REPTIRE COLLECTOR PROFILE: BANX DIXON

BANKS DIXON, OWNER FROG HOLLOW OUTDOORS

            Perhaps one of my greatest supporters at the Eno, since the beginning, has been Banks Dixon, Owner and Founder and Director of FrogHollow Outdoors.

BACKGROUND

            I have known of Banks tangentially for many years through the skate/punk scene of our youth. And it has been really fun to watch him go from Great Outdoor Outdoor Outfitters at North Gate Mall, to owning his own wonderful operation, Frog Hollow Outdoors. I first got to know FHO through their excellent work with Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association (ECWA) clean ups, where Banks and Frog Hollow won the appreciation of my Father, Steve, a pretty challenging judge of character!

OUTSTANDING STAFF

And they have won mine too. Frog Hollow has hired some of the finest people I know in Durham, including Tasha Teasley, as well as her Sister Rainbow (aka Gizelle) and her Mother “Rose”, River Bottle Bluesman, and The Wigg Report’s Steve Lambert. (?..)

A SPECIAL PARTNERSHIP

For these reasons, when Frog Hollow moved  their operations to their new location- a house on Trent street, and made me a special invitation- to set up some tire art decorations, and a mini display at their offices, I enthusiastically decided to take them up on it.

And what a great partnership has been, and is still becoming!

Tasha has arranged a beautiful display of my art, alcolates and a great bio.

And when I get done with the festival, sometimes I bring them over something new for their porch!

And, taking it to a whole new level, I have been speaking with Banks and Tasha about a redux of their front lawn!....this could be really exciting!..

Banks has been a great collector of my Dragonz Eyez Tire Talismen, hanging one, I believe from a tree in his back yard, which makes me proud!

This year, Banks really clued into my Ouroboros Street Snake Belts, and bought 4 of  them-1 for himself, 1 for his wife, 1 his brother in law (a great local DJ), and 1 one for his sister in law (a very sweet person).

I could not by more honored that such a cool dude would want to wear these himself, and share them with his family of cool folks too!

EVEN MORE FROM DAY ENO 2014, STILL DAY 1, STILL!

MOYA AND GERALD

Got a visit from some other Chatham Friends, Moya and Gerald! I first met Moya I suppose through her work at Piedmont BioFuels, where she was at that time in charge of pick up and deliveries. Her partner Gerald is a great clogger with renowned Cane Creek Cloggers! They seemed to be having a grand old time exploring my Reptire River Hut.

It seems that Moya does not have a fobia of snakes.

DEUCES OF DIAMONDS- Jonathan Davis and Emily Wimbush

A received a great visit from a pair of exceptionaly stylish Chatham friends, Jon Davis and Emily Wimbush.

EMILY

You might see Emily at Shakori hills wearing pigtails, a canary yellow onesie, and not much else- (besides maybe a hula hoop) (“I towt I taw a putty tat!...”). Always a Style Maven, I also particularly enjoyed Emily’s lavish pirate ‘booty’ on Ninja and Pirate days downstairs at Succotashed

, where Emily worked (and regularly lent her pinache) and also contributed the large logo painting on the window. In Siler City, sometimes you’ve just got to “Let your freak flag fly”, and Emily does this with chutzpa and relish, which I have always admired and appreciated about her.

JON

            Accompanying Emily was none but The Duke of Style Himself, Jon Davis. A glass blower from Durham, Jonathan has taken the Chatham studio scene by storm, winning Best In Show with such gripping pieces as the insipiently erotic pitcher plant sculpture he made a few years ago, that I watched sell at an auction to one wise collector. Would that I had had the money to wager for that one. Louise Bougouise meets Dale Chahuli…!

            I also happen to know that Jon travels in his own style. I will see him at Shakori hills, trade mark sunglasses and back pack, jamming in his own groove. It takes a certain confidence to rock your style, and Jon has clearly got that.

JON DONS THE FLO TIE

For this very reason, I felt extremely gratified and honored that Jon honed right in on the Flo Tie.

Within in an instant, he had already placed it in a costume he said he was assembling for his next great balls-to-the-wall-hip-hop-till-the-sun-comes-up-throw-down at his home out tin in the Chatham wood.

Magnetic pull product placement, at its best.

That is one dude that I know will carry the flo tie like a champ. 

EVEN MORE FROM ENO 2014, AND JUST DAY 1!

Oh Man, oh Woman, Eno 2014 was such a wonderful year for me at the Reptire River Hut.

Here are some other nefarious characters I crossed there:

Sol Food Mobile Ranch Hands

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Kent and Brooke are a couple of young activists who I had the distinct pleasure to meet at Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival a few years ago, aboard their mobile farm bus! Sol Food is a mobile educational tool- so cool! They also shared with me the bible of tire crafting, given to them by the author Paul of Utah! Brooke and Kent dug on my classy ranch-hand suspenders. I think we're going to have to attach a pair onto them somehow.

RIDING THE SUPER HIGHWAY

I caught this young Durham native digging on the ‘SuperHighway’ sculpture, perhaps the first and only person this year to really study it in depth. He really seemed to like it, so I gave him a post card with its image from the Cultural Crossroads Exhibition in Winston Salem from about 5 years ago.

GUTEN MORGAN

I found this lovely lass peering up at the ceiling and around the interior of my booth like an explorer walking into a jewel encrusted cave. Her name was Morgan (German for ‘morning’?), and wearing a deep purpley-blue shit, which set off her raven black head of hair, the name suited her just fine, as did my tire art… On a whim, I decided to introduce Ms Morgan to my flo ties, and they were an instant match. Somehow, the butterfly-like flo tie fluttered up to perch on that raven black cascade of hair, and moments later, the first ‘bow fly” was born. I hope Morgan is enjoying her new friend.

BULL CITY BAD CHICK

This gal took to a fine specimen of the brand new line of Bull City Bad Belts.

And from the looks of her, she is going to wear it well, and with sass!

A BULL SHITY GRIPE

I am a little bit chagrin to jump on that “Bull City” bandwagon, that is seeming a little bit overloaded with mooing cattle en route to market these days. I don’t know if there is a Bull City Pedicure yet, but I would not be surprised… If all you can say about your business in your name and ‘branding’ is that it is located in a place that used to sell cattle,  I am sorry, but I think you need to dig a little deeper!

   However, that said, Durham pride, seems all and all to be a positive thing. And I can certainly understand the allure and temptation to draw from the power of this mythic beast and history, as I myself am now guilty as charged! And hey, who, if not ReptIre Designs, is guilty of drawing from the strength of mythic beasts?!

TYLER

One of my favorite occasional companions on this year’s journey was self described Timberlake-Country-Boy Tyler, whose father and grandfather were selling their beautiful hand-hewn wooden canoe paddles down by the river. These were really beautiful to behold, and Tyler, who would drop by periodically with his sister, to ask an unending stream of questions, was actually really good company! 

Tyler even bought himself an Ouroboros Street Snake Belt! (I gave him a good deal)

I hope to see Tyler again next year.

More Festival For The Eno 2014, Day 1 still!...

 FESTIVAL FOR THE ENO: MORE DAY 1

Another really exciting visit I got was from a lovely asian woman and her partner, who turned out to be Mrs Buttermilk herself, of PJ Buttermilk fame, on 9^th st!

Long have I seen the sign in the alleyway on 9^th St. but I am ashamed to say that I have never ventured down to take a gander! I was flattered to find April and John seemed to like my work, and seemed to appreciate that it stood out from the crowd. Who knows, perhaps Reptire Designs and the esteemed PJ Buttermilk will find some common ground to perch apon someday...

Ana Lena and Allen- Belt Snake Hymnal

A special treat I got to enjoy at the Festival, sweet as a cup of Cherry Chip Ice Cream, was the return visit at long last, of my dear friends Anna Lena Phillips and Allen Bell.

Also Sweetly, it was there at the Eno River State Park that I had last seen these two love birds, when we gathered to wish them farewell on their journey ‘down-river’ to the coastal metropolis of Wilmington! 

I was tickled, and a little bit chagrin, again, to have the chance to show these two the Belt Snake Hynmal I composed to accompany my new Orouboros Street Snake Belts. Why? Because they are each marvelous literary artisan figures in their own right! Alan is a Maestro of the English and Spanish language (and an ESL teacher to boot), and we have always enjoyed together the love for words that we both share. And Ana Lena even won an Emerging Artist Grant for her really exquisite and piquant poetry, posted on small cards, with insect images! I’ll even say that Ana Lena popped into my minds eye as I crafted that poem. So it was cool to get to show it to them, and then take a swim with them!

STAMPEDE!

Probably the weirdest occurrences this year, happened when I decided to lay down some gravel for my porch.

Having a gravel floor to my booth has been a long time dream/ambition of mine, but I could never quite summon the courage (or studity) to import (and more critically export) an entire truck load of gravel, ontop of everything thing else I have conscripted myself to schlep in and out.

So this year, I decided to try a compromise. Instead of a whole truck load, I just brought a single 5 gallon bucket of beautiful river rock pea gravel (from B&L). This I planned to spread on my new ‘front porch’, to lend some atmosphere to the booth, particularly my outdoor furnishings area (tirarium planters and the like).

No sooner had I poured a few dollops out onto the ground, when a very strange thing happened. Suddenly, a man and a woman appeared from out of nowhere, and began stamping and stomping the gravel into place. 

It was a very strange sort of dance that they did on their tip toes, but it seemed that, in their own they were trying to help. Then as soon as they had appeared, they vanished again down the path.

I was reminded of the scene in Crocodile Dundy, when he spends hours making a fire, and then a Rhinosorus appears out of no where and stamps it out.

Who knows what ancient instincts I had awakened in these two. I just thank my lucky stars they were not hostile…

Follow through on Festival For The Eno 2014

I never did finnish my report on Festival For The Eno 2014, which was such a great festival for Reptire Designs.
So here, after almost one year, I will pick up that thread, and follow it through to its end.

By the way, I have decided to take a break from the Festival This Year.
I have just gained a new neice, but also lost a dear uncle, so thought I'd sit this one out, and watch the river flow by me this year. 

Pollution-Sniffing Robo Snake! Yeah!

This is really pretty cool- check it out!
http://www.popsci.com/robot-water-snake-sniff-out-pollution

So, baby quibble out the way first (I can't help it)- when you see the video of this thing in action, you might notice that it lacks a certain touch of grace in its movement.

But C'mon Travis! It it is a fricking chunk of plastic! And as far as floating chunks of plastic go, well hey, this really is a quite exquisite one! (as you can see in the close up photo).

So don't get me wrong. No doubt, this is a wonderful piece of technology, and the work that it does is highly commendable, and vastly important! (to water critters and humans alike!) (And I sure wouldn't want the job of swimming around in questionable water, sniffing out currents of pollution! So Kudo's to the ultra keen and brillint inventors of this slithery water hound).

However, it reminds me (with plenty of due respect) that the movement of planet Earth's ancient (aka "old school") snake- across fresh water or land or sand or sea-is about the most graceful locomotion anyone will ever get to behold.

No doubt, the inventors of Envirosnake, in all of their years of copious study and observation of the movement and behavior of snakes, are well in appreciation and awe of their subject. And they should be incredibly proud that they have, through unimaginable cunning and engineering stealth, convinced chunks of plastic and metal, to swim around and monitor water quality. Simply amazing.

Tirarium Finds A New Friend at Chatham Democrats Party!

Boy oh boy, am I behind on my blogging.....woweee.

Whose to blame? Well, of course, I am. But I'm gonna go one further and pass this bill on to our NC General Assembly. 'Cause these guys have been keeping me BUSY!....

To make a long long story short, this evening the Chatham Democrats hosted a very nice (delightful actually) party at the offices down the street on Chatham Avenue.

The headlining speaker was Representative Robert Rieves, a wonderful human being, and a valuable advocate for the people of NC in our House of Representatives.

However, we had several other great activist and/or candidates there as well. Among them Diana Hales, Del Turner, Jim Crawford, Jane Allen Wilson and Gary Franks!

Officer Gary Franks studies The World According To Tyler

One of the largest presences there (in many ways) was Carl Thompson, who served as a Chatham Commissioner for 16 years! (I learned just tonight).

Aside from being quite a large man in stature, in talking with Mr. Thompson, seeing him in action, and knowing the work that he has gone on to do since his tenure as a Commissioner (co-forming the Chatham Community Development Corporation), I come to find that Carl is also large in heart, and this shown through this evening loud and clear in the way that he introduced Robert Rieves, a young man who he actually knew as a young man, and has encouraged on this path (thank you Mr. Thompson!), as Mr. Rieves described this evening.

Mr. Thompson is also large in family, and I have had the privilage to run into his wife and daughter often around Chatham County. But tonight, I got the special privilage to meet two of his other family members; his son, Carl Jr. and his sister, Reval.

I had a really good time talking with Reval, and was not too suprised to see that the warmth that I have  seen in  Mr. Thompson, also glowed in his sister, Reval.

And not too suprisingly, this I also found in his son, Carl Jr, a young man, who, in addition to his father's patient disposition, also inherited his father's bearing and stature, which are formidable! (though Carl Jr chalks this up more to cornbread than to genes).

When I introduced Carl Jr. to a treadknot Tirarium that Elizabeth had 'commissioned' for the headquarters, he confessed that he had in fact been wanted to check it out all evening!
As a tactile person myself, I could definitely relate to this impulse, and was greatly gratified that the treadknot had evoked this impulse in him! (also, in retrospect, I am little bit touched that this big guy was too polite to reach out and inspect this wierd thing, as I probably would have..).

Anyways, Carl was very cool about allowing me to capture on camera his own tactile exploration of the tredknot. And I am grateful for this, because I think this is an awesome picture!
The Treadknot meets The Incredible Hulk! Hallelujah!

Thanks Carl, Good meeting you Bro.