August 29, 2023 • 38 mins
In this podcast episode, Chris Krug and Charlie Smith discuss their experiences at Burning Man, the intersection of art, technology, and community, and the importance of storytelling and self-expression. They highlight the need for platforms that incorporate artists' visions and help others understand the creative mind.
Charlie shares his journey of sobriety and his struggles with addiction. He also discusses his metal sculptural art and his involvement in community-building art projects. They touch on the power of art to unite people across geographical boundaries and the importance of being present and authentic at Burning Man.
Artist Statement of the Now "The day is short and filled with consistent challenges, sociological stressors, political nightmares, and communication breakdowns. The work I'm producing is a positive release of the angst that the daily trudge through the information overload highway of life we are experiencing on a moment-to-moment basis. So fast, so weird! Our psyche is so worked up that the relief valves must be set, The clogged brain needs plunging and a good flush from the chaos-filled world we live in today. These objects and characters stem from the ground on tendrils of energy- resonant nature-nurture organic, with the machine and metallic textures and hard lines of expressionism burst from these playful creations in the comedic struggle of life - we create the object image in our heads to exorcize our common pomp and circumstance! looking for solace = Finding peace! Gratitude Flows" -- Charlie Blackcat Smith - http://www.sparceland.com/
“I Love to dream, I make amazing art experiences that bring people together and speak to the participants on a ritualistic, communal, and individual level. so driven to see this take place time and time again instigating, creating, and sharing in a magical space in time, where participation literally creates the vibration around the sculptural expressions. “I love people and love to see them share extreme art spaces that open the mind and push the human experience through art to new levels." -- Charlie Blackcat Smith - http://www.sparceland.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Check one two. Hey, what's up internet? It's Chris Krug. I'm here with my buddy Charlie Smith. Hey Charlie, how's it going, bud?
(00:08):
Oh great, man. It's good to see you brother. Yeah in a minute. Yeah, it's true
I caught up with you last I think when I was down in Miami, Florida, but um, yeah, look at you
Looking healthy and happy my friend
Trying to keep i'm trying to catch you up
Come on strike on the razor. I'm right. I'm on razor strike
(00:29):
The trick is man, you just gotta sit back and let it grow and then like when you're like, ah shit
I'm ugly. I gotta change something up. Don't
That's the truth
Let's go cut it. Yeah
Charlie hit me up this morning
He saw that burning man video that I put out yesterday where I was just sharing some of the stories that were trapped in
My head and my heart about how I ended up at burning man and the cool things that I got to participate in and
(00:55):
The first story there was uncle charlie and his red hot cocks
So charlie hit me up and said hey, dude, let's talk and I said that would be awesome
And here we are
I'm glad to be here. I'm really excited about
Your chapter that you're opening up this whole effort
connect individuals and
(01:15):
Bring the stories to reality and share the mythology of the now
That's what it's all it's what we're in
man, thanks for
Teaming it up like that. Uh, um
I got a call today from burning man from a friend who works for burning man and they saw the video
About you and I gave yesterday and stuff and they're like dude awesome video
(01:38):
Some of those stories don't exist in the world yet. Super stoked to you
I put it out there and then she said but I noticed twice in that video you asked people to like follow along and share it and
Help you out and grow the audience or whatever. She's like, what's up with that?
Why are you asking for that? Like she said, I want to help you and stuff
But you just really haven't talked too much about like
(02:00):
Why are you trying to grow this? I know it's not for like its own sake or whatever. So what the fuck kk and
And it gave me pause
I know man. It gave me pause for a second because she was like like the video made it in the right person's hands
They watched it
They had some questions and they called me and that was like that's engagement man. And so I was like trish
(02:22):
What am I really trying to do? And I was like, yo
I just think I got like a unique perspective on this intersection of like future tech and art and online community
and i'm trying to
Share that with the world because i've been told that it inspires people or frees their mind or helps them think about things differently
And so while it's not growth for growth's sake
(02:43):
Yeah, i'm trying to make it bigger so I can talk to more people and like
learn in public with more people around and stuff and so
Anyway, i've recorded a podcast this morning a little bit more about the why i'm doing all this
That's pretty cool. I think that
Now's the time to
Open up the doorway
(03:05):
Of the mind and the experience that's out there and going on right now and
There's not a real platform in the now there there are a lot of superimposed
Pre-conceived platforms that are out there with the regular news, but that
(03:26):
This is something that is about
The thing that I can see happening
Is this evolution of storytelling?
About from the incorporating the actual artist's visions
And the drive that makes them who they are and what they bring the platform
more
(03:46):
Understandable to those who may not quite understand the artist's mind or the creative thinkers mind
and
Even the creative thinker needs of reflecting mechanism in a sounding board
to develop themselves and
community
as I
(04:07):
Is so important
there with this
Isolation that we've been there in elverville. Yeah, that's right
Trying to break the bolt
Trying to reconnect has been really
fucking hard
It's ruined so many beautiful relationships sent people down the rabbit hole to self-destruction
(04:29):
And it's also elevated people to new levels of understandings about themselves and what they can really do and who they really all
are and this is like
This thing that I see that you're reaching for to for self-realization
And opening the conduit for self-expression so we can have this voice
(04:50):
And it's a rejoining of voices and understand
Art experience and encounters of the 15th
Yeah, man
You've scratched the surface of a bunch of things that are like really near and dear to my heart around community and art
(05:10):
and the intersection of technology and kind of our own
place in the world coming out of this pandemic and stuff and so
I do want to dive deeper into some of that but
For sure like in two minutes, but I do want to just by way of introduction let people know who you are
Charlie's one of the crazy old uncles of burning man
Maybe i'll give a little intro and then you can tell me where i'm wrong and give your own
(05:34):
But charlie's been making huge metal sculptural art at burning man for over 20 years his some of his most famous pieces are
Horror
The tearing oh the uh, feeble flobbler
The now something puffer smith
Red hot chocolate. What about that big metal buddha thing the ganesha or whatever?
(05:58):
that
Imported infant in the trail of toys. Yeah
There then I took some years of johnny apple cd
regional development of burning man
In the early 2000s when it was starting and made it my business from
my son owned funding and funding from small groups to
(06:21):
Travel around between the communities bringing artwork that has a vibe that's open-minded about
community
and
transformational fire
and man
Charlie's work is off the chart. It's huge. It's made of metal
It's often on fire and integrates other flaming components to it. It
(06:44):
Is built by teams of people you're talking about community. We you and I worked on the red hot cock together and um,
I got to join you once we were already on our way to burning man, but you spent the year before that I think hosting
open
fabrication
workshops
In a lot of hey guys, what's going on?
(07:04):
What's going on? My son is in one of its friends or walking. So casper
Oh, here this is my son casper and his
Hey, there's caspers. What's up casper?
And he's got a buddy carlos here in the infarge
(07:25):
And learning learning a little out about it part of my
The way that I build artwork and the way that I formatted actually
Utilizes a community and
Bringing the art into the community to actually be constructed
(07:47):
from the wrong resources right into the
Finish and so I do community workshops where people come in of all skill levels
to put forth effort into
expanding their lives expanding their relationships
It's taking away an experience that they become part of the artwork forever
(08:09):
As long as the piece exists their energy is in that they learn how to weld fabricate
and they learn about each other
and
Sharing this experience and one of the biggest pieces that was one of the largest
pieces that was one of the largest exercises that was in 2005
It was a synapsis project. That was that with jane and lade
(08:33):
My children
And we're not together anymore, but we were together then and we created a magic six city six sculptures over
six months run
It's community builds all over the country and leaving the sculptures in those
communities
(08:53):
To use and take care of and they were built in the media then they were brought to the plight on
By those communities and they all met each other in that circle of fire cauldrons
And they all got to tell the story because the communication was in a simple system that they created themselves
(09:14):
There was no the only words were the expression between each other on that
platform
Once they all met and that relationships taking that whole country and wanting it up into one bundle
created a huge amount of relationships connections
during the community of art and that
(09:34):
It's still resonating today because there's a high percentage of people that took part in that project
Instead of accelerating its their own artists and their own teams and it it showed format work
ownership
You know
I kind of want to emphasize too
The community is a pretty cheap word these days
(09:55):
I throw it around all the time people talk about being community managers online community all this kind of stuff
But like legit the type of community that charlie's talking about is
rich and deep and real
I've hardly ever known someone who so legitimately like coalesce his community around them
This guy has an army of supporters locally in atlanta that as he said he's risen up. He finds other artists
(10:22):
Invests himself in them. They work together on stuff. I'm thinking about like little joe. I'm thinking about paperboy both
Artists in their own right, but have come up with you as well on stuff and being a burning man with you man was wild
Charlie's camp is called ass camp, which is pretty fitting
but
(10:44):
Yeah
Art support services
and
We were camped right down by center camp and we had a nice bar there with the glens and stuff and I watched a steady flow
of
What seemed to be every?
Interesting artist on the playa come pay their respects to uncle charlie pick his brain find out what they're doing have a bullshit hang out
(11:09):
and
Yeah, you really do have a rich group of people around you man that supports you professionally artistically and I know beyond that as well
It's fucking inspiring, dude
It you know, it's it's
It's kind of like it. I don't know. I don't know how it all happens just does and and I I put
(11:35):
I
I guess it's like I've been in that community and I watched everybody grow
from since 1998 a person interaction and the
the
And I've missed three. I missed four years plus I guess I missed five years and
(11:57):
um
Some of them from the pandemic and
And I was there last year. I had plans this year
But I had the mail for medical like that. I had a torn red right in my eyes
It just it's not that directed to that stressful environment right now
Yeah, I need to be able to see I need to be able to hear myself continue
(12:21):
Which is to the art to like die and build a community that can transit across the world
I've been so lucky to be
able to
actually take work build work in k-town that
We did a project called triple bypass and that was part of the graph
(12:42):
burning man
global art program
And we helped instigate out what's africa burns
Yeah, man
Oh and that we went there with a project was built
It's the only kind of course of six weeks and it we had the first after the burn
in k-town
(13:03):
The rogue burn it was the first time
Community had a burning man represented artifact that was about
how that thing is against
other burning man in the world, yes and
I spent a bunch of time in east africa
uh in our community, but they don't are not tied to
(13:26):
Burning man and africa burns i'm talking about
Riganzu bruno and arinatwe and quizera my homeboys there in
In kampala uganda a couple of those guys are actually metal sculptors and fabricators as well and do big sculptural stuff
So we got to connect with my uganda peeps dude and do a fucking
metal on fire
(13:48):
Africa burns meetup or something
I
It gonda should have its own festival that isn't even
That for the that pattern
Burning man is burning man and art is art and artists share their talents at burning banded
(14:08):
as a platform of discussion that it's
It it's a collision of genius minds, dude
And you know you'd get a trip you'd get a trip out of my buddy riganzu his like claim to fame is he builds
Playgrounds children's playgrounds in like refugee camps and stuff like that and he builds them out of
(14:29):
Industrial plastic industrial garbage and stuff like i've seen him build like a huge whale
Out of a million nestle bottles that had been like mislabeled or misprinted or something like that
So they were just gonna throw them away and he literally turns them into like
amusement parks and freaking playgrounds and stuff in like some of the
most stressful places in the world man, and
(14:49):
So i've got to go over there and work with him a bit
He's a real badass and he lived in this bottle house that he built himself. So he acquired somehow
5,000 wine bottles or something and built himself a fucking house a plaster and bottle house the sun shines through so beautifully and
A whole garden area and stuff around it too. That's really sweet. It's next level. It's no shantytown or nothing and
(15:14):
Since i've left we did a little fundraiser while I was there on my birthday
We raised like six thousand dollars or some and left it behind and he is now living in a bottle skyscraper, dude
He added two floors to top on top of his bottle house and staircases and he does art residency programs there and stuff and
He is just
Another community guy dude that guy he's an art teacher at a university. So he's had
(15:40):
cohort after cohort of students come through his way and he pours himself into the ones that are able to receive it and
Yeah, so we're gonzo lots of love my friend. We gotta get you going with uncle charlie sometime. Maybe we come to uganda
Let's see that
my parenting
Days are loosening as my sons grow older and i've i have been my first and foremost thing is to bring my children
(16:07):
Creature into a good place
I've dedicated the last 17 years
Not only doing what I do with artwork but also bringing the future in that we have coming after us
And totally right now I have
A group I have a few young men and women that are coming to the studio to do internships
(16:31):
that are looking for
What can happen that they don't see what can happen and could be enabled to be an open platform and
At an elevation a launching pad so to speak of possibilities say if I can do this
And it can be done
(16:54):
It can be done this is something that can be done you have to just want to do it and and there's a way to find your will
and
If you're really dedicated to your
adventure in life
You have every chance of making your dream come true in some format
It doesn't happen overnight
(17:15):
It takes a lot of work to get there and every experience that you have along the way you have to do it
one of the ways you should take
and learn from each one of them because i've done everything from being a janitor and a
changing beds and
wiping windows and cleaning bathrooms
(17:35):
Working as a chef and working as a dishwasher
But be them have been an assistant to a farmer and to an electrician and
Been part of building houses
I have a wide scope and then building sets for broadcast television
elements for
(17:55):
for movies and
There's a wide variety
I never stayed in one ditch because I always look at life. It's a survey. It says
What's next charlie?
I'm at a what's next charlie mode right now where i'm evolving into my next level of
Of i'm not getting any younger, but I have a wealth of information
(18:20):
To pass on
Yeah to the future
Yeah, and I don't want that to go and learn and so i'm i'm I want to have
Hey, are you comfortable talking here a little bit about our recent connection around your sobriety journey and our sobriety journey a little bit
Yeah, i'm telling you about that because
I just like to say that while charlie and I met in like the craziest of fun party environments
(18:48):
our lives have both kind of changed a little bit and
We've been able to reconnect in the last year or so as we we go down that road together
So I just wanted to give you a little bit chance to share where you're at and I might pipe in and then specifically too
I want you to ultimately talk a little bit about some of the online communities that you've been participating in because I think it's really
Novel and unique some of these drop-in meetings that you're doing and just this support network that exists out there
(19:15):
anyway
How you feeling about all that stuff
I will tell you what I today is a very special day because it marks my two years seven
sobriety mark for alcohol heavy drugs
and uh
I i've said the majority of my life
(19:39):
Self-medicating
And partying and
I enjoyed a lot of that activity. I wouldn't be who I am
Without a lot of those passageways. I don't regret any of things. I do regret some of the damage that was
Done to me and maybe some of the counters that were had
(19:59):
Some heartbreaks and stuff heartbreak that sounds real. Sure
um, you know and and uh as part of life and
We're not penguins and we're not and
That we're growing into
Till the end
And then our fingernails and hair
For another universe so
(20:21):
The evolution of my sobriety came
I was in I was like really held in hand basket there during coven really sent
I believe I had a series of things that went on that were just
unbelievably daunting
It became with the whole and i'm not alone. I'm not alone. No, you're definitely not man
(20:44):
one of millions of
one of hundreds of millions of
billions of
Um, we've all been affected. We all have btsp and we all have issues that we're still working with and um,
I pranked myself into a whirlwind of luck
(21:04):
and
I was using
cocaine and other
Fucked up drugs. I've never been a i've never been a downer heavy downer type guy. So I never got into the heroin
or opioid addictions or anything like that, but
But the
Cocaine nightmare is real
(21:26):
I
I
I found myself in
Losing my love for myself and others
And during the end towards the end of covid in
2021 on january
In early june over the holiday of thanksgiving. I realized that I really did have a problem because I was just
(21:46):
So severely and I was just
I wasn't I didn't have a sobriety around and I was completely dysfunctional
and had fallen prey to my abusive behaviors and and um
I I needed help
and
I realized that I hit a rock bottom and I didn't really care if I died
(22:10):
And I woke up one day just crying that I just was I just didn't know what to do and I
reached to a couple for people I
and I heard of a couple different programs, you know around atlanta and I
Started gathering information on how to check in and I couldn't really afford to do anything expensive
And my insurance would only cover like a state program that was I wasn't willing to go to because I don't want to be handled
(22:37):
I don't want to be institutionalized. I need to be dealt with softly or else. I would just I would I'd find croc ass
And then the fucker fall. Yeah, man
You know, I don't I love it but I was ready for a change
But I didn't want to change it. I didn't want to get negative. So I tried
Positive and i'll be damned
(22:58):
I got myself checked into a premium program. My family surrounded me my friends surrounded me. They supported me
To make that choice and I went and checked myself in and I did it under my own accord
I asked for it. I I wasn't told that I was incarcerated. I didn't wasn't in jail. I wasn't
It wasn't like that. It was like I saw myself
(23:19):
Disappearing from myself and from everyone and I was dying. I was really in a death that I can hear the personal responsibility
That you've taken for where you found yourself and how you've handled it
that's one of the things that
is jumping out the most clearly from what you've told so far is like
the way you talk about and reflect upon it is
(23:42):
You're definitely
Dealing with the real impact of what's going on taking responsibility for that and it's inspiring to me
I brought it. It's me. It's me. Yeah, I don't have anybody blame. I can't blame anybody for my actions. We are responsible for ourselves
And what we choose ourselves and how we choose to portray ourselves and how we do the actions that we choose to do are no
(24:05):
One else's fault that I grow
And I had to own that it's taken me two years
It's taken two years and seven months. I'm going I mean I'm in a new reality. I haven't been in before
And every month there's a new reality that opens up another sense of healing
And I was ready. I love life and I love people
(24:27):
And I got lost. I just got lost. I was really lost
I was and I was struggling with it. I lost my heart
When you say you love life and you love people you mean you just say that you had lost that love for life and you're
Lost that love for people. I know what you mean man, because when it was like rock bottom for me
I was alienating myself too and like isolating myself
(24:49):
and
wanting connection
but being the reason why it wasn't happening and
Yeah, it's easy to pave over your emotional distress here on and what's caused the real mode of the problem
is due to
There's something in there that's clicking that you're unhappily self and one of the ways that
(25:12):
It's not realized or it's easy to just keep paving over your issue without addressing your issues
Just getting through the first stage of sobriety and feeling better without the substance is the first
That was the first
Realizations and I feel so much better without this in my system
(25:34):
But the problems I had emotionally didn't go away but they were still there
Yeah, man. I yeah and and you didn't have your med you didn't have your medicine no more
If you're like me and man it fucking hurt there for a while while you're sitting there staring at some of the more emotional issues without
Any way to run away from me
My recovery has been a very big fear met
(25:56):
Replacing urges cravings other things and that's the thing that's worked and
And i've used a I've participated in a on an almost a daily basis. I i'm a light
I've also used a program that's called at smart recovery.org
(26:17):
and it's more of a
Cognitive behavioral therapy programming. It's a reprogramming
and of more of a scientific method that's very factual and
very they have very clear tools on how to
to redirect your urges and cravings and feelings
(26:38):
of anxiety and
How to talk about that and how to universal acceptance universal self
Universal acceptance of others
and being able to not hold on to you
these things that
drive us into our own insanity
because
(26:59):
Inside what happened to me during my worst moments was I fell out of love with myself
And didn't care about myself and therefore I could not care for others
Yeah, and it was just that I was not able to
I was not able to care for others. Yeah, and it was just that it was a whirlwind
(27:22):
It was definitely a downpour energy
And I and I and I and I and that people know me
They're like what happened you were what you did what I never saw that. I didn't I don't know what you're talking about
You've always been such a really yet
We don't know what's inside another person. Yeah, man, you don't know what's inside me don't compare your insides to other people's outsides
(27:44):
Looks like to everybody on the outside isn't really what's going on the inside so many times and when a professional
Barrier
That's highly functioning addict and highly functioning alcoholic and can pull off
anything
What seems anything with ease?
(28:05):
It looks like that to other people but it's not easy and it's uh, it's a nightmare
And it's a place that it's filled with self-doubt
and it's security and
um
Yeah, man
Self-care I just want to say that the first thing that
I started doing was
(28:26):
Just taking just trying to take care of myself. Yeah, because without me taking care of myself
That it's really hard for me to be there for anyone else and I have two kids
And and and I have friends that I love and care for I have a family
I got my family in the large. I have my family of choice
(28:47):
Yeah, that I love care for I love
Friends and it was so hard on because I didn't love myself and I think I couldn't I could communicate on the party level
in the party
And pull off my engagements and my exhibitions and all this stuff without fail
(29:07):
But I wasn't happy
And it wasn't anything anyone else did it was what was going on inside of me because I was tied up in a
And I was in pain. I I had back problems and I have this
I lost the use of my arm and no. Yeah, I remember. Yeah
I I did
(29:27):
I as a sculptor who is self-sufficient lost the use of my left arm and I only have 40 percent of that used back
Yeah, that drove that threw me down the rabbit hole in 2015 and I feel I I read I
Couldn't I could I had to give up my burning man grant that it it says 2017 was when I
(29:49):
I read
I gave my grant back to burning man
And I said I can't do this. I have a physical problem
Please redirect this finances to someone else and I would love to do this project down the line
Yeah, you could be chance and that's when you bet he was you had met before that happened
(30:10):
Yeah, and
Cachovia stuff
Culture house
engaged
Cachovia on that wonderful thing that was happening
What a great book. Yeah, and and then burning man gave me the chance
I asked I rewrote my proposal for 2018 because I had gotten things back in order
(30:34):
And I built myself a steam back up. I lost myself for a little there for a year and a half
I was in a real self now
Dilemma where I was depressed. Yeah, and I couldn't see my wasn't the strike. I wasn't the person
I was on
Wanted to do and I was eight
I was in a medical merry-go-round not being diagnosed. I had there was a couple of diagnosis terminal
(31:00):
That were misdiagnoses. I thought I was gonna die for a while. Yeah, I remember
And I guess I really fucking thought I and I and that was and then
And that's what even led me into asking you about this stuff is because you're talking about the future and what's next charlie
And I see the health and vibrancy on you and I'm like, this is a different man than he was in 2008
(31:26):
2019 that feeling that you had that there might be something legit wrong
I might be dying rubbed off on some of your friends, too. I was worried. I was legit worried and
And i'm not anymore. I can see that you've got
More tricks up your sleeve and there's going to be more the collaborations here together and stuff and
And taking it to a whole new level in some ways the brain's an interesting thing when you're trying to get sober
(31:50):
It tells you oh you might not be fun anymore. You might not fit in these communities anymore. You might not enjoy these things but
I went to a burning man regional sober three months ago. It was one of the best events i've ever been a part of
It was epic. I'm still a lot of fun and
(32:12):
You don't have to be fucked up have a good time
But no, that's the thing is like it doesn't require
Drinking and drugging to be who you really are
Because they're the real you is already always there
and that's the person that is that the party time is is an exercise of
That's needed on a lot of levels
(32:36):
But it swallows you up quick and chomps you down
Quite without even you don't even know you're going. Yeah, it's just oh i'm going to think
Do this stuff
my consistent drive
In my art productions
It's done with soap. I mean it's in my in my hand work, you know, like you know, whenever if I do a workshop
(32:59):
It's in my procedures
Like if you're going to do my workshop you sign a contract with me
That says we're not doing drugs and alcohol and smoking pot during this session
And there's a time and a place for everything and it's not in a workshop
Espirator we can celebrate when we're done. We can celebrate after we're out of the theater zone
(33:20):
And that's how I run my I try to run my exhibits that way
But of course, there's going to be some folly in there at times
There's always
That's why you have to have extra people
That are not folly, you know, you know, because there's always to be someone that's
I think they've got it together their fatigue and they have one drink or two drinks and they're not in their work list or they
(33:44):
They know that they need to be somewhere and they over did their
Their drugs and that they're too high to ride the ride and that they stand over there and just
Hold this shovel. I know
You know, bro, I haven't experienced much like that to think probably for the genesis of our friendship because I gotta operate that
(34:04):
Fleebler flobbler there where for a couple nights in a row, man
I think I almost gave up my career as a photographer and became a carny at that point
Maybe I did. I don't know
the flabble flobblers in the bay is he machine and
it's
It's a cynical. It's a satirical old character about
The american clowns that we have this place and it's a timeless piece. It's really is a timeless
(34:31):
And that's one of the things that I love about my work is that it doesn't go away it just evolves
Yeah, and the p that's building things out of steel and having them hold fire
spell fire
Whether it's a flame effects set up or a wood burning setup. I do like my wood burners more than I do have my flame effects
but flame effects are sometimes needed in big shows because it's just too dangerous to have
(34:57):
sparks whiten through a crowd of
I tell people about the red hot cock and the two and a half cords of wood it took to fill that fucker up and the way we were all crawling on in there to get it all stuffed up on the inside and the way folks were bringing us meat donations that we were throwing it up in the ass of the cock up through the poop chute there and spilling it out in the morning to feed the masses and
(35:20):
That was a time man. What we build next uncle Charlie
Right now
I'm doing a series of workshops
Are with a couple of youngsters and we're getting ready to build a piece. That's called the solar scope and and it's a
(35:40):
Mechanical device that's going to put on the property for a private
Vestor up in your Knoxville, Tennessee and it's attached into the limestone core
of the big diet dome
well
It's gonna be it's a mechanical tool that will be
(36:03):
Tuned
It's being built
I'm working with one of my cousins news a math artist
And she does really technical mathematic equations and can figure out every little angle and all this stuff
And so we're combining four scenes over the next couple months on that
And she'll be coming down and spending a couple weeks here
(36:24):
When we get to that stage i'm building i've designed the structure and it's a homage
to
Some ancient it's the ancient
It's some of the ancient Egyptian gods
and samarian gods
And the harnessing of time through symbolic
effigy it'll be it's being set in a 60 degree
(36:48):
parallel so we can
Have our equinoxes
and our solstices
Mark
in a circle
Around it for time
then so that they're gonna be doing a it's a time keeper and
It's a homage
(37:10):
to
giant land art structures
and old
I guess observatories of primitive kind, you know, and i'm using some symbols
Structure and then it has my charlie
Patchwork special with multi materials. There's copper and brass and glass
(37:35):
Stainless steel and carbon steel all meeting each other and be
in different ways going up into space and then
mechanism and
symbols that will be grabbing
Different planetary arrangements and the focus of the sun through the center with the dial and everything
It's again, it's pretty cool. Peace. Fuck. Yeah charlie
(37:57):
Hey, we have less than a minute left on this thing
I didn't want to cut you off while you were like giving us that was like my favorite part of this whole chat so far maybe
I love you, dude
and
I'll be in touch after this thing shuts off, but
Thanks for hanging out with me. Thanks for being there when I needed you this winter and
(38:18):
Thanks for just swooping me. I'm here for you and i'm here for whoever needs me
I'm available for the passageway into the net believe it
I'm here believe it man
It's a great place to be out see you on the other side charlie
Check one two. Hey, what's up internet? It's Chris Krug. I'm here with my buddy Charlie Smith. Hey Charlie, how's it going, bud?
(00:08):
Oh great, man. It's good to see you brother. Yeah in a minute. Yeah, it's true
I caught up with you last I think when I was down in Miami, Florida, but um, yeah, look at you
Looking healthy and happy my friend
Trying to keep i'm trying to catch you up
Come on strike on the razor. I'm right. I'm on razor strike
(00:29):
The trick is man, you just gotta sit back and let it grow and then like when you're like, ah shit
I'm ugly. I gotta change something up. Don't
That's the truth
Let's go cut it. Yeah
Charlie hit me up this morning
He saw that burning man video that I put out yesterday where I was just sharing some of the stories that were trapped in
My head and my heart about how I ended up at burning man and the cool things that I got to participate in and
(00:55):
The first story there was uncle charlie and his red hot cocks
So charlie hit me up and said hey, dude, let's talk and I said that would be awesome
And here we are
I'm glad to be here. I'm really excited about
Your chapter that you're opening up this whole effort
connect individuals and
(01:15):
Bring the stories to reality and share the mythology of the now
That's what it's all it's what we're in
man, thanks for
Teaming it up like that. Uh, um
I got a call today from burning man from a friend who works for burning man and they saw the video
About you and I gave yesterday and stuff and they're like dude awesome video
(01:38):
Some of those stories don't exist in the world yet. Super stoked to you
I put it out there and then she said but I noticed twice in that video you asked people to like follow along and share it and
Help you out and grow the audience or whatever. She's like, what's up with that?
Why are you asking for that? Like she said, I want to help you and stuff
But you just really haven't talked too much about like
(02:00):
Why are you trying to grow this? I know it's not for like its own sake or whatever. So what the fuck kk and
And it gave me pause
I know man. It gave me pause for a second because she was like like the video made it in the right person's hands
They watched it
They had some questions and they called me and that was like that's engagement man. And so I was like trish
(02:22):
What am I really trying to do? And I was like, yo
I just think I got like a unique perspective on this intersection of like future tech and art and online community
and i'm trying to
Share that with the world because i've been told that it inspires people or frees their mind or helps them think about things differently
And so while it's not growth for growth's sake
(02:43):
Yeah, i'm trying to make it bigger so I can talk to more people and like
learn in public with more people around and stuff and so
Anyway, i've recorded a podcast this morning a little bit more about the why i'm doing all this
That's pretty cool. I think that
Now's the time to
Open up the doorway
(03:05):
Of the mind and the experience that's out there and going on right now and
There's not a real platform in the now there there are a lot of superimposed
Pre-conceived platforms that are out there with the regular news, but that
(03:26):
This is something that is about
The thing that I can see happening
Is this evolution of storytelling?
About from the incorporating the actual artist's visions
And the drive that makes them who they are and what they bring the platform
more
(03:46):
Understandable to those who may not quite understand the artist's mind or the creative thinkers mind
and
Even the creative thinker needs of reflecting mechanism in a sounding board
to develop themselves and
community
as I
(04:07):
Is so important
there with this
Isolation that we've been there in elverville. Yeah, that's right
Trying to break the bolt
Trying to reconnect has been really
fucking hard
It's ruined so many beautiful relationships sent people down the rabbit hole to self-destruction
(04:29):
And it's also elevated people to new levels of understandings about themselves and what they can really do and who they really all
are and this is like
This thing that I see that you're reaching for to for self-realization
And opening the conduit for self-expression so we can have this voice
(04:50):
And it's a rejoining of voices and understand
Art experience and encounters of the 15th
Yeah, man
You've scratched the surface of a bunch of things that are like really near and dear to my heart around community and art
(05:10):
and the intersection of technology and kind of our own
place in the world coming out of this pandemic and stuff and so
I do want to dive deeper into some of that but
For sure like in two minutes, but I do want to just by way of introduction let people know who you are
Charlie's one of the crazy old uncles of burning man
Maybe i'll give a little intro and then you can tell me where i'm wrong and give your own
(05:34):
But charlie's been making huge metal sculptural art at burning man for over 20 years his some of his most famous pieces are
Horror
The tearing oh the uh, feeble flobbler
The now something puffer smith
Red hot chocolate. What about that big metal buddha thing the ganesha or whatever?
(05:58):
that
Imported infant in the trail of toys. Yeah
There then I took some years of johnny apple cd
regional development of burning man
In the early 2000s when it was starting and made it my business from
my son owned funding and funding from small groups to
(06:21):
Travel around between the communities bringing artwork that has a vibe that's open-minded about
community
and
transformational fire
and man
Charlie's work is off the chart. It's huge. It's made of metal
It's often on fire and integrates other flaming components to it. It
(06:44):
Is built by teams of people you're talking about community. We you and I worked on the red hot cock together and um,
I got to join you once we were already on our way to burning man, but you spent the year before that I think hosting
open
fabrication
workshops
In a lot of hey guys, what's going on?
(07:04):
What's going on? My son is in one of its friends or walking. So casper
Oh, here this is my son casper and his
Hey, there's caspers. What's up casper?
And he's got a buddy carlos here in the infarge
(07:25):
And learning learning a little out about it part of my
The way that I build artwork and the way that I formatted actually
Utilizes a community and
Bringing the art into the community to actually be constructed
(07:47):
from the wrong resources right into the
Finish and so I do community workshops where people come in of all skill levels
to put forth effort into
expanding their lives expanding their relationships
It's taking away an experience that they become part of the artwork forever
(08:09):
As long as the piece exists their energy is in that they learn how to weld fabricate
and they learn about each other
and
Sharing this experience and one of the biggest pieces that was one of the largest
pieces that was one of the largest exercises that was in 2005
It was a synapsis project. That was that with jane and lade
(08:33):
My children
And we're not together anymore, but we were together then and we created a magic six city six sculptures over
six months run
It's community builds all over the country and leaving the sculptures in those
communities
(08:53):
To use and take care of and they were built in the media then they were brought to the plight on
By those communities and they all met each other in that circle of fire cauldrons
And they all got to tell the story because the communication was in a simple system that they created themselves
(09:14):
There was no the only words were the expression between each other on that
platform
Once they all met and that relationships taking that whole country and wanting it up into one bundle
created a huge amount of relationships connections
during the community of art and that
(09:34):
It's still resonating today because there's a high percentage of people that took part in that project
Instead of accelerating its their own artists and their own teams and it it showed format work
ownership
You know
I kind of want to emphasize too
The community is a pretty cheap word these days
(09:55):
I throw it around all the time people talk about being community managers online community all this kind of stuff
But like legit the type of community that charlie's talking about is
rich and deep and real
I've hardly ever known someone who so legitimately like coalesce his community around them
This guy has an army of supporters locally in atlanta that as he said he's risen up. He finds other artists
(10:22):
Invests himself in them. They work together on stuff. I'm thinking about like little joe. I'm thinking about paperboy both
Artists in their own right, but have come up with you as well on stuff and being a burning man with you man was wild
Charlie's camp is called ass camp, which is pretty fitting
but
(10:44):
Yeah
Art support services
and
We were camped right down by center camp and we had a nice bar there with the glens and stuff and I watched a steady flow
of
What seemed to be every?
Interesting artist on the playa come pay their respects to uncle charlie pick his brain find out what they're doing have a bullshit hang out
(11:09):
and
Yeah, you really do have a rich group of people around you man that supports you professionally artistically and I know beyond that as well
It's fucking inspiring, dude
It you know, it's it's
It's kind of like it. I don't know. I don't know how it all happens just does and and I I put
(11:35):
I
I guess it's like I've been in that community and I watched everybody grow
from since 1998 a person interaction and the
the
And I've missed three. I missed four years plus I guess I missed five years and
(11:57):
um
Some of them from the pandemic and
And I was there last year. I had plans this year
But I had the mail for medical like that. I had a torn red right in my eyes
It just it's not that directed to that stressful environment right now
Yeah, I need to be able to see I need to be able to hear myself continue
(12:21):
Which is to the art to like die and build a community that can transit across the world
I've been so lucky to be
able to
actually take work build work in k-town that
We did a project called triple bypass and that was part of the graph
(12:42):
burning man
global art program
And we helped instigate out what's africa burns
Yeah, man
Oh and that we went there with a project was built
It's the only kind of course of six weeks and it we had the first after the burn
in k-town
(13:03):
The rogue burn it was the first time
Community had a burning man represented artifact that was about
how that thing is against
other burning man in the world, yes and
I spent a bunch of time in east africa
uh in our community, but they don't are not tied to
(13:26):
Burning man and africa burns i'm talking about
Riganzu bruno and arinatwe and quizera my homeboys there in
In kampala uganda a couple of those guys are actually metal sculptors and fabricators as well and do big sculptural stuff
So we got to connect with my uganda peeps dude and do a fucking
metal on fire
(13:48):
Africa burns meetup or something
I
It gonda should have its own festival that isn't even
That for the that pattern
Burning man is burning man and art is art and artists share their talents at burning banded
(14:08):
as a platform of discussion that it's
It it's a collision of genius minds, dude
And you know you'd get a trip you'd get a trip out of my buddy riganzu his like claim to fame is he builds
Playgrounds children's playgrounds in like refugee camps and stuff like that and he builds them out of
(14:29):
Industrial plastic industrial garbage and stuff like i've seen him build like a huge whale
Out of a million nestle bottles that had been like mislabeled or misprinted or something like that
So they were just gonna throw them away and he literally turns them into like
amusement parks and freaking playgrounds and stuff in like some of the
most stressful places in the world man, and
(14:49):
So i've got to go over there and work with him a bit
He's a real badass and he lived in this bottle house that he built himself. So he acquired somehow
5,000 wine bottles or something and built himself a fucking house a plaster and bottle house the sun shines through so beautifully and
A whole garden area and stuff around it too. That's really sweet. It's next level. It's no shantytown or nothing and
(15:14):
Since i've left we did a little fundraiser while I was there on my birthday
We raised like six thousand dollars or some and left it behind and he is now living in a bottle skyscraper, dude
He added two floors to top on top of his bottle house and staircases and he does art residency programs there and stuff and
He is just
Another community guy dude that guy he's an art teacher at a university. So he's had
(15:40):
cohort after cohort of students come through his way and he pours himself into the ones that are able to receive it and
Yeah, so we're gonzo lots of love my friend. We gotta get you going with uncle charlie sometime. Maybe we come to uganda
Let's see that
my parenting
Days are loosening as my sons grow older and i've i have been my first and foremost thing is to bring my children
(16:07):
Creature into a good place
I've dedicated the last 17 years
Not only doing what I do with artwork but also bringing the future in that we have coming after us
And totally right now I have
A group I have a few young men and women that are coming to the studio to do internships
(16:31):
that are looking for
What can happen that they don't see what can happen and could be enabled to be an open platform and
At an elevation a launching pad so to speak of possibilities say if I can do this
And it can be done
(16:54):
It can be done this is something that can be done you have to just want to do it and and there's a way to find your will
and
If you're really dedicated to your
adventure in life
You have every chance of making your dream come true in some format
It doesn't happen overnight
(17:15):
It takes a lot of work to get there and every experience that you have along the way you have to do it
one of the ways you should take
and learn from each one of them because i've done everything from being a janitor and a
changing beds and
wiping windows and cleaning bathrooms
(17:35):
Working as a chef and working as a dishwasher
But be them have been an assistant to a farmer and to an electrician and
Been part of building houses
I have a wide scope and then building sets for broadcast television
elements for
(17:55):
for movies and
There's a wide variety
I never stayed in one ditch because I always look at life. It's a survey. It says
What's next charlie?
I'm at a what's next charlie mode right now where i'm evolving into my next level of
Of i'm not getting any younger, but I have a wealth of information
(18:20):
To pass on
Yeah to the future
Yeah, and I don't want that to go and learn and so i'm i'm I want to have
Hey, are you comfortable talking here a little bit about our recent connection around your sobriety journey and our sobriety journey a little bit
Yeah, i'm telling you about that because
I just like to say that while charlie and I met in like the craziest of fun party environments
(18:48):
our lives have both kind of changed a little bit and
We've been able to reconnect in the last year or so as we we go down that road together
So I just wanted to give you a little bit chance to share where you're at and I might pipe in and then specifically too
I want you to ultimately talk a little bit about some of the online communities that you've been participating in because I think it's really
Novel and unique some of these drop-in meetings that you're doing and just this support network that exists out there
(19:15):
anyway
How you feeling about all that stuff
I will tell you what I today is a very special day because it marks my two years seven
sobriety mark for alcohol heavy drugs
and uh
I i've said the majority of my life
(19:39):
Self-medicating
And partying and
I enjoyed a lot of that activity. I wouldn't be who I am
Without a lot of those passageways. I don't regret any of things. I do regret some of the damage that was
Done to me and maybe some of the counters that were had
(19:59):
Some heartbreaks and stuff heartbreak that sounds real. Sure
um, you know and and uh as part of life and
We're not penguins and we're not and
That we're growing into
Till the end
And then our fingernails and hair
For another universe so
(20:21):
The evolution of my sobriety came
I was in I was like really held in hand basket there during coven really sent
I believe I had a series of things that went on that were just
unbelievably daunting
It became with the whole and i'm not alone. I'm not alone. No, you're definitely not man
(20:44):
one of millions of
one of hundreds of millions of
billions of
Um, we've all been affected. We all have btsp and we all have issues that we're still working with and um,
I pranked myself into a whirlwind of luck
(21:04):
and
I was using
cocaine and other
Fucked up drugs. I've never been a i've never been a downer heavy downer type guy. So I never got into the heroin
or opioid addictions or anything like that, but
But the
Cocaine nightmare is real
(21:26):
I
I
I found myself in
Losing my love for myself and others
And during the end towards the end of covid in
2021 on january
In early june over the holiday of thanksgiving. I realized that I really did have a problem because I was just
(21:46):
So severely and I was just
I wasn't I didn't have a sobriety around and I was completely dysfunctional
and had fallen prey to my abusive behaviors and and um
I I needed help
and
I realized that I hit a rock bottom and I didn't really care if I died
(22:10):
And I woke up one day just crying that I just was I just didn't know what to do and I
reached to a couple for people I
and I heard of a couple different programs, you know around atlanta and I
Started gathering information on how to check in and I couldn't really afford to do anything expensive
And my insurance would only cover like a state program that was I wasn't willing to go to because I don't want to be handled
(22:37):
I don't want to be institutionalized. I need to be dealt with softly or else. I would just I would I'd find croc ass
And then the fucker fall. Yeah, man
You know, I don't I love it but I was ready for a change
But I didn't want to change it. I didn't want to get negative. So I tried
Positive and i'll be damned
(22:58):
I got myself checked into a premium program. My family surrounded me my friends surrounded me. They supported me
To make that choice and I went and checked myself in and I did it under my own accord
I asked for it. I I wasn't told that I was incarcerated. I didn't wasn't in jail. I wasn't
It wasn't like that. It was like I saw myself
(23:19):
Disappearing from myself and from everyone and I was dying. I was really in a death that I can hear the personal responsibility
That you've taken for where you found yourself and how you've handled it
that's one of the things that
is jumping out the most clearly from what you've told so far is like
the way you talk about and reflect upon it is
(23:42):
You're definitely
Dealing with the real impact of what's going on taking responsibility for that and it's inspiring to me
I brought it. It's me. It's me. Yeah, I don't have anybody blame. I can't blame anybody for my actions. We are responsible for ourselves
And what we choose ourselves and how we choose to portray ourselves and how we do the actions that we choose to do are no
(24:05):
One else's fault that I grow
And I had to own that it's taken me two years
It's taken two years and seven months. I'm going I mean I'm in a new reality. I haven't been in before
And every month there's a new reality that opens up another sense of healing
And I was ready. I love life and I love people
(24:27):
And I got lost. I just got lost. I was really lost
I was and I was struggling with it. I lost my heart
When you say you love life and you love people you mean you just say that you had lost that love for life and you're
Lost that love for people. I know what you mean man, because when it was like rock bottom for me
I was alienating myself too and like isolating myself
(24:49):
and
wanting connection
but being the reason why it wasn't happening and
Yeah, it's easy to pave over your emotional distress here on and what's caused the real mode of the problem
is due to
There's something in there that's clicking that you're unhappily self and one of the ways that
(25:12):
It's not realized or it's easy to just keep paving over your issue without addressing your issues
Just getting through the first stage of sobriety and feeling better without the substance is the first
That was the first
Realizations and I feel so much better without this in my system
(25:34):
But the problems I had emotionally didn't go away but they were still there
Yeah, man. I yeah and and you didn't have your med you didn't have your medicine no more
If you're like me and man it fucking hurt there for a while while you're sitting there staring at some of the more emotional issues without
Any way to run away from me
My recovery has been a very big fear met
(25:56):
Replacing urges cravings other things and that's the thing that's worked and
And i've used a I've participated in a on an almost a daily basis. I i'm a light
I've also used a program that's called at smart recovery.org
(26:17):
and it's more of a
Cognitive behavioral therapy programming. It's a reprogramming
and of more of a scientific method that's very factual and
very they have very clear tools on how to
to redirect your urges and cravings and feelings
(26:38):
of anxiety and
How to talk about that and how to universal acceptance universal self
Universal acceptance of others
and being able to not hold on to you
these things that
drive us into our own insanity
because
(26:59):
Inside what happened to me during my worst moments was I fell out of love with myself
And didn't care about myself and therefore I could not care for others
Yeah, and it was just that I was not able to
I was not able to care for others. Yeah, and it was just that it was a whirlwind
(27:22):
It was definitely a downpour energy
And I and I and I and I and that people know me
They're like what happened you were what you did what I never saw that. I didn't I don't know what you're talking about
You've always been such a really yet
We don't know what's inside another person. Yeah, man, you don't know what's inside me don't compare your insides to other people's outsides
(27:44):
Looks like to everybody on the outside isn't really what's going on the inside so many times and when a professional
Barrier
That's highly functioning addict and highly functioning alcoholic and can pull off
anything
What seems anything with ease?
(28:05):
It looks like that to other people but it's not easy and it's uh, it's a nightmare
And it's a place that it's filled with self-doubt
and it's security and
um
Yeah, man
Self-care I just want to say that the first thing that
I started doing was
(28:26):
Just taking just trying to take care of myself. Yeah, because without me taking care of myself
That it's really hard for me to be there for anyone else and I have two kids
And and and I have friends that I love and care for I have a family
I got my family in the large. I have my family of choice
(28:47):
Yeah, that I love care for I love
Friends and it was so hard on because I didn't love myself and I think I couldn't I could communicate on the party level
in the party
And pull off my engagements and my exhibitions and all this stuff without fail
(29:07):
But I wasn't happy
And it wasn't anything anyone else did it was what was going on inside of me because I was tied up in a
And I was in pain. I I had back problems and I have this
I lost the use of my arm and no. Yeah, I remember. Yeah
I I did
(29:27):
I as a sculptor who is self-sufficient lost the use of my left arm and I only have 40 percent of that used back
Yeah, that drove that threw me down the rabbit hole in 2015 and I feel I I read I
Couldn't I could I had to give up my burning man grant that it it says 2017 was when I
(29:49):
I read
I gave my grant back to burning man
And I said I can't do this. I have a physical problem
Please redirect this finances to someone else and I would love to do this project down the line
Yeah, you could be chance and that's when you bet he was you had met before that happened
(30:10):
Yeah, and
Cachovia stuff
Culture house
engaged
Cachovia on that wonderful thing that was happening
What a great book. Yeah, and and then burning man gave me the chance
I asked I rewrote my proposal for 2018 because I had gotten things back in order
(30:34):
And I built myself a steam back up. I lost myself for a little there for a year and a half
I was in a real self now
Dilemma where I was depressed. Yeah, and I couldn't see my wasn't the strike. I wasn't the person
I was on
Wanted to do and I was eight
I was in a medical merry-go-round not being diagnosed. I had there was a couple of diagnosis terminal
(31:00):
That were misdiagnoses. I thought I was gonna die for a while. Yeah, I remember
And I guess I really fucking thought I and I and that was and then
And that's what even led me into asking you about this stuff is because you're talking about the future and what's next charlie
And I see the health and vibrancy on you and I'm like, this is a different man than he was in 2008
(31:26):
2019 that feeling that you had that there might be something legit wrong
I might be dying rubbed off on some of your friends, too. I was worried. I was legit worried and
And i'm not anymore. I can see that you've got
More tricks up your sleeve and there's going to be more the collaborations here together and stuff and
And taking it to a whole new level in some ways the brain's an interesting thing when you're trying to get sober
(31:50):
It tells you oh you might not be fun anymore. You might not fit in these communities anymore. You might not enjoy these things but
I went to a burning man regional sober three months ago. It was one of the best events i've ever been a part of
It was epic. I'm still a lot of fun and
(32:12):
You don't have to be fucked up have a good time
But no, that's the thing is like it doesn't require
Drinking and drugging to be who you really are
Because they're the real you is already always there
and that's the person that is that the party time is is an exercise of
That's needed on a lot of levels
(32:36):
But it swallows you up quick and chomps you down
Quite without even you don't even know you're going. Yeah, it's just oh i'm going to think
Do this stuff
my consistent drive
In my art productions
It's done with soap. I mean it's in my in my hand work, you know, like you know, whenever if I do a workshop
(32:59):
It's in my procedures
Like if you're going to do my workshop you sign a contract with me
That says we're not doing drugs and alcohol and smoking pot during this session
And there's a time and a place for everything and it's not in a workshop
Espirator we can celebrate when we're done. We can celebrate after we're out of the theater zone
(33:20):
And that's how I run my I try to run my exhibits that way
But of course, there's going to be some folly in there at times
There's always
That's why you have to have extra people
That are not folly, you know, you know, because there's always to be someone that's
I think they've got it together their fatigue and they have one drink or two drinks and they're not in their work list or they
(33:44):
They know that they need to be somewhere and they over did their
Their drugs and that they're too high to ride the ride and that they stand over there and just
Hold this shovel. I know
You know, bro, I haven't experienced much like that to think probably for the genesis of our friendship because I gotta operate that
(34:04):
Fleebler flobbler there where for a couple nights in a row, man
I think I almost gave up my career as a photographer and became a carny at that point
Maybe I did. I don't know
the flabble flobblers in the bay is he machine and
it's
It's a cynical. It's a satirical old character about
The american clowns that we have this place and it's a timeless piece. It's really is a timeless
(34:31):
And that's one of the things that I love about my work is that it doesn't go away it just evolves
Yeah, and the p that's building things out of steel and having them hold fire
spell fire
Whether it's a flame effects set up or a wood burning setup. I do like my wood burners more than I do have my flame effects
but flame effects are sometimes needed in big shows because it's just too dangerous to have
(34:57):
sparks whiten through a crowd of
I tell people about the red hot cock and the two and a half cords of wood it took to fill that fucker up and the way we were all crawling on in there to get it all stuffed up on the inside and the way folks were bringing us meat donations that we were throwing it up in the ass of the cock up through the poop chute there and spilling it out in the morning to feed the masses and
(35:20):
That was a time man. What we build next uncle Charlie
Right now
I'm doing a series of workshops
Are with a couple of youngsters and we're getting ready to build a piece. That's called the solar scope and and it's a
(35:40):
Mechanical device that's going to put on the property for a private
Vestor up in your Knoxville, Tennessee and it's attached into the limestone core
of the big diet dome
well
It's gonna be it's a mechanical tool that will be
(36:03):
Tuned
It's being built
I'm working with one of my cousins news a math artist
And she does really technical mathematic equations and can figure out every little angle and all this stuff
And so we're combining four scenes over the next couple months on that
And she'll be coming down and spending a couple weeks here
(36:24):
When we get to that stage i'm building i've designed the structure and it's a homage
to
Some ancient it's the ancient
It's some of the ancient Egyptian gods
and samarian gods
And the harnessing of time through symbolic
effigy it'll be it's being set in a 60 degree
(36:48):
parallel so we can
Have our equinoxes
and our solstices
Mark
in a circle
Around it for time
then so that they're gonna be doing a it's a time keeper and
It's a homage
(37:10):
to
giant land art structures
and old
I guess observatories of primitive kind, you know, and i'm using some symbols
Structure and then it has my charlie
Patchwork special with multi materials. There's copper and brass and glass
(37:35):
Stainless steel and carbon steel all meeting each other and be
in different ways going up into space and then
mechanism and
symbols that will be grabbing
Different planetary arrangements and the focus of the sun through the center with the dial and everything
It's again, it's pretty cool. Peace. Fuck. Yeah charlie
(37:57):
Hey, we have less than a minute left on this thing
I didn't want to cut you off while you were like giving us that was like my favorite part of this whole chat so far maybe
I love you, dude
and
I'll be in touch after this thing shuts off, but
Thanks for hanging out with me. Thanks for being there when I needed you this winter and
(38:18):
Thanks for just swooping me. I'm here for you and i'm here for whoever needs me
I'm available for the passageway into the net believe it
I'm here believe it man
It's a great place to be out see you on the other side charlie
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