So here we sit, January 2011.
Yesterday, aces were wild, 1/11/11, and coming soon in November, well ...........I don't have to tell you.
Every so often AOL (damn them, once again) sneaks into my computer overnight and scrambles up and scatters all my bookmarked favorites, some go north, others go south, there's no rhyme or reason. And they also restore some favorites that I have long ago deleted.
It's like the episode in that Larry David show, "Curb Your Enthusiasm", where, in a meeting, the brilliant Mel Brooks is sitting next to the brilliant, yet anal-retentive obsessive David, who carefully lines up all his pens, pencils and notepads in parallel lines and has them just perfect.
The instant he's distracted, or turns his head, Brooks immediately reaches over and messes with them, scattering them about. This happens several times and nothing is said, David simply fixes his stuff, lines them back up. Dueling obsessions.
Despite the money I give them every month, AOL becomes Mel Brooks every few months.
Maybe they think it's funny. I don't.
The point of all that claptrap is that I was reminded of how many highwaymen web sites have come and gone in the last decade because they have reappeared due to this AOL cyber-mischief. There have been quite a few dealers, artists, wannabes and copy-cats who have drifted into this market only to drift back out.
Speaking of wannabes, I just can't stop myself from mentioning this. If you watch eBay, you may have noticed that there's a new clown in town and he's wearing a cowboy hat. Sheesh.
Gone, but not forgotten (by me, anyway), are sites by Roy McLendon Sr, Mary Ann Carroll and the Buckner Brothers (done by Ellis Jr.).
And who could forget dealer John Phillips and his FLART ? Great name.
I was also reminded that we are still standing after a full decade of putting our main web site http://www.highwaymen-buy-sell-trade.com/ up there for the world to find.
When AOL restores sites I had marked in the past, I tend to click on them to see what's what.
All are no longer valid, their former domain names available for sale, which is, of course, why I deleted them in the first place.
So, of course, I delete them all once again.
Every morning I monitor all things "highwaymen" on the Internet, art shows, antique shows, dealers, auction houses, artists, and any news articles or new publications.
If I'm going to be ON TOP OF THE MARKET, I feel as though it's nothing less than my duty to do this. So I do it.
I do hereby officially pat myself on the back for having the perseverance to keep on keeping on, staying with this market and the art that I truly love.
