Existentialism and the Art Of Lawn Maintenance

Back in the early 90’s I was living with my good friends John Williams and Jay Fleming in what we affectionately called The Triple “J” Ranch, a house in the Heights on Arlington Street.

Right before the 1992 Republican National Convention John and Jay concocted this idea of going to a warehouse/coffee shop known as Downtown Grounds for poetry night and presenting Jay Fleming as Jay Fontaine – Industrial Poet with John paying the part of his manager from New York.

What ensued was pure performance art genius. The regulars for poetry night ate Jay’s performance up with a spoon, not realizing they were being “had” and believing they were witnessing some kind of outsider poetry/art.

Now, years later, I find the performance on Youtube and people are comparing Jay to a cross between Slingblade and John Candy. That just about sums it up. See for yourself.


Jay Fontaine – Industrial Poet from baldheretic on Vimeo.

Good Times In San Antonio

I must say, I enjoyed my (work) trip to San Antonio much more than I had anticipated. The River Walk didn’t smell like I remember from my last visit many years ago, so that was a plus. Must have had something to to with the spectacular weather last week.

And even though it was a work related event and there was plenty to do, I did manage to get out and shoot some interesting pictures and make some surprising discoveries.

We wrapped up the event at a ranch on the outskirts of San Antonio for the awards banquet. That’s where I encountered this odd fellow…

That’s one tame bull, I tell you what. I kinda felt sorry for the poor thing. But I suppose being a trained bull is one way to steer clear of the slaughter house. *rimshot*

And much like last year, I spent some time with The Irish Contingent which netted me a few more pictures of the gang from Galway who are more fun than a bar full of Irishmen. Speaking of which, here are pictures of a bar full of those same Irishmen plus one Irish woman (and Patrick, who’s Dutch but lives in Ireland).


Joystix

Over the last year or so I’ve been hearing about Joystix Classic Games and Pinballs in Downtown Houston located near Minute Maid Park on Franklin Street.

Basically it’s a video/pinball arcade featuring vintage games like Asteroids, Defender, Tron, Space Invaders and so on. Plus many, MANY pinball machines. You pay a flat fee and play all night. Pretty cool.

On this week’s show my co-host phliKtid mentioned his recent visit to Joystix and word got to the owner who invited us out to check the place as a possible venue for a future event.

Friday night myself, phliKtid and Groovehouse ventured over there and checked it out. It’s about everything you would expect. Flashing lights, electronic noises and grown men and women grinning like idiots. I played Defender and Tron and even went head to head with phliKtid in a game of Wizards Of Wor. I was soundly defeated. I was, however, happy to see that my mad Spy Hunter skills were still in tact.

While I was roaming the aisles of games I was reminded that there is something that is worse than the band Journey…and that’s the video game Journey

Glen

Gozer the Traveler. He will come in one of the pre-chosen forms. During the rectification of the Vuldrini, the traveler came as a large and moving Torg! Then, during the third reconciliation of the last of the McKetrick supplicants, they chose a new form for him: that of a giant Slor! Many Shuvs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you!