Choose L O V E

I made this Valentine for 2018 and promptly forgot to put it on here! All the hearts are a series of Valentines from Ken Alexander over the years. I love every one of them!

I hope your Valentine Day was filled with love.

To view the Gallery of Wilson’s drawings, please click on June 2013. To enlarge, just click on them. Some take awhile to load, so please be patient. I don’t actually know what I’m doing.

Hall of Fame Nominee

Please Vote by March 16

Wilson has been nominated for the Wil Eisner Hall of Fame! Please go to eisnervote.com and follow the instructions. ( I’m sorry this is NOT a link to it…I’d love to make it easier for you, but I don’t know how.) The list of nominees is very prestigious, and you can vote for four people.  Four people will be inducted. Two women were already automatically put through, so congrats to them. Please vote for Wilson, as he deserves this honor. When I told him about it last night, he was positively BEAMING! He really does understand things I tell him, and this brought a smile to his lips, he was so pleased. You must register first, which is really easy. The site leads you right on over to the list, to vote. The voting closes March 16, so do it now lest you forget. Think IDES OF MARCH, which is the 15th. If you don’t vote by then…well….that Ides thing could get you.

Christmas came & went without posting a greeting, or pictures, or even getting to the Post Office to send off any cards or little gifts. I will catch up, and get it all out and on the way in the coming weeks! We were thinking of you…but some of my own health issues have been getting in the way lately. I promise to be better in 2018 about communicating. I tend to close down when pain takes over. The past few months have been filled with tragic loss and with my own increasing physical pain. I will make more of an effort again, promise!

Meanwhile, here are a few pix of a very worried-looking Wilson, (I asked him if he was worrying, and he said “Yeah!” With a bit more prodding, I ascertained he was fretting about the future, about seeing his friends, and about me being so much more crippled lately. After talking awhile he stopped looking so disturbed, but by then I forgot to take a happier picture!) and some living room decorations. We really did have a cheery day together, and enjoyed having the whole time to ourselves. I shaved him, gave him a manicure, and read all of your cards & letters to him. It was like having a party with lots of people over, but no cleanup and no lingering stragglers hunting for their hats.

Wilson, worrying

Tiny Tree for 2017

Mantle Miniatures

Owl twin

Tinkerbelle, Fairies, Checkered Demon & Pisa

Eddie Bear, age 30

Kvon Behpour, my friend with a tree. Favorite XmasCard!

S.Clay Wilson turns 76!

By Drew Friedman

Rena acts out Hairspray

Jim McCrary comes from Kansas!

The Dead Cat & Mouse

The time between July 25th, Wilson’s Birthday, and Halloween seems to have FLOWN past. Lots of visitors, doctor appointments, and nonsense. When you get older, it seems like time goes by in massive chunks instead of day after day. Every time I make a plan to accomplish something, life gets in the way and things get farther out of control. I keep trying to “get organized”, then notice how much farther away I am from even being able to SORT MY SOCKS!

I’m beginning to think a snow shovel is the solution. Just shovel it all out the door! I can’t keep up with Wilson’s STUFF. Can I possibly keep looking at every minuscule piece of paper? I noticed years ago that he couldn’t even bear to throw away a paper clip. Now I’m infected with that same mental illness! I’m not going to ever use that clamp…those folder tabs I bought seven years ago. I’ve been tossing things in the file cabinet all along anyway, and almost NEVER retrieve anything from it. Please, Lorraine, throw something away! Put a box full of unused “office supplies” out on the sidewalk…It’ll be empty in minutes.

Sigh. These dilemmas pester my mind while I try to simply remember what I did with my favorite reading glasses, or the stamps I swear I just bought a week ago.

Wilson is relieved of such concerns. He worries about almost nothing. If he does look worried, or seem to have the blues, I do everything I can to find out what’s bothering him, and make it all better. Keep him smiling. It’s become difficult now that he rarely speaks. He’s become almost totally silent now, but is engaged in listening&watching constantly. I know he understands most of what he hears, because I see it on his face. And he will sometimes burst forth with a stream of totally unintelligible words, letting us know….SOMEthing! So yes…he is very much in there, and very sensitive. I try to keep him comfortable, comforted, and cozy in his diminishing world. And make him laugh.

I hung the cat & mouse up on about the 22nd this year, and before I got around to it, our neighbor Smithy took a photo & posted it on Facebook. I was so grateful, as people were beginning to ask.”Have you hung up the Dead Cat yet? Are you going to?” Oh yes. Always. It’s Wilson’s tradition, and I’m sticking to it.

If I could remember how to insert photos in the text, as I write, this would look a LOT BETTER! I can’t figure that out tonight, so I’m just going to keep showing you some photos, and writing. We will get to the bottom…probably tumbling and rolling, like children down a grassy hill….then come to a stop, arms splayed…out of breath. But I’ll keep at it til I’m done. But it might not be pretty! Sometimes the writing muse has left the building just when I feel I must try, at least. This sounds woefully uninspired, I know, but stick with me. I won’t trouble you much longer.

Below, a new book with a 12-page interview about my relationship with Frank Zappa. The book is filled with entertaining interviews well worth reading, not found in the numerous biographies about Frank, nor in his awful autobiography which was edited & orchestrated by the willfully disobedient and deliberately inaccurate wife Gail, who preferred her version of things. Sigh…..Frankbegged me not to read it…ever. And he apologized profusely just in case I did. He asked me for the front page article with our pictures on it, titled “2A-go-go2 Jail”to use, but Gail quickly disposed of it. It was another 25 years til I saw it again..on GOOGLE! She also took my name out, as well as the real story about our relationship, which lasted until his last year of life.

Here, in this amusing, informative book, is the REAL skinny.

Then, my introduction to Wilson’s biography, Volume Three, “Belgian Lace From Hell. It’s a doozy. And so is the whole book, filled with more art, and many stories of life after his Traumatic Brain Injury. It is the perfect ending to this Trilogy. I hope people will get this last volume. It’s well worth having all three volumes, to see the art, as well as his post-injury drawings. While they are good, it shows how his ability begins to leave him in the following two years…from hospital to home…as the characters soon just stand in a line across the page, diminishing in number with each drawing, unable to figure out what to do. They are mute, and confused…very much like their creator. It is heartbreaking to witness….

Here’s Wilson at the clinic, trying to be a patient patient. Pensive…finally relaxed. He’s had some skin problems we’re getting a grip on…he’s once again peaches & cream, but can’t tolerate a beard. It gets all crusty underneath, like he’s allergic to it. So I miss it, but he will have to present

Birthday drawing by John Riddell

a bare face from now on!He walks home with Rena holding fast onto his hand, and frequently to his safety strap. We must have ahold of him in case he decides to just suddenly SIT DOWN! It’s a long drop to the pavement. We’ve managed to avoid it so far.

Our beautiful neighbor, Julie Willing, passed suddenly on Nov7th. We are all devastated by this loss. She has been such an incredible friend for all this time…my saving grace in the early, stormy years with Wilson, and the heart of our block. Her husband, Tim and their daughter Siobhan …words fail me. They have been a constant since I moved in in 2000, and Wilson warned “stay away from the neighbors!” Haha…he was like my parents…if you got close and it didn’t work out, they’re NOT LEAVING. But of course, I fell in love with them, and soon Wilson was to join our spirited backyard gatherings. He was shy at first…then brought them inside for his outrageous Shown N Tell sessions. They hadn’t been in here, yet Wilson had lived here for at least 30 years! Oh how I loved this velvet-voiced woman, always so willing to laugh. So warm and smart.

Our Faire Julie. R.I.P.We loved Halloween with these inventive characters! Julie & Tim Dougherty with daughter Siobhan. She is taller than them now! Taller than EVERYONE!

Thanks for reading this disjointed piece. I just wanted to catch you up on some of the past couple of months. I’ll post a bit more very shortly! I’ve been getting behind in writing my thank you notes to the generous people who’ve donated to Wilson’s Trust. I do apologize. It got away from me…having health issues of my own of late…but be looking soon! I will email each one of you shortly. Until then, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You make it possible to have movies, wifi, and phone service. We couldn’t possibly make it without your donations, and I promise to catch up. I got kind of overwhelmed around July, but will catch up,as I said. Much love to you all!

Royal Portrait

His Majesty S.Clay Wilson had a fantabulous 76th birthday.

Bill Carlson, Eugene McCarthy, and Friedemann Bender attended.

Three Pals

He received a Royal Portrait from Kevin Webster, two windup      warthogs from Hixon, and a selection of festive cards from friends.

The Cake

There was cake, overdecorated by Lorraine

And a passionate rendition of the traditional birthday Tune.

Crooning the Tune

Birthday Boy

Its Wilson’s 76th birthday today. I didn’t throw him a party this year in favor of a few small gatherings. I’ll take some photos of today’s group shortly, and post them. Write him a note, and I promise to read it to him! Thanks for looking in on him. It has been nearly NINE YEARS since his brain injury.

If you want to look at his drawings, just click on June 2013. I downloaded a whole slew of them there.

Belgian Lace from Hell

Bromance

Volume Three of the three-part biography, The Mythology of S.Clay Wilson is now out! You can get it on Amazon.com in hard copy as well as Kindle. Billions & billions more photos of art…and yes, I do exaggerate…and tales from his friends.

Friedemann Bender came to visit for a couple of weeks on his way from Hawaii to Germany. Wilson is so madly in love with him. He smiles the entire time he’s here, and growls at Rena & me. (Soon as he’s gone, Wilson stops doing that…but it takes a couple of days.)

Bender returns in July. Wilson’s birthday is July 25th! Hopefully this year I won’t have to rush him to the hospital in the middle of his party, like last year.

Bender, Wilson & Rena

Checkered Demon Tattoo

David LaBrava tattooed the Checkered Demon onto Ken Weaver’s shapely arm today. I love it! I just wish I could have been a fly on the wall, listening to these two getting acquainted during the process.

Now I want a miniature version.

Ken “SNUD” Weaver

We got Wilson home on Friday. He kept grinning for days, even through the task of showering that “hospital smell” off of him. On Sunday I gave him a haircut (a big improvement over the last one I did, which looked like I put a cereal bowl on his head, and cut around it). I did a fine job of feathering the back, if I do say so myself.

SNUD and MUDCAT

Ken Weaver came to visit from France, again! We are always overjoyed to see him. I had just found Wilson’s old paperback copy of Ken’s book “TEXAS CRUDE”, and had him sign it for our archives. It turns out I’m always coming up with something for Ken to do during his visits, but this was way easier than last time, when he installed a new toilet seat!When he returns this coming week, I’ll have him sign The FUGS album I got for Wilson’s birthday last summer. It’s weird asking people for their autograph. I’ve never done that! But it’s easy to ask the congenial SNUD.

Ken asked if I know any tattoo artists in the area, where he can get a Checkered Demon tattoo done. I immediately thought of our friend David Labrava. He’s the character “HAPPY” from the series “Sons of Anarchy” as well as the writer/director/actor of the movie “STREET LEVEL”, which is now out on Netflix & Amazon, and streaming nearly everywhere. He’s a regular Renaissance Man! He’s got two Checkered Demon tattoos on his own body (his whole left shoulder, and his left calf muscle). He’s a mad S. Clay Wilson fan and collector, and in between all his other acting gigs, writing his memoir “BECOMING A SON”, he still does tattoos.

David LaBrava

So Ken & Maxine are out of town for a week, visiting family. When they return, David has agreed to do Ken’s Checkered Demon tattoo. I’m toying with the idea of getting one myself! Either that or maybe another couple of stars added to my little constellation. ( I’ve only got three stars on my wrist).Wilson always planned to draw a mermaid for my spine, where the giant zipper scar is from my spine surgery….but we never got around to having it done. It’s too involved for me to endure now, but I would love to get something smaller done. This photo of David was from when we were talking on the phone this week, showing off the books I sent him months ago.

So then, Wilson has been in a cheery frame of mind since getting better and getting home. He’s even been able to do a tiny bit of talking! I’m just happy to have him home, and thrilled that it was something he recovered from so quickly. Thank you all for your messages!