Here's Another Thing I Wish

I wish I could more accurately recollect the exact moments at which I cooked up some of the ideas for paintings that have proven to be of enduring interest. I mean, when--exactly--and how--exactly--did I decide to separate by color the annotations of Dow Jones employees vs. the general public on "The Annotated Murdoch"?

Truth be told, I can only remember one.

{Brief personal aside--after last night it's a miracle I remember anything}

The one I remember goes something like this: I was sitting at the bar at Half King, talking to my friend Eric, explaining to him that I had been invited to participate in a show at the Veridian Gallery; that the show was an anti-war/anti-Bush affair; and that they had rejected my idea of "Bush Guernica" on the grounds that they wanted everything to be three or four feet wide rather than the eighteen feet I envisioned for my magnum opus. Then I added that if I didn't come up with something real soon (the show was in, like, two weeks), I would miss the boat.

Then I balled my hand together to make a puppet-face (like Senior Wences, whoever that is), held it up to Eric and said: "Speak to the hand 'cause the face ain't listening."

Two weeks later, this painting emerged...



Up on the wall it went...

And, as one thing so inevitably leads to another, I'm now one of the most famous painters in New York. Certainly top 500.

{Additional personal note: For Hallowe'en I'm going as Curt Schilling. I'm going to the studio now to get some red paint and put it on my sock.}

Honestly, how pretentious is that apostrophe between the two Es?

Pretty
Yes she was. You don't know the half.
No, that's not what I mean.
What do you mean?
I mean putting the apostrophe in Halloween is pretty pretentious.
Oh.
I thought you were putting an end to these indented, red-typed internal dialogues
Sometimes I can't help myself.
Oh.