LA Road Trip Day 5 - WLCoWSVoWLT on CONAN, TODAY TODAY TODAY!!!

Up!

Putzing! Trying to quell nerves…

1:00 - at studio. Yes, I'm early, but that's just what I do… Security guards exceptionally nice, asked about the Art Car, then directed me on a circuitous route to the Conan studio entrance (they called some buddies, wanted them to see, so the car had a bit of a parade.)

1:30 - 4:00 - Waiting, conversation with producer about final cut of models, talking with stage crew about attaching models to bases, people arriving and green room area getting crowded. Rehearsal, more waiting, hair and makeup, then it's time! Standing on a piece of tape waiting for the two large crew guys to open the curtains…

After 4:30 - ON! GREAT introduction, with a shout-out to Lucas, then I meet a very tall redhead who makes sure to say "Thank you for doing this!" as I walk over. Interview, commercial break, some more chit-chat with Conan and Andy, then hung out on the couch during Jimmie Vaughn. Went over to meet the band, say thanks, and back to pack things up.

WHEW! Back out into a downpour, and to the hotel to decompress.

8:00 - Picked up a nice dinner, a bottle of wine, and gonna watch Conan from a swanky Burbank hotel - whoop!

Erika on Conan! December 22, 2010

Erika and the WLCoWSVoWLT on Overlooked

LA Road Trip Day 4

Day 4

9:00 - Mapping things out, still raining.

10:00 - coffeeshop with WiFi, but spotty enough not to be able to actually do anything, so am typing this. OK - gotta go!!!

1:00 - Giant Orange!

2:00 - Burbank! California! Hollywood Way! Here! I! Am! Valet stand never quite knows what to do when an Art Car pulls up - I gave them permission to drive it around the block a few times.

3:00 - meeting locals for dinner and a tour

3:30 - 9:00 - Amazing drive! Hollywood hills, LaBrea Tar Pits, Hollywood Bowl, saw the sights from the back of a Cruiser, then to a jaw-dropping Folk Art collection, and a nice meal in a (surprisingly crowded for a Tuesday) Zagat’s Most Popular restaurant…

10:00 - Conan! Super-extra bonus, he got the WLCoWSVoWLT name exactly right when reading off tomorrow’s guest list… Whoop whoop whoopity whoop!!!

LA Road Trip Day 3

Day 3

8:30, 9:00 p.m., Rock shops and off

9:45 - Jackrabbit Trading Post!

Later - Twin Arrows - missed it 'till too late…

11:10 - Home of Andy Divine

1:40 - Nice conversation with a trucker (mac) and rest stop attendant (ed). Mac: "I've been seeing you since Flagstaff!"

1:55 - Roadkill Burro. First time I've ever seen that…

1:00 - California! (time zones again..)

1:05 - Inspection Station - yes, I'm always stopped, never just waved through…

1:30 - Eeeeek - $4.00 gas.

1:55 - Heart of the Mojave Desert. Decided to turn around and get back onto pavement.

Love the desert graffittee here… just stones piled on berms, spelling out names. Miles and miles and miles of names.

3:00 - Sheep Hole Mountains.

WHO KNEW? Depeche Mode doing the Rt. 66 song - a little rockabilly, a little goth. Me likey.

3:20 - 29 Palms, An Oasis of Murals

STUDCUTS. Barber shop. Yep, we've hit Marine Corps country.

3:50 - Desert Tortoise

3:55 - Flash Flood. Volkswagon Rabbit didn't make it.

4:40 - Claude Bell's Dinosaurs!

'tween 4:40 and 6:00 - horrible flooding, San Bernardino and Rialto. Wow.

6:00 - Sleepin' the Wigwam Way! I've just leveled up in the Roadside world.

LA Road Trip Day 2

Day 2

9-ish, Drive 'rounds

9:40 - Stuckys! On 66… would it be completely sacreligious to my Roadside buds if I admitted that I don't 'get' the thing about 66? The SW has marketed it well, and it has a catchy jingle, but I suppose I'm just a Hwy. 50 gal myself…

10:02 - Ears popped, turned down radio

Came up on an older couple in tucumcari (can tell by the size of the car vs. size o' lil' whit heads, and the requisite Kleenex Box and Pillow in rear window) and saw that they passenger was in the 'takin pictures' position…

So, looked over and waved, and the driver (yes, a lil' old man) had about 20 facial piercings. Not lip or eyebrow, but facial. I Heart the American Road.

Noon - Noon Fifteen - Clives Corners - Old stop postcards!

Noon- Noon-fifteen - (bouncing between time zones, so just reporting what the phone says…) - 3 stops to find a TV Guide so I could have my public Steve Martin moment (I'm SOMEBODY! - phonebook scene from The Jerk). FINALLY! Found one, but no late-0night listings. Had to content myself with talking to the 9 people I talked to in parking lots along the way.

ZUZAX! Exit 178, NM Hwy 40 - that's gotta be a bazillion point score…

12:45 - passing by the World's Longest Tramway

Fancy car-wavin' day - Porsche in Albuquerque, and Provost tourbus and following crew bus with full-on curtains-aside faces-against-glass waving. Thanks, Whoever is On Tour!

Mile 135 - Rt 66 Hotel and Casino, may have the World's Largest Gravity Fed Gas Pumps for signage.. just across from the Rt. 66 bridge we visited at the Society for Commercial Archeology conference back in Aught Eight.

2:30 - Continental Divide

3:00 - "Ft. Courage - Take Pictures of Past - Don't Miss It"

3:20 - Arizona! And Painted Pony Indian Trading Post

3:30 - Largest Teepee in the Southwest

4:05 - Truck turned 293,000 miles! While going 82 MPH.

4:30 - Painted Desert

5:20 - Wigwam Village #6, TeePee #9. Tchotchkes, and some AMAZING sunset shots, then dusk and illumnated teepees and horses.

6:30 - Wine and cheese and smoke salmon, sleepin' the Wigwam Way, watching Grease and lounging in a log frame bed.

Los Angeles 2010 Trip - Day One

TRIP LOG, Day One:

8:10 - OFF! Slight smattering of snow, and some great sunlight breaking through the fog...

8:40 - forgot phone at home of Bob Dole, have to go all the way back to the Grassroots Art Capital of Kansas

Noon Oh Five - stopped by multi-award winning campground, at town with the World's Largest Prairie Dog and giant Buffalo Bill Killing Buffalo sculpture

1:50 - passing through home of the World's Largest Cow Hairball, got a triple espresso to go...

3:15 - epiphany - waterparks will be the gooney golfs of the future. I know what I mean, will explain later...

3:16 - ROADSIDE/KANSAS ENTHUSIASTS QUADRUPLE WHAMMY!!!! An historic World's Largest Book, flanked by a Boy Scout Liberty, AND a Madonna of the Plains, with the starting line of the International Pancake Race all on the same property.

3:22 - LOVE LOVE LOVE it - Hwy 54 here is named Pancake Boulevard!

3:35 - Oklahoma

5:35 - Hwy 54 and TX 807 - Tex! has suspicious crotch hole...

7:00 - Bluebird Motel closed, but neon still there... Palamino instead!

9:45 - typing this.

 

See more images on the Flickr Photo Stream...

From the Email Inbox: WWN Article on the World's Largest Cow Hairball...

 

I knew a friend had something to do with this ickiest of Kansas' World's Largest Things, but had NO IDEA she made Weekly World News!  WenDee has moved on up since those days of dealing with large spherical hair masses, and now works with the amazing Kansas Sampler Foundation. 

 

The Hair Ball still resides in Finney County Kansas.

Lookit! There, on the TV Listing!

It's official, I'm an artist.  So the print may be too tiny to read, but over there, in the 10:59 p.m. slot, on the TBS line - Actor Jack Black, artist Erika Nelson; Jimmie Vaughan performs.

 

How cool is that?!?

Show Info for World's Smallest Versions of World's Largest Things on Conan!

Spurred on by requests from WLT Members and fans, I'm giving a summation, and link to the donation page for World's Largest Things, Inc., if you want to help with the California trip for WLTs on Conan O'Brian on TBS.

 

We're heading out in December, for a Dec. 22nd Taping Date.  If you'd like to make a tax-deductable donation to WLT Inc., you'll find a PayPal button on our Donate page, or you can send anything you want via post (cards of encouragement greatly appreciated, too!)

 

For the past month and a half, we've been talking to a producer for the new Conan show, working up images and videos to pitch an appearance.
 
I arrived home from a trip to find a message saying "Yes!  Conan loved it!"  So, the WLCoWSVoWLT will be traveling out to LA in December to be a part of the show...
 
Conan's new show has been a hit, and he's had a track record of having quirky offbeat items as a part of the new format. He's also brought back Andy Richter as a 'sidekick'. Tickets to the show are already sold out through December, so the audience approves heartily.

 

You can find out more at www.TeamCoco.com, watch full episodes, and register for a Pine Tree Air Freshener (car included). The WLCoWSVoWLT taping date (and, most likely, air date) is set for December 22nd - set your TiVos!

 

Special thanks to Family, Friends, and World's Largest Things members for your continued support.  Keep on Living Large!!!

Distressing story from the L.A. Times - Roadside Attractions on the decline

Corn Palace is a husk of its former self

Roadside attractions like the kitschy South Dakota building are drawing fewer and fewer visitors every year. Many owners face the choice to revamp — but how? — or shut down.

By Tina Susman, Los Angeles Times - December 1, 2010

 

Reporting from Mitchell, S.D. —

In the cornucopia of kitschy roadside attractions, few rival the Corn Palace, a monument to maize that rises from this prairie town's main drag like a Hollywood prop tossed off the back of a big rig barreling down the interstate.

Its green-and-yellow onion domes and spires tower over Main Street, an otherwise unremarkable avenue of low-rise buildings. Golden husks and hundreds of thousands of colorful cobs — held in place by more than a ton of nails, wires and staples — blanket the exterior. Inside, the enticing aromas of popped corn, candied corn and raw ears of corn float down hallways lined with old photographs of the World's Only Corn Palace, as it is described in fliers and on billboards.

But times and tastes have changed since the Corn Palace gained fame in 1892, and there is concern about dwindling visits to the attraction, which is key to the economy in this southeastern South Dakota town of 14,500.

 

Read the rest on the L.A. Times Website...

Lucas Mural in "The Edge" - pps 1, 4-5.

Previous Newsletter, now online...

Open publication - Free publishing - More americana

Now Online: Flickr Set for Conan

In working towards the upcoming Conan appearance, I've been working on a Flickr set of World's Largest Things images with their accompanying World's Smallest Versions... Here's the set, full of stories and anecdotes, of the short-listed items that may accompany me in December:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldslargestthings/sets/72157625441342904/

 

It's one of the few times I've photographed some of the WSVs, and I'm happy with 'em so far...

 

Enjoy!

-Erika Nelson, Director

From the Email Inbox: World's Largest Menorah, NYC.

NEW YORK, Nov. 21, 2010 /NEWS.GNOM.ES/ — The World's Largest Chanukah Menorah will be proudly standing at New York's most fashionable plaza, Fifth Avenue and 59th Street, by Central Park, between the Plaza and the Pierre Hotels. The first candle will be lighted on Wednesday evening December 1, and the full Menorah will be lighted on Wednesday evening December 8. All weekday lightings are at 5:30 PM. Over the years the World's Largest Menorah was lighted by New York City Mayors, Abraham Beame, Ed Koch, David Dinkins, Rudolph Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg, Governors Mario Cuomo, George Pataki and David Paterson, United States Senators Jacob Javits and Charles Schumer, as well as many other dignitaries.

"The Menorah stands as a symbol of freedom and democracy, strength and inspiration, delivering a timely and poignant message to each person on an individual basis," said Rabbi Shmuel M. Butman, Director Lubavitch Youth Organization.

The Menorah was certified by Guinness World Records as the World's Largest. It was specially designed by world renowned artist Yaacov Agam who lighted the Menorah many times. It was inspired by a hand drawing by the Rambam (Maimonides) of the original Menorah in the Holy Temple of Jerusalem.

REBBE PERSONALLY APPROVED MENORAH

The Menorah stood in miniature on the desk of the Lubavitcher Rebbe who personally approved its form. The Rebbe wanted this Menorah to be the world's largest and when there was talk about making a large Menorah in another city the Rebbe asked for that city's Menorah to be smaller.

The 32-foot high, gold colored, 4,000 pound steel structure will be lighted nightly with genuine oil lamps. Specially designed glass chimneys will protect the Chanukah lights from the Central Park winds.

Due to the height of the Menorah, it will be lit nightly with the help of a Con Edison "cherry-picker" crane as well as two lifts that lift the lighters to the "Menorah Heights."

In Defense of the World's Smallest Corn Maze

During a summer of challenging discussions of Big and Small-ness, many tenets of the World's Smallest Versions of World's Largest Things were challenged. One of the early projects, the World's Smallest Corn Maze, was summarily dismissed as invalid as it didn't use miniature corn. Here, dear WLT Fans and members, is the rebuttal:

OK, so long drives are great for think-time, and it hit me somewhere in the back alleys of Junction City that I am right, *name deleted for protection of the guilty* is wrong. The World's Smallest Corn Maze was totally completely awesome, and the perfect example of the genre.

Criticism of the size of the corn itself is an invalid argument - in the metrics inherent in the Corn Maze genre, the size of the maze (and the extrapolated superlatives) are based on square footage covered, or total path length, NOT the size of the element used in the structure. If I were making a World's Smallest Version of the World's Largest Corn Maze, then YES, I would need to use miniature corn. In making the World's Smallest Corn Maze, the elements necessary in making a corn maze are all addressed -

1. Choice of path (otherwise, it's a labyrinth)

2. Corn (single row, in elevated beds to further emphasize path)

3. Obscured goal (turns) ('cause a straight-line row of corn is just a row of corn, not a maze)

The unit of measure used in the established Corn Maze world is miles (and segments of miles) of path - the World's Largest Corn Maze title is awarded to the longest path maze, not a maze made of super-sized corn (although that, too, would be AWESOME). The World's Smallest Corn Maze, measuring in at .022727 (independently verified by two sources), meets all of the above criteria while being a concise and effective example of this seasonal agrarian form of family amusement.

World's Smallest Corn Maze, Autumn 2003, World's Largest Things Home Base, Lucas Kansas = Awesome.

Keep the challenges coming - I need to get my brain up to speed for the BIG BIG BIG Event, coming in December...

-Erika Nelson, Director, World's Largest Things Inc.

home of the World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things Sideshow Extravaganza, and NEW EXHIBIT of the World's Smallest Collection of the World's Largest Versions of the World's Smallest Things

WLCoWSVoWLT makes "Reasons We Love Kansas" list!

Kansas! Magazine turns 65 this year, and in their special expanded Anniversary Issue (Winter 2010, Volume 66 Issue 4), we made the Reasons We Love Kansas list: 

 

"IT'S HUGE.  See everything that's the world's smallest version of the world's largest things at Lucas' World's Largest Things Inc.  It's a forum to research and discuss the attraction of "Roadside Vernacular Architecture." worldslargestthings.com" We're entry number 55, on p. 14. 

 

Yay, WLTs and Lucas Kansas!  It's an impressive list, with the likes of Gordon Parks, Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, "Grandma" Layton, just to name a few... we're honored to be a part of the Kansas patchwork.  Thanks, Kansas Magazine!

In today's mail: World's Smallest Letter

Received today, the World's Smallest Letter!!!

... sent from a World's Largest Things member, Ranjit. Thank you! It was hard to make myself open the package, but curiosity got the best of me. Here's the initial package, sealed for my protection:

Inside that package, a 10x folding magnifier, and another package:



Inside that 'nother package, a tiny envelope, also sealed for my protection, containing a tiny congratulatory note from a friend. To show tininess of said note, it's pictured here with a quarter*:


*Quarter is actually a miniature replica quarter. Shown here with actual quarter:


Thanks again, Ranjit! This will become a part of the WLCoWSVoWLT Tiny Correspondence archive - I believe that scale-wise, it's the wee-est yet, beating out the University of Chicago's Scav Hunt submission from 2008.

THIS JUST IN - World's Largest Bar of Soap, Tonganoxie KS

Info sent in by Vintage Soap and Bath:

 

It is made out of chicken wire and paper mache.  We made it for a parade here last August."

 

Thanks!

Lana Howe, Vintage Soap & Bath, Tonganoxie,Ks

From the Email Inbox - World's Largest Spur Abilene KS

Aerial shot taken by a Kansas Explorer... in a plane. 

It's that time again! We're doing another hand-drawn book project, through these guys:

WLT Online profiles

One of the difficult parts of living in the tech world is keeping track of web identities, especially when you have the added aggravation of being both an independent artist and educator AND the face of World's Largest Things. Here's a start of the list:

World's Largest Things, Inc. on Google Maps

Erika on Google People

World's Largest Things, Inc. on Blogger

World's Largest Things on Facebook

World's Largest Things on Issuu

WLCoWSVoWLT Hand-Drawn Book on art house co-op

Erika/WLT on art house co-op

Erika/WLT on Flickr

World's Largest Things on Posterous
(where we do our Thing-A-Day stories)

Erika/WLT on Posterous

Erika on culturehall

As you can see, some sites are more, um, complete than others, but this gives some idea of the breadth of the World's Largest Things web... All in addition to the old favorite home site:

World's Largest Things Incorporated Home Site

BIG NEWS - WLCoWSVoWLT on Conan!

Big News from the World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things!  For the past month, we've been talking to a producer for the new Conan show, working up images and videos to pitch an appearance. 

 

After arriving home from a team presentation to an Arts Alliance in Kansas City, I found a message saying "Yes!  Conan loved it!"  So, the WLCoWSVoWLT will be traveling out to LA in December to be a part of the show...

 

Whoop whoop whoop whoopity whoop!  It was exciting even before the "Yes!", as the producer said the collection was a big hit at the office (blush), but now, we're cookin' with heat.  I'll keep you posted on actual film date (you could be part of the studio audience!!!) and air date as soon as we iron out details. 

 

Until then, keep on Living Large!  And small...  Couldn't do it without the support of all of you, Family, Friends, and WLT Members.  Thanks for believing in the stories behind Roadside Vernacular Architecture!!!

 

-Erika Nelson, Director

World's Largest Things, Inc.

 

(photo from the Team Coco website, of fan Allison Hoffman's awesome Yarn Blimp. Glad to see they appreciate the handmade and the quirky!)

World's Largest Teapot

Ok, this one takes the cake.  Or biscuit.  Or whatever you'd like to have with your tea... Originally posted on Free Entertainment Blog

 

China's Meitan County is known as the "hometown of Chinese green tea", and the reputation of Meitan green tea has surpassed national borders, so there was really no better place to build a museum of tea culture. As fascinating as visiting this place may be to tea lovers, we're more interested in its unique architecture. Shaped like a giant clay teapot, and accompanied by a smaller building shaped like a tea cup, the Meitan tea museum is one of the weirdest looking museums in the world. Seen from a distance, it looks like just a strange teapot sculpture, but as you approach it, the windows give away its true purpose. With a maximum diameter of 24 meters, and a capacity of 28,360.23 cubic meters, the Meitan tea museum is by far the world's largest teapot.

Google Places Updated! Now with Video...

With chills in the air putting a stop to outside work, we at WLT Inc. are back to webbin.  Todays Project:  Updating our Google Places profile, which links to Google Maps and other small business sites... take a look!  Now with photos and video (even one in Mandarin!)

 

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&georestrict=input_srcid:b8a4dca434b9e38b&mid=1288808577

New York Roadside Attractions

Ran across this list for the state of New York - they've got Quirky!

 

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/get_to_know_and_see_central_ne.html

 

List of what you'll read about:

 

1. Mastodon, DeRuyter Lake

2. World's Largest Pancake Griddle, Penn Yan

3. World's Smallest Church, Oneida

4. Pyramid Monument, Oakwood Cemetery, Syracuse

5. Veronica's Sculpture Garden, Indian River

6. Giant Pack of Pep-O-Mint Life Savers, Gouverneur

7. Spirit House, Georgetown

8. Lighthouse Post Office, Eaton

9. Giant Crows, Fisher's Landing

10. Plainville Farms' Bronco Tom Turkey, Cicero

 

American Road Podcast with the Big Little Big girl...

American Road magazine just started a new series on their website, with podcasts from roadside enthusiasts. I was happy to find out the WLCoWSVoWLT is the first in the series, available now on their blog:

American Road Trip Talk

Poland to build world's largest Jesus Christ statue

A small Polish town has sought to place itself on the global tourist map by building the world's largest statue of Jesus, eclipsing Rio's famous Christ the Redeemer.

Swiebodzin, a Polish town of 21,000 near the German border, will soon be home to a 33-metre effigy of Christ, which, along with a crown that adds a further two metres and its 16-metre mound will put all other statues dedicated to the son of God in its shade.

Due for completion in November, the monument should pip the world's current record holder, Bolivia's Cristo de la Concodia statue, by some nine metres, and look down on the world famous statue in Rio de Janeiro, which stands just 30 metres tall minus its plinth.

Although erected ostensibly to show gratitude to God, the town hopes having the massive statue will bring tourists into a community that has lain off the beaten track for most of its existence.

"If we had opened a racetrack or a golf course here, tourists would have come only for the season. But with a statue of Jesus the season will last the whole year," a local official told Wprost, a weekly news magazine.

With construction nearing the end, engineers face the hazardous task of lifting the figure's massive head and shoulders into place, which, officials say, might require the use of a helicopter.

- Matthew Day in Warsaw

Big Things: Souvenir Plate - Bing Travel

This morning on Bing Travel and the MSN Home Page - an article about Big Things, with the World's Largest Souvenir Travel Plate in the lineup!

 

Check out this page on Bing Travel:

http://www.bing.com/travel/content/search?q=Big+Things%3a+Souvenir+Plate&FORM=RQTRAV

Chrysler's World's Largest Banner, sorta'