It's freakin' hot...

It has been incredibly hot for the three weeks I've been here in Richmond, and in the mid-90s the last couple days.  I've spent a lot of time walking around from one place to another, with all my bags, sweating my ass off.  This song has come to mind several times as I stand at hot bus stops or carry my bags while doing errands, like I did, most of yesterday. 

I first heard this classic cowboy song performed at the Flying X Chuckwagon, a cowboy themed dinner and music venue outside Carlsbad, New Mexico, when I was a kid.  That was around 1980.  Here's the Sons of the Pioneers with the classic version of the song, Cool Water."

What I do IS work

This is Dr. Richard Florida, best known for his 2002 book, The Rise of the Creative Class.  Here's the crazy thing, his area of study and research is economic development.  His job is to help figure out how civic leaders can make their cities more prosperous.  And yet, A LOT of today's conservative leaders hate this guy.  Why?  Because when he actually did the research, he found that human creativity is the driving force in today's world.  That means cities with clusters of highly creative people, particularly the really big cities, are creating the new ideas that are driving our economy forward.  But not everyone is moving forward.  That hit home with me the night before last when I got out of the hospital and was sent to a very low budget, but functional, homeless shelter.  I was sent there since I don't have a physical address here. 

A very tough, but fair, woman asked me the questions necessary for my intake.  At one point, she asked if I had a way to make any money.  So I told her the truth. 
"Well, I do some artwork, and I make..."
"NO!" she snapped, "A job, a REAL job."  
"No income," I replied.  

I knew better than to argue with her.  But the little incident really pissed me off.  I wasn't mad at her.  She's probably a volunteer, in a homeless shelter, dealing mostly with small time idiots and shady con artists.  You have to be tough. 

But my artwork IS a job.  Sorry lady.  It may not count for that homeless shelter, but it does count in today's world.  OK, my income is sketchy as fuck at the moment.  No arguments.  But a huge part of that is because of other people's prejudice that what I do doesn't count.  BUT, as Richard Florida says above, 35% to 45% of today's workers are in his "Creative Class," which includes working artists.  But this news STILL hasn't made it to most of society.  Here's a rough breakdown of where people work these days (check this chart under "building a better service class"):

Agriculture- 1%-2% of all workers
(Manufacturing- 7% to 8% of all workers- included in working class below)
Traditional "blue collar" working class- 20% of all workers
Creative Class (arts, design, science, engineering, teachers, management, doctors, entrepreneurs/business owners, etc)- 30% to 35 % of all workers
Service class- 50% of all workers.

These are rough estimates, but in the ballpark.  Check the 2012 re-edit of The Rise of the Creative Class by Richard Florida for all the charts on these ideas.

Working for Lyft or UBER is work.  Selling crafts on Etsy is work.  Buying stuff on Craigslist and reselling it on Ebay is work.  Having a YouTube channel that pays is work.  Running niche websites selling stuff from China (or wherever) is work.  And me drawing unusual looking Sharpie drawings and making $500-$600 a month, is work.  It's not a decent living (yet!) but it is work.  The combination of the internet, laptops, tablets, smart phones, and widespread wifi has made all kinds of new business models real.  But huge numbers of people still don't take all these millions of odd jobs, side jobs, gig jobs, and small businesses seriously.  But it IS all work in today's world.

This is a huge part of the issues in small town and rural America.  A lot of older people who run these smaller towns, both civic and traditional business leaders, are completely out of touch with the millions of new ways money is being earned in today's world by millions of people.  These people are settled in their ways, which I get, I'm like that, too.  But they're holding lots of small business ideas back because they just haven't seen that a lot of people are actually making money in all these weird, new ways.  I think getting past this education barrier in rural areas, small towns, and mid sized cities will ultimately not only help more people make better livings, but will help mellow out our polarized political anger as well.  Time will tell.

Just found this article: One in four Americans makes money from the online economy

Can't kill The White Bear

Alice in Chains.  "Can't Kill the Rooster."  Classic.

In the the spring and summer of this year, 2018, I've had my life and well being threatened more times, BY FAR, than in the rest of my life combined.   In more than in 6 1/2 years of taxi driving, which was the only time I actually had my life threatened very much by other human beings.  Well, there was that guy in the trailer park in Idaho who got a Section 8 out of the Army and would take random potshots at us when we rode our BMX bikes with his 30/30.  But he was mostly just a crazy drunk idiot.  And he never actually hit us.  Anyhow, why all the drama recently?  This blog.  Seriously.  I mean, does this blog seem like a huge threat to anyone?  Apparently, it is.

Some people in seemed to be pissed off that a homeless guy without a degree was blogging about the economy.  Hey, it's an interest of mine, and there is a serious recession in the works.  But the Central Banks are just keeping Wall Street high by pumping money out of nowhere into the economy, delaying the inevitable.  I'm not the only one writing about that.  But I have a few of my own ideas on the subject.  So that's one thing.

In Winston-Salem, where I spent the last year building my art into the beginnings of a small business, some of the local power structure got wind of my blog.  They seemed to be particularly pissed off by the fact that my blog got more page views, and organic web traffic, than most of the official sites in town.  Hey, I've been blogging since 2007, and I'm pretty good at this.  And I sat down and took the time to learn how to promote sites organically, EARN a following, and get steady readers.  It's not my fault they suck at social media.  You can't rig it.  You HAVE to actually put in the hours and learn and THEN, do the steady, day by day, work.  Listen to Seth Godin speeches and read his books.  Watch Gary Vaynerchuk content.  I literally told them where to turn to step up their game.  But that's not how cities in The South work.  Since the first black people were hauled to the colonies 300 or so years ago, the game in The South has been to rig the game in favor of a handful of the favored White guys.

To be fair, EVERY town and city everywhere is like this to some degree.  But it's definitely much more dramatic in the cities I've seen in North Carolina.  I pissed off the good 'ol boys, by accident, as I often seem to do.  And then they started the standard intimidation routine.  But it didn't work.  Even 8 or 10 guys, which is what it sounded like on May 14th, stomping around outside my tent, and actually verbally threatening to beat me with baseball bats, didn't work.  I just laid there, alone, unarmed, inside my tent, and told them, "OK, do it."  They didn't know what to do.  There's one thing Southern Good Ol' Boys aren't used to... COURAGE.  Since intimidation didn't work, on that occasion, or the many others, they just tried to put the screws to my little bit of income.  And give me a completely absurd sentence for my bullshit arrest for buying donuts.  But that's another story.

At that point, it occurred to me that I had no obligation to live in a region populated primarily by douchebags.  So I left.  One person didn't pay me the $120 for the drawing I did, as a commission for him, right before leaving.  That $120, is why I wound up in Richmond, and didn't get a bus straight to Chicago, where I planned to visit for a bit because of an offer of a place to stay for a short visit there.  I had money to get here, but no farther.

I landed here, in a city I've never been to, about three weeks ago, with a few clothes and art supplies.  I planned to get the rest of the bus fare, for the trip to Chicago, in a day or two.  I had almost no money.  That's basically the worst case scenario for becoming homeless.  No friends or family, no money, no knowledge of the city, like where to go, or where to avoid.  It's been PhD level street survival from night one.  Moment by moment, day by day, using what I've learned as a taxi driver and homeless guy over the years, I worked to earn the money needed, to first survive, and then to try and come up with the needed Greyhound fare.

Like nearly everything about homelessness, the worst part is not what most people think.  The crazy heat here has been the real killer.  It's been in the low 90's and high 80's and humid every day since I got here.  I heard yesterday it was 95 with a dew point of 76.  That's insane.  It wore me down.  It dehydrated me.  Then I got caught in the rain, and eventually got a leg infection called cellulitis.  My lower legs, especially the left, swelled up one night, and so did my foot, making walking hard for about three days.  On the third night, both legs were staying swollen, and were warm to the touch.  I've had cellulitis 4 times, twice they blamed the nasty MRSA infection.  It needs medical attention.  So I Googled hospitals in the area, and VCU Medcial Center, downtown, was right near a bus station.  I stumbled down there, hauling all my bags.  My heart rate, when first checked by the triage nurse, was astronomical.  I honestly didn't even know that high of a heart rate was possible to live through, even for athletes.  And I'm about 330 pounds right now.

I got called in, checked, they agreed it looked like cellulitis, did the blood work, and gave me an IV of antibiotics to get to work on the infection.  I kicked back, wondering if I'd be released in before 4am, so my All Day bus pass would still be good.  Wishful thinking.

The hospital decided to move me to an observation room, which, ironically, had a blacked out window on the door.  Never could figure that out.  I think I got three full IV bags full of the antibiotics.  I woke up pink.  Bad sign, that happened once before, and most likely meant I was allergic to the medicine.  They gave me a medicine I'd never had before, and yep, I was allergic to it.  And by then, since it took nearly a day to show up, I had a lot of it in me.

Over the next three days, I went from pink all over to red, like a sunburn red, and then to a deep, dark red with weird mottling.  I swelled up in all kinds of places.  I got admitted, shipped upstairs to a regular room, and had a continuing cast of doctors, nurses, and residents coming in and out, trying to figure it out, and how to get me through it.

My body dried up.  My mouth was full of gunk.  I lost my appetite and almost all strength and energy.  I wasn't in pain.  But the rash started to form wonderful little things called pustules.  Little tiny blisters on my back and under my arm.  That was not a good thing as I learned.  Dermatology was called in, and said it looked like ACEP: Acute Generalized Exanthematous Pustulosis.  If you ever want to disgust your friends, wait until they're eating, then search that term on Google images, and show the photos to them.

The doctors and nurses were all great.  I know it's a Med School hospital, but for some reason, most of the women working at VCU are freakin' gorgeous.  Sure that sounds cool.  But when a 26-year-old knockout doctor needs to look at the rash in your crotch, it's a lot more embarrassing than normal.  But I was so weak most of the time, it didn't matter that much.

The Derm team found some super cream that had to be rubbed all over me to try and break the rash, and it worked.  On day four or so, I started, slowly at first, getting better.   I think it was day four that I just barely had the strength and energy to walk to the bathroom and back.  This morning, three days later, I hiked about 2 1/2 miles carrying my 30 pounds of luggage in heat and humidity.  I was not supposed to do that.  But that's the dilemma of recovering while homeless.  Luckily, my strength came most of the way back over about 2 1/2 days.

How swollen was I?  For about three days, the top of my left hand, from the knuckles to the wrist, was a full inch thicker than it should be.  I couldn't make a fist because the skin was stretched so tight.  Other random parts of me were even more swollen, and deep, dark red.

I was really worried about where they would send me from the hospital.  The doctor team had a meeting about what to do with me yesterday morning.  And then I heard nothing.  There was some kind of crisis at the other end of my floor, which kept them busy.  I ended up getting my first Lyft ride to a homeless shelter in the middle of some sketchy-ass industrial district.  It offered 72 hours of shelter life, then I had to leave.  Since I communicate everyone by computer, and hadn't connected with friends or family in a week, I left, by choice, this morning, carrying all my bags, and trying to figure out where I was.  I've come to know a few small areas of Richmond, but not many.  I struggled to walk about ten blocks this morning, two or three at a time.  Much to my surprise, I found a McDonald's, which meant $1 drinks and wifi.  Even more to my surprise, I knew exactly where I was.  I scraped up a buck for a drink, and rehydrated the hell out of myself while catching up on Facebook messages.

Thanks for all the likes and comments this morning everyone.  This battle with the drug allergic reaction could have easily taken me out.  It really was that serious.  That's why my usual sarcasm about life is toned down in this post.  I've been given, yet another, bonus life, apparently.  I'll try to run with it and keep this blog, and my other work, worth checking out.  And if I've EVER written a post, a BMX story from back in the day, or whatever, that really connected with you, feel free to toast God, or whatever Force you believe in, with your favorite beverage, and listen to "Can't Kill the Rooster," and substitute "The White Bear." 

If that's too corny, just take a moment to look around where you are.  It can all end at any time.  Live today well.  Thanks for reading.  I'll do my best to keep putting out something worthwhile on a fairly regular basis.  I do plan to make it back to Southern California before too long.  We'll see what happens...

Yes, I realize it will be really ironic if I happen to die in the next month or so after writing this post.  If I do, it'll be because of the long term harassment and BS from the Religious Right and/or evanglicals.  They've been on my case for 16-17 years or more.

43,000 Page views! Woohooo.

While I was in the hospital this past week, this blog hit 43,000 total page views.  You old school BMXers know that 43 has been a weird lucky number in our world since BITD.  That whole thing started with the NorCal guys in 1986, and has grown in  hype every since.  So, generally speaking, I'm stoked that my blog hit 43K looks.  That happened in 14 months since I brought all my blog ideas  together into this single blog, not knowing if anyone would actually check out a blog about old school BMX stories, AND economic futuristic thoughts, AND art, AND random humor and sarcasm, AND my weird life.  Obviously, many of you are checking it out from time to time, and a bunch of you check it out regularly.  Thanks everyone! 

What's weird about this particular milestone is that I seem to have hit 43,000 page views 3 or 4 days ago, just about the exact time that my weird medicine allergic reaction was breaking and I was coming back to life .  The big 43 picked the time of my coming back on a truly physical level to hit milestone of our collective "lucky number of the BMX world," times 1,000.  So that was a totally unexpected little cool sign this morning when I finally got back online. 

What if art is real and you deserve to get help making it?

Maria Popova talks with Amanda Palmer about her book, The Art of Asking.  If you're a creative person, this is one of the best videos I've ever seen about the day to day life of doing creative work.  So, most of you will ignore it.  But this clip will find the few who need it.

Hello Richmond, my name is Steve Emig, and this is what I do...

 I draw pictures with Sharpie markers, in a totally unique way that I call "scribble style."  I drew this one for me, originally for my first show at Earshot Music in Winston-Salem, last November.  I'd been wanting to draw the Harley Quinn from the Suicide Squad movie, because... well, she's hot and crazy, which usually makes for good pictures.  Then I found this fan video to Marilyn Manson's cover of "Tainted Love," and thought it would make for a great theme.  A girl in the Arts District last night really wanted to buy it, but didn't have the cash.  I'd love to keep this one, but since I'm looking for bus fare north, I might have to part with it for $150.  Maybe.  These drawings take 30 to 40 hours to draw, on average.  I've been selling them pretty cheap, considering the amount of work involved, just to keep the cash flowing and build my body of work.  Sharpies on paper, 18" X 24", #sharpiescribblestyle.  
You can see more of my stuff here:
Facebook: Steve Emig (Winston-Salem) or Steve Emig: The White Bear for my fan page.  I'll update the city when I land somewhere permanently.
Pinterest: Steve Emig (Guys, Pinterest is a lot cooler than you think, check out my Bruce Lee board)
Google image search: #sharpiescribblestyle
I'm living without a phone for right now.  Yes kids, that IS actually possible.  But that's why I'm not on Instagram or Twitter.  I'll get there eventually.  Not so sure about Snapchat, though.  If you like the song "Tainted Love," check out these versions of it:  Gloria Jones, Soft Cell, Social Distortion, Imelda May, Marilyn Manson.

 This drawing was ordered as a birthday present for a young woman named Erin in Winston-Salem.  According to her mom, Erin was "over the moon" when she got this very unexpected present for her sweet 16th.  I love it when people are genuinely stoked on my work.  I also became a Lana Del Rey fan in the process.  Summer Wine and Old Money anyone?  Sharpies on paper, 18" X 24", sold.  #sharpiescribblestyle.  Strawberries, Sharpies, and an angel's kiss in Spring, my Lana drawing is made from all these things. 

 I'm old.  Bruce Lee was still alive when I was a little, little kid, and became my first hero.  The cool thing about Bruce Lee is that the more you look into his story, the more amazing he becomes.  This drawing is living on the wall of an old BMX freestyle friend's place in California now.  Sharpies on paper, 18" X 24", sold.  #sharpiescribblestyle

 My sister had me do this one for her husband's birthday.  The entire lyrics of "End of the World" are in the letters "REM, " believe it or not.  Really.  Sharpies on paper, 18" X 24", sold.  #sharpiescribblestyle

 This is the oldest of my drawings in these two blog posts.  Just wanted to show I don't just draw musicians.  I did a Yoda drawing with a bunch of his best sayings for myself in late 2016.  Then I decided I needed to so Princess Leia.  In a weird bit of negative synchronicity, I started this drawing the day before actress Carrie Fisher got sick, and was still drawing it when she died.  R.I.P. Carrie.  If you've never seen Carrie Fisher's one woman show, Wishful Drinking, I highly recommend it.  This one is now living in Chicago, in the house full of my drawings that I'm headed north to visit.  Sharpies on paper, 18" X 24", sold.  #sharpiescribblestyle

This is the last drawing I did for the couple in Kentucky.  The woman's mom is a huge Beatles fan, and this was a present for her.  Sharpies on paper, 18" X 24", sold.  #sharpiescribblestyle

Hello Richmond, my name's Steve Emig, and this is what I do... Part 2

 I draw pictures with Sharpie markers, in a totally unique way, that I call "scribble style."  I got my art business started in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, which has a great little art scene centered around Trade Street, downtown.  But I started running into a lot of local drama, small town thinking, and people who thought that, somehow, my little, fledgling art business should be their thing to control.  So it was time to move on.  I planned to take a bus to Chicago, and hang with a friend for a week or so, and then head back out West to Southern California, where I lived for most of my adult life.  But a guy who commissioned the Bob Dylan drawing below, flaked on paying me the day before I left.  So I didn't have bus fare to get to Chicago, and asked the Greyhound clerk how far my limited funds would get me north.  Richmond was the answer.  I did the Robert Plant drawing above last week, while here in Richmond, and just shipped it out yesterday.  Sharpies on paper, 18" X 24", sold.  #sharpiescribblestyle .

 I have this Bob Dylan drawing with me, and Bob needs a good home.  Young Dylan with all that hair.  Sharpies on paper, 18" X 24", Asking $150, but willing to deal since I need bus fare.  #sharpiescribblestyle

 Biggie Smalls.  The Notorious B.I.G..  Big Poppa.  Whatever you call him, this is one of my favorites of the drawings I've done in the last several months.  Where Brooklyn at?  Sharpies on paper, 18" X 24", sold.  #sharpiescribblestyle

 The classic photo of Jimi Hendrix burning his guitar.  Hey, recycling wasn't big in the early 1970's, they'd just burn stuff when done with it.  This drawing is one of about ten now living in a house in Kentucky, new home to a couple who really helped me get things off the ground by keeping me busy drawing pictures for them, all last spring and into the summer.  Sharpies on paper, 18" X 24", sold.  #sharpiescribblestyle

 I did this drawing for to be given as a birthday present back in June.  The woman who ordered it told me her husband wouldn't even let her touch it after she gave it to him.  He liked it so much he deemed it "off limits" to touch while waiting to get it properly framed.  Metallica rocking in the round.  Sharpies on paper, 18" X 24", sold.  #sharpiescribblestyle

 No woman, no cry.  And in my case, no phone (of my own), no good photo of my drawing.  I've done two big Bob Marley drawings, and one or two small ones.  And I need to do more.  Three little birds told me to draw more.  Sharpies on paper, 18" X 24", sold.  #sharpiescribble style

 My first solo art show was at Earshot Music, a great, old school record shop in Winston-Salem.  This drawing of Kurt Cobain took my work to a new level, and sold about an hour after it went up on the wall, the day before the show officially started.  Sharpies on paper, 18" X 24", sold.  #sharpiescribblestyle

This one is another ordered by the couple in Kentucky.  Blues, beards, and Texas.  If you're like ZZ Top at all, check out the show of Billy Gibbons on Live from Daryl's House on YouTube.  Great show.  Sharpies on paper, 18" X 24", sold.  #sharpiescribblestyle  And yes, the logo on the side is drawn with scribbles of Sharpies.

Hangin' in the Richmond VA Arts District

It continues to amaze me how a city, like Winston-Salem, where I was living, or Richmond, Virginia, where I',m hanging at the moment, can have a really cool arts scene, but not have any good videos of it.  If you've got something cool, people, let the world know.  Blog, Instagram pics, You Tube videos, whatever.  Get the word out about your scene.  This video shows a bunch of the street art, and a few murals here.

I just found this video which shows some of the street art and murals here in Richmond, Virginia.  I kind of got stuck here last week, as I bailed from the Piedmont Triad of North Carolina, and headed towards Chicago.  I spent this last week earning some money by drawing this picture of Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin.

 I finished the drawing yesterday, and shipped it out.  I realized that I needed to sell one or two more of the finished drawings I have, as well, to pay for my bus ticket to the Chicago area. 

I planned to hit up some local record shops, to see if anyone was interested in buying a drawing.  But it took me longer than expected to find a post office, and I changed my plans.  I learned the other day that there's an arts district in downtown Richmond, centered around Broad Street.  So I took the (relatively) new Pulse bus down Broad, and parked my ass on a marble block next to the big statue of Maggie Lennard.  She was a pioneering black business woman, newspaper publisher, and all around bad ass lady of an earlier generation here. 

I wanted to hang for a while, check out the local arts scene, and see what the vibe was here, and see if anyone wanted one of my drawings.  So I held up the big Bob Dylan drawing in front of me, and waited for some response.  There actually weren't that many people walking around.  I expected it to be more crowded.  But eventually, people started walking by, and some commented on my drawing.  Most would say, "nice painting" from a distance.  When I told them it was done with Sharpie markers, they would walk right up to it to check it out.  I had some great conversations with a bunch of people, and a couple of people really wished they had some money to buy one of my drawings.  They gave me ideas on what to do to sell the pics locally today.  I gave people flyers to check out my other work.  So it was a good night all around.

I'm going to make the rounds today here in Richmond, and see if I can sell a drawing or two, and buy that bus ticket to Chicago and continue on my way.  But I really dig the mural and arts scene here, and I want to visit Richmond again when I have a little more money to get a decent place to stay, and time to wander around and check the city out more. 

One day...

Life is a weird adventure.  In order to get my life and my work back under my own control, I had to leave most everything I had behind a week ago, and get as far as I could on $65.  I've spent the last 6 1/2 nights sleeping outside in a city I'd never been to before last week.  I slept under the stars on a loading dock last night.  I drew one picture to sell this week, and today I'm trying to sell another drawing or two so I can move on to the next step, hanging with a Facebook friend for a week or so, and doing some more drawing.  And then, back out West...

I was just feeling like some Matisyahu to get me psyched for the day's adventure.  Theme song for the next little bit of my life.  "Sometimes I lay under the moon, and think, Aaaaah, I'm breathing.  And I pray, Don't take me soon, 'cause I'm here for a reason.  Sometimes in my tears I drown, but I never let it get me down, and so when negativity surrounds, I know some day it'll all turn around..."
-Matisyahu

Meeting Chris Moeller 32 years ago

For some reason, there aren't many videos of Chris Moeller riding on YouTube.  Home video cameras were still expensive in those days, which is part of the reason.  But this crazy jump from 1990 is classic Chris Moeller.  According to a recent podcast, Moeller and S&M Bikes are finishing up a book commemorating 30 years in business.  Actually, that was last year, but books take time to make happen.  Since I was around S&M Bikes for a few years, I figured now would be a good time tell some of those BMX tales.

For the old school BMXers who read my blog, you know that I published a zine that somehow landed me a job at Wizard Publications in 1986, home of BMX Action and FREESTYLIN' magazines.  That's what launched me into the BMX freestyle industry.  Many of you also know that I didn't last there very long, five months is all it was.  But a lot of amazing stuff happened during that five months.  I first heard of, and first met, racer and insane jumper Chris Moeller during that time, among other things. 

Gork was the editor of BMX Action magazine, while I worked there, and he was also my roommate during that time, as was Lew, Assistant editor of FREESTYLIN'.  So we were talking about BMX and riders at work, out riding at night, at lunch, hanging out at home, but not on the ride to work in the morning.  The reason we didn't talk on the way to work is because Gork was (and still is, I'm sure) a total metalhead, and he always had Metallica, Saxon, or some other metal blasting in his van during our commute.  Lew and I didn't have cars, so we rode with Gork or rode our bikes to work.  Like any group of BMXers, when one of us saw or heard of something cool, we were talking about it at all times.

That's how it was when Gork came in after a photo shoot in Huntington Beach one day, and said he met this local kid who was a crazy good jumper, better than the pro Gork and Windy took to the photo shoot.  That kid was Chris Moeller, about 15 or 16 at the time.  It wasn't that Gork said "Hey, we ran into some local down in Huntington Beach who's a good jumper."  Gork was freaking out about how insane of a jumper this Moeller kid was.  He mentioned it in the morning, told us more about the kid at lunch, and kept bringing it up.  According to Gork, Chris would just try anything off a jump. So that was the first time I ever heard of Chris Moeller.

Not long after that, Gork set up a photo shoot specifically with Chris, I think it was another bike testshoot.  On that shoot, they wound up at a place called Hidden Valley, which is a weird little valley, hidden behind a shopping center at Beach and Adams in Huntington Beach.  There have been jumps in that general area since the early 80's, and maybe longer.

In the little valley part itself, there's this sketchy old tree swing on the side of a big hill with a set of cruiser handlebars on the end of the rope.  In fact, it's the tree swing you see Ed Templeton on at 1:34 in this video.  In the mid-80's there was a little dirt lip at the top of this hill, and you could jump off it and down the the hill, haul ass, and try to ride into a little trail through the brush at the bottom.  Hardly anyone ever jumped this, it was just too sketchy.

But on that first official photo shoot, young Chris Moeller jumped it.  And he didn't just jump 12 feet and bomb down the hill after he landed.  Chris did a head-high no footer down it, on a test bike, I think.  No one, NO ONE, got more than two or three off the ground on that sketchy bonzai jump.  and NO ONE did a trick down it.  ANY trick.  To be honest, the jump down the hill next to the tire swing was pretty much just a dare jump.  If you had a really stupid friend with a BMX bike, you'd dare them to jump it... and then watch him eat shit.

But Moeller jumped down it, soaring head high at a time when that was insane.  He did a no-footer at a time when only a handful of people could actually do a no-footer off a jump.  He blew Gork's mind.  So much so that Gork took Windy's photo sequence, and pieced them together on the Xerox machine to make a multi-image sequence out of actual paper.  No Photo Shop in 1986, Gork spent the time to do it by hand.  AND he talked about this kid Chris Moeller for about two weeks straight.  That turned Chris into a prime BMX Action test rider, which is some great coverage for a young rider.

Later that fall, I rode with Gork down to a national race in Lake Elsinore, an hour or so South, and inland, from the Wizard warehouse in Torrance.  On the way, Gork told me he was going to give a young rider a ride, the kid didn't have a ride to get to the race.  At an upscale condo complex in Huntington Beach, we picked up Chris Moeller.  He said "hi" to Gork, put his bike in the back of the Wizard Astro van, and didn't say a single word all the way to the race.  He just sat in the back, silent as could be, while Gork and I sat up front and talked.  I figured that Chris Moeller kid must be really shy or something.  It turns out I was wrong there.

That's how I met Chris Moeller, Orange County racer, soon to be a huge pioneer in dirt jumping, and also soon to start his own bike company (with Greg Scott).   Now 30 years later, S&M Bikes has book coming out soon.  So I figured it would be as good a time as any to share some of my own tales from the S&M Bikes posse that I knew in those days. 

I'm going to be sharing most of my old school BMX stories on the new Block Bikes Blog from now on, check it out...

Led Zeppelin's process of creating Stairway to Heaven

As I struggle through a really tough, sketchy week personally, temporarily homeless and stuck in a city I'd never been to, I lined up a Led Zeppelin themed drawing to do this week to help me earn money to move on, both physically, and in life itself.  I'm at a point where I can honestly say I'm a "working artist," but I don't yet make what most people call a "real" living from my Sharpie art.  As I was drawing the last day and a half, I started listening to Zeppelin documentaries, and then the music itself.  So as I wandered into McDonald's this morning in a really terrible mood, this great little gem of a video popped up on my YouTube feed first thing this morning.  A good start to the day.

I'm one of the older members of Generation X, I was born in the 1960's, but I didn't "experience" the 60's like many Baby Boomers did.  My parents were a bit older than many of my friends' parents, and they weren't into rock ' roll.  So I grew up with my mom's kitchen radio playing 70's country music all day long.  My dad was a clarinet and saxophone player in high school, and he liked Big Band and swing music of the 30's and 40's.  He also played the organ to relax at night, playing church hymns and traditional classic music of his era.  So while there was always music in my house, it was NOT rock n' roll. 

But on the radios and albums that my friends older brothers and sisters played, the music being listened to in garages and basements by the older kids, that was 60's and 70's classic rock.  And you can't get any more classic than Led Zeppelin.  So while I wasn't into Zeppelin myself, it was a continuous part of the soundtrack of my years as a kid and teenager.  By my high school years, I knew the major Zeppelin hits note for note, word for word, but I couldn't name any of the songs while they were playing.  Except for "Stairway to Heaven."  It is, quite possibly, the most classic song of my youth.  It's arguable, there are a handful of songs that could take that title, Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," for instance.  But "Stairway" is as epic as a rock song can get. 

It's been really cool these last couple of days, going through Led Zeppelin's music, and listening to documentaries about them as I draw.  One of my favorite things about drawing pictures of people's favorite musicians and bands is that I get to immerse myself in music as I draw.  I don't want to just draw a picture, I want to absorb the vibe of the musicians I'm drawing, and let that vibe flow through me as I make my own creation. 

Every drawing I do, I discover a song I didn't know of , or learn things about a band or musician that I never heard before.   This video of Jimmy Paige talking about how they created one of the the best rock songs of all time, is one of those great little tidbits of knowledge and experience that really make my musician drawings a wonderful thing to do, and hopefully I create something wonderful for people's walls, that will tap into all their memories tied to the music as they see my drawing on their wall.

"Stairway to Heaven"- Live

Bernie Sanders rides Slam Bars

Remember yesterday when I told you there were some really cool murals here in Richmond, Virginia?  I saw this one on the bus today while headed for a library to work on my latest drawing.  Freakin' cool.  If you're an old school BMXer Has Been like me, this is cool mostly because it looks  so much like the slam pit punker on the S&M Bikes Slam Bars logo from way back.

In one of my former lives, as Chris Moeller's roommate and sporadic S&M Bikes worker, I put a lot of these stickers on bars back when the image was new.  So when I saw the Bernie mural during our last presidential/Russian hacked/non-election, I thought it was a great mural.  I had no idea it was here in Richmond until I rode by it half an hour ago.  Pretty cool that I randomly saw it today.  I was trying to think of a subject for an old school BMX post for today, I guess it's time for an S&M Bikes tale later today.
Here's the original Circle Jerks logo that inspired both the Slam Bar logo and the Bernie mural here in Richmond.

There's some great art here in Richmond, Virginia

Since I had time here in my unplanned "layover" in Richmond, Virginia, I looked for a local art scene here.  After a few years in and around Winston-Salem, NC, I've been used to a mid-sized city with a really small town feel.  Winston had a great art scene for a city of its size, but it just wasn't that big.   That limits the number of local buyers of art, the number of people running the show in the area, and everything else.

Richmond definitely has a much more urban, big city feel, even though the city itself is about the same size.  But it extends out right into the suburban areas.  The Piedmont Triad/Winston-Salem area is three separated cities of around 200,000+ people each, with rural areas between.  So here in Richmond it's a much different thing.  It's more gritty here, the downtown is much bigger, threr are some empty buildings, stores, and the kind of places I loved exploring as a BMX street rider years ago.

There are also A TON of great murals, and some pretty good true graffiti here.  I took a weird bus yesterday, one that kind of circled through the city, in and out of different neighborhoods.  There were murals all over the place.  My goal was first to find a library, which turned out to be small, low budget, and in the hood.  But it was being well used, and full of people reading and on computers, making the most of it.

Then I walked about ten blocks  through an old, partially run down merchant district, still part of the hood, to one part of the Yuppie loft/art district area.  My destination was the huge studio/gallery complex above, Art Works.  Despite my sweaty, sketchy appearance, the woman in the sales office let me set my bags there and I wandered around the place alone.  It's freaking HUGE.  It just went on and on, one hallway full of studios leading to another one.  The artwork had a lot of painting, some photographers, some mixed media and more.  And nearly everything was really high caliber work.  All kinds of styles and mediums, no one's work seemed to copy anyone else's.  If you travel to this area and like checking out art from very talented people you probably haven't heard of, definitely put Richmond, VA and Art Works on the agenda.  The work of two photographers really grabbed my attention, Doug Turner, and Robert Papas.  I love photos of outdoors and animals and places where you look at the photo and think, "I want to go there." Or maybe it's just me jonesing to see the wide open spaces of the West again.

I definitely want to come back here and really dig into the creative scenes at some point.  There's another, better known Art District right downtown on Broad Street, which I got a quick glance at on the "Pulse" bus riding through downtown.  There are small clubs, vintage shops, and all kinds of creative nooks and crannies to explore here.

I showed the woman in the office my Sharpie art, pulling it out of my trusty trash bag covered sketch pad.  She seemed pleasantly surprised, which is always good to see.  I know I look like hell, and people don't expect much when I ask to show my stuff.  I didn't manage to sell anything here (yet), to finance my trip onward, but for two city bus fares I saw some great stuff, in the gallery and on walls around the city.

It's Gary Vaynerchuk's fault I'm the world's greatest homeless Sharpie artist

I just listened to this keynote speech by Gary Vaynerchuk while I was drawing a Sharpie doodle art picture.  The video hit YouTube 49 minutes before I turned it on.  This is why I'm a 52-year-old goofball drawing cool Sharpie drawings for a living.  Because I know Gary's right.  And, because as I started to figure that out, first listening to talks and reading books by Seth Godin a few years back, and then some Mitch Joel, and then a ton of different TED Talks, and then Amanda Palmer and then Gary Vee and Simon Sinek and others.  While I was getting started, I was at a point in my life where I WAS the guy with no phone, like the guy he calls up on stage in the clip above. And I was the guy with LITERALLY, no money.  Seriously, shit was that fucked up , I started without a dime.  I was living with my mom at age 49.  Instead of blowing my head off for that reason alone, or because I couldn't find ANY "real job" in Kernersville, North Carolina, or because I weighed over 300 pounds, or because all my teeth are broken off at the gum line.  I decided to start drawing stuff in my Sharpie style that I would actually want to hang on my own wall, and to create my own job with that.

Yeah, when suicide gets discussed, or thought about, those are some winning reasons to do it.  I know, I damn near did it.  Shit gets bad sometimes.  Life is tough.  We all have crazy battles of one kind or another.  I was coming back from an actual overdose attempt.  I've been there.  I had some crazy shit start happening in my head a few years back after my dad died.  I went to the psych ward.  I had a complete asshole for a psychiatrist who put me on super strong meds and damn near made me a zombie.  I struggled through that shit for a couple of years.  But I LIKE to work.  I LIKE to create stuff, I LIKE to start new projects.  I LIKE being creative.  It was always there.  But the meds sucked.  So I stopped taking them.  Then my symptoms went crazy.  I went overboard and took enough lithium to kill a yak in 2015.

I damn near died.  I spent a couple days in intensive care, then got dialysis in my neck to get as much lithium as possible out of me, then several days in a regular hospital room while I was too weak to stand up.  I had a "sitter" in my room to keep me from doing anything else stupid.  That's some low level intern who just has to sit there 12 hours a day, just in case I would try anything. 

My heart rate went crazy, they were afraid I might have a heart attack a few times.  Then I spent several more days in the psych ward, in the addict section, because that was the only bed open.  I did my days.  I drew a few lame pictures with crayons and colored pencils because I just couldn't play spades all day like the others.  And I got out.

You know what, I had insurance that paid for three weeks of all day therapy, Cognitive Behaviorial Therapy (CBT).  That helped.  I got on meds that really helped.  I got a new psychiatrist that was a cool guy and actually gave a damn.  A few months later I decided to focus all my energy on drawing my Sharpie pictures and turning that into a small business.  I had a bunch of Sharpie markers, a small pad of sketch paper, and a $65 refurbished laptop that was running Windows XP in late 2015.  I'm that guy.  I'm the guy Gary jokingly makes fun of.  I had no money.  My mom is always in financial crisis.  I didn't have a phone.  I STILL don't have a smart phone.  I have a friend, a guy who digs my art and has bought a bunch, that's going to give me his old phone soon, and turn it on for a while to help me get things going better.  So I'll FINALLY deal with learning Instagram before too long.

I'm that guy.  My mom and I fought so much, that I took off, and literally lived in a tent in the woods of a different city, for 9 1/2 months, to get my Sharpie art business off the ground.  It was tough.  But I also loved doing it, and I knew it was the right step for me at the time.  So now I do a totally original kind of Sharpie art, and I make consistent money at it.  Not a lot yet, not enough to live on, but I'm on the way.  I'm old, slow and steady is fine with me.  I can wait.

I just left the city where I turned $15 and a box of Sharpies, while living in a fucking tent, into an income of $500 to $600 a month, in a year.  Go ahead, laugh it up.  Then figure out the ROI on $15 to $500 a month.  The end number is small, but the ROI is big.  Coming out of homelessness is hard.  Starting an art-based business is hard.  But I got it going.  And I just left that city to head back out West to Southern California, where I know a lot of people, where I spent most of my adult life, and where it's far more entrepreneurial than where I was.




But a guy flaked on paying for the last drawing I did.  I took a bus to a city I've never been to, and got temporarily stuck.  I spent the last three nights sleeping in bus stations.  I'm typing this blog post in a library in the hood of Richmond, Virginia.  I'd never been here until 40 hours ago.  That's as far as I could get on the money I had, and I was traveling on a half a shoestring budget.  Small business people and entrepreneurs get that. 

Several people in my old city got pissed and held off paying me money they owe me. So I'm in a city I've never been in.  And I'm STILL drawing my Sharpie pictures.  I'm still blogging.  And I'm going to sell some of my art to someone over the next day or two.  That will get me to a Facebook friend's place near Chicago.  I'll get that phone and start promoting my stuff better.  I'll keep learning and self-educating.  I'll keep drawing Sharpie art.  I'm going to draw Gary Vaynerchuk a picture of Al Toon that will blow his fucking mind before too long.  Because he's right.  The internet is changing EVERYTHING.

I'm the old guy.  I'm the guy who didn't surf the web until 2008.  I'm the guy who started with no money, selling art on Facebook, on Fred Flintstone's old laptop, a few months out of the psych ward. This isn't a "poor me" story.  Your story may be worse.  But I've been through a fair amount of shit, and I'm doing what I love doing, and building a business out of it.  It's taking a while, but it's happening.  At some point, it will start happening faster.

I'm that guy.  And I'm working my face off, as Gary says, to draw really cool pictures with Sharpie markers.  That's my thing. 

What's your thing?  Listen to these two talks.  Then go do your thing.

Google "#sharpiescribblestyle" to see dozens of my drawings.

A few hours later:  When I embedded these to speeches into into my blog earlier, I had no intention of writing the post.  This is one that just came blasting out of me.  I just went through and proofread it.  Then I contacted someone who asked about a drawing a couple months ago, and I got the info needed and green light to start the next drawing.  I'm working again, even in a really sketchy situation.   And it feels really good. 

Latest Drawing: Bob Dylan

Young Bob Dylan, this is the last drawing I did before heading out of NC to visit a friend in the Midwest.  I didn't get paid before I left for this one, which I was counting on.  So I headed out on the bus trip on faith.  Now I'm stuck in a city I've never been to before, Richmond, Virginia, and I need to sell this to buy my bus ticket the rest of the way up north. 

It's 18" X 24", Sharpies on paper, done in my unique Sharpie scribble style, and took 35-40 hours to draw.  In the background are chunks of lyrics to a whole bunch of his songs.  Looking for $150.  My price for new commissions is $175 now.

I did a pop up art show this morning, near a Starbuck's, just getting people's impressions of it as they rushed by trying to ignore me.  A couple of guys really dug it.  When you can stop someone who doesn't want to stop and talk, just with the drawing itself, that's a cool thing.  Bob's needs a new home, and I need a bus ticket.  Message Facebook or email me  if interested:  stevenemig13@gmail.com .

It's time to get off the Titanic: a brief history of our financial future

This is a parody video made by a trio of entertainment industry guys long before YouTube came along, back in 1998, I think.  The Star Wars prequel series was behind schedule, and the movie Titanic just blew box office records out of the water.  I know this because Chad Leeper, who did the voices for this parody, worked at a lighting company with me, and gave me one of the first few VHS copies of this video right after they made it.  I still love the part where the lifeboat guy's head gets blown off.  Great little parody video.

Imagine for a second you got catapulted through some sci-fi movie scenario, like a wormhole or a stargate, and suddenly found yourself on the ship Titanic, in port, hours before leaving on its maiden voyage.  Since you're from its future, you know the ship will get most of the way across the cold, north Atlantic, and then hit an iceberg and sink.  What do you do?  You get your ass off the ship, that's what you do.  Economically, many of us are on the Titanic right now.  It's time to run back down the gangplank and get off that ship.  A serious recession will

What am I talking about?  If you read this blog very often, you know that taking a futurist look at the global economic picture is a passion of mind.  I think of it like a long term weather report when there's a hurricane brewing off the coast of Africa.  By standing back and looking at the big picture, the satellite images of the mid-Atlantic storms, we get an idea of how big a fledgling hurricane may be, and a general idea of where it's headed.  I try to do the same thing to the economy.  I look at the big forces building up, and the big picture that they tell about where things are headed.  When I, or someone else, does this, big issues that will eventually happen, become apparent. 

Here's some of the main things we know about our mid and long-term economic picture, the "storm clouds," so to speak.

-Our whole civilization is in a long, drawn out, transition between the old Industrial Age of factories, and the new "information age," or "knowledge-based society," as futurists Alvin and Heidi Toffler called it.  This completely changes how society functions on most every level.  It also means that much of what we all believe about "the way things work," is no longer true in our rapidly changing world.  The bad part of this issue is that MOST traditional businesses these days are working based on knowledge and assumptions that are probably no longer true, because technology, communication, and society are changing so quickly.  This goes from the largest industrial age corporations to small mom and pop businesses.     Knowledge-based society and "obsolete knowledge"

-The United States has a recession or depression every 4 to 10 years, on average, in the last 50 years.  We're in year 10 since the last one.  We're due.  Recessions on wikipedia.

-The loss of good paying factory jobs from the 1970's to the 2000's, combined with the clustering of high tech companies, and The Great Recession of 2008, devastated much of rural and small town America.  Huge swaths of this country have never really recovered from the Great Recession of 2008.  In effect, there's a "Geographic Recession," vast areas of this country left behind and slowly dying that are basically in a "permanent" recession.  "Rural America is the New Inner City"

- Since the Great Recession of 2008, student loans have been bought, repackaged as Student Loan Asset Backed Securities (SLABS), and sold to investors almost exactly like subprime mortgages were in the late 1990's and early 2000's, which was the bubble that burst and drove us into that recession. Student Loans/SLABS

- There's over $1.5 TRILLION of student debt owed in the United States, that's $200 billion more than the $1.3 Trillion in subprime loans that collapsed the world economy in 2008.  $1.5 trillion student loan debt

-Total public (government) debt in the U.S. is nearly $21.3 trillion.  Debt clock

-Total personal debt (that's all of the bills owed by us regular humans) has hit $13.2 trillion, more than $500 billion more than the peak before the 2008 recession.  A huge chunk of that is mortgage debt, but student loan debt and auto loan debt have grown a lot in the last ten years, and those hit hard when your hours get cut, you get laid off, and those types of things that happen in recessions to a lot of hard working people.

-Total corporate debt in the U.S. is $6.3 trillion as of June 2018.  CNBC/corporate debt

-I realize that "a trillion dollars" is impossible to really imagine.  Here's the actual number, one trillion: $1,000,000,000,000.  Compare that to your paycheck.  A trillion is 1,000 billions.  I know, it's still hard to imagine.  So try this one, a trillion dollars could buy one of these Lamborghini Gallardos (about $200,000 each)

 for EVERY SINGLE PERSON in Chicago and in Houston, and still have enough left over to buy one for every person in Huntington Beach, California, where I used to live.  That's how to think about a trillion dollars.  Five million Lamborghinis, that's a trillion bucks.  What color Lambo do you want?  You can always trade it in to buy a house if you get too many speeding tickets.

- Basically, the U.S. government, U.S. businesses, and average people have been getting a lot of loans that they can barely afford now, and many won't be able to afford in an economic downturn.  When interest rates go up (which the Federal Reserve plans to do this year), EVERYBODY pays more interest, and payments go up.  That's the problem that set us up for the Great Recession, and we've gone past that level this time.

- The major central banks of the world have kept up policies like artificially low interest rates and creating money out of nothing and investing it in the economy, called Quantitative Easing.  These policies were initially started as "emergency measures," to help the world economic system survive The Great Recession, but nearly a decade later, they're still doing these "emergency measures," and Wall Street and world financiers are now hooked on this cheap money like a crack ho is hooked on the rock.  This has set our economy up for another HUGE collapse.  Central bank "Collusion" 

-The U.S. stock markets have been on an upward track, with some small, minor corrections, since about March of 2009.  What goes up must eventually come down.  The old school, traditional stock index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (The Dow), peaked in January of this year, and has been bouncing up and down a ways below that peak since .  DIJA chart- click "max" for long term chart 

-The NASDAQ stock index, which contains mostly high tech stocks, continued going up, but Facebook and some others took big hits last week (July 25th, 2018), and it seems the NASDAQ may have just peaked, or is real close to peaking.  Historical NASDAQ chart  NASDAQ 1 year chart

So what does this mean for you as an employee?  What does this mean  for you as a small (or large) business person.  There WILL, without a shred of doubt, be a serious recession in the next year or so.  This next recession WILL be as intense as the Great Recession of 2008, and it will likely be worse.  That's what all the facts above, the "storm clouds," are pointing to.  It will affect every single one of us at some level.  So what do you do when a really big storm is coming?  You get prepared... if you're smart, anyhow.

So it's time to get prepared.  I don't know exactly when this next recession will hit, but I do know we're overdue.  It should have started about a year ago, but the policies the Federal Reserve and other Central banks have in place have postponed the start of it.  The huge tax cuts put the start of the recession off for a few months, maybe more.  But these things have also let the debt and underlying problems keep growing, so the actual recession will be worse when it does happen.  It's  a little like paying off your credit cards... with another credit card, and then using the cards you just paid off.  It buys you time, but the bills later on are a lot bigger.

I also don't know what will trigger the real start of this next recession.  The trade war with China could do it.  The investigations into President Trump and Paul Manafort and all the related issues could do it, if enough investors see that as scary for the markets.  Heck, today a crisis in with Turkey's currency sent the Dow down over 200 points.  I don't pay attention to Turkey, it's not on my radar, I look at more long term things happening.  But the stock markets are down about 1% today because of a surprise from the other side of the world.  The stage is set, and any one of dozens of obscure things could be the trigger to really get things headed downhill.  Which I see as all the more reason to prepare in whatever way makes sense for you.

Who will be hit the hardest in this next recession?  Here are some of the groups that will have it tougher than most.  Rural America, to a large extent, is already in a near-recession situation.  Things will get worse for most rural areas and small towns.

Because college debt is so much higher and has been encouraged like the subprime loans 15 years ago, college students, colleges and universities themselves, college towns and cities, and college sports will be harder hit than in the 2008 recession.  That's one small reason I just left a region where the three main cities are all heavily dependent on the colleges there.

In any big recession, and any big downturn in the stock markets, retirement savings, mutual funds, 401K's and other investments owned by millions of average Americans will take a big hit, just like in the Great Recession.  Precious metals like actual physical gold and silver, generally speaking, hold their value better in tough times.  In today's world, a lot of younger people may put money in crypto currencies, and I have no idea how that will work out.

You've probably already heard of the "Retail Apocalypse."  That's the name given to the fact that thousands of old school, traditional retail stores have closed in the last two or three years.  This will keep happening.  This is a huge example of the shift from the Industrial Age economy (big stores, shopping centers, huge malls, chain restaurants), to the Information Age or "knowledge based economy."  People like shopping online and having stuff delivered, and that's going to get a LOT worse in the next recession.  Right now, as many as 10,000 retail stores are expected to close in 2018, thousands have shuttered already.  That's happening when we're NOT in a recession.  In addition, 400 entire shopping malls (of about 1,100 total)are expected to close by about 2021.  Again, that's happening without a recession.  That's just the shift from the old school, shopping mall mentality to the Amazon/online shopping mentality.  It will happen faster when the recession hits.  So if you're working in retail, it's a good time to think of other options.

Real estate has soared in the big, tech hub cities since 2008-10, but not as much in most small and mid-sized cities.  So that's a hard one to judge this time around.  Real estate doesn't move up and down as a national trend like it once did, it's more of a regional thing.

There are a ton of variables.  If, for example, you're in a mid-sized town where a second-tier college provides a lot of the economy, and you're an IT worker, it might be time to look for work in a major city.

I know this is a really depressing blog post.  Is there any upside?  Yes...  New ideas, new businesses, and new industries tend to explode on the scene during recessions, especially big ones.  There will be enormous opportunities for new ideas and new businesses in the next few years.  One of the biggest opportunities coming is to completely re-invent both our K-12 and our college and trade education systems.  We desperately need ways to teach today's children the ACTUAL SKILLS they will need in today's world.  Check out Kahn Academy, as one example.  It started as one smart guy making tutorial videos for his kids, nieces, and nephews, I think.  Now it's considered revolutionary.  That's just one example of where things are headed.  Education will be HUGE in the next decade.

Daewon just keeps the progression coming...

Long, weird day, today, and I needed to watch some skating to chill a bit.  This new Daewon Song video popped up on my YouTube feed.  The music completely freakin' sucks, but that's typical of skate videos these days.  But it's Daewon, the skating is completely off the chain.  There's a few bits from earlier videos, but most of it is new to me, and I watch his videos a lot.  High tech, skateboard style.  Just watch.

Don't we all need some CASH?

Hey, don't we all need some Cash?  I've spent the last 2 1/2 years doing original drawings and selling them for anywhere from $2 an hour to $5.50 and hour for the time I put into them.  At a time and place where I couldn't get ANY job, I created my own.  It's been one hell of an adventure and a tough ride.  I'm now a working artist scraping by on a few hundred bucks a month and living on the couch tour for now.

To step things up, I'm selling 100 signed and numbered copies of this Johnny Cash drawing.  It's 8 1/2" X 11,"  and done with Sharpies on paper, in my unique "scribble style."  The first three are spoken for, and the remaining 93, I will sell for $12 each. 

This is my way of doing two things.  1) Making a cool drawing that pretty much anyone can afford to buy, compared to the poster size originals that I've been selling for $120 to $250 .  2) FINALLY earning enough money to actually start a legit business.  I started a little over 2 1/2 years ago to focus on my art, literally without a single dime.  For a year and a half I lived in a highly toxic environment that was in continual financial crisis, that was not my own doing.  I wasn't able to re-invest hardly any of the little bit I earned.  I realized that to step it up, I had to leave that situation.

Fourteen months ago, I moved out of where I was living, and came here to Winston-Salem, NC, where I'd spent a lot of time, worked as a taxi driver, and a city that has a really good art scene.  I came here with $15, a backpack with a few clothes, a box of Sharpies, a big sketch pad, my niece's old laptop, and no place to live, and no income.  I wound up spending 9 1/2 months in a tent, (and three days in jail) through most of the winter, to turn my artwork into a steady income.  A small income, but steady.  I've had an absurd amount of drama happen, from enduring insane thunderstorms and 15 degree weather in my tent, to finding a small snake in my tent, to multiple threats to my life and well being.  I'm still here.  I'm still drawing. I'm still blogging.

It's time to step things up to the next level.  You can help me do that by buying one (or more) of these Johnny Cash prints.  He was one of my favorite musicians as a little kid, and his music has helped me through some tough times, as good music does.

If you want a copy, email me, I still don't have a phone at the moment (that will be solved soon, though).  stevenemig13@gmail.  You'll get the next print that's available when I hear from you.

Here's the Johnny Cash song that I first remember really liking as a little kid.  It's sort of the ultimate rat rod song, decades before rat rods were a thing.

Sharpie Art Sale- Dr. Maya Angelou signed print raffle and more

 Win one of 10 signed prints of my Maya Angelou drawing (above)... for $5!  It's a full size, 18" X 24" print, and Rachel has these priced at $100 each.  In my quest to scrape up the rest of the $700+ fine I need to pay for my donut buying arrest, Rachel at Designs, Vines, and Wines here in Winston-Salem has put up one of the prints of the Dr. Angelou drawing.  We're having a raffle, and picking the winner this coming Wednesday or Thursday.  Winston locals can go sign up at her studio at 625 Trade Street downtown.  Anyone out in internet or Facebook land can contact me and send the $5 along with name and phone number, (Paypal works for the $$) and I'll fill out the form and put it in the raffle jar myself.  There are only a handful of people in the raffle so far, so the odds are good.  Frame not included.

 This Joey Ramone drawing is one of the first musician drawings I did.  It's 18" X 24," Sharpies on paper in my unique Sharpie "scribble style."  Make me an offer on this one if you're a Ramones fan out there.  I'll bundle it with The Ramones band, if that strikes your fancy.  No frame included.

 I call this one "Gwen and Now."  It's Gwen Stefani from 1994, when No Doubt first hit it big with Tragic Kingdom, and then Gwen again from 2017.  I tried to get that early Ska/punk flyer feel, and...well... it didn't come out quite how I imagined.  So I'm selling it cheap.  It's also 18" X 24", Sharpies on paper.  Make me an offer.

The Ramones... 3 of 4 of them, any how.  Horrible photo, but cool drawing.  On the bottom part I have a lot of their song titles written in there.  Hey Ho, Let's Go!  This one is also 18" X 24", Sharpies on paper, in my unique "scribble style."  This is for sale at Earshot Music here in Winston-Salem, for $120.  If you're interested, let me know. 

Email me at:  stevenemig13@gmail.com

North Carolina's best Sharpie artist lives in Winston-Salem... for now

 As a rule, I don't go around hyping up my Sharpie art.  I don't need to.  These photos are what I do.  It stands on its own.  But today I'm making an exception.  I am the best Sharpie artist in North Carolina.  No one else even comes close.  My drawings take 30 to 40 hours each.  The Beatles drawing I just did took 50 to 60.  I have a two month backlog of work to do.  And I'm moving back home to Southern California as soon as I tie up the loose ends here.  So if you like my stuff and you want an original, now's the time to buy. 

 I left a bad living situation just over a year ago, and I came to Winston-Salem with $15, a box of Sharpies, no place to live, and not a single contact in the Trade Street art scene.  I lived in a tent in the woods behind Bolton Park (near the mall) for 9 1/2 months.  I made a pact with myself not to panhandle, which I've done while homeless in previous years.  Instead, I went to an Aldi's store, where you have to put a quarter in to get a shopping cart.  I walked up to people in the parking lot, as polite as possible, and asked them, "Hey, I'm out of work, would you let me take that shopping cart back and keep the quarter?"  The vast majority of people were cool with that.  Moms with small kids actually thanked me.  As a matter of course, I pushed carts for people in the handicapped spaces, and really old people, for free.  I'd hand them a quarter out of my pocket, and take their cart back as a service.  By doing this, which incidentally doesn't break Winston's panhandling ordinance in any way, I was able to buy a bit of food and ride buses all last summer and into the fall.  I'd like to thank all those people who let me push their carts, and those who offered a buck or two to help me get by.  The artwork in this post and dozens more pieces are the result.

 Then, one afternoon last fall, the uniformed police officer working as a security guard at Aldi's on Peter's Creek told me to leave the property as soon as I showed up.  So I did.  I walked out to the street a couple of buildings over.  I took account of my situation.  I didn't have bus fare to get back to my campsite.  I was hungry.  I had a 2 1/2 mile walk ahead of me.  And I'm really fat.  But I did qualify for EBT (aka food stamps), and I had my card in my wallet.  I decided that I would go back into Aldi's, buy something small to eat on my card, and walk right off the property.  I honestly thought I was well within my rights to do that.  It was not the best decision I've ever made, but I didn't think it was illegal.  (Research since then has proved, I was right, it was perfectly legal, according to multiple precedents and case law).

So I did it.  I bought a pack of 12 donuts, and the police officer watched me stand in line, buy them, and I walked right by him, out the door, and headed directly towards the parking lot exit.  As it turned out, the police officer followed me out, grabbed my shoulder from behind, and I threw my elbow up as a reflex.  I was arrested for trespassing and resisting arrest.  It was my first arrest in my 51 years on Earth.  I spent three days in jail, 23 hours in my cell all three days, without the psych meds I took at the time.  On the third night, I got a federal prison inmate, heading back in after a parole violation, thrown in my cell.  Not the roommate you want on your first jail stay.  As it turned out, we started talking art, and got along fine.

My public defender expected the charges to be dropped, it was a pretty ridiculous arrest by most anyone's standards.  But they weren't.  As a homeless man, I didn't think I had a chance in hell of beating the case in a trial, just because I was living homeless.  So I plead guilty, and took a deal to do 50 hours of community service and pay a $250 fine.  I did 19 hours of the community service as I worked all day every day drawing pictures to simply make food money and bus fare.  I didn't complete my program, and I went back to court. 

I now have a $732 fine and 50 more hours of community service to finish in the next couple of weeks.  I don't know about you, but 3 days in jail, 69 hours of community service, and $732 seems like a pretty serious sentence for buying a pack of donuts.  Hey, maybe that's just me. 

In any case, we'll be raffling off a $100, signed and numbered print of my Dr. Maya Angelou drawing (below) tonight at Designs, Vines, and Wines to help me pay the part of the fine.  You're more than welcome to sign up to win the the print, or if you'd like to help me out.

 The reason I'm moving back to California as soon as I can is because of things like donut arrest, and the continuous harassment and threats I've endured while being a homeless man trying to build a small business as an artist and writer here in Winston-Salem.  There's just too much bullshit here.  I'm going to take care of this fine and tie up loose ends, and head back to SoCal, where entrepreneurship and art is actually tolerated. 

You can check out my work further back on my blog, by Googling "#sharpiescribblestyle", or on my Pinterest page.  If you like it and want an original, now's the time.  I won't have time to draw pictures for people in NC after I get out West. 

Have fun at the Hop tonight folks.  Oh... and if you're one of the douchebags who was outside my tent on the night of May 14th with a baseball bat, threatening to beat the shit out of me, I'd love to meet you.  Come by Designs, Vines, and Wines at 625 Trade in and introduce yourself. 

This original drawing will be on display tonight, at 625 Trade, just as it was at the Garden Party to honor Dr. Anglou's 90th birthday in Bailey Park.  A full size, 18" X 24" print, one of ten signed and numbered prints, is what we're raffling off.