Crazyhair

This is blog post #999.

This August 30 I turned 62. Before my birthday I told all my Facebook friends that I only wanted two things for my birthday: for people to wish me a Happy Birthday, and for people to make drawings of me with crazy hair. I provided a few photo sources for them to use if they wished.

The results were jaw-droppingly beyond my expectations. It made for a birthday to remember . . .

This was from my friend and co-worker Lucinda. I love the amber waves of grain on top and the corkscrew pasta on the sides.

This wonderful, lively entry was from Denise Huntington, the woman I was lucky enough to call Sweetheart for more than two years. She wrote: “Happy birthday, dear artist/poet/friend! My inner Ninny did this just for you!  A (mostly) blind continuous line drawing with minor pen embellishments and oil pastels.” My reply was “I love it, Nin. You rock! Thanks!!” It felt good to call her Nin again, though we have both moved on.

Fellow GHS grad Suz Dykes gave me not only crazy hair, but a muu-muu and a pencil neck. She is playfully sarcastic sometimes, and golden-hearted always.

British actress Beth Porter gave me Andy Warhol’s Little Deuce Toupe . . .

. . . and superstar imagist from the Great Northwest, Nina Pak, did this Warholesque panel.

Poster-parodist David Cooper bent my gender with a Doubtfire face graft. I have promised him revenge.

Activist/Archivist Clottee Hammons said, “I gave you dreds . . .”

. . . while award-winning state fair artist Peg Tee, wife of my cousin Larry Doane, gave me “Flock of Seagulls” on steroids.

My aunt Diane Norrbom, who has been known to call me Cupcake, rendered this cupcake with hair.

My gentle labyrinth-walking friend Suzy put me on a napkin and gave me a party hat and a balloon.

Carnegie-Mellon department head Terry Irwin drew my hair skyward with a Van de Graaf generator, then, remembering my fondness for the acerbic wit of William F. Buckley, added his words: “I would like to take you seriously but to do so would affront your intelligence.” Ouch! Smile!

Classmate Karen Garling Tornquist made a rendering remindful of Dr. Seuss.

Classmate Vicki Dube’ Curtis, a portraiture subject of mine, returned the favor.

Classmate Dave Bills stuck my hare and eyes on the March Hare.

My poet friend Victoria rendered six “serving suggestions,” and I love them all.

Russ K, creator of AMAZING ARIZONA COMICS, did this send-up of Jack Kirby’s “Kamandi, the Last Boy On Earth” with “Garmandi, the Last POET on Earth.”

The storied Barb Storrier gave me Pompadour and Circumstance, with a cherry on top.

Talented Artist/Poet Heather Smith-Gearns coolified me big time with rock-star shades. “I’m ready for my Rolling Stone interview, Mr. Wenner.”

My friend, poet and Studebaker aficionado Bob Kabchef did the craziest hair of all–it was so crazy it left for parts unknown. He then, in startling anatomical detail, revealed a way to get it back via hair-in-a-can and vigorous electrostatic combing.

But the winner of the Palm d’Or of my Crazy Hair Cannes has got to be Dr. Beth Lindberg’s superb rendering below:

An absolute sweetheart, she sent me the original from her home in sunny Santa Barbara. Stay tuned for a blog post with Beth as a femme-fatale poisoner in the Noir tradition, in my Raymond Chandler forthcoming pastiche “Crazy Hair Beth.”

Lastly, I wanted in on the fun as well, so I conclude with a crazy-hair self portrait. Hope you enjoyed the show!