Minor Threat and Ramshackle Glory

October 20, 2013

My friend, Kyle, has me listening to Minor Threat for the first time in years. And these days, I can’t think about Minor Threat without thinking of a song by Ramshackle Glory (that’s one of my favorites). Here are two songs with selected lyrics from both.

Minor Threat – “In My Eyes”
You tell me that nothing matters
You’re just fucking scared
You tell me that I’m better
You just hate yourself
You tell me that you like her
You just wish you did
You tell me that I make no difference
Well at least I’m fucking trying

Ramshackle Glory – From Here to Utopia (A Song for the Desperate)

I’ve been listening to Minor Threat records all day and – shit – if I do not know every word. I sing along, as I tie off. And Ian screams he’s “out of step,” as I throw the cotton into the spoon and draw up into the syringe. I’ll know just what he means until I hit a vein. After that I won’t have to bother with knowing who I am, for a while at least. In a moment, the whole world is gonna melt around me and I’ll swear I don’t miss it, as I lie to you tonight. ‘Cause I’m afraid to look the world in the eyes. If nothing’s gonna change, well, then I ‘d rather die. … I’m too hopeless to look for a solution; I’m afraid that if I found one I’d be out of excuses for the way I waste away in the gutters that I chose, like fashion accessories to go with my dirty clothes. …
I want something more than an apology to say, when I look the world in the eyes. I’ll tell you, man – my friend William came to me with a message of hope. It went: “Fuck you and everything that you think you know. If you don’t step outside the things that you believe, they’re gonna kill you.” He said, “No one’s gonna stop you from dying young and miserable and right. If you want something better, you gotta put that shit aside.” ….
I’m not saying that we can’t change the world; everybody does at least a little bit of that. But I won’t shit myself – the way I’m living is a temper tantrum – and I need something else to stay alive. … I know it’s hard to give a shit sometimes, but promise me we’ll always try. ‘Cause I don’t wanna hate you and I don’t wanna hate me and I don’t wanna have to hate everything anymore.

—–

  • For more Ramshackle Glory, hit up their Bandcamp page, which has a ton of audio as well as links to buy physical records.
  • For more Minor Threat, visit your local mall.

thrashBike

October 16, 2013

“Regular” update coming in a minute, but since I’ve been working on the scooter all day…

scooterprogress00

 

After cleaning/sanding everything…

  • I took the teal floorboard off and spray painted it black, then did a really light coat of red on top of it.
  • I used red spray paint on the headlight casing, then scratched it to shit with sandpaper, then did a light coat of black a little bit more red. I did pretty much the same with the front wheel cover.
  • I did two coats of neon yellow on the front steering column plate before adding a little neon green. Next, I’ll do some outlines in black (faces and other nonsense).
  • I hand-painted the rear turn signals with neon green. They look kinda shitty but not in the way that I want (like the other pieces). I might be able to fix it with a couple more coats, but I think the paint might just not be right for it so I might do something else.
  • I still need to figure something out with the seat. Grey and teal isn’t doing it for me.
  • I did a little bit of custom nonsense to the instrument panel but since I didn’t take the little inner plate all the way out, it was kind of tough and I didn’t wanna risk fucking it up. I opted to go really basic and just black out most of what was there. I left the two circles on the speedometer so I’m not totally in the dark (they mark 20 and 30 mph).
  • I sandpapered the fuck out of the metal rack in the back. It was thoroughly coated in rust but it’s lookin’ pretty good now.
  • I still need to clean up the wheels and the exhaust. I’m also gonna paint the casing on the taillight. Probably the front turn signals too (I like the way they look from the front, but not from the back).
  • There’s a 50% chance I put the front turn signals on the wrong sides (but the battery’s dead so I’d have to take it outside to kickstart it if I want to find out). I hope not!
  • The panels from my old scooter fit on this one (as you can see) but don’t totally line up properly. Besides, I don’t think they look that great on it. I think I might paint the white/teal ones that came with this scooter and use those instead.
  • Still debating on whether I wanna cover the whole thing with wacky bullshit or just limit that to the side panels and the yellow/green one in front.
  • You see that jug of tea on the table in the background? It’s actually filled with ten month old gasoline!

The house has been a mess since I got back to town. Now that this thing’s at least reassembled, I’m starting to clean up a little bit.  It’s a big relief and I’ll feel even better once I’m done. I feel uneasy when things are out of place. Like Heather’s gonna stop loving me.

Cool!

thrashBike 2.0 [in progress]

October 15, 2013

My scooter was stolen a couple weeks back. As my sole means of transportation, it was pretty upsetting.

Luckily, I have some phenomenal people in my life who are way too good to me and now I’m hard at work tuning-up, cleaning, and painting another one. It’s spent the last nine months sitting in a garage and it looks like I’m gonna need to buy a new battery, but I was able to get it running today (without stalling out at all) so I’m pretty happy with it. It’s a slightly different model than my old one but still a 1986 Honda Spree, which means I can continue to take pride in my scooter being older than I am and what (little) I learned about my last one still applies.

I was in the process of fixing the last one when it was stolen, so the side panels were off at the time. So long as I still got ’em, I figure I’ll put them on this bike and smile about it.

20131015-230916.jpg
This is the right side panel. I painted it back when I still lived at Tranquil Shores.

The left side panel was already featured in an entry (on the day that I re-painted it with different colors), but what the hell…

scooter
Here’s the left panel (on my first scooter, before it was stolen).

 

20131015-230844.jpg
Here’s the new bike, sitting in my kitchen, directly behind my chair as I type this.

I’m not sure exactly how I’m gonna paint all the other (white and teal) parts, but I’m having fun with it already. It feels good to take care of something. To pick it apart and really clean it up. It’s nice.

So nice that I’m okay with this being my only post today. (!)

Original/custom cartoon T-shirts

October 10, 2013

Greetings From Delray Beach shirt #1

Are you guys sick of this image yet? I sold my first custom cartoon shirt (which I made last night). I redrew “Greetings From Delray Beach” onto a pink t-shirt using (black, brown, yellow, red, green, and blue) fabric markers. It took me about three hours.

I'm a Fine Art Enthusiast, You Guys shirt #1

I posted a little thumbnail of this shirt at some point a week or so back (at the bottom of an unrelated post) but this was the first shirt that I made (sometime last month for a friend’s birthday). It’s a modified version of my “I’m a Fucking Artist, Guys” cartoon.

If you’d like either of these shirts (or one featuring any of my other artwork) they can be purchased through my webstore.

—–

Status update: I’m leaving town tonight to go to a wedding with Heather. A wedding at which I not only have to wear a shirt but a shirt with long sleeves and a collar. I thought I was going to have to buy one but I found this one that I had forgotten that I owned. I think the last time I wore it was eight years ago. I feel ridiculous.

wedding clothes

 

It’s gonna be a really weird weekend but I’m going to do my best to post new stuff on the website each day that’s a little more legitimate / interesting than today’s post. Bear with me! ; )

Ready When You Are

October 7, 2013

"Ready When You Are." 6/7/13. Oil pastel. 9½x12”.
“Ready When You Are.” 6/7/13. Oil pastel. 9½x12”.

It was Friday so I drove up to Tranquil Shores for my session with Tracy and my weekly expressive art group with the kids that were still inpatients. Earlier that week, I had found an apartment in Jacksonville. When I told Tracy, she was really surprised. (I had been talking about moving, but it was just a few days prior that I actually started looking for a place, so it all happened really quickly). “Seriously?” she asked me. “Well, let me get the papers for your discharge.”

Somehow that hadn’t occurred to me: that moving away would mean I’d be officially discharged from Tranquil Shores. My life was about to change and it was just now registering. It made me sad. It even made me a little angry, though I’m not sure with whom. (Probably myself). It was a really great afternoon; everyone at Tranquil Shores couldn’t have been sweeter to me or more supportive. But… I didn’t wanna leave. I didn’t want it to be over and I guess I was as caught off-guard as Tracy had been.

After my session, I went into the art room for group. I felt good overall, but had that little streak of darkness in me. I got an idea in my head of a sorta vulture and I liked it. I wanted to draw something that lived off dead flesh – something sustained by failure.

But still sorta comic and fun.

—–

(Especially relevant) status update: Heather’s friends are getting married in Englewood next weekend, so I won’t be too far from Tranquil Shores. On Friday, I’m going to drive up that way and meet up with a crew of kids I went to treatment with for lunch, and then I’m gonna go in for the expressive art group just like I used to. I’ve been really excited about it but am getting more nervous as it gets closer. It’s gonna be a totally new crop of kids. I’ll still know all the staff obviously, but it seems kinda strange to go to group with a bunch of patients I’ve never met before. I hope I don’t wimp out. I hope it goes well.

—–

Eat Gummy Worms and Smoke Crack With Someone Who Appreciates You

October 2, 2013

"Eat Gummy Worms and Smoke Crack With Someone Who Appreciates You." 1/7/13. Pen. 8½x11.
“Eat Gummy Worms and Smoke Crack With Someone Who Appreciates You.” 1/7/13. Pen. 8½x11.

When I was in pre-school, my dad once asked my teacher, “Racey brings home art almost everyday – why doesn’t Sam ever bring anything home?”

“Because it doesn’t turn out the way he wants it to, so he crumples it up, throws it away, and then stares at the floor sulking until art time is over.”

Forget about art and pre-school – that’s kind of how I lived my entire life until recently.

I drew this one day in January back when I was still an inpatient at Tranquil Shores. (It wasn’t an art group but I’m like – totally rebellious, you guys). It started out as a drawing for my friend Nick but – after I fucked it up – I let it become something else. (Pen isn’t a very forgiving medium). I’m glad that I have the capacity these days to accept my mistakes as necessary – or inevitable. (They’re not really mistakes; they were supposed to happen). And this too works as an analogy for my life. I’ve fucked up plenty, even in this last year, but I accept all of it now. I’m right where I’m supposed to be.

The caption is the same as the title: EAT GUMMY WORMS AND SMOKE CRACK WITH SOMEONE WHO APPRECIATES YOU.

—–

Daily status update: My first Artwalk tonight went really well. Jacksonville may not be the ARTS CAPITAL of the world, but I’m really grateful that we’ve got something like this that happens every month. Looking forward to round two in November. (It’ll be just two days after my birthday)!

—–

Asides

  • This piece was kind of a breakthrough for me in terms of expressive art. I feel the same way about: “Perfect Love / Exit Bag,” “The Weak End” series, and “Court Dating.”
  • This is the ONE HUNDREDTH piece of art to be added to the website!
  • It also totally features a frog sitting in a prescription bottle. That’s something, right?
  • 2025 UPDATE: I decided I like this drawing enough to make a small run of prints. But first I JUICED IT UP with some color and a border (’cause I’m a CHEATER). You can find it in the webstore.

Powerless Over Flexeril

September 27, 2013

"Powerless Over Flexeril." 3/15/13. Marker. 9x12".
“Powerless Over Flexeril.” 3/15/13. Marker. 9×12″.

I wrote a statement about this piece after I finished it:

Awoken by pain at 5 AM this morning, I was given a heating pad and a Flexeril (a drug which I have not been prescribed). Lying in bed, I started this drawing and continued until the pain subsided enough that I was able to get back to sleep. I finished later that afternoon on the ride back home from my outpatient group at Tranquil Shores.

In case you’re wondering, neither my integrity nor my recovery were at all compromised by my decision to ingest a Flexeril. If you think that’s at all questionable though, let me assure you that I am totally happy for you!

I only bring it up to clarify that this title is tongue-in-cheek.

—–

—–

I’ve been insanely busy the last few days, getting all of my stuff ready for Artwalk in Jacksonville next week. I’m happy about it insofar as it’s put a fire under me and gotten me to work on editing my statements (since I’m putting printed copies in the sealed sleeves along with each print). I’m aiming to have around 50 different prints ready for sale so that means 50 statements. The less fun part is all of the tedious presentation stuff. Putting the prints in the sleeves, cutting thick backing board into the right size for each print, formatting the statements in Word to be the right size for each piece — stuff like that. It’s cool though; I’m going to feel really good about it when it’s all done. (Only four days left to go).

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