01/04/11--Go Teach English in Asia...And You Too Can Return Like This...

...some believe Stevie to have been mild-mannered before he left...

...and became a human weapon of mass martial destruction....

...ultra-super-powered KI energy emitting from your pores could be a good asset for a drummer when you think about it....

...yeaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh.....

01/03/11--A Vision of the Mayan 2012 Prophecy!!!!

Imagine the Terrible Destruction that Awaits us all....

AAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaahhhHHHhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

01/02/11--I Never Claimed I Would Try to Do Quality Sketches Each Day

I guess you could say this kind of captures my current mood...

...need more money to pay tons of bills...

...and cars and fire trucks in my life have been beset lately by seeming gremlin attacks... (vicious buggers)...

01/01/11--LET THE RENDING OF THE DAILY SKETCHES NOW BEGIN!!!

so.........................

Sketch page a day New Year resolution...

Here we go...

Day 1....

check!

Note Desterrado viz dev-iation...


Moondog, Tripi, and Memphis as cartoons....ready to rumble...

Moondog--with a sort-of-a-sorceror's hat with magic underneath flaking off like dandriff...and a ninja sword...

Tripi--with smoking dreds like legendary Blackbeard had...and an axe...

And last but not least...Memphis is standing there with his shirt on fire a little bit like he just barfed out dragon fire all over the place...
...not saying he did...just...
...maybe he could have.....

...just sayin'....

....WHAT MADNESS IS THIS>>>....????

...some little bit of strangeness seems to have flaked off from the lunar eclipse the other night...

...a glimmer of some strange...unformed idea...

...or series of many ideas....

,,,,could it be?????

some little bit of vague concept scribbling???

.....of vizZZzZzZZzZual developmentAtional scribbling????

...we should ponder this...

...or maybe just go eat some pizza...

...pizza sounds good....




...yeah.....pizza.......

Things Not Easy to Understand...

This lovely young woman gave her life just a few weeks before her 21st birthday to help a complete stranger in distress in the early morning of Sunday September 14th, 2008.

In statements given by her family, Michelle "Tippy" Runkle was the type of person that would always befriend and stick up for the person that others turned away from. It was in such an act of attempting to help another that she gave her life.

My entire career as a fire fighter is based on my desire to live up to the ideal of selflessness and courage that this young woman displayed.

The group of us brought her body in a silent procession from the bank of Hominy Creek where the current had placed her, careful to carry her with the dignity she deserved.

I wish very badly that I could have met her under different circumstances. She is the type of person I would want my family to know and have as a friend. Her intentions had been to get a degree in Social Work. I have no doubt that she would have shed much light in that difficult profession, and been a desperately needed beacon of hope to people in a weary world.

Fool that I am, I was not aware that the brush I was clearing near the bank where she was found had poison ivy in it, much like I am sure that Michelle was not aware of the grave danger she faced when she stepped out of the safety of the vehicle she was in and moved toward a young man that was holding on for dear life near her. The deceptively swift and deadly water flowing underneath her feet was not forgiving, and swept her away no doubt before she had any idea what was happening. For my part, I have a bit of poison ivy on my arm while I ponder questions without answers...

I want very badly to make sense and find a purpose in the loss of this beautiful person, but I cannot...words and logic are clumsy and ineffective tools...truth and meaning are elusive despite my best efforts to find them as I write this...

However insignificant my place in her story, I will take a part of her with me, and hope that in my own life my actions can bear silent witness to a selfless act from a beautiful soul...

THAT'S OUR BOY--NEALE E. BOYD

I've had the pleasure of singing on stage at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center with Neale, and the thing that is overpowering about him is the emotion that he exudes in any performance. It is far more potent in person than on a television or internet clip.

In Spain, the gypsies call it "duende." I'm not sure there is an accurate translation in English.

He's also a hell of a genuinely nice guy, and I am proud and inspired to see him making the leap to reach such a vast new audience.

Mark my words: in that audition the world has barely seen the tip of the iceberg of Neale E. Boyd...