- There was a guy that was
at school with me at UT
and I just remember his
paintings being these things
that looked like stuff out
of your junior high school
science book, it was always
these round circles that
almost looked like planets
and then he'd have these
lines drawn where there was
a description or there'd be
some kinda, maybe even
nonsense, but it would just look
like these kinda
diagram lookin' things
and I always thought
that was really cool.
I always liked the way that
worked in numbers, writing,
like old chalkboard kinda
lookin' stuff or things
and so I've kinda always
done that too so.
I mean the point of
what I'm doin' is,
all these people do what they
did because it came from here.
They're not doing it for a name
or to be famous or anything
it was just something that they
felt like needed to be done
at that particular point
in time and so here they go
and then look what happened
and I kinda feel like I
should at least write some
of that to maybe plant a seed
into somebody else to
look some of this stuff up
or to maybe spark
something in them to like,
oh I could do that, oh I could
do, which is kinda the point
of what I'm trying
to do with it so.
(rock music)
I grew up in that generation
where I didn't expect to make
money doing this, I don't expect
to make money doing this,
I'm doing what I do, it's
almost like jobs to me have
always been like school,
you go to school,
you have this amount of
time and when school's out,
you do what you wanna
do and that's basically
what this has always been.
♪ Fire, fire, fire,
that's what we say.
♪ Fire, fire, fire,
that's what we play ♪
The Lake Jackson in Texas is
40 minutes south of Galveston
so it sucked and people thought
that I was the weirdest kid
in the school and
that I was on drugs,
which I didn't do any drugs,
they thought that I was gay,
which I was not gay, basically
music and surfin' and Beth.
Is kinda what got
me through it all.
- He'd always write me
the greatest notes like,
with all these crazy
drawings and stuff so.
That's probably a good
sign, just being a surfer
you're already kinda like
aren't doin' the norm thing so
the alternative is art.
- I didn't really have
a name for it yet.
It was just stuff that I
did and things that I seemed
to gravitate towards
that I liked.
Like when I came up
here to go to school
and I couldn't surf all the
time, I started skating.
We were all skating and a
friend of ours had bought
a Jonathon Richman record
and I remember him puttin'
that on and it was Rockin'
Leprechauns and I was just like
that's the stupidest thing
I've ever heard in my life,
put that on again.
♪ In the park, nearly dark
what do I now hear, hark hark
♪ Is it really leprechauns and
♪ Have they come back
to rock 'n' roll ♪
I hate sayin' punk rock 'cause
punk rock is so absolutely
not we were doin' but I
just remember right off
the barrier wasn't
there anymore.
There was this community of
pretty amazing creative stuff
going on and I was just
hook line and sinker.
I thought this is the
greatest thing ever
and it's just showin'
people how easy it is
to do this stuff if you just put
one foot in front of
the other and do it.
- [Voiceover] How's
the show goin'?
- It's goin' good, there's
a lot of people here
and stuff so it's good.
- [Voiceover] Yeah it's awesome.
- Yeah.
Places like this, is the
kinda galleries I like.
It's like a working gallery.
You could look at the
(mumbles) and see stuff
like actually
happening so (mumbles).
- [Voiceover] So is some of
this the stuff from Rosa Parks?
- Rosa Parks went to Huntsville
and then it went to
(mumbles) and (mumbles)
they just took it down.
- He's so prolific, it's almost
like art falls off of him
when he's walking,
it's insanity.
I'm only in Texas for one year
and it's my year's mission
for them to start to
appreciate what they have.
- The Big Boys,
The Big Boys right.
To get categorized as
just a guy on the stage
or that guitar player, is
something that every artist
in this town and in
general I think lives with.
Art is not just sound
or visual or motion,
it's all of that together
and I think sometimes
people have their blinders on.
- This is what's going
on in that shed so.
You can come over
there any time.
- [Voiceover] I'm sure
we knew each other.
- [Voiceover] I think I knew
you after that thing came out.
- Yeah.
- [Voiceover] I mean after
she had made that first one.
- Yeah.
(guitar tuning)
(banjo)
Yeah, I kinda took a turn
toward traditional music
and Tim took a turn
toward punk musically.
- [Tim] Be afraid.
- (laughter) Be afraid.
Yeah Tim just came to a
banjo workshop I was giving
and had really good questions,
asked me if I wanted to
trade for some lessons so
showed Tim a few things on the
banjo and I got an awesome
painting of my banjo teacher,
Mr. Earl Griface.
- But we don't really ever
play, we hardly played at all.
- You traveled so much
and I'm still working so.
- And I like this
stuff a whole bunch so.
(banjo)
Yeah I like that too.
(guitar)
I wanna make sure
whatever I'm sending out
is something that's positive.
That in case it does latch
on to somebody else or
does influence somebody
else then hopefully
it will influence
them in a positive way
and then they in turn,
will pass that on.
I hope I haven't seen
the best thing yet.
Totally honored by all of
that and can't believe it
happened and humbled
and just crazy but
I can't imagine not
living your whole life
wanting to know more and
wanting to figure out
what's happening next and
hopin' that you haven't seen
the best thing next
and what's going on.
So it's just this on going
process of realizations.
So in a way you're searching
but not in the sense of,
I'll know it when I find it.
It's like you're finding
things all the time.
