The Bobcat Bite, Z.Z. Wei And Wipeout Revisited

March 31, 2018
   I had a great time in New Mexico, hanging out with my crazy friends:

My fave Santa Fe cats at The Bobcat Bite: L to R: Thom Ross, BBB, Paul Andrew Hutton, Randy Egan and Johnny Boggs.

   We checked out the paintings of Z.Z. Wei at the Blue Rain Gallery across town in Santa Fe:

Z.Z. Wei triptic painting

   I dig those trucks. He has a kind of Maynard Dixon meets Ed Mell esthetic. 

Z.Z. Wei Replay & Replicated Forms

(note the building at right is shaped like a truck as well.)

Thom Ross dissed Z.Z. Wei, but he's a cranky, old crank. For proof, I must mention he got kicked out of the lobby of the motel adjacent to the Bobcat Bite for looking, well, like this:

Artist Kid Ross tricked out in his Charlie Russell finest.

   We can't figure out why they kicked him out. He looks totally Santa Fe to my eye. "I'm sorry, sir, but you are going to have to wait somewhere else." Why? Because he looks too much like the locals?

Hutton's view of the Sandias in his back yard

   We spent some quality time looking at this view, solving life and talking trash about all our history-minded friends.

   Returned home today.

   I landed in Phoenix at two and walked through the chaotic maze of Sky Harbor, Terminal 4 walkways and down the long escalator to the lower level and then out the north door to catch a Preflight Courtesy Van.

 I waited at the pick-up zone for a couple minutes, until a Preflight van pulled up, empty. I was the only one who got on and as I hauled my carry-on down the aisle to the back, I heard a familiar, demonic laugh. As I turned and sat down, the driver took off and over the van speaker system I was serenaded for almost the entire trip to the garage where my Flex was parked by the instrumental song that almost brought me down. 

You know, THIS demonic laugh.


   It seemed like a movie soundtrack with me all by myself, riding along in that big, ol' lumbering van with the classic drum solos of the original "Wipeout" by the Surfaris punctuating my near-death experience thoughts. 

   The energetic drum solo was done by Ron Wilson of the Surfaris and the demonic laugh at the beginning of the song was created when one of the band member's father broke a surfboard near the microphone and the band's manager Dale Smalin, did a "maniacal laugh" followed by the words "Wipe Out." In my estimation, none of the other covers of the drum solo ever captured the crisp, driving beat of the original, including Ron Wilson, who later re-recorded it! A magic moment trapped in vinyl, indeed. Wilson, ironically died before his 45th birthday.

   I ultimately had to smile. 

   I'm still here.

"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme."
—Mark Twain, attributed, although Hutton scoffs at it