IT'S ALL ABOUT GRIMSHAW!

Gary Grimshaw

People ask me, "Why do you worship this Gary Grimshaw guy?" I always answer, "If you were a kid with a toy guitar... and Eric Clapton let you play with him... how would YOU feel?" That's how I feel about Gary. I asked him once, "What's this GRIMSHAW name about?" He told me in old England, GRIM meant Hermit and SHAW meant Forrest... Man from the Deep Woods. I was impressed.




Never have I met a Man with such an infinite amount of patience and unlimited loyalty... it really was all about the "People". It "Wasn't money he was after", as he says,"I wanted to change the world!" I'm pretty sure he has.


During the years I worked for Gary, as his assistant, he taught me just about everything I know about Graphic Arts. There were times, I'm sure, he was dumfounded by my behavior... my "Reckless Love of Life" he calls it, being very kind. His advice for this young, untrained cartoonist was, "learn to draw the same thing over and over..." not easy for a guy in my state of mind. So I studied the Underground Comix Artists... R Crumb, Greg Irons, Rick Griffin and the infamous S. Clay Wilson. Watching him and all those guys is the only art schoolin' I ever had. Oh yeah... Trippin' made me want to draw and STROH'S put art on hold.


Gary once told me, "If you spent as much time drawing as you spend in that Factory, you'd make some REAL money!" I didn't know about that. He was the BEST and he sure wasn't rich.



We had a lot of fun, no doubt... never heard a harsh word from him. I helped him move a couple dozen times... the Brother gets around. I proudly financed some Poster prints for Gary in later years, that MC5 with wings, and others. We shot a lot of video too. There's a shelf full at his house right now. He says "I'm your BIGGEST fan". The feeling's mutual, I'm sure.