Marie Javins's Blog, page 48

Jet Lag and Cinnamon Rolls

You know what happens when you sleep on a plane?

Sure you do. You end up with a kind of dazed hallucinatory desperate need for coffee, a shower, and breakfast in the afternoon.

Only problem is oh god, in what order?

I went for breakfast and coffee first, or maybe I didn't. Predictably, the morning I arrived in Barcelona en route to Frankfurt Book Fair is a bit of a blur. I'd always flown from New York or Kuwait, and never flown straight through from Los Angeles in the past.

Once I had my head on a bit straighter, I headed over to On Land, a clothing shop I always stop by in Barcelona. They gave me a suggestion to stop over across the street for a coffee, and wow, that's not all the shop across the street had...

Feeling Centered

Tonight, centering the clay went smoothly and within a few minutes, I had made this thing.



This never happens. I usually struggle with all of the above. I don't usually blow it completely anymore, but I don't have control over the clay like an experienced potter.

Anyway, I wrapped the piece in plastic to let it dry out slowly between tonight and next week's class. That's how it works--you let the piece dry to leather-hard, then you trim it or carve it or add handles. You can't let it dry completely or else you can't trim or carve it.

I was feeling pretty smug until I remembered I'm missing the next two classes due to going to Frankfurt Book Fair.

Jersey City Walkabout (for them, not us)

I put all the game camera photos from 9/1 to 10/3 into one slideshow.

Fun to watch, at least for me. Be warned this is 11 minutes long.

I'm getting a new patio soon so the view will change a little by Thanksgiving.

Trash Flow Radio

Hey, through the magic of technology, I was at New York Comic Con while magically talking about Daniel Johnston on Ken Katkin's Ohio radio show!

Download: Trash Flow Radio Oct 5, 2019 (RIP Daniel Johnston Special Part Two) (120 mins | 111 MB): Link here.

Playlist for Trash Flow Radio -- Oct 5, 2019 (RIP Daniel Johnston Special Part Two): Link here.

Feeding the Spirits

I added Chatuchak Market fruit plates to my little spirit house in my Jersey City kitchen.

Exit Stage Left

8 p.m. on a Thursday night at the ass end of the Javits Center is a tall order, but members of theater company Die-Cast Philly were undaunted. They made their way to New York Comic Con to perform a shortened version of their Tennessee Williams Festival staged reading of Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles, our GLAAD-award winning comic book series.

I don't want to overstate the audience's reaction by saying "Not a dry eye in the house," because I was sitting raptly in the front row and not doing a survey, but I think it's safe to say most people thought about getting a little teary—when they weren't laughing.

Special thanks to my pals who put off their dinners and drinks and sleeping and trips home to see this remarkable event. I know who you are and owe you each one. Except for those of you who owed me one already. We're now even.

And THANK YOU, Chip for putting the people in touch with the people, enabling this to happen! I already added this production to my very short list of career highlights last year, so this is just the bonus round, but in the annals of my job life, this is right up there with "opens theme park in Kuwaiti desert and everything goes wrong in front of the BBC."

Gourmet

Outside my office, today's food truck has rice bowls with veggies and option of either beef or chicken.

Me: Is it possible to get a rice bowl without onions?

Worker: Which one?

Me: Ummm...chicken.

Worker: We don’t have the chicken.

Show and Tell, 2016

Here's a spectator's account of a special night in May, 2016, when my editor pal Jim Chadwick was kind enough to accompany me to an event where Louis Black and I showed some of my old videos. I'm not sure if footage of this night exists, but I'll look around. The unexpected gem was Daniel narrating over his most embarrassing moments. At one point he turned to his brother and said "Where did they get this video?" And Dick said "Marie had it," and Daniel swiveled his head back and stared at me, and you could see the gears clicking as he recalled all those times he'd said "Bring a video camera," and yes, I'd saved all those moments.
"Another highlight of the evening was hearing Marie Javins, a former intern at the Austin Chronicle, talk about her experiences in meeting Daniel and documenting his musings and performances in the later 1980s. Daniel fondly recalled Marie’s presence in those halcyon days, although he and Marie had different recollections of whether she was fully clothed the first time they met! Historical accuracies aside, there was a sweetness to both Louis and Marie’s recounting of their early experiences with Daniel and it was evident in their interactions how they still treated Daniel with a gentle reverence three decades later."

Funeral Home

Here are some photos of Daniel's favorite things from his house and from the 9/21 memorial honoring him.

Accompanying these photos is some audio extracted from an unaired interview I did with Daniel in 1986.

Thanks to Jonathan Babcock for digitizing my ancient cassette. I don't think I'd listened to it since the day Daniel and I recorded this, and it's a gem. I'll share more of it one day.


 

Burbank Zebra Shrine

My ugly zebra from Chatuchak Market made it to California in one piece!

It's ugly because the details are shoddily made. You can't tell from the photo. I hope to get a proper Thai zebra one of these days.

Also, I added the zebra shrine to Google Maps, so if any of you want to do a zebra pilgrimage, it's now easy to find.