Mar 27, 2005

The artist's mind, fueled by desire, denial, and desperation, rises to new levels of creativity, insight, and production. Or so I congragulate myself. I have, this weekend, completed the - at times - overwhelming project of replacing Windows 98 with Windows XP, re-formatting my 30-gig drive, and re-installing Paint Shop Pro 5. And did so with only a mumbling of profanities and minimum of curses to the gods. Yeah. Maybe. Maybe. Just maybe I will soon be sharping my virtual pencils and returning to the screen drawing board.

Mar 25, 2005

Billy Goat Tavern. Chicago. "...the legendary Billy Goat Tavern on Lower Michigan Avenue, where thousands of ink-stained hangovers were born. Mike Royko sat at the bar, as was his eternal wont..." The description is from "The Confessions of Bob Greene" by Bill Zehme from Best American Magazine Writing 2004. Zehme is talking "circa 1990" but it could be 1963-66. I was a young man in my mid-20's, working a night shift at the Chicago Sun Times. I spent many times there, before and after and in between work. Billy Goat's was a block or so (a short walk) from the Times and a similar distance from the Chicago Tribune Building. Tucked down below the Michigan Avenue overpass, perfect film noir, a place to treasure one's angst while soaking up a beer or two, and listening to competitions between papers and staff spill over into verbal punch-outs. And yes, Royko was there then too. Sometimes friendly. Sometimes not.

...stories to tell. And miles to go in my sleep.

Mar 24, 2005

Back from Texas. Meandering bus trip. 16 hours from Fayetteville, Ark. to San Marcus, Texas down; 24 hours from San Marcus to Fayetteville back. Downtown cold wet city street Tulsa 2 a.m. "Long time gone - Soon comin' home" Woody Guthrie might have sung if there. Or so I imagined. It's why I like bus trips. The mind unwinds. Even if the wind is cold.

Mar 15, 2005

Texas bound. Longhorn country. Leaving this afternoon on the "Dog" (Grayhound bus) for San Marcus. Just south of Austin. To visit artists/friends couple - Don & Shanti - and just kick back on the deck of their country home, watch the fish in the pond, and take a break from daily guilt of not doing all the things I intend to do each day. Good anticipation.

Mar 10, 2005

A week. Good intentions doesn't stop me from becoming a Pro when it comes to crastinations. A week since my last post?

The Muse is unconcerned. "If you're not getting anything done, just fake it." Denial, she insists, actually works. "If you fake it, that means you're pretending to do something you're not. 'Acting' in a word. And that's key ... starting to act. "Sounds good," I said. "Sounds good."

Mar 3, 2005

I like drawing via the computer. I don't like working on the computer. Being a left-hander I'm right-brained to the core. "Remove lid from ink bottle before inserting pen" I can understand, but for anything more complex I might as well turn to my astrology chart. Right now I'm struggling thru the morass of replacing Win98 with WinXP. Simple? Yeah. Right.

Oh, wail....If things don't come together they fall apart. I take comfort where I can. Such reassurances help.