–JAMES J. SPINA
THE BEST PHOTO I EVER FRAMED WAS... a portrait by Greg Gorman of Barbara McReynolds, Margo Willits and myself covered in clay that we affectionately refer to as “the mud heads.”
MY FIRST CAR WAS… a 1949 Packard Woody Wagon (and my second car was a 1956 Jaguar Fixed Head Coupe hardtop).
WHEN I DRIVE I… often talk to people in the cars next to me at stoplights.
MY FAVORITE INSTAGRAM POSTER IS… @nitch for inspiration, @manrepeller for fashionable humor, @mxviv for the often searing and outrageous wit of performer Mx. Justin Vivian Bond.
I THINK DREAMS… are the collective work we do as a culture. Over time, I think we take on each other’s dreams.
BLUE MAKES ME THINK OF… all the many times I have said, “It’s just too blue.” This goes all the way back to me as a Tomboy-ish 6-year-old surprising my mama when I told her I didn’t want to wear Levi’s jeans because they were “just too blue.”
IF YOU ARE THINKING OF GIFTING ME WITH A TICKET TO A SHOW, I HOPE IT’S… “to the Festival of World Sacred Music in Fez, Morocco (an obsession), or anywhere Taylor Mac is performing his epic durational piece “A 24-Decade History of Popular Music.” And you’ll never have to twist my arm to get me to a Lucinda Williams concert!
THERE’S THIS PHOTO… of writer Charles Bukowski that hung in our studio for 30 years. “Beware those who are quick to censor, they are afraid of what they do not know.”
MY RINGTONE IS… crickets chirping, because it reminds me of my beloved tree frogs—Meaty John, Green and The Frog Formerly Known as Prince—who lived in my studio to ripe old ages (they dined on a steady diet of crickets).
THE ODDEST FOOD I EVER ATE WAS… in the realm of jelly alone, there was “grass jelly” (an intense herbal concoction) and there was “turtle jelly” (the modern version without actual shell powder). From there, we move on to insects!
