Sneaker Art

"Wite Out"

2006-03-09T04:51:00.000-05:00

Never mix business with pleasure ... unless it results in cool photography. Correction Fluid? I don't think so!

Sandboxing

2006-03-09T04:41:00.000-05:00

Today I am wearing my Birks to work ...

Out from the Wonderbrush

2006-03-09T01:11:00.000-05:00

After almost 1200 days… I finally stumble hurried out of the underhumblebrush, crushed and crosshatched. I see the blurry sun, zigging and zagging; murky; but surely; over the furze and teasel… Bearing the family standard, barely standing, I numbly cross the crush of wonderbrush, a son surely seen as bumbling. After almost 1200 days, I mumble humbly,
Thank you…

All wordplay aside and not in ANY order, I want to sincerely thank the following people for helping me become the person I have always wanted to be despite a few poor life choices; Mom, “K.W.”, Dad, “my Bro”, “Smooshie” “SI”, and my future in-laws!
I love you all more than you may know- but this does not mean I will respond to your email…;)

The Breakdown Lane

2005-11-02T01:36:00.000-05:00

Blanching sun on unresolved roofs,
A pigeon’s progeny,
kicks from the gutter,
she awakes to tire noise,
snakes from sheets of sleepy heat,
rough rug tugs,
at fluffy slipper nubs,
cold hiss of tap and clack of coffee pot:::
another tap,
warm rush, she staggers in the wash,
rubs and suds,
puddles and ruffled towels,
COLD, and bed-creaks and stretches,
struggles into the woof and weft,
brushes and the painful glare,
feet smacking to the cold hard car,
and then :::: SWITCH
SWITCH
moving,
still asleep,
creep and drift,
glances and blinkers,
curbs and curves,
cracks and corners,
reds and greens,
stop and start, all hands and handles,
so many signs and; “what’s the time?”
boxes glint and gleam, slip and slide,
taking sides,
she brakes,
and breaks… down.

ReCycling through China

2005-10-31T20:45:00.000-05:00

Sometimes my posts might be very focused on my two amazing stays in China. My first trip was in September of 2004 for 2 weeks. My second trip was for the entire month of March, 2005...

The Cultural Revulsion,
what did I do to deserve this? Mommy and Daddy; what should I do about this homelandwork assignment? I’ve been sent to the gray fucking moon:::::::and I’m sure I smell something burning… and there’s no stopping the sand.
Is there a woman of power anywhere here? It’s a HUGE piece of the Earth. I want to teach the world that Europe is dead. I speak, respeak, think, wakeup, speak, rethink, retard, retard, retard, relay race and delay-lay-lay-lay and I rethink EVERYTHING. What more can I say?
Odd jobs on the telephone:::the intrepid reporter.
With my spy-cam set on stun, I have no idea just how far...
Headlines in RED
Big Bird on the Great Wall:::
My first and last cigarette:::
The juggernaut is coming up the street of my hotel.
I hate that I love this place; hey, can I get an airlift?

create your own visited countries map

My favorite holiday

2005-10-31T19:59:00.000-05:00

Today I woke up late and it was sunny for the first time in a long time around these parts. And warm. I took my sweet time getting ready to go out starting with stretches and teasing the cats. Today I was going to spend some real quality time with my daughter. That was it. If nothing else happened THIS would. And so I set out with a purpose. And it was great! Like a dream come true. She was happy to see me, she showed me her school and her classroom, and I met her friends and her teachers. We went to the playground like so many times/years before… I hung and swung and played for over an hour as she showed off for me and I for her. It was so amazing. Like going back in time three years. It was like a gift of forgiveness for all the long sad nights away from each other. Then a perfect parting with hugs and orange cheese puff kisses, little gifts of orange leaves, and orange cards and stickers and seat belt buckle clicks as the sunset swung and set ::::::

A Loud Voice

2005-10-31T19:51:00.000-05:00

Gone but not forgotten...
I won't get into much here; so much has been said already. Here's the picture they wouldn't show on the news.
Thank you Rosa!

Le Mot Soporifique...

2005-10-31T19:44:00.000-05:00

d’lepeshon? d’lepshoneh…

I had this “word stays with you all day word” day today.
I’ve had a different word stuck in my head that I play with from my waking moment, through my shower, and my getting dressed for about fifteen years. I don’t always know what these words mean. They can be like a song that you can’t get out of your head… I always tried to write these words down to see if there was a pattern.
<’)}}}}><
BUT I was always afraid of what records like that would tell about me if anyone found them. Now I don’t care… I’ll go back as far as I can with them…
morass
soliskery or soliloquy (this one was a little upsetting when I looked it up)
tralbute
mismass
forensa
calculous
tributary
fisian
gualcum
valence
scissory
fondra

This “mosquito in my ear word”, or “shadow word” happened to be “trutionaire”
trutionaire, trutionaire, trutionaire, all through this dream, (it was about building cardboard box forts with children as part of an art show), this really happened!
and after I woke up - bugging me! GRRRR!
“It sounds like French, I thought…
well yeah,
I think back just a few days to my esoteric Philliposophic tenure at L’Ecole Bilingue High Skool in crusty French::::: trutionaire, trutionaire, trutionaire, trutionaire,
{{{Que ce mot signifie t’il ?}}}
so I look it up on websters.com… nothing…
I Google it too...
Now I find the closest word, the ONLY word even close to this is ---- tortionnaire- THAT’S IT!
The word I can’t shake is… tortionnaire.

Meaning in very loose French…TORTURING
Wow, what does THAT mean Jung?

Twisting in again...

2005-10-18T23:40:00.000-05:00

Today I finished a beautiful two-day-long varnish restoration on a $40,000 18th century German cello. I also had my six-year-old daughter ask me why I couldn’t come home. Some things I can do effortlessly, others, not so. It’s like skiing on powder and then hitting patches of dried grass. My days this month are like a badly edited video of ::::: INTENSE Calder mobile spins. I am dreaming, awake at 4 AM, cats, sleep until sunrise, GF’s alarm, sleep, to my alarm, warm water, cats, clothes, cars and cars and cars, clocks, tools, woods, so many fragrant oils, ancient bible-resins and iron ore rusts, chips and dust, touching pretty sticky colors in white porcelain wells, wax and brushes, steel and sand, chaff and chatter, notes and nodes, from behind so many doors:: the amateurs and hams dejours… from my chair I chase and tease the ghosts…”have I done you justice”? Have I done her justice? And it all comes twisting in again at the day’s end...

The Big Ant

2005-10-12T23:03:00.000-05:00

Erik: (coming around from a prolonged visit to the sink in the shop)
Wow, look at that huge carpenter ant
Marsha: Where?
Erik: There, in the woodchips, it's stopped moving. Under your chair.
That can't be good...
Marsha:I don't see anything.
Erik: (pushes the chips and detritus around under Marsha's chair).
Marsha: I don't kill anything...
Erik: me neither, unless it's like a spider in my bed...
I was just thinking that it's just so big! In an old house like this, there must be alot going after the old violins........
Marsha: I didn't see any big ants...
Erik: I hear ya, I never saw a thing...
Marsha and Erik go back to work; as does the big ant...

The Tinker comes 'round again...

2005-10-12T22:15:00.000-05:00

As of yesterday:::
Rain heavy bees, slow as honey,
slovenly, but again with purpose,
I began yet another full time job as a luthier. I must say that I’m VERY excited about this position. The people I work for are incredible people, full of insight and a true joy for life. So many creatives packed into such a small space! I think I have found my niche at last. In a “real” job at least... My chosen trade is obviously very small and competitive. There aren’t many games in town if you know what I mean. The fact that I have had little trouble “landing a gig” in this trade must say something about my skill... or at least my powers of manipulation! I would like to thank EVERYONE from both my past and present for their help in making my dreams come true. My greatest wish as a child was to bring my love of music together with my love of science and art. To be able to realize this using my own hands has been nothing short of a religious experience for me. Yes Mom, self-actualization! A purpose! Pure fucking Taoism::: Every action a huge sticky chunk of who I am TODAY.
AND NOW I FIND::::: every day an object comes to me with a story. Someone’s dusty wooden journal, every good and bad day passed over onto SUCH a delicate “tubula rasa”.
AND I THINK::: At its inception, someone had to sit down with or without skill or knowledge and reflect on why they were creating this instrument. If they wished to continue further, they then had to instate their ideas as to what the instrument should look like and just as importantly, what it should sound like. This could be through careful training or self-professed theory. I have seen so many egos taken to (and into) the concrete! Everyone has his or her own idea of what is “right”. Finally, they had to bring the whole mess to fruition. This is the most difficult trial for any artist. In the case of any instrument, it must first be a tool for the musician. If it is accepted as such, then it might be viewed as a thing of beauty, art, sculpture, or, sometimes, even an epitaph...
Whenever I am incurred to resurrect a horrible toilet brush of a violin, I try to reflect on its history and its journey. It’s sometimes very humbling. I can only hope that someone in the future will approach my instruments in the same way...

Draize Test Reflux

2005-09-26T20:21:00.000-05:00

So…
I was thinking about bats all day. Hey, I’ve got issues, alright? I was thinking that some of these bats don’t look any worse than some pug dogs or Chihuahuas…. they’re just smaller. What if bats were the size of DOGS! Like Golden Retrievers with wings. Huge flying dogs that ate everything they could find. Songbirds, trash, crows and big rodents and rabbits. Now THAT would be cool! And no walking. Just let them out at dusk to play with their friends in barns instead of parks.
It’s 2005 and we are already playing God, why not?

House Bats

2005-09-26T16:45:00.000-05:00

I had a house bat for a few days in my apartment hallway. My room mate and I finally caught it in a flannel shirt and let it go. A house bat might be nice, but they can carry rabies and fleas... Oh well, let's just look at some nice pictures instead, shall we kids?

OK, so that wasn't fair. But it WAS CUTE, no?
Just for educational porpoises...

I want to show you the VAMPIRE BAT...

these bats actually bite and lick animal blood like the fictional dude.

Bat houses and Mom’s visit.

2005-09-25T23:40:00.000-05:00

My Mom’s coming up to visit around Halloween. She sent me an email about plans for a house to attract mosquito eating Chiroptera. Naturally, I had to write a word-play poemy thing… :) I’m quite pleased with the way this one bounces around…

My mother wants a bat house,
a dry and hollow place to hide,
although she has some house cats,
they cannot catch the blood-gnats,
on thier Sleepy Hollow rides…

Is it a house fly or a gnat Mommy?
Is it fruitless to catch it Mommy?
Why can’t you just decide?
And if summer leaves you dry,
With nothing left to try,
fall slides…

There is a fruit fly in my wine,
and though I whine, fruitfully she’ll fly,
from the housed bats and the house cats,
hollow dried hides, lemons, limes,
ride and sleep on borrowed time…

Why does the house cat hide Mommy?
Is it fruitless to watch it Mommy?
Why can’t you just decide?
And if summer leaves you dry,
With nothing left to try,
fall slides…

Waking Dreams anyone?

2005-09-22T01:03:00.000-05:00

Anyone out there a lucid dreamer? I have three or four lucid dreamtimes a night. I find that if I try turning off a light switch and it stays on, then I know I'm dreaming ( a la Waking Life). It's actually become a hobby for me. I'm not sure if this is good for me or not, but I really get alot out of these states...
Men are armed, shout "who goes there"?
We have journeyed far from here.
Armed with bibles, make us swear;
Candy and Taffy, hope you both are well...
Please, come see me in the citadel...
Flags are flying, dollar bills...
Round the heights of concrete hills,
you can see the pinnacles...
Candy and Taffy, hope you both are well.
Please, come see me in the citadel...
In the streets are many walls,
Hear the peasants come and crawl.
You can hear their lovers call, "Candy and Taffy",
hope you both are well.
Please, come see me in the citadel.
Screaming people fly so fast in their shining mental cars,
through the woods of steel and glass...
Candy and Taffy, hope you both are well...
Please, come see me in the citadel...
Oh well...

Some songs...

2005-09-22T00:51:00.000-05:00

Finally, after over FIFTEEN YEARS,
yes it’s been THAT LONG…I finally feel like I can speak freely without SO many EVIL people dissecting my life…and you all know how horrible it has been…I have NOTHING LEFT TO HIDE; and it’s very liberating actually. I want you all to listen to The Who’s "I’m Free" , and Rush’s "New World Man"…NO I don’t think these songs are about me… just take them for what you think they really mean and try to apply them to how you feel about someone in your life. That’s all I ask. :)
Me
HEY! speaking of The Who...take a minute to look at my buddy's Blog... ;) http://boywhoheardmusic.blogspot.com/

2005-09-20T00:59:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time,Sunshine found me a "sweet" gig building violins for celebrities. OK, so I can't name names like...like...um, Charlie Daniels, Boyd Tinsley of the Dave Matthew's Band, Kathleen Edwards, etc.... I helped out on many famous guitarists' custom instruments. Yes I am bragging. I'm talking about THE gods of rock. Yeah, THOSE guys. And it was GREAT! And I felt like I was at the top of my game.But it was all about money and egos. And I fell out of the hype... I was a cog in the "Big Machine" again.And THEN, I went back to CHINA. The great Red Monster, Elmo on PCP, and I fell into a toilet of politically retarded men. I played their tongue games and toured their filthy sweatshops, BUT---- in my cartoon hotel rooms, I thrashed my suburban-raised American head against their loose ideals about how the world was constructed. I hacked my way through dozens of hotel's internet firewalls sometimes. I got into real trouble with the Chinese State Police too... And it was BEAUTIFUL!
And then...
I finally came around the Earth, through many time zones, and I realized that I was not that special... and that I was one of billions, and that my point of view was, well, just a point...
:)

a lost poem...

2005-09-19T23:20:00.000-05:00

I wrote this to Robin when I knew I was late to pick her up at the train station in Shirley... It is pure flow with no editing...

AND
With this new clarity of mind:::I set now upon that which (I think) humble,
great, and important...
Humble, in that it is from mySELF, with a purpose GREAT and important in
that it is for YOU, but, that it is GREATER than both of us NOW combined.
Our future laid out like a wide RED carpet into who knows what?
Far reaching GREEN forEVER. Forever.
SWEEEEEEping, like a thin line of sea bubbles along a VAST stretch of
beach that is now our lives together forever….. UP over the sands and
receeeeeding with a deep exhalation…
Breathe with me, for I need you like air::::::all small bubbles,
ALONG
A VAST
Stretch of :::
Far reaching green...
Forever...

courts and clothes

2005-09-19T22:47:00.000-05:00

Hi all,
Today I went "a courtin'". It was all good I guess... I just want to get on with my life as it is... You know? Thanks Dad and Sunshine for helping out 'lil Sprout today. I have recently procured a great deal of cello work this week which I have to complete ASAP. On a completely different bend, I must say that this-->http://www.cordarounds.com/ is THE shiznit. The website is VERY weird and the pants are made HERE. I wish I had a pair to rub up against a parking meter or a mall mannequin, but at almost $90 a pair I guess I'll have to resort to my trusty pair of fake "camo" shorts from Target. *sigh*

Hello

2005-09-09T15:52:00.000-05:00

So hello.
My name is E and I'm blogging again after a five-year hiatus. OK,
so I haven't blogged (like this) before. What I mean is that I used to send my younger brother K an "image of the day" and apparently several people found it facinating. I tried to send out an increasingly more interesting and (I thought) thought provoking image each day. This became harder and harder as I was in an abusive marriage and forced to spend my days at my 75+-year-old in-laws house with my three-year-old daughter…which is another story. Finally it stopped altogether. After I left my wife, I met the people who had seen these images and read my missives. I also met my soulmate and current girlfriend Robin, who was/is a writer. She started blogging and I felt (and was told by some) that I should try looking into this as a way of just throwing my thoughts/dreams (I am an accomplished "lucid dreamer") and art out there to see what would stick. I am starting this off just doing this for myself as an attempt to get back some of what drove me when I was younger. I hope you enjoy the ride; it can get quite strange sometimes…E