Did you know…

…penguins have an organ above their eyes that converts seawater to freshwater.

And Lou Magazzu has an organ between his brain and his mouth that converts everything he says into bullshit.

Colonial Flowers - from the archives…

Here is one that I brought up from the archives. It is High Street facing north, at Mulberry. The yellow building is the old nail parlor, with Colonial flowers next to it.

This was one of the first paintings done when the Glasstown Nine were hitting the streets on Thursday evenings, long before we had the RRCA, long before 3rd Fridays, long before it was safe to be on the streets after dusk.

Yes, the naysayers, the anti-arts district denizens of Millville First to this day deny that High Street was ever blighted. They claim that everything was fine and dandy, that there were no empty, vacated buildings.

They cry like babies, lying to thepublic claiming that the artists are getting “stipends” from the city, that Millville taxpayers are footing our bill.

Quite to the contrary, the Glasstown Arts District was built on the blood, sweat and toils of many volunteers, working only to make Millville a better place.

Despite the economic downturn that has crippled the rest of the country, we are seeing a resurgence of growth and investment in Millville.

Lauren Price

The newest website created through my do-it-yourself website designer wuliweb.net is Lauren Price Productions.

Lauren is a very talented Millville musician. Daughter of Sitarbob - we do not hold that against her! She has been working diligently on releasing her first CD of original music.

Check out her website. She did the entire site herself using the wuliweb.net program.

Enough said…

Flight of Fancy

The Da Vinci Art Alliance upcoming show is titled “The Legacy of Leonardo”.  As a board member, I do my best to have at least one piece in every group or members’ exhibition. I usually experiment with these pieces, pushing my limits withthe three-dimensional found-objects concepts.

I could have concentrated on Leonardo’s porno, the intricate drawings of copulation. These are the pictures you never saw in your grade school books.

“I expose men to the origin of their first, and perhaps second, reason for existing.” - Leonardo Da Vinci “The Copulation”

Copulation is too obvious. But I like the way Leonardo thinks. The Vitruvian man, ditto. Mona Lisa, Last Supper - not my style of painting. Too emulate them is sort of like trying to to a remake of  Gone with the Wind.

How to capture the essence of Da Vinci, to capture his legacy without being a rip-off?

I think I did a good job with “Flight of Fancy”. The skeleton is a balsa wood frame of an airplane wing. I used images of Da Vinci’s drawings and portraits as the skin. The wing is five foot wide, larger than the prospectus for artwork allows. I am taking advantage of my position as board member to have the piece allowed. It does not sit on a pedestal or hang on the wall, it will hang from the ceiling. That will be my justification for asking for special privilege!

The opening reception is also our annual members show and annual fundraiser. There will be Millville artists on hand. Mark and Carolyne Krull of Fithian House Gallery donated a gift certificate for our fundraiser.  Mark Sunday from Luck of the Draw Tattoo donated a $50 gift certificate towards new ink. Isabelle Samul from Isabelle’s Studio @ 135, 135 High Street, Millville donated two art lessons.  Jenny Klein from The Artist House art supplies (now located at the Artist Consortium on High Street) is donating $25 worth of art supplies.

New Jersey, as a rule, sucks. Cumberland County is run by bozos. On a state and county level, politicians seek only to find ways to increase taxes and fees while going on spending sprees to help their political cronies find no-show jobs with insane pensions, health benefits and no responsibilities.

But in Millville we have a gem. The artist community is second to none. We look after one another, support one another, and have a good time. Even with assholes like Millville First doing their best to destroy and undermine the rejuvenation of High Street we have succeeded. As down towns are suffering the ravages of the current recession, we are seeing storefronts filled as quickly as they are vacated.

And another gem is the New Jersey Motorsports Park. This morning Liz and I volunteered to act as security for the CKI F1 Karting series. This is an international event, and records were set on the course that may never be broken.

Tonight we are planning to attend the 1st block party of the season on the riverfront. My friend Alby Miller will be singing with Devin Riley, setting up the night for the headliner. The big band is a Bruce Springsteen tribute band called Bruce in the USA. Close your eyes and you will think you are actually at a Bruce concert. Except that I am certain this gig won’t last for four hours…

The saga comes to a conclusion

The saga of the $8,000 art sale continues:

Hi Carl,

Thank you for your update,my husband informed me that he has been calling your phone since yesterday to speak with you but you`ve not been available.As I stated earlier the rest of the payment will be going to shipping company,they will ship the artworks along with our other house wares.

As I was informed before,they stated they had been in contact with you some couple of days ago but I`ve not heard from you,anyway they`ve assured me that they will be touch with you later today to arrange pick up with you on Saturday.

I`ll be looking forward to hearing back from you as soon as you hear from them.

Best regards,
Caroline Lewis

She certainly likes to stay on top of the situation. Yes, I did receive several calls from a “restricted” number. If a person or entity blocks their number from my caller ID, I refuse to answer. I am lobbying for the death penalty for all of these shithead collectors out there that call from fake or restricted numbers. Identify yourself, man!

Hi Caroline,

That must be the restricted number that keeps popping up on my caller ID. I never, ever answer calls from restricted numbers. Tell your husband to leave a message with a return number, and I will call that number, if he cannot call from a number that is not restricted.

I have many creditors calling me from restricted numbers, and many salespeople. I am trying to have restricted numbers made illegal in my state to force salespeople to let me know where they are calling from.

As I said - just give me a contact phone number. Not too difficult for an honest person. And that proves my point that all collectors are inherently dishonest, and cowardly that they will not reveal their own numbers. I will lighten up on the death penalty deal, maybe just a good flaying alive would suffice, especially for Nigerian scammers.

Dear Carl B Johnson,

Sorry it took me sometime to get in touch.It is because we have been on pick-up/shipping tour in Malaysia.Meanwhile,I was contacted by Mrs.Lewis’ husband that you have received payment for the items we are picking up from you and shipping on board with her other house decors to South Africa as shipments have been scheduled for Friday 06-26-2009.He also advised us that you will be forwarding to us our own payment as soon as possible.

It`s our house style to always receive our payment ahead of shipment whenever we are on pick up tour,therefore, we will receive our payment via Western Union as we have discussed with Mr.James Lewis.

Therefore,you will have to  forward to  us the excess on money,from which the Western Union charges will be  deducted,and here is the information you will need to get the money transfered to us.Payment has to be made out to the Chief Accountant of our company in the person of ;

NAME:…………………ROBERT BRIAN
ADDRESS:…………….21 Jalan Scott, Kuala Lumpur,
KL 47100, Malaysia

You will need to get back to us with all the  necessary receiver’s information ,such as the following;

1.Western Union Control Number
2.Total amount sent ,after deducting the Western Union charges
3.Name and address of sender

We will be looking forward to receiving the receiver’s information as soon as possible  so we can make all neccessary arrangement for the FEDEX PICK UP on Friday.I will like you to confirm the PICK UP ADDRESS again so I can be sure of where the FedEx agent will be coming for the pick up.

Carl B. Johnson
415 Sassafras St.
Millville, NJ 08332
856.327.6877

Many thanks.

Yours,
Mr.Steve Edwards
For:Boundless Shipping And Logistics Services Ltd.
21 Jalan Scott, Kuala Lumpur,KL 47100, Malaysia
+60 102 070 769

Finally - an email from a reputable company to confirm that this is not a scam! I was beginning ot get worried for a while. I replied:

I do not have a Western Union agent in my town - how to proceed?

They responded very quickly:

Dear Carl B. Johnson,

To make things a little bit easier for you,you can can make use of any of the Western Union Agent(s) around you for your convenience,I am very sure you will not have any problem doing this ,the agent(s) are listed below:

CASHWELL CHECK CASHING #9103
536 N HIGH ST
Millville, NJ 08332

Nice. The check cashing store, the frontispiece and crowning jewel of the arts district, the first location on their list. I wouldn’t give those clowns business if they were the last check cashing place in Millville.  We can thank Paul Porreca and Millville First for putting the resdients of Millville last by arranging to have this travesty located in the arts district rather than in the plaza a block away, where it is more suited.

Hi Carl,

I received the copy of the attached email from the movers some couple of minutes ago,detailing the pickup arrangements and scheduled pickup for this tomorrow Friday.

As I stated it for you in my last email,kindly proceed as advised by the shipper,to forward the rest of the payment to them via western union money transfer and as soon as they comfirm the payment they will start shipping our house items we are shipping along with the paintings I`m ordering from you.

I`ll be looking forward to hearing back from you so I can know the pick up goes,thanks so much for your patience and cooperation.

Regards,
Caroline

Glad she is keeping abreast of the situation.

Hi Caroline
I am not comfortable with Western Union - I have heard they steal from people. Is there another option?

Also, you said earlier you are pregnant. How far along. I find pregnant girls sexy. Do you have any pictures?
Carl

Hey, what is wrong with finding pregnant girls sexy?  And Western Union? Why would I use a fly-by-night organization like that?

Hi Carl,

Good morning to you.Pls let me know when you are sending the payment to the shipper via western union as they have requested.Pls update me ASAP.

Best,
Caroline

Okay, the joke is winding down now… I was hoping to get someone from within the states but it looks like caroline will have to pick up the overpayment and the paintings from the FBI. But Ihad to give it one more shot:

Hi Caroline,
I do not feel safe using Western Union to ship money. I don’t like using fly-by-night organizations. Is there another method? Maybe I can pay you cash if you come here on your way to South Africa.

I would love to see your pregnant body naked. Do you have any pictures?

Looking forward to your reply,
carl

She replied - quickly:

From: Caroline Lewis <clewys@live.com>
To: <webmaster@wuli.com>
Subject: YOUR MOTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:42:13 -0500
Importance: Normal
In-Reply-To: <4A44F0B2.6020805@wuli.com>
References: <BAY109-W37362EC7C94E23E3A3827BD3340@phx.gbl>
 <BLU114-W117CA048FA8241A2299BE2B4340@phx.gbl> <4A43F5EE.10603@wuli.com>
 <BLU114-W5BD91298600A0B73EEE65B4350@phx.gbl> <4A44F0B2.6020805@wuli.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 26 Jun 2009 18:42:14.0049 (UTC) FILETIME=[D293C110:01C9F68D]

--_69fcacad-4894-4e2e-a3a2-05372358108a_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1256"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

YOUR MOTHER

Okay, be that way!

So to all of my artist friends out there, if a deal sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true! If you get contacted regarding one of these scams, feel free to play along. Contact the FBI AND your local police department if and when the fake check arrives. But hold on to the check, how often do you get a $8,000 check for a couple paintings!

Hold on to envelopes and checks, make phootcopies for the authorities,  and print out the emails including the headers for the police report. The authorities are not going to catch the people involved; they are in Nigeria, or sometimes Canada. They are always out of the country.

The FBI agent I talked to could not have been less interested. That is the FBI. They really, truly, could not care less about internet crime. Well, that is unless you are a 14 year girl downloading songs from a file sharing service. Then they will kick down your door, and you will find that you have no rights in this country.

You will probably have better luck with your local police, Officer Twigg (that is his real name) arrived at my door within five minutes of my call. He was truly helpful. And in the rare possibility that the FBI will investigate this further, the local police report is mandatory. I hope you enjoyed the saga.

Interesting…

The Japanese beetle, found in the eastern United States and Canada, is the only bug in these countries you need be concerned about if it becomes lodged in your ear, for it can chew through your eardrum in a matter of minutes. Other bugs can be removed without the same urgency.

HUGE Art Sale!!!

I am rolling in the dough, yesiree! The other morning the UPS guy delivered an Express Envelope with a check for $8,000 inside.

Seems my financial woes are over! You see, this very nice lady from Dallas, TX contacted me out of the blue and asked me about some paintings I have on my website for sale.

Below is the result of your feedback form. It was submitted by
(clewys@live.com) on Friday, June 19, 2009 at 09:03:41

name: Caroline Lewis
message: Good day to you.
I am so excited that I came across of your work on internet search,I am interested in purchasing these creative artworks from you………………..

the Tracks in South Millville,Al’s Hide-away in Shellpile, NJ,Sometimes a cigar is a cigar and Corner bar in Bayonne, NJ Let me know their various prices. and how much discounts are you going to give?I will be happy to have these selected artworks hanged in our new home in South Africa. As well, I want you to take out the shipping cost. I have been in touch with a shipping firm that will be shipping other house decoratives.

We are traveling from our Dallas home to our new apartment as soon as possible.

On Paying for the artworks,I will be glad to pay you with a Money Order or Cashier`s check in US funds that can be easily cashed at your local bank, please let me know on how to proceed for the payment of the creative artworks.
I will await your advise on how to proceed. Have a wonderful day.
Take care,
Caroline Lewis

Wow! What good fortune! A supposedly rich art buyer - I love the salutation, “Good day to you” - how so very American! I quickly responded with inflated prices.

The Tracks painting is $500, Al’s Hide-away is $4000, and cigar is
$8,000. If you want them all, deduct 10% from the total. The cigar
painting is 4 feet by 5 feet - rather large to ship.

To my surprise, Caroline Lewis promptly responded:

Hello,

Thanks for your response to my inquiry regarding your creative works of art, I`ll love to proceed with the purchase of “The Tracks painting is ($500) and Al’s Hide-away is ($4000).And as I stated earlier from my first email to you,I`ll be handling shippings and handlings myself.

Therefore, I`ll want you to get back to me with your physical mailing address so that my hubby who has been shuttling between Jo-burg and our Dallas Home since he resumed as the Head IT section for the organisation he works in Jo-burg,SA will make out the payment to you as soon as possible.

Regarding shipping,I`ll forward your contact information to the shipping company contracted to handle all our house decoratives and other house wares to get in touch with you and make shipping plans with you.They can arrange for FedEx pick-up right from your studio/residence.They are also been charged to handle insurance and other logistics involved with the shipments.

I`ll look forward to hearing back from so I`ll know how best we can proceed.

Sincerely,
Caroline Lewis

Oh, that is just so cute, Jo-burg! I sent her my mailing address, and she replied:

Hi Carl,

Nice to hear back from you.I`ll surely get you the photograph of our new home once we are finally settled in our new home so that you will know how the artworks have added color to our new walls. Pls comfirm,the total balance for my purchae is $4500.

In the meantime I`ll be  forwarding your contact information to the shipping agent who will be picking up the shipments once we finalised the financial end of the transaction,they will pack and box the package shipments.

I`ll inform you once my husband makes out the payment to you.Have a pleasant day.

Regards,
Caroline

Cool - I can’t wait to see the photo of their new house in Jo-burg. This is amazing, she didn’t squawk at the price of $500 for an 8″x10″ painting. And $4,000 for the bar painting is $3,500 more than I have ever rec’d for a painting of comparable size!

The next morning, the check arrived! She must be a serious art buyer. So serious, in fact, that she sent the very same introduction letter to my friend Rachel Citrino from Rhodestown, NJ, and one to a very good friend Lilliana Didovic from Philly.

But there was a problem with the check - it was for $8,000 and not $4,500 as expected! But I am sure it was an honest mistake on her side. I contacted Caroline about the error!

Hi Caroline - I rec’d a check today in UPS overnight, but it came with no documentation or anything- is it from you for the paintings? It is for $8,000, but we agreed the total was for $4500.  Is the extra to cover shipping?
Carl

She responded, it was obviously an honest mistake on her side:

Hi Lewis,

Good to hear you got the payment for those creative works I am purchasing from you.The check is a refund for a cancelled order as a result of our recent relocation plan.I have sent you an email earlier today which I`m sure you didnt get because I`d explained it to you all in the email.

I was not available to give the details to the creditor` client of my husband who made the payment since I was in the hospital all day yesterday,I`m so sorry for inconviniecing you.My husband also informed that he has tried to speak with you some 45 minutes ago but didnt know why your line didnt go through,that the caller ID is blocked.Also the shipper informed us that since they had been in contact with you,you have not responded back to the email they sent to you.

Therefore,I will like you to proceed to your bank to deposit the check as soon as the funds has been processed by your bank we can proceed with the shipments. The rest of the funds will be for the shipment of the artworks and the other house items we are moving to our new home in Johannesburg. You will do me a favour to pay the movers when they come for the pick up.The Shipper had advised us that he will forward the information you need for the remittance as soon as they can.

I will look forward to hearing from you as soon as you have deposited the check so that I can contact the person that issued the payment to facilitate its prompt clearance at your bank.

Regards,
Caroline Lewis

Oops, she got my name wrong. Possibly this was meant to go to one of the other artists where they made an honest error. About this same time I began receiving calls from a restricted number on my cell phone. I do not as a rule answer restricted numbers. If you can’t allow your number to display on my Caller ID, then you have no right to call me. Actually I am pushing for laws requiring ALL non-personal calls to display the PROPER phone number on Caller ID. But I digress…

Apparently at least one of those calls was from Caroline’s husband. I listened to my voice mail, and sure enough he left a message. I did have a difficult time understanding due to the poor connection and his heavy Nigerian accent. How nice that Dallas white girl would marry a Nigerian.

My aggressive email spam filter apparently lost some of her emails, and she emailed one of them again, explaining the little mix-up on their end:

Hi Carl,

I hope this email finds you well,I`d like to thank you for your patience and understanding all this while regarding this purchase,I`m very happy to inform you that the payment has been sent out yesterday by a creditor client of my husband`s who promised to send the payment since my husband had been indispensable to be home in the last couple of months,but there is a minor fault with the payment,though it`s not really a fault but I just think it`ll be a wise thing to inform you before it arrives so that you can be sure it`s actually the payment for my purchase.

Since he was unaware of the details of our transaction he made the whole payment requested by me from my husband to you which includes your payment and the balance to give to the shipper to enable them complete the shipments of our various house wares from our Dallas home to our new home in Johannesburg.And since I was out all day yesterday he was unable to inquire from me what the details are,because I was in the hospital for bed rest as advised by the doctors because of my new baby.The payment was sent via UPS with tracking number:1Z61273R2210002515 and according to him the payment should be delivered to you today.

Therefore,upon arrival I`ll want you to deposit the check and once processed by your bank remove your asking price and forward the rest of the money to the Freight company from which arrangement will be made for the shippings of our housewares from Dallas and to also pickup my shipments from you to be shipped to Jo-burg.I`m very sorry for the inconvenience,I was in the hospital for bed rest as advised by the doctors as I`m carrying another baby that is almost due so it was never a deliberate thing.I hope you understand what I`m going through with my husband away and still carrying another baby.I do hope we can finalise the transaction as soon as possible so I can join my husband in our new home.

I`ll look forward to hearing back from you so I can know that you got the email.

Best wishes,
Caroline Lewis

The problems are understandable. She is so very pregnant, moving to another country - their lives must be in disarray. I really hope the paintings look good in their new house. I guess she will put the bar scene painting in the baby’s new room. I responded this morning, telling her my bank told me the check would be clear by tomorrow, and to make arrangements for the shipper to come and pick up the paintings as well as my check for over payment. I will keep everyone  updated as this saga continues.

Fire on Harrison

Yesterday Gin and Dave Cooper hosted their annual party. As always, it was a blast, despite the periodic rain.

Dave was cooking his famous scallops on the grill when we smelled smoke that certainly wasn’t coming from any barbecue. Sure enough, a house two blocks away awas fully engulfed in flames. I arrrived to the street at the same time as the fire trucks.

Fortunately nobody was inside the house at the time. As you can see, it is a total loss. Dale finch said that according to Milt Truxton, the house will have to be razed this week.

Independent Artist Studios

Independent Artist Studios

I spent the bulk of yesterday updating the Independent Artist Studios website. I gave the site an entire make-over tying the overall design in to compliment our brochure, rack cards, business cards and advertising.

We invested some of the profits of the last big job into a large ad in the Cape May 5th Annual Designer Show House magazine. We offer unique design capabilities and hope the ad pays off.

I also placed more emphasis on our mosaic workshops. They are very popular and affordable. Call them our loss leader. We don’t really make much money conducting workshops, but it is free advertising, and we have a blast doing them. One workshop that Liz taught last year, at a loss, is turning into a nice project that we will hopefully begin in the fall.

The website will continue to evolve. In July we begin installation of a 22 foot long mosaic mural at the Raritan Valley Community College. It will be the focal point of the main entrance of the performing arts center. We went up against several other artists, and the whole process beginning with answering the RFP has taken over a year so far.

That is the exasperating thing about this business. When it pays, it pays really well, but there are the interminable dry spells between jobs. Thus an increased emphasis on private installations. We will apply custom mosaics to a kitchen back splash, a dining room floor, a fishpond, patio deck, coffee tables, you name it - the possibilities are endless.

Check out the website - that is about 8 hours of work. I will soon be adding video of Liz’s demonstration at the beginning of a workshop.

3rd Friday

Today is 3rd Friday. Liz and I will probably end up at Isabelle’s Studio @ 135, 135 High Street. I have 15 new works on display, and Liz has about a half dozen or so new works.

Word on the street is that Mayor Tim Shannon will be grilling his world-famous shrimp at the Fithian House Gallery on Pine Street. Fithian House will also have singing pirates, and the usual cast of characters.

Yes, June is Pirate Month in Millville, in honor and memory of a good friend, Don the Pirate. you will see pirate flags up and down High Street on businesses that are friendly towards the artists and the arts district. The headquarters of Millville First, of course, will not be participating. If the president can’t get a tax abatement for his fake farm, or cost taxpayers money with frivolous lawsuits, he is not interested.