“Isn’t beer the holy libation of sincerity? The potion that dispels all hypocrisy, any charade of fine manners? The drink that does nothing worse than incite its fans to urinate in all innocence, to gain weight in all frankness?”
—-Milan Kundera
Deep Ellum, Texas
The scary thing is, looking at this list, how many of them I have tried. So little time, so many beers.
“We feared that the music which had given us sustenance was in danger of spiritual starvation. We feared it losing its sense of purpose, we feared it falling into fattened hands, we feared it floundering in a mire of spectacle, finance, and vapid technical complexity. We would call forth in our minds the image of Paul Revere, riding through the American night, petitioning the people to wake up, to take up arms. We too would take up arms, the arms of our generation, the electric guitar and the microphone.”
― Patti Smith, Just Kids
I do nothing anymore. I’m reduced to looking at things I once did and regurgitating them, slightly re-edited.
It’s not good enough, but it’s all I got.
“In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart;
the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
—-William Butler Yeats, The Second Coming
I forget how long it has been since the world has gone mad. When I go out, I am astonished to see how mad it has gone.
Every year I like to go the the For the Love of Kettle competitive shopping event at The Kettle Gallery in Deep Ellum
The best way to understand this is to read my 2014 Blog entry, The Weird and Wicked World of the Singing Cowboy
I went every year, sometimes successful, sometimes not so… I didn’t write about it every year, but sometimes I did.
2019 A Competitive Shopping Event
2020 A Very Human Way of Making Life More Bearable
Last year, of course, they did not have an event. I was excited this year to go back again.
Candy looked over the paintings that were listed on the facebook page and gave me a list of four to look for – pick one. There is no guarantee.
The DART ride down there was awful. Post COVID – the trains are overrun with insanity. I used to enjoy riding public transportation, but not any more. The cars reek of weed. Every car and every stop has at least on lunatic screaming and cursing.
There is track maintenance going on so the train had to empty and one stop, load onto a shuttle bus, ride to another stop, and get back on. The trip downtown took me almost two hours.
The worst was at the Lover’s Lane station. A lunatic roared across the platform pushing a stolen shopping cart full of shit – mostly broken pieces of plywood – cursing and screaming. He stopped a few yards down the line and stood there screaming and throwing stuff onto the tracks. When the train arrived, loaded and left, it paused at a street, waiting for the bar to lower, right next to this guy. He continued to scream the most awful obscenities while beating on the driver’s window with a big hunk of plywood. The train held several families on their way to the Mavericks basketball game – I doubt they will take the train again.
I made it to the gallery about an hour before the event was to begin – later than I planned, but I still was about the tenth person in line.
I always enjoy talking to the people in line and the hour went quickly. Luckily the weather was good – only a little chilly.
We all ran in and I chose my artworks. Unfortunately, the numbers were small and black on silver, and my ancient eyes could not make them out. I had trouble finding the artworks Candy had picked out – this slowed me down and by the time I reached the counter, three-quarters of the artworks were already sold. I discovered that I had written a number down wrong, and had purchased a random artwork (this has happened to me before – my handwriting is so bad when I’m rushed).
In the end, I had a good time, though I’m not completely satisfied with the two artworks I bought. But they will go onto the wall where my choices from the past are arrayed… and will look fine alongside the others.
But I still have this frightening feeling that everything is spiraling out of control… the world is going to shit.
“Yes, and imagine a world where there were no hypothetical situations.”
― Jasper Fforde, First Among Sequels
“Everybody wants to talk about themselves, and everybody wants to hear everybody else’s story, so we take turns playing reporter and celebrity.”
― Ryu Murakami
“I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste.”
― Marcel Duchamp
“When I did The Great Escape, I kept thinking, ‘If they were making a movie of my life, that’s what they’d call it—the great escape.'”
—-Steve McQueen
“What’s really important here,” I whispered loudly to myself,”is not the big things other people have thought up, but the small things you, yourself have”
― Sputnik Sweetheart
Mural, Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas
“The Girl With Many Eyes
One day in the park
I had quite a surprise.
I met a girl
who had many eyes.She was really quite pretty
(and also quite shocking!)
and I noticed she had a mouth,
so we ended up talking.We talked about flowers,
and her poetry classes,
and the problems she’d have
if she ever wore glasses.It’s great to know a girl
who has so many eyes,
but you really get wet
when she breaks down and cries.”
―
Tattoo Parlor Window, Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas
Laissez les bons temps rouler – from Bishop Arts Mardi Gras Parade – 2013
“It’s not yesterday anymore”
―
Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas
Bill Chance 