Well, it appears as if February 9th is officially Soundhog's Day; the first day of the new year with weather favorable enough for Stubberfoam to brave the streets. Yesterday, saturday afternoon, I started off on the town square:



I circled the block a couple of times, and when I passed in front of Jupiter House, there was a group of late teens/early twenty-something kids at a table. Always mixed reactions to Stubberfoam; some smiled, some were definitely confused, but this one guy seemed quite irritated and just stared me down. So I stopped in my tracks close by, and played directly to him. Some people seem to think that acting bothered by my antics or ignoring me will make me stop playing, but I like to give those kind of people an extra-special dose of obnoxious weirdness; they need it the most.

I left the square, and hit up the shopping complex on 288 near the mall; I started out in front of the Kroger, passing by Hollywood Video, PetSmart, and Office Depot on my way to Wal-mart. Outside of Wal-mart in the outdoor/gardening area, some redneck-ish employee asked what I was doing, and also asked if had I lost a bet or something. I tried to explain, and he seemed more receptive than most of his ilk. Then he had to help a customer, and so I was free to flee.

From Wal-Mart I went behind the RaceTrac and down the drive-thru of Chic-Fil-A, perhaps bringing something a little unusual to their routine work shift. From Chic-Fil-A I crossed 288 and traveled by Best Buy, Michaels, Old Navy, etc, back to Kroger. As I was passing by Best Buy, two middle-aged women came out and were on path that would eventually intercept mine. As I got closer, one woman looked scared, and even hid her purse under her denim jacket. I said, "Are you seriously hiding your purse from me?" She asked if I was on acid. And so I explained to her and her friend what I was doing. Then she asked for my full birth date. Maybe trying to rationalize my behavior astrologically, I don't know.

Outside of Old Navy, some young redneck douche, an archetype of masculinity, drove by and yelled out something. The only word I understood was crack; his mouth was full of, not male genitals as you might assume, but chewing tobacco. I think he was asking if I was on crack. I yelled back, "What?", and he just said "Crack?". I said "Oh, no thanks, I don't do drugs." Certainly it was an encounter with someone of equal wit.....yeah right. He drove off, chuckling with the rest of his douchebag buddies, eventually parking in front of the Fuddruckers....what a surprise. After that I ended up back in front of the Kroger, and called it a day.

Today, sunday afternoon, I hit up the Kroger on University Dr, and that whole strip mall area; I went by the costume shop, Sally's Beauty Supply Ace hardware, and Denton Thrift. Parked in front of Sally's was a red pseudo-sports car with a few kids and some macho looking dude in the back seat. There was a boy in there, probably about 4 or 5, who said my guitar was cool and asked where I got it. I told him a friend of mine gave it to me and then I put some of my artwork. Then he asked if he could play it. I asked if he was left-handed, which is usually a deterrent to the very few who have asked to play my guitar before. He said he was, and I thought okay, that didn't work. Damn. So instead of saying yes or no, I continued on my adventure. A few minutes later as I passed by the front of Kroger again, that red car drove by and there was many voices coming from the car. The driver, a female who was probably getting hair dye in Sally's seemed to be saying something encouraging, but the kid who had been all about Stubberfoam previously, was now chanting, "You stink!" with one of the other kids. And I'm sure the macho douche in the back seat had nothing to do with that...

After that I crossed the street and began stubbing it up outside the Radio Shack, Quiznos, and Starbucks. Then I frolicked over to the McDonalds and played a little for some of the kids in the playscape arena. Kids in the 4-9 age group seem to love Stubberfoam, while the parents of these kids seem very apprehensive.

I went up past Pizza Patron, the Comic book store, and turned around at Roy's Laundromat. I made my way back to Kroger, passed by it and crossed University, going a bit past Compass Bank before calling it a day. As I made my return, I had another redneck encounter: some cowboy hat-wearing jerk yelled "Dumbass" as he drove by. Even though I do get the occasional negative response, most people seem amused and smile, or confused and looked incredibly concerned. And this is good because amusing the open-minded while confusing the uptight is my goal.


-photos by Haley B-