Remember when I was young and so were you
and time stood still and love was all we knew
You were the first, so was I
We made love and then you cried
Remember when

Remember when we vowed the vows
and walked the walk
Gave our hearts, made the start, it was hard
We lived and learned, life threw curves
There was joy, there was hurt
Remember when

Remember when old ones died and new were born
And life was changed, disassembled, rearranged
We came together, fell apart
And broke each other’s hearts
Remember when

Remember when the sound of little feet
was the music
We danced to week to week
Brought back the love, we found trust
Vowed we’d never give it up
Remember when

Remember when thirty seemed so old
Now lookn’ back it’s just a steppin’ stone
To where we are,
Where we’ve been
Said we’d do it all again
Remember when
Remember when we said when we turned gray
When the children grow up and move away
We won’t be sad, we’ll be glad
For all the life we’ve had
And we’ll remember when

No one knows what it’s like
To be the bad man
To be the sad man
Behind blue eyes
No one knows what it’s like
To be hated
To be fated

To telling only lies

But my dreams
They aren’t as empty
As my conscience seems to be

I have hours, only lonely
My love is vengeance
That’s never free

No one knows what it’s like
To feel these feelings
Like I do

And I blame you
No one bites back as hard

On their anger

None of my pain and woe

Can show through

But my dreams

They aren’t as empty

As my conscience seems to be

I have hours, only lonely

My love is vengeance

That’s never free

When my fist clenches, crack it open

Before I use it and lose my cool

When I smile, tell me some bad news

Before I laugh and act like a fool

If I swallow anything evil

Put your finger down my throat

If I shiver, please give me a blanket

Keep me warm, let me wear your coat

No one knows what it’s like

To be the bad man

To be the sad man

Behind blue eyes

Things look clear in black and white
The living color tends to dye our sight
Like dynomite
Just imagine my surprise
When I looked into your eyes and saw
Your disguise

If we dare expose our hearts
Just to feel the purest parts
That’s when strange sensations start to grow

We are not alone
Find out when your cover’s blown
There’ll be somebody there to break your fall
We are not alone
‘Cause when you cut down to the bone
We’re really not so different after all
After all
We’re not alone

Flying high above the sky
The battles down below look simplified
With no place to hide
But on inspection of the dust
I came upon this thing called trust
It helps us to adjust

Just imagine my surprise
When I looked into your eyes
I knew right then I’d never let you go

We are not alone
Find out when your cover’s blown
There’ll be somebody there to break your fall
We are not alone
‘Cause when you cut down to the bone
We’re really not so different after all
After all
We’re not alone
Not alone
After all
Not alone

If we dare expose our hearts
Just to feel the purest parts
That’s when strange sensations start to grow

We are not alone
Find out when your cover’s blown
There’ll be somebody there to break your fall
We are not alone
‘Cause when you cut down to the bone
We’re really not so different after all
After all
We’re not alone

We are not alone
Find out when your cover’s blown
There’ll be somebody there to break your fall
We are not alone
‘Cause when you cut down to the bone
We’re really not so different after all
After all
After all

unfold the DRAMA
on this eve of
BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA
with anticipation
and elation
the world waits for the curtain to open.
This we know….
that it shall be a diverse display
with colors interwoven like
a quilt made of used garments.

unfold the DRAMA
on this eve of
BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA
a crowd cheers
and a red neck sneers
as the show is getting nearer.
This we hope….
that unity will be real
like strong hands working together
in a field

Oh look! Shhhhh…..
The show is about to begin!
The curtain is opening!
And the sound of BILLIONS of voices
overwhelms me with tears……
“United We Stand” they sing,
“Divided We Fall”…….
The crowd has not seen such a display
as evidenced by their jubilant laughter
and loud groanings of the spirit.
The sounds are new to me
as if they were born many centuries ago
in the deepest and darkest places of the earth.
Oh look! A spotlight shines…..
“Ladies AND Gentlemen…..
Republican AND Democrat….
Rich AND Poor…..
Black AND white….
Christian AND others….
WELCOME to the Greatest Show on Earth…..
NOW…..
BEGINS….
the DRAMA…..
of BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA!”
(I pray, “Oh Lord, let not the villain win…..”)

Written by Neil Diamond

L.A.’s fine, the sun shines most the time
And the feeling is ‘lay back’
Palm trees grow, and rents are low
But you know I keep thinkin’ about
Making my way back

Well I’m New York City born and raised
But nowadays, I’m lost between two shores
L.A.’s fine, but it ain’t home
New York’s home, but it ain’t mine no more

“I am,” I said
To no one there
An no one heard at all
Not even the chair
“I am,” I cried
“I am,” said I
And I am lost, and I can’t even say why
Leavin’ me lonely still

Did you ever read about a frog who dreamed of bein’ a king
And then became one
Well except for the names and a few other changes
I you talk about me, the story’s the same one

But I got an emptiness deep inside
And I’ve tried, but it won’t let me go
And I’m not a man who likes to swear
But I never cared for the sound of being alone

“I am,” I said
To no one there
An no one heard at all
Not even the chair
“I am,” I cried
“I am,” said I
And I am lost, and I can’t even say why
Leavin’ me lonely still
1971 Prophet Music, Inc. (ASCAP)

The tension or shock value of my art is something that I purpose to, not for some sadistic pleasure. It is a desire to rock the foundations that society has created as some false facade of security. The idea that all bricks must be perfectly aligned. That all roads on the map must go to a destination. That wrinkles must be covered with make up. That one must portray wholeness.

When I see art that purposes to be pretty or “pleasing” I think of facades. Whether real or imagined. I
see that people are portraying something that isn’t really what it is. Life is reality. Life is hurt, and pain, and loneliness. Its desolation. It’s the fear of feeling that if people saw who one really was they would reject. All the while they possess their own incompleteness, or sorrow, or challenges.

Working in a hospital, I see the all too familiar gurney with a white rectangular “tent” over it. So
that people passing will not know that underneath the tent, a body lays. Growing cold. The final
aloneness. Working on the ambulance in the inner-city, I have gone into houses wracked by drugs or
violence. I have seen children stabbing each other. Mere children, with hearts so cold and animalistic.

Throughout my life, I have had to hide who I really am. My art allows me to portray the inner emotions I
really feel. I am able to splash paint across the canvass in a wild untrained manner. Not complying with
anything I ever was taught in art school.

When I portray nudity, it is not for the purpose of titillation. It is to portray a body marred by
imperfections. Whether scars, or stretch marks. Cellulite or starvation. Of a body layed bare, not
able to cover the cruelties of life.

I choose to confront and slap the viewer across the face. Not for my own self gain or wrongful pleasure, but so that they confront their own demons of unreachable perfection. So that rather continuing in ignorance of life’s cruelty, reality is portrayed. It seems as though there is the idea that pain, and all other emotions deemed unpleasant must be medicated, eradicated, counseled away.

I am attempting by revealing my own haunting demons, to show that one can come full circle and
find happiness and joy. Beauty and light.

The following song appeared over the closing credits of a film called “Garden State” from a few years
back. It is from a group called Frou Frou and is called “Let Go”

drink up, baby down
mmm, are you in or are you out
leave your things behind
’cause it’s all going off without you
excuse me, too busy you’re writing your tragedy
these mishaps
you bubble wrap
when you’ve no idea what you’re like

so let go, jump in
oh well, whatcha waiting for
it’s alright
’cause there’s beauty in the breakdown
so let go, just get in
oh, it’s so amazing here
it’s alright
’cause there’s beauty in the breakdown

it gains the more it gives
and then it rises with the fall
so hand me that remote
can’t you see that all that stuff’s a sideshow

such boundless pleasure
we’ve no time for later now
you can’t await your own arrival
you’ve 20 seconds to comply

so let go, jump in
oh well, whatcha waiting for
it’s alright
’cause there’s beauty in the breakdown
so let go, just get in
oh, it’s so amazing here
it’s alright
’cause there’s beauty in the breakdown

Lou Reed – Who Am I? (tripitena’s Song) lyrics

Sometimes I wonder who am I
the world seeming to pass me by
A younger man now getting old
I have to wonder what the rest of life will hold

I hold a mirror to my face
there are some lines that I could trace
To memories of loving you
the passion that breaks reason in two

I have to think and stop me now
if reminisces make you frown
One thinks of what one hoped to be
and then faces reality

Sometimes I wonder who am I
who made the trees, who made the sky
Who made the storms, who made heartbreak
I wonder how much life I can take

I know I like to dream a lot
and think of other worlds that are not
I hate that I need air to breathe
I’d like to leave this body and be free

I’d like to float like a mystic child
I’d like to kiss an angel on the brow
I’d love to solve the mysteries of life
by cutting someone’s throat or removing their heart

You’d like to see it beat
you’d like to hold your eyes
And though you know I’m dead
you’d like to hold my thighs

If it’s wrong to think on this
to hold the dead past in your fist
Why were we given memories
let us lose our minds and be set free

Some-, sometimes I, I wonder who am I
the world seeming to pass me by
A younger man now getting old
I have to wonder what the rest of life will hold

I wonder
I wonder -

- Ooohhh, who started all this
was God in love and gave a kiss
To someone who later betrayed
and Godless love sent us away

To someone who later betrayed
and Godless love sent us away

“Broken Toy”
(c) SNFU

There was a boy who had a toy
But it was no car or train
The toy that he had was the best toy in the world
The toy was called his brain

This toy could talk, this toy could think
There was no limit at all
Then one day this perfect toy broke
So now he thinks nothing but broken thoughts

So now he plays each and every day
With his broken toy
When this toy turned out to be his brain
No one else wanted to play, yeah!

So now he plays each and every day
With his broken toy
When the toy turned out to be his brain
No one else wanted to play, yeah!

Nothing Else Matters

So close no matter how far
couldn’t be much more from the heart
forever trusting who we are
and nothing else matters

never opened myself this way
life is ours, we live it our way
all these words I don’t just say
and nothing else matters

trust I seek and I find in you
every day for us something new
open mind for a different view
and nothing else matters

never cared for what they do
never cared for what they know
but I know

so close no matter how far
couldn’t be much more from the heart
forever trusting who we are
and nothing else matters

never cared for what they do
never cared for what they know
but I know

never opened myself this way
life is ours, we live it our way
all these words I don’t just say

trust I seek and I find in you
every day for us something new
open mind for a different view
and nothing else matters

never cared for what they say
never cared for games they play
never cared for what they do
never cared for what they know
and I know

so close no matter how far
couldn’t be much more from the heart
forever trusting who we are
no nothing else matters

From Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland:

‘In that direction,’ the Cat said, waving his right paw round, ‘lives a Hatter; and in that direction,’ waving the other paw, ‘lives a March hare. Visit either you like; they’re both mad.’
‘But I don’t want to go among mad people,’ Alice remarked.
‘Oh, you ca’n’t help that,’ said the Cat: ‘ we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.’
‘How do you know I’m mad?’ said Alice
‘You must be,’ said the Cat, ‘or you wouldn’t have come here.’