Happy Father’s Day

What do you get the God who has everything??

.My father was a Methodist minister. And when I saw this card in the window of the card shop, I had to send it to him for Father’s Day. It was appropriate for several reason. Because he was a minister. And because he used to paint versions of this painting back when I was a kid.

Like most children, I had a hard time sitting through an hour-long church service. And my father’s sermons were no exception. But he did develop one good shtick. Before he was a preacher he’d been a commercial artist. So he had some artistic skills. So he used to put on these special church services called “Chalk Talks.” He’d be up there on stage by the pulpit with his easel. And during the course of the hour-long service he would do a chalk drawing of a Biblical scene.

And while he was painting, different people would get up there and read Biblical passages or give testimonials, and musicians would play songs, and the choir would sing. So it was a pretty varied show. It was kind of fascinating for average people to see a piece of art being created right before their eyes. And my father had it timed so he’d be finishing the picture just as the service was coming to a close.

Then, after he finished the chalk drawing, the lights would go out. The church would go completely dark. And then my Dad would start turning on different lights attached to his easel. He painted the picture with fluorescent-colored chalk. So the picture would change before people’s eyes as the different day-glo colors popped up. Then for the grand finale, my Dad would utter a few solemn and profound profundities (ha ha). And then the lights would go on and the crowd would go wild. Followed by backstage scenes of groupies, drugs and debauchery (kidding).

But all and all, it was a pretty effective bit of show biz. And different churches in the area would hire my Dad to do the gig at their churches.

So anyways, Happy Father’s Day to the all the Fathers out there!

The Cracked, Crazed Times We Live In

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Backwords of the Day:
I know this sounds terrible, but there are times when I’m slightly in awe of what I’ve created. I know its non-fiction (supposedly) but it might be as close to The Great American Novel as we’ll get in our lifetime. Even as I’m still annoyed by some of the paragraphs where I tinkered with them, transplanted them in different spots and never quite maintained the original flow of the first draft. Still, I consider it my masterpiece. It might be the first really new slant to come out of the counterculture since On the Road. It holds up a mirror to the mainstream culture, too. It also makes a weird matching set with my Street book. I was in a high spiritual state when I wrote that one. And I think there’s more real down-home wisdom (for lack of a better word) in that book. For it was the only period of my life when I was relatively full of love and peace-of-mind and confidence. The Acid book is more the cracked, crazed side of my psyche. I’m much more full of anger and sadness and unfulfillment now. Alas. But that might even make for an even more powerful artistic statement, because these are certainly cracked, crazed times we live in.