Paint-mash-code-train-walk-eat-sleep, paint-mash-code-train-walk-eat-sleep...

Has been my life of late – YAY…. oh yes! - and the clowns, the clowns...

Clowns here, clowns there, clowns everywhere! I live in Clown Park. I hear the clowns drinking, shouting, arguing, fighting, talking, bullshitting, squawking, guffawing, making plans, scheming about things, Great Things (but of course no action) so I apply a bit of telepathic mind power and suddenly a clown goes to Krugersdorp Prison for two weeks, gets out on bail (bailed out by another clown) collects his gear from the circus tent, buggers off... quickly gets replaced by ANOTHER clown and The Show goes on...

Hey folks! Come to Clown Park! Your friendly guide (and ringmaster) Marwinsing-a-ling will take you on a journey you won’t forget... and don't forget to bring your cameras (and sketchbooks!) as I explain to you how we train our clowns to become World Class Idiots.

And it's all for - FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE... (‘coz I quietly control this joint behind the scenes)

(Hey I love this shit) yeah okay when I get a chance (WHEN I get a chance) there is so much I want to show you BUT for now my READ FOR THE WEEK i-is...

Friedrich Nietzsche - Thus Spake Zarathustra - read him! I first read ol' Zorro as a lil' fifteen-year-old grommet whilst surfing down the Transkei Wild Coast and am now onto Him for the third time round... immerse your minds and souls in Poetic Percipience...

Thus Spake Zarathustra! Gott ist tot! Voorwaarts! - let us march forth stridently onwards… to Der Űbermensch!

(eh clowns?)

Ja, been busy

Been busy just doing what I do, as in getting useless pieces of WHITE psychopathic GERMAN garbage charged and shoved behind bars for assaulting chicks 'n stuff because that's what I do. Hey, Gerhardt Zimmerman?

And I also been doing this:

This is the essential identity I have conceptualised for an art initiative/project here in Johannesburg, involving the manufacturing of personal and household items from discarded materials and stuff that I collect from the dumps, factory yards and whatever. Much of the core material is paper-based and recycled. Initially the stuff will go onto eco-friendly Markets, like the Bryanston Market for starters, then into more traditional retail environments. Aren’t I an angel? The exercise is two-pronged: 1) Fine Art and 2) Design. The fine art relates to, well, my fine art projects, and the design stuff will comprise of the aforementioned utility-products to begin with. Some of you are familiar with my art, it’s scattered all over this blog and in little corners of cyberspace here and there (see the blog sidebar) but the design stuff you have not seen and it will be up soon, the early ranges, on a brand-spanking new Nuseka website (which is also to come soon-soon) …so stay tuned.

And that’s what I been doing.

Lovely Ballad from Roger Whittaker

Your oxymoronic meme for the week

(or the rest of your life)

Lose your mind and come to your senses.

South Africa: The Sunday Times rag is dead (in all, but name)

David Bullard covers the story well, and you must know when skipper Colin Cary bails boat, it is because that boat is going down.

From the Fun ‘n Games Department

This stuff is made entirely from mashed ‘n moulded newspaper and wheatpaste, acrylic painted…

…and remember Horace from last week?

Well, I’ll be applying my bone-making skills (Celtic knotting) to those skulls above and creating a posse of full-blown midget-sized characters for a prospective art exhibition/installation.

Where and when it will take place I cannot say for now, but it will likely be somewhere around Johannesburg.

Paper-mache… has got to be one of the most fulfilling activities I have ever indulged in… warning: it grabs you, the permutations are endless – and it costs next to bugger all.

A tale of Westville/Durban Old Boys Comradery: hard living and the story of Mickey Rudden

At The Wedge, Durban: Mickey Rudden in his heyday, this photograph is from the seventies

Durban beachfront back in the seventies and early eighties spawned it's fair share of international surfing legends, the names Shaun Tomson and Martin Potter immediately come to mind, but backed behind the big names were a mass of talented freestylers (include me somewhere in there too, thank you) and there was one young bloke, a goofy-footer, a rookie by the name of Mickey Rudden who was a few years ahead of me at school, whose surfing prowess was known by all until Mickey hit skid row, the back-alley world of hard drugs and all the psychological, social and material punishment that follows this rough and unforgiving way of life. For three decades Mickey lived on the streets and was pushed into the outer fringes of eternal nothingness (some of us have been there in our own little ways) and we all thought Mickey was long-gone dead, we all wondered what happened to our bud who would shred wave after wave way back in the day when we were just little teenage grommets scratching for our next perfect wave.

But hey! – The Phoenix ariseth from the ashes…

The Coppertone Kid: Mickey Rudden and Simon Bloch after a huge steak and potato salad at Joe Cool’s beachfront restaurant

Recently, a few blokes from Durban and Westville Old Boys (Simon Bloch and Neil Wainwright) found Mickey on Durban’s beachfront and have given him a helping hand, a roof over his head and so forth:

(Simon) "It's all good! Neil Wainwright gave up his afternoon to help me find Mickey on the beach-front. After checking out the North pier, we chatted to the cops who knew him, and they said they had seen him around earlier. Then, just as we were going to split up and search the alleys and gulleys, he strolled into view, looked us straight in the eyes and we all recognised each other. He was so happy to see familiar, friendly faces, he let us take him to Joe Kool's for a steak and baked potato, (I had to remind him to eat the salad) and coffee. We spent hours reminiscing and Mickey confided he definitely wants to get on track."

True survivor: alive and kicking after all these years, surfing legend King Mickey contemplates the Indian Ocean where thirty years ago he ruled like King Neptune - we’re all just happy to see you’re still alive son! Note the tee-shirt graphic.

If you knew Mickey there's a Facebook page up for him getting busier by the minute, pay a visit and pass your respects onto Simon Bloch, Neil Wainwright and others who have been the main movers to helping Mickey on his road to recovery. Simon is also the main Save The Rhino man in South Africa.

Durban lads, you got to love ‘em, nicest blokes on the planet!

Lunar Abyss again! Hat - super-funky-dunky-stuffo!

Damn yes! This has got to be one of the FUNKIEST el trackos I have EVER heard in my life! Geniuses! You go boys!

Lunar Abyss Deus Organum Khandro [L.A.D.O.+HattifNatteR]

Meet the lads from Russia with love... you got to love 'em! Geniuses!

Just can't get enough of these guys sounds... beautiful Russian Ritual Ambient.

A drawing a day keeps the doctor away – today’s offering - “Power Trip” – collage and ink.