Summit Verse 2013

Crazy Talk No.1 1997

Crazy Talk No.2 1997

Worn Out Star

I think this used to be an air-freshener.
Looks like hard times on the road,
not to mention several years in one of my boxes,
have redirected this star's career.

Hematodipsia (2008)

"Did you know there is a psychological fixation called hematodipsia which causes the sufferer to gain erotic satisfaction from consuming human blood? Well, there is. It may seem scary; it may seem kewl; it may even seem unreal, but it does exist. In basic, the victim thinks he's a vampire. What do you think of this? Do you know anyone who has it?"


"I've only heard of it through you, i didnt even know it existed before. But if you think about it, many carnivores taste blood everytime they rip into a fresh carcas. Humans are omnivores, therefore meaning they must have eaten meat the same way. Even though we dont eat like that anymore, maybe they still had the gene that told them blood tasted good. And anyway people have different tastes in food, like some could be hooked on snails, others could be hooked on blood? I wouldnt assume a hematodipsiaic would drink blood the same way a vampire would, thats just wierd. Its all wierd."


"My friend heard of some company or blood bank or whatever that donated to the hematodipsia victims..."


I would hate to be one of those guys. You know, this could be where they got the idea of a vampire.. it does make sence (sic,)."


"Yeah, I read 'bout it before. It's kool if you ask me, but yeah pretty creepy."


"Umm..I remember reading a Serial Killer book that had many serial killers in their who had it...I think...That book was nasty. It had all sorts of other stuff too. I would tell you but my cousin borrowed it."

"I am a hematodipsia (sic.), although it is embarrassing for me to say so; I've always had a fascination for blood since I could walk and talk. I've never met another heatodipsic (sic.) person, so I do not know what the symptoms are, but in my opinion, I don't think anyone can label what the exact symptoms are, because everyone's symptoms are different in my opinion. As for me, I've always dreamt of a v_a_m_p_i_r_e whisking me away and drinking my blood--I've never inflicted any wounds on myself to drink my own blood, but I've thought of drinking someone else's blood. I sometimes have to control myself when I see another person's blood, and sometimes go into minor spasms (twitching)."

Some Titles

At one point I had my mind completely set on becoming a playwright.
It was my only waking desire and consumed my days.
Unfortunately, I never made it out of the title stage.
These are all I came up with before I changed my mind and decided to become an astronaut.


"The Nice Supper"
"Success In The Cue"
"Go Back To Normal"
"The False Breasts"
"Movie Stars Need Love Too"
"I Was A Teenage Bedwetter"
"Isn't Anyone Going To Ask Me Why I Have This Box On My Head?"
"The Happy Loser"
"There's A Perfectly Reasonable Explanation For All of This I Assure You"
"The Barbara Infection"
"Flowers For Myself"
"The Compulsory Lottery"
"Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Sex I Learned In Kindergarten Without Really Trying"
"Argument With A Television"
"The Nipples On My Ass"
"The Good Clean Fun That Resulted In My Death"
"The Relationship Sails Out of the Harbor"
"Ways Of Sleeping"
"Where The Pills Are"
"...And God Created Back Pain"
"Death In The Afterlife"
"The Obvious Men"
"From Nosepicker to Gluesniffer"
"A Guarantee of Happiness"
"The Pajamas"
"The Girl in the Well"
"Better Off Not Knowing"
"Men Who Bleed"
"The Pay Phone Beyond Hope"
"Battalion of Suits"
"The Love Bit"
"Gently Down The Stream"
"I Had A Dream Women Made Sense"
"More Similar Than Alike"
"A White Man's Cocktail"
"The Cold Sore"
"Epileptic Haiku"
"The Paper Eaters"
"Confessions of a Good Liar"
"The Oblivious Self Wins"
"The Elective Lobotomy"
"The Scab"

Get It Down

Better to write down your ideas as they come to you.



You never know.

Grace of My Heart

Grace of My Heart (1996) is an Allison Anders film I always thought was great. 

I think Illeana Douglas is really cool, yes, but the thing that makes this movie so memorable for me is the music. 

The story is sort of a loose, fictional adaptation of the Carol King story and begins here with the lead character, Denise Waverly, winning a singing contest with her rendition of this great song, "Hey There," which was made famous by Rosemary Clooney way back before we were born. 

Douglas' performance is great here, but the thing for me is that voice, which is not hers but rather belongs to outstanding singer Kristen Vigard. Here - see if you agree.



The succeeding scene sees our heroine, having won a recording audition which was the prize from the singing contest, in the studio doing another really neat song called, "Another World." 

It's Kristen Vigard's beautifully expressive voice again but this time the song was written specially for the film by none other than Brill Building veteran, Gerry Goffin with Los Lobos. 

(It's fun to see a clean-shaven Richard Schiff here, too.)



Lots of really great songwriters contributed to this soundtrack, actually. 

Here's one written by Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach. 

Just an amazing song sung, again, by Kristen Vigard. 

This is called, "God Give Me Strength."

Here are the rest of the soundtrack credits - an impressive talent roster.

A Day (1999)

Unbelievable, Part 2

Alright - first of all, Sory, dudez! while getting my dookie together  enough to post this dum old post I naccidentally hit the "publish" button with nothn in the cpy...

Fuck. Lemme start this over.

You ever get that feeling that the more you do and the longer you live, the less you know? I really think I'm getting progressively stupider. That's my suspicion. There's no question I'm getting crazier. We all know that. But I really think I'm at that magical time in my life -- just right on the fulcrum between being just smart enough to know I'm getting stupider, as I mentioned, but just slightly too stupid to know when to quit writing about it publicly.

Like you, it all just makes me wanna hold my head in my hands and make a sound, like, "Uuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." a sort of low groan, inaudible to others (so you know it's not just for dramatic effect or to get sympathy from passers by).

Anyhow, I don't have any Adobe Illustrator right now.
Mine just wouldn't open one day about 3 weeks ago, no clue why.
I dumped and reloaded - no dice.
I made faces and said bad words...

Anyhow, so today I took a couple stabs at getting a new version.
I actually went back to Limewire (can't recommend) and downloaded an older version which, not surprisingly, wouldn't open properly.

Then I tried some Megaupload links I found. 

It was going okay. I mean, it really takes a lot of patience and attention, yes, but I had a pretty good system going where I'd start one of the 12 downloads and get the next one cued up and then go check out Brazilian chicks for a few minutes and, keeping my eye half on the download window, I'd look for that little crate icon to pop up on the desktop and then restart the cycle...

(Now I know y'all wanted the porn part of this story to assume more of leading role at this point but, for real, I am such a soft core-lightweight and that brings to mind another curious aspect of this magical time in my life: Once, when I was younger, I used to be embarrassed and ashamed about masturbating, now I'm embarrassed and ashamed about not masturbating. I mean, right? Do you feel me? What? No? I'm the only one? Well fine, then.)

So I got this nice download system working and I get to the last part of the thing, part 12 of 12, and would you not fucking know it, but I get this message,,,



I've tried it several times since and I keep getting the same message. 

All I'm saying is it's quite frustrating, not being able to steal software with ease and convenience, and this time I'm saying it audibly, for dramatic effect and, yes, to earn sympathy from strangers.

Or maybe one of you could hook me up with some Illustrator!
C'mon. Help a brother out.

Real Fake Alien Language

Random leftover punch-out shapes from this rubber stamp project thing I did a little bit ago: that's all these are.
I find it really amusing just messing around in Illustrator with no real objective.
Line up all these little, abstract weedies and, presto!
You got yourself a genuine, alien language, as seen on the various Roswell artifacts!



And you know what it says, don't you?
Well, first person to reveal the correct translation wins a big prize or something!
(Hint: it's not, "To Serve Man" or, "Klaatu Barada Nikto")

Camera Club (1980)

Oh hell yeah I took this picture!
I took the shit out of it!
Horses.
Fuckin-A!
Fifteen-fuckin'-years-old and my dad gets me and my brother each an OM-1 for our birthdays* and then starts a fuckin' camera club**. 

Bam!
There we are at the auto show pretending to be interested in what he's interested in.
With film.
That was our first outing,

or field trip,

or away mission,

or whatever.
No.
Wait,
he called 'em "photo-safaris".
No shit.
And he dressed for it, too.
He was one safari-jacket wearin' motherfucker.
Khaki utility attire!

Yes! 
Even had a mesh pith helmet.
Total pacifist, mind you.
Would never go near a gun but somehow harbored the impulse to play the Great White Hunter.

My mom would say,

real low so he couldn't hear,

"Napoleonic complex."

But I digress.

Our second "photo-safari" was out to the desert somewhere,
or the mountains...
something naturey 'cause, you know, all the great photographers take pictures of nature.
"Everyone knows that!
There's,
for instance,
okay,
what's that guy?
Oh!

Okay,
there's Ansell Adams,
there's...
there's...
okay, he's all I can think of right now but you know there's a lotta great photographers making a good living shooting for National Geographic!"

Yeah, National G. 

That was the standard. 

That's what we were all supposed to be shooting for*** and look at me! 

Check out those horses!

Fifteen-fuckin'-years-old and I came pretty goddmn close with the almighty OM-1!
Hellz yeah!

*No, I am not a twin.

**Trey remembers.

***NPI

Paradise Artifact

I really love beautiful trash like this.
It came from Michael Paradise's studio,
from about the middle of last year.
We were hanging out,
just shitting around,
whatever it is we do,
and he started burning this incense the scent of which I found especially appealing.
I asked if I could snag a few sticks and he wrapped some in this paper,
one of many which regularly litter his habitat,
wherever he may reside.
I stuck the gift in my bag,
my poor, gone bag,
and it remained there at the bottom for a while.
I guess I forgot about it and in that time it got wet somehow.
Probably set the bag down in the rain or stuck a cold bottle of something in it.
Who knows.
The wet incense made a nice pattern on the paper, though, right?
And the sticks dried out and lit up just fine.
I think those three circles were part of one of his art lessons or something.
That's what Mike does,
is teach art.

"Jesus Drank Wine" CD Art(2008)

Now here's a job that was a real pleasure.
It's always a bonus when you get to work for and with smart people who are clear on what what they want and what works.
Fred is such a person and so, contrary to his chosen moniker, there was really no friction when it came to making the choices that resulted in the look of his project.
So I'm pretty pleased with this end product and, I'm happy to say, so is he.
And what's more, as good as this looks, it sounds even better.
I'd encourage you to discover that for yourself by coming out to the release party (if you're local) or by purchasing a copy at CD Baby, or, for Christ's sake, just email me at taggroup1@yahoo.com and I'll make sure you get the VIP treatment with your order.

Also not to be overlooked is the very cool, very provocative Bob Reuter photograph on the front cover.
Bob's been doing amazing work as a photographer (and in other media) for quite a spell now and so it was a genuine honor for me to finally get the opportunity to "work with" the man.

Ha Ha I'm Drowning(1998)

Could be I went a little crazy back during the summer of '98.

Tools Designed for Human Hands (details)(2002)

These images detail a series of works I constructed for a little show I had in 2002 called Evidence of the Human Annex. 

Wait, here's the ad for the show, which'll prove that I'm not just making this up.

Only two out of, I think, eight or nine of the pieces in the series are fully represented here. But, of course, simply representing the original works is not the point with these photographs. These pictures are their own separate and original works. Obviously, by concentrating on only certain details from the displayed objects, I have effectively blah-blah-blah..............................yakkity-yakkity.....................................insert-your-own-boring-art-talk-drone-here......................blah-blah..........................................

and I really like pointy, spikey things. I hope you enjoy them.

Here is the statement that accompanied the work at the show.

Artifacts: Extensions for the Human Hand

There is great power and sensitivity in the human hand. It’s really such a beautifully manufactured operation, it almost feels like cheating to put a tool in it. But that is the beginning of what Freud must have meant by “prosthetic gods”. And, of course, that manual elegance is evident in everything we make. The fruit of all our efforts has a hand print on it. From the delicate accuracy of a Swiss movement to the erstwhile majesty of the Trade Towers, everything scales back to the human hand. Our modern environment, our ‘New Nature’, has been built around this scale. So, after we’ve gone, the most recognizable element of everything that survives us will be the human hand.

Look down at yours now and remember that it has done something crucial and lifesaving today. Notice it as you manipulate your cell phone or tighten your fingers ever so slightly around a wet glass. All the material we treasure - the computers and cars and houses and guns and clothes - all of it is worthless without the human hand.

Me, Once

You believe this shit? Well, sure you do 'cause what do you care but, for me, finding these kinda freaks my ass a little.

This first one is a picture of me and some anonymous club girl at the Fetish in L.A. 'round about 1984, I think. I'm pretty sure this would've been the Berwin Complex location (it moved around a lot) and the photograph was taken by some guy, not sure who, interested in that culture or who thought that all us freakazoids was good camera fodder. True to his word, though, he showed up the next weekend with a print for anyone he'd shot the Saturday before.

Funny thing is, now that guy is me. Now I'm (occasionally) the guy in the club or the bar who takes pictures of the scenesters - from the outside looking in, sort of.

And this one, oh my. Did I mention I was in a band once? Yeah, me and my best friends from art school, David and Ed, started up this thing around '85 called... well, first it was the Negative Raccoon Effect. Sure - y'know, the NRE. And then we changed it to Simple. But the guy at the recording studio in Berkley where we made our demo tape thought that was a bad idea, what with the burgeoning popularity of Simple Minds, and we should avoid any confusion, etc... 

At the time I was really, really into Russian Constructivism and, in particular, the designs of Aleksandr Rodchenko and, in particular, this one piece, the cover of a book of poetry by Vladimir Mayakovsky called про зто (pronounced in english, Pro Eto). So we called ourselves that, which translated to... well, it was never quite clear. Different sources - different answers. It was either, "For This," or, "About This," or, "Because of This," or something ridiculously slight. For me, I have to say, it didn't much matter as I was just so in love with the graphic, it's source, and the knowledge that we had the coolest band logo ever - already built into the name. 

That's how I operated. I mean, yes, I was the singer and I wrote the words to the songs (such as they were) and a little of the music but my principle interest was in packaging our 'product' or 'image' or whatever. So I spent a whole lot more time on pictures and posters and flyers than I did on learning to play my guitar. Just looking at this blog, that can't come as much of a shock. 

Plus, I have an awful singing voice.

One of my aforementioned and still best friends, Edward Pollard, who played bass guitar in the band through it's many iterations (the story does go on into the nineties) has, in fact, written a novel based on his experiences during this slice of our lives. Exerpts from his adapted account can be found here.

And since were already here, and since I already have 'em scanned...

Here are some photostats of photographs taken by David Hermon, who shot many of the bands in the scene at that time and who was a fan of ours (and so shot for nothing).

Here's Ed.

This is David Bornstien, our guitar player and principle tune writer and someone I miss a whole lot.

And me again.

A collage layout based around another David Hermon photo...

One of my very early flyers...

more David Hermon shots...

And our press kit photo.

Column (photojoiner)(2008)

I've made a few recent stabs at completing some photojoiners and I'm beginning to think that maybe I wasn't born with this particular skill. Anyone with a camera's tried this at least once, usually in an effort to capture a panoramic view the grandeur of which, presumably, couldn't be expressed in a single frame. Some noted artists then took the process to another level. 

I'm thinking, firstly, of the Starn Twins, who made a big splash in the eighties with their appropriated images, large transparencies and lots of scotch tape. I love their stuff, it's really neat. Then there's famous painter David Hockney, who made an even bigger splash of his own, also in the eighties. His, if you ask me, weren't all that exciting or innovative, but he really did bring to the gallery what everyone was doing and, I'm pretty sure, coined the term 'joiner'.

So I'm trying my hand at these and, I don't know, I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

Here's one of a support column I found in the basement of the building where I live. Obviously, I stand in one spot and shoot my way up from the bottom, hence the center bulge. The numbers written there make it, for me at least, interesting subject matter, but I'm just not sold on the technique. It's not making me smile and it should.

Oh, well. 

I've got some more in the hopper. I'll keep at it and we'll see if I have better luck.

What Do You Think?

Should I do it?

I haven't seen this scam in since forever, but this showed up in my box just this morning.
Do you think it's still drawing in any suckers?
Naw. Couldn't be.

Trey Done Hipped Me

It's often beneficial to know people who are smarter that you.
It's even better when they are your friends.
Trey Rhodes, to me, is both.
I mention this because he and I have been in touch lately for the first time in a while and he's been introducing me to some fun things online that I'd probably never have known about otherwise.
Here is one of those things.

This is the Bakumatsu Koshashin Generator.
It is, essentially, a distressing filter and it's as simple to use as, well, 1-2-3.

1. choose a picture.
2. Hit "Convert".
3. Save the new, distressed picture.

Here are some of the results I got. These were some random shots I got from my trip with Kris Curtis to the Monterey Peninsula. Now they are historical artifacts from the early 1940's.

Kinda Cool, huh? Now go do your own.