Doin' As The Californians Do

                  We'll be releasing our debut power-pop-funk-punk-polka album in December...

San Diego Sundown

A Pleasant Afternoon Drive Through Colorado Along I-70 West

Toys From A Slightly Skewed Attic: The Art Of Sean O'Meallie

For the past couple of months the Arvada Center has hosted a Pop Art exhibition entitled rePOPulated - Contemporary Perspectives On Pop Art

I had been meaning to get to the exhibition since it opened in the last week of January, being as I am somewhat of a fan of Pop Art. I was afraid I would miss the show, what with the last day, March 29th, fast approaching. Fortunately, this past Wednesday I had to be in Arvada to get my windshield replaced, and as fate would have it the repair facility just happened to be a few blocks from the Arvada Center. Kismet!

The rePOPulated show is running concurrently with two solo shows, one featuring the works of Phil Bender, and the other featuring the works of Sean O'Meallie.

Being as how the rePOPulated show requested that no photos be taken of the items on display, and that I'm not much for the found-items-arranged-in patterns art of Phil Bender, I thought I'd devote some space to the fun, farcical, preposterous, and altogether enchanting polychrome wood sculptures of Sean O'Meallie.

Of course, polychromed sculptures are nothing new, having been around since antiquity - examples of the medium have been found in ancient Greece and Rome. It was also a favorite for religious statuary during the middle ages.

Even Pop Art polychrome sculpture is nothing new - Pop artists have been using the process of polychroming various materials, such as resin, various metals, and of course wood, for well over half a century now - notably Jeff Koons, Yoshitomo Nara, Robert Indiana, and of course Red Grooms.

So what makes Mr. O'Meallie's sculptures in any way unique, clever or original? Well, that question has a three-facet answer. First, there is his skill as a woodworker, developed from years spent working as a carpenter building custom furniture. Second, there is his experience as a creator of toys, which he did professionally for about a decade. And third, there is his imagination, wild and slightly unhinged. 

All of those factors combine for three dimensional realizations of inspired whimsy. Hope you enjoy these few pictures of Sean O'Meallie's work as much as I enjoyed the exhibition.

Finding Your Way To The Unmarked Crooked Stave

             The distinct lack of an address on the billboard-sized sign is a clue to the ultra-hipsterness

A while back my buddy Don Tequila in San Diego asked if I'd do him the favor of tracking down a few bottles of Crooked Stave beer. I told him I would, as he has done me the solid of sending bottles of Ballast Point's limited release Indra Kunindra, a beer I consider one of the world's best beverages.

However, finding the Crooked Stave Brewery proved to be a little irritating. I googled the address (3350 Brighton Blvd, Denver, Co) and knowing well where that should be, drove into Denver.

Driving along eastbound I-70 I took the Brighton Blvd exit and headed south down Brighton. As I passed 35th, I looked left and right for either; 1) A sign that stated "Crooked Stave Brewery," or 2) A building with the address "3350 Brighton Blvd" prominently displayed. 

I found neither.

                       The Source, inhabiting the former location of Bud's Warehouse

It seems that Crooked Stave is in a mall of sorts. The place is called "The Source," and it is located in buildings that I visited years ago when it was the location of Bud's Warehouse, a building material salvage and resale place.

The huge sign indicating the location of The Source does not indicate that the Crooked Stave Brewery is inside - it simply lists that a brewery is included along with a number of other shops.

Entering the building and looking for a sign, or something that would direct one to the brewery, is a little challenging. The businesses all have slated metal facades over them with the nature (not the name of the business, the nature of the business) painted in teal blue on them. In the far northeast corner there is a shop labeled brewery. That must be the place, eh?

The first indication that you have found Crooked Stave is the floor mat placed at the entrance to the brewery. Bravo! The Source has created an adult 'Where's Waldo" and apparently, that is a business tactic that works.

Not being a big Belgian sour beer aficionado, I have yet to try any of the product Crooked Stave artisanly crafts. Don Tequila likes it though, so I picked him up four beers that were recommended by the extremely nice young man behind the bar. 

The place was quite busy for a Thursday afternoon, and the patrons all seemed to be enjoying themselves and the product. As I looked around the place I marveled at the ingenuity behind creating such a unique cache for the product and the brand.

And make no mistake about it, this wasn't some small brewery that just couldn't afford to get it's name out like the big boys could. This was a cleverly marketed product that had tapped into a zeitgeist of sorts, and was taking full advantage of it. There were items of apparel for sale that clearly indicated that the intent was to get the name of the place out there - but in a manner that inferred you had to be an insider, someone in the know, to understand what it was all about.

                   
As for the actual brew the brewery was brewing, well, as I mentioned earlier, those sour beers are not my thing. I picked up these four for Don Tequila - hope he likes them, and hope he's grown some ironic facial hair with which to enjoy them.

Who Nailed It Better?

One of these was created by a professional artist - by that I mean a person who has a degree in Art, refers to themselves as an artist, and sells their artwork. In fact, one of these pictures was taken in an art gallery and is for sale.

The other was created by my neighbor, diesel mechanic Josh. It is not for sale, as he thinks it looks cool in his garage.

Who created which, and who did it best?

The Way Of The Limp

Every person I have ever known has had a strange habit or two. I've a number of strange habits myself. However, I've never encountered an odd or esoteric behavioral quirk that was as interesting as the one exhibited by a young woman I met while I was living in Glasgow.

This woman, who was 23 when I met her back in '97, had developed the habit of walking with a limp whenever she was attracted to a person.

I only discovered that she did not actually have a limp a couple of days after I had first met her, when we met up for dinner at a small chip shop (I know, all chip shops are small, so to state it was a small chip shop is a little redundant).

We had agreed to meet at 3:00 one afternoon, and I had arrived a bit early. Sitting on a bench inside the shop I was looking out the window towards the bus stop watching for her to arrive when I saw her walking up the road. I immediately noticed that she was not walking with the limp she had possessed when I had seen her on every other prior occasion.

When she came through the door and saw me sitting on the bench, she immediately walked over to me - with a limp. 

This struck me as quite odd, and after she sat down next to me I straight out asked her, "How come you don't always walk with a limp?"

She looked at me with a somewhat startled expression and sat quietly for a few seconds, then said, "You caught that, eh? You are an observant one, that's certain. Well, it's simple. Whenever I meet a man I want paying attention to me, I limp - I discovered a long time ago that most men pay more attention to a girl with a limp than to one without."

I smiled at her and laughed a little. That she limped when she saw me was one heckuva compliment in light of that information. It was a weird quirk to be sure, but I was cool with it.

Until about a month later, when I realized she was no longer limping when I was around.

The Not Depressing Interconnectedness Rollie Discovers He Shares With Taylor Via Douglas Adams

Rollie never felt anywhere was home
Always felt there was someplace else for him to be
He thought of himself as Ford Prefect trapped on the Earth
He considered himself a prisoner and yearned to be free

On clear nights he spent hours
Looking at the stars far up in the heavens
And dreamed of being able to fly to them, alone
To be able to bid goodbye to everyone
Rocket away in a starship
Headed for destinations unknown

Rollie never felt anytime was right
Always felt there was another time when he should be
He thought of himself as twenty years early, or maybe late
He considered himself a sailor adrift on an empty sea

On flights of fantasy
His imagination took him happily
Fantastic interstellar adventures
To restaurants at the end of the galaxy
Celestial majesty
Space maidens and treasures

Rollie never felt anyone would understand him
Always felt there was nobody with whom he could just be
He thought of himself as friendless and unwanted
He considered himself condemned to be lonely

Then a day came at the library
When a girl reached for the Dirk Gently book beside him
And asked if he was going to be at the con
Startled, he quietly replied that he was planning to
And when she said she was as well he realized
The long dark tea time of his soul finally would see a dawn

Red Chilies On A Sunday

It is entirely possible that the thought of placing large fiberglass sculptures of red chilies in your backyard and along the side of your house has never occurred to you. You may even think that such a thought has never occurred to anyone, anywhere, at anytime.

However, let me assure you that not only has that very thought popped up in someone's head, but that someone acted upon it. To the betterment of their neighborhood in Arvada, Colorado.

Bumblebees In The Breadbasket

The Varied Art Of Elizabeth Kamau

I do not know who Elizabeth Kamau is (or possibly was?). I stumbled across a number of her paintings while I was picking through a thrift store. It is readily apparent that she developed her painting skills by following the Walter Foster art instruction books - not a bad way to learn, and very inexpensive, too.

I appreciate the effort she put into her paintings, so I took a few pics to post here. Enjoy.