Hurricanes have followed me around for years. My friend Gus is a contractor on Sanibel Island off of Florida's Gulf Coast. We got to know each other because both of us had daughters who were home schooling. After one big storm hit the islands, Gus drove around helping people do repairs and get their lives back in order. He did it in a neighborly kind of way, not for money or expecting to find clients.
One man he helped on Sanibel's sister island, Captiva, was named "Bob." He appreciated Gus's help so much he did become a client. "Bob" turned out to be Robert Rauschenberg, and over the next few years, as Gus built his seaside studio, the artist paid for his work not only with cash but with original paintings as well.
To make a very long story short, Gus called me and asked if knew anyone who might like to buy them. Now, don't get too excited, because over the next few years I only managed to sell three Rauschenbergs for Gus, but I think that helped him and his family make it through some pretty down years in the local economy.
I'll try to post a print here sometime of the one painting that Gus still has, so far as I know, a beautiful piece with a heron against a red background. And when I next see him (which will be soon), I'll update this story.
BTW, the construction business is booming all along all of the Gulf Coasts, courtesy of all the terrible storms brought to you by Global Warming, the industry-sponsored future scientists warned about back in my Rolling Stone years, only to face personal attacks and ridicule paid for by the very polluters responsible in the first place.
But that is another story.
*with all due respect to Lincoln Steffens
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