This story is dedicated to my brother in law, one of my faithful readers out there that still does not leave comments. Parts of it are taken from him. Parts from other places. The biggest part is from a story he told me about finding some old papers from elementary school, reading through them, and finding one all about his best day ever. In it he goes to Taco Bell for more meals than a Hobbit. It rolled and rolled in my head like a song that would not leave until you sung it out loud. In this case I did not know all the lyrics either. Usually you have to find a version of that song, learn it briefly, and be done with it. Unfortunately, no song about Taco Bell and being a kid in California existed so I had to write one. So where was the plot? Just being a kid and living near the beach was not enough. But it was a start.
No ideas come to mind about the origination of the dead mother. Maybe, secretly, I knew my mother's dog was about to die. This was written before she actually passed onward to the next world. Maybe it had to do with talking about Mormons inheriting planets when they die. Maybe it was this interview with a Raelian princess I have been trying to get my roommate to set up for me. Maybe not. Maybe I just made it all up. Writers do that.
This is the first story I have been developing my SEO (search engine optimization) toward Modern Americana Fiction. Eventually I will go back to some of the older ones that fit this description also. But for now it is this one. P. K. Dick wrote 1960s era Americana along with his SciFi work. Some guy just wrote a novel about Red Lobster. Is this an actual genre? It is for music and artwork. It definitely is for photography. Our artist on this piece, Thomas Hawk, might be considered that type, but to pigeonhole him into a single genre would be unfair. The sheer quantity of his online work immensely overstates any one kind. With close to 40,000 photos in his Flickr collection in just 6 years as a member he is only a fifth through his lifetime goal of a cool mill. His 30 grand explains this.
I almost did not choose Thomas for the sake of not having to review him. His body of work was too large and too daunting for me to attempt a full perusal. Even still I have not seen them all. He keeps adding more every day. And more. And more. On my first visit, once he accepted my invitation to use photo as the header, I pushed through the first 40 pages on a slideshow listening to Sheryl Crow. Don't judge me. I happen to like Tuesday Night Music Club (and that Soak Up the Sun song). The next time I visited a couple days later he had already uploaded another 15 pages. Slow down, buddy.
I could upload a million photographs by tomorrow if I wanted. The problem is 90% of them would be crap. This is the digital gen. Crap is acceptable because we have massive amounts of cheap storage space. We can point and click with our pocket sized, delete the crap of the crap, keep the rest, upload the best with a minimal amount of photoshopping or none at all, and everyone is an Ansel Adams. This is not the case for Thomas. Mr. Hawk works hard to bring you quality entertainment even if you are listening to Sheryl Crow. His Vegas neons and desert showgirls are brought to life by the crooning of the female pop stars (although my favorite dancer comes in another category of his stream). This is America. We are sometimes dirty and that feels good. Sometimes we are too clean and that feels dirty. We are icons and logos and scribbled graph texts on abandoned walls. We are the big fish swallowing the little and the little moving out of the way for the bigger and the underdogs and the leaders of the pack. We are diversity and prosperity and whatever other word you want to place a -ty or -ism after. We are those Taco Bells and localized Red Lobsters, those ma and pas trying to make it in the shadows of oaks. I am America and so can you. Thomas is too. Ask him for directions.
Was he always. Well, we go back to the first 5 pages. No logos in there. He had not yet come into his own, but the roots were there. He was flower shops in San Francisco, a passerby in the Financial District, abstract foreign airport terminals, and taxicabs in the rain. I like that he laid the building on its side. It gives a surreal quality to the repetition of windows. Repetition is one of his strong suits when not filming portraits or Americana.
If you are looking for a good desktop, check out this set. You will have to put Sheryl Crow to the side for something with a bit more ambiance like the Virgin Suicides Soundtrack or Lemon Jelly. Is that a better recommendation for you Hi-Fidelity style music snobs. Sheesh. Everybody is a critic nowadays.
The last recommended section is for the font and logo enthusiast in all of us. Ah, yes, rules are made to be broken and these are the photos of those people breaking them. Put on some hardcore street funk punk like the Chili Peppers and go here. I will let you write your own review. I want to get this thing published.
And the winner of the favorite photo that sums up Thomas Hawk's work entire in my opinion - The Official Spokesperson of Brokeback Fisher Price. I love it! Honorable mention goes to Walmart, but the Price is Right for the Fishers. Thank you, Thomas, for a wonderful afternoons of visual accompaniment to my broad musical tastes.
