THE COMET
2 Wednesday, September 27, 2017
THIS issue co-editors: Ron Evans & Holly Thorpe contributors: Cory Calhoun, Dustin Hays on the cover: “Disconnection” by Aaron Parrott WEB: thecometmagazine.com facebook.com/thecometmagazine instagram: @thecometmagazine twitter: @cometmagazine info@thecometmagazine.com
THE YART OF HILLBILLY...........PAGE 4 EVENTS...................................PAGE 6 PERSONAL DEMONS................PAGE 8 THE anagrammist................PAGE 12 COMet tales.........................PAGE 14 B-SIDES..................................PAGE 15 THE SPACEPOD...................... .PAGE16 edgar rue comic..................PAGE 18
fatigue by aaron parrott - page 8
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Wednesday, September 27, 2017
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COMET HEADQUARTERS sEPTEMBER 27, 2017
Note From The Editors Like all good things, The Comet began in a bar. My Co-Editor Ron Evans and I were drinking beer and talking about the type of magazine we wished existed in Wenatchee. After a few more beers, we’d gone from wishing to planning. Fast forward three months and here we are: Issue 1. When we sat down to create this thing, we envisioned a publication that was free, available everywhere and full of personality, attitude and interesting, useful stories. The Comet you’re holding today is our first attempt at that. It’s free, and it’s through the generosity of businesses and spaces around town that it’s being distributed and promoted. It’s got some attitude to it. Enough to get people talking, but not so much that it distracts from the stories of the people we feature. The Comet is also a collection of voices. Ron and I are the main writers and editorial spirit for the magazine, but the content comes from all over. Dustin Hays, who is perhaps the most knowledgeable person in the region about local music history, has offered his time and expertise to write a column for us. Our Comet Tales section is a space dedicated to showcasing the writing of others. There, we will publish short stories, excerpts, poems, essays and more from our readers. Not only are we looking to create something that’s collaborative and multifaceted, but we’re looking to fill it with stories about all types of people and all types of work. This magazine is a home for all things interesting and poignant and brilliant and weird. In this issue, you’ll find Dustin’s column about an exhibit he’s helped curate at
the museum that highlights Wenatchee’s vibrant music history. You’ll find a story about a musician and veteran who has given faces to the things that haunt him using his art. You’ll find the rusty, quirky art of Hillbilly, an artist whose art supply store takes the form of a sprawling junkyard. Amid all of that there’s also our October event guide, comics and more. There’s everything we wanted to see in a publication like this, and none of the filler and fluff that we didn’t. This magazine was crafted with care by two weirdos who share a love for the local arts scene and who share a desire to create something awesome for the town they call home. These are the stories we want to read, the people we want to support and the town we want to share it all with. Help us continue to grow and improve by picking up a free copy, sharing it with your friends and telling us what you think. We’re on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (it would be amazing to see your photos of The Comet out in the wild), and our Internet-door is always open at info@thecometmagazine.com. Cheers, Holly Thorpe, Co-Editor of The Comet Ron Evans is the co-owner of RadarStation art gallery at 115 S. Wenatchee Ave., host of the Tales from the Spacepod podcast, author of “Edgar Rue,” and creator of many other things, many of which have robots in them. He is co-editor of The Comet and our lead designer. Holly Thorpe is a journalist, a bartender and an okay poet. She has a cat named Stark who is worth knowing about. She is co-editor of The Comet and owner/founder of BUZZ NCW, a beer, cider and spirits blog. Check it out at buzzncw.com.
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THE COMET
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
one man’s trash:
Hillbilly ‘yartist’ transforms rusted junk into art
FRED, THE BIGFOOT
Artist Kim Jeffries, better known as “Hillbilly,” demonstrates a plasma cutter at his workshop in Entiat.
by holly thorpe
H
e’s hard to miss: sleeve tattoos, big beard, pink Harley-Davidson motorcycle. His name is Kim Jeffries, but everybody knows him as Hillbilly. A self-described “yartist” — his term for a yard art artist — Hillbilly creates creatures from the rusted junk that’s been forgotten by others. “I’ve made a livin’ playing with toy cars and this junk pile for over 15 years,” he said when we spoke to him this summer at his home in Entiat. It’s there, with his dog Jaxson,
where Hillbilly makes his distinc- Watching him work, grabbing hot tive art. metal with his bare hands and His pieces range from small bugs tossing it into tins of water before and frogs made of bent railroad pounding on an anvil, is both mesties and horsemerizing and a shoes to towerlittle scary. ing monsters, “I’m not safe “There’s an area that I like Bubbles and sane — want to take my art that OSHA’d probthe anglerfish, I’ve never really explored.” ably have a fit who stands over 5 feet tall with me,” he and bobbles his laughed. head menacingly (and charmingHe said he owes part of his sucly) thanks to the springs Hillbilly cess to his shop, which is filled welded into the creature’s neck. with specialized tools to bend, cut The shop is alive with mechani- and manipulate metal. He demoncal noises. The machines he turns strated one machine by placing a off and on screech and sputter. half-inch thick steel pipe into it.
Pressing a button, he bent it effortlessly into something resembling elbow pasta. Another machine — a plasma cutter — slices through sheet metal like scissors through paper to create the delicate petals of a steel flower. “I love curves, I love springs and I love twisty things,” he said. And he happily bends and cuts the metal from his backyard to his liking. Behind his shop, Hillbilly has a junkyard that must be the envy of junk and yard artists everywhere. He navigates it happily, warning us to watch our step between the mounds of rusted metal parts.
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“You have to be careful back here… My neighbors are happy I have a fenced back yard. But back in the day when I was doing this, I was trying to make 50-100 pieces a month of junk art. When you do that much art you have to have a tremendous amount of metal to pull out of,” he said. “There’s stuff back in here that I don’t even know what I have. But believe it or not it’s semi-organized. There’s little piles. Lawn mower blades, gears, horseshoes…” Weaving between piles of chains and shovel heads, he points out an old Maytag washing machine motor, a dented and disfigured Wenatchee World metal newspaper tube, and a box of 200 metal lampshades. Now, he said he creates art as a way to pay for worms to go fishing with. But not long ago, he was making a living with his art, and he found materials wherever he could. “I’ve been doing this for 20 years. Back in the day I knew a person who ran the transfer station in Dryden. I’d make his wife a birthday present once a year and I could go in and take anything I wanted. I’d take out truckloads,” he said. When he’s not making “yart,” Hillbilly is fishing and racing slotcars. He was a welder at Big Toys in Wenatchee (what he called his “respectable job”) for 14 years before leaving in 2004. He’s welded and worked with his hands all his life, but it wasn’t until a friend of his began creating art that he began delving into it. “Long story short, many years ago, I met a gal — I’ve welded all my life and I’ve made little pieces here and there — but I met a gal and she wanted to learn how to weld to build some junk art,” he said, “and I was trying to sneak up next to her, and so I said, ‘I’ll teach you how to weld.’ ”
She began selling her work at farmers markets and fairs, and he sent pieces with her. “I’d build a few, send them down with her, they’d sell,” he said. When they went their separate ways he continued to make art and sell it. He said his ideas for pieces come mostly at night. “I don’t sleep very well. My brain never shuts down. So I lay in bed, spinning,” he said. But he also sees the art in the random junk. He said he will pick up an old motor or a blade from a tractor and see a goat in it, or a dragon’s head. The assembly goes quickly with the thousands of dollars worth of tools in his shop. It’s the rest that takes time. “Everything is fairly time-consuming, but actually there’s more time in coming out here and finding pieces and coming up with the idea and getting everything together than the actual assembly part. The assembly part is the easy part for me,” he said. While his dragonflies and flowers are popular, especially as yard art, he said there’s more he wants to do. “I haven’t even touched where I want to go with my art. There’s an area that I want to take my art that I’ve never really explored,” he said. “Making a living as an artist — which I’ve done for 15 years — I’ve painted myself into a corner. I had to create art that would sell — which is dragonflies and butterflies and that type stuff. I have a lot of things in my brain that I want to create and I just haven’t done it yet because I’ve never had anywhere to show them or take them.” He said RadarStation gallery has become a space for him to share his work that he doesn’t think would sell elsewhere. “I don’t even care about the market. I don’t care about selling those pieces. What I care about is being
able to create them and have a place to put them and show them,” he said. “Sure, sales are nice. But that’s not what I’m after.” But sales are only part of the challenge. Hillbilly suffered an injury years ago that keeps him from working as hard as he’d like to. “That’s one of my struggles right now. I’m not in real good shape and it’s why I can’t do it for a living anymore. When I was doing it for a living you have to put in ten hour days. It’s not easy surviving as an artist and I just can’t do that anymore,” he said. “I have to work in little spurts. And that’s frustrating. Chronic pain’s not fun.” Still, he’s begun branching out. One new venture includes his junk art furniture. Tables made from reclaimed wood and ornamented with old metal parts from his col-
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lection. “There’s people doing the junk art, there’s people doing palette furniture, but there’s not many people putting them together,” he said. All of his art has personality and often, humor. He’s light-hearted about all of it. “Basically, I have to do this a little bit,” he said, gesturing to a butterfly piece under construction in the corner of his shop, “so I can afford to go fishin’. I live a pretty simple life. I like playing in here. I like playing out there. I like fishin’.” See Hillbilly’s art at RadarStation gallery at 115 S. Wenatchee Ave and at his Facebook page Hillbilly “Yart”.
SNEAKY, THE RAT
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Wednesday, September 27, 2017
GTFO:
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events worth leaving your house for
Every issue, we like to gather up all of the coolest events that have to do with arts, culture or nightlife and tell you all about them. And sometimes we write about events that aren’t any of those things, just because we think they sound neat. Below’s a guide to getting drunk, watching movies, making art and enjoying live music all autumn long.
What’s brewing this fall? October brings with it two fests dedicated entirely to beer, making a great month even better.
Sept. 29 - Oct. 14: Leavenworth Oktoberfest The Leavenworth Oktoberfest goes for three weekends: Sept. 29-30, Oct. 6-7 and Oct. 13-14. The event absorbs part of downtown Leavenworth, turning the Festhalle and three other venues into spaces for eating, drinking and being merry. There is Bavarian and Oktoberfest-appropriate music all three weekends at each venue, and the food tents will be churning out brats, turkey legs and other festive things to feast on. Every Saturday of Oktoberfest at 1 p.m., there’s a keg tapping ceremony to kick off a weekend of live music and German-style brews. So party hard, but drive safe by catching a shuttle to and from the event entrance. Tickets and more info are at leavenworthoktoberfest.com.
Oct. 7: Northwest BrewFest in Chelan For one day of local brews by the lake, head up to Campbell’s in Chelan and experience the Northwest BrewFest on Oct. 8 from 3-9 p.m. New this year are cideries and distilleries. The outdoor terraces at Campbell’s will host some of the best northwest booze-makers, including Ten Pin Brewing Co., No-Li Brewhouse, Lake Chelan Brewery, Manchester Road Cider and others. A $25 ticket gets you six beer tastings, two whiskey tastings and a bratwurst. Plus, the Dimestore Prophets will be playing at 6 p.m. Get the details at campbellsresort.com.
Cats, magic and kid geniuses This film fest is full of things that make you go “Oh yeah, I’d watch that.” The Icicle Creek Family Film Festival brings three days of awesome documentaries, films and workshops to the area. Tickets are. Film descriptions and trailers are available at icicle.org. Here’s the schedule*: Sept. 29, 7 p.m.: HEIDI at the Snowy Owl Theater
Sept. 30: Stop Motion for Creative Young Minds, 10 a.m. to noon, Canyon Wren Recital Hall; Family Film Making, 10 a.m. to noon, Snowy Owl Theater; Best of Fest: Children’s Film Festival of Seattle, 1:303 p.m. at Snowy Owl Theater; Kubo and the Two Strings, 4 p.m. at Snowy Owl Theater Oct. 1: Kedi, 2 p.m. at the Numerica PAC, preceded by a 1:30 p.m. event by the Humane Society to meet adoptable cats; El Jeremias, 5 p.m. at the Numerica PAC *Or, if you missed the screenings, just ignore the dates and consider this a list of recommended movies to watch with your family.
oct. 4: Evil Dead: The Musical Yes, you read that right. “Evil Dead,” the gory horror film that became a cult classic in 1981 has been made into a musical. The Numerica Performing Arts Center is to thank for bringing this masterpiece to the Wenatchee valley. It’s one showing only on Oct. 4 at 7:30 p.m. From their site, “Five college students go to an abandoned cabin in the woods, and accidentally unleash an evil force that turns them all into demons. It’s all up to Ash (a housewares employee, turned demon-killing hero), and his trusty chainsaw to save the day. Blood flies. Limbs are dismembered. Demons tell bad jokes… and all to music.” All the info and tickets (which are going fast) at numericapac.org.
Oct. 21: Cloud Person (rock from Seattle, WA), Michael Carlos Band (rock/Latin rock from Wenatchee, WA), and guests, 9:30 p.m., $5
oct. 10: Norman Baker live Musician Norman Baker occasionally crosses the pass to make appearances on our side of the mountains. And when he does, he’s worth seeing. His down-home vibes and folk/americana sound are right at home in Wenatchee. You can see him next on Oct. 10 at Pybus Public Market in Wenatchee at 7 p.m. or at Icicle Brewing Co. at 6 p.m. on Oct. 21. We recommend checking out some of his stuff at normanbaker.com.
oct.19: Chill with the Poet Laureate The Wenatchee Public Library is hosting Washington State Poet Laureate Tod Marshall at 6:30 p.m on Oct. 19. From the Humanities Washington website, humanities.org, “As well as a poet, he is a humanities professor at Gonzaga University. His poems have been published in numerous journals and he has written several books, most recently ‘Bugle’ (2014), which won the Washington State Book Award.”
0ct. 21: Making the most Live music at the House of Booze Wally’s House of Booze delivers with live music every weekend through October. All shows are 21 and over. Here’s the schedule (with band info from their Facebook, @wally.booze): Oct. 5: Community Center (orchestral rock and roll from Baltimore, MD), 8:30 p.m., free Oct. 7: The F-Holes (rock/punk from Seattle, WA), Deadman and guest, 9:30 p.m., $5 Oct. 13: The Rocketz (punk/rockabilly from Los Angeles, CA), The Silver Shine (punk ‘n’ roll from Europe), Raw Dogs (psychobilly from Seattle, WA),9:30 p.m., $5 Oct. 14: Foxtrot Epidemic, Why Did Johnny Kill?, Waking Things, 9:30 p.m., $5 Oct. 20: Ball Bag (rock/punk from Seattle, WA), KLAW (heavy rock from Seattle, WA), The Nightmares (rock/alternative from Wenatchee, WA), 9:30 p.m., $5
They call it the greatest show (and tell) on earth. The Wenatchee Mini Maker Faire features the most innovative, artistic and resourceful “makers” from around the region. And it’s happening Oct. 21 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Wenatchee Convention Center. Performers, small business owners, artists and everyone else who makes cool shit will be there, showing off their hard work. Are you a maker? The deadline to submit a proposal for your demo, booth or performance is Oct. 13. Get all the details at wenatchee.makerfaire.com.
Are you putting on a cool event? Is your band playing in town? To have your event listed in The Comet, email info@thecometmagazine.com
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
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wenatchee first friday October brings the first First Friday of fall. Nine venues bring a wide variety of local art to Wenatchee. Cindy Rietveldt with Wenatchee First Fridays helped put together this list of shows, along with their First Friday hours. Remember, while most places have special events, artists receptions and free admission during First Friday, the art itself is on exhibit all month long in most locations.
Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center
127 South Mission Street wenatcheevalleymuseum.org First Friday hours (free admission): 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. New to the Museum Main Gallery is Apple Capital Records. Wenatchee has had a long and rocking history! From the earliest days of the pioneers entertaining themselves on the back porch to those who left here in search of stardom, we will look at the music produced in our valley. Crossing all genres, music is a major part of the lives of Wenatchee’s citizens. We look at the characters who helped make it happen and the musicians who left their mark on history. A special guest will also be performing from 7-9 p.m.: musician Danny O’Keefe.
Ye Olde Bookshoppe
11 Palouse St. Frist Friday reception: 5-8 p.m. Jennifer Walter is best known for her ability to recover objects that have been deemed detritus and give them a new life. “I impulsively want to give discarded things a second chance, and see how people relate when they see the transformation of left behind into the beautiful and useful.” Her bottle cap flowers and earrings were showcased in the May/June edition of Foothills Magazine. Check out Ye Olde Bookshoppe on Tuesdays at 6 p.m. for their open mic poetry and spoken word events. They also have poetry workshops on Saturdays at 11 a.m
Lemolo Cafe & Deli
114 N Wenatchee Ave. Open First Friday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. During October you can see the art of Marcos Noyola on the walls of Lemolo. He says of his work: “I have always been into art, all different styles. My art ranges from graffiti, tattooing and cartoon styles and recently the acrylic or dirty pour.”
RadarStation
115 S. Wenatchee Ave. October 6, 4-9 PM POE: A Midnight Dreary Art inspired by the tortured works of Edgar Allan Poe will be on display. Starting at 8 p.m. live readings of Poe’s work will begin, hosted by Danbert Nobacon of Chumbawamba. Free Admission.
Two Rivers
102 N Columbia 2riversgallery.com First Friday reception: 5-8 p.m.
WATER, EARTH & SKY is the featured work of artist Lynn Wright Brown. She says, “For many years I have enjoyed painting pastel landscapes and sometimes portraits of animals and children on commission. Recently, I decided to try my hand at painting more abstracted pictures using acrylics. This show is the result.” Music by Connie Celustka on hammered dulcimer; wines by Ryan Patrick Winery.
Robert Graves Gallery
Wenatchee Valley College First Friday reception: 5-7 p.m. The Robert Graves Gallery is opening its new season of exhibits with a show of sculptures and illustrations by Washington artist Tom McClelland on display September 25 through October 19. Complimentary refreshments. There will be an artist talk by Tom McClelland at 6 p.m. on Oct. 6.
Tumbleweed Shop & Studio 105 Palouse First Friday: 5-8 p.m.
Kendall started Never Phelt Better as an attempt to create products that are not only soft, beautiful and versatile but also good for the environment. All the wool used is 100% local and organic. The wool is also sustainable, biodegradable and best of all plastic-free! Kendall creates out of her home in Leavenworth, where every day is an opportunity to experiment, discover and reinvent.
MAC Gallery Mela
Wenatchee Valley College Music and Art Center 1300 Fifth Street First Friday reception: 5-7 P.M.
Methow artist Ginger Reddington writes of her work on display this month, “I am honored to be exhibiting at Mela again this year. I have not painted tractors and old trucks in a while so I will have a few paintings with those themes along with other new pieces for all to enjoy.”
On display at the MAC Gallery, “Landscape: Memory Matrix” by Wenatchee Valley College instructor Majka Sadel. This show exhibits a series of recently painted abstracted landscapes that feel familiar and local, but are of no specific location. Instead, they are byproducts of her “hedonistic” process of working the surface of her canvases, informed by fragments of memories from the environment in which she is steeped. The show is on display through Oct. 27.
17 N. Wenatchee Ave. caffemela.com First Fridays reception: 5-7 p.m.
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Wednesday, September 27, 2017
THE COMET
personal demons: This artist faced his anxiety by drawing it
Aaron Parrott stands with his drawing titled “Anxiety” at RadarStation art gallery in Wenatchee. Parrott drew eight pieces in total for his Personal Demons series.
by holly thorpe
I
n the dark, parked on the side of an unlit back road outside of Wenatchee, Aaron Parrott finally cracked. “I had a flashback to combat and I broke down parked on the side of the road and quietly went to pieces,” he said. He ended up there earlier this year, after experiencing months of stress and anxiety from his job and marriage. An artist, musician and veteran, Parrott was working at Wenatchee Valley College at the time. “I ended up living with stress overload and being not mentally well. And after taking on a bunch of stress that wasn’t really mine to
own at my day job, I pretty much was back in therapy, things were had a mental breakdown at a kind falling apart at work and I was just of crucial moment,” he said. “I about deciding to leave,” he said. had a member of my family pass He said originally he hadn’t away, the wanted to start a possibility career and take of losing on a whole lot “It was this cathartic my job was of responsibility, moment… I felt like I had hanging and for a while given birth, I felt like I over me, he did freelance had pulled a thorn out.” and my regraphic design. lationship Parrott is origiwith my nally from New wife had deteriorated.” England, but at the age of 17 he His breakdown spurred him to joined the army and never looked go into therapy, and he began to back. He spent time in Korea, lived consider leaving his job. in Hawaii and eventually settled Still, he said, something was here, where his wife’s family lives. missing. In total, he served 20 years and did “I was not getting any better, I three combat tours.
Upon moving to Wenatchee, he eventually took a job at the college working in middle management, the same job that led him to burn out from stress time and time again. That burnout is what eventually led to his “Personal Demons” series. “During a particularly stressful moment, right on the cusp of my decision that I was going to leave my job, I found myself just doodling, and that first doodle was just this stringy, scaly, thorny looking monster with a gaping mouth and bug eyes,” he said. Drawn to it, he continued to detail and expand the drawing. “Eventually I looked down and I’m like, ‘This is not just a random
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He said the process went quickly. He’d be struck by an idea for one of the demons, and immediately reach for his pencils and begin drawing. “When I started the series there wasn’t a really deliberate choice of style because I was really doodling in a style that’s evolved in all my years of drawing comic art, a lot of portraiture, a lot of fantastic and sci-fi themes,” he said. “But then as I went into it, I said, ‘You know, part of what makes that powerful is the simplicity of the image.’ ” He notes the asymmetry in the pieces and visceral, raw details: blood, veins, wrinkles and scales. He said the imagery and colors are drawn from his own experiences
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with anxiety and the other demons. For instance, Parrott used blues and purples for “Anxiety,” colors he said many people associate with depression. “Anxiety to me happens in the dark at night when you’re lying awake and you don’t want to face up to the next day and you can’t fall asleep to get to the next day and you can’t let go of what happened the day before,” he said. “It felt like something was digging it’s claws into me, hovering over me and it’s this ugly, decaying thing, this black thing.” Parrott is known for leaving “Easter eggs” in his work — details that change the meaning of a piece for those that spot them.
anxiety doodle. This is actually what I’m feeling right now.” Once he finished coloring and shading it, he realized that his doodle had become something more. “It was this cathartic moment… I felt like I had given birth, I felt like I had pulled a thorn out,” he said. “I showed it to my wife and it took her breath away and she says, ‘I totally can see what you are feeling.’ ” That drawing became the first of the eight-piece series. He titled it “Anxiety.” He posted the image on Facebook and his friends began flood-
ing him with messages. The drawing had resonated with them, too. “I then got really interested in if there was anything else rattling around inside me that was asking to get out,” Parrott said. He began work on the remaining pieces, titled things like “Fatigue,” “Frustration” and “Disconnection.” “It eventually turned into eight artworks, each one representing a piece of baggage or something that I felt was an anchor on my soul,” he said. “I was putting a face on the thing that was consuming me and by doing that I figured I was gaining control over it.”
laziness
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Wednesday, September 27, 2017
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Bad Habits
“In every single one of the works I hid something else that really takes it to another level, and that’s kind of like a piece of me that’s hidden in every single one of them,” he said. “And that’s how I know I really have taken that out of me, and I’m giving it away. I’m hanging it on the wall to have control over it.” Parrott said that by drawing his demons, he was able to become more vulnerable and talk more openly about his experiences. He compared it, in a way, to cave drawings. “When ancient man wanted to go have a successful hunt, he drew what he wanted to go conquer on the wall and then he went out and killed it,” he said. “So maybe that’s what I’m doing, I’m drawing things on the wall so I can eliminate them from my life.” He completed the last piece of the series earlier this summer. “The last one, which was ‘Painful Decision,’ was actually another doodle I did right after I tendered my resignation in the middle of June,” he said. “It was like the final thing I needed to get on paper and it really was the capstone. It was everything that needed to be said.” Now, self-employed, Parrott focuses on his art and drums with the Michael Carlos Band. “I’m making small steps toward being — I don’t like to use the word happy, but being at peace,” he said, “being satisfied and content.” Since he put the series on display at RadarStation gallery downtown, he said people have been responding to his work. He created a greeting card collection based on the series specifically for people going through the things he’d experienced. A card
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with “Disconnection” on it (the image on the cover of this magazine) includes the caption, “When life is tough and you feel like disconnecting, please know I understand. I will be here waiting, not judging.” “I wish when I had been in those situations and feeling these exact things that somebody had said the exact right thing to me to maybe help me through that emotion or help me recognize that feeling. That’s where the idea came from of actually doing greeting cards,” he said. Parrott said that although he witnessed violence during his time in the army, he was never directly in danger, and this often made him feel like his “reasons” for experiencing poor mental health weren’t valid. He said that’s something a lot of people go through, and it’s something he hopes his art will address. “We deny ourselves when we’re not whole, when we’re not well, we deny that there’s anything the matter with us. We deny that there’s things we need to work on in our lives, and we’d rather believe we’re okay, we’re completely whole and nothing needs our attention, but the fact of the matter is that I think everybody has things within them that need looking at in the light of day,” he said. “And if hanging some pictures on a wall that depict my journey through realizing this, helps one other person to realize this, and they can talk about their mental wellness without stigma, without embarrassment, and without feeling like their struggle is not valid just because they didn’t have a traumatic event, well then it was worth all the hours and it was worth all the personal investment.”
painful decision
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THE ANAGRAmMIST: by holly thorpe
W
hen he was in college, Cory Calhoun wrote an anagram that would get him media attention from PBS, Mental Floss and prominent members of the anagram community. The anagram, which he began in the computer lab at Eastern Washington University and completed by hand in his dorm room while his roommates slept, was the first four lines of Hamlet’s soliloquy in Act III, Scene I of Hamlet: “To be, or not to be—that is the question: Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” He anagrammed those lines into: “In one of the Bard’s best-thoughtof tragedies, our insistent hero, Hamlet, queries on two fronts about how life turns rotten.” It’s been regarded as one of the best anagrams of all time. And this month, Calhoun may have bested it. For an Edgar Allan Poe art show at RadarStation gallery in Wenatchee, Calhoun has anagrammed the last four lines of the raven into a biographical tribute to the poet himself. “And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming, And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor; And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor Shall be lifted — nevermore!” Becomes: “Edgar felt utmost elation when
he wed his blood relation Sweet Virginia. Oh damnation — shuffled, she, to death’s small door! Softly he felt maiming pain and, oh my, massive gloom galore — Thrash! Thrash! Thrash! — Then felt no more.” The anagram describes Poe’s relationship with his first cousin Virginia Clemm. Clemm died from tuberculosis in 1847. She was 24 and had suffered from the illness for years before her death. Poe himself died two years later.
EAST WENATCHEE man blows minds with wordplay whether it’s poetry, whether it’s a blog post or a headline and really learn to reproduce it or mimic it.” He said he was shocked when he produced the Poe anagram, and that feeling is what motivates him to do anagrams in the first place. “Whenever I create something like that, or an anagram, whatever it is...that when I’m done with it and I step back my reaction is always ‘I can’t believe I did this!’ — I’m blowing my own mind,” he said. “And I think that’s why I enjoy doing this: to blow my own mind.” Calhoun grew up in the area and graduated Eastmont High School in 1995. He started doing anagrams when he was little. His mother brought him activity books with word puzzles in them. He went through them quickly and especially loved the word scrambles. In high school, he would make nonsensical anagrams. “One fun thing I would do was take movie titles and just anagram them into something fun, just for the heck of it,” he said. For instance, he said, “Back to the Future” becomes “A Fork Cut the Tube.” “It has nothing to do with the movie at all,” Calhoun said. “I just like the sound of it.” So when GAMES Magazine ran a contest to see who could best anagram a movie title into a review of the movie, it caught Calhoun’s at-
The cause of his death is still a mystery, but the illness made him delirious in the week leading up to his death. Calhoun said he tried to pay tribute to Poe’s life, and his craft in this anagram. “I think that’s a layer that wasn’t as much there when I wrote the Hamlet one,” he said. “And I think a lot of it is, I’m 20 years older and I’ve done a lot of writing, I’ve “...I think that’s why I enjoy done a lot of reading… I’ve had to develop a professional eye for be- doing this: to blow my own ing able to look at several differ- mind.” ent forms of writing and styles,
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tention. “The two top winners were an anagram of ‘Hook,’ which anagrammed into ‘Oh, ok’ and the one that won [first place], the 70s disaster movie ‘The Towering Inferno,’ which anagrammed into ‘not worth fire engine,’ ” Calhoun said. “And when I saw that I’m like, ‘So that’s what you can do with anagrams!’ You can comment on the thing. I think that might be the first time I looked at what an anagram can do and realized you can actually say something. I think that contest really did it.” Calhoun worked in marketing for seven years and has been a housekeeper, graphic designer and baker in the past. “I’m willing to do hard, nonartistic work for years at a time if it will help me meet my financial needs,” he said. “I was happily a house cleaner for two and half years. I will happily scrub a toilet if it helps me pay the bills” After being laid off from the housecleaning gig, Calhoun ended up in what he’d later describe as the “perfect job”: copywriting. He was working for Tommy Ba-
hama, writing product descriptions when he got his first copywriting job. After that, he wrote for Microsoft, working on projects like Microsoft Office 365 and the Xbox. He’s even been paid to do anagrams. ESPN ran an ad campaign for their magazine and hired
instance his crossword that was published on wired.com, which was “Inception”-themed. The result was a puzzle within a puzzle within a puzzle, all of which followed a thematic pattern. “If you start up in the very upper left corner of the puzzle and
“And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming, And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor; And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor Shall be lifted — nevermore!” Becomes: “Edgar felt utmost elation when he wed his blood relation Sweet Virginia. Oh damnation — shuffled, she, to death’s small door! Softly he felt maiming pain and, oh my, massive gloom galore — Thrash! Thrash! Thrash! — Then felt no more.” Calhoun to do anagrams for part of an ad that never ran. But anagrams aren’t the only passion project Calhoun has. As a fan of wordplay and puzzles, he’s also a creator of crosswords. And they’re as complex and impressive as his anagrams. Take for
you think of that as the beginning of the movie, and assuming you, like, fill in the entire grid the correct way, the white squares in it and the black squares literally form a path or a maze through the whole thing,” he said. “And in the upper left corner you start with
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the name ‘Cob’ and through it, you cycle through all of the different characters in the movie, as well as the different dream levels.” Working through the puzzle, the reader fills in words like “kick,” “mountain” and “hotel.” “And in the dead center of the puzzle is the word ‘limbo’ and then you work your way back out through the levels,” Calhoun said. “And when you come all the way back through it, the next to last clue you go through, you can answer it one of two ways: you can answer it as the word ‘dreaming’ or you can answer it as ‘a reality’... and then finally once you go through that, the very final lower write clue is the word ‘kids’ which is what he’s trying to get to the whole movie.” You can try the puzzle for yourself on wired.com at bit.ly/2yiSUfM. Calhoun’s Poe anagram will be recited at the Edgar Allan Poe show, “POE: A Midnight Dreary,” at RadarStation this Oct. 6. For this and other First Friday shows, see page 7.
Show Us What You’ve Got Anagram something Edgar Allan Poe-related, be it his name, a title of one of his poems or a few lines of his writing into something awesome and send it our way. We’ll publish our favorites online and in the Oct. 25 issue. Need some help getting started? We asked Cory Calhoun for a few tips for aspiring anagrammists. “I would love to see what other people come up with. My mind is blown that I found this,
but there’s trillions of other combinations,” he said. Have a clear goal in mind. Do you want to make a statement with your anagram, or just come up with an interesting or funny phrase? “It’s way easier to go freeform,” advises Calhoun. Find your cornerstone words. If you’re doing a Poe anagram maybe you want the word “poet” to appear, or his name “Edgar.” Calhoun said to find the words you absolutely
want to appear in the anagram and work around those. Can’t make them work? Find synonyms. If you’re making a statement, simplify it. This goes back to basic grammar, said Calhoun. Find your noun and verb and work around those words by adding adjectives and pronouns. Read more. This is generally good life advice, but when it comes to creating your anagram it helps in two ways: reading more anagrams can help you
understand their structure and how others use the letters available. Reading more about your subject can help you find relevant words and make a statement about whatever you’re anagramming. Finally, what’s your tone? Do you want your anagram to be biographical? Raunchy? Funny? Absurd? This will help you structure it and narrow down what words you’d like to use.
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COMET TALES: rEADER SUBMITTED WRITINGS JOHN WITH THE 37 FACES BY CORY CALHOUN
J
ohn with the 37 faces pressed the buzzer. Slicked down a stray hair in his part. Blinked and blinked and blinked and blinked and blinked. He heard footsteps and cheery, muffled voices approaching from behind the door. Maisy with the 28 faces answered. Dozens of pairs of her eyes flitted in and out of existence, all moving from John’s faces to the violets clutched anxiously in his sweaty palm. Tens of his Adam’s apples bobbed as he gulped. Timid grins revealed hundreds of his teeth. He offered her the bouquet. “Hello,” his voices said, all swiftly eliding and overlapping in an unbroken sonic string. “Hope you like purple.” She laughed. Tens of Maisy’s cheeks flushed slightly. She delighted in the registers of his voices, an appealing mix of staccato sopranos and rumbling basses. “You’re too sweet!” She hugged him, wary of bringing her faces too close to his. She didn’t want to merge too early, if at all. She’d see how the night went. She showed him in. Her faces showcased a rotation of East Indian, Nordic, and Polynesian features and skin tones. As they sat on the credenza, John’s eyes scanned the room. A cluster of lenticular family photos here, an antique violin mounted over the fireplace there, a collective of tomato plants occupying her windowsill. And, of course, the pulsating eye in the ceiling. “It’s closed,” John stuttered. He couldn’t believe it. A closed eye. “Connections,” she purred as she poured him a triglass of wheat lager, Gewürztraminer and licorice tea. “Only one night a year.” Holy shit, John thought, we’re gonna merge. Then a dead man crashed through Maisy’s kitchen skylight, landing headfirst in her potted ficus on the floor, his crisp pinstripe suit bloodied. The angle of his entry suggested he fell, or was thrown from, from a different building. Scaffolding drooped away from the high-rise apartment across the street, cantilevering out like one of John’s violets. It creaked lazily in the high breeze. Hundreds of shouts from the city dwellers below. Cars evacuated accordingly. Suicide? thought John and Maisy as their shock subsided. This part of the city was rife with suicides lately. John theorized a vague connection to all the new eyes growing daily in homes and businesses, but the thought soon evaporated. “Call the police!” John said as he rubbed his neck, sipping absentmindedly from his triglass. “Not yet.” “Why?” The eye stirred beneath its closed lid. “No,” she hissed at it. “They promised.” She put her faces millimeters from John’s. “Let’s check his wallet,” she whispered like white noise, aroused. The eye stilled, pulsating almost imperceptibly, its ever-present hum barely louder than her refrigerator. “Why?” squeaked John. The pit of his stomach soured. “Curiosity.” Before John could protest, she reached into the dead man’s blazer and hit pay dirt. John shifted uneasily as she opened the man’s wallet. His ID said he was a 30/40-facer from Queens named
Dub Giles. She tilted it back and forth, viewing images of his multiple faces showcased by the card’s lenticular surface. Some West African, some Indo-Chinese in there. Some French. All with a sad, life-worn, lovelorn look. John paced out in the hall, anxious, collecting his wits. Maisy followed, annoyed. Old Mrs. Krantz with the 67 faces poked her head out her door, scowling. John brought her up to speed while Maisy phoned the police. When John finished, Mrs. Krantz nodded, cinched up her robe, and locked her door behind her. John went back in but Maisy remained in the hall, whispering into the phone. John gave her privacy, returning to the credenza, twiddling his thumbs, breathing deeply, avoiding the sleeping eye. Maisy entered with a sly smile. “We’ve got time,” she said, “Help me. I want to see his face.” John’s faces all paled. When he was nine (still in the prepubescent 5/10-facer range), his uncle had a heart attack during a fishing trip. As they sat together alone in a dinghy in the middle of a lake at dawn, John watched his uncle clutch his chest, gasping, his faces slowing in frequency, becoming more and more static, until there was a single, gaping, craggy mask (Inuit, the coroner later confirmed) staring lifelessly at him. She cocked her head. “I can do it myself if you like.” He considered if helping would improve his chances of merging. He was desperate. He shrugged and stood. On the count of three, they jerked the man free with awkward force. John squinted his eyes tightly. Maisy fell hard on her ass, potting soil spilling onto her sundress. The dead man was now on his back, legs pointing skyward and propped against her kitchen sink. John kept a hand over his eyes, fearful one would accidentally open. “So?” Maisy sat in silent horror as she stared at the man. Where his faces should have been, there were none, not even a single frozen face. It was blank, fleshy, and the most horrifying thing she’d ever seen. A string of frightened gasps and expletives escaped her mouths like blaring radio static. She scrambled to the credenza. Before John could ask what she saw, and before Maisy could compose herself, the eye snapped open and consumed them both. Dub Giles was also consumed. Dub Giles, who had been thrown from rickety scaffolding minutes earlier. Dub Giles, who had 34,948 faces as a side effect of the antidepressants he took, all of which blurred by too fast to register. On a nearby rooftop, a man in a black hoodie peered through a sniper scope and waved off another man at his side. “It’s done,” he said into a burner phone. “No witnesses. Let’s go.” The police arrived. When no one answered Maisy’s door, they checked in with Mrs. Krantz, who offered no help. She locked her door, fed her cats, removed the makeup from her faces, took her antidepressants and drifted off to sleep. It was good to finally have some peace and quiet. Are you a writer? Send your short story, poetry, essay or excerpt to comettales@thecometmagazine.com and we may publish it in the next issue.
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B-SIDES: Wenatchee’s Vast Music History on Display T
he Wenatchee Valley has a long and vibrant musical history. From the brass groups that were popular in the early half of the 20th century, to the countless rock n’ roll groups that have dominated the area the latter half of the last century, the “apDUSTIN HAYS Musician/Music Historian ple capital of the world” has been blessed with a goldmine of musical talent. Since early 2016 I’ve been working together with the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center on an exhibit focused on the areas music history, dating back to the early 1900s. “Apple Capital Records” is set to open Oct. 6 and will run through February 2018. Years ago, while I was still in high school, my father gifted me his 45 collection. As a new lover of vinyl, I was frantically looking for anything and everything on wax. We spent the afternoon organizing the some 300 7-inch singles that had been crammed in a box years before I was born. As we were cleaning off the discs, my dad could remember where he bought certain copies, how old he was when some were released, and which ones he played over and over. A few hours in, he handed me a single by “Billy & the Kids” and mentioned “these guys went to Sterling.” I was immediately hooked. After some searching online, I found out that the b-side “Say You Love Me” was a supposed classic that had been included in compilations released across the world since the ’80s! Some garage-rock record collectors had paid upwards
of $500 for an original copy. That record ignited something in me. In the seven years since finding that record, I’ve become enthralled by the music history of the Wenatchee valley. Whether it be the rock groups of the ‘60s like Billy & the Kids, the Chargers or the Talismen, the metal groups of the ’80s like, High Risk & Teacher’s Pett, the ’90s groups like Moss Dog, Limegrind and Lopez, or the groups of the 2000s and onward like Not All There, Ghost Power, The Wreks and Jipsea Party… just to acknowledge some of my favorites (truly the tip of the iceberg). With the help of the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center (most importantly headcurator Kasey Koski) my (occasionally unhealthy) obsession has finally found a proper outlet where the valley’s vibrant music history can be shared with the public on the scale it deserves. A wide selection of the area’s most important groups can be explored in a chronological walk-through of the decades passed including an array photos, bios and even listening stations. There will also be several engaging activities in the exhibit for both accomplished and aspiring musicians of all ages. Dustin Hays is a Wenatchee musician, local music history aficionado and enthusiastic member of the local music scene. He performs as a solo singer-songwriter around the area and as a member of one of the valley’s newest groups The Nightmares. Hays also hosts “Sounds of the Valley” a weekly radio show on KORE FM Community Radio (99.1/105.9 FM) focused on the local music scene, both past and present. The 1954 Tele-electric guitar, Fender amplifier and gold blazer were used by Jack Jones in Wenatchee’s Jack Day Trio in the late ‘50s. These artifacts and others will be part of the new exhibit at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center this October
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THE COMET
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
THE SPACEPOD: I DONE SEEN ME A GALLDURN FLYIN’ SAUCER, MOTHER!
by RON EVANS
G
reetings from the Spacepod. These are words I have said over 300 times over the past several years as we would begin each episode of my podcast, Tales From The Spacepod. The Wackiest Paranormal Podcast Yet, as we labeled it has morphed into a wider range of topics but we still lurk in the mysterious mystery fog of all things...mysterious. This column will offer condensed versions of many of the more intriguing stories we have featured over the course of the show, along with new interviews with local and notable witnesses and experts in various paranormal fields. I do plan to stick a little closer to home here than on the podcast and this is fitting because Washington State is a durn strange place. The term Flying Saucer was coined by a pilot named Kenneth Arnold as he described a UFO he spotted in the skies above Mount Rainier in 1947. We have had far more than our fair share of serial killers (Bundy, Ridgeway, Yates, Dodds to name a very few). One of the earliest sensationalized bigfoot reports hailed from the Entiat Valley and we have skies filled with experimental aircraft (likely born in the spooky alien-controlled under-
ground lairs at Boeing Field - oh what!) and let’s not forget about Mel’s Hole. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I will tell the tale of that bottomless pit over the hill near Ellensburg in the not-too-distant futch. First, I thought I would share with you all my two most interesting UFO encounters. Both happened right here in Sunny Central Warshington.
CASE FILE 1.
East Wenatchee, WA. June 9, 2009 1:17 AM The Acrobatic Satellites. I must preface this report with an emphasis on my sky watching history. I have been a lifelong watcher of space. I grew up laying in backyards telling filthy jokes with my buddies while staring up at the heavens. We had no internet, few video games and no cable TV. It was just how you spent summer nights back then. I learned over the years the easily spotted differences between low flying prop planes, higher altitude 747s, weather balloons, satellites or space stations. What I saw the night of June 9th defies everything I know about flight and space travel. Let me pour another whiskey
here and set the stage for you. I have a rather large skylight in my living room. 8 feet by 8 feet, to be exact. I was gazing up at the stars while enjoying the mellow moods of Les Baxter on the HI-FI when I spotted a satellite. I can’t really tell you why but I always stop and track them across the sky until it disappears. I still get a thrill out of the fact that I’m seeing a space thing moving about in space. My simple upbringing you see. So all was normal until the craft reached the middle of the sky where I thought it appeared to slow down. That can’t be possible as far as I know so this caused me to climb to the roof ( I have a ladder from my living room for easy access) to investigate. As soon as my eyes focused on the craft that at this point was most definitely slowing down, I noticed another one coming right behind it. As it approached the first one it, too, slowed down. Then another. Then another. And they kept coming in single file until there were a couple dozen craft all in a slow moving line. At this point I was freaking out a bit. “Why...this doesn’t seem right.” I’m guessing I said, along with a few more syllables. It got crazier. The long line
broke off (I know. I know how this sounds.) into two separate groups and formed into V-shaped patterns. They flew in this formation until they were almost out of sky view and then fell back into single file and sped away one by one. My first thought was... “I should call mother.” It freaked my ass out. I know these objects were in space, and I am fairly certain that our satellite technology, while getting better all the time, ain’t quite up to Blue Angels mobility. Later I discovered identical sightings all over the globe via internet reporting databases. One of those being the National UFO Reporting Center ran by Peter Davenport in (surprise, surprise) Washington State. Peter joins us in the next case file. Now, where’d I set that whiskey?
CASE FILE 2.
East Wenatchee, WA. May 20, 2010 3:00 AM The Infamous Black Triangle
I had heard stories and viewed shaky videos about the Black Triangle for years but it never really captured my attention as a phenomena. I always assumed it was some American experimental aircraft, likely pieced together in a
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CASE FILE 2 An approximation of what I saw out the skylight. Many reports of black triangles describe lights on the tips and center. This had none of that business. Just a jet-black isosceles from hell. Yes, this is a stupid illustration but it had to be done. Let’s stop looking at it now and just move on.
ILLUSTRATIONS ARE COPYRIGHTED BY THE COMET. Do not steal these. I spent 30 seconds on them and I’ll be dang’d if I wanna see them on your blog.
CASE FILE 1 As the first group flew in formation, the second group came up behind it and formed its own V-shaped howdy do. This was about the time I considered phoning mother. Other reports of similar doin’s in space include much more impressive maneuvering. Not that this tomfoolery didn’t leave an impresh.
Actually, you can totally steal this one. I mean...look at it.
top secret hangar out at Area 51. When you see one over your house however, I promise you will pay attench. Once again this happens in the wee hours of the morning but this time I had passed out on the couch (oh, your life is perfect?) and was woken -woke - awakened? Whatever, I woke up due to a high speed police chase soaring past my house. I later found out that speeds reached were over 100 at one point. I turned on the police scanner and listened to the excitement for around twenty minutes or so, at which point the fleeing vehicle crashed into a telephone pole across town. He was fine. And fined. As the adrenaline from the car chase began to fade, I noticed a low flying prop plane circling my house. This is something I have never spied so I watched with intrigue through that damned
freaky skylight. I assumed it must Triangle. Over my house. Like, be connected to the chase but directly over my house. It was that had wrapped up earlier and completely silent, lightless and miles away. Suddenly I heard a floating along like a demon cloud brain slicing roar shoot past by in the night. As it passed the skyhouse that durn near stopped my light I ran to the window to see it heading in the heart. I peered same direction out the window “Why...this doesn’t as the military to see the jet jets flew. The wash-blurred seem right.” really interesttail lights of a ing part of this pair of military planes buzzing the entire town of craft was how enormous it looked Wenatchee. As they vanished over from the side, but while directly the mountains I yelled curses and under it it seemed maybe thirty laid back down to once again try yards long. This is a common reand relax enough to get back to port in Black Triangle sightings. sleep. I looked back up through I still maintain this craft is ours. the skylight of doom and the tiny Impressive and creepy, yes. But plane (along with every star in everything seemed in line with a space) was blacked out. Then I late night test flight and then they could see the razor sharp edges all flew back toward Boeing Field. as the stars slowly revealed them- Needles to say I never got back to selves. It was the infamous Black sleep that night. I reported this
on Peter Davenport’s website and he called me the next day to talk about it. After hearing Peter on Art Bell over the years, I was a little star struck to hear him on my phone. In the end, he agreed that this was likely a field test for the newest stealth technology from Boeing. I’m tellin’ ya, man. Washington State is weird. Listen in on the R-rated weirdness by subscribing to Tales From The Spacepod on iTunes or most other podcatchers or by logging onto talesfromthespacepod.com
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Wednesday, September 27, 2017
THE COMET
by ron evans
THE COMET
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
CONTINUED IN THE NEXT ISSUE OF THE COMET
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