Hulk, obviously, gets fluorescent green. Hellboy gets red. Curtis the Caveman gets stone-textured paint.
These things are pretty easy to figure. I ran out of both red and fluorescent green before I got good even color. The Hulk is easy because that paint is a recoat at any time paint. Which is rare. Most spray paints tell you things like within an hour or after 24 hours. Or within 3 hours or after 48 hours. The red Krylon Fusion stuff is within 24 or after 7 days. And there's a zero percent chance I'm going to purchase another can of the stuff and get it to my garage within 24 hours, so Hellboy is on hold for a week.
These warnings, you learn to read them when you get a rocket that's all blistered or wrinkled from a reaction between coats.
So anyway, Curtis was easy. The rock paint really looks great with even one coat. I gave it a second light coat just to be sure, but he's going to look awesome. Not sure about decals on this highly texture surface, but anyway.
Then there's Otis.
Otis is the name of the horned bulldog in the Mighty Mighty BossTone's logo.
Anyway, when my ticket to see one of my favoritest bands in the world came in the mail I got this notion. This band dates back to 1985. They broke up ('went on hiatus') for three years or so, getting back together last year, but for all intents and purposes they've been a traveling act for over twenty years.
They're not a household name, I don't suppose. Except for a brief period about twelve years ago when Ska became the pop culture flavor of the month, they've mostly enjoyed as much airplay as the Dry Heaves get.
The Dry Heaves, by the way, was a band I was in back when I was dating a psycho punk chick in 9th grade. Except it was never really quite a band: it never had a bassist and a drummer at the same time, and I never figured out how to sing while playing even the most mind-bogglingly simple chord progressions. Most of the time the band was made up of me. And 'we' (I had band-mates, but I doubt I ever had more than one at a time) never played a show. Part of the problem was probably in the fact that I was obnoxious to a fault, alienating potential band members before we could even get together to play, but mainly I didn't really want to be in a punk band when I was 15.
What I wanted to be in was my punk girlfriend, and the band was mainly a means to that dubious end. It didn't work, and we were all probably better off for it, especially the other teenage musicians who didn't end up on stage as part of the Dry Heaves.
The mohawked girlfriend eventually dropped me for a much more authentic punk. A mutual friend who once told me he'd decided on shoplifting as a career. When I asked him what he'd do if they put him in jail, he shrugged and said, 'They feed you there, what's the problem?'
How could I compete with that, right?
But I didn't start this post to talk to you about my failed hardcore aspirations. The Mighty Mighty BossTones, unlike the Dry Heaves or the Shitty Beatles, are more than just a clever name. They are very much a band, but as I say, I understand if you haven't heard of them.
They're not completely obscure. They did a sneaker advert, I think, which puts them in a league with The Beatles in a way. And they did Sesame Street, and you have to be fairly famous to get to do a song for the Children's Television Workshop. Not necessarily an arena rocker, but at least as famous as, say, Melissa Ethridge or the Spin Doctors.
In 23 years touring, playing mostly bars where it's easy to approach the band for autographs, I'll bet Dicky Barrett & Co. think they've autographed everything. Besides CDs, records (yes, really), T-shirts, napkins, autograph books, ticket stubs, etc., Besides people's body parts, knowing full well the fan is going straight to the first tattoo parlor that won't turn away a drunk to have it made permanent. And so on.
But a rocket? I'll bet they've never been presented with a fan who wanted his model rocket signed. I don't know if I can get to the band, but the venue is Grinders, it's not like trying to catch up to Garth Brooks at the Spring Center. I don't think I'll take the rocket in to the show. More likely I'll try to catch the band after, retrieve the rocket from the car.
I've laid down a base coat of orange, and I think I'll leave the fins that way. The fins would be the logical points for an autograph, and there are eight or nine members of the band depending on who you ask. So the four fins are eight sids. I might leave the nose cone orange for any autographs that don't fit on the fins.
The body tube presents a challenge almost as great as stalking a favorite band for autographs. How to make it plaid. And Otis really must wear plaid. If you're into the BossTones, you'll understand. If you're not, well...
Then there's the other problem: if I get the band to sign the rocket, will I have the guts to fly it, knowing my one-of-a-kind Mighty Mighty BossTone's autographed Otis might end up hanging from some tree?
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