Betty's got a great platform... she's standing on it!

It's a big day here in old Bisbee and the party starts early... very! I'm sure you all have a zillion things to do today, but I thought I'd bring you on a virtual tour or the day just the same!
Our first party starts at 7 AM with the "Coaster races" celebration. Our hosts Hans and Darcees will be serving breakfast and mimosas as we watch a bunch of 12 year old boys whoosh down the hill a million miles an hour in their home-made coasters.
Then at 11 AM we will check out the 4th of July parade. We've been asked to be in the "Gabby Giffords" float as well as the "Betty Linstrom" float, who is running for mayor. I'm more tempted by the Betty float. She's running on a 'Betty Boop" platform and the whole thing is orchestrated by comedienne Doug Stanhope and his fabulous wife Bingo. This float is created to look like a bar, and I think they are going with an "Animal House" theme. The best part is that Betty is serious!
From here we have an afternoon full of mining-themed fun! Mucking, shlucking, drilling, heaving and hoeing contests take place in Brewery Gulch. And who can forget the "Bisbee B run", the point of this is to see who can run up and down a steep mountain side the fastest. Downhill is the best part. No rules, no paths, just straight down the mountain you go. If you biff it you end up in the emergency room. After an afternoon in the ER, you can usually expect these troopers to end up drunk at Saint Elmo's bar basking in their glory!
By early evening our schedule will begin to get hectic! Lots of places to see, and people to be! All culminating in a ferocious display of fireworks! Are ya ready?



Here's a scene from last years 4th of July parade, where the Hillary Clinton Army made their debut to the general public. I decided against appearing again this year. What with our 50 Hillarys and a Hillcar I didn't want to steal all the thunder!

Lately, I've been trying my best to be positive about Barack Obama as our next President. Well, at least in so far as to imagine Hillary as our Vice. But some of Obama's recent actions are really disappointing to me. I'm not talking about his lame attempts this week to get conservative voters behind him. I'm talking about his recent endorsement of Bush's legislation to expand our government's domestic spying power. Oh yea, more wire tapping and government control. Wasn't the idea to move away from this Orwellian "Big Brother" stuff?
I'm looking in to my crystal ball over here, and trying to decipher a meaning to all this. My crystal, however, is just a piece of cheap plastic! Can someone please give me a reason as to why Obama thought this was a groovy idea?

Here's yet another momentary confection by yours truly!

This is 30 seconds of footage from the DNC Rally in Washington DC. I'm just getting around to uploading this stuff!

I had a long talk with my friend Jeri today. She is taking a vacation this week. She is sitting on the beach and painting portraits of Hillary. She is trying to come to terms with the same disappointment that we have all been grappling with.

A feeling of being cheated, a lack of justice, a feeling of hopelessness and anger. Anyone who has actively worked hard for Hillary has come up against these feelings.

Some have chosen retaliation. Some have chosen to give up, in one form or another. Others have chosen to support Obama. In all cases, everyone has had to give this a lot of thought and come to their own conclusions. It has become a personal journey for all of us.

Jeri has chosen active retaliation. Letters to Super-Delegates, Congress, the DNC, you name it. I think it's commendable that she is aggressively pursuing this path. It's not one I'd want to take, but then I don't like feeling angry for very long. Jeri doesn't either, so this week, she has chosen to stop and reflect, swim in the ocean, and watch the sun rise and set. She is listening to what others have to say.

This is what I told her regarding my feelings around this election, and she asked me to put it in my blog. I think I already have, but it's time to consolidate my thoughts into something more cohesive. Hillary continues to be a great inspiration for me. She chooses the highest ground and she keeps her focus on the greater good for our country and for the world. She isn't spending her time being angry and pointing out the injustices of this election, and there certainly have been plenty. She is working her heart out to help Barrack Obama get elected. She has asked us to do the same. She put aside her own personal feelings and is working to put a Democrat back in the White House.

I believe Obama needs Hillary to win this election. After all, it was basically a tie and most of the Swing States were won by Hillary. I'd like to see her as the Vice President because I think that as a team they could change the world.

Wishing Hillary was the Nominee and hoping Barrack falls on his face is pointless and will accomplish nothing good. In fact it could well backfire. Finding your own positive path seems the only solution to me.

I believe in the Obama/Clinton ticket. Obama as the inspirational front man, and Hillary as the work horse getting things done.

Everyone needs to find their own path, and make sure they feel good about walking it. Whichever path you choose, make sure it leads forwards. On that note, I'll think I'll paint a painting!

It looks suspiciously like my old front porch! But at least it's got me back to abusing exclamation points again! Or at least until it rains!




I figured I should photograph myself in it!
Now to start painting again!

P.S. It rained today and most of my studio blew down! Oh well, next I'll try one made out of something more substantial, like leaves or crepe paper!

"For those who voted for me, and are now considering not voting for Barrack or for voting for John McCain, I strongly urge you to reconsider".
She really is a remarkable woman. One more reason to think she is the bomb!

U.N.I.T.Y.

Until
No
Is
Turned into
Yes




Unusual
Negotiations
In a
Terrific
Year


Usher
Nation
Into
Twilight
Yonder

Now it's your turn! Bring 'em on!

I don't know who she is, but she's a great painter and well worth watching!



Oh hot damn, she has her own blog too! Check it out!
Handy Goddess
I call leader of her fan club!

Oh stu-stu-studio, where are you? Somewhere in the Hillary Clinton may-lay I lost you!



I used to have the greatest studio in the world, called "El-Change-O!" Although it was ridiculously expensive, and loaded with landlord drama, Shawnee and I poured all our energy into it for two years. We put on tons of amazing music shows with top-name bands here. Along came a bad mold problem in the building, and away El-Change-O! went!
I would have been more down-heartened, but at this point I was all Hillary all of the time. I moved my H.C.A. base of operations out to my little shack in the desert, where the rent is free. No phone, no light, no motor car, this truly is a primitive shack. Great in the Arizona winter, but impossible in the summer. I haven't been out there since April, when the Hillcar odyssey began. It's incredibly hot out there, and I paint with oils. I'm afraid it must look like a Salvador Dali painting gone wrong!



So Here I sit, wondering... oh stu-stu-studio, where are you?



I guess I better quit procrastinating and start looking for you!

Many thanks to Britt and Trish for buying some of my paintings! Thanks to you both my debt is dwindling quickly!

Britt bought the Michelle Obama doll some months ago in support of taking the Hillcar to Pennsylvania!



Trish, always up for some fun, was one of the models in the H.C.A. pantsuit fashion show!



Thank you both so much, and thanks to everyone for your support! I'm so lucky to have such wonderful friends as you all!

Here's the paintings Britt bought.





I always forget to photograph my work, so I'll have to visit Trish and photograph the painting she bought!

I guess it's time I think about painting something besides Hillary again. I've painted her for a year and a half solid. Now I guess I will consider some other subject matter ( boo!). What, huh, is there another subject ?

A friend of mine once told me I brought "Generation X" to Hillary's campaign. Generation X, known for it's distrust with government, rampant political apathy, sarcasm, and angst. O. K., I'll go with that. I too spent the better part of the 80's as a disenfranchised art punk. Somehow I survived. Don't I at least get an "I survived the 80's" T-shirt?

All the female heros I've ever had were self-destructive heroin-addicted chicks with attitude. Is it spelled Heroin or heroine? I'm confused. Same difference!

Siouxsie Sioux, Marianne Faithful, Exene Cervenka, Nina Hagen, Patty Smith, Edie Sedgwick, Nico. They all possessed tragically glamourous, rough and tumble lives in which "Warhol" is a verb.

So what made this Generation Xer toss a life-time of political apathy to the wind and go gung-ho for Hillary? Is it her tremendous determination to make this world a better place? Is it her genuine sense of caring about what happens to all of us idiots sharing this planet? Or is it because she strikes a childhood chord of appeal in her "Partridge Family," "Brady Bunch", "Wonder woman" style that's drilled into my Gen Xer's subconscious? I think it's all of the above. To me she represents what women are really capable of. She seriously kicks the ass of any man in the room and does so with style and grace. Hillary Clinton is a power-house who's capability, determination, passion, and wisdom knows no bounds. She's Superwoman in a pantsuit. She's "Mom for President"!

I still love my heroin-addicted heroines, but Hillary Clinton has blown them all to oblivion! I'm pretty sure she has secret Super-hero super-powers that she hasn't even revealed yet! I for one am intrigued! Get me some popcorn, I can't wait for "Hillary Clinton, The Movie!" to come out!

If I brought a touch of Generation X sensibilities to the campaign in my Warhol-influenced way, Hillary seemed to appreciate and genuinely "get" it. This makes her even cooler in my book!

If you had trouble sleeping last night wondering about that gift MARK STITCHES said he had for me, then we are on the same boat! Well, wonder no more, here it is!



Mark made me a Hillary doll for the up-coming Unity tour!



Yes, it's Barrack and Hillary in Bisbee stitches doll form! They are getting ready to get out there and bring unity to the Democratic party!

They were last seen outdoors enjoying this beautiful Bisbee day!


Thank you, Mark!

Dear PAPER,
I recently returned from a 3 month stint on the campaign trail with Hillary Clinton. I drove "The Hillcar", a painted, decorated art car I made that celebrates "All things Hillary!" This week I finally returned home and caught up on my favorite magazine, which is of-course, Paper!

I sincerely love your magazine. I especially love Dennis Dermody's movie reviews, David Hershkovits's "Eye Spy", and who couldn't love Fashion Schmashion! I was not amused by Moby's article "The end of the Clintonian era", however.

I accepted the fact that you didn't think Hillary's pantsuits were hip enough for Fashion Schmashion, and Barrack's fashions were cool enough for the cover. I personally find Hillary's fashions, (similar in style to Shirley Partridge minus the ruffles,) to pretty much ROCK! So I filed this one under "different strokes". But when Moby made the claim that Hillary is "power-hungry and entitled and would do anything to win", I feel I must speak up. Hillary is a class act. She a sincere person who fights for what she believes in, and is not deserving of this article. She gave it everything she had, she didn't win and she took it gracefully. Now she's out there actively supporting Obama, and has asked her supporters to do the same thing. Moby, what more could you possibly ask from the lady?

Gretchen Baer
Hillary Clinton Army
Bisbee, Arizona

I found a beautiful, antique beaded necklace on my doorstep today. It turned out it came from Mark Stitches, my awesome neighbor! I took his photo. Luckily, I had may camera on hand!