When I got out of art school in '93, I was too poor to buy myself a Porsche. I was living deep in the heart of Corvaire country at the time, so for $150 I bought a "Poor man's Porsche"
It was a silvery grey '61 4 door Corvaire with wrap around glass in the back, and no front bumper. It had a 2 speed transmission with a shifter that more resembled a light switch sticking out of the tin dash. It had bench seats, a flat floor and with the engine churning away in the rear trunk, it felt like a toy carnival ride version of the typical 60s land yachts.
Ralph Nader criticized them for being "unsafe at any speed" although they were also the most "green" American car of the time. They had a tendency to fly off the road backwards if you took your foot off the gas in a corner, but so did rich man's Porsches.
Here is a promotional video from 1960. It shows Lime Rock Raceway, a few miles from where I was living. From the scenery, it looks like the whole video was made in that vicinity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmPpry8JiK0
Here is another you tube video linking Ralph Nadar to the rise of the SUV. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF-8a6B8Ljk&feature=related
Ralph, the man who gave us George W and the SUV. pfff?!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
meet our motley crew of renovators.
Fresh faces in the crescent city. Meet our protagonists, during a tour of their diamond in the rough, in the lower 9. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwV6dDUA7yM
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
The day the (hippee) music died
I'm not saying there's anything intrinsically wrong with the Grateful Dead. Part of the reason that hippees are simultaneously fascinating and disturbing to me, is that sometimes I think, "there but for the grace of god go I".
Given my life long hatred of school, and employment difficulties, hippee might have been a viable career choice, and it was mainly my talent and interest in the arts, that saved me from a tribal tattoo and a life in a rusty van.
Even then I had to drop out of art school, live in a VW Rabbit, and look for both myself and America. It turned out that Adam and America are where you find them. I dropped back into school, (on my parents dime) and bided my time in the metal shop until graduation.
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIP!!! Jerry! |
Jerry Garcia was the pied piper to disenfranchised fools like me, and whether it was my apathy, my musical oblivion, or not owning a bong, something shielded me from a stroll down the prim-rose path.
I had an elfin friend in long island, a couple of blocks from my fathers house. I don't remember the circumstances, but I was riding out to Huntington with him in his dorky Futura, so he could run an errand.
He let me out on Huntington's Main street, so I could kill some time while he took care of business. Huntington is boring, and I spent most of the time rubbing my mitts on the merchandise of the local head shop.
Huntington is not a very hip town, and besides the raggedy shop girl, no one was in the shop but me. (It was a DEAD head shop) So I was feeling the hemp bracelets, and chatting with the shop girl about her love of following the Grateful Dead. I'm all, "Don't you think you've got all you're eggs in one basket? I mean, what happens when Jerry Garcia dies? Then what?" She get's this horrified expression,"I hope that doesn't happen for at least 10 more years! There are so many more Dead shows I want to see!"
Just then, My pal pokes his head in the door. I'm like "well bye!" And we hop in his car and drive off down the block. He turns on the radio. "Jerry Garcia has just died..."
I'm a psychic!!! "Go back go back go back to the head shop!"
I Burst in the door of the head shop, "Guess what?!"
"I know! I know!",shop girl wailed, "just leave!"
And I did leave. (but as a psychic)
tech tip (the cheapest steady-cam)
I've got a video camera, but it jiggles a lot unless I put it on a tripod, and that takes the spontaneity out of it. So I tied a piece of twine to the bottom of the camera, and ran it down through my front belt loop. I hold the camera taught against the twine, and control the length of the twine by pulling on the other end with my other hand. Owwwwwwwwwww! rope burn on my stomach! It works great if your careful!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
The pictures in my laundry room
Herbert Bush was an ordinary man who walked the earths crust all his days.
Pete Conrad was a nerd who rode a rocket-ship into outer-space, to become the 3rd man to walk on the moon. The first is the worste, the second is the best, and the third is a nerd. Here is a picture of Pete conrad on the moon.
Herbert, a humble merchant, who resided above his business at 2514 Saint Claude ave, never expected to cross paths with Pete Conrad, the nerd from space, but he did.
And when He did, he got this autograph.
It still hangs in the laundry room above a picture of Jesus Christ, at 2514 Saint Claude ave, which is where I now live.
There's basically no difference between Jesus and Pete, they are both nerdy spacemen With a narcotic effect on their fans. Their names rhyme, and they look exactly the same. Jesus has his halo above his head, but Peter has his down around his neck. Their bling is even the same, Jesus is sporting his sacred heart, and Pete has some awesome patches and hardware. Jesus is holding his red sash, and Pete is clutching his fake umbilical hose. They both have the same baggy white shirts. They even died the same way. Jesus was nailed to a cross, and Pete fell off a motorcycle.
My father's train house
6 minutes of my late father and I jabbering about houses and art.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnZjlxqBcNA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnZjlxqBcNA
Friday, September 24, 2010
The bullies.
My father Will, had a great story he used to tell about a run-in he had with the school bullies.
Mocked by mother nature, there is an age when girls grow before the boys, and you can be bullied by a GIRL!
argh!
There were 2 huge sisters with terrible reputations for what they did to unsuspecting little boys.
My father was walking home from school one day when it happened. He was walking down a narrow street, a couple blocks from home. The pair stood at the end of the block, their eyes locked with his, and his fate was sealed.
Sizing up his options, he decided to play it casual, continue towards them, acting as if he didn't know what was sure to come, and at the last moment, bolt for home.
Each step took him closer to his undoing, and like a pair of falcons, the sisters never took their eyes off of their prey. 20 feet, and counting, 10 feet, 7 feet, 5 feet--- the hair stood up on the back of Will's neck, as he readied himself.
Then, the sisters cocked their heads in unison, smiled gap-tooth, and the one on the left whipped out the biggest, reddest somewhat bruised and over-polished apple, from behind her back, and thrust it towards my father. He graciously accepted the apple, said thank you, and continued homewards.
My late father, man of 1000 stories. Like the time, he made believe he was an electrician, cut into a live wire with his jack knife and fell out the garage window. I might as well write them down once in a while, so I don't forget them.
Mocked by mother nature, there is an age when girls grow before the boys, and you can be bullied by a GIRL!
argh!
There were 2 huge sisters with terrible reputations for what they did to unsuspecting little boys.
My father was walking home from school one day when it happened. He was walking down a narrow street, a couple blocks from home. The pair stood at the end of the block, their eyes locked with his, and his fate was sealed.
Sizing up his options, he decided to play it casual, continue towards them, acting as if he didn't know what was sure to come, and at the last moment, bolt for home.
Each step took him closer to his undoing, and like a pair of falcons, the sisters never took their eyes off of their prey. 20 feet, and counting, 10 feet, 7 feet, 5 feet--- the hair stood up on the back of Will's neck, as he readied himself.
Then, the sisters cocked their heads in unison, smiled gap-tooth, and the one on the left whipped out the biggest, reddest somewhat bruised and over-polished apple, from behind her back, and thrust it towards my father. He graciously accepted the apple, said thank you, and continued homewards.
My late father, man of 1000 stories. Like the time, he made believe he was an electrician, cut into a live wire with his jack knife and fell out the garage window. I might as well write them down once in a while, so I don't forget them.
Big fruit
Tim gave me the biggest grapefruit I ever saw. It was huge.
I braced myself for the weight of the enormous pale green orb, as he handed it to me. There's this old cartoon, where so -n- so blows up a pair of balloons, paints them black, sticks them on the ends of a broom handle, and invites a muscle man to pump some iron.
This is exactly what happened to me, when I was handed the gift grapefruit.
They say you can't look a gift grapefruit in the mouth. (grape fruits don't have mouths) Plus, gifts always make me feel flattered, almost as much as winks do. So I said thank you very much, and showed my enthusiasm by peeling right into it.
It was like digging a hole in a styrofoam ball, I wasn't getting anywhere, so I went to the kitchen to get a knife. I cut it into wedges, and started gnawing away. It was bad, but also good, and definitely exotic, like eating a juicy piece of wood. After eating Tim's grapefruit, I am convinced that size matters. I have eaten countless smaller grapefruits that were sweeter and of superior texture, but the grapefruit that will forever be etched in my memory, is the one that Tim gave to me.
I braced myself for the weight of the enormous pale green orb, as he handed it to me. There's this old cartoon, where so -n- so blows up a pair of balloons, paints them black, sticks them on the ends of a broom handle, and invites a muscle man to pump some iron.
an approximation |
They say you can't look a gift grapefruit in the mouth. (grape fruits don't have mouths) Plus, gifts always make me feel flattered, almost as much as winks do. So I said thank you very much, and showed my enthusiasm by peeling right into it.
It was like digging a hole in a styrofoam ball, I wasn't getting anywhere, so I went to the kitchen to get a knife. I cut it into wedges, and started gnawing away. It was bad, but also good, and definitely exotic, like eating a juicy piece of wood. After eating Tim's grapefruit, I am convinced that size matters. I have eaten countless smaller grapefruits that were sweeter and of superior texture, but the grapefruit that will forever be etched in my memory, is the one that Tim gave to me.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Tech tips with Adam Farrington
Now that I have digital television, it's hard to imagine that I ever got along without it.
Tonight I watched the entire episode of "The Office" with one bare foot squashed on top of the antennae in order not to lose reception.
The tech tip for this evening, is to slather some saliva on the sole of your foot, to make a better connection with your digital antennae.
This is Adam Farrington signing off, wishing you better living through superior technology.
Tonight I watched the entire episode of "The Office" with one bare foot squashed on top of the antennae in order not to lose reception.
The tech tip for this evening, is to slather some saliva on the sole of your foot, to make a better connection with your digital antennae.
This is Adam Farrington signing off, wishing you better living through superior technology.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
What is up with all these chickens?
New Orleans is known as the land of ten thousand chickens.
The feral birds form gangs, roving the mean streets of the 504, while their domesticated cousins chill-ax in their coops, or peck up the free food, flung around the yard by their Peeps. What they hold in common, is that they represent the underlying rural temperament
of our bustling metropolis. Come now, let us MEAT some of our EGG-CELLENT feathered friends!
Nyssa, who is renovating a sweet old shotgun in the new marigny, has invited a few feathered friends to take up residence at her urban homestead.
Country girl!
Olde fashion bake chicken!
Country girl!
Olde fashion bake chicken!
While discussing the Uniquely New Orleans "bohemian vibe" that lets chickens feel "free to be you and me", I noticed a tear, welling up in Nyssa's eye.
I could see my reflexion in it's convex surface, and it was the face of a man, his brow deeply furrowed with concern. "Nyssa, I can sense that your heart is heavy, unburden your self, my child".
I could see my reflexion in it's convex surface, and it was the face of a man, his brow deeply furrowed with concern. "Nyssa, I can sense that your heart is heavy, unburden your self, my child".
And Nyssa related a tale of Miami.
Apparently Miami has a robust population of feral chickens as well, and the misguided citizens have a major BEEF with them. Death squads prowl the side streets and back alleys, killing with impunity. It's not very fair, and needless to say, there is a lot of CRYING FOUL. (it's really like this in Miami)
Nyssa's a jeweler, check it -n- see! http://www.etsy.com/shop/hourglassproductions
Tony's chicken halfway house, for the rehabilitation of wayward birds.
Sometimes you have to look past the bravado and menacing strut of the chickens that hang on the streets of the 9th ward. It's also Important to understand that living on the street was never a choice, as they were orphaned by a motorcycle accident. Many of them would make the change if given half a chance, and become pillars of society. Tony and his wife Natalie give them that half a chance, with a group-coop, structured living, instruction in life skills, and lots of love. If you would like to foster, or adopt one of these good hearted birds, don't hesitate to contact him.
Sometimes you have to look past the bravado and menacing strut of the chickens that hang on the streets of the 9th ward. It's also Important to understand that living on the street was never a choice, as they were orphaned by a motorcycle accident. Many of them would make the change if given half a chance, and become pillars of society. Tony and his wife Natalie give them that half a chance, with a group-coop, structured living, instruction in life skills, and lots of love. If you would like to foster, or adopt one of these good hearted birds, don't hesitate to contact him.
Tony isn't just about chickens either. http://www.genericartsolutions.com/Site/HFZsign.html
Myrtle and Nina live in a darling little two story cottage hidden behind the main house up front. In between, is the chicken coop, and a handsome flock. It's a secret garden of poultry.
Chickens do the darnedest things.
Chickens do the darnedest things.
Anyway, it's pretty straight forwardly awesome, and there's not a lot more I can say about it. It's just...sometimes the charm of a woman and her bird is best captured in pictures.
Voila!
Voila!
Then Myrtle slipped something off-the-cuff about a goat. GOAT?! I don't see any goats? Pow! She opens the back door to her kitchen. (I hadn't realized there was a back door) And suddenly I'm in GOAT-LAND!
It was so 'through the looking glass!" I was freaking! It was all "The lion, the witch, and the kitchen door! The chronicles of goat! Pacmans tunnel, Quantum physics, E=MC2" It blew my concepts wide open, and I learned a valuable lesson. If I am ever near something that is relatively mundane, and opaque, I should never pass judgement on it, because it may be covering up some goats.
Check Myrtle's art! http://www.flickr.com/photos/passarola/
Goats are worthless before their coffee!
Also, goats say stuff like, hmmm I think I'll have cafe ole!
Tsssssssssssssssst!
someone's in the kitchen I know!
Someone's in the kitchen with Niiiiiiii-Naaaaaaa!
Strummin' on the old banjo!
(She's really in the kitchen with a goat)
Nina's goat link! http://alchemicalagriculture.blogspot.com/
Then, about my chicken experiances during my formative years.
So the whole time growing up in upstate NY, we had lots of chickens, basically it's great, cute chicks in the spring, an awesome bantam named "Fenders" because he had fenders. I liked to toss him way up in the air, because bantams fly so well. (Once they're up there)
Chickens are generally a feel-good experience, but don't think there isn't a dark side. I've been there.
Chickens are generally a feel-good experience, but don't think there isn't a dark side. I've been there.
When I was little there was a terrible rooster that my father loved. (MORE THAN ME!) He named him Dracula, because he was shiney and black, and liked to pull his wing up over his beak before tearing into you. I didn't like Dracula.
One day I was merrily pumping away on the two seater swing, and Dracula comes along to rip me up. So I'm stranded on the swing-set, pumping higher and higher, trying to get away from this flapping menace.
Up and away! Then swooping down into the danger zone, up and away! The swing set is rocking, because I've never gone so high before, and Dracula is leaping at me, and flattening on the ground as I graze over the top of him.
I'm like "Gee! I hope I don't knock Dracula's block off and kill my father's favorite bird! But I'd like to not get massacred either." I guess it left after a while.
Those crappy roosters wound up in the pot eventually. They were so tough and stringy, that they still tormented me, even from the grave. My father mostly chopped off their heads with a hatchet and a stump, except for the one time he wanted to see if it was true, that you could dispatch them with a snap of the neck. My father, struggling to choke his chicken next to the coop, until he gave up and used the ax. sigh.
Check me out! (over and over) adamfarrington.com/
Check me out! (over and over) adamfarrington.com/
My friend Gina has long used chickens as subject matter in her art. I asked her, "Gina, what is up with you and chickens?"
Later that day, she sent me 7 accounts of her most formative chicken experiences, that were so expressive and entertaining, I knew it would be folly to do anything other than to include her as my "guest blogger".
My Chicken Stories….Why I’ll Never Be a Mother and How I Became a Vegetarian
Story 1:
I grew up with my mother, grandparents and five uncles in a very small house with a very big yard, in the country, in Kentucky…but right next to a busy interstate. When I was about three, my uncles acquired some fighting cocks with the intention of participating in the sport of cockfighting…although I don’t recall ever witnessing a cockfight. These roosters were bright red, orange and black…scrappy and cantankerous and they just roamed the yard freely. There was one rooster that tried to fight me whenever I went outside wearing a particular pair of little red corduroy britches. The rooster was almost as big as me and I was very scared when this would happen.
Story 2:
Around that same time, my mother bought some baby chicks at the feed store and gave them to me as an Easter present. Pretty soon, the fighting cocks and the regular ole Easter chicks got together and we had a nice flock of chickens that were not too mean but were just a little sassy. We never kept our chickens caged. They roosted in a box elder tree that had a nice fat branch that arched almost horizontally over the driveway. The hens made nests in the junkyard that took up a good portion of our yard. The junkyard was a by-product of the auto mechanic shop my grandfather operated on the property.
When I was six years old, I was wandering around the mountains of used tires and junk when I came upon a lone chick that had belatedly hatched. The mother hen and the rest of her chicks were already out in the front yard, far away from this latecomer. I was the first living creature the chick laid eyes on and it assumed that I must be its mother. It started following me around and I thought it was a great thing…and I knew better than to try to put it in with the other chicks because the mother wouldn’t accept it as one of her own, even though it had just been a few hours. I played with the chick all day long and after a while, I decided I should set a good example as surrogate chicken mother, so I squatted down and waddled around low to the ground and flapped my “wings” and made those low, cackling mother hen noises.
The little chick happily ran around my feet as I acted like a mother hen. Well, towards the end of the day, I was waddling around and lost my balance and fell back and squashed the baby chick and killed it. It was a heartbreaking thing and I cried and cried. My mother tried to make me feel better by telling me she would get me a puppy.
I really believe this formative experience may explain my lifelong squeamishness about the idea of becoming a mother. It was around that time that I declared I would never have children.
Story 3:
One of my favorite things about chickens is the way a chicken will keep its head in the same spot while you’re holding it and moving its body back and forth….stretched out neck, scrunched up neck, sideways neck to the left, etc.
Story 4:
My grandmother would let you know what an animal was saying. There was one hen that made those nice, low, cackling noises and my grandmother would say, “It’s singing that Rod Stewart song!” and she’d cackle the tune Don’t You Think I’m Sexy along with the chicken. The chickens sang other songs too, but that’s the one I remember specifically.
Story 5:
One time, my grandfather fell in the yard near a cantankerous mother hen who had her baby chicks all around her and she started flogging his head as he was lying on the ground.
Story 6:
We gave away the chickens around the time I was in middle school. We never had grasshoppers all those years the chickens lived free-range in the yard. The grasshoppers moved in after the chickens were gone…also that’s when the feral cat era began.
Story 7:
After many years of not being around chickens, I used some chickens in an art installation I made while I was in college at the University of Kentucky.
The art building at the University of Kentucky had formerly been a tobacco warehouse and it maintained a funky, cavernous, warehouse, anything-is-possible, kind of atmosphere. I think it was a great environment for art school. It was far away from the more conventional campus buildings and it was situated right by some defunct railroad tracks. One day I was snooping around the tracks behind the building. I noticed there were some cave-like openings in the huge row of weedy bushes that lined the tracks. I peeked into one of the bush caves and realized that the long row of bushes had been turned into a long, continuous line of connecting hobo hotel rooms.
This whole scene was the inspiration behind my solution to a particular sculpture assignment. The assignment was to create a structure or space, somewhere within the art building, in which your own body could fit and become camouflaged within the structure. I created a hobo shack in an isolated side yard next to the building. The shack I built afforded even more comforts than the hobo hotel rooms in the bushes…it had a roof, windows, door, bed and even a fireplace. I was hiding in a secret compartment next to the chimney. I had Vienna sausages and saltine crackers for the students to enjoy during the critique. I even had a fire going and water boiling on the grate. The chimney actually drew smoke pretty well!
To complete the installation, I bought some live chickens and put them in a pen next to the shack. I bought them from some people who lived way out in the country in the county where I grew up. It had been quite a few years at that point since I had been around chickens. I had never noticed how dirty they were when I was a kid. I had forgotten that the best way to carry a bunch of chickens all at once is to grab them by the feet and carry them upside down. I stuffed them in the trunk of my ’72 Montego to get them back to school.
The experience of handling these chickens made me think about the chicken as a food source and for the first time I felt pretty grossed out about it. I thought, “I can’t believe I eat these nasty creatures!” Soon after that, I stopped eating chicken but I continued to eat the other meats that are so processed that they don’t look like the animal any more…like cheeseburgers and pepperoni pizzas. A couple of months after giving up chicken, I realized the hypocrisy and gave up meat altogether.
The hobo-shack installation project with chickens as an accessory is the reason I became a vegetarian 19 years ago.
Look! http://ginaphillips.org/home.html
So, in a nutshell, That's the chicken scene in New Orleans.
-Adam Farrington
Look! http://ginaphillips.org/home.html
So, in a nutshell, That's the chicken scene in New Orleans.
-Adam Farrington
Sunday, September 19, 2010
The time I was a cartoonist
Here are some comic books that I drew 5 years ago, after after Katrina. Excuse the Katrina references, because I am so over it. But these are some really funny comic books, (to me at least!) and are my first and last attempt.
I like the crudeness that comes from trying to do something without a lot of forethought.
See, New Orleans is a super-bowl.
It also turns out to be proof that I am a psychic. (about the Saints)
that up there is the cathedral on Jackson square
(not really)
(only if we feel like it)
It's really like this, you look down the street, and there's this ship going by above you.
yes, that x-mas we did.
Some others:
So that one was a little bit about sweatshop labor, but more about poop. I hope that last sentence didn't leave you hanging too bad. I don't know what it means either. Maybe it made more sense 5 years ago.
---And more---
This is about the vulgarity of X-mass consumerism.
See, that's a little teeny tree, on top of a lot of presents.
Responsible use of an apostrophe.
It's heart-warming!
---the last one---
Yeah, So shortly after I made these comic books, I did NOT publish them, and I did NOT fly out to participate In
COMIC-CON!
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