Sometimes we get an interesting email that we'd like to share. Figured this one from Hedi is one that we should talk about... There might be many Hedis out there that are clueless as to why a nice website like ours would have such a horrible horrible name like Fecal Face. Read on...
Thanks for the email, Hedi... Man, it's gotta be strange coming to the site not having a clue where the name came from and why... Well, let me tell ya where the name "Fecal Face" came from...
Around the year 1997, I created a random zine featuring my photos, my friend's art, and my crappy writings. It was a "zine", meaning it was a xerox Kinkos copied mini homemade magazine assembled with glue stick- a hand made creation. But what to call it? Zines have all sorts of random names. Doesn't need to make any sense... Around this time in my life I had began "experimenting" with "the beer" and found its exciting fun dizzy affects "intoxicating"... Wait, I got it. "Fecal Face". It rolls off the tongue. Whatever. Sounds good. Done. That's the name...
Now leap forward to the year 2000, this thing called the internet was just taking off, and it looked fun and it appealed to my nerdy nature. I like putting things together, and I grew up with computers as a kid (Commodore 64 anyone?). So I thought I'd try and make one of them fancy styled websites that some people were doin' back then. But what domain name should I buy? This was the beginning of the Dot Com boom and all the good names were snatched up quick! How about the name of the zine I do? Sure, fecalface.com... How funny is that?... At that time the name didn't matter anyway because I wasn't even making a website about anything in particular anyway. I was just excited to learn how to put together a HTML table, and once I started looking for some content to add to my site, it was a no brainer that it would be the same stuff I added to my zine: my friend's art, my photos and crappy writting. Cool.
Throughout the years I just kept working on it while I should have been working on my employer's websites, and with my nerdy html brain, the site began to grow. More and more people came to visit from the Bay Area and from across the globe. You know, back in 2000, there weren't many if any art websites online- certainly nothing featuring the art of us whipper snappers... The site grew and grew. My friends in NYC who contributed to the site were being recognized and called out on the street. People were into it and followed it... Cool again.
Sure as it grew, I thought of changing the name many times, but every time my friends would say, "nnnooooo, you can't change the name!"... I did like how it sounded harsh. The name kept the "normals" away which was fine with me. Don't like hanging out with them anyway. The people who weren't bothered by the name were the people I hung out with and the people I wanted to reach... After our 5th anniversary party in 2005, the name was set. There was no going back at that point. I grew this beast and so it is... The name stayed and here we are today... almost 9 years later. Fecal Face it is... Sorry to upset anyone, Hedi... Nothing feces related here except that I have a cat named Poo.
-John Trippe, Fecal Face zine creator/ online founder and art enthusiast.
*for a better story of the site, read the SF Bay Guardian's feature they wrote back in 2005:
///////// sweet! Written by airdoggydawg on 2008-11-15 00:53:56
///////// Who says poo isn't art? Especially when it is smeared all over someone's face. Written by wrath on 2008-11-15 09:18:22
///////// Two girls one fecal face. hahah Written by Trueblood714 on 2008-11-15 09:38:44
///////// Haha fuckn awesome... "The Beer" Written by Julian on 2008-11-15 09:43:08
///////// shit!!! Written by Dahveed All Green on 2008-11-15 11:19:08
///////// awesome! the people that mind don't matter and the people that matter dont mind! Written by CryHavok on 2008-11-17 02:57:02
///////// i fuckin love fecal face, i havent ever really thought about it being rude, i check this motherfucker every day, never change your beautiful fecal face!x Written by the big dirty on 2008-11-17 03:47:11
///////// crappy writing? [I]no way! Written by Twylasue on 2008-11-17 11:36:41
///////// What's this "internet" thing you speak of? Written by geoffmac on 2008-11-17 12:16:37
///////// OK, thanks for the explanation. I am honored by being quoted :-) Now I feel much better! The art on your website is awesome as Californians would say. I can assure you I am not one of those boring "normals" but vulgarity is all too common these days (should I say, to the point of being normal?). However I can accept the "historical" reasons your website is called "fecalface".
i fuckin love fecal face, i havent ever really thought about it being rude, i check this motherfucker every day, never change your beautiful fecal face!
///////// I like the name, it's very fun to write in cursive. Written by Skulldaggery on 2009-01-16 15:57:05
///////// "I grew this beast and so it is... I love it, this site is great, I'm from new york and didn't really believe there was much art culture in sf (the west coast for that matter) and artists I met here turned me on to this site. I haven't looked back since.null Written by BullLee on 2009-06-20 13:39:02
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