Josephine Baker

I'm not  a fan of planes.  I don't like the take off.  I don't like the turbulence.  I don't like being at the mercy of some random pilot I barely hear over some screaming child over the p.a.


Did he just say  . . . 


"You can get up when you see the light."


Or was it . . . 


"I give up. You can kiss your ass goodbye??"


BIG difference.


I had my headphones and put some finishing touches on a diva.  It helped to keep my mind off of . . . how does something this big actually stay in the air?


Inspiration?


I had a random and fleeting thought of Josephine Baker.  Her story is actually incredibly sensational and quite scandalous - even by today's standards.


And she was a lady of color - biracial actually.  Rumor is her father was White.  Her grandparents were former slaves.   


And Josephine's childhood was no picnic.  Holy moly!  She lived on the streets, ALONE,  before she was a teenager. 


She danced for food and money and was discovered by a vaudeville act.  Eventually, she went to France, and got super famous.  America - not so much.


So she stayed in France, lived  in  a huge castle, adopted 12 kids, and had a huge show in 1975 in America that drew the likes of Mick Jagger and Jackie Onassis.  It was sold out.  Four days later she was found dead of a cerebral hemorrhage lying peacefully in her bed  surrounded by rave reviews of her performance.


Wow!  


Talk about going out with a bang!  


I saw a snippet of her show on Youtube.  At age 68, Joesphine had it going on!  Skin tight outfit.  Sequins for days.  Elaborate getup.


Scandalous.  Sensational.  Talented.


In other words . . . 


. . . Josephine Baker was 100% diva.


How could I resist!

Trayvon Martin

You'd have to be living under a thick piece of granite not to know,  even on a peripheral level, about the Trayvon Martin issue.  It's tragic.

The metaphorical picture painted of the security guard in this case, George Zimmerman, is completely unsettling.  Based solely on what I've been hearing, I'm not sure he should be carrying a bag of groceries, let alone a loaded weapon.

I'm disappointed with  Geraldo Rivera.  Geraldo suggests Trayvon's clothing, a hoodie,  was typical criminal wear and therefore he was asking for trouble.  

Trayvon was guilty by association . . .

 . . . with a hoodie.

It reminds me of folks that say rape victims that were wearing provocative clothing were sending signals promoting the attack.

Absurd.  Misguided.  Disgusting.  It's an additional heaping spoonful of salt on an excruciating painful and gaping wound.

I wasn't there.  I have no idea how things truly went down.  But if Zimmerman's actions were truly based on Trayvon wearing a hoodie, it's not the people wearing hoodies that are asking for trouble.

It's people like Zimmerman  that are asking for trouble.

I'm Not THAT Kind of Artist . . . Yet

People often ask, 'where do you get your ideas and inspiration?'  


The short answer is 'everywhere and nowhere.'   I'm simply not the kind of artist that has all kinds of deep, philosophical, meaning of life stuff going on in my art.


Things change of course.


I don't want to eat my words and claim I'll never be that kind of artist.  


For now, I think some folks would be surprised at the finished product versus the inspiration for some of my divas.  Take this one.  I named it "Yes.  You!" :

She was inspired by the movie I had just seen less than an hour before - "The Hunger Games."  


How the hell did I go from "The Hunger Games" to a lady singling someone out in a bar?  


After watching "The Hunger Games",  the lead character got my creative juices flowing.  The next diva could be:

• a woman pointing her bow and arrow (hmm . . . ok . . . )
• a woman pointing her arrow (hmm . . . maybe . . . )
• a woman pointing!!!  (OMG!  How cool would that be?)

Thanks to the part of me that's still a little boy sitting in Algebra class staring out the window daydreaming, an entire story and scenario develops.  


On the surface, zero connection between the two.  However, once you dig a little deeper, you can probably see the influence and relationship to "The Hunger Games" . . . albeit, a loose derivative. 


Oh dear.  


Is it just me?  Or did I not just sound like THAT kind of artist?  ;-)

Long Weekends Are Short

I flew to Tampa, FL to visit a buddy and explore the city.  And of course, I felt like I had just landed only to have to hop back on the plane and return home.


Sigh . . . 


My long weekend felt awfully short.  But alas, diva inspirations abounded - especially heels!


Holy moly!


The girls in Tampa, FL don't play when it comes to high, High, HIGH heels.  The diva sighting of the day was a girl in super-duper-nosebleed high heels leaving a movie theatre Saturday late night.


She had to walk down two steep flights of stairs.  


She didn't bat an eye.  


She didn't hesitate.


She didn't even pause.


She sauntered down both flights  . . . 


WITHOUT EVEN USING THE HANDRAILS!!!


I was stunned and impressed. 


It's nice to be home.  Diva inspirations abound in my own backyard.  But, until this diva sighting in Tampa, FL . . . 


I had no idea high heels came in ALL -WHEEL DRIVE!  ;-)

It's Spring . . . And?

Today is the first day of Spring.


Whatever.


It was rather uneventful.  It's been so warm lately.  It already felt like Spring.  


Trees and flowers are blooming.   


Oh.  By the way.  I did that dumb thing where you make a conscious decision to turn ON the alarm.  


But for whatever reason, you actually turn it OFF?  Yeah.  That was my genius move last night.


I woke up super refreshed.


That's because I super overslept.


It's the ultimate metaphor for me lately.  I have a lot of irons in a lot of fires.  I feel like I've been running around chasing the Road Runner.  


Just when I think I've got him . . . POW!  No Road Runner.  Just me landing hard and flat on my face like the Wile E. Coyote.


So today I rushed home to hurry up and eat and tackle one of those irons in the fire.  It's a new domain server thingy I'm considering  for Doodle Divas.  


My Ipad couldn't run the program  since it doesn't have a Flash Player.  So I needed to get in front of my desktop, which has Flash Player.  But my desktop isn't in front of the flat screen, which has the latest Hollywood gossip!  


And I'd like to get this done before I hop my flight to Florida this weekend to hang out on the beach and explore with a buddy of mine in Tampa.


So clearly you see how my poor, pitiful and unfortunate my life is right?


But alas. . . 


 As if that wasn't enough hellaciousness. . . 


I'll be damned if the a/c is on day THREE of being weird.  


It has been blowing room temperature air.  I've been trying a few things the past few days and nothing works.  


I don't need this people!


It was my last straw.


The past several weeks have been a steady build of tough decisions, bad decisions, second guesses, question marks, worn patience, frustrations, misunderstandings, missed connections, disappointments . . . 


 . . . so I started drawing.


Sometimes drawing is my therapy.  And tonight, drawing put things in perspective.  


I'm above ground.  


I have high class "problems".  


And to the icing on the cake . . . 


It's the first day of Spring!


LIFE IS GOOD PEOPLE!!!  :-)