Every other morning I bike through the land of Make Believe, an area in Tucson bordered by Prince on the North, Fort Lowell on the south, Tucson Blvd. on the west, and Country Club on the east. It’s a direct path to the Rillito River Park Trail from our place.
As much as seeing and hearing the Hissing of Summer Lawns…
…evokes memories of growing up in Kansas, watering grass in Tucson is a waste of a resource that’s becoming more scarce by the minute. These folks don’t seem to understand where they live.
It’s hot here, hot as hell here…
Just an idea of the upcoming week for us who don’t head out to our summer homes in Montana and Michigan.
Speaking of arid lands, painting your truck is, or was, a thing in India. After WWII, military cargo trucks were made available by the thousands to the general public, prompting drivers/owners to spruce them up, make them look less scary and mundane, by painting them with bright colors and individual looks.
For decades truck drivers there have been using bold colors, designs, and symbols that hold meaning in their lives while playing a pivotal role in transporting goods and spreading the word of safety cross country. They are homes to these drivers.
But, according to Radhika Iyengar, writing for the website Hyperallergic, he has noticed a precipitous dip in the art form. With the arrival of pre-painted trucks and radium stickers, homegrown artists from small towns and villages whose livelihoods depend on it are being forced to find work elsewhere.
“Hand-art is getting neglected,” said truck artist Akhlaq Ahmad, who has been in the field for the last 20 years. “Many drivers prefer pasting radium stickers all over their trucks, because it’s new.” The adhesive-backed pictograms are cheap, and the truckers save time by slapping them on, rather than waiting three to four days for the paint to dry. Ahmad frowns upon the stickers, noting that “with hand-drawn art, each truck driver can tell his story. In comparison, the radium stickers are all alike and don’t offer any kind of uniqueness.”
Vox has a series called Borders that takes you behind the scenes of how much of this art is achieved. Note: You will notice swastikas in the video which are considered sacred in India, and have been from centuries. It has no relation with Nazism.
Also, check out Horn Please, a documentary released in 2016. The website states that, “Horn Please encapsulates various aspects of an age-old folk art form of India — the TRUCK ART, an art form that makes journeys through the dusty highways of India, incredible in more ways than one. With a kaleidoscope of bright paints, motifs, typography and some unique couplets, these Indian trucks take you on a rather colorful journey of diverse cultures and beliefs of the country. The designs painted on the trucks do not merely stand for aesthetic purposes, but they also attempt to depict religious, sentimental, and emotional viewpoints of the people related to the truck industry.”
On another note, now that UFOs are in the news and definitely real, or maybe not real, but possibly real, but who knows (Which has NOTHING to do with the U.S. falling ‘dangerously’ behind Russian and Chinese technological development in the cold war arms race…nudge, nudge, say-no-more, say-no-more…)
I’d say it’s time to give another listen to my Flying Saucer Song, being ahead of my time and all. It’s track number eight on Waiting For the Big One, released last October.
The Flying Saucer Song
Bo works in a clothing store
Ever waiting for something to happen
He'd lost most his hair showed little fanfare
But his spirits haven't seemed to dampen
He spends his free time staring up at the sky
As he knows they'll surely come back
The poking and the prodding and the missing ten days
The occasional panic attack
Flying saucers, come from a far-away star
Flying saucers, shaped like a Cuban cigar
Flying saucers, no one knows who they are
Flying saucers
Bo swears it's true it could happen to you
Snatch you up when you least expect it
The next thing you know you're floating to the sky
Then you'll know the true meaning of dissected
Hoffa's body has never been found
Did DB Cooper ever hit the ground
Amelia had her plane see what good that did
Did a dingo really eat the young Chamberlain kid
Flying saucers
So Bo keeps his watch for all of mankind
With the hope of being next in line
'Cause nothing ever happens in the clothing store
Those aliens are genuine
Flying saucers, come from a far-away star
Flying saucers, shaped like a Cuban cigar
Flying saucers, no one knows who they are
Flying saucers
Gary Mackender: Lead and Harmony Vocals, Drums, Accordion, Piano
Karl Hoffmann: Bass, Harmony Vocals, Various Noises
Connor Gallaher: Pedal Steel, Mellotron, Sitar
Kelley J Hunt: Harmony Vocals
And now…