check out the snazzaroonie bow tie! much thanks to the salvation army, and superglue gel. oh, boy! oh, boy!

and just to show i havent been a complete and total slack-jaw, here is some jacket sleeves in perfect 3-part harmony. right now im trying to start sealin up the body w/resin and fiberglas cloth. everythying needs to be solid and watertight!

the black and whitey version of the bene poster! come and see da show...

large mammal iza playin a benefit show for the family of jaimo guertin. da gig go down on sundae, sep. 10th. at about 4:30 p.m. and lass til 2a.m. 11 other bands means mucho entertainment! rafflin, drinkin, dancin and did i say drinkin? hope to seeya rot there.

WE HAVE ARMS!!!

so then we must have cuffs!

well, well, well. we now must resituate the arm trajectories.

also today i gots to my man's nose enlarge-ment, and hat-goopin', just like mama used to make... for the nose-enlarger i used a microphone windscreen that mystically expanded (quite a bit!) when added to the resin.finally after some trimming and a rubberbend, tah-dah! (yeah, whutevah)

today i filled in some of the wrinkles and hollow spaces in the upper part of the clown using magic stuff, which is TRULY, magic stuff.

here is yankee doodle and some brother jonathan cartoons, both of which were partialy inspirational for the early versions of uncle sam. meatpacker sam wilson was the original uncle sam, stamping his war of 1812 rations U.S..

Dan Rice was quite the character. beginning his professional life as an assistant horse trainer and jockey at the age of 6. became a clown and animal trainer. eventually worked his way up to own the circus, becoming p.t.barnum's only true competition. his style of humor was never cute and zany, but more like will rogers or mark twain. i s'pose it was only natural that his next move was into brief political forays, up to and including running for president of the united states! he was a rock star of his day, and definately one of the inspirations for this piece.

the first 'official' appearance of uncle sam was this 1916 recruitment poster by Montgomery Flagg. the character was based on the Yankee Doodle and Brother Jonathan political cartoons, and the real-life character of Dan Rice, President Lincoln's "court jester", and good friend to both honest Abe and confederate president Jeff Davis.

clown w/topcoat and tails

c'est la vie, little rock-coat, u will b missed...BTW, next week: history lesson!

okee-dokee from tha okeefenokee, today is gonna be a toughie. today is 'coattails' day( duhn, duhn DUHN!). today i sacrifice, for the sake of art and a higher purpose, my ringleader coat from my old "hard-rockin' days with my fellow magicians( er,um, MUSicians...same diff.) 'Turning Wheel"( karma-la, scott 'gibby' gibson, tom 't.c.' campbell, mark 'bass-whore' basehore and myself). hence the uber cool skull w/ wings and red rose monogrammed on the back by my ex, maggie( former stitch-mistress of hagebeck & wallace). so many nights spent sweatin like richard simmons in that baby, watchin all the young girls dance at places like the main st. depot, monterey deli, b'wana bob's rhino room, monique's artist pallette, boar's head lounge, downtown events and even before the fireworks on fourth of july! ahhhh, them was the daze! hopefully, adding this coat to the mix will help bring some of that mischievious gleeful joy into the piece! now to tear off the sleeves..... so difficult thru the tears. TEARS OF JOY BAYBEEE!!

woo, woo! the shirt is on! we do a lil modifixin, a lil shape-a-fyin, and viola: our young, headless, armless friend has dun got hisself a shirt! and what is this ringin i hear in my ear? it's my good friend slosh calling to invite me to go see steely dan up in tampa. the fates smile (joy)! stuff's gotta kick anyways....(heh,heh!) see youse kids afta da show!

allrizz-ight, the pants ahve healed up nicely and it be time to give our homie a shirt-type covering. we repeat the steps and goo it up and slizz-app it upp!

i feels like marcel duchamp and bucky fuller all wrapped up into one big creative ball! after saying good bye to my lovely yet practical electric stapler, i wondered (this is me wondering)" just what can i use now to make my life a better place for the world to live in?" then it hit me: a siple drill/driver will probably do the trick! i'm sure i'd seen something like it on mcgiver! so off to home depot i went, credit card in hand and tail betwixt my legs, i humbly shuffled into the tool department. there on the shelf she sat. like a vision of modern utility. a medium priced, corldess, rechargeable electric drill/driver! oh joy! oh rapture! but, of couse, safety first! so i took it home and wrapped it in plastic to keep the sticky mess from stickin to my fine new tool. then, to adhere the pantfront to the sculpture in just the right fashion, i used 1" drywall screws to attach. was tricky at first, but once i gots the hang of it, i was able to finish with a much lower degree of frustration then when the chemistry ate my stapler.

it would seem that my evil plan appears to be working. yes! the resin has hardened nicely, and i may now proceed to step #2...the front of the pantaloons! repeating steps 1-25 on previous page, i layout pantfont, crank up music, mix, slather, slop, squeegie and slap those tings right into place!

safety first!

day 1, gotta stay focused on the task at hand. 1st tings 1st. repirator, lots o' gloves, paper-suit-in-which-to-sweat, glasses, hat, ipod, big honkin fans, tolls, materials, all check. get into gear, get the stinky. says 1% hardener to resin...hmm, no one told me there would be math involved! anyhow, i close my eyes and settle on an amount. about a squirt to blop ratio. mix, mix, mix! keep mixing! ah, ah, ah, still more mixing! about 3 minutes later...your done! now i carefully lay out the back or 'rear' part of the pants onto cardboard strategically placed on the ground. i then take my small bucket of steaming, bubbling ooze and pour it out, alil at a time, and squeegie it thruout the material. ipod crankin now, i lift the pants off the ground and sling them, casually yet gracefully, across our hero's glutious. then i take a staple gun and attempt to staple said pantaloons into place. quite a disaster. the resin was too hard, and the staples couldn't get a purchase. eventually i got the trouserbacks where i wanted them, but not without saying bye-bye to a very nice electric stapler. alas poor stapler, i knew thee well...

gonna go from this pile of the rawest of clown material, this heap of raw clown-ness, and tranform it into-(drum roll please)-this fine 'uncle' clown w/ 'sacred' rubberchicken (artist's rendition)! think i got til mid september to pull this off... BUT IT IS FOR THE CHILLINS!!! gotta b strong.

after recently returning from my vacation in the smoky mountains, i recieved my clown blank and $$$check from hospice and headed for the fiberglass store. the cat at the f. store was very friendly and informative, and i had a buttload of questions as it has been probably 20 years or so since i worked with the itchy stuff. but now there aint no g.d. excusees so it b time 2 get out the saw, drill, respirator and dentle tools and get my buttocks to work!