Old School Playhouse making news

At www.mlive.com those interested can take a gander as the Playhouse gets spotted by our local distributors crane truck. Going to make it a point to get by to see this project.

Well done, John!

Old School Said: Hey thanks Andy. The guy at the restaurant made some phone calls to the media and they literally swarmed me when I got up there. I worked all day on Thursday, trying to get that damn thing picked up and on the truck with the best Pittsburgh roofers. Friday morning, I went and got the materials to make the sling that we finally used. I had to design it and make it and then use it twice, once to lift it on and then to get it off. I had a couple of eggs and a cup of coffee early Friday morning and then nothing till after the second interview. I was so parched I could hardly talk.

It was a mess inside when we got it up there. It was clipping tree branches till we got on the main roads and there were leaves and acorns everywhere. I got the gutters back on and the inside cleaned today and it looks whole again. Now, some touch up paint and a few other details and I can relax for the first time in 10 months. I will post some pictures of everything after Tuesday when it is going to be ready to be viewed.

Mike, I have never read anything on facebook before and when I saw the comments from people that just saw the pictures and have never met me or even knew of me I was amazed. I suppose I look like a carpenter because I are one. I wonder what an artist looks like?

GOod luck with the voting John. I wonder how this turned out. I think that if you put your all into doig something that its not just skill that will get you there in the end.

Good luck with the voting John. Hope the whole experience is rewarding. As for the various and sundry editorializing you can expect anytime you stick your neck out, I'd say you have a good solid base under you and if Andy can "see the excitement in people's faces" you can pretty much assume you're solidly into the art category.

You'd have to pay over a hundred million dollars for artwork that when new was considered by many to be not art. But then, you could pay over a hundred million dollars for something that is still not art. The whole subject is a bit slippery and often very contentious.

And then, when one gets over the initial hurdle, the question inevitably comes up: "Is it art or is it great art?"

If you put your heart and soul into something, not merely skill, I can pretty much guarantee you are an artist. In my not very humble opinion, art is never about money, even where artists, agents, and collectors are. Whether something sells for $8.50, $850, or $85,000, the artistic question is a thing separate unto itself.

Artists do what they do when they do and how they do because they are moved by an impulse beyond the merely pedestrian and practical. Once you take that leap the whole question of art becomes moot and also largely nonsensical.

Back atcha, John! It was good of you to take a few moments out of your busy day to visit with us. It is great to put the personality with the face, but with all of the back and forth on the forum over the years it all felt very familiar.

The castle is a real stunner. You could see the excitement in people's faces. We experienced a traffic jam as we drove up on the site .... people were driving the street, looking for your project, stopping and pointing fingers . . . pretty cool.

Those left wing artsy-fartsy people get their feathers up when someone not of their ilk tries to express themselves. In their world you can establish your name and then shoot paintballs at a canvas and call it the "Tragedy Of The New Millennium Man" and sell it for millions. What thought process did it take to create something like that compared to what you did in your project.

All those comments sound like the parents at their kids science fair who grumble about some outstanding project that appears and belittle what their child has done.

Art is in the eye of the beholder . . . the naysayers need to carefully consider the diversity and depth of talent involved to take this project from concept to completion . . . the attention to detail and the workmanship speaks volumes.

The "artist community" has an issue with works that speak to the "common" man. They decry the works that get the popular vote from the "unsophisticated" masses.

I am proud to be a member of the "unsophisticated" and "deplorable" masses. Any day . . . all day . . .