Noah's still making his way across the US and makes some great stops.
When I last made a blog, I wrote about my stay in Austin with artist Michael Sieben and his wonderful wife Allison. After about 4 days there (we left on Tuesday the 11th), Michelle and I said farewell to our friends, Michael and Allison, and took off for the not-so-great city of Houston. We were warned that it was kinda dirty in an L.A. sort of way, but were still lured in by thoughts of the Art Car Museum and the famous Paul Wall Grillz shop.

What are Grillz you ask? Grillz are expensive, ridiculous-looking custom-made mouthpieces that give a certain look to your "grill" or teeth. Perhaps you want your teeth to resemble a disco ball, or to display your wealth by being encrusted with gold and diamonds, or to portray a message such as "BIG BALLA" or "BABY GIRL" ... these are the circumstances that would compel someone to purchase a Grill. Obtaining one entails getting a mold of your teeth from a dentist, then paying thousands of dollars to have your Grill custom-made by Houston DJ and local late-night teevee celebrity Paul Wall and his crew. Then you put it in your mouth and you look ... borderline retarded.

Apparently grillz rose to prominence with Dirty South rappers in the 2000's as a symbol of their wealth and success, but have also been worn by some rock artists from Korn, Brooke Hogan, Marilyn Manson, Avenged Sevenfold and Dir en grey.

On the way to finding the mall, we managed to pass by this monster of a corporation, Halliburton. Although that's the only shot I got, believe me when I say that the place was gigantic and in a pretty bizarre setting. Imagine huge, ghetto-as-fuck strip malls, consisting of nothing but vietnamese restaurants and jewelry shops. Then imagine a huge, grey, multinational corporation practically across the street. IZ ugly.

But anyway, back to grillz. When we heard that there was a Grillz store in a ghetto mall in Houston, we naturally had to see it. We were slightly disappointed to see that the Paul Wall store only carried traditional gaudy jewelry because Grillz had to be purchased online. However, we got brave enough to enter a really sketchy-looking jewelry flea market in the same mall, and many stalls in there were carrying knock-off Paul Wall Grillz. As soon as some one noticed that we were looking at the fake Grillz, every shopkeep tried to call us over to them so that they could sell us faux-Grillz. We insisted that we did not want to buy any faux-Grillz, but they kept saying, "You want Grillz?? You want Grillz?!" The mall in Houston left us seeking slightly more wholesome entertainment, so we followed up our mall adventure with a trip to the Art Car Museum.

Outside the museum.

I'm assuming the guy running the place belonged to this one, seeing as it was parked at the curb.

Sadly, the usual display of Art Cars were apparently out touring the country (can't blame 'em), so there weren't very many good ones left inside the actual museum. They did have a lot of rare and antique cars though, plus an exhibition of motorcycles and art made by their riders.

The Xyloto Bot go-cart.

A sidecar!

I recommend checking this link out to see more of the fancy stuff.

There were also a bunch of painted doors and hoods hanging up all over the walls, though none of them seemed especially awesome. Still, I've gotta hand it to the old car enthusiasts for painting somthing other than their engine blocks for fun.

"better danger handling."

An American flag, a passport, and a bullseye?

My favorite. Notice the fez cap?

These one's were all signed by "WTX".

The first room in the place had this old motorcylce called "rat shovel," with a bunch of Kelly Lyles' mice and hamster paintings on the walls. Her website is a bit hokey, but she's actually got some pretty great stuff on there. Check it out.

All of her rodent paintings originally came about in response to the constant questions about her own art-car, Leopard Bernstein. A lot of people would ask her, "Are you a Leo?" "You must really identify with leopards," etc, but in truth, she says her "personality is most akin to a Hamster, and thus the 'SPAMSTER' piece was born, and the positive response spawned this group." Sounds good to me!

After the museum, it was time to hightail it out of there. Houston seemed to have some redeeming qualities (Grillz and art cars), but for the most part I wasn't terribly impressed with the city. It was kinda dirty, had a weird sketchy feel to it, Halliburton was there, and it was definitely nowhere near as fun as Austin. It was also during this point of the trip that road really started to get to me. We'd been traveling for about a month at this point, and I was definitely starting to notice some weight loss. All the muscle I had been building at my old job was starting to dissapear, I was a bit home sick, and it's really hard to eat well when you're living out of a car. Michelle's and my bank account was emptying a lot quicker than we had anticipated too... We needed to start making some changes to our traveling plans, and so we had to make a tough decision. Originally we wanted to drive east from Houston to New Orleans, but because of a lack of funds we decided to cut the corner and drive northbound for a while. This was a big bummer since we were hoping to have spent some time checking out the the hurricane aftermath, and maybe even doing some volunteer work if possible. I especially was hoping to see some crazy stuff like a cow skeleton stuck in a tree or somthing. Alas, it was time to get the heck out of Texas, so we headed up the 59 into Arkansas.

We barreled though, passing through ex-President Clinton's home town of Hope, up to the city of Little Rock, where we camped out at another Wal-Mart. This section of the trip is kind of a blur now that I look back on it, but I do remember the lines at Wal-Mart being especially long and agonizing there, seeing as they'll hire just about anybody with a face to scan your groceries. First we bought a bag of salad mix, which took about 15 minutes in line. Then we found that it was past it's expiration date and all soggy inside, so we spent another 15 minutes waiting in line to exchange it. After that, we realized that we had left our salad dressing back in Austin with Michael and Allison, so that was another 15-20 minutes in line to get a new one! Fuck you and your long ass lines Little Rock Wal-Mart!

The next day we found the Bill Clinton Presidential Museum/Library thing in Little Rock's downtown. It was pretty fancy, and they had free WiFi!! Impressive.

The library was built on the site of abandoned railroad tracks where the defunct Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroads used to be, and this old railroad bridge is now in the process of being converted into a pedestrian bridge. It goes across the Arkansas River, leading to Little Rock's north end. We walked around the area for a bit, but then left Arkansas all together (which really was beautiful), and completed a lengthy drive across Tennessee's interstate highway system. The Interstate there is strange. It's not uncommon to see random people on the side of the road, some individuals, some groups, who don't appear to be hitchhiking, but seem more like everyday Tennesseans taking a leisurely stroll down their local Interstate, with cars careening by at 80MPH. When we were driving through New Mexico I kept seeing a lot of stray dogs on the side of the road (not all alive), but to see so many people just walking around seemed especially odd. Also of note was a man on a Harley Davidson that was covered completely with antlers. Sadly, he was driving the opposite direction, and I wasn't able to get a photo.

Anyway, on our way through Tennessee we passed through Memphis. I aint really into all that Elvis bull shit, and since this is my road trip, don't gimme any guff for passing Graceland up.

I think this was the Auction Avenue bridge we went over, but I'm not 100% on that. Anyone?

Did you know there was a pyramid in Memphis? I sure didn't. Appearently it's called the Pyramid Arena, is 32 stories high, the third largest pyramid in the world, taller than the Statue of Liberty, and ever since February 24th, 2006, Bass Pro Shops has decided to pour $75 million into turning it into one of their stores by 2008. There's Memphis for ya!

By the time we got into Nashville, it was too late to go to The Hermitage [Andrew Jackson's house], so I found a pretty neat park down in front of the capitol building instead.

There's a huge concrete map of the state for you to walk on, right in front of a railroad bridge that serves as a small picnic area.

Thar we is.

Lining one side of the huge map are a bunch of smaller maps showing things like the state's rivers, forests, musical influences, and the state's topography.

Under the bridge you can catch some shade and watch all the little kids run around in the fountain's spraying water.

Ever since I started this road trip I've been letting my facial hair grow like crazy, and I think it only added to the creep factor while I was taking pictures of all these strangers' kids running around wet and half nekkid. Hopefully nobody really noticed...

I hadn't showered since Austin and was starting to smell pretty bad, so I gave in and sprayed off a bit for Michelle's sake. If the scraggly beard and photos weren't enough to disturb some parents, I'm sure this was...

I also climbed up top of that railroad bridge to get a better view of some huge Copenhagen mural on the side of their manufacturing facility. I ended up getting covered in burs on the way up though, so I hope this photo was worth it to ya. Eventually we ended up in Knoxville, where we holed up in a Motel 6 for the cool embrace of air conditioning, some much-needed showers, and the warm glow of cable teevee (where I saw a rad Conan O'Brien interview with Paul Reubens!) It was pretty late when we arrived, but right before the sun started to go down I took my one and only photo from Knoxville.

And here it is, The Sunsphere! It's an 81.07 m (266-foot) high hexagonal steel truss structure, topped with a 23m (74-foot) bronze glass-plated sphere, built for the 1982 World's Fair! Yahoo for Tennessee! The next day we pressed on and drove all day long till we made it to our nation's capitol, Washington D.C. The plan was to arrive somewhere between 7 and 8pm to meet up with my good friend Mark Jenkins, but instead we got lost, unable to reach Mark for 2 hours, and ended up driving all over D.C. and accidentally up into Maryland for a bit.

Eventually we were able to get in touch with Mark and his lady friend Sandra, and they met us out in front of this old building to lead us back to his place. I'm pretty sure it was a library we waited in front of, but there sure were a lot of hoochie mamas walking around to make me think otherwise.

If you didn't know already, Mark's the "tape sculpture guy", and we did an interview together for FecalFace.com about a year ago. It never made it over to the new and improved FecalFace site, but Michelle and I ended crashing at his place in D.C. for about 4 days, so ya'll can welcome Mark back to the site. In the photo above he was working on building a new tape arm for one of his current projects. He does this by covering an object [mannequin, skull, baby doll, his own limbs, etc.] in saran wrap, layering a bunch of mailing tape over it, carefully cutting the object out, and then sealing the seam up to leave a transparent, hollow sculpture. Mark gets his kicks by leaving these sculptures all over D.C. in random places, and they are even starting to get some publicity.

Mark's "Tape Nephew" and me, complete with stuffed Brazilian speedo. We became instant friends...

Anyway, those sculptures are all over his apartment, and he and his girlfriend keep two really cute hairless rats with them in their rad basement apartment. One has a red eye and a black eye, and was rightfully named Roulette. The other was always just referred to as "the other rat", so while I was there I named her Chodey. Any guesses as to why? I'll give you some hints. Fleshy and hairless, and only a few inches long. Got it?

There was a deadly heatwave going on outside of Mark's basement apartment while we were there, so almost half of our visit was spent indoors building these tape sculptures with Mark. Lots of beer was consumed, and lots of dirty jokes were made. I also stepped on a fair amount of tape while walking around the place.

We did make it outside to see a lot of the local culture though. For example, this Anal-inspired graffiti!

One day we trudged the 8 blocks or so to the city's underground subway system. It was such a relief to finally make it back underground. Seriously, it was hundred degree weather with some major humidity on top of that. Straight murder.

We ended up getting off right outside of D.C's China Town, and then continued over to the National Mall. It's not a real commercial mall, but rather a strip of museums, galleries, monuments and gardens.

We saw the Capitol.

But our real reason for coming down here was to set up some tape sculptures and to check out all the passerby's reactions. Armed with two tape "humper" sculptures Mark had been waiting to use out in the public, we set them up in front of Reuben Nakian's 1969-74 bronze sculpture, "Goddess of the Golden Thighs."

As you can see, the humpers are just small imaginary creatures sculpted from tape that can easily be put into a humping position. Mark anchored them behind the chain in front of the semi-graphic bronze sculpture, and we took our place in the backround to wait.

The people, mostly tourists, seemed puzzled yet amused. The humpers provoked a lot of second looks, and caused many people to stop and read the little plaque to determine if they were supposed to be looking at a grotesque brass sculpture of a woman spread-eagle or two tape animals in the throes of lovemaking.

Lots of people took pictures.

Even old Asian men.

We thought this lady leaning back to get the perfect shot was pretty humorous.

Eventually we got bored of watching all the puzzled tourists at the Sculpture Garden and headed over to the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum. Outside of it the main entrance is a huge sculpture of one of Roy Lichtenstein's "Brushstroke" pieces. Is it just me or is his stuff starting to show up everywhere these days?

Outside the museum there is a pretty interesting Sculpture Garden which including some traditional figures by artists Auguste Rodin and Aristide Maillol, some abstract stuff by artists Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Alexander Calder and Mark di Suvero, and these 5 bronze figures made byJuan Muñoz.

It's title is the "Last Conversation Piece" and was made by Juan during 1994-95. I thought they were the best thing the sculpture garden had to offer. According to the Hirshorn's website, "The figures in Last Conversation Piece stand directly on the ground, inviting viewers to become part of the action. Initially inspired by a ventriloquist’s dummy, these curious characters resemble stuffed toys, particularly the round-bottomed punching-bag clowns that bounce back up after being hit. They also refer to the dwarves painted by Diego Velázquez in the seventeenth century and to the overlapping images of dancers by Edgar Degas in the nineteenth. The three central figures are enmeshed in an emotional confrontation with an unspecified narrative. One protagonist aggressively pushes the central personage, whose body curves back in spontaneous recoil; another leans in closely as if to murmur. Each posture and gesture suggests urgency and concern, tension and empathy. Nearby, two ancillary figures lean forward, as if moving into the drama, but their inability to move quickly frustrates their desire to intervene."

I think Mark was telling me that they were originally sculpted using huge burlap sacks to obtain that weird punching bag shape, and that they were a big inspiration for him once he started making his tape sculptures on a more regular basis. So awesome.

Inside the museum's entrance, artist Jim Lambie's piece "Zobop floor" covers the ground using multi-colored vinyl tape as part of his "Directions" series.

There's also a few sculptures he made around the taped room, one of which was this big pigeon, part of his "Byrds" series. While I was photographing it I overheard someone say that pigeons carry over 60 diseases in their poop. I dunno if it's true though. Any of you know?

Check out this link to watch a time-lapse video of the tape being installed throughout the ground floor.

Once we went upstairs to see the rest of the exhibits, cameras were not allowed, so I can't show you any pictures from there. I do encourage you to go check it out for yourself though, because there was so much stuff to see, and it's all free too. Here's a link to the museum's current exhibit page, which had some really awesome stuff by one of my new favourite artists, Anselm Kiefer. The pieces of his contributed to the show are of a series called "Heaven and Earth" and will remain up till Sept. 10, so check 'em out.

Here's an example of one of his pieces, titled "Quaternity," which is a 15-foot-wide drawing rendered in oil and charcoal. It's not as impressive from here, but in person I assure you that it's awesome.

After a couple hours spent browsing the museum and it's grounds, we took off to look for some grub and to check up on Mark's "humpers." They seemed to be doing well, so we escaped the heat and went back home for a while.

Even though I'm still a minor, I somehow keep passing for somone of older age, so we were able to bar hop a bit that night (thanks for the brewskies Mark) and then later continue on to the Adams-Morgan District. Basically this area serves as Washington's international smorgasbord, serving tons of young partiers with cheap eats all night long. Over the course of our visit we pretty much went there for every meal, surviving on huge slices of pizza and do it yourself falafel shops. The streets of this area were totally crazy though. Drunk people everywhere, cops trying to keep fights from breaking out, and cars trying to inch their way through the traffic of people walking aimlessly through out the streets. Apparently a murder was even committed a few blocks away from where we were. It was nuts, but also exciting and fun.

That was just the first day we stayed with Mark and Sandra in D.C., but I think that's enough blogging for now. Before I take off though, here's a few pictures I took of Mark's newest tape sculpture, made using a cast of a bull's skeleton, colored using some red dye and resin.

This thing was so weird to hang out with. Michelle and my bed was made on the floor next to it, and you wouldn't believe how many second-takes we took with this guy in the room.

Mark had some old tape casts of a shot gun and an ax, so I propped 'em in the beast's arms and took a few shots with Michelle.

Anyway, that's all I've got for now. Thanks for reading about my summer road trip across America, and check back soon for another blog about my stay in DC, up to Baltimore, and then on to Philly. Feel free to leave some comments if you have any sort of input or questions, and I'll try to respond ASAP. Thanks again!

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