There just is absolutely nothing in this world like some real deal New York City pizza! I love going there just to eat and drink my time away. With a good show or performance fit in along the way!

In just a few months it will be a year since the passing to the other world of my mother, and Matriarch of our Family, Mary "Lonetree" Antonson. A hard thing to lose your Mom, even though she had an incredible life and lived to the age of 88.
There just isn't enough time or room here to speak of her properly. That would take an entire book, I just know that I will miss my Mom terribly.

NYC Bound!

I'm soo excited! I'm off to New York City on Sept.12th thru Sept.17th , next stop Manhatten! A busy travel season this fall, after NY comes Las Vegas in Oct. for the Mario Barth tattoo convention (we got free tickets for that for the whole shop, courtesy Ben of Lifetime Tattoo, thanks Ben!) Then the Pixies live at the Paramount in Seattle this Nov.! How cool is that? And so it goes........

Mayoral Debate

I got to moderate the Mayoral debate at the Charleston Theater on Monday night! What a trip that was. It was unusual to say the least to see all those upper crust candidates in their suits and dresses coming in to the punk/hardcore big city styleing of the Charleston. They didn't know what to touch or where to sit...hilarious.
It was the usual format, 3 min. intro followed by crowd submitted questions that I read off with 2 mins. to answer them. After about an hour and twenty minutes of questions being answered then a final 3 mins. to close. Usual, but worked well. Will be on BKAT over the month repeating, check out their schedule and have a look!
Har...I'm "Guy Smiley"! Remember him? (Sesame Street for those who don't)
And so it goes......Smitty

"Learn to live with love and care, upon the level and by the square, do good unto others"
Masonic Saying
"Oh what the hell !?!"
Bonnie Saying

Lost Friends

Buddy's Gone
Current mood: sad
Category: Friends

I'm sooo bummed. I just found out my friend in the wrestling business just died recently. His name was "Playboy Buddy Rose". Here's a pic of him from "back in the day..." by Buddy I'll miss you. Smitty

Concept of Loyalty

     Usually I try to keep my blog entries up beat (that's when I make entries at all )but I'm touching upon a serious subject with this one. The other day I was having dinner with a young lady (won't say who, but she knows and she's a hottie) when the subject of loyalty came up. It's her position that it is possible to be friendly with everyone, even among people who don't like each other. I appreciate that she has a kind soul and genuinely wants to be friends with everyone, but I have learned that it's just not possible in life to do so while retaining a sense of honor.
Let me explain. We'll use simple math, imagine you have 2 very good friends that you know you can count on. That gives us a value of 2. Now imagine that one of those friends was offended by someone, possibly even harmful in nature. Now imagine that you befriend the person who committed the offense against your friend, for whatever reason (because they're socially popular, or maybe you hate confrontation and it's just easier that way) What happens to the math now? Your friend who was offended is no longer solid with you as they were before so subtract 1, and your other friend is watching this and wondering if you would be that fickle with your loyalties with them as well. Subtract at the least 1/2 or more probably another 1. Now where you once had 2 you now have 1/2 or 0. In anyone's book either is less than the solid 2 you started with and you probably ruffled a few feathers along the way, resulting in your reputation becoming watered down to that of a fair weathered friend without a sense of loyalty and commitment. Also don't be afraid of acquiring a few enemies along the path of life! It shows you had the fortitude to stand for something or someone! As my Tlingit ancestors would say we are judged by the caliber of our enemies as well as our friends, for both define what you have stood for (assuming that you stand for anything at all). If you try to be everyone's friend you'll end up an acquaintance to all and a friend to none!

The South

Here I sit late at night with a half a bottle of merlot in me in Fayetville North Carolina, "Rick Flair Country" to all you wrestling fans. It is definately a different place than the north. People are much more polite, yet there's still an undercurrent of slight racial tension here. You can feel it in their looks. The food is great, yet they roll the sidewalks up at sundown it seems. And the minimum wage here is very low, yet the prices are comparable to most places I've been, makes you wonder how people make it. It's pretty though , trees, old architecture and green. Yet no landmarks. No mountains , cliffs, big rivers or really anything else to tell the difference from area to another, you better be good at memorizing street and road names!
I never thought it would happen but...I actually miss Bremerton!
When I get home I have some painting to do, I got some great pics of old Confederate Soldiers graves in an incredibly old and visually interesting cemetary the other day. I know I can make at least a few good canvases out of that one.
Bye for now...the other half of that bottle bekons to me.

A Doorway

A doorway. That's how my grandmother Amy used to call death. It was the Tlingit way of thinking. Strange though, my mom who is a christian thinks of it the same way, as a doorway where our true selves pass through in our true form, a being of light and spirit. The stuff of presence alone. What got me thinking about such a morbid thought? Yesterday was the anniversary of the fire which destroyed my family and claimed the lives of my two beautiful daughters Crystal and Amanda. They will be forever 15 and 16. I still remember that night like now. I remember them (the firemen) taking too long. They had lost that sense of urgency you see when something can still be done. I think if I didn't truly believe that we are not our bodies but in our bodies I would go insane. The kind of insanity only a parent could understand. I will never again take for granted a simple breath of cool air . How many breaths would it have taken? You see the insanity thinking like that would lead? All that can be done is not to waste or dishonor the time left that they were denied. And remember that they are no longer limited by the senses of their bodies, but were released from them and can see and feel so much more than I yet. We are caterpillars on a leaf, and one day we will all get our wings. But first you must pass through a door.

Just a note....

I know I havn't been too consistant with this blog, but I'll try to do better in the future. First to acknowledge this tragic day, 9/11. What more can I say? All americans know how to feel in their own way, I'll leave your thoughts to yourself as I know how I feel.
On a lighter note..... Kudos to my friend and assoc. Playboy Buddy Rose for being featured in this months WWE Raw Magazine, in the "Where are they now?" article. It covered his early days as a WWF superstar up to his present day running of a wrestling school in Portland Ore. Very cool Buddy I'm happy for you.
I'm hanging out at my Mom's doing laundry picking her brain on growing up a Tlinget in Alaska, some early Alaskan Native rights activism on my militant grandmother's side, and a few interesting stories from those days of early Alaska. All will be useful when I finally write that darn book!
On the artistic side, my oil painting is starting to flow, maybe I can pick up the pace to produce more than one canvas every other month or so....(packing on the glazes and layers takes a hell of a lot of time with oils) and my daughter

Bonnie is starting her tattoo apprenticeship at Smitty's Place Tattoo, very cool, maybe the shop will stay in the family after all! We will see....and so it goes!

Mea Culpa Rex?

Why Mea Culpa Rex? The name I settled upon for this blog...Mea Culpa, which is Latin and means "My Fault". I thought that appropriate, as everything that will be posted,text ,graphics the whole thing will be.....well my fault. As it should be. As for the "Rex". It too is latin, meaning "King" or "Royal". So it is Royally my fault!
In all the reading about blogs I have done , one of the pieces of advice I've gleaned was to keep on topic...whatever the topic of your blog might be. Problem....what if your topic was no topic, sort of like Seinfeld's "show about nothing". Hmm. Which leads me back to Mea Culpa. This blog is basically about all topics I am exposed to, through my eyes and brain as I experience them. Kind of an editorial, or propaganda from my grey matter...so be it "My Fault".