Fou Fou! Yeah. I know. What's a Fou Fou?

Or is that Fou-Fou?
Turns out, a Fou Fou is a pretty cool cat!
That's drummer, Clifton Eddie.

(Fou Fou (Clifton Eddie) and myself 2/7/14)

 

I interviewed him recently for an edition of an

arts' and entertainment show I produce, KVC-Arts.

This interview was a long time coming. One that started,

with another interview.

 

(Ray Brooks - 4/21/13)

I first interviewed Ray Brooks

for the 1st Annual Hi-Desert Music Festival in 2012.

In 2013, he played again and I was asked to come emcee a

portion of the festival. Clifton was Ray's drummer,

and I met him backstage when we were all eating.

 

(Fou Fou, Ray Brooks, Michael(?) - 4/21/13)

   

The interview that I did with Clifton was

some 9 or 10 months later. Unfortunately - this is

how it works sometimes.

 

Anyway - Clifton.

 

(KVCR's Rick Dulock and Fou Fou - 2/7/14))

 

Let's begin with how I started

the interview - by asking him where that
name Fou Fou came from. He was stationed in

France while in the Army Band in the early '60's.

He met up with a young French woman, who later 
showed up at the barracks one day while Clifton was
in the shower. He was quite surprised with her showing
up, as when he was... um... spending time with her, he
never really let her know where he could be found
otherwise. You know. Well, narrowing down
what base it was wasn't difficult, so
that day Clifton found himself
(in a towel) saying,

"Yes, I'll see you soon."

She was hollering back,

"Eddie Eddie Eddie! You always happy.
You always so fou-fou, so..."

 

So fou fou?
And that's all it took.

 

A saxophonist
in the band was in the barracks and heard it, 

and Clifton was known as Fou Fou from then on out.
Even after he got out of the Army. He had kind of escaped
it. But one night he was playing in a club in Chicago. The
place held some 500 or so, and it was packed! Between
songs, a bit into the night, after the applause died down somebody from the back hollered out,

"HEY FOU FOU!"

With that, Clifton knew two things.
One was that one of his buddies from the

Army band had made it to the gig that night. The

other is that the nickname was back. But he's

embraced it since. He said the relationship

didn't last, but the nickname did,

and he kept it in

honor of her.

Fou Fou had been banging on things

since the age of two, and that soon gravitated
to actual drums. In high school, it took a while,
but he eventually landed in the band as the drummer.
Clifton kinda had to wait for THE drummer to graduate.
That was Jack DeJohnette. After DeJohnette graduated, 
Clifton was then able to absorb and play jazz and pop standards for the rest of his time in high school, which unfortunately ended with Clifton getting into a bit of
trouble (he didn'e say, and I didn't ask - yet). He DID
say that it wasn't really a big deal, but one of the school
officials had it in for him, and he ended up facing one
of those "jail or the Army" options. So - he joined to
be in the Army Band. Problem is, when he went to
report, he was told that all of his records had been
lost. Lost? Actuallllly - Seems the guy that ran the
band had been caught fooling around with some
General's daughter. He was transferred, and
took all of the records with him.

Fou Fou, without a band, 

had to then pick a different MO.

He opted for Clerk Typist, completed that
school, and was sent to his NEW new station.
This station was an Army trucking unit, comprised
 of what Fou Fou described as the entirety of one, quite
racist, town in Virginia. His welcome wasn't that great,
based pretty much on the evidence of more melanin in
his system than they had, so they sent him out to learn
how to drive the 5-ton trucks. He learned that pretty
easily, but when it came time to start driving
ammunition trucks in Vietnam, Clifton
started grinding gears and stripping
transmissions.

Really, anything to show he wasn't the
right driver for the job.

 

They sent him back to the office,

where he was told he would just spend
a lot of time filing paperwork. Eventually they
asked what he DID, and even arranged for a transfer
to (finally) be in the band. While still encountering
problems due to racism, he was well received in the
band, as he could go from marching music,

to the jazz and big band arrangements
with which he was already familiar.

 

(Fou Fou - 4/21/13)

Fou Fou IS a multi-percussionist,

but is usually on the kit. As such, he's a guy
who often carries his sticks around with him.
After his stint in the Army, he's out for dinner with
his wife one night, and this guy notices the sticks, and
says hang on - I'll be right back. The guy went up on
stage and sang a few songs before coming back. One
of the tunes was quite probably "I Only Have Eyes For
You," as this was Tommy Hunt, who had JUST left the Flamingos. They arranged to meet later, and the next
thing you know, Fou Fou's on his way to The Apollo
in New York to perform his first professional
gig in the U.S.

 

He ended up being the drummer for The Dells,

and during this same period worked with Patti LaBelle,

Jerry Butler, Betty Evrette (The Shoop Shoop Song), and eventually became friends with Preston Epps, with whom he still works from time to time. Preston Epps was the one to
give us "Bongo Rock," a sound that eventually people
started calling surf-music. Remember this one?
Not sure? You probably do.

Click HERE for a reminder.

 

At some point, Fou Fou was in a band called

The Three (____). I'm gonna have to back to the

interview to fill in the blank on this one, but it was

apparently Maurice White's inspiration for Earth Wind

and Fire. Anyway, Fou Fou got a call about three in the morning, saying the band had book some gigs in LA and

was leaving soon. After they arrived, the band broke up,

and Fou Fou found himself landing roles here and there

in films and TV shows as - by golly - a drummer. Only

in the last year or so, he was part of a film called

Whiplash. This either just WAS, or is about

to GO to Sundance.

 

Clifton has a LOT of years of performance behind him,

and at the age of 65, I hope to God he has a buncha years

ahead of him as well. It's common enough to ask someone

in that position what kind of advice he'd like to pass on

to others. His was simple, really.

 

He said if you don't believe in what you're doing,

if your heart's not in it... don't do it. Plain and simple.

Before we closed he also took a moment to point out

just how much it pains him to see the manner of dress

in some performers today. He's of the era - or perhaps

simply the style - of dressing UP to play. Get suited

up, as it were. Go out there with some style.

 

(Fou Fou - 4/21/13)

 

When we did close,

he turned to the mic and said, "I love you all,

I thank all of you, and please - no matter WHAT you do today...

 

(Me and Fou Fou - 2/7/14)

 

 

...Use your turn signal when ya driving, okay?"

To me, THAT was a great close,

and Rick faded the microphones, as Fou Fou and I 

couldn't - stop - laughing.

 

 



The Human Canvas - Walking With One's Faith

Walking with One's Faith

Or something to that effect.

A sister of a friend...

...And her 20th birthday.

She's into all things Japanese, and wanted that phrase.

And here's what we got.

  

These things have 
become rather quick by now. 
I mean - absurdly quick. So quick, that, well...

How about another?

And another...

                      (((hold on. which purple??? There's a lot from which to choose)))

So all in all, we got three "And another's".

Then it was a matter 

of giving a space for these fish to be in.

Done?

I believe so.

The best part... 

when she decided to do what 

another friend had done recently after I 

drew on him. She let her mom "accidentally" 

see it - like she'd gone out and gotten a tattoo for 

her birthday. There was screaming. There was crying. 

There was "How... could... you do this to me?"

And then her Dad got home 

and her Mom suddenly shifted gears 

and said, "Okay. We have to pull this on you father now."

There were SEVERAL successes that night!

The Human Canvas and tiny, TINY arms at the Fall Fest

Fall Fest 2013.

This first annual event was presented 

by the Santa Ana River Trust and the 

Inland Empire Water Keeper.

I've been asked 

how long it takes to do a Human Canvas piece. 

That varies quite a bit, and for this event, I tried to list 

a bunch of Fall or water-themed pieces - ones that I could 

do in 4-6 minutes. The above water droplet ended up 

being one of my favorites from that day, even though 

it was SO simple and quick. Two shades of

 blue - then accented with black. 

That's it.

This leaf was maybe the funniest.

Funniest in that her parents wheeled her up... 

....And said, 

"You can get her quick while she's asleep."

The next is one that 

I truly wanna try on a much larger scale. 

I was calling these "Halloween Trees".  Just a bare 

tree with a moon and sky in the background. And when 

I say larger scale - really - ANYTHING bigger than this. 

I don't think I drew on a single adult at this festival. 

This usually meant tiny, tiny, TINY arms... 

...Which meant this tree ended up being about 2 inches tall. Close to the same in width. Tiny, tiny, TINY arms made 

it a bit more difficult, occasionally giving me a few 

pieces that could've gotten better detail.

Speaking of which, 

there WERE several pieces that 

I would've liked more detail on, though I 

did enjoy the variety of color.

The Sea Turtle was requested several times...

As was the seahorse, the colors used either by request, or picked to match whatever they were wearing, and...

A few other familiar favorites.

There were a couple of Cliffords...

...A few roses...

(a green one was requested)

Some butterflies (always fun, and well received)....

And our old friend, the koi.

Not just the koi, though. We got this little fish...

And one guy asked for this wonderful jellyfish...

And another wanted a chameleon.

I had a photograph of 
some of my puzzle pieces from 
the last couple of autism events, so while not 
fall or water related, I was happy to answer this request. 

And I have to say, 
I was quite happy with how it turned out.
Okay - totally away from the fall/water theme now, 
but how could I NOT fulfill this next request.

She plays a pink trumpet. That's what she wanted.

The next girl want a heart. Plain and simple. But I have problems doing something "just plain and simple." 

So she got this.

The next girl (God bless her) 

wanted something "a bit dark... or gothic maybe."

And the next (back to this time of year) simply 

asked for something to go along with 

her outfit and face-paint.

One more that was fall related, 

the good ol' Jack O'Lantern. Did a few of these as well.

All in all, 

a fun day at another fun festival, 

though I didn't get to SEE any of the rest of it. 

Once I started drawing, it didn't stop for some 4+ hours. 

The organizers of the event even had to move my table (at 

least once) because the line of kids waiting to be next 

was blocking traffic to some of 

the other booths.

COOL!

Got a Christmas (kids) event coming up. 

We'll see if I actually stick with the theme on THAT one.

But the kids had fun.

As did I.

So far so good.

The Human Canvas does PBS!

I should clarify.

Like - when I told a friend 

that I had an A&E show, he said he watches

that channel, and I should let him know when it is.

 

 

The show we were

talking about is KVC-Arts,

aired on KVCR-FM, in San Bernardino, CA.

So when I say "The Human Canvas does PBS,"

I should say that I spent a late morning - early afternoon drawing PBS characters. KVCR is an NPR affiliate

on the FM side, as well as a PBS TV station.

 

We also launched FN/X.

That's First Nations Experience,

a television station with solely indigenous

programming

 

So back to PBS.

Lillian Vasquez, Marketing Coordinator

for KVCR, was the first to serve as a canvas that day.

She asked for a Clifford (the Big Red Dog), and I

was QUITE grateful. It also became my favorite

of the Cliffords done that day.

 

I was a bit nervous

about having to draw exact

representations of things. This gave me a

practice session, and made me realize that Clifford is

close to the easiest thing (in the world of PBS) to

put on someone

 

Curious George, believe it or not,

was one of the more difficult characters to draw.

Just a little bit off, and it ends up being some sort of

cartoony bastardization of JoJo the Dog-Faced Boy.

Pictured below is probably may favorite of the

Georges I drew that day. And there were

quite a few OF them.

 

It's getting to where

I can't draw on people at a festival

without the EMT's getting involved. At least

they're not rescuing people from Sharpie

inhalation or something.

 

What was actually

the EASIEST to draw was Shiny,

one of several siblings from Dinosaur Train.

 

 

It's interesting that this was

the easiest because this has more blends,

and more depth than Clifford, George,

or some of the others.

 

The first version of

Shiny went to Grant Wisegarver, Lillian's son.

His turned out REALLY well, though with his being

the first of those, I was still toying with

the idea of just doing faces

or "busts" of sorts.

 

I kinda wish that I had done

a complete drawing on Grant, like this one below.

This one MAYyyyyyy..... be my favorite.

 

 

Not only in how it turned out,

but in that she had every intention of flying it

proudly at her Senior Homecoming dance that night.

 

That made ME

even MORE proud

to have done such a good one on her.

But again - I soon discovered that Shiny

was possibly the easiest...

 

...And if you do one that's a bit smaller,

it becomes one of the OTHER siblings - Tiny.

 

 

Though truth be told,

they became rather diminutive

because I was drawing on tiny, tiny, arms.

One more (slight) variation on this one.  Make it

a blue blend instead of green, and you have John,

yet another sibling. 

 

 

As mentioned earlier,

there were several more drawings

of Curious George that day.

 

 

Including on some of

the Crafton Hills College faculty and staff.

 

There were quite

a few Cliffords as well,

and only ONE of this guy below, Elmo.

 

 

I tell ya,

Elmo was SO quick and absurdly simple,

I couldn't believe I had done it with such simple lines,

but there he was!

 

 There are of course MANY

PBS characters that are wildly popular,

but might take a BIT longer to draw. All of

these were done because they were quick pieces.

 

 

The only one I took

a lot of time with was on Daniel Tiger here.

It was drawn on Lindsey Wisegarver. Lindsey is 

Grant's sister, Lillian's daughter, and all-around GREAT person to have on hand at a KVCR event.

 

She's also a very willing canvas,

and enjoys the fact that she keeps getting some of the

best work at the festivals we're both at.

 

Above and below,

Lindsey, Lillian, and Grant.

 

This is now the third festival for me to be at,

with three more in the relatively near future. Thanks to EVERYONE involved in such a great event, thanks to Lillian for having me there (and booking even MORE gigs for me), and thanks to Lindsey for letting us BOTH get our fix

for some REALLY cool blends.

 

And thank YOU for being the next canvas.

I'm NOT slowing down!