Giving away "Ugly Joe" (2 string cigar box guitar)

I was strolling along Kirkwood a month or so ago, strumming on one of the Cigar Box Guitars that I made from recycled items and old bicycle parts when one of the local street people approach me. He was an older guy, a little older than myself, and he was curious about the instrument that I was playing. I gave him the whole show and told him the history of old blues and the cigar box guitar. He told me that his name was John-John and that he used to have an old guitar that he would busk with but somebody had stolen it. He asked me how much I charged for making one. I gave him the low end prices. Then he ask me if I could make him one and let him use it to busk with, promising to pay me in full for it when he raised the money. This he assured me that he could do in no time with one of my CBGs.
Now anyone that knows me also knows that I am no stranger to life on the streets, so I knew the risk that if I handed this guy something on credit that the likelihood of me never receiving payment was pretty high. I can totally sympathize with the fact that obtaining food, shelter and substances on a daily basis take first priority under those circumstances. Wingnut Bike Works is not in a position to spend any amount of time or invest any limited supplies and resources to charity at these very early stages of operation. I told him that I do occasionally finish an instrument that for one reason or another I don't think is good enough to sell to my customers but that usually sound just fine, and that on those occasions I go out and find someone to give them to. I told him that I would put him next in line and went on walking down the Ave.
A week or so later that same scenario repeated itself. Except for that this time when John-John approached me he asked me if I remembered him. I did, I said, and assured him that I still had him at the top of my list. I was playing a different instrument this time so we took a few minutes to let him admire it. I think that it might have been "Black Betty", my Git-fiddle. After a few minutes I moved on, but walking away I felt like I had to do something for this guy. Then it hit me. I still had the first couple of instruments that I have ever made hanging displayed on the walls of the Works.
When I returned to the Works, there was "Ugly Joe" just waiting to go out into the world and find adventure. Ugly Joe was the second instrument that I made.back when I first became interested in building this things. It is a two string "chugger" style Cigar Box Guitar made completely from trash. No tuners, just old eye-bolts and L-brackets with a couple of wingnuts thrown on top for easy tuning. Jeesh it was a mess to look at, but boy did it have a good resonance. I kept it in G-D tuning to get those deep blues notes really ringing back then, and I played it using an old socket from my toolbox as a slide. I decided right then and there that Ugly Joe belonged with John-John.
So I took old Joe down off it's hook and knocked the dust off if it. I dug around the shop and found that same old socket that I had used to play with and for the next couple of weeks any time that I found myself strumming downtown that I made sure it as Ugly Joe that I was strumming on. I didn't see him at all. When I asked around, no one had seen him. I figured that he either was drunk, dead or in jail.
I had given up on the whole idea and stopped carrying Joe with me when I went out. Then today I was walking to 420 to buy some stink sticks for the Works and there was John-John posted up on a corner and flying a sign. I told him that I had something for him. After getting the shopping done I passed where John-John had been but there was literally no sign of him. Despite this, when I once again was going out on an errand I decided to hang Ugly Joe around my neck, just in case.
It was a good thing that I did because this time out I managed to finally find John-John while having Ugly Joe with me. I think they look right good together.

When he said "Now I still owe you for it!", I told him he didn't owe me a thing. I hope that Ugly Joe serves him well. And hell, he might make enough money busking with Ugly Joe to buy a nicer one in the future. I hope that Joe at least helps to keep John-John fed and warm in the coming cold months.
So if you are ever out and about here in B-town and you see John-John strumming on Ugly Joe, do me favor and throw a little change their way would ya'?
Now get off of the internet and go ride yer' bike!

Hanging around.

Hey folks, I hope that everyone's Halloween celebrations were safe and sweet. I know that things at the Works were spook-tacular!
Over the past week or so two of the one string Diddly Bows (Little Grey Tree and the Sweet Hersey) found new homes and hopefully new players! Little Grey Tree was shipped off to Colorado and the Sweet Hersey is on it's way to Texas. It always strikes me as peculiar when something that I created from scratch, whether it be my "noise makers" or hand made jewelry or my art work, ends up in someones hands or home in distant places. Sometimes those places are familiar ones that I have been to while traveling the highways and byways throughout my life that bring back memories of good times and beautiful people that I met during my adventures. Other times my creations end up in places that I have never been, and when that happens it often stirs up feelings of wanderlust.
Recently a couple of awesome patrons from Indianapolis stopped in the Works to look at a couple of pieces of my art. I was taken aback at how enthusiastic they were about my artwork. The guy was excitedly asking to buy pieces left and right, some of which were, unfortunately, not finished. They ended up taking about a half a dozen paintings with them, and I ended up with a really good feeling that money just cannot buy. Although the money that I received from the artwork did buy my pack and myself some dinner!
Besides, the art pieces look way better hanging on their walls than they did just hanging around here at the Works!

I get stoked every time someone send me pics or a video of my creations in their lives! Thankfulness and gratitude to, not only these folks but, everyone who has taken the time and finances to show your appreciation of my work and for bringing a little piece of me and my world into yours. Thank you all so much.