I've asked Dylan Fornoff to paint a massive sacred heart as the full wall background in the hotel bar above the stage. One should be able to see it from the street through the window while driving by it will be so large. He's beginning this project immediately. We plan to unveil this work some time in October.

-Blair

As Pentecost is always celebrated on Sunday, the Feast of the Sacred Heart always falls on a Friday. In 2007, it was celebrated on June 15.

-Skot Jones

(Dylan)

Well, let me just start by saying that this is the first time in my life I've ever done a project that wasn't totally selfish. I don't really even display my art.
However, there is an obligation placed upon everyone who lives in or even visits the Midway to comply with the artistic spirit of the building. That being said I'll be starting immediately on what will turn out to be an approximately eight by ten foot oil pastel on plywood drawing of the sacred heart.
Again, this is totally new to me because the idea was Blair's, and I like demons normally more than Christ, not that Christ can't be as sexy as demons but I think he has to try a little harder.
This will be a new part for me and I'll have to learn it like any script. I trust my mind will end up in the right place. Be patient with me,

-Dylan

We are hanging the wood against the back bar wall for the heart painting this weekend. Dylan just ordered all the paint materials on line he thinks he'll need. I just ordered two new massive front windows for the bar too so they should be in place within about two weeks...and people can then peek in on Dylan painting as "the sacred heart of the hotel" manifests.

I plan to film this painting as it blooms, and then condense it all into a speeding time-lapse. I imagine the burst of color will look pretty excellent.

-Blair

When are you starting? I'm eager!

-Renee Angle

We've begun...

- Blair

Dylan has completed painting the heart. It is pretty big. He is now about to start the background, painting the light coming off it. He's been working alone, always at odd hours, 7 AM, 2 AM, 4 AM. You know when he's down in the bar working because he plays the soundtrack to Jesus Christ Superstar non-stop.

-Blair

(Gary Gygax and his game)

On a vaguely related topic, there is a Christain website for nerds like me...

http://www.fansforchrist.org/new/index.php

Cheerio,
Gary Gygax

About two weeks back I had another dream with Jesus visiting to show us things. In this dream he'd taken Dylan and I down to the shore and said this time he was, very practically, going to show us how to find material wealth. We looked down between our hands into the water as it reached the beach. Along the coastline wherever the water was touching the shore there were shimmering, rich, golden rings that had built up over the years from earlier pirate ships and men who'd lost them or moved on. Wherever we put our hands in the water, as the waterline touched the beaches, we'd pull them back out with endless jewelry and gold! We were so rich! The message was not so much the value of physical items so much as the idea that the world is already soaked with creations by earlier men, and that riches and wealth, everywhere, are free and simply a matter of recognition.

I had another incredible dream this morning. In this one Jesus was performing miracles. Jesus and I were standing on the sands in the daylight and he was making long threads of sea water swirl into being around us with the wave of his hand. It was so simple and he did it so much we were eventually standing in deep beautiful churning water. There were large orange goldfish gulping every few feet. Jesus wasn't massive or otherworldly in any way, he came across as just a man. His miraculous process of making the swirls of water appear, I remember, was not one of summoning or adding A to B to achieve C. He would simply 'know' a thought and then it was so.

I really think I am having these dreams lately because of the massive Sacred Heart mural downstairs. It is on everyone's mind in the building. Dylan finished it the other day and we put lights on it from below. It leapt out. So then we opened the shades to the bar. Wow! One can now walk by on the sidewalk, or even driving from the street, and see it. It is a striking image from within the dark of the hotel. You see it as you enter. You see it as you leave.

-Blair

I know that Jesus spoke to me once some two or three years ago. It changed my life.

Cheers,
Gary Gygax

As he found the Hotel's Sacred Heart mural something in particular he wanted to post comments on, and as he was the last one to post something about Dylan's mural, I feel like Mr. Gygax is now somehow related to it. I always told him he was a hero of mine, and he always corrected me asking I simply call him Gary. Another great American Karmapa, Mr. Gygax, I salute you.

-----------------------
Gary Gygax, Dungeons & Dragons creator, dies

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (AP)
-- Gary Gygax, who co-created the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons and helped start the role-playing phenomenon, died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva. He was 69.

He had been suffering from health problems for several years, including an abdominal aneurysm, said his wife, Gail Gygax.

Gygax and Dave Arneson developed Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 using medieval characters and mythical creatures. The game known for its oddly shaped dice became a hit, particularly among teenage boys, and eventually was turned into video games, books and movies.

Gygax always enjoyed hearing from the game's legion of devoted fans, many of whom would stop by the family's home in Lake Geneva, about 55 miles southwest of Milwaukee, his wife said. Despite his declining health, he hosted weekly games of Dungeons & Dragons as recently as January, she said.

"It really meant a lot to him to hear from people from over the years about how he helped them become a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, what he gave them," Gygax said. "He really enjoyed that."

Dungeons & Dragons players create fictional characters and carry out their adventures with the help of complicated rules. The quintessential geek pastime, it spawned a wealth of copycat games and later inspired a whole genre of computer games that's still growing in popularity.

Funeral arrangements are pending. Besides his wife, Gygax is survived by six children.

-Blair

This is Wm. Andrew Turman, the local painter. Having seen the "Sacred Heart" by Dylan in its various stages, I am inspired to get my own "Sacred Heart." Jim, from Dragonscale Tatoo, is going to ink my right forearm with an original design, derived from Dylan's mural. I want to be tied to both the artist and to the hotel permanently. Not many people have had the access to "Sacred Heart" that I have had. I saw the original sketch, the work in progress, and pass by the window often just to peer in at it.
_________________
Andrew Turman
Writer, Artist, Teacher

(Tattoo Artist Jim Bertolasio's Heart)

Someone once asked him, "When will the kingdom of God come?"

He answered, "The kingdom of God doesn't come if you watch for it. It isn't in Heaven. It doesn't come only after you die. No one can point and say, 'It is here' or 'It is there.' For the kingdom of God is within you."

(Andrew's new tattoo by Jim Bertolasio)

(Dylan, the artist, and Sarah Ireland, dancing in front of his masterpiece)