Popped.


Do you ever feel like you’re one straw away from a broken back? I suppose it’s safe to assume that these days, just about anyone with a shred of humanity is always existing in a state where we’re about this close to losing our shit entirely.

Man, I certainly am, and for the first time in well over a year, late last week fell back so hard into a state of crisis, that I had to call in emergency help from my shrink. Once I eventually gained a little bit of clarity, I reflected on the idea that healing is a spiral path. While you may feel as though you’ve made no strides forward, in reality, you’re well ahead of it. It just happens that you’re right next to that initial source of pain. Personally speaking, I proudly acknowledge that it was over twenty years well spent, and I’m a better person for having grown with her. Heartbreak is complex, desperately excruciating, and shows up in a myriad of ways, but I have to look out for myself now, and continue to be my best sort of advocate I can be, and expressing these ideas publicly maybe is part of my legacy.

Having said all of that, let’s get on with the shitshow.

Firstly, I have new stickers;

Want some? I’ve got you.

Now then- for those who’ve paid attention, it was back in December when I detailed the ADV Overland Show at LA’s Peterson Automotive Museum;

Sadly, I’ve barely left Bellingham, but Patrick headed down from The Bay Area, and was kind enough to grace us with a report;

Hey Stevil,

A couple weekends ago my partner and I drove from Oakland to LA to spend all of 20 hours there. No biking, except for borrowing beach cruisers to go get sunset burgers and drinks in El Segundo. But we were there because you turned me on to the off-road vehicle show at the Petersen Museum. It was alright, I wanted more vehicles and more “museum” instead of “car show room”, but whatever. I got some pics;










I did the noob mistake and don’t have the info panels for most of them šŸ™ and I had to compress them a good bit to get them all attached to this email. If there’s anything specific you want the original full quality phone camera images of, let me know.

Anyway, I’m going to go dream of totally clapped out offroad trucks now. I hope you do too.

-pat

I love it. I wish so hard that I could see all of that goodness with my own eyeballs but this is almost as good.

And this? I wanna give it a giant hug;

I bet it smells amazing.

Moving on, Robot and I are getting hot with weekly releases of Revolting, and if you’d like to listen to lucky number 20, it’s right here;

Like always, we talk about a bunch of stuff, meander around for an hour, and never really arrive at any viable conclusion. It’s great and you’ll maybe love it.

I’m not sure how many individual times I say bad words in the new episode, but it’s safe to say it was more than a shit load.

Moving on to other matters, I got a real good email from Paul of Atomic Cycles fame detailing a pretty cool social experiment he’s got brewing currently, and an invite for others who might care to partake;

Stevil-

I’ve been doing a thing-

In order for one’s art to affect people, it must be made available to them. Putting your art on the web is akin to casting it into the void. To make it truly accessible it must manifest itself in a physical form and be accessible to the public. This way, your art is a vehicle and how people interpret it and interact with it is out of your control, in sense the passer by becomes a component of your art.

By engaging in this project, your art will travel to places unknown to you, moving beyond your control or influence, but it will move. Art, having no extrinsic value will gain value once someone sees it or decides that it would look better in their home than on a pole on some street corner. Making 100 frames will give you a good opportunity to spread your art throughout your community;

Take your art and make copies if you donā€™t want to use the originals. Use cheap or free picture frames or make your frames out of cardboard etc. but frame them in some fashion.

Find a location in a public space where your art can be seen and is a high traffic area.

Take one of your pieces and leave it there. Your art must be presented in a way that it can be taken, donā€™t mount it in a non-removable fixture.

Go back and replace it once or twice a week.

Try and put 100 pieces out there in the same location.

Paul de Valera Gamers Local 2112

I like that idea real well, and I’m going to do my very best to engage in this process. I have a pretty full plate in general, but I am gonna do my best, and I encourage you to as well.

It reminded me of an experiment my old pal Dave used to do that I featured in a ‘zine I made in the ’90s;

He would take these really beautiful pieces of antique kitchen ware he’d anodize stories onto, as well as prints and drawings, and then drop them off in various thrift stores with an address with which the purchaser could, if they so chose, contact him;



Disposable art is dead. Long live disposable art.

It’s having said all of that, that I will take my leave, but first kindly request that anyone reading these words to make an effort to not let the dogs get you down, lest they themselves get popped.

Spread this like it's sick

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3 Responses to “Popped.”

  1. sock fool April 5, 2022 at 9:19 am #

    Pablo Picasso never got called an asshole

  2. Wolf April 5, 2022 at 10:19 am #

    The 100 Frames art project seems like a really fun idea. If it’s something that you end up participating in, I hope you chronicle your efforts here with us, so that we may enjoy the process along with you. Also, this allows those of us that can’t even draw a credible stick figure the opportunity to live vicariously through your fine artistic stylings.

  3. Caroline April 5, 2022 at 6:21 pm #

    I have a debilitating and painful chronic illness shaving years and sanity off my life, but I now am shrooming almost every day and own a jacked-up Jeep XJ which I just put a lot of red rock under while wistfully watching the mtb’rs go by. BRAP! How’s that for coping? Pooped — never popped. HANG IN THERE DAMMIT. It gets worse.