Tuesday, July 28, 2009

#193

Hello, friends and fugitives.
Here’s the art.

I’m always thrilled when I can experience something new, so naturally I was excited to have the police called on me for the first time! Maybe I should explain before you go picturing me knocking down Jo’s door with an ax and saying, “Here’s Johnny!”
I was walking back from the beach through that gated community that I mentioned in newsletter #191...the one that has the lovely road through the woods, no residence, and a few half finished houses waiting for bailout money to trickle towards them. I was in the middle of the road with my giant studio headphones on when this guy appeared from a half finished house and came out to the road. I took my headphones off and said, “How you doing?”
He said, “Ya know, we’re not allowing anyone to be back here.”
I said, “Yeah, I know.” and put my headphones back on and kept walking towards the exit. I could hear that he was starting to yell at me, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying because of the music. Suddenly, he ran up on me still yelling and taking a very aggressive stance. I took my headphones off again and said, “So call the police, but you need to get out of my face.” It was getting dark, and it was just the two of us on this secluded road, so it wasn’t a very good situation. He did take my advice and dialed 911, yelling a description of me into the phone, telling the 911 operator that he was going to take my picture and continue to follow me to my house. I didn’t want to lead this walking temper tantrum to my house, so I turned and headed for this low income apartment complex. He didn’t follow me in there. I took my sweater from around my waist and put it back on to hide the shirt he had described to the police. I cut through another neighborhood to get to a path that would lead to my house, but right where I came out of that neighborhood to cross the street is where the police were taking his statement. So I walked up to them and explained my side of the story. I’ve watched COPS enough on TV to know that the calmest person usually wins the police’s judgment, and that’s exactly what happened. They told me I was free to go, and they spent some time lecturing him on his temper, which they were getting a taste of themselves.

-Dylan

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

#192

Hello there.
Looks like we’re late to the show again. Here’s the original art listed today which will still end Sunday night.


Our son was in a baseball tournament this past weekend, and they did better than expected. This was good news for them, but it kept us at the ballfield longer and we weren’t able to get any of the original art listed on Sunday. We also now have our new cheater quilt patterns listed for those of you that were eagerly awaiting them.
So baseball season is now over, and we should be getting back into our normal work schedules again. But I will miss my folding chair, and my giant juice jug filled with tap water. I’ll even miss the conversations I had with the little kids that came around to pet our sheltie.
“Can I pet your dog?”
“Sure.”
“What’s her name?”
“His name is Tuesday.”
“I saw him on TV last night.”
“Really? Was he wearing a hat?”
“Yup.” She sits down in Jo’s empty chair and starts humming. “Where do think that music’s coming from?” she asks.
“I thought that was you.”
“Nope.”

-Dylan

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

#191

Hi, all.
Here’s our week’s work…


There’s not a lot to report this week. We pretty much just worked. When I’m not working, I like to go for walks. I’m one of those people that has to move to think. As far as I’m concerned, good ideas are stored in my feet, and it’s up to me to work them loose into my bloodstream where they will eventually travel to my brain. There’s a gated community right up the street that I hike through daily. Normally I wouldn’t choose a gated community as a place to exercise, but this one is different because no one lives there. It’s a gated community without the community. I guess when the economy crashed and credit dried up, the few half finished houses up on the hill were boarded up until someone could figure out how to pay the builders. Fortunately, they did finish a beautiful road several miles long through the woods with an extra wide sidewalk. I like to leave at dusk and walk back home in the dark. If I stand still up there, the elk come out of the woods around me. And I can walk home listening to the coyotes.

-Dylan

Sunday, July 5, 2009

#190

Hello there, friends and family.
Well, Jo decided this week that it was going to be all shades of white…one of the hardest colors for me to photograph. Thanks, Jo! Maybe next week I’ll decide to sew everything out of chain mail. How ya like them apples?


I’ve been looking forward to writing this newsletter for some time now. My video is done!!! Well, the first installment of my three song video is done, anyway. It’s posted on youtube and ready for you to see it. Just click on the skeletal audience below to take a seat and watch the show. There’s one bad word in the song, so you may want to check it out yourself before inviting the kids to the puppet show. And be sure to watch it in HD…


Back already? Did you like it? Did you catch the animation after the credits, or did I lose you before that? Now, I’m not asking any of you to send out annoying spam mail on my behalf, but if you do know anyone that you think would enjoy the video, please pass it along to them. I need a grass roots effort behind this little project of mine, so any word of mouth buzz you can stir up would be appreciated.

Getting the video ready this past week was really trying. The computer program I was editing in kept crashing as I was trying to finish it. I felt like all my work was going down the drain, but I pulled some nerdly tricks and saved the video and myself from destruction. I’m actually quite sick of the video now. That’s the way it goes with these things. I remember watching an interview with John Lennon once where he said he can’t enjoy Beatles songs like the rest of the world, because all he can think about is sitting there for 12 hours straight with George trying to get the guitars just right. Not that I’m comparing myself to John…or George. I’d settle for Pete Best at this point.

-Dylan (Paperhand) Curry