Bureaucracy

We all know it's hard to get things done. At my job doing an ad for a client sometimes takes forever. There are so many levels of people I have to go through, so many approvals, changes, fixes, suggestions. The only way things ever get done is because we have to meet deadlines. And sometimes that doen't even matter. I'm on the board of the Condo where I live in manhattan. Getting stuff done in our building is a slow labourious process. When we see our government in action it's amazing anything can get done. We read everyday about the waste of our tax money in Iraq. I read in the Times the other day about a Halliburton project. They were going to fix an Iraqi oil pipeline. They knew it couldn't be done BUT there was like 500 million bucks allocated to do it. So they shuffled through the motions for a few years and low and behold when some bureaucrat finally got around to checking things out he realized it couldn't be done. He asked how much money they spent. They said all of it of course. We saw a lumbering bureaucracy in action during Katrina. Then we have this guy above, John Negroponte, he was named by Bush to be the first national intelligence director. He's suppose to get these intel agencies all streamlined and integrated and talking to one another. Even Republicans don't like the job this guy's doing. What he's done instead is created a new lumbering bureaucracy that has done the exact opposite of what the job called for. Seems like Katrina and 9/11 haven't really changed anything. What we need is a great leader, someone we can all look up to, someone to unite and inspire us. I think it's pretty crystal clear to the whole world and even to staunch Republicans that George W. is just not the guy. And never was. We need to get rid of all the Rumsfelds, Cheneys, Michael Browns and Negropontes and give some new idiots a chance to screw things up. They can't do any worse than these guys.

No Parking

I'm trying to do something new in my drawings. I was crossing the street and found this parking ticket in the gutter. It makes a perfect backdrop for this doodle. Now when I look around the streets I find lots of good junk that would be great in my sketches. You will probably see more of this type of thing show up on my blog. My wife can't believe some of the garbage I pick up off the streets. I can't help myself. I basically see art everywhere. We'll see where it leads. Hopefully not a dead end. That was a bad car pun. I'm starting to lose it.

Pepsi Please

The once great Dwight Gooden was sent to the slammer for like the twentieth time. He chose to go to jail for a year again instead of treatment because if he slipped up he would be sentenced to five years. Ouch. He has a terrible coke habit. Listen up Kids, don't do drugs. Brush your teeth after every meal and go to bed early and whatever you do, don't do drugs. Eat your veggies. Find a hobby, like sketching cocaine addicts. See that's what i've done.

I am featured in a new online magazine called Notxt. Check it out here.

The Guest Bed

For all the things Castro has done and been accused of, I'm shocked that more is not said about his invention of the pull out couch. Almost all of us at one time or another has owned a Castro convertible sofa. Yes he's ruled Cuba and we had a few bad incidents with the guy like the missile crisis and The Bay of Pigs thing. But this guy makes an affordable pullout sofa that works and lasts. We should give the dude some props. I mean it's sort of sad that when he passes away there probably won't be a mention of the couch anywhere. Don't even get me started on his motor oil.

I am featured in a new online magazine called Notxt. Check it out here.

You Talkin To Me?

I'm trying to do new types of drawing in my molskine books. A friend of mine sent me a photo of his little girl for Easter. It was such a cool photo I knew I had to do something with it. She didn't have a gun in her hand, I added that. There was no house in the background, I added that too. I love how it turned out. I want to come up with some stuff like this for future blog appearences on my site. Hopefully my friend will be e-mailing me more pictures.

I am featured in a new online magazine called Notxt. Check it out here.

Check out It's Jerry's Time.There is a new episode called The Brute and in a quick scene you can see my painting of Batman hanging on his apartment wall.

Missing In Action

I'm fascinated by the whole Natalee Holloway case. How can someone just disappear off the planet? Was she abducted by aliens? Believe it or not, it's been a year since she has been missing. They keep arresting dudes and releasing them. How can there be no trace of her? This is not what happens on shows like CSI and America's Most Wanted. I realize that millions of people go missing each year but this is the person the news chose to make a story of. And what a story it is. I wonder if we'll ever find out what the hell happened. If it was an alien abduction that would be a bummer. Whenever it's an alien incident we never find out any facts. Those aliens are great at covering stuff up. I don't know about you but I need to know what happened. Only time will tell.

Travel

The best thing for someone who journals is to travel. Everything is new to the eyes. I visited Washington DC and I wanted to sketch everything in sight. Unfortunately I was only there for an afternoon. Now that summer is here I will be traveling around much more. I'm probably going to be visiting Vienna and Prague for my honeymoon. That's good news because I will be doing a whole lot of drawing to be seen here. Stay tuned.

God Save The Queen

England recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. I can't really say I care very much. The one thing I know is that she must be a really old broad by now. Poor Charlie has to hang around waiting to be King. I'm afraid he's gonna have to wait a lot longer. She may be old but she just keeps on ticking. I for one would like to see a change. I think the old geezer should finally give Chucky Cheese his shot.

Not Out Of The Woods Yet

Tiger Woods is taking a few months off from playing professional golf. His dad was sick with cancer. Our health and well being are everything. We all deep down know it doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, famous or not famous. Well I take that back, some people are so poor that their well being is affected simply by being so poor. I'm talking about most of us schmucks. Even Tiger, who is sitting on top of the world, has to deal with this stuff. So I was upset to read Tiger's dad Earl passed away on May third. Tiger is the only reason I would ever watch a golf match. Knowing what Tiger and his family have just been through I will root a little harder for the man. He is human after all.

Starry Nights

This is my last drawing from the draw-a-thon. It was so hot inside the event. Not only was it packed with 50 people but there was hot lights to illuminate the models. The temperature felt like 95 degrees inside. At one point I went outside into the cool night air. It was so nice I decided to do a drawing outside. I've said it before, drawing in the dark at night is tough but so was being in that hot bar. So I gave it a try. It actually came out pretty good. I should try this night stuff more often.

Spray Paint

I created this drawing because I didn't have anywhere to sit at the beginning of the draw-a-thon. I sketched the model holding the spray paint can. Then I used the faces of people sitting in the crowd. There was really no plan which is plain to see. This is the final mess. I quite like it because it doesn't look like the usual thing I do.

Oh and by the way I am going to city hall in New York city this morning to get married. I really am.

Draw-A-Thon

What the hell is a draw-a-thon you might ask? It's when 50 people jam into a small hot sweaty bar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn to sketch. It starts at 7 PM and goes until 3 in the morning. The bar blocks out the windows and door because the models are nude (I think some should have left their clothes on). Butch Belair, Danny Gregory and I found some seats and then proceeded to draw and drink beer. It was quite a scene. Lots of little art students around. I thought it was great so many people were willing to participate in such an event. This sketch I did was of the other people around me who were busy drawing the models. They seemed more interesting than the models we were drawing. I did a few other drawings I will post next.

Generally Speaking

Many Generals who were in charge of Iraq have come out and said they want Rumsfeld to step down in disgrace for his mishandling of the war. When you read between the lines they also are taking shots at Bush, Cheney and Wolfowitz. These are the know-it-alls who against the advice of the military fought the war the way they saw fit. It is also why we are in this incredible mess now. Generals Eaton, Zinni, Newbold, Batiste, Riggs and Swannack have stepped forward so far. There are many more Generals who are contemplating voicing their disgust with the boobs currently in charge. Nothing will come of this of course. No matter how disastrous this turns out Bush will keep saying everything is great and going according to plan. He feels making any sort of change would be admitting mistakes. Unfortunately this war has been nothing but a series of mistakes. Obviously we need a change of direction but not just dumping Rumsfeld. We need to fire Bush, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rice....

Free Time

I try to always keep some type of sketch book with me at all times. Instead of doing nothing with my downtime I can whip up a little doodle. Here are three examples: Waiting for a train, sitting in the park, and hanging out at my friend's apartment. All I was doing was killing time, but in the end, I have three nice little drawings to put on my blog.

Bombs Away

Let's face it, i'm a real simpleton when it comes to world affairs. I really don't have a clue of what i'm talking about. But I don't mind putting in my two cents. Let's look at all the countries with nuclear weapons. United States, Soviet Union, Britian, France, China, India, Pakistan, Isreal and North Korea. That's a lot of crazy people, with us being the only ones to have ever used them. We were all upset when North Korea, India and Pakistan were all trying to make bombs. But in the end they always seem to get them and it really doesn't seem to make much of a difference. Now Iran is on the verge of having these weapons. We all know that it is just a matter of time until they do. I don't think any of these countries have any intentions of ever using them. They are just bargaining chips. You can't play poker with the big boys unless you can afford the chips to be in the game. We seem to roam the world telling every country what to do. You shut up, you stay put while we take all the oil from your neighbor, you be happy with this leader we are going to install. If I was some poor person in one of these third world countries I would want my government to have some power in order to stand up in this world. We always portray ourselves as the defenders of the world. But sometimes I get the feeling that most of these countries, even our allies, are really trying to defend themselves against us.

Is Everybody Happy

I watched a replay on ESPN of Dick Cheney throwing out the first pitch at the Washington Nationals home opener. He was loudly booed. But I wonder in his head does he hear cheers? The same day he threw out the pitch I scanned the news from Iraq. In the city of Tel Afar a bomber blew up a vegetable market killing three and wounding seven. A car bomb in Khalis killed two and wounded twenty three. In Baghdad a bomber killed a policeman and two civilians while wounding four. Three american soldiers were killed in two seperate incidents. In Baquba a bomb killed twenty and wounded forty at a shiite mosque. Also in Baghdad gunmen killed three government employees. Three other civilians were also killed along with a photographer. Now whenever I see Cheney or Bush giving a speech on television there is always tons of smiling cheering white people behind them. Obviously these are hand picked cheering robots. The Republicans were not able to fill Washington's baseball stadium with white cheering robot people. Mr. Cheney actually had to face real citizens and just like Iraq the outcome wasn't too good.

Tooth Ache

My teeth have been a problem ever since I could remember. Last time I went, my dentist told me three of my teeth are loose. Big problem. It is the result of my teeth grinding at night. I wear a stupid mouth guard. You gotta see this thing on me, I look like a goof. I must say it does help though. I had to have my teeth bleached because they were quite unsightly. Now I have to put some gel inside these plastic teeth molds and wear that for an hour every other month. My teeth hurt for two days afterwards. I guess I should just face the fact that I will eventually be one of those old dudes who goes to bed while his teeth soak in a glass of water next to the bed.

Warm Weather

Now that summer is upon us girls can finally break out their new footwear. My client Steve Madden runs an ad on page six of The New York Post every week. I am forever at a photo studio shooting women's shoes. I know everything about female footwear. I can tell you what is going to be hot for the next eight months, not that I care. After a while it all becomes a blur. Sometimes I wish I was doing a photo shoot of Ajax or Sugar Pops.

Number One

It only took me three weeks but now if you do a google search and type in Tommy Kane I come up number one. I used to type in my name and nothing would happen. It would be fifty stories about a pro football player with the same name or a counrty singer or some actor. Not anymore. Mr. Football dude must be stunned. How did artist boy jump ahead? The funny thing is I started to read about Tommy Kane the football player. He was a wide reciever for the Seattle Seahawks for five years. 142 receptions, 2034 yards and 9 touchdowns. Then I came across a story that said he was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Turns out he murdered his wife. He did it at his own mother's house. Tommy dragged her by the hair into the kitchen, smashed har face against the floor then fatally stabbed her in the neck. Kane was born in Montreal, no relation to me. Now that I come up number one on a google search it seems that sometimes nice guys do finish first.

Protest

I was just a little kid growing up during the Vienam War. It made me nervous because as I got older, it was looking like I may have to go. The war ended when I was eighteen. Over the years, I wanted to know more about it. It seemed scary to me how much our government lied to us on a daily basis about body counts and how we were winning. We were led to believe we were saving Vietnam from being overtaken by communist China. That theory turned out to be wrong. Just because Vietnam is communist doesn't mean they wanted to be ruled by China. They would have fought China as long and hard as they fought us. The war protesters at the time were called commies and traitors. Yet in hindsight they were the ones who were really pro military. They saved the lives of thousands of American soldiers by eventually forcing our government to get the hell out of there. Vietnam is now still communist but they are also a good trading partner and friend. The war served no purpose. Now we have our current government caught in daily lies about the Iraq war. The same kind of "you're either with us or against us" mentality prevails. All protesters are labeled anti-military when in fact they might be the ones who don't want to see soldiers being killed for some political agenda. We were all for going to Afghanistan so it's not like these protesters are just anti any war. There was no reason for this war. Worse is that the planners thought it would be a cakewalk. They seem shocked and stunned by what is happening there now. Their only plan is to say everything is fine and going according to plan. So like the sixties, maybe it's the war protesters who are really pro military and will come to the rescue again.

Life And Death Decision

The argument over the death penalty for me isn't about these big high profile cases. Yes, Zarcarius Moussaoui was involved in a horrible act. Yes, Timothy McVeigh is a monster. Yes, the world is full of serial murderers and child rapists. But the world is also full of us, people. We are not perfect. We make mistakes, lots of them. Sometimes we the people are on juries and sometimes we are swayed by false testimony. Sometimes people have an ax to grind and put forth phony evidence. People feel this person is guilty so they tamper and taint a little, just to make sure there is a conviction. Then there is the color of people's skin or they talk a little funny. What the death penalty is about is the little guy, not the high profile cases on CNN. There are hundreds of people let out of death row all the time because we found out in hindsight that they were completely innocent. It's very easy to want to kill a thousand Moussaoui's or McVeigh's, but if that also means we accidentally kill an innocent person once in a while then is it woth it? I say no. It's easy for me to say this because I've never had anyone drive a plane into a loved one or blow up anyone I know. But I get tired of seeing people released after serving eighteen years for something they didn't do. Think of all the innocent people our country must have executed over the years thinking we were doing the right thing.

i made it into Juxtapoz Magazines reader art. check it out here

Street Art

I found this sticker of mine someone put up in Brooklyn. It's probably been up there for a year or two. I love how it blends into all the other weathered stickers. There are so many great street artists doing amazing stickers and stencils. Every week I see some new painting bolted to a street sign. They are all so fantastic. Most people just blindly walk by. I guess it's just like life, the masses sleepwalk through life doing what the television tells them to do. The rest of us are subversive street artists.

i made it into Juxtapoz Magazines reader art. check it out here

Listen to a great podcast of artist Jack Tea Gregory here

Jammin' Jenny

When I visit my friend Jenny in Maryland, there usually isn't a lot for me to do in the house. So I end up doing a lot of drawing. There isn't a lot to draw either so I make do with what's available. I was spending time drawing stuff in her refrigerator. Skippy peanut butter jars, Ginseng jars, tropicana orange juice. Jenny likes to watch what I'm doing, because it is so ridiculous. She asked if I would draw something for her. Jenny gave me this jar of jam. It's her favorite thing in the world. All jams come in the same short round jar. This one breaks the mold of jam packaging. For some reason, it caught her eye in a Korean supermarket. When she came to America, she was schocked to find it in the first supermarket she went into. I'm telling this nutty story because of how my sketches actually help me to bond with people. It's like we did this drawing together. She even wrote some thoughts in Korean on my sketch. When I got back to New York, I scanned it and made a nice print which I framed for her. So instead of sitting around watching television, I got to do a drawing about Jenny which will hang in her apartment. She now has a conversation piece to brag to all her friends and neighbors about. I've got a new item for my blog.

Scooter Pie

This is a direct quote from our commander in cheese, George W. in 2003: "I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it and we'll take the appropriate action." He's the president so he is allowed to declassify information. No one really cared if it was technically classified or not. We the people wanted to know who leaked the information, period. Well guess what? Libby testified before a grand jury, and revealed who authorized the leaks. It was Bush and Cheney. George W. is either one of two things: A) the dumbest guy on the planet for not knowing he was the one who authorized the leaks; or B) a liar. Take your pick. I say, C) All of the above.

He's Like A Rainblo

The latest issue of Paper magazine has it's 54 most beautiful people issue. One of the stars is the fabulous Rainblo. He's the newest sensation in New York. He's a drag queen performer. He also happens to be a good friend of my pal, Jun. I've hung out with him a bunch and he is a lot of laughs, as you can imagine. He has all of the garbage pail kids tatooed on his arms. I get tired of always hanging out with the so-called normal people. We can all use a little glamour in our lives and Rainblo provides tons of it. You should see this guy make an entrance. Whatever it is he's got, I hope a little rubs off on me.

My friend danny Gregory of Everyday Matters did a 2 part podcast with me. You can check it out here.

I also have a post at The Drawing Club. You can check that out here.

George Clooney

That's right, I said George Clooney. My good friend Tony Gilroy is a writer of Hollywood films. He's had quite a lot of success to say the least. He's written The Devil's Advocate, Dolores Claiborne, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, Armageddon, Proof of Life, and on and on. Anyway he is finally getting to direct his first movie which he also wrote. Turns out George Clooney is the star of his film. Tony was kind enough to invite me to the set to watch a scene being filmed. I was very excited about being able to draw and also to hang with George for eight hours. Sometimes I turn up in unusual places because I know a lot of freaks. People on the set were very interested in what I was doing. For them, it's not everyday they see some guy drawing everything in sight. Sometimes I forget the novelty of what I do. Anyway, I think the movie will come out in the fall. It's called Michael Clayton and it will most likely sweep the academy awards. You heard it here.

My friend danny Gregory of Everyday Matters did a 2 part podcast with me. You can check it out here.

I also have a post at The Drawing Club. You can check that out here.

Delay Reaction

"He served our nation with integrity and honor." Say what? Come again? That's a quote from new majority leader John Boehner, a republican from Ohio. I think he was trying to be serious. Tom Delay has had to basically leave office because of so much corruption, lies and scandal. He was running a very cleverly concealed money laundering operation, for years I might add. His deputy chief of staff is going to prison. His pal Jack Abramoff is going to prison. But what I want to know is how can this dude Boehner, which sounds a lot like boner, make a statement like that with a straight face? If I said something like that in catholic school as a kid, I would have had my knuckles wacked bloody for lying. Serving this country with honor and integrity is to be honest and honorable, not to win at all cost. No wonder no one in this country believes a word any politician says these days.