He pickled his brain in a vat full of unfinished ideas, alcohol and various chemical concoctions provided to him through the years by friends, foes or flat-out theft. The drivel that came out of his mouth on an average night reeked of the foul thoughts he’d let sour in his head over the years. He fancied himself an artist, part of an invisible college, confusing a brain crashing through too many thoughts, like an out of control locomotive, with intellect. He was neither intelligent nor an artist. Like so many others he was simply an asshole who was full of shit.
Danny the Barnstormer
Danny the Barnstormer was a flamboyant womanizer who traveled from state to state hanging under the wing of an airplane at the end of a rope by his teeth. His otherwise unnoteworthy career came to an end when he flew through the stain glass window of Sugar Grove Baptist Church in Ohio County, Kentucky in 1926 while hanging from a Curtis Jenny JN-4.
I heard this story from my Granddad Whitt when I was 3. He told me then it was God’s way of saying ‘faith in science was never to overcome the long arm of the Lord.’ I believed him… because that’s what grandkids do. Then he came close to my face. I remember giggling because his presence made me feel warm, the smell of cheap cologne and sweat radiating against me.. He whispered in my ear something that has haunted me my whole life. He said, “Son, man is evolving toward becoming God so that God can reach back into the past and create Man, It’s why Adam reaches forward to God while God reaches back to Adam on Michaelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. We are standing right here, right now where their fingers meet. So DON’T FUCKING BLOW IT!!”
Then Granddad laughed and fed his pet squirrel another ‘Nella Wafer and asked if I wanted to ride in the yellow trailer behind the tractor while he drove some hay up to Brother Kerney’s Church.
– More Lies from JV’s notebook July 2007
