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NYC TEEN HEARTTHROB- TONY NEBYOS- COURTESY JOEY ARIAS

GUMBY DIES

CLASSIC GUMBY INTRO


Art Clokey, the creator of the whimsical clay figure Gumby, died in his sleep Friday at his home in Los Osos, Calif., after battling repeated bladder infections, his son Joseph said. He was 88.

i grew up with gumby. he was a saturday morning regular. as a kid watched in wide-eyed wonder how they got all those special claymation effects,
along with pokie, prickle and goo, he will be sorely missed.


Clokey and his wife, Ruth, invented Gumby in the early 1950s at their Covina home shortly after Art had finished film school at USC. After a successful debut on "The Howdy Doody Show," Gumby soon became the star of its own hit television show, "The Adventures of Gumby," the first to use clay animation on television.

After an initial run in the 1950s, Gumby enjoyed comebacks in the 1960s as a bendable children's toy, in the 1980s after comedian Eddie Murphy parodied the kindly Gumby as a crass, cigar-in-the-mouth character in a skit for "Saturday Night Live" and again in the '90s with the release of "Gumby the Movie."

Today, Gumby is a cultural icon recognized around the world. It has more than 134,000 fans on Facebook.



As successive generations discovered the curious green character, Gumby’s success came to define Clokey's life, with its theme song reflecting Clokey's simple message of love: "If you've got a heart, then Gumby's a part of you."

Clokey was born Arthur Farrington in Detroit in October 1921 and grew up making mud figures on his grandparents' Michigan farm. "He always had this in him," his son, Joseph, recalled Friday.

At age 8, Clokey's life took a tragic turn when his father was killed in a car accident soon after his parents divorced. The unusual shape of Gumby's head would eventually be modeled after one of the few surviving photos of Clokey's father, which shows him with a large wave of hair protruding from the right side of his head.

After moving to California, Clokey was abandoned by his mother and her new husband and lived in a halfway house near Hollywood until age 11, when he was adopted by Joseph W. Clokey. The renowned music teacher and composer at Pomona College taught him to draw, paint and shoot film and took him on journeys to Mexico and Canada.


Clokey's 1953 experimental film, "Gumbasia," used stop-motion clay animation set to a lively jazz tempo. It became the inspiration for the subsequent Gumby TV show when Sam Engel, the president of 20th Century Fox and father of one of Clokey's students, saw the film and asked Clokey to produce a children's television show based on the idea.


Gumby's ability to enchant generations of children and adults had a mystical quality to it, said his son, and reflected his father's spiritual quest. In the 1970s, Clokey studied Zen Buddhism, traveled to India to study with gurus and experimented with LSD and other drugs, though all of that came long after the creation of Gumby, his son said.


Besides his son Joseph, Clokey is survived by his stepdaughter, Holly Harman of Mendocino County; three grandchildren, Shasta, Sequoia and Sage Clokey; his sister, Arlene Cline of Phoenix; and his half-sister, Patricia Anderson of Atlanta.

"Gumby was green because my dad cared about the environment," his son said.
jason.felch@latimes.com
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SAN FRANCISCO- EARTHQUAKE-1906

i always loved this hymn that jeanette macdonald sings @ the end of SAN FRANCISCO- 1936. a classic movie, a classic rendition from a classic scene.

JOHN PALATINUS: TOMORROW'S MAN

Antebellum gallery, the only fetish art gallery in America, is proud to present the first exhibition of

JOHN PALATINUS: TOMORROW’S MAN

In the early part of the 20th century the only photographs of men's bodies were the famous Eadweard Mubridge studies of men in motion, bare knuckled prize fighters and the advertisements of Charles Atlas, an early advocate of men's fitness.

During the late Forties and early Fifties a group of mostly gay men began doing "artistic studies" of bodybuilders with carefully concealed genitalia, or in posing straps. Among these pioneers were Lon of New York, Bruce of Los Angeles, Bob Mizer of Athletic Model Guild, Mel Roberts of California, and John Palatinus of New York.

Also at this time a series of new publications emerged: Tomorrows Man, Vim, Manuel, Physique Pictorial and others celebrating the male physique. Thru these magazines homoerotic works were seen nation wide. In many cases for the first time. In compensation the photographers were given free advertisements to sell their work.

Many did a brisk business as these photos were considered "hot stuff" in this era.






All this was happening during the Eisenhower administration, a very repressive time for gay people in America. Bars were raided and closed on a regular basis. Those arrested had their names published in the local papers, completely ruining their lives. Witch-hunts were conducted in the State Department to find gay diplomats. McCarthyism was in full bloom.

The Post office had it's own agenda, stamping out so called pornography thru the mail. All of the physique photographers were harassed. Some had their studios raided and were put out of business among them- John Palatinus of New York.

Now more than 50 years after the fact most of these early pioneering physique photographers are long gone, and their work forgotten.

Today homoerotic photography is finally getting its props. There are many young collectors who have sparked a new interest in these early works. The internet has played a major role in this revival. Old collections of photographs and magazines have been pulled out of attics and are now disseminated all over the world.

Today’s fashion photographers are using vintage physique photographs as inspiration for shoots they do for campaigns. Men’s fashion magazines create editorial features of men's underwear posed in a Fifties physique look.

Photographers of this era like Rick Castro, Greg Day, Matthias Herrmann and Jay Jorgensen are keepers of the flame. Other artists like Nick Burger and John Palatinus are finally having their work presented.


Antebellum gallery is proud to present the first ever exhibition of John Palatinus and some of his peers from the past, present and future.

Welcome TOMORROW’S MAN!

Opening reception- February 14th, Valentine’s Day, 2010.

7-9pm

Live models on display!

John Palatinus – in person!

(john palatinus- circa 1958)

ABOUT JOHN PALATINUS

John Palatinus was one of the pioneering early physique photographers of the 1950's.

Along with Lon of New York, Bruce of Los Angeles, and Bob Mizer of Athletic Model Guild, he helped creates a whole new genre of male photography.

Palatinus was noted for his use of light and shadow to highlight the topography of the male physique. He used clean light washed backgrounds to clearly define the figure at a time when some photographers were using kitschy sets and props.

Palatinus was born in South Bend, Indiana in 1929 and lived & worked in that area as a window display designer. During this period he attended Indiana University.

In 1954 he began photographing young body builders of South Bend. His work first appeared in "Tomorrows Man" a pocket seized bodybuilding magazine that featured the same type of young male physique.

A move to New York City came in 1956 where he had a studio on West 13th street in Greenwich Village. He continued to be featured in "TM" and did a thriving business selling his photographs nationwide.

Beginning in 1958, Palatinus started shooting and selling full frontal nude photos thru the mail. This proved to be an unfortunate move His "Village" studio was raided by the US Postal Inspectors in cooperation with New York Police Department. All of his photographs, original negatives, cameras, lights and equipment were confiscated never to be returned. John Palatinus was very effectively put out of business

After a trial, he was convicted not of distribution of so-called pornography, but of conspiracy, a misdemeanor charge, and spent no time in jail.

Palatinus now lives in Palm Springs, California and may be one of the only photographers sill alive from the 1950's era of physique photography.

Antebellum is proud and honored to present the comeback of John Palatinus: welcome- TOMORROW’S MAN!
february 14th thru march 20th

Special Salon Event

KINKY CAMERA CLUB



Antebellum brings back the camera club from the 1950’s.

Open to photographers of all levels, from amateur to hobbyist to pros.

Live physique model.

Hosted by John Palatinus

February 21st

1-3pm

$65 – advance with CC

$75 @ the door

Antebellum
1643 N. Las Palmas Ave
Hollywood, CA 90028
323 856-0667
www.antebellum.us.ms
antebellum@earthlink.net

THE MEANEST MAN IN THE WORLD

you know i always got annoyed with peta-type people that place animals over people, but after watching this video i am now
100 % in support of animals rights. this has to be the cruelest thing i have ever seen.... when i watch this hidden camera footage i grab my kitties in a knee-jerk reaction and hug them in place of this little dog who endured this
assholes beating.

thanks to the "internets," EVERYONE now knows this guy. his happy days are OVER! there will be animal justice.

WALRUS SUCKS HIS OWN DICK

very funny, cute and sorta bizarre all @ the same time.

MY FUTURE HOME

the new home of FRANKLYN SINGLEY in cleveland, ohio. my dream home, and future part-time residence.

RON ATHEY GETS MARRIED

(ron and alfredo flanked by our witnesses Franko B. and Lawrence)



well i now know i am old and a full fledged adult. performance artist, one of the stars of my film, (hustler white) and longtime friend- RON ATHEY got married to his partner alfredo on jan 6th, 2010!

CONGRATULATIONS RON & ALFREDO.

these images make me so emotional... i can't explain... so i will just share.

RICK TAKES A TRAIN TRIP

(traditional new mexican breakfast)

JAN 5TH, 2010

my last day in jemez springs....
time always goes so fast when i'm here.. i don't want to leave... raymond makes the most amazing breakfast of eggs, bacon, potatoes and prerequisite red chili. raymond is such a good cook- he will make someone a wonderful wife.

on the way down the mountain matt does his best to annoy me one more time as a good-bye present. he goes on a tirade about how easy the natives on the reservation have it, how they get everything for free and are rich beyond belief, how all his hard earned tax dollars pay for the pueblos. finally at my wits end i point out to matt that raymond's family lives on a reservation... his response.. "i didn't mean that reservation." PS- raymond has paid and cooked for matt for the past 2 days... matt doesn't even have a job.


(poltergeist condos where glib neocons live)

we thankfully drop matt off at his poltergeist, looking track condo, GOOD BYE... i have not met someone that dumb and arrogant for awhile, a lethal combination. i am not the type of gay guy that usually says stuff like this, but in matt's case- he is a closet.

we go to south albq in search of a surplus store.. (I want to get my FB a pair of combat boots to wear the next time i fuck him). on the way there along central avenue, we pass a 4 car accident.. this makes raymond nervous.. a few miles later, we hear a thud behind us. "was that a crash?" i say. directly next to us this woman's car has been dented in, on her tail is a guy in a suv which also has damage. before our very eyes, the guy rams the lady in the rear, causing her to veer off the road and tumble into the shrubs of a sonic drive in. she actually almost rolls over, the car completely falls apart! this is another reason why i drive and old car, new cars are made of Styrofoam. we try to copy down the culprits license plate but he is weaving in and out of traffic. raymond is freaked out and wants nothing to do with it.. he keeps saying, "this is why i hate leaving jemez springs!"



a few miles up we encounter another accident! it is crazy.. after leaving the surplus store, (empty handed BTW) we see another major accident up ahead. it is so big we are diverted by the highway patrol. this is so crazy. we have witnessed 4 major accidents within 1/2 hour on one 3 mile stretch of road! as we pass the accident, (6 cars in total) raymond shouts out, "LOOK! that's the car that ran the lady off the road!"

apparently this guy had gone postal and was ramming into random cars up and down central avenue. this last accident was also his last.

perfect time to leave albq.



4:30PM

i say good bye to raymond and am now on the train.
i have dinner with a young kid whom i'll call "albert," because i forgot his name. he's kinda sexy in that innocent 19 year old way. also at our table are a couple of sweet ladies who i initially thought were lesbians, they turn out to be missionaries.. i guess it's kinda the same thing. the four of us have a lively chat. the entire time the train is stationary. we are over one hour delayed. another reason to not recommend train travel.


there is every walk of life on this train! a whole group of amish people, men with beards, women with bonnets. a couple whom are in all black, they look like pilgrims going to a funeral. military guys in their cammies, really fat people with really fat kids, allot of cholos and their kids, bikers, FOPs, (fresh out of prison) students and a random gay. it was hysterical to see this loud/drunk cholo guy wearing headphones, shouting at this horrified amish couple, "IS THIS SEAT TAKEN? IS THIS SEAT TAKEN?" the comb of this cultural clash/climax was sometime i will remember and giggle about for years to come.


9:45pm

bored out of my mind... trying to sleep, which is impossible. couldn't deal with the biker- FOP, (fresh out of prison) passenger next to me so have been spending all of my time in the observation car. reading, blogging, dreaming, you name it.

11:50pm

i'm hanging out with "albert," the kid who shared lunch with me & the missionary ladies. turns out his name is jason. he is strumming his guitar. jason reminds me allot of my old roommate from the early 1990s- anthony. i met him back in 1993 on the street and asked him to model for me. we became friends and he moved in with me for about one year. he was what we used to call a hot heshen. the sweetest guy and surprisingly good looking. last time i saw him was in 2000. he was living in berkley as an apartment manager and got fat.

jason is very interesting for his age- 21- goes to collage in albq and is majoring in physical science, which is basically a degree in PE. he is also a gymnast since age 8, a black belt in karate and he likes yoga. sounds like a well rounded young man. he is interested to visit antebellum. i give him my website and tell him to decide after he checks it out.. i'm curious to see if he comes in... i'm betting that he will.

the conductor gives me an upgrade to a section all to myself! what a doll. he in fact is a doll.. looks like he's a cross between native, black and latino. he's nice & tall- deep shy voice. basically- H-O-T.

JAN 6TH
5:01am

i'm one of the only people who goes to the dinning car for breakfast. what a joke.. all they have is a "continental breakfast" which consists of cereal, soggy cursant,, yogurt in a plastic container and $3 bucks extra for bacon that looks like colored cardboard. the food is awful.. this guy in front of me with two young boys is complaining about everything. he is not happy.. the waitress and conductor do all they can to appease him. they give him free cereal, free milk, offer reimbursements, apologies. one of his boys responds, " they better give us allot of free things daddy, make us a good deal." he is only 6 yrs. old. my they learn young.

8:04am

we're very close to LA, just passed fullerton. the hot/sweet conductor is picking up all the garbage. he gets on his hands & knees and picks up garbage beneath my feet.. i like him even more.



(union station- los angeles)
8:30am

arrive @ UNION STATION, such a beauty of a building.
i shake hands good-bye to the hot conductor and take the redline to my home and open the front door. my two kitties-
PYEWACKETT & SYMPATHY are right where i left them like time has stood still. i am home- I LOVE MY LIFE.

(my white cat- sympathy)

RICK TAKES A TRAIN TRIP

JAN 4TH, 2O1O

we get up @ the crack of dawn, (actually 7:30am) to go on our road trip! brush our teethes, feed the huskies and we're flying down the mountain to pick up matt, who is all excited and ready to go. and we're off!


(the sights & sounds of espanola)

we drive approx. 2 hours to a little town called ESPANOLA. the city has a bad rep of being the east LA of new mexico, and heroin capital, but i am curious. i'm convinced that the interesting things these days no longer happen in large cities, but in small towns. that's where artists can afford to create, and not have all their income go to living expenses. espanola is also where the LOW RIDER was invented.


(big dawgs restaurant)

(raymond's van in front of big dawgs restaurant)

"i'm hungry," i announce so we look for a good, local place to eat... raymond and i are pretty good @ finding cheap/good food and we do it once again. a little diner called BIG DAWGS. the chili was amazing- and i mean amazing! bright red- hot, but not too hot, and the green chili was even better. raymond is impressed and it's hard to impress him when it comes to chili.


(big dawg's portrait)

big dawg's portrait is above our table.... i'm guessing he was a gang member who was shot in a drive-by. i could be totally off the mark, but that is my guess. they have the best recreation of the sistine chapel's CREATION OF ADAM- that i have ever seen, and i do love "muriels."


(me in front of the "muriel," recreation of michaelangelo's- creation of adam)

we take in a few more sights & sounds of espanola, everyone is intrigued with the place.. don't get me wrong, it's a pit, but an intriguing pit.


(the sights & sounds of espanola)

our next stop is EL SANTUARIO DE CHIMAYO they have RELIGIOUS DIRT. as the lore goes, In the early 19th Century, nineteen families lived in what was then called El Potrero de Chimayó (potrero means pasture).


(matt & i in front of el santuario de chimayo)

when the missionaries first came to this area, they found a relic, (fetish?!) with a beam of light shining brightly upon it. accepting this as a miracle, they build the church on this spot, after completion the spot was still illuminating. the priesty's decided that this was a sign from god and left a hole in the floor with the exposed dirt. the locals began to come by this now sacred room and take dirt from the hole, believing it to have healing properties. eventually people would make pilgrimages here to cure any ailment they and their loved ones might have.

that is my take on it, here is the official press release-

The land where the Santuario now stands belonged to Don Fernando Abeyta, one of the first members of Los Hermanos de la Fraternidad Piadosa de Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno (the Penitentes) in the area. Also, he was probably devoted to the Christ of Esquipulas, a pilgrimage site in Guatemala where the clay is ascribed healing power.

Fernando Abeyta built a small chapel to the Christ of Esquipulas on the present site around 1810. On November 15, 1813, he wrote to Father Sebastián Álvarez, the parish priest of Santa Cruz de la Cañada, asking him to write to the Episcopal See of Durango for permission to build a bigger church in which the people of El Potrero could worship Jesus as he appeared at Esquipulas and could hear Mass The next day, Fr. Álvarez wrote the letter, mentioning that cures were reported and many pilgrims were arriving.

Abeyta's daughter, Carmen Abeyta de Chaves, inherited the property and kept it despite an attempt to force her to give it to the Church; a major source of her income was donations from pilgrims. Her daughter, María de los Ángeles Chaves, inherited it in turn and was the owner as of 1915. In 1929, when the owners were in financial trouble, members of the newly formed Spanish Colonial Arts Society bought the property and donated it to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

Many visitors to the church take a small amount of the "holy dirt", often in hopes of a miraculous cure for themselves or someone who could not make the trip. Formerly, at least, they often ate the dirt. (Likewise pilgrims to the original shrine of Esquipulas eat the supposedly curative clay found there.) Now seekers of cures more commonly rub themselves with the dirt or simply keep it. The Church replaces the dirt in the pocito from the nearby hillsides, sometimes more than once a day, for a total of about 25 or 30 tons a year.





The Church takes no position on whether miracles have occurred at the Santuario.

Each year some 30,000 people from all over the world make pilgrimages to the Santuario de Chimayó, especially on Holy Thursday and Good Friday, some seeking blessings and some in fulfillment of a vow. Walking is traditional; some pilgrims walk from as far away as Albuquerque, about 90 miles... we drove.

rio de Chimayó was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1970.







(prosthetics & crutches from the past ailing visitors)

the room was pretty amazing, even for an heathen like me. i loved the way it looked and loved the idea of religious dirt. the adjoining room had numerous crutches, prosthetics and locks of hair from the many past ailing visitors.
we then check out the local shops and relics. the entire area had a beautiful glow.. it was an amazing experience, very organic.















we drive back to espanola. we just can't get enough. raymond wants to buy local red chilies. the chili stand is right next to a street called ROSEBUD. we find that very amusing.. can you guess why?




( local red chilies @ rosebud lane)

raymond is excited to take a photo of this dive bar called SAINTS & SINNERS. btw- there is also a saints & sinners in culver city.. i'm thinking the owners visited espanola and knocked off the name & sign.



(raymond & i in front of saints & sinners)

we decide to go into the bar and are very pleasantly surprised. saints & sinners is a gourmet liquor store with an incredible selection of spirits, wine, hard liquor, soft liquor, beer and gourmet sodas.


(me & dennis- owner of saints & sinners)

they have one table which the owner dennis calls "the bar." dennis also tells us that he has owned saints & sinners since 1965!!.. a few years back the roof began to leak so he closed the bar section of the building to repair it.. one thing lead to another and he never repaired or reopened the bar. so we sit with at the one table with a local and shoot the bull, drinking root bear, locally brewed beer and munching on blue corn- popcorn. it was a blast.


matt, raymond & i, - happy hour @ saints & sinners)

we have a leisurely, beautiful drive home taking the scenic route. matt is starting to work my nerves.. he can be fun, and then other times he is such a spoiled, trust funded republican dumbo.. all his taking points are directly out of fox news. as we past this beautiful area called, VALLES CALDERA. he insists that george bush made it a national park. i know for a fact that clinton was responsible and signed the bill in 2000.




(me & kia, chauegha & azula)

once back home, raymond makes this INCREDIBLE meal. blue corn chicken tacos with homemade guacamole, salsa and red chili.. WOW.. what a meal.. he must be the best cook in new mexico. i curl up with raymond's three huskies dogs and watch john waters's A DIRTY SHAME with matt, who complains about how weird it is the entire time. i go online and find confirmation that clinton did indeed sign valles caldera as a national park. i email this info to matt.. we will see what neocon response he has.