It’s been a shamefully long time since I’ve updated the blog so I decided to dust off an old gem from my Facebook notes. Why write new and relevant posts when I can just copy and paste something from Oct of last year? It may be old, but this is one of the most absurd and funny correspondences I have ever had so it’s certainly worth reposting.
I have changed the name and place of the other party involved in this exchange. Read on… Read More
Out here in Huntsville that is. Recently my town in Alabama has gone viral with two local news clips that found their way on to YouTube and have taken off like one of our city’s trademark rockets.
First up is this colorful fellow who shares an interesting opinion about struttin’ in Big Spring Park, an area you may be familiar with via my work even if you don’t live in HSV.
The city of Huntsville may have pushed the boundaries of acceptable humor in regards to homelessness and alcohol induced brain poisoning with the struttin’ guy, but our latest viral video phenom has somehow achieved the impossible and made the subject of a local woman’s escape from an attempted rapist (and IDIOT!) the most LOL’d item in America’s Facebook feeds since Double Rainbow.
Did you know that Huntsville, Alabama has the most PhD’s per square mile of any… Err, never mind.
So what’s next for Alabama’s engineering and science capital? Well, tomorrow yours truly will be featured in the Sunday issue of the Huntsville Times, but if you are online (you aren’t reading the print edition of my blog are you?) you can read it right now on AL.com!
Also, Giraffe.
It’s time for another THG show, ya’ll. This time we are playing once again at Bottletree in Birmingham, Alabama. We will be sharing the stage with local surf-rock legends, the Necronomokids as well as blasphemous mobile punks, Supreme Dispassion. The show is going down, Friday August 27th.
Last time Three Happenin Guys played at Bottletree it was for our tenth anniversary special. Not our best show ever, but it definitely was the one with the most goodie bags, and who can have a bad night when they are wearing a party hat? No one: That’s who.
To kick off that show I made an intro video that played on a large screen in front of the band. The idea was that we would be hidden behind the screen and the video would get the audience super pumped, then at the conclusion of the vid the screen would drop to the ground and THG would melt everyones’ faces off with our birthday rock. Unfortunately the video was not played loudly enough to be heard over the hundreds of party whistles and noisemakers that we had handed out (poor foresight on our part) so instead of everyone hearing a super-epic pump up intro, they were just stuck watching 3 minutes of slowly drifting planets.
Well, better late than never. Now you can watch AND listen to the intro I created for our last show, and maybe it will get you hyped for the upcoming August gig. It’s a slow boil, but if you are patient you will be treated to the beautiful falsetto Native American stylings of yours truly. It’s Pure Moods, 2010.
Here is my new painting of a duck. The framed original can be yours for $250. Prints are $25.
Germany Duck
Here’s a painting that I completed a few weeks ago and won first place for at Huntsville Museum of Art’s Imagine Tomorrow exhibition.
Members Only
I got 250 big ones as an award, all of which went straight into construction costs for my new studio.
Speaking of which, the studio is almost done! I’m putting the finishing touches on my AV booth and it is so beautiful that words cannot describe. So once I’ve dotted the last i, I will put together a video to show off all the new gear and space. How exciting!
Like my new painting? Like it so much you want to own it? I’m selling the framed original for $500 (SOLD). Email or FB me if you are interested. I’m also printing these, so click HERE if you’d like to order a full-size reproduction for just 35 bucks.
….approximately.
And to celebrate tonight we are putting on a party like no other at Bottletree Cafe in Birmingham, Alabama. If you are anywhere near Iron City tonight you do not want to be anywhere else. We have been practicing and planning for over a month to put on one of biggest and best spectacles yet.
Strange and amazing things happen when Three Happenin Guys music is played. Our latest promo video is a great example of this phenomenon.
Three Happenin Guys have been practicing non-stop for our upcoming 10th anniversary show at Bottletree on May 28th. If you haven’t bought your tickets yet, get them now because they are going fast! And if you are on Facebook, RSVP at our event page and spread the word about the show. It’s going to be a night like no other.
If you know THG well, you’re familiar with the fact that we only play our own original tunes. Recently we tried our hand at a cover song though, thinking it would really be a stand-out gem in our set. It didn’t work out the way we thought it would. I could try to describe in text all the gritty details of our attempt at covering a classic, but I think a video will paint a truer picture. Check it out…
It’s been a while since I posted anything on the blog, which is a shame considering that my new studio space is now mostly functional and mostly painted. A lot of you folks are responsible for me being able to afford my new luxury suite, so I should do a better job of keeping you up to date on my building progress. Sorry for the slacking. Here are some pics of the space by my photographer friend, Ashley Vaughn…
My buddy Greg hooked me up with a sweet couch that completely makes the place.
My most recent watercolors are coming along and should be done in about a week or so. I couldn’t decide what to put in the fish painting so I started on a new piece involving a wolverine, a giant snail, and a duck with a traditional German hat. Changing things up was a smart move because I figured out the final figures for the fish painting during the meantime.
Want to check out my new studio space in video form? Well you are in luck. Yesterday I was interviewed for WHNT News 19 in Huntsville about my Tim James spoof ad, and I made sure that it was shot in my studio and included lots of views of my space and my dog. Here’s the vid…
Isn’t that Betty cute?
So here is the part where I continue to beg for your money. I know it looks like my new studio is finished now, but you haven’t seen behind the curtain. I’m really only half-way done, and I can’t finish things until I have raised or earned the cash to do so. What’s left to do? For one thing, the entire exterior is still just unfinished drywall. I still have to mud and paint it, which requires help from friends more so than money. The things that are actually going to cost money are drywalling the interior of my AV booth and applying trim to the tops and bottoms of my studio walls. Doing all of this to complete the space will cost roughly $300 bucks (100 for drywall, 200 for moulding), so if you are feeling generous, please make a donation using the ChipIn widget on the right, or buy some prints, or just show up on my doorstep with a giant novelty check.
And thank you so much to everyone who has already contributed. Without you guys I would be painting in a carboard hooverville right now. Instead, Betty and I are working in the lap of luxury.
Okay, so your favorite band in the world isn’t really running for office, but we are campaigning to have a rip-roaring 10th anniversary celebration performance at Bottletree on May 28th with The Grenadines and Howlies. This is going to be the Three Happenin Guys show of the decade, so purchase your tickets now!
There are two exciting shows coming up that you need to go to. Both feature Happenin Records bands, and both are going to be super-rad.
The first show is, ummm, tonight. Sorry for the late notice, but get in your car and drive to Montevallo around 9 o’clock to see Shining Path and Walker Yancey at Eclipse Coffee and Books. Here’s a great promo that Chris made for the show…
The next gig is much further down the road, but it’s a BIGGIE. Three Happenin Guys are having our tenth year anniversary, and it is going to be a ten year old’s birthday that you will never forget. Plus, it’s going down at BottleTree, arguably the best indie music venue in the state of Alabama. We plan on promoting the hell out of this show and hopefully selling the place out. If you plan on coming out on May 28th, do yourself a favor and go ahead and buy your tickets NOW…
If you are a living, breathing person with an internet connection, by now you have heard of chatroulette.com, the sensational website that irresponsibly connects random and anonymous strangers across the world via webcam.
Chat Roulette is what the internet has been working it’s way up to since it’s inception, and I’m surprised that it took so long for the concept to be realized. Imagine a website with no restrictions, no registration, no age limit, no terms of service agreement, and no consequences. At the click of a button you are connected to a person that you will probably never see again in your life. The social possibilities are endless!
You can do anything in this experimental play land. What will you do?
Obviously the answer is “Expose myself and or mastrubate!”. Or at least that’s what every other male Chat Roulette user decides to do. Kind of a bummer because there are so many more creative possibilities in this new medium. But hey, the nature of the Chat Roulette format is a lawless one. I guess in a lawless world, most men just want to play with themselves in front of everyone they meet.
My friends Caroline, Brad, Corry and I have loftier aspirations for Chat Roulette though. Aspirations that include puppet shows, bait-n-switch pranks, and even converting strangers to our own newly-created cult. You can watch it all in our latest video.
As an added bonus, I’ve edited out all the penises! If that sentence doesn’t disappoint you, enjoy!
Yesterday I finished putting up the drywall for the gallery portion of my new studio.
Let me tell you, I now understand why people encouraged me to pay someone else to do this part. Drywall sucks. Mostly because it’s heavy as S. Moving 40 sheets of the stuff to the second floor of Lowe Mill was not fun. Mounting it to my frames was also pretty difficult because the floors in this century-old factory are very unleveled, resulting in me having to make a lot of compensating cuts to get the drywall square.
The hard work was worth it though. My new space finally has a defined form, and it looks beautiful.
I was fortunate enough to get three huge, old, beautiful windows donated to let lots of natural light into my space. There are ages of gunk built up on these hundred pound double-pane six footers. I’ve probably scrubbed the things 4 times each now, but they are still dingy as all get-out. Maybe the fifth bath will do the trick.
I also put up some 6 foot bi-fold doors. The extra large opening will hopefully encourage more people to naturally wander into my space and check out my work.
That’s as far as I’ve gotten so far. Next I’ve got to mud the gaps, sand, and paint. Now that I’m all walled up I can move my stuff into the new space, but I’m still far from finished. I plan on having a grand-opening celebration on April 17th. There should be some great food, possibly keg beer, some new paintings and prints available for sale, AND it’s Record Store Day (my new space is directly across the hall from Vertical House Records)! More details soon.
I just wrapped up the framing portion of building my new studio on the second floor of Lowe Mill. It’s 2:30 in the morning and I’ve been working non-stop, so I’m gonna keep this short and go to bed.
Here’s the entrance view of my studio. I’ve angled the opening so that people will naturally be drawn in as they round the corner at the intersection of the two halls. I also installed a big window right next to my work area so that people will see into my space as they come down the ramp. The elevation of the ramp outside of the space gives people a nice view down onto my work area so they can see whatever I’m working on on my drafting table.
This area is my soundbooth. It’s going to have a big double-paned glass window right in front of the desk, and it’s roomy enough inside to fit a full drum kit, so I should be able to work on all kinds of loud projects in this soundproofed space.
Now that I’m finished framing It’s time to move on to drywalling. I have very little experience in this area so hopefully I can do a half-decent job. Nothing more distracting for an art gallery than uneven walls.
That’s it for now. If you would like to make a donation of any size to help me complete this space, just use the ChipIn widget on the right side of the page, or buy some prints from my shop. Thanks, and good night.
Fancy blueprint for my new studio.
On Thursday I successfully lectured a group of people for a full hour, and they were actually there to listen by their own free will! It was very refreshing in comparison to teaching art in public school, where nearly everyone would rather be someplace else. I had a lot of fun, and I think the guests did too. I talked about painting, animation, pop-ups, puppets, video, social experiments, and all of my creative interests. I also showed a lot of examples of my artwork and work by some of my biggest influences. The turnout wasn’t huge, but the crowd was full of faces that I was happy to see.
I put a lot of planning into keeping the pace of my talk fresh and entertaining. People seemed to enjoy it, but not everyone appreciated the effort.
Afterwards we were all treated to some delicious catering by my friends Ashley and Ellis. We put out a donation jar and I was able to raise $200 to go towards building my new studio!
We shot video of the entire talk, and I hope to get it edited and uploaded as soon as I get settled into my new studio space. Till then you can check out this beautiful set of photos of the event shot by my friend Ashley Vaughn.
Thanks again to all who came out. You folks make me happy to be be working in Huntsville.
Tomorrow evening I will be giving a lecture about my artwork at Lowe Mill. Refreshments will be served and seating will begin at 5:00 and I will start talking at 5:30. If you live in Huntsville and can make it in time from work, I hope you can attend this little event. I plan on mostly speaking about autobiographical stuff; just highlighting moments of my creative history from childhood until now. Of course I will talk about my paintings, but I will also discuss music, video, and all of those interests that have kept me busy for the last 20+ years. Here’s a sneak peak of what the event should be like:
If you plan on coming, RSVP on my FaceBook event page.
I look forward to talking at you for an hour.
I’ve spent the past few days since I last posted about building my new studio space collecting wood from various sources. I’ve collected a nice pile so far and should now be able to frame my entire studio this week without having to buy much new lumber.
I’ve already thrown up a wall and a half using left-over wood from the original materials that were used to house the old space. Since framing this small area by hand, a generous friend has loaned me his nail gun, so I should be able to zip along through the rest of the process.
Betty does not like the noise generated by all this construction one bit, so she spends most of these days at the opposite end of the hall, looking very sad. But you know what? She always looks sad…
During public visiting hours at the Mill I can’t work on my construction, so I’ve had a little free time to paint. Yesterday I added a little bit more background to my giant fish painting. I’m going to try to get this painting done in time for my artist talk this Thursday, and hopefully even have prints made by then to sell at the event. Hopefully there are enough hours in a day to pull it off.
Don’t forget that I am taking donations to help build my studio, and no contribution is too small. I’ve already collected enough wood to slash my expenses substantially, but I still have to pay for drywalling and several gallons of paint. If you can help me build this space without breaking the bank, use the Chipin widget over on the right of the page to make a donation, or just order some stuff from my Shop.
New pictures of my framed studio in a day or two.
Somebody needs to change the month of March from Women’s History month to Dustin Timbrook has a lot to do month.
What do I have to do? The first thing is a F’n doozy. I’m moving my studio to the second floor of Lowe Mill. It’s a space three times the size of what I currently work in and I will even get an enclosed sound booth to work on audio/video stuff. There’s just one catch:
I have to build the thing from scratch.
I spent all day yesterday tearing the “structure” that originally enclosed the space down. If you are wondering why I wouldn’t just save those old walls instead of building new ones, come have a look through the pile of materials that I tore down. Corrugated sheet metal, old office partitions with “Ghetto Child” graffitied across the surface, and completely random scraps of luan, plywood, etc. are what the orignal walls were hodge-podged together from. One particular 4×8 sheet of haf-inch plywood was suspended from the ceiling by a single screw (to my surprise as I unscrewed the thing standing at the top of an eight foot ladder).
I don’t have a lot of money to build this new space, so if you are feeling generous and want to support your favorite artist in the whole wide world, how about sending me a little donation on PayPal using the Chipin widget below? Even a donation of just $2.50 is enough to buy me a 2×4 or a sheet of drywall.
There are other ways you could help too. Buying a print from my Shop will also give me funds to build my new space. And if you live in the Huntsville area and just happen to have lumber that you are not using (2×4’s and 2×6’s), I will be happy to take them off of your hands.
So now that I’m done begging, let me share one other thing that is keeping me super-busy this month. Next Thursday, March 18th, I will be giving an artist talk at Lowe Mill at 5:30 PM. I plan on talking about my art work, my influences, and even showing some old videos. It is a lecture, but I will try to keep it entertaining and non-lecturey.
If you are on FaceBook, RSVP for my artist talk now.
And yes, I will try to make a promo video for this event in the next few days.
My friend, artist Rita Burkholder, is preparing to shoot a music video for her solo music project, Helen Keller’s Ukelele.
The video is for a song called “Pink House”, and Rita is asking people to make little pink houses, no larger than 1′x1′x1′ to use as props. I recently made a pop-up pink house for her to use. Check it out:
Between building a brand new studio space and tiny pink houses, I’ve been occasionally adding brush strokes to my current watercolor project. The latest development is just a little bit more background content. More updates on the progress of this painting and the construction of MY NEW STUDIO SPACE (!!!) soon.
Boy howdy, it’s been a while since I painted anything. My work schedule is opening up a little bit more for actual art making now, so I’m going to take advantage of it. Here’s what I’m working on right now…
In other news, I got a brand new Betty feeder to brighten up my studio and to build my fortune, one quarter at a time. My studio space is already a sort of petting zoo, so why not seal the deal and get paid for it?
Last weekend my band played one of our best shows yet at Eclipse Coffee and Books in Montevallo, Alabama. If you weren’t there you missed one H of a show. But cheer up, because through the miracle of digital video you can still experience the magic of the Three Happenin Guys Christmas Special, all in the comfort of your sofa recliner. Take a look at this sneak peak of two songs from our recent set.
The DVD of the full show is not far off, so check back soon to order your copy. Expect the price to be about 10 bucks, plus shipping. I’m also going to try to upload the whole show to Vimeo so that you cheapskates can watch for free. Till then…
