Sashimi Tabernacle Choir and the Amazing Camera Van
Friday, July 14, 2006

After posting photos of my own car in my last entry, I got to thinking, "Wouldn't it be neat to cover the entire surface of my ugly blue Taurus, inside and out, with little plastic toys and figurines?" That would certainly take care of covering up that awful tar junk stuck to the rear bumper.

A few years ago, DH and I went to a little festival held on the square downtown. Parked all along the square were crazy looking "Art Cars". I had never seen anything so endearing. I loved that people took perfectly good cars - some of them were even nice old classic automobiles like Benz's and Beetles - and glued/painted/wired/mosaiced their favorite things all over them. One in particular that sticks out in my mind is The Sashimi Tabernacle Choir Car, hailing from Houston Texas. The car is covered with singing Billy Bass fish and plastic lobsters. They are all mechanically wired into a computer of sorts so they can dance and sing to songs like "Bohemian Rhapsody". They sing other songs too, but I can't remember what they were. All the critters' dance moves are really well orchestrated. There is a "conductor" lobster complete with a little baton, as well a soloist fish standing upright with a microphone on the roof.

I doubt if I ever get quite that imaginative with my "Art Car", but it definitely sparked my inspiration to glue random junk to my vehicle.

Harold Blank has a very interesting website called ArtCarAgency.com that boasts such oddities as the "Camera Van" and the "Mondrian Mobile"

This post really has nothing to do with preparing for having a child in any way..... Except that it is testament to just how embarrassing of a mom I may end up being to my child. Sure, when he/she is a toddler it will be fun and exciting to ride in mom's crazy toy-mobile. But at 13 years of age, I can just imagine that I will be like Uncle Buck dropping the child off in front of the school while he/she is completely mortified.

Then again, would an American-made vehicle really run that far into the future? I seriously doubt it. Junior, count yourself lucky that I don't drive a Toyota or Honda.

Labels: art cars