Shawn...Hometown Hero.

These are some amazing paintings by one of my best friends Shawn Teseo Ballarin. Shawn and I both went to Jr. High and High School together. We went to UNL and both studied fine art and we were roommates. 

Shawn lives in Chicago now... which besides Alisa really wanting to move there, that would be a huge plus for me. 

Last year when we came home for Christmas Shawn set up an art show in Omaha. He, I and a friend of ours names Allison Fox. Well, this year it's my turn... Shawn and I have a 2 person show that opens in January at the Tugboat Gallery. 

We're really excited. 

Check out his website. 

Maybe we'll see you at the show?

J

1994. On the right.

Hey... who's that guy aalllllllll the way on the right? Class of 1994 dudes! Somebody had this on the internet and grabbed it. 

You've got to be KIDDING!

Totally unprovoked, for no reason, when we woke up this morning.... Alisa's phone was dead. That's whole story. 

We swear, nothing happened. Just dead. 

We have the worst luck with cell phones! 

So until we get home, if you need to call her, just call my phone? She'll just keep it on her. 

This is stupid. 

We'll get one when we get back to Nebraska.

Sorry dudes. 

I'm sure this all has to do with bad karma. That's what happens when you move into a place full of Berkeley hippies. 

PS. We'll need people's numbers. I didn't get a chance to put them into the replacement phone that I just got about a week ago. I figured I could wait, and it wouldn't be a big deal. They were all in Alisa's phone. 

"And I thought they smelled bad on the ouside" SOLO ART SHOW PART 2

I have a really big problem with announcing things too early. I always have, especially when it comes to art stuff. I just can't wait. In the past it's bitten me in the butt. So these days I make sure things are rock solid before I say anything. 

The solo show I just got was 100% totally rock solid. Sign, sealed, delivered. So I posted something on here about it. 

The past few days the gallery directors and I were emailing back and forth about the show and how it's going to go down. Set the month and opening dates. That kind of thing. Then we started to just talk casually and it came up to Alisa and I moving to Chicago or somewhere. Oops. I didn't think that mattered. Honestly. 

Galleries can go one way or the other. They want you to be around for the entire show, or at least if you can for the opening. Some don't care at all. You just send in the work, they do all the promotion, hanging, have the opening. Every gallery is different. 

Long story short, this gallery only shows local artists. Local as in Bay Area or other parts of California, LA and whatever. 

Well, when we move, I will technically no longer be local. So, I just lost the show. The opening was decided to be in July or in October. We were waiting for and artist in LA do give the word on which month they wanted... I got the other month. No local = no show.

That's how it goes. The wind was kind of taken out of my sails, I was very excited about it, but that doesn't mean I'm mad at anybody. That's just how the cookie crumbles. 

However, I do feel a little silly now. Having actually made sure this time that I didn't make a fool of myself and announce something too early. 

Oh well. You win some and you loose some.

J

I'm posting this to avoid any confusion as to why when we're back home I'm not walking up and down O street in Lincoln bragging about my big fat solo art show in California. Har har.

Hey fellas.

These are some of my favorite people. In order of appearance it's Chuck Close, he's a painter I love, that's him looking at a photograph of him making a painting of him. Below is a nice black and white photo of him, since the other two gents have nice black and white photos too. Below the two Mr. Close pictures is another painter that I love named Philip Guston. Sidenote: he used to be one of Chuck Close's professors. Nice. I wish they had been one of my professors. The last is a picture of the writer Sherwood Anderson. He wrote my favorite book in the whole world called "Winesburg, Ohio". I never really reread books, almost ever, but somehow I've managed to read that book 4.5 times. Twice since moving to California. 

Good job people I like. 

End Transmission. 

J

Lets be friends

Sorry about that last post. 

Friends?

Friends.

To make up for it, here you go... cute fuzzy kitten photos.

J.

Oh no she di-int!

Word on the street ( and I don't know any of the details as of yet ) is that that moron Sarah Palin had the great honor and privilege to meet my sister yesterday. That must have been exciting for Mrs. Palin, to meet somebody who she could truly look up to. A woman with class, brains, morals and decency. 

Mrs. Palin was in beauty pageants. My sister worked her way through law school. Mrs. Palin was a lousy, scandal making governor of... I guess a state?... isn't that Canada? My sister was voted and given the highest award for being literally the best Federal Prosecuting Attorney in the United States of America. We're talking serial killers, drug cartels and terrorists here people! 

I hope that just a little bit of my sister's intelligence, integrity and sense of right and wrong had the chance to rub off on that hillbilly retard.

God, why can't my sister be running for president! 

Good luck America.

J