Little updates throughout September and October

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NOTES FROM SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER
	May and June were marked with heavy rains, a lot of work in the studio, and enough time to find a bunch of bright spots throughout the internet. Here's some of the news that was fit enough to link to and put yet another piece of the puzzle together in this wild tapestry of life:

JUST ANOTHER NIGHT IN AUSTIN
Despite my plans to take Saturday night off after a busy week of socializing, two quick phonecalls changed everything and I found myself hanging out with two old friends at the venerable Side Bar. After a few beers and a couple hours of catching up, it was just before last call when my friend implored me to hunt down a wheelchair for him to help facilitate a late night, ill advised hook-up. Apparently, the drunk vixen he was hitting on needed that particular apparatus to 'seal the deal'. I called another friend who had a key to a warehouse that actually contained a wheelchair. Sadly, my message fell on deaf ears and my call was never returned, leaving my friend to his own devices.

THE BIRTH OF A NEW DRINKING GAME
I ran into a friend of mine while drinking at a hip little watering hole. He brought up my recent interview in the Onion, and said him and his friends created a drinking game based on it. Whenever gentrification is mentioned, take a shot. My friend was drunk at the time, so I'm not sure if the conversation was sincere or merely the byproduct of actually reading the article.

THE DREAMS ARE RETURNING...
It's been months since I've had enough consistent sleep to actually start dreaming. October zoomed by on about 2-3 hours of 'rest' a day, and only in the past week has been subconscious been able to me through the joys of deep REM sleep. Of course, when I start having intense dreams about dating and managing Kelly Clarkson, I'm not so sure whether dreaming is a blessing or a curse.

WALKING UPHILL BOTH WAYS, IN THE SNOW...
One of the first things I realized when I arrived in Austin years ago was the visible pride Austinites carried with them. This pride invariably manifests itself with the question, "So, when did you arrive in Austin?" followed by, "Well I've been here since..." and then a litany of Old Austin landmarks would be sounded off, from the Armadillo World Headquarters to Slacker to Liberty Lunch to the Electric Lounge. So when I opened up the Austin Chronicle and saw an article about two East Austin artists proudly state, "In 1999, when the pair first moved into the house, the Eastside was not the artistic hub it has become..", the little Really White Vigilante in me couldn't help but snicker that such a ridiculous tag is now being applied to the artists of East Austin.

RADICAL NAUTICAL REVIEW
There was a nice review written by Salvadore Castillo from the Austin Chronicle about the Radical Nautical show at Gallery Lombardi. It was the first time one of the group shows Ian and I helped put together got an official review in print. Read all about it for yourself at the Chronicle's Art Coverage

STRIPES AROUND THE ANKLES...
A quiet, but fateful night of drinking and drawing at April's Dr. Sketchy event at Beerland served as the launching point for two distinct paths in my life. It forged the backbone of one chapter of my comic book, and also started a running joke that has developed legs of all its own. The girls of the Spank Dance dance troupe, decked out in their striped socks, laid the groundwork with David Ohlerking to put on a big collaborative show. In the ensuing onslaught of press coverage, my excited and slurred words about striped socks was deemed fit to print for all of Austin to see.

ALL APOLOGIES, WELL IN ADVANCE
I finally succumbed to the pressure, and after a couple of offers, I finally sent off a reply that said, "I've thought it over and it sounds like fun, so I'll do it. However, I would like it to be known the definition of celebrity is being stretched quite a bit." Why would I be discussing celebrity in an email? Coldtowne Theater, one of the hardest working improv groups in Austin asked yours truly to become their 'stool pigeon' for a night and tell four personal stories and have each improved out by the actors. I'm scheduled as their 'Austin celebrity' for December 8th. Check out their website for complete details, and if you're gonna go, get there early, because oh, I'm sure this one will be a standing room only event.

THE BEST IDEAS ARE THOSE WORKED ON
The host of Rio Rita's Milk and Cookies with David Williams' very own David Williams a link to a bizarre comic book (for those with jobs: contains cartoon nudity) from . The email, when mixed into the context of the endless hours I've recently spent on mine, was a funny little side note on the obsessions that drive people. While there's talk of the Gentrification Bear making a real life appearance at the opening bash for my comic book, the naked bear drawing caught David's attention. This line won me over about the concept of their book:
"The problem we have is that the sight of two grown supermen versus a young pregnant lady just doesn't look good no matter how many times you mention that the baby is eventually going to build a robot and that the robot is going to trample the White House."

A LOT OF TIMES, ART SHOULDN'T BE TRIFLED WITH
A friend of mine was contacted by a female artist who offered to set up a session where they painted each other naked. I sorted through her website and saw that she dedicated an entire body of work to 'updating masterpieces'. In her own words: 'For centuries male artists have painted reclining women. Women, because of their repressed sexuality, never painted men. Now, in this age of freedom of expression for all, I will even the balance.'

And really, when you stick the head of Patrick Swayze (complete with wristwatch?!?) on the head of Olympia, what else needs to be said?

ANOTHER CELEBRITY RUN-IN
While biking through town taking reference pictures for my comic book, I decided to head over the Pedestrian Bridge over Town Lake. I walked my bike towards the bike path, and a biker was heading out of the path towards me. I stopped and stared for a second, and it felt like my brain overheated processing for some odd reason. The man on the bike cheerfully said, "Hi", to which I responded in kind as he rode off. I turned and realized the man was Dennis Quaid.

CAN I GET A REWRITE PLEASE?
Not that it spoils anything, but I was lucky enough to get caught in the midst of a hilarious full blown marathon of Entourage: Season Three on HBO the other night. One of the little jokes that lines my comic book opus that I've been toiling on since April was used on the show. Hosting a party at his house, Dennis Hopper greets our overly fortunate and upbeat actor protagonist, fresh off his role as Aquaman, and says, "You played Agua Man, right?" Page 28 will never seem as funny to me anymore.

NO EXPLANATION GIVEN
Living without cable, a DVD player or even a TV, it's no secret that I spend a lot of time scouring youtube for funny little videos to keep me awake on those nights when the work is piled high. Here's some of my past youtube searches:

Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious World	lidsville
Breaking the Magician's Code	magic bullet
cabaret	needs therapy
dan thou shalt always	of montreal
Flash Gordon 1980	paul lynde
Guy Goma	rosencrantz dead
home shopping club	sad little stars
jack glen	the isle of pingo pongo
kleptones	youth superstar

BEING THE WORST BOB DYLAN I CAN BE
It was just a few weeks ago I stumbled into a viewing of the Edie Sedgwick movie 'Factory Girl' and everyone was amazed to see the dumb guy from Saturday Night Live in it. Our shock wore away in time to see that the guy who played Darth Vader in the new Star Wars movies played Bob Dylan.

Just last weekend I found myself playing a board game that combined trivia, charades, and Pictionary. I was the quick draw component on my team, but I did have to do an impersonation of Bob Dylan at one point. I quickly forgot every lyric and song he had ever written, and I was left to stand up, and horribly reenact Subterranean Homesick Blues, pretending to shuffle through a series of placards while making nasally, grunting noises from my mouth that culminated with the phrase, "everyone gets laid."

To the amazement of all the players on the other teams, my partner guessed Bob Dylan correctly well before time ran out.

IT'S LIKE IT'S 1983 ALL OVER AGAIN
I'm not sure if it has to do with all the rain this summer, the enjoyably low temperatures, or just the ipod radio djs hitting their stride, but every time I have driven anywhere in my car this summer, I've heard a heavy dose of Madonna and Prince, without fail. Now if I could just find an arcade with Burgertime in it, I'll really be doing good.

OF COURSE YOU ALWAYS REMEMBER YOUR FIRST TIME...
It was Berlin, December, 1998. Days before St. Nicholas Day. I was an unsuspecting, young, naive 23 year old staying in a youth hostel in East Berlin. There was a bunch of tourists hanging out in the common area when one girl, a brunette American, was preparing some toast. She spread some brown substance over it that clearly was NOT butter. My inquiring mind asked a few questions, and she flat out refused to hand me a sample. I insisted, and she asked me point blank, with her brown eyes piercing through my inquisitive glaze. "I can't be held responsible if you get hooked."

I laughed, and pressed on for a sample. As soon as Nutella first hit my taste buds, I knew there would be problems. To this day, I carry this addiction, and refuse to let it control me. I don't think I'll ever be cured, but I would like to think I have regained some self dignity in knowing its been three months since I last sat down with a butter knife and enjoyed a full jar in an hour. Apparently, I'm not alone.

ZOMBIE BOULEVARD
One of the most annoying things of living in East Austin is the countless folks who mindlessly and continuously cross Airport Blvd. through all hours of the day. A few of my friends call them zombies - as they just step out through four lanes of traffic without a care in the world. Its quite nerve wracking having to play reverse Frogger with an assortment of lane changes and an endless array of quick braking maneuvers, and yet they are undeterred to cross the road.

Today I was driving up the road when the car in front of me came to a quick stop. I slowed, then passed the scene: A 350 pound black sixteen year old, disheveled and sweaty, was PUSHING a gold Buick INTO A LANE OF TRAFFIC. As if this scene wasn't enough, the final straw was driving past and seeing his similarly sized mother behind the wheel. Folks with brains need not apply no more.

THE LATEST STORIES...

+ PINATA TIME!!!
the White Vigilante meets his match
+ A4 PAPER: HOW I LEARNED TO HATE REAGAN
I finally figured out what bothered me all these years...
+ KANSAS CITY BBQ TAKES ON AUSTIN
a gift from the BBQ capital of the universe to Texas
+ VOLUME TWO: THE REALLY WHITE VIGILANTE
an in depth look at the next book in the series
+ THE POLITICAL SEASON
a rare look at politics from this website
+ HOME BEFORE DARK
the depressing journey artists take
+ BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN
the long awaited return to my painting studio
+ NORTH(EAST)ERN EXPOSURE
my two month sabbatical in the North
+ AUSTIN CRITICS' TABLE AWARDS
a surprise nomination, win, and a speech or two
+ IRON MAN AND MY IGNORANCE
my trouble with Hollywood continues
+ A TRIP TO KANSAS CITY
Thanksgiving with friends and the cold

MY COMIC BOOK SIDE PROJECT:
TALES OF THE REALLY WHITE VIGILANTE #1 the satiric tale of one young man's attempts to stop the gentrification of East Austin by becoming a superhero in a Mexican wrestling mask.
TALES OF THE REALLY WHITE VIGILANTE #2 the tale continues with the White Vigilante teaming up with Dos XX during Austin's largest music festival to fight a new, more menacing threat to Austin.