was a part of last night, Wine N' Rhymes.   My roommate Reece put it on, he's the guy on the right in the picture in this local newspaper article.  The woman in the pic is Rachel of Designs, Vines and Wines, a studio/gallery space in Studios at 625, on Trade Street, in the middle of Winston-Salem's art district, where the event was held.  The other guy is Collin of Vibe Funktions, the third part of the promotional team for the event.  The whole thing was hosted by L.B. the Poet, who's kind of the rock of the local poetry scene here.  If you check out the article in the link, I'm "Steve the homeless guy," they talk about for waaaaay too long.

Basically, it was a night of really amazing poetry, spoken word, and a bit of rap, tossed over some groovin' music buy local musicians, and Melvin the kick ass bongo drummer.

I was there as "live art," doing my Sharpie scribble style thing as the other stuff was going on.  There was wine to taste.  I'm not a wine drinker, and don't drink anything anymore (except Diet Coke), but everyone else seemed dig the wines being tried.  It was just a cool, fun, thoughtful, creative evening.

The Metallica drawing I'm working on right now for someone was at a weird point.  I couldn't do much while I was there, without my computer set up to check the details.  So I started a new "doodle art" piece, by drawing "WORD" in big letters, and then letting the ideas flow from there.  I wound up writing a poem on the spot, right from my head to the drawing (in ink), and shared it later in the evening (New Shit!).

There was a ton of video and pics shot last night, but it's either not posted yet, or it's on Instagram, which I'm not on (until I get a phone).  I was going to get a phone this month, but the city of Winston-Salem decided I needed to pay more than I currently make in a month as continuing reparations for my "Great Donut Caper."  I got arrested for trespassing and resisting arrest last fall, about 3o seconds after buying a pack of donuts at an Aldi grocery store.  Long story.  Don't ask.  So anyhow, the phone's on hold and so is Instagram for me.

Here's the poem I wrote last night:

Poetry: Voice for the Voiceless

I walked into the woods
To see what it had to say
But the woods couldn't answer
In an articulate way
I asked the bear, I asked the owl
They answered with
 A hoot and a growl
I saw the trees
They danced with the wind
But they could not express
Their opinion
As I walked from the woods
I felt a bit mad
The woods couldn't tell me
If they were happy or sad
I walked into the meadow
A brook babbled, in it fish swam
But I just couldn't tell
If they gave a damn
Right foot, left
Step by step
I passed from the country
To the city, poorly kept
The wild lands faded
Sounds, staccato and sharp
Piercing and pounding
It was no angel's harp
Things got more tense
More hurried and stressed
Broken places, battered people
The place was a mess
In the madness of the city
Sounds of beauty reached me
I suddenly heard words
Eloquent poetry
Poets weave words
They write down love and pain
They speak for the downtrodden
The wind and the rain
Words for the wordless
Help keep us all sane
(Mostly)

-The White Bear

Child Separation Rally & March in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

I spent the morning working on the computer, and then headed down to local rally against the child separation and other atrocities happening on the Mexico border.  The rally here in Winston-Salem was at this area I refer to as "dog poop park," a rectangular chunk of grass on 4th Street near Trade.  It's near the center of downtown, but there are no shade trees, no playground, just a chunk of grass.  So that's where a lot of dogs end up pooping.  People are good about picking up after their dogs, though. 

With the huge national outrage about the children being separated under the Trump policy, and the fact that we now have child and adult concentration camps in the U.S., I really had no idea what kind of turnout would be there.   And yes, the "tent cities" and "detention centers" are, BY DEFINITION, concentration camps, and I will always refer to them that way. 

It's 91 degrees and humid today, hot even by NC standards, so I bought a bottle of water, and sat on a bench where I could hear the speakers.  I'd say the crowd was probably 400-600 people.  Honestly, I was expecting more in a city of 241,000 people.  The crowd was pretty mixed racially, which was good to see.  There were quite a few upscale white people, many several people of all ages, and some Latinos.  The activists speaking talked about the things activists usually talk about.  The subjects covered by them ranged across the current issues.

When they started to march West on 4th street, I headed the other direction.  I walked one block East to the corner of Liberty and 4th.  I stopped on the corner and gave the finger to the Jim Crowe era, Confederate soldier statue there.  A 60-something, upscale couple in a really nice SUV was confused by my actions. My middle finger didn't accomplish anything, except to express my thoughts towards the elitist, racist, 300+ year reign or intimidation, terrorism, enslavement, physical brutality, and murder that built the American South.  As we know well these days, plenty of that mindset survives even now. 

We'll see what happens on the child separation issue, the immigration issues, and the overall issue of whether The United States of America will become the brutal, oppressive, totalitarian dictatorship that Donald Trump, his "Base," and Congressional Republican are working hard to create right now, or if the other 310 million of us will uphold the principles that America was built on.  It could go either way right now.  Time will tell. 

Remember folks, totalitarianism is government of the cowards, by the cowards, and for the cowards.  And it's a CHOICE.  Personally, I'm a fan of democracy. 

As for me now... back to work...

Happy Birthday Ethan...

When I first came to North Carolina in 2008, I didn't have any money to buy Christmas gifts for my niece and nephew.  So I drew them some pictures of their names in my weird Sharpie scribble style.  A decade later, I still don't have much money, so I'm still drawing them pictures.  Ethan just turned 15.  The drawing for this this year was an obvious one...

The Reaction to my RAD movie blog post

Over a couple of days, that previous post about the movie RAD got 1343 pageviews from the Old School BMX world.  I also got more comments from that post, across multiple Facebook groups, than from any post in years.  My whole point in writing it was that, when RAD came out, BMX freestyle was this weird little "sport," largely unknown to the mainstream world, and it meant everything to me.  I was 19 years old, couldn't afford college, and everyone in my life thought I was completely nuts for wasting every day learning tricks on a "little kid's bike."  I was a complete dork, I was really uptight, and I had to continually justify to everyone why this weird sport meant so much to me.  In my heart, I knew it was where I belonged, but no one else believed that then.  I was hoping that having a real movie made about the sport would legitimize my weird habit of riding to those around me.  In addition, I think I had just written my first freelance article for FREESTYLIN' magazine.  Because of assignment, I was able to hang out with pro riders at the Tulsa AFA Masters that year, and got my first taste of being an actual part of the freestyle world.  I was looking to RAD to explain to non-riders why I rode BMX bikes all day, then did my shift at Pizza Hut, then typed my zines all night.

RAD was a pretty typical Hollywood movie, written and produced by people who didn't ride, to entertain a mass audience.  My personal expectations of RAD were completely unrealistic.  That was the point of my post.  In the comments, a few riders, at similar levels in their BMX freestyle life, thought the same thing I did.  But not everyone.

Some riders didn't even see RAD, and it had no effect on them.  Some just saw it as entertainment, didn't expect much of it, and thought it was alright.  But the riders who either saw RAD when they were really young, or saw it before they even got into riding, loved it.  To younger kids, RAD made BMX look awesome, and probably got a lot of kids into riding BMX bikes in the first place.

When I wrote the blog post, I expected a few comments.  But the number of people who commented, and the wide range of opinions amazed, and really stoked, me.  One guy called me a douchebag in a comment, then thought better of it, and was editing the comment as I tried to respond.  So I thanked him in another comment, because I could totally see where he was coming from, especially how I talked about the whole "Bacon Number" bit in Hollywood.  We actually had a cool comment discussion after that.

In another comment, I wondered out loud if RAD had any effect on rider/video producer Eddie Roman, since his first school project BMX video, "Aggro Riding and Kung Fu Fighting," came out that same year.  Eddie, who I think was doing missionary work in the Caribbean this past week, responded, saying it didn't.  His love for comics and kung fu movies,, along with his love for freestyle did.

One comment had took me back to the reason I write old school BMX stories in my various blogs in the first place.  I shot a lot of video in the late 1980's for Vision, and from 1990 on, for myself.  I shot and produced The Ultimate Weekend in 1990.  Some of my footage wound up in the first two S&M Bikes videos.  But most of my raw footage was never seen by anyone, except me.  I had one of the best collections of Mid School BMX footage, from 1990-2007, that existed.  I was planning to make a BMX freestyle documentary in 2010, the 20th anniversary of  The Ultimate Weekend.  I was able to keep most of my footage safe (some disappeared while stored in the S&M Bikes warehouse around '93), through years of homelessness and other tough times.

But when circumstances forced me to move to North Carolina, where my family ended up living, in 2008, I lost everything.  My master tapes of videos I'd produced, all my raw footage, my BMX/skate/rock climbing magazine collection, including a complete collection of FREESTYLIN' magazine, and all my other creative work.  I had nothing left but memories.  So I started blogging.  My BMX blog posts are my documentary. 

I was a goofy kid living in Boise, Idaho who got into BMX in 1982, and freestyle in '83.  Against all odds, I somehow stumbled into the BMX (and later skateboard) industry, thanks to my first zine.  I met everyone, and worked side by side with the Wizard Publications crew, Bob Morales at the AFA, Don Hoffman at Unreel Productions, Scot Breithaupt on TV shows, and then Chris Moeller in the early days of S&M Bikes.  I hung with freestyle mentor/punk rock encyclopedia Mike Sarrail at the Huntington Beach Pier, and with freestyle skaters Pierre Andre and Don Brown there as well.  I was a professional sidekick, helping the people who were making the sport happen, and watching a lot of it happen firsthand.  I didn't have the personality back then to start my own business.  But that made me a great witness as all this cool stuff happened around me.

There's an old saying, "History is written by the victors."  That's not really true.  History is actually written by the scribes, monks, journalists, editors, zine publishers, photographers, and DIY video producers who are standing near the victors.  In the mid to late 1980's, in the BMX freestyle world, I was one of those guys.  That's why I blog, that's why I'll keep telling my BMX and skate stories, and that's why I really appreciate all the other Old and Mid School Riders taking the time to read my blog posts, and to comment and add your own memories and thoughts to the mix.

I'm still learning from this sport that shaped so much of who I am 30-some years ago.  Oh, and if you write the word "Rad" in a facebook comment, weird little thumbs-up asteroids shoot across your screen.  Who knew?

I'm doing most of my writing on Substack now, check it out:

Steve Emig The White Bear's Substack

Why I hated the movie RAD when it came out

 

Blog post:  Why I hated the movie RAD when it came out

This is Bill Allen, who played Cru Jones in RAD, hanging out at the One Love Jam in early 2020.  I didn't like RAD, when it first came out, but it had nothing to do with Bill or his portrayal of the main character, Cru Jones.  I met Bill last year, and have talked to him a bit this year, and read his book, My RAD Career a couple months ago.  Bill's a cool guy, a talented musician, and his book is well worth the read.  

 On an evening in 1986, I got off from my job at Pizza Hut in San Jose, California, and drove to a nearby movie theater.  The much hyped movie RAD, the first theatrical movie featuring BMX in the U.S., was opening that night.  I paid the fare, and headed into the theater, where about 5 other people were seated.  BMX freestyle was still under the radar of most people then, and there was no big name actor in the leading role.  I didn't care, it was the first time I would see BMX freestyle on a big screen, with Dolby sound, in an actual theater.  Freestyle had been my life for two years at the time, and I was stoked beyond belief to see that movie.  Robert Peterson, a Skyway pro I rode with often at the time, went on the promotional tour for RAD, though he wasn't in it.  

The movie began, and I spent most of it completely bummed out.  The story was just so fucking corny and ridiculous to me.  It was the most basic movie plot in the world, and just seemed nothing like what "real" BMX freestyle was.  As I've mentioned several times, I was a really anal, uptight, dork back then, and took a lot of things way to seriously.  But BMX freestyle was my life.  I wanted this movie to represent this awesome new sport I'd been into for a couple of years, and to show the world how cool it was.  

I had no problem with the actors in the movie, and there was some crazy riding.  That monstrous, near vertical starting hill/wall on Helltrack was insane.  But I felt the movie just made BMX freestyle look like a joke, and I was completely depressed as I walked out of the theater.  The only part I really liked was the credits of the movie.  The opening had R.L. Osborn, Martin Aparijo, Eddie Fiola, Ron Wilkerson, and Brian Blyther, riding quarterpipes, flatland, and even Pipeline Skatepark.  Then the end credits had R.L. and Martin doing flatland at the beach.  But the goofy storyline just made me want to throw up.  Like I said, I took things real seriously back then. 

About the same time, the movie Quicksilver came out, and I also saw that in a theater.  Quicksilver was a bicycle messenger movie, staring Kevin Bacon. There's a scene where a group of bike messengers do tricks on their bikes in an alley.  To every old school freestyler, it's a recognizable jam circle.  The difference is that the guys are all riding road bikes.  Two of the stunt riders, maybe three, are familiar names to most of you.  Martin Aparijo and Woody Itson are in the scene, as is then veteran bike stuntman Pat Romano.  There's also an artistic cyclist in there.  It's over the top, and the other riders watching are cheering a lot, but that scene seemed more like "real freestyle" to me at the time, then anything in RAD, except for the credits.  Both movies came out in 1986, and you can find this Quicksilver scene easily on YouTube.

Years later, working in the TV industry, the notion of "six degrees of separation" morphed into "six degrees of Kevin Bacon."  The idea was that Kevin Bacon had been in so many movies, that you could get to any other actor within six movies, starting with a Kevin Bacon movie and connecting actors.  Like this, Kevin Bacon was in this movie with that guy, who was in this other movie with that actress, who was in another movie with this actor, and so on...  So people, up-and-coming actors, and even some crew people, would figure out how many actors it took to get from themselves to Kevin Bacon.  That was known as your "Bacon Number," and the lower your number, the cooler you were in the entertainment industry.   I'm serious, people would sit around on set, or at bars drinking after work, trying to impress each other with their Bacon Number.

Now since Martin Aparijo and Woody Itson were in Quicksilver, AND they were both in my 1990 bike video, The Ultimate Weekend,  (Woody- 23:51, Martin- 29:38, and Me at 27:33) and I was riding in my video,  I had a Bacon Number of 2.  Kevin Bacon to Woody or Martin, and then those two to me.  Two degrees of separation.  More than once I saw actors and actresses on a set, in the early 90's, or in a bar after work, with Bacon Numbers of 3 to 5, joking and talking smack with each other.  Then I'd chime in, a lowly crew guy, and say, "My Bacon Number is 2," and watch jaws drop.  Then I'd explain it.  Ridiculous, but funny after a few beers. 

As the years passed, and I watched other action sports movies, I realized that Hollywood fucks up any new thing it makes a movie about.  There's the "hardcore skate" movie Thrashin', Wizard Pubs editorial guys Gork, Lew, and I saw this at the drive-in.  Remember drive-ins?  Thrashin's saving graces were that the Daggers gang included Christian Hosoi and a handful of top skaters, and some funk/punk band called the Red Hot Chili Peppers played in it.

But the granddaddy of all stupidity in the 1980's action sports movie world was Gleaming the Cube.  Because, you know, "gleaming the cube" was a hardcore skate term then.  At least that's what the producers and directors thought.  This stupid movie did throw out the idea of using an airplane to find empty pools to skate.  Of course, no skater, even Tony Hawk, who's in the movie, could afford to rent a plane and pilot back then.  But it was a good idea to find empty pools back then, before drones were a thing.

In the mix, and actually my favorite of the BMX & skate movies, was this weird Australian BMX movie that used to play on HBO all the time around 1987.  That was, of course, BMX Bandits.  That movie was a little less hokie, and had some cute redhead chick we'd never heard of, named Nicole Kidman, in her first starring role.  That movie, though shot three or four years earlier, seemed like sort of, kind of, almost, the kind of trouble a BMXer could, possibly, actually get into.  But not quite.  It was rare to see any movie made in Australia then, so we never expected to see those actors again.  

Much to my surprise, I went to see some random movie a couple of years after watching BMX Bandits on HBO a bunch of times, and I saw a sexy scene with a hot redhead.  The teen girl in BMX Bandits had not only grown into a complete knockout, but she was an incredible actress as well.  That movie, Dead Calm is a great little movie, by the way.  Then Nicole came to the States, and became the mega star we all know her as now.

As the years passed, and a new crop of young BMX guys came up, in this case, the Sheep Hills Locals of the early 90's, I realized that they actually liked RAD.  In the ramen eating years of the early 90's, when BMX was all but dead, the VHS videos of RAD got a lot of young kids interested in BMX.  As lame as all those 80's action sports movies were, they took our weird little worlds of BMX, freestyle, and skateboarding to a much, much wider audience.  We went from being the lunatic fringe, to just being lunatics.  Most of those kids probably got a BMX bike or skateboard and hit some little neighborhood jumps for a while, and then moved on to other things, as kids do.  But a few of those kids went on to really get into bikes or skates, and became serious riders or skaters, inspired by Rad, Thrashin', BMX Bandits, and maybe even Gleaming the Cube.

It's basically the same argument that all the hardcore action sports people had with the X-Games in the early years.  Sure, the made-for-TV contests gave a ton of exposure to those sports, but they also had no fucking clue what they were doing, and made everyone look like idiots for the first few years.  But the riders and skaters kept on them, got involved, and eventually turned the TV coverage into something much better for both the athletes, the producers, and outside companies that were sponsoring the events, and advertising on the the TV shows.

So now, as an old, fat, crusty, HAS BEEN freestyler who doesn't even ride at the moment (I'm starting to lose weight and saving for a new bike), I see a bigger picture.  Lame ass, big money endeavors, like Hollywood movies about a new activity, can have a positive effect.  Not always, some are just really bad ideas.  But it's a struggle when doing anything new to get people to first take it kind of seriously, and then to realize the culture of these sports (and other creative things) is really important.

In addition to that, the D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself) aspect of these sports led to a bunch of us dorky punk kids learning how to take good photos, shoot and produce good videos, and create magazines, and even direct movies later on in some cases.  Stacy Peralta's Dogtown and Z-Boys documentary comes to mind, followed by dozens of other great projects.  And don't forget BMXer/skater Spike Jonze not only produced the super profitable Jackass movies, but also directed Where the Wild Things Are, and won an Oscar for Her. 

On one hand, the goofy, hokie, ridiculous movies of the 80's (or any era) showed very warped versions of our sports to a lot more young people out there.  On the other hand, many guys like me, and many others, who hated those movies, decided to make our own videos (and zines, magazines, websites, blogs, bike companies, etc.).  In doing that, these sports have produced some of the best photographers, video producers, and even filmmakers around today.  

So now I'm less critical of people doing lame versions of action sports videos, or any other creative stuff now.  I'm sure drag racers and hardcore street racers hated the original Fast and Furious when it first came out, too.  But now they get paid to build $150,000 cars for dorks because of it.  These more mainstream projects can help talented people in new genre's get in front of a larger audience.  They often bring mainstream money into the sports, which is both good and bad.  And if the mainstream projects totally suck, the creative people will make their own, much better, versions, sooner or later.  

To be honest, I was just way to uptight back in 1986.  I wanted to be a clean cut, rider/entrepreneur guy like R.L. Osborn or Bob Haro, and wanted people to take the weird little sport of BMX freestyle seriously.  I was sick of people making fun of me for " riding a little kid's bike," and telling me I was a loser for spending so much time learning tricks on my bike.  I wanted to believe that doing tricks on my bike could actually lead to something in the future.  No one outside the sport took BMX freestyle seriously back then.  

In a great bit of real life irony, literally weeks  after I saw Rad, I got tapped to write a freelance article for FREESTYLIN' magazine, and was working there five months later.  Doing tricks on my bike actually did lead to something cool, it changed the course of my life for the better.  In time, a decade later, I began to see the positive side of what Hollywood movies can do for a sport like freestyle, or anything the movie industry decides to make a mainstream movie about. 

When writing about RAD, I can't forget the two main stunt riders, Martin Aparijo, above, seen here at a recent HB Tuesdays jam in Huntington Beach, doing a barspin backwards wheelie.  The other main stunt rider in RAD was Eddie Fiola, seen below, also at HB Tuesdays jam,with one of his patented, one footed,  rollback nosewheelies, which always amazed me.

Welcome to Hell Track! For real...

It actually exists now.  Helltrack is real.  I'll be honest, I hated the movie RAD when it came out.  BMX freestyle was my life, it seemed like the coolest thing in the world.  And RAD was just so hokey.  But then, I was super anal retentive then, and I had more issues then than the magazine rack at Barnes & Noble. 

I've been wanting to write a big post about that, as I watched post after post from Helltrack in the Templex Park on Facebook this weekend.  But I'm super busy drawing a couple pictures right now.  I have a $650 court fine to pay soon, so I'm focused on drawing cool pictures and getting paid at the moment.  My big post on RAD and the other action sports movies in the 80's is coming in a day or two.

While RAD bummed me out BITD, that freakin' roll in was no joke.  So here's a clip from this past weekend's action, for those around the U.S. and world who didn't hear about it. 

This is in the Texplex Park in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, in the big honkin' state of Texas.

Juxtaposition: Miley Cyrus Smells Like Teen Spirit

Hey, fellow Generation Xers, one time Disney Pop Tart turned raving lunatic turned rocker turned musical chameleon, Miley Cyrus, just turned a whole new generation onto one of our era's greatest songs.  Yes, it's a song about how people at pop concerts act complete fucking idiots.  Or something like that.  That fact isn't lost on me.  But I'll be honest, I kinda like her take on it.

As someone who worked in the entertainment industry for a while, I fully expected Miley Cyrus to go nuts after her Hannah Montana days ended.  After several years in the role of a G-rated Disney character, Miley emerged as a young woman with raging hormones, and wanted to be seen as a grown up.  So she went nuts.  Disney does that to people.

But then she shows up rocking Joan Jett songs,  and covering a Dolly Parton classic (very well, I might add).  Then she shows up singing with Joan Jett and Dolly Parton.  Then there's this cover of a 70's classic I've always loved.  It's not as good as Kerry Getz' cover of that song, but no one's is.  Well, maybe Stevie Nicks.

 More recently from Miley came some really amazing duets like this, and this, and this.  I think she's gonna be around the music world for quite a while.  My hunch is that were going to see much more of her in the future doing some pretty amazing stuff.  OK, we saw most of her here.  But you know what I mean.  And if she turns a bunch of young kids onto "Dave Grohl's old band" and some other great music from days gone by, that's probably not such a bad thing.

Miley, how about a duet with Nate Reuss covering Meatloaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights?"  Or with Meatloaf himself.  Just a thought...

3...2...1... Begin trolling me now.

SCOTUS gut punches American Small Business

At a time when we have over 7 million people out of work, AND the "officially unemployed," and we need as much small business as we can get, the Supreme Court just delivered a big blow to small businesses.  And a lot of larger businesses.

Millions of people in this country make their living, or part of it, by selling items online, and shipping them all over the country and the world.  By letting states force sales taxes to be paid on places where a business doesn't have a physical location, it will most likely make small businesses spend a ridiculous amount of time and energy collecting the 3% from this state, the 5% from that state, and the 1/4% for this town, and the 1/2% for that town, and making sure all those tiny amounts of money get paid to all those cities, towns, and states everywhere.

Like most all business related decisions and legislation these days, this is yet another way to try and prop up large but now unsustainable corporations that should have gone out of business a long time ago.  And it will be a big hit to the millions of small time sellers on Ebay, Amazon, Etsy, personal online stores, and everyone else actually building small businesses.  Yeah, thanks SCOTUS.

I'm not a cool guy... song for the day

I discovered this song shortly after I started working at Unreel Productions in 1987.  They used it in the soundtrack of a Sims snowboard video they were working on at the time.  When I got a little bummed out about something, I'd pull out a copy of that video and play this song to psych myself up.  These lines, in particular, helped me out a lot:
"I looked up one day and saw that, it was up to me.  You can only be a victim if you admit defeat." 
-The Descendents, "Coolidge"

I'm not a cool guy.

What summer camp costs $775 PER DAY PER KID? Our new Child "tent city" concentration camps

This classy, luxurious, three bedroom suite at Trump Tower Las Vegas has amazing views of the lighted city in the desert, and great amenities.  According to the Trump Hotel website, suites at this hotel start at $165 per night plus taxes and all that.  I didn't see specific prices for the 3 bedroom suites, but I'm guessing you could rent one for less than $775 a night.

I know money is not the highest priority in our current intentionally created crisis that has kids and parents in asylum seeking families now spread all over the U.S.  The vast majority of Americans, as seen in the uproar this week, want these families reunited and treated as well as possible as their cases for political asylum are considered.

By now, you've no doubt seen the "tent city" in Tornillo, Texas where a large number of kids are being housed away from their parents.  The tents do have air conditioning, which is good, but it's still a camp for kids.  Detention center.  Internment camp.  Concentration camp.  Call it what you will, that tent city, and others like it, are being set up in a hurry.  And according to this CNBC article today, it costs $775 of your tax dollars,  per day, per child.  I heard the initial report of this on MSNBC, but here's the business news channel sharing that information, which came straight from the Department of Health & Human Services.

So...  you see where I'm going with this.  For what the authorities (and private contractors) are spending to house these children in an insanely hot part of Texas, they could put six of these kids in this luxurious suite on the 62nd floor of Trump Tower Las Vegas, and they would still make an insane profit.  I doubt the kids would mind sharing a bed after the floor mats and mylar blankets.  And yes, there are for profit prison companies involved in detaining these immigrants.  This part of this horrific story is still evolving and coming to light.  We still don't know exactly who is profiting from this tragedy, and how much they're making.

I'm not trying to downplay the terrible human cost of these current policies, and it didn't stop with the Executive Order last night.  We know 2,600 kids are away from their parents, allover the U.S. now.  We don't know where kids detained the next few days will end up, and whether they will be able to stay with their parents.  I'm just shining a light on the financial side of this story, which is yet another reason to find much better ways of handling our immigration issues.

And just for the record, I lived for a year in Carlsbad, New Mexico as a kid, and I spent a lot of time with my dad, his friends, and my Boy Scout troop out in the desert there.  It's a brutal and deadly environment.  A person can EASILY die in a day or two out there.  People don't make a journey like this unless they have a really good reason.

We can do better than this people.  We're Americans. 

The weather report for Tornillo says it will hit 103 degrees today, and will be over 102 degrees for the next week.  The kids probably won't be playing much soccer today.

What would George Washington do?

The song "One Tin Soldier," with footage from the 1971 independent film, Billy Jack, in which the song was used.

Found this quote yesterday while doing some research on what's going on this week:
"I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong."
-George Washington
 May 28th 1788 in a letter to Francis Van der Kamp

Love lies bleeding...

This song, by Newport Beach, California singer/songwriter extraordinaire Kerry Getz, is about a vampire.  I've met a lot of people in the entertainment and action sports industries over the years, and I believe Kerry Getz is the single most talented person I've ever met.  She's a major triple threat in her world, incredible at singing, guitar playing, and songwriting.  In this song, I think she captures the soul of what it would be like to be a vampire, driven nightly by the darkest forces on Earth. 

Sparked by the horrific news of the child separations happening to immigrants on our Mexico border, I started on a huge drawing to address the issue the day before yesterday.  The theme of it was how it is possible for a country founded on personal freedoms (yes, I know there were hypocrisies then and now) to "suddenly" have our president and A.G. Session implement a policy that's something right out of Nazi Germany and similar authoritarian states.  This morning, it became clear to me that I could do more for this situation by blogging and decided not to finish the drawing.

I listened to a bunch of music to try and get into the mindset of how evil can take over a whole country.  It didn't happen suddenly, what's happening now has been in the works for decades.  We've seen much of it, piece by piece, and largely ignored it.  We, as Americans, were not "eternally vigilant" against the corrupt forces that our founding fathers warned us of. 

So now we have immigrant families being separated, we have children in concentration camps, as a matter of U.S. policy.  We also have "baby jails" now, euphemistically called "tender age shelters."  For those wondering, the term "concentration camp" was used because those camps housed "cocentrations" of certain parts of the overall population.  In Nazi controlled Germany, that started with the homeless (which is now forgotten) then went on to include the Jews, intellectuals, gays, political prisoners, Gypsies, and others.  When a prison-like facility is housing a concentration of children, it becomes a child concentration camp.  The prisoners don't have to be killed for that term to be applicable.  In the worst cases in history, that come later. 

Is this who we are as Americans?
Unfortunately, right now, it IS who we are.  We let things slip this far.  But we don't have to continue to be a country that allows atrocities like this continue.  Average, and not so average, Americans are waking up, standing up, and raising Hell about this new policy by President Trump, A.G. Sessions, and their cohorts.  This fight is just getting going.

I will be writing a series of blog posts about how we got to this point, why immigrants from Meixco and Central America are considered "illegal" but folks like Melania Trump were not, and how societies slip into the Dark Side that Yoda warned us of years ago. 

But for now, I'd like you to listen to Kerry's song above.  She wrote this incredible song about a vampire for her own reasons 20-some years ago.  But she captured what it must be like to be driven by the darkest forces in the world.  We can't appeal to the conscience of people who no longer listen to their conscience.  Right now, many "vampires" are in positions of great political and business power in many power in this country, and many of them are networked with each other.

 If you've ever watched a vampire movie, you know that doesn't end well.  I think this song captures the mentality of the people who find a way to rationalize horrific atrocities.  This mentality of great darkness is what we are up against right now.  If we get a sense of this mentality, I think we'll have a better idea of how to bring the United States of America back to the principles it was founded on, and what most of us believe it stands for.

More thoughts to come soon...

For those of you who want to hear more of Kerry's music, here are a couple of my favorites, both covers of songs you probably have heard before:

Kerry Getz sings "Landslide" and "Walk Away Renee."

Stand Up: A politician making sense

Ohio governor John Kasich lets loose his thoughts on the current pathetic nature of U.S. politicians and national politics in this MSNBC interview today. 

Long before the 2016 election, I told people that the presidential ticket I'd like to see would be Ohio Republican Governor John Kasich for president teamed with Social Democrat Bernie Sanders.  Everyone thought I was nuts for suggesting this, which is fine.  My point was that out of huge group running for president, Kasich seemed to be the person with legitimate leadership experience, and the most decent human being of the bunch.  We need both at all levels of government, and we have neither at most right now. 

Sanders drives Republicans nuts, for obvious reasons, but he had the following on the other side of the political sphere, most of the young people, and in this hypothetical ticket, the two or three things he might be able to actually achieve would really help this country as a whole.  Fixing old and building new infrastructure is one thing, finding a reasonable solution to suffocating college debt is another, and possibly a better blend of healthcare ideas could, possibly, be a third.  In this interview today by Stephanie Ruhle, John Kashich does what only a couple of politicians have done in the last  couple of years, he makes sense.  I hope some Republicans hear him, manage to grow a pair (or borrow some balls from Diane Feinstein), and actually do something worthwhile for once.  I'm not holding my breath, but it's good to hear someone standing up and making sense in the political world.

A little reggae for your Monday morning...

You know how some days you wake up and just think, "Man, I'm totally in the mood for some kickass Hasidic Jewish reggae?"  Today's one of those days.  Matisyahu. Perfect for a Monday morning  Enjoy.

Matisyahu- "One Day/No Woman No Cry"

Matisyahu- "Live like a Warrior/Fast Car" 

Schoolin' the youngin's on the Chili Peppers

So... last night, my new roommate Reece played some Red Hot Chili Peppers from the 90's on his laptop.  I said "great song."  We talked about them for a couple of minutes.  A little while later, he commented, "It blows me away you know who the Chili Peppers are." 

I laughed, then I pulled up this video and showed it to him.  I asked what year he was born.  He said, 1990.  I said this video is from 1989.  It's the Red Hot Chili Peppers playing live on the final day of the Vision Skate Escape contest, at U.C. Irvine Bren Center.  I also showed him my name in the credits (25:48).  Heh, heh, heh.  Being old and having a really crazy background is fun sometimes. 

Yeah, I know who the Red Hot Chili Peppers are.

Drawing at 625 Trade tonight...

Heading down to Designs, Vines, and Wines at 625 Trade Street in a few minutes.  I'm planning to hang out and draw for a while tonight.  Always some fun and random cool people hanging out and wandering through on weekends.  Rachel White always gets a good vibe happening there.  Watch my weird Sharpie scribble style, and when that bores you after about 30 seconds, check out all the other work in the studios.  Come by if you're here in the Winston-Salem area. 

Mallpocalypse leads to new kind of mall rats

In this CNBC story, we hear of a former Macy's Store that has become a homeless shelter.  Homeless shelters aren't really what most homeless people need, they need, cheap, safe, semi-permanent housing.  But it's better than nothing. 

Not so smooth criminal- 6/14/2018

I always liked this cover of the Michael Jackson song.  By the way, of you're a Michael Jackson fan, go buy my MJ drawing at 625 Trade Street in Winston-Salem, I need the money (see below).

-This past Tuesday, I officially became a criminal.  Last October, I got arrested for trespassing as I walked out of an Aldi's store after buying a pack of donuts.  Long story.  I threw my elbow up instinctively when grabbed on the should from behind, which qualified as resisting arrest.  I wound up spending three days in jail, and this was while I still had half a beetle still lodged in my ear and was partially deaf from that.  Seriously, my life is so crazy it wouldn't be believed as a novel.

Anyhow, since that was my first arrest in 51 years of life on Earth, I qualified for some deferred something-or-other program.  But being the goofball I am, I spent my time drawing cool Shapie drawings to earn money to survive, and didn't do all my community service hours or pay the $250 fine that I couldn't possibly afford.  So now it's on my record, I'm officially a criminal.  Oh, and I have to pay $432 in court fines and fees plus court costs in less than a month.  I'm guessing that'll be about $700 total, more than I've made in any month in the last six years.  So that will be fun.

I also have to do another 50 hours (did 19 earlier) of community service, and I have a 30 day jail sentence, suspended for one year.  I'm trapped in the legal web here.  Bummer.

Anybody wanna buy a cool drawing?  I've got a bunch lined up, but I'll need to make additional money to get the fine paid.  Send your donations to Free The White Bear at...

All that fun aside, the new roommate situation is going well, we get along good, we both hate to clean, and we have air conditioning and wifi now, which is great.  No mom, he isn't gay, we're just roommates.  She thinks most every guy is gay for some reason. She's just kinda weird that way.

I'm still drawing every day.  Starting on a drawing of The Beatles this afternoon for a couple who've bought several other drawings.

It's now summer weather here in Winston-Salem, crazy hot and humid most every day.  For a fat guy like me, that means I took a shower in May but won't dry off until October.  Humidity... yuk.  Like the comedian Louie Anderson used to say, "Us fat people, we don't tan, we baste."

Since my current need to quickly earn a bunch more money than last month popped up, thanks to the court fine, I'll be launching some new ideas soon.  Stay tuned...

Also, I'll be hanging out and drawing live, and actually performing some kind of spoken word/poetry piece at Wine and Rhymes, at Designs, Vines and Wines, 625 Trade Street here in W-S, on Friday, June 29th.  So that should be fun.

The Heavy Rebel Weekender will be happening here at the Millenium Center and on Trade Street July 5-7th.  I will have some new art up in the front window of 625 Trade for that, and Gallery Hop is on Friday the 6th, so Trade Street Will be rockin'.  That's the news for now.

Wednesday Wine and Words in Winston-Salem- 6/13/2018

If you're young, this is Robin Williams, which means NSFW in about 74 languages.  Wine has been part of human culture for thousands of years.  There's nothing wrong with that when you drink a reasonable amount.  But we all know those people who go way beyond the call of party duty.  And no one can sum that up with humor like the late Robin Williams.  Enjoy this clip responsibly.

Tonight in Winston-Salem:

Word of Mouth Wednesdays at Abience events center, hosted by L.B. The Poet.  Doors open at 8:30.  More info: Word of Mouth Wednesdays.

Wine About Wednesdays at Designs, Vines, and Wines (inside Studios at 625, 625 Trade Street), hosted by Rachel White.  Come in, try some new wines, sip the day's stress away, and even do an art project to take home if you like.  More info at Wine About Wednesdays, or on Facebook.

I should talk Rachel into doing a Wednesday event for my homeless friends, we could sip Strawberry Hill, Mad Dog 20/20, and box Merlot and call it Homeless Hump Day or something.  Hmmm... might be hard to talk her into that one.  Maybe Thunderbird Thursdays...

Old guys rule? Yeah, sometimes they do

I love it when that video pops up on YouTube that I figure probably isn't really worth 4 minutes of my time, and then I watch it and it's awesome.  This is one of those.  Careful who you pick a fight with youngin's.

ZZ Top Sharpie drawing

My latest Sharpie drawing, blues rock legends ZZ Top.  OK, two out of three members, anyhow.  I'm really stoked on how this one came out.  Sharpies on paper, 18" X 24", Sold.

If you check out my blog often, you know that I always listen to the music and interviews of the musicians I'm drawing to get their vibe while I work.  Since I was a high school kid in the 80's during the MTV video revolution, I dug ZZ Top videos back then.  But I always run across some live video or new song when I'm working on these pieces that's amazing.  In this case, I found this great jam session featuring ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons on a video series called Daryl's House.  The Daryl is Daryl Hall, of Hall and Oates fame.  He was not somebody I was a huge fan of back in the day.  But this is a really great program, I've watched it three times already.  If you like, the blues, ZZ Top, Daryl Hall or guacamole, you should watch this:

Singapore Summit

The vast majority of intelligent people in the world  don't believe a thing that either of these two leaders of nuclear armed countries say.  So when they make a handshake deal between them, where does that leave the rest of us?  

Just wondering...
 

It's (hopefully not) about to get Nuclear

Here's where we are, people.  Donald Trump, the most... um... unique president of the U.S. we've ever had, will be meeting with the Pillsbury Doughboy of the nuclear country leaders, Kim Jong Un.  And these two people will be discussing nuclear weapons and possibly forging some kind of agreement in Singapore tonight and tomorrow.  Providing a nuclear holocaust doesn't ensue (a legitimate possibility), psychiatrists will be writing about this meeting for decades, trying to figure out the mental dynamics in that room.  It can't possibly get any weirder, can it? 

Sure it can.  Former Chicago Bulls basketball star turned shock celebrity turned Kim Jong Un buddy, Dennis Rodman, will be in Singapore as well for the summit.  He's there representing a cryptocurrency for buying weed.  Remember back in the 1980's when the first Mad Max movie seemed like the craziest thing that could happen in our lifetime?  Yeah, we're way beyond that on the hoopty scale now. 

And we STILL don't know what planet Dennis Rodman is from...

Gary Vaynerchuk says you're soft... and he's right

Gary Vaynerchuk cusses a lot.  So NSFW.  If cussing bothers you, grow up.  Gary Vee also drops a ton of knowledge about business and marketing and building a business in today's world.  One week from now, owning your own business is going to look like a much better idea.  Just wait. 

Watch this video.  Stop whining.  Work your ass off.  

Our economic house of cards faces a tough week

In this Bloomberg article, they describe this coming week (6/11-15/2018) as the "world economy's most important week" of the year.  We will see the fallout from President Trump's spectacle at the G-7 conference, then comes the North Korea fiasco.  Tell me again why we're giving this much credibility to a brutal dictator?  Oh yeah, he's friends with Dennis Rodman and he has nukes.  Rodman WILL be in Singapore for the summit, representing a cryptocurrency for buying weed.  Really.  Then we may see an interest rate increase from the Fed here in the U.S., and actions (or non-actions) by the European and Japanese central banks.  Honestly, it will be a freakin' miracle if the economy still looks stable on Friday.

Just a reminder, I wrote in this blog that I believe that April 4th, 2018 will be seen as the start of the looming Great Recession II, The Sequel.  Obviously, I could be wrong, but I think that in the long term, this will be seen as the case.  In the short term, media always denies a recession for the first six months or so that we're in it.  Also, at the beginning of May, I said to keep an eye on Germany's Deutsche Bank, it's sketchiness will likely play a role in the world economic downturn, and ours here in the U.S. 

Time will tell...

Djembe beats and artistic treats 6/8/2018

Melvin the drummer, came by Studios at 625 last night, and dropped beats out front for the passersby on Trade Street.  He just had this great little video produced about him, and he always gets people moving with his rhythms. 

Inside, Rachel at Designs, Vines, and Wines was making plaster face masks of two women and a girl, which I've never actually watched  being done before.  I took up residence at one of the tables in the middle of the studio, and did my Sharpie scribble thing on a drawing of ZZ Top I'm doing for a couple in Kentucky. 

The open mike that usually happens on Friday nights never quite got opened.  A handful of the locals chilled out, had some pizza, and wandered around the Winston-Salem Art District.  The day had been hot, and the night was warm and sticky. 

In a late search for a Diet Coke, I wandered into the Bar-B-Q place on Liberty for the first time.  I found a Galaga game upstairs, which I hadn't played in at least ten years, and rocked it up to Level 10 and about 65,000 points.  I was pretty stoked on that.  I left with a Diet Pepsi and went back to keep scribbling with my Sharpies. 

Rachel got a late evening client wanting her daughter to get plaster pregnant belly mold, and the kid is supposed to pop out today or tomorrow.  Can't get much more pregnant than that.Since that's a pretty intimate process between expectant mom and artist Rachel, I took that as my cue to head home.  Oh yeah, I have a home now.  Well, I'm on a couch tour, but close enough. 

Another Friday night getting creative at Designs, Vines, and Wines/Studios at 625 on Trade Street here in Winston. 

The Notorious B.I.G

This is my latest drawing.  I posted it on Facebook a couple days ago, but forgot to put it here onthe blog.  Biggie Smalls, The Notorious B.I.G., whatever you want to call him, donein my Sharpie scribble style.  18" X 24", Sharpies on paper, Sold.

Deutsche Bank merger compared to "tying two drunks together"

Five weeks ago, the economy guy in me went looking to see major banks were sketchy, and I found Germany's huge bank, Deutsche Bank was the standout having major troubles.  I literally look up news about them every day, and it's been one lame news report after another.  I think Deutsche Bank will play a big role in our next Great Recession, which will come soon. 

In this The Real Deal (NYC real estate news) article, we hear that D-Bank is not only in serious trouble and thinking of a highly questionable merger, but it's the main bank loaning money to real estate developers in New York City.  It's also been widely reported for months that the Trump Organization owes Deutsche Bank around $300 million.

Now of everything is legit, and the buildings built with that money are paying their loans, that's no big deal.  But, if you follow the news at all, you know that President Trump, the Kushner family (Invanka's husband) and many of the people they're involved with, have a lot of sketchy deals going on.  So in addition to being a huge bank that has made a lot of bad investments and been mismanaged, Deutsche Bank has heavy ties to New York City, the Trump Organization, and the president itself. 

So when this recession kicks in big time, Deutsche Bank's troubles will be part of the mix, and, among other things,  those troubles will have ties to New York City and President Trump's own business empire.  It's weird now.  It will get much weirder.

3162 Kashiwa Street in Torrance, California

Sometimes a location becomes famous itself, as a focal point of human activity that affects a large number of people.  Over the last couple of days, an old school BMX freestyle rider made a Facebook post about a non-descript industrial building at 3162 Kashiwa Street in Torrance, California.  A whole bunch of us added comments.  Why?  Because that building was the longtime home Wizard Publications, which published BMX Action and FREESTYLIN' magazines.  That address became legendary to us BMX freestylers of the 1980's.

After reading the comments on the FB post, I knew it was time to write a post about that place, because I worked there for a short time, from August 1st to December 31st, 1986, and it changed the entire course of my life.  Since the photos shared were on FB were of the outside of the building, I've decided to write this post about a few things I saw happen in that parking lot.  Yeah, just the parking lot, the one you see R.L. Osborn and Ron Wilton sessioning in the the early part of the video above.

This BMX Action Trick Team video was written (they did that back then) and produced by a professional video production company.  This video cost about $40,000 to produce, and lost a ton of money.  No disrespect to R.L., Ron, Windy, Dian Harlan (the world's greatest receptionist at the time) or anyone else in this video, but, let's face it, it sucked.  The reason it sucked is because nobody knew how to make a really exciting BMX freestyle video at the time, and only professionals could afford high quality equipment.  So those people were hired to make a standard, documentary-type, video about the BMXA Trick Team, and the new and emerging little sport of BMX freestyle.

In that parking lot, on my first full day working for Wizard, I helped set up for a party commemorating the 10 year anniversary of BMX Action magazine.  Gork, the editor of BMXA at the time, spent Saturday, the next day, at the party.  Andy Jenkins, Lew, and myself, made a short appearance, but then went off to other plans for the day.  But during that short appearance, I saw Bob Haro, the guy who invented BMX freestyle, for the first time.  Fan boy moment on my second day living in Southern California.

In that parking lot, I had some after work freestyle sessions on the T.O.L. (Tower Of Love) halfpipe, with R.L. Osborn, Eddie Fiola, Gork, Lew, and a few other riders. I never got up to coping, but it was fun anyway.

In that parking lot, I rode a mono-shock bike for the first time.  Some old schoolers brought a few really old BMX bikes to the warehouse for a photo shoot, so we had a couple of impromptu freestyle sessions on them, and even rode them all to lunch one day.

In that parking lot, I first rode on Gork's BMX sidehack.  We tried a few freestyle tricks on it.  We actually managed to do a few backwards wheelies on it, Gork on the bike and me on the hack.  They weren't easy, I'm pretty proud of that trick.  But no one thought to snap photos back in those days.  Bummer.

In that parking lot, I saw an unknown rider named Mitch Collins, wearing one of Woody Itson's old uniforms, blasting higher airs on the T.O.L. than anyone I had seen ride it.  He didn't air quite as high as Josh White did, but I started working there a few months too late for Josh's epic photo shoot there.

In that parking lot, I saw Eddie Fiola session the T.O.L. halfpipe many times.  He ruled that ramp in 1986.  A couple of guys got a bit higher, but Eddie had the lines and the flow since he was a skatepark rider, and rode the ramp more than anyone during my stint working there.

In that parking lot I had flatland sessions with R.L. Osborn, Gork, Lew, Craig Grasso, Chris Day, Zack, Melody, and the local kids, Dizz Hicks, Ceppie Maes, McGoo, Dave Vanderspek, Maurice Meyer, and the entire NorCal/Golden Gate park posse, along with other random freestyle travelers.

In that parking lot, one pro rider showed us the nude photos his girlfriend had professionally taken so he could check them out while on tour.

In that parking lot, I first tried a trick Gork dubbed the Spud Stall.  He named it that since I was form Idaho.  I pulled up my front wheel while rolling straight at the warehouse wall, then I tried to touch both tires to the wall with the bike straight up.  Fakie wall rides hadn't been invented yet, but that's what I was trying.  I'd get my front wheel on the wall, and my back wheel within six inches of it or so, hit the brakes, then hop back and ride out.  Craig Grasso, who saw me try these for months, and get really close on a skater launch ramp in Hermosa, ended up being the guy to actually make fakie wall rides happen and get the first photo.  I'm stoked on that.  I had to clean the white Wizard wall because my tires left black marks on it.

Just outside that parking lot, in the street, I was sent out one day to help some ramp rider kid set up Brian Scura's ramp to do a photo shoot with Windy.  It turned out, Brian had engineered the ramp to be set up by a single person, so this kid with the stringy blond hair didn't need help.  I hung out and watched him warm-up anyhow.  At one point it looked like he was bailing, but he ended up doing this insane, upside down footplant.  I'd never seen anything like it.  That was the day I met Dave Voelker.

One day, Andy led us out into the parking lot for a "meeting."  Gork, Lew, Andy, and I sat on the curb of the little island, and he brought up our topic.  He was thinking about hitting up Oz to make another video, and he wanted our ideas.  Since Oz spent $40K on the BMX Action video (above), there was a "don't ever mention making another video," unwritten rule in place at Wizard then.  Andy thought that if we could come up with a really, REALLY good idea, we might be able to talk into making another video, using the new, amazing (and cheap) Video 8 camcorders.  We all threw out ideas.  My idea was to show us getting off work on a Friday afternoon, and then going riding with all the best riders in SoCal all weekend.  Nobody liked that idea.  So I self-produced the concept as The Ultimate Weekend in 1990, 3 1/2 years later.

One morning, while standing outside the little warehouse door on our break, Haro pro Ron Wilkerson rode up on his motorcycle.  He shut it off and coasted up to us.  There was a small person, which appeared to be a blond kid, about 13-years-old, on the back of the motorcycle.  We looked at each other in confusion, wondering if Ron was going around picking up young boys or something.  They took their helmets off.  Ron said, "Hey guys, this is Spike, Spike Jonze.  He jumped in the Haro van back East and went on tour with us as our roadie."  We had no idea what that (17 -year-old) BMXer/skater kid had in store for his life.  I don't think he had any idea either at that point.  He's still surprising us all.

So those are some of my best memories from the average looking parking lot, located at 3162 Kashiwa Street, in Torrance, California.

30,000 page views in less than a year. Heck yeah.

On June 26, 2017, about three weeks after coming to Winston-Salem with $15 in my pocket, I brought all my assorted blog ideas into one.  This blog was born.  I spent about 9 1/2 of the last 12 months living in a tent in the woods and drawing my weird Sharpie pictures as many hours a day as I could.  My blog is all over the place:  old school BMX stories, pics of my drawings, macroeconomics (by a homeless dude?  WTF?) and random thoughts.  The occasional rant that pisses off the entire power structure of North Carolina.  If any blog should have bombed.  It's this one.  But it's all me.  And you folks keep checking it out.

THANKS! 
I'm stoked on hitting 30,000 page views in less than a year.  I'm also stoked I'm sleeping on a futon now under a roof.  Huge thanks to Rick, Ben, Scotty Z, My sister Cheri, my niece Katherine and nephew Ethan (just for being cool kids and not giving up on crazy Uncle Steve) Jane, Phred, Lee, Rachel, Ian & Catherine, Trina (love the knuckle photo), Olu, and everyone who's bought a drawing, let me push their shopping cart at Adli's for food money, everyone who's thrown me a few bucks just cause I look like hell, and everyone who's checked out this blog in the last 11 months.  Keep rockin' people, and I'll try my best to keep this thing worth checking out.

The Year of the Tent #12: What can one homeless person accomplish in a year?

Unable to find any job in Kernersville for years, in November of 2015, I decided to focus on turning my weird Sharpie artwork into a small business.  I started literally without a single dime.  I had a place to live, a $60 refurbished laptop running Windows XP, a sketch pad, and a bunch of Sharpie markers.  I sat down for a couple of hours and looked at all kinds of art online.  I had one question in mind, "What could I draw that I would want to put on my wall?"  I ended up doing this simple drawing of Bruce Lee, my first hero.  I've been drawing, honing my skills, progressing, and promoting myself ever since.

One year ago, on June 1st 2017, I decided to come to Winston-Salem, because I couldn't re-invest the money I was making back into my art in my living situation in Kernersville.  I stored my few belongings in a friend's closet.  I moved into a patch of woods in Winston-Salem, since I wasn't able to afford any place to live.  I had about $15 to my name, a few clothes, and my art supplies.  I lived in a tent for 9 1/2 of the past 12 months.  

This post, and the previous 11, show you what I've done in the past year as a homeless artist.  I just recently was offered a place to stay, so I'm not homeless anymore.  I'm making consistent money from my art, though not all that much.  I make about what I'd make as a part time restaurant employee.  But I draw and work on the computer all day.  I've created my own job.  I have a two month backlog of work to do at the moment.  My prices aren't that high, but they're increasing bit by bit.  The money will come.

My goal was to create a small business from my art and writing.  Along the way, I've blown most people's stereotypes of what a homeless person can accomplish, which is a nice added bonus.  Scroll through the pics and enjoy.  Here's my info:

Facebook page: Steve Emig (the only one in Winston-Salem).  I have an FB group about Winston-Salem Art and Creative Scenes that you can join (if you friend me) or checkout at any time.
Pinterest: Steve Emig  stevenemig13
Email: stevenemig13@gmail.com
No phone at the moment.  Really kids, that's actually possible.
You can see my work in person at Earshot Music (3254 Silas Creek Parkway), and maybe at 625 Trade Street.

Media:
Winston-Salem Journal- Artist Profile- November 1, 2017
Fresh From The Vine Radio show- WDRB Radio Charlotte- April 8, 2018- interview at 23:40
WGHP Fox 8 News- Interview by Allison Smith- May 17, 2017

The Year of the Tent #11

 Stevie Ray Vaughn/The Sky is Crying, 18" X 24," Sharpies on paper.  One of my favorites of the favorites I've done in the last year.  This drawing is now in Kentucky with several others of mine.  I got to actually see him play in a bar, on Sixth Street in Austin, Texas in 1987.  I didn't know who he was then.  Freakin' amazing bluesman.

 My tools.  Most of them.  For the last crazy year, I've carried my art studio wherever I go.

 Be weird.  "Most progress in the world comes from the Freaks, Geeks, Dorks, and Weirdos."  This drawing, and the one below, are now on the office wall of Ms. China Krys Darrington.  She works in the trenches helping people recover from opiate addiction and similar issues.  Keep up the great work China.  These two drawings, and several others of mine, now live in Ohio, where I was born and lived as a kid.

More good advice (in my opinion), "Do the impossible, it really pisses off normal people."

The Year of the Tent # 10: Happy Customers

 This is Erin, who got a drawing I did of singer Lana Del Rey for her 16th birthday recently.  Her mom Lisa said she was "over the moon."  Finishing a drawing I really like feels great.  But seeing a photo of someone who got one of my drawings as a present is as cool as it gets.  There's a close-up photo of the drawing a few posts back.

 As a long time skateboarder and one time skate industry guy, I was really stoked on this opportunity.  In this photo, all three ladies are in the Skateboarding Hall of Fame.  On the left is Vicki Vickers, in the middle is Deanna Calkins, and on the right is Robin Logan, from the family that created the Logan Earth Ski boards.  After receiving a drawing of mine as a gift herself over a year ago, Robin has had me do drawings of friends as gifts.  This past Mother's Day, Vicki and Deanna got these drawings as gifts from Robin, both of photos from their heyday as pioneering women skaters.

 As a Sharpie artist, what do I do when my brain is tired from concentrating?  Adult coloring... sort of.  I draw freehand "doodle art" pieces, and then color them.  This "Love is the Answer" drawing full of hears still isn't finished, but you can see it if you find me at the Winston-Salem First Friday Gallery Hop tonight (6/1/2018).

Here's the first drawing Robin Logan (above) had me do, her older brother Bruce Logan. 

The Year of the Tent #9

The late Dr. Maya Angelou, 18" X 24," Sharpies on paper, sold.  This one managed to wind up on stage at the garden party at Bailey Park here in Winston-Salem, celebrating Dr. Angelou's 90th birthday party.  That was pretty cool. 

 Joan Jett/I Love Rock n' Roll, 18" X 24," Sharpies on paper.  I started this one for myself, and like so many others over the last couple of years, it wound up for sale.  You may see it in a window on Trade Street, that's where I last saw it. 

 When you wind up homeless for any reason, most people somehow believe that you must have lived a life that would inevitably lead to homelessness.  In almost every case, that's not true.  So here are a couple of photos of me when I wasn't old, fat, and homeless.  Here I am in 1989 as a camerman for Unreel Productions, the video company owned by Vision Skateboards/Vision Street Wear Clothes.  The camera on my shoulder is a broadcast quality Sony Betacam that weighed 35 pounds and cost $50,000.  I was shooting the AFA Masters Finals, the year end national BMX freestyle contest.  The location is the former Olympic Velodrome, used in the 1984 Olympics, on the campus of Cal State Dominguez Hills.  For you old school rap fans out there, this is a couple miles from Compton.  Photo by Mike Sarrail.

This is a video still (at 1:05) from my 1990, self-produced BMX freestyle video, The Ultimate Weekend.  I'm doing a wall ride over my younger sister Cheri's head.  She's a grade school teacher in Greensboro now.  The location is the Blues Brother Wall, a slightly undervert wall, right next to the beach in Huntington Beach, California.  It's near 14th Street and PCH. 

The Year of the Tent #8

 Lana Del Rey/Old Money, 18" X 24,", Sharpies on paper, sold.  A friend named Lisa, who I met when she interviewed me about my artwork, had me do this for her daughter Erin's 16th birthday.  I'm always nervous about doing a birthday present drawing for someone I don't know.  as you'll see from Erin's photo in another post, things turned out well.  Erin loves the drawing, and I am now a fan of Lana Del Rey, thanks Lisa and Erin.

Tedeschi Trucks Band, 18" X 24," Sharpies on paper.  A Triad couple who bought a couple of my drawings from Earshot Music later had me do a series of drawings for them.  Tedeschi Trucks Band was a group I'd never heard of, and they're amazing.  I always dive into the music and interviews of the bands and people I draw.  With this drawing, I got turned on to a new band and this is one of my favorite drawings I've done in the last year.  This couple's orders basically kept me alive and got my art business off the ground.  Thank you for that.  They recently moved to Kentucky, and I have a couple more orders to do for them.  Like Hannibal in the A-Team, I love it when a plan comes together.

Jimi Hendrix/Hey Joe, 18" X 24," Sharpies on paper.  Why would a fat, smelly, homeless guy take a shot at drawing one of the most classic images in Rock n' Roll history?  Because I thuoght I could fucking rock it.  Jimi came out pretty good.  He's living in Kentucky right now.

Young Elvis Presley and fans, 18" X 24," Sharpies on paper.  The guy who bought my Kurt Cobain drawing in my show at Earshot Music last November, has turned a friend of his on to my work, and that man is now a collector.  I started this Elvis Presley drawing intending for it to hang on the wall at Earshot Music.  Elvis never made it to the wall.  Sorry wall.  Good problem to have for me, though.

The Year of the Tent #7

 Michael Stipe/REM, 18" X 24," Sharpies on paper, sold.  My sister had me do this one for my brother-in-law Nathan.  He response, mostly because I'm a (until recently) homeless loser, was, "eh."  If you're an REM fan and want to tell Nathan you actually like this drawing, send him a POLITE email or message to his business, here.

 My take on the badass Bruce Lee poster that made me a fan of his in about 1971 when I was 5-years-old.  18" X 24", Sharpies on paper, sold, living in SoCal.

 Michael Jackson tribute, 18" X 24," Sharpies on paper.  This drawing went on tour at Delurk Gallery here in Winston-Salem as a part of their recent "Creatures of Fortune" show.  It's now back in the front window of Designs, Vines, and Wines/Studios at 625 on Trade Street.

I did this drawing of poet Mary Oliver, and her really cool poem "Wild Geese" about three weeks ago.  I'd never heard of her, and was glad to find out about her, since she grew up a few miles from where my late Grandma Kate grew up in Ohio.  It took 4 or 5 days to draw, like all my large drawings do.  This drawing ended up sparking a firestorm.  I didn't get paid right away, which turned out to be because of a lost piece of paper, and a big miscommunication.  Several of us have been getting a lot of pressure from the forces at be in the world, and the miscommunication looked like a intentional act from my point of view.  I made a business decision that threatened one of the best relationships I've developed I've made here in the Winston-Salem Art scene.  I'm sorry about all the pain that caused.  I'm also sorry that so many lame people will go out of their way to keep creative people from making a living, because of some 80-year-old stereotype of artists not being responsible people or able to run a business.  Communication people.  It's important.   

For anyone bothering to read this, let me tell you how I operate:

If you ask me to do a drawing, and I know you at all, I usually give you the benefit of the doubt and draw it without a deposit.  When I 'm done with the drawing, I ask one of two things from you.  1) You pay me  immediately, take your drawing, and we're both happy.  2) Tell me you don't like the drawing.  In that case, you keep your money and I keep the drawing.  We're both slightly less than happy, but still civil.  But if you don't pay me promptly, or you EVER fuck me over.  That's it, game over, FOREVER.  Period.  I will be asking for 50% deposits on commissioned drawings from now on, unless we already have a good working relationship.