I only have a few heroes. Bill Hicks is one of them. Bill knew what was wrong with the world. He knew what we needed to do. He spoke about these things with such conviction, such deep insight, and such searing honesty that no one listening could go away unaffected. He spoke of these things with such raw wit and comedic talent that we groundlings could get it. He left us laughing, but really, he left us thinking. He was a teacher.
I didn’t discover Bill until eight years ago, when I started listening to TOOL . I was already deeply involved in my work as a sculptor. Bill was already dead. But I listened and learned that what I was struggling to say in art Bill had said more eloquently than I could have imagined, in words.
Bill saw the monsters, Bill saw the sheep and Bill loved people. I will always be grateful to him for his courage, wisdom and talent.
Today marks the eleventh anniversary of his passing, at age 32.
I invite you to post your thoughts about Bill.
AND I’m asking you to honor Bill by donating A DOLLAR to the Bill Hicks Foundation.
There is no shame in donating a dollar. I went to college. I'm an artist. I know poor. But if you don't donate at least the dollar then, well, you’re scum. Sorry, but, come on, One Dollar. Do it. If everybody does it, it will add up to many dollars. Good will be done with it.
If you don't know Bill from Adam's off-housecat, here’s what to do: Donate the dollar now, go find out who he was and what he had to say, laugh your ass off, learn something for God's sake and come back and make a decent donation.
Sacred Cow Productions
billhicks.com - 'People Who Hate People' Party HQ
The Konformist - The Silence of Bill Hicks
Bill Hicks - Wikiquote
Bill Hicks - Interesting Motherfuckers - Acid Logic ezine
Click the Paypal button below to donate $1
PAYPAL recipient address is tlraridon1@sbcglobal.net (Lynn Raridon, director BHF)
OR You can mail a donation to the postal address on the site.
OR You can donate $25 and receive your choice of a really cool T-shirt, coffee mug or CD.
Cool stuff to get for $25
When you get your shirt and/or mug, email me a photo at harlikn7@aol.com. I’ll make a collage of the photos of all the very cool people who did this and post it.
Please send your photos to me by March 26.
I’ll wear my T-shirt and drink from my coffee mug while I work on Neil's sculpture, then I’ll take them with me to Neil's to wear and drink from while I install the piece and putter about waiting for Neil to write the something he promised to write for me. I’ll probably get Neil a mug too, because he is very cool to let you know about this. I'll post photos so if you’ve failed to donate a dollar today, you'll get another chance to feel like scum and do the right thing.
Make us proud. Innocent animals in need are counting on you.
Now. Speaking of Neil’s sculpture.
The sculpture is called “Luck Be Nimble, Fate be Quick”. I spoke to Neil on the phone yesterday and after we compared cold symptoms. He wins this time. His is worse. He said he’d write something about the sculpture. It will be on his journal, which is here: Neil Gaiman's Journal
I’m going to be refurbishing the piece and actually making some changes. My work is different now so I'll update the piece a bit, throw in some suprises for Neil. First, I have to check the connections and possibly open the thing up and dig around to find out what needs to be done mechanically.
---This could get ugly. (If Neil didn't tell you about the problem with the motion sensor and the cats, let me know and I will.)
That done, we’ll have some fun with it. I’ll be posting photos along the way, then we’ll post the re-installation later on.
This was a long post. Thanks for reading. Remember Bill and check back in for progress on "Luck be Nimble"
G'night
24 comments:
I...ADORE...Bill Hicks. I found his work only four years ago, and yet when I listen to him talk about Bush and oil in Iraq and Hussein, and it sends chills up my back to know he's talking about the first Bush in 1991. I have to wonder that, were Bill still alive, would he be laughing or crying?
Heading over to donate a dollar now.
Found you through Neil's journal, will be staying for Bill Hicks commentary :) Good luck with the statue; its absolutely gorgeous.
Whoa, Lisa. (This is Ben from justonepen.org.) You sound just like me! I discovered Bill Hicks one day standing in a trashy little mall in Norwich, CT. I had just bought Aenima and, not being able to listen to it yet, I opened the liner notes. They showed Bill and called him another dead hero. Who is Bill Hicks? I had no idea. And I spent weeks listening to Third Eye, to him imitating a newscast (a quote and I imitate verbatim), wondering who the hell that hilarious, seering man was.
And at some point it clicked, and I started reading online. I read transcripts of shows and read his life story. I finally went out and bought some CDs and discovered how very sad I was that he had died so long before I ever knew who he was. In some ways he reminded me of Kurt Cobain, coming from around the same era, burning out so young and with so much brilliance, though I think it's clear that Bill was on a plane all his own.
Hicks is one of those people that you hear, even on CD, and you sit there saying, "Fuck yeah!" I just want to stop people randomly and say, "Listen to this. This man speaks truth." At the time I was reading Robert Anton Wilson's The Illuminatus! Trilogy (these were formative years for me - freshman and sophomore years of high school, a turning point), and all through the book they keep saying that "it's only true if it makes you laugh." If that is true, then few men have spoken as much truth as Bill Hicks did in his all-too-brief stint here.
I grew up in Houston and went to college in Austin. Seeing Bill Hicks "ruined" my future career as some sort of degreed, professional type that was expected of me at the time. I eventually got a film degree and spent the remainder of the last umpteen years attempting to make people laugh and think throught he power of comedy. Hicks, like Bruce and Pryor, was a visionary a bit ahead of his time. He was the answer..the foil...to the empty talking heads and souless politicos. We need people like him more now than ever! He is truly inspirational to me....
b dykes
...you should check out Will Durst and Lewis Black as well....
I came to know Bill Hicks through the Preacher comics, about a year ago. Since then I have collected all his albums and any other material I could get m y hands on. I too sometimes wonder if Bill were still alive, whether he would have despaired now that so many things he prophesized 11+ years ago have come to pass. Bush II, Iraq II, etc... but in my heart I don't believe anything could have made him give up on humanity, or made him feel that people were past the point of redemption. His devotion to helping people wake up from the apathy of daily existence was, and continues to be, truly inspiring. He was, as Tom Waits said, "like a preacher waving a pistol." I appreciate your article honoring him... consider my dollar sent.
My husband discovered Bill Hicks a few years ago, also through the Preacher comics. I listened to his comedy, and loved it. One of the first bits I remember hearing was the one about the waffle house waitress asking "what are you reading FOR", and, having been a reader for most of my life, I immediately fell in love with his work. And then I found out he'd been dead of cancer for a while, and I grieved. I've never stopped wondering what he'd have to say about current events.
I'm going to go donate a dollar (maybe 5), and then I'm going to go listen to Rant in E-Minor again.
I found you through Neil's journal. I am a bit shy to admit I didn't know of you or Bill until now. It sure is nice to meet you! I am happy to donate for a good cause (and express my undying adoration for Neil)! While you are over replacing the sculpture, you might mention Amanda from Indiana says hello :)
Thanks so much for your beautiful art.
Bill Hicks is one of those people that I miss from time to time. Our world has been a bit dimmer since he went out of it.
Bill Hicks is/was amazing. I first started really listening to him just last year. I'd been stumbling across references to Hicks all over the place for a couple of years, and I just never really got the opportunity to check him out. For whatever reason he never really registered on my radar when he was alive, even though his material tends to run right up my alley.
Buit then, after the elections last November, when I was deeply, deeply saddened and troubled about this country and the directions in which is is careening, I got a bunch of his stuff from a friend and finally gave it a listen. It was remarkably... well... helpful.
His outrage with complacency, the Religious Right, Republicans, and pretty much everything else I tend to have issues with was deeply cathartic. Saddest thing, though, is that as good as Hicks was, you just KNOW he would have been something to listen to these days. Really sad.
I've donated my dollar, and will continue spreading the word.
I just wanted to say...I love the scupture...even if it is broken.
I went to college in Houston in the 80's, which is where I first heard of Bill Hicks. I was pretty heavily involved in KTRU, the Rice student station, and Bill would come down sometimes on Friday afternoons to do some material on the air with Bud Thomas, who was a DJ who was really into the local comic scene. Bud raved about Bill all the time.
I don't remember exactly what year, 1986 or 87, Bill opened for Warren Zevon at Rockefellers, which is the only time I saw him live. It was deadly. Seriously, I thought I was going to die from lack of oxygen because I couldn't stop laughing.
I was really upset when he died, because I thought he was brilliant and I felt like I had taken him for granted when he was alive... you know, he's young, so no rush to see him again 'cause he'll be around for years. And then he was gone.
I started buying his CDs a couple of years ago, and it is freaky what a fucking time warp it is. All about Bush and Iraq and conservative Christians...only he was talking about a different Bush and a different war and a completely different era. We need him now more than ever.
So hug a brilliant comic today, because you don't know when you might lose them.
Bill Hicks... simply the one person I would have alive again today if I could change the world.
Justin.
Dreadfully frightened am I.
found my way from neil's journal as well, and am frothing at the mouth to see the sculpture...am I missing it on here somewhere?
if you get a chance please check out my online gallery: http://www.ubiquitygallery.com
8]
Found you via Neil's journal, also.
Donated a buck to Bill.
I am not scum! Hooray!
This virus with shoes just donated.
Well it seems like I should have remembered bill and I'm sure I MUST have seen him on letterman because his style looked familiar to me. My kinda guy. I found you by searching for bill hicks pictures to blog about him. I'll donate some dinero too. boy you're good at the guilt. LOL. I found bill researching john f. kennedy's death. What can I say? I wish I could be more like bill. I tell the truth and try to be funny but people don't like it. I get the feeling that they didn't like bill's either and there he went. So many people connected to kennedy truth not here. It doesn't even surprise me anymore when I find one to look further and they are dead. Can't kill ideas, though. Good one on your part. I hope I can see your sculpture somewhere on here.
found you through Neil Gaiman's blog. Hubby is a HUUUGE bill hicks fan and we have all CDS and videos. I tried clicking on the foundation link and it isn't there, I got an error.
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