Boomer Yum

Ok I can't find it online right now, but I once read an essay which compared Tom Robbins' novels Skinny Legs and All, Another Roadside Attraction and Still Life with Woodpecker, and the relationships between their characters. For one, Ellen Cherry Charles actually appears in Jitterbug, mentioned by name once as a recipient of the Daughters of the Daily Special grant, which is referred to in the Seattle world of Still Life. I read Still Life immediately after Skinny Legs, and noticed right away that even the name Leigh-Cheri is similar to Ellen Cherry, and their characters fit into the proud, sexy Robbins lady mold...occupied also by Amanda. (I tried to read Another Roadside Attraction...but it was too late. I was sick of all the wit. Same thing with Half Asleep, though I DID make it through Villa Incognito)
But, the reason I'm mentioning this is because of the men. This particular article I read connected (listed in chronological order of their publish dates) Plucky Purcell with Bernard Mickey Wrangle and Boomer Petway. One stupid, but notable detail being that Bernard was an outlaw who blew things up and Boomer's nickname is an onomatopeia for...explosions. Personally, I'd go ahead and connect the rest the major male charaters from ALL Robbins novels: Alobar, Switters and even Tanuki all seem to be cut from the same macho mold. This isn't really a criticism...but it might explain why not many people make it through more than 4 or 5 of the 9 books .(10 in April!!). That or all the fact that the books are dripping with paragraphs about semen.

The reason I'm mentioning all this is because I've created an homage to Boomer Petway in my bathroom (and, by association, the Woodpecker, Plucky, Alobar and the rest). In contrast to Ellen Cherry and Priscilla, Boomer's oversimplified (?) idea of art is when you think up something that you've always wanted to see in real life that doesn't exist yet, and so you make it. Like a coat with hundreds of little pockets which have written in hundreds of different secret codes "Boomer Petway loves Ellen Cherry Charles." Or, more commonly, an airstream that looks like a big turkey.

I wanted to see what my (boring, white) bathroom would look like if I taped Onion headlines all over it. It is slow going, because I'm restricted to only Onion headlines that I think are funny, such as "Man Gets Into Mess Usually Reserved for Stars of Silent Film Era" or "Shitload of Math Due Monday" or "Dip Good."

But every time I put up a new headline, I think about Boomer. And all the rest of them (by association). Even little Spoon.