this is a piece that i just finished. it is going to be auctioned off to raise money for an amazing woman that is going through her second bout of cancer treatments. 27 and facing that kind of life is unfathomable to me. she has an appreciation for life that i am somewhat envious of.
this is one of the only places that i write about emotions or dating in my life, mainly because i know that for the most part, nobody reads it. i am cool with that. i can entertain my moment of catharsis without any judgement.
its been a hellish week for me.
when i graduated from college... twelve fucking long years ago... there was this slew of wedding that i had to go to for all my fraternity brothers and friends that were marrying their college sweethearts. i seriously went to seventeen weddings in a three year period.
thankfully, since moving to charlotte, i have sort of have the excuse of being all the way down in north carolina for not having to go back to PA for weddings. some of which are second marriages of the initial post college onslaught.
but now that i am in my mid 30s, there is another crop of friends that are getting married. dropping like fucking flies is more like it. one of my close friends thankfully eloped last weekend. one of my best friends is getting married this weekend. my other best friend is next summer.
watching faceyspace updates, a number of women i have dated over the years have gone on to get hitched. some of them, i am already enduring baby pictures in their updates. insanity.
all this has served as a constant reminder that the longer i stay single, i will in all likelihood, stay single. chronically so... tinge of depression to that.
four months ago, the bar manager at one of my favorite local water holes, past away rather suddenly. out camping, he suffered from a diabetic seizure and was beyond saving in full cardiac arrest by the time he got medical attention. we have a tight knit crew in the neighborhood, and it was taken very hard.
a few weeks ago, the owners of the bar asked if i would paint a portrait of him for a fundraising oyster roast in his honor. i am still not good enough to call myself an artist, in my mind, but how could i say no?
it was one of the most difficult undertakings i have put on a canvas. the pressure of painting a friend that was so well loved.
i dropped off the finished product today and didn't feel the best about it. didn't know if it really looked like him. until another artist and friend and bartender at that bar saw it today. the look on his face choked me up. made for an emotional day.
my charity is kicking off in less than three weeks, and as usual, i feel overwhelmingly underprepared. i JUST booked the second band for our kickoff party yesterday. something i usually have done months in advance. thankfully, a friend of mine, adam (who plays with an international touring act that you most definitely have heard of) had his birthday party on sunday and his little brother, nathan, was there. nathan has his own band that i have never heard, but i wanted to give him a shot. put him in a room with good sound and about 300 people and see what he can do. if he is anything like his brother, he is going to shine...
its been a hellish week for me.
when i graduated from college... twelve fucking long years ago... there was this slew of wedding that i had to go to for all my fraternity brothers and friends that were marrying their college sweethearts. i seriously went to seventeen weddings in a three year period.
thankfully, since moving to charlotte, i have sort of have the excuse of being all the way down in north carolina for not having to go back to PA for weddings. some of which are second marriages of the initial post college onslaught.
but now that i am in my mid 30s, there is another crop of friends that are getting married. dropping like fucking flies is more like it. one of my close friends thankfully eloped last weekend. one of my best friends is getting married this weekend. my other best friend is next summer.
watching faceyspace updates, a number of women i have dated over the years have gone on to get hitched. some of them, i am already enduring baby pictures in their updates. insanity.
all this has served as a constant reminder that the longer i stay single, i will in all likelihood, stay single. chronically so... tinge of depression to that.
four months ago, the bar manager at one of my favorite local water holes, past away rather suddenly. out camping, he suffered from a diabetic seizure and was beyond saving in full cardiac arrest by the time he got medical attention. we have a tight knit crew in the neighborhood, and it was taken very hard.
a few weeks ago, the owners of the bar asked if i would paint a portrait of him for a fundraising oyster roast in his honor. i am still not good enough to call myself an artist, in my mind, but how could i say no?
it was one of the most difficult undertakings i have put on a canvas. the pressure of painting a friend that was so well loved.
i dropped off the finished product today and didn't feel the best about it. didn't know if it really looked like him. until another artist and friend and bartender at that bar saw it today. the look on his face choked me up. made for an emotional day.
my charity is kicking off in less than three weeks, and as usual, i feel overwhelmingly underprepared. i JUST booked the second band for our kickoff party yesterday. something i usually have done months in advance. thankfully, a friend of mine, adam (who plays with an international touring act that you most definitely have heard of) had his birthday party on sunday and his little brother, nathan, was there. nathan has his own band that i have never heard, but i wanted to give him a shot. put him in a room with good sound and about 300 people and see what he can do. if he is anything like his brother, he is going to shine...
its that time of year again. my charity, Beards BeCAUSE, is firing back up again. this is our fifth year in our follicled fight against domestic violence. if you are in Charlotte, Atlanta, or Pittsburgh, go ahead to the website and register for our competition as a grower, FUNRazor or bearded lady.
man, i am going to have an awesome August!
starting on the first, i will be having my first art show. granted it is in a local neighborhood bar in the charlotte "arts district", but it still counts. i don't really consider myself an artist. hell, i only started a little over a year ago. but i started a series of paintings of local musician friends a few months back. a total of five 30x40 acrylic on canvas paintings. plus i am going to throw my self portrait and a pin up style of my friend, jenny in the show. fingers crossed that it sells out...
then on the sixth, i have the annual bags for wags cornhole tournament. it always a good time. this year, i am also donating a painting to be auctioned off and i am super excited about that. its a great dane since the benefitting charity this year is a great dane rescue. i am sort of hoping that it does and doesn't lead to a slew of dog portrait.
then on the 27th. this is going to be the craziest Beards BeCAUSE event that i have thrown to date. we are doing a bearded lady fashion show. seriously, drop dead gorgeous models with professional grade prosthetic beards strutting their stuff down the runway to raise money to combat domestic violence. i cannot freaking wait...
starting on the first, i will be having my first art show. granted it is in a local neighborhood bar in the charlotte "arts district", but it still counts. i don't really consider myself an artist. hell, i only started a little over a year ago. but i started a series of paintings of local musician friends a few months back. a total of five 30x40 acrylic on canvas paintings. plus i am going to throw my self portrait and a pin up style of my friend, jenny in the show. fingers crossed that it sells out...
then on the sixth, i have the annual bags for wags cornhole tournament. it always a good time. this year, i am also donating a painting to be auctioned off and i am super excited about that. its a great dane since the benefitting charity this year is a great dane rescue. i am sort of hoping that it does and doesn't lead to a slew of dog portrait.
then on the 27th. this is going to be the craziest Beards BeCAUSE event that i have thrown to date. we are doing a bearded lady fashion show. seriously, drop dead gorgeous models with professional grade prosthetic beards strutting their stuff down the runway to raise money to combat domestic violence. i cannot freaking wait...
so a buddy of mine that was a participant in my charity, Beards BeCAUSE, came to me and asked for help in starting his own charity. he wanted to put together a cornhole tournament to raise money for various dog charities in Charlotte. the humane society, the coalition to unchain dogs, and this year, the great dane rescue group.
a couple of beers and a few sheets of notebook paper later, he had the beginnings of Bags for Wags. i am proud to say that i have participated every year.
this year, i wanted to do a little more though. so my friend asked me to do a painting...
i know i loaded it sideways, but i am still pretty stoked about this and hope it raises some serious cash...
a couple of beers and a few sheets of notebook paper later, he had the beginnings of Bags for Wags. i am proud to say that i have participated every year.
this year, i wanted to do a little more though. so my friend asked me to do a painting...
i know i loaded it sideways, but i am still pretty stoked about this and hope it raises some serious cash...
oh glorious day. i am not really sure what to update you on, i just wast sick of looking at the last post and realizing that there was nothing particularly insightful in it.
being back in corporate america as lost its lustre. the whole being unemployed for two years thing made me eager to get back into an office and start contributing to society again, but i forgot that dress casual and sitting in an office that someone not six foot one has deemed ergonomically comfortable can do to a man. nevermind the fact that very rarely does a 40 hour a week job actually take 40 hours a week to do. that leaves me with a lot of down time. plenty of time to entertain delusions of grandeur. plans to rule the world and such...
i am starting to make more connections and am hoping to put CLTmusic.com on the map. some cool new venues and bands in the CLT that could translate into a good summer...
being back in corporate america as lost its lustre. the whole being unemployed for two years thing made me eager to get back into an office and start contributing to society again, but i forgot that dress casual and sitting in an office that someone not six foot one has deemed ergonomically comfortable can do to a man. nevermind the fact that very rarely does a 40 hour a week job actually take 40 hours a week to do. that leaves me with a lot of down time. plenty of time to entertain delusions of grandeur. plans to rule the world and such...
i am starting to make more connections and am hoping to put CLTmusic.com on the map. some cool new venues and bands in the CLT that could translate into a good summer...
i have never done paintball. i think it would be cool to play in a office building though. like in a cube farm with random people dressed in business casual mixed in with the teams. that would be the coolest...
i just read that a third of high school graduates never read another book in their like after they get their diplomas. how fucked up is that? i mean, its like this fucking society is TRYING to be dumber...
i need to quit drinking. i wish someone would just give me back all the money that i ever spent on booze. like, in my whole life. that would have to be at least a hundred thousand, i have to imagine...
people are trying to get me to run for public office. city council actually. i am seriously considering it. you see, the only people that run for office are the ones that have all the free time and don't have to worry about shit pay. so you get crotchety retirees that are dictating the lives of the young and fun. funk that shite...
back to painting...
i just read that a third of high school graduates never read another book in their like after they get their diplomas. how fucked up is that? i mean, its like this fucking society is TRYING to be dumber...
i need to quit drinking. i wish someone would just give me back all the money that i ever spent on booze. like, in my whole life. that would have to be at least a hundred thousand, i have to imagine...
people are trying to get me to run for public office. city council actually. i am seriously considering it. you see, the only people that run for office are the ones that have all the free time and don't have to worry about shit pay. so you get crotchety retirees that are dictating the lives of the young and fun. funk that shite...
back to painting...
the stand up comedy show was a huge success! i got my share of laughs as well. i was nervous as fuck and wrote some notes on a index card. but when it was boiling down to it, i needed the actual lines that i wrote to be funny. so when i got up on stage, i just deadpanned it and skipped around my notes randomly so that nothing was really related. it was fun. and a few of the comics asked me if i wanted to try open mic nights to hone it. maybe...
but it was also a good night for the charity. brought in a whole new crowd and raised almost $1200 for the fight against domestic violence. always good...
painting is rolling along again. i finished this one this week...
sold it to a buddy of mine for his new house. love it...
but it was also a good night for the charity. brought in a whole new crowd and raised almost $1200 for the fight against domestic violence. always good...
painting is rolling along again. i finished this one this week...
sold it to a buddy of mine for his new house. love it...
so, its been a weird month or two. i am no longer funemployed. which is cool because my benefits were about to run out and i would have been left sitting on the curb in front of my house if it weren't for my job. at the same time, i am only making about $70 more a week than i was on unemployment. so that translates out to me basically taking a 47% paycut for the two year break that i had in almost the same industry with the same job description. that there is a kick in the jim jim.
but then, things are going well with the charity. i had some new ideas that i ran passed my two partners that they met with huge approval. so this thursday will be the first of our new events that will give the charity a year round presence and continue to bring domestic violence into the light. in keeping with my usal unusual fundraising, i put together a night of stand up comedy to raise awareness of domestic violence. i called it "no laughing matter," which seemed super appropriate. as usual, i will be emceeing the event as well. for those of you not familiar with how a stand up show runs, that means that i am preparing to do a three to five minute stand up comedy routine of my own. this is HUGE. i have been on stage, the radio, tv, spoke in front of upwards of a 1000 people at a time. this makes me nervous.
wish me luck...
but then, things are going well with the charity. i had some new ideas that i ran passed my two partners that they met with huge approval. so this thursday will be the first of our new events that will give the charity a year round presence and continue to bring domestic violence into the light. in keeping with my usal unusual fundraising, i put together a night of stand up comedy to raise awareness of domestic violence. i called it "no laughing matter," which seemed super appropriate. as usual, i will be emceeing the event as well. for those of you not familiar with how a stand up show runs, that means that i am preparing to do a three to five minute stand up comedy routine of my own. this is HUGE. i have been on stage, the radio, tv, spoke in front of upwards of a 1000 people at a time. this makes me nervous.
wish me luck...
JUNE 2012
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MAY 2012
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APRIL 2012
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MARCH 2012