Coke vs. Pepsi ~ that sort of thing.
In August of 2000 Steve Orr of the Democrat & Chronicle wrote a review that started with, “My favorite part of theRefrigerator might be the step-by-step pictorial on how to burn a pistachio. ‘These nuts, my favorite food in the world, flame like little flares when set afire.’ Or maybe it’s the painting entitled ‘Sparky Shows …
Sparky was our next door neighbor for twenty seven years. Sparky is not his real name but the episodes portrayed here are real. At first I thought we had nothing in common but over time I realized he was the iconic everyman. Six years after we moved in he stuck this note on our back …
In 1982 our next door neighbor had had enough. We were rehearing in our basement and it wasn’t the band noise that bothered him, it was our guitar player’s muffler. That and the coming and going at all hours. The houses on Hall Street were close together and equipment had to be unloaded at three …
We got a message from the woman who bought our old house that our former neighbor, Sparky, was in the hospital. Apparently he had a stroke. He had just stopped down here a couple of weeks ago and he looked so good we were thinking he had stumbled on the fountain of youth. I’ve probably …
Butter is back in our diet for the holidays, mostly in the form of cookies. Cheese and dips, chocolate covered figs from Spain and even hamburgers are back too. Duane breaks his macrobiotic diet down at Vic & Irvs each year and we joined him for that debauchery last night. And Rick and Monica are …
Sparky stopped over this morning. I was working but still in my pjs. He had a new car h anted to show us. He told us we were gonna die when we saw it. I tried to think of what an unlikely Sparky vehicle would look like. I guessed, “a sports car?” “No.” “A van?” …
We were one thousand five hundred miles late for our oil change at Jerome’s but Ted didn’t seem to mind. Our Honda has been pretty damn reliable. Ted was always delivering bad news when he serviced our American cars. I should say that the window sticker said our Honda was made in Ohio so maybe …
Sparky Doll purchased at Small Word Books on North Street in Rochester, NY It wasn’t even a close call to pick our favorite Sparky doll from the fourteen on display at Small World Books on North Street. Peggi picked this one up for two bucks. The owner, Rocco, let me photograph all fourteen while we …
Our next door neighbor, Leo, put this wood splitter together. It is a Heathkit like the stereo systems that early hobbyists built. Peggi’s dad was one of those. He put their first amplifier together in the fifties. My college roommate’s father, Harmon Hoy, built one too and his son, Steve, brought it to school with …
The swimming season came to an abrupt end this year when we emptied the pool in order to paint it. This is only the second time the street pool has been painted since it was put in in 1960. I took the opportunity to try to get the underwater light out so I could repair …
For whatever twisted reason the first Captain Beefheart song that got under my skin was “The Blimp.” And then “China Pig.” And then every song on “Trout Mask” and any song he touched. I went backward for the whole catalog and picked up every new release in real time. Well, the blimp is in town. …
Peggi manages our Netflix dvd queue and I usually bring the mail in and so it is always a surprise for me when I open the red envelope. “Devil Girl From Mars” from 1954! I read the description: “With the male population of Mars on the decline, the future of the red planet rests squarely …
Kathy used to go to a lot of estate sales. She has one of everything now so she only looks at the sales online. She spotted one of my old paintings in the upcoming John Borek and Jackie Levine estate sale. I think he bought it at a Pyramid Art Gallery show and it must …
I was playing drums in the front room of our house on S. Milton Drive when three older guys rang the doorbell. I was certain they were going to complain about the noise but instead they wanted me to join their band. They had a couple of gigs that weekend and they would not take …
I have a lot of photos from Bloomington so I divided them into two pages. > Also see Bloomington 2of2 > INDIANA UNIVERSITY SOCCER 1968 My high school soccer coach recommended the Indiana University to me suggesting I might be able to get a scholarship there. Most of the players were foreign students. We played …
My 2021 version of the Stations of the Cross was influenced by an Eduardo Chillida piece entitled “Homenaje a San Juan de la Cruz” in the Church of St Peter, Cologne. The fourteen plastic panels, 14″w by 17″h each, were painted with acrylic. I. Jesus is condemned to deathII. Jesus accepts his crossIII. Jesus falls …
I never understood how garage bands got away with it. I remember hearing bands practice in a garage in the sixties and they were as loud as hell. They were usually playing in the afternoon, when the grown ups in the house weren’t home. The walls of garages aren’t even insulated. The neighbors wouldn’t stand …
PAUL DODD PAINTINGS FROM THE 1980S In the eighties I had a painting studio in our garage, one of those free standing wooden structures, set back from our 1917, four-square, city house. Built on a slab, the garage was not deep enough for a sixties era automobile so a previous owner had bumped out the …
INVISIBLE IDIOT CD – OUTTA SIGHT, OUTTA MIND INVISIBLE IDIOT VIDEO OF JACK LORD Choose Shipping Location for Invisible Idiot CD: Within US $10.00 USDOutside US $13.00 USD Invisible Idiot is actually the original Margaret Explosion and this is the first cd. It was recorded and released while a new Margaret Explosion lineup was performing …