#27. Painted Narratives – Community Threads: Duane Flatmo’s Artistic Voyage through Humboldt County

Scott Hammond: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, my friend,

Duane Ed- Edward Flatmo.

Duane Flatmo: Duane Edward, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yep. And welcome to the 100% Humboldt podcast.

Duane Flatmo: All right. I'm glad to be here.

Scott Hammond: It's great to have you. You know, it's like, uh,

goes, "Wow, that's gonna be great. He's famous." I go, "Whoa, okay.

Great."

Duane Flatmo: I mean, I had to take time out of my day to do

Scott Hammond: I know. It's, it's, [laughs] it's-

Duane Flatmo: I don't have much time.

Scott Hammond: It's a bit… [laughs] We don't,

especially with age. Tell us about, uh, how you got here. You… I saw, I creeped on your Facebook.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, uh-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Duane Flatmo: … Big Bear.

Scott Hammond: Big Bear, sorry.

Duane Flatmo: Big Bear Lake, actually-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Duane Flatmo: … in the San Bernardino Mountains.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Duane Flatmo: Uh, but, you know, I was born in Santa Monica. Uh,

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Duane Flatmo: S- you know, doing the body surfing and the-

Scott Hammond: Right

Duane Flatmo: … skimboard. And I wasn't a big surfer.

Scott Hammond: Played in the water.

Duane Flatmo: Boogie boards. And, uh,

then my dad decided he wanted to build a cabin, or actually a three-story house, in Big Bear-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Duane Flatmo: … and move up there.

So on the weekends, all the kids would be playing, Lake, work on the house, and, and, uh, built the house we lived in. And I learned my, you know, up at Big Bear I went to high school, and that, that's where my dad taught me drywall, plumbing, roofing. He was a contractor and a painting contractor.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Duane Flatmo: And I learned a lot from my dad, uh, building

stuff.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Duane Flatmo: So now when I work at my house, I can fix stuff,

in or-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Duane Flatmo: … whatever, you know, just from all the stuff he taught me.

Scott Hammond: Craftsman stuff.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. So I went to high school there.

Then I went f- then I went down to San Diego to go to

college.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Duane Flatmo: Grossmont College.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Duane Flatmo: And hung out there for about a year and a half, and dropped out of

school, dropped out of college.

Scott Hammond: Grossmont JC, yeah.

Duane Flatmo: I, I took a coup- I took all these classes, and art cl-

classes, and I dropped out of all of them except went to do art.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Duane Flatmo: And I thought, "Why am I going to school again?

I just spent 12 years of my life in-"

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: "… you know, high school." [laughs] And, uh,

You know, I bought a MG Midget, and I'd cruise around with my buddy in his just really s-

Scott Hammond: San Diego

Duane Flatmo: … go to see, uh, great concerts, Queen.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Duane Flatmo: Jethro Tull. Got to see Electric Light Orchestra-

Scott Hammond: Sports Arena

Duane Flatmo: … Kansas.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: Oh, man, big, big shows.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: And, uh, but then I was tired of the city.

I-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Duane Flatmo: … after being in Big Bear,

you know, you, you just feel like you're on these Everybody's… You don't ever see anybody you know

Scott Hammond: Right.

Duane Flatmo: You know?

Scott Hammond: Right.

Duane Flatmo: And I'm a s- kind of a smaller town person.

Uh, so moved up to Humboldt County. My girlfriend at the time-

Scott Hammond: What year was that?

Duane Flatmo: That was 1977.

Scott Hammond: So you were in San Diego when I was in the mid-'70s.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. That was a fun time. A lot of rock and roll-

Duane Flatmo: Oh, yeah

Scott Hammond: … good weather, and fun.

Duane Flatmo: La Mesa, El Cajon.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: I lived in La Mesa.

Scott Hammond: National City.

Duane Flatmo: Oh, really? [laughs] So-

Scott Hammond: Not exactly Ocean Beach.

Duane Flatmo: It's almost Chula Vista. [laughs]

Scott Hammond: It is. Yeah. 'Cause it is. It's probably worse.

Duane Flatmo: Oh, gosh.

Scott Hammond: Went back there for my 50th reunion just recently.

It was 45th, and it's, uh, there's a saying my dad used to say, "You can never go home."

Duane Flatmo: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: And it was just, it's just big.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: And it's just never-

Duane Flatmo: It's never the same.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, it's never the same. And the only thing that's changed is me.

Duane Flatmo: Well, now-

Scott Hammond: Plus her

Duane Flatmo: … so you must have, what, did you graduate in, like, '75

Scott Hammond: '78, Sweetwater High.

Duane Flatmo: '75, so.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. And I went to Southwest JC.

Duane Flatmo: Okay.

Scott Hammond: And learned-

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, I knew

Scott Hammond: … di- diving, underw- you know, doing scuba.

Duane Flatmo: Cool.

Scott Hammond: Almost like art, but underwater.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. My hangout down there was, like, going to,

UCSD-

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh

Duane Flatmo: … and, uh, Claremont Mesa, and I'd always drive down there.

And then, uh, I used to hang around La Jolla. It was my favorite beach.

Scott Hammond: La Jolla's great.

Duane Flatmo: All those beaches there.

Scott Hammond: On the cove.

Duane Flatmo: Before it was really crammed in, you know?

Scott Hammond: It's a great spot.

Duane Flatmo: And Torrey Pines, you could see the hang gliding out there.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah. Black's Beach, the naked beach.

Duane Flatmo: And I went there.

Scott Hammond: Did you really?

Duane Flatmo: Uh, you don't always see the best undressed

[laughs]

Scott Hammond: That's, that's my story.

Duane Flatmo: They're not all perfect bodies. [laughs]

Scott Hammond: Everybody goes, "Wow, a naked beach." And I go-

Duane Flatmo: [laughs]

Scott Hammond: … "You're not missing a thing, man.

It's just, it's pretty disgust-"

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Sailors are particularly disgusting when there's no clothes on.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: So, but yeah, beautiful, actually pretty natural spot-

Duane Flatmo: It's a beautiful place

Scott Hammond: … for San Diego County.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: 'Cause it's a hike down, and-

Duane Flatmo: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … it's not what you expect. It's, uh, beautiful.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: We actually, uh, surfed naked one morning. It was

Duane Flatmo: Really?

Scott Hammond: Yeah. It didn't feel good, but it was, it was a fun experience-

Duane Flatmo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … 'cause it was warm. I don't know why it triggered

Duane Flatmo: Well-

Scott Hammond: So

Duane Flatmo: … I'm trying to get the thought out of my

Scott Hammond: Yeah, try to, [laughs] try to unsee that.

Duane Flatmo: [laughs]

Scott Hammond: So you, you came to Humboldt then with your

Duane Flatmo: A girlfriend at the time, and, uh, we didn't s- we

got married, but we didn't, we were both really young at the time, kind of went different ways, you know? And, uh, we thought we were gonna get a place in the mountains, live s- self-sufficient off the land.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Duane Flatmo: And then I started realizing, no, I want a nice stereo.

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: I want a big TV. I wanna go party on the weekends at the

Scott Hammond: I wanna hit a button for the heat.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, exactly. [laughs]

Scott Hammond: The heater works right here.

Duane Flatmo: I don't wanna pedal a bike to watch TV.

[laughs]

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I don't wanna chop wood.

Duane Flatmo: And but we just, you know, when you get married really young, like,

21, and all that.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Duane Flatmo: So when I met Mickey, um, you know, I met her, gosh,

we got married, I think, in '85.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Duane Flatmo: And so we've been married 38 years, and just-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Duane Flatmo: … we both get along great.

Scott Hammond: Nice, yeah.

Duane Flatmo: Great relationship.

Scott Hammond: So, uh, she looks familiar to me.

Duane Flatmo: No. She, uh, she rode horses for a long time out in-

Scott Hammond: She's a horse lady

Duane Flatmo: … out in Freshwater. She had a-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Duane Flatmo: … uh, she was doing dressage for, like, 15 years.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: And, uh, but no, she's … We both work out of the house.

I have a studio I built her in the backyard, so, uh, she's got a nice place she goes every day and works on her-

Scott Hammond: So she's super creative too, right?

She did-

Duane Flatmo: Oh, amazing. Amazing

Scott Hammond: … costuming for The Nutcracker and-

Duane Flatmo: She's doing, she's also does, she got into doing costuming

because we wear, people wear outrageous costumes at Burning

Scott Hammond: Oh, right.

Duane Flatmo: So she would just bring all these, make these costumes and s-

machine, and people would just be, you know, go wild over her outfits.

And-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Duane Flatmo: … and, uh, that's where she started doing it.

But man, she's just-So good. And when people see her work, like her

paintings-

Scott Hammond: Right

Duane Flatmo: … and stuff, people look at, look at me and they go, "Wow."

Scott Hammond: What, what was your name?

Duane Flatmo: Now we know the real artist [laughs] in the family.

That's what they-

Scott Hammond: [laughs] That's good, yeah. You married up like I did.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, it's true. She's ex- exquisite painter.

Scott Hammond: Nice. So you came to Humboldt, and then what happened?

You- did you go to Humboldt State, or?

Duane Flatmo: I went to CR.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Duane Flatmo: And I had, [clears throat] you know,

school, Mr. O'Hare, and he taught me… You know, he knew, he knew I had a talent at that time. I could draw really easy and do cartoons, and I was on the, the journalism staff, the yearbook staff. [clears throat] And, uh, he taught me how to sign paint. And he said, "You go anywhere in life, if you know how to sign paint, a living in any town you go to."

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Duane Flatmo: "You find an old sign that needs to be repainted,

kind of paints." And so that's kinda what I did. When I got up here, I was… You know, I, I first started working at Sears 'cause I

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Duane Flatmo: And, uh, it was right down the street from where we

Scott Hammond: Was that Sears, what is it, Montgomery Wa- oh, it was over-

Duane Flatmo: Win- WinCo

Scott Hammond: … at the mall

Duane Flatmo: … where WinCo is.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, the-

Duane Flatmo: That was-

Scott Hammond: My kids used to call it the sad mall.

Duane Flatmo: I call it mall classic.

Scott Hammond: Mall cl- [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: [laughs]

Scott Hammond: Nouveau.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. It was funky.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, that was Sears.

Duane Flatmo: It was, uh, funky.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. And they had a organ player in the middle

and they, they were selling pianos and organs in one store.

Scott Hammond: Right. Old school.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. And, uh-

Scott Hammond: [laughs] I remember that.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. But coming up here, it was exciting.

Um, I, it was just, uh, uh… Oh, let's see. What was I telling you about? The, um, going to Sears. And then I started doing sign painting,

signs.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Duane Flatmo: And I, I, I said, "I'm not gonna work anymore.

I'm gonna do, uh, my own business." And my wife was working, so she kept most of the bills paid.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Duane Flatmo: But I was struggling, you know. Like, ups and downs-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Duane Flatmo: … just like artists-

Scott Hammond: Struggling artists

Duane Flatmo: … all artists to start up.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: And I was painting butcher paper signs, "Hamburger,

you know, for windows of-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Duane Flatmo: … stores. And I'd get the money. And, uh,

Tomasso's when they just went, were in business in Old Town.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Duane Flatmo: And some of these-

Scott Hammond: Classic

Duane Flatmo: … a lot of old businesses that, Mazzotti's.

I started out painting all these signs.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Duane Flatmo: And I was making a good living. And then Bucksport came along.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Duane Flatmo: With Greg Rice.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Duane Flatmo: And he said, "Hey, I got permission to put this image up on

Could you put that on my building?"

Scott Hammond: Perfect.

Duane Flatmo: And it was by a guy named L.W. Duke, who's the original artist

of those paintings. And I just acted like, "Oh, yeah. Sure I can." I always-

Scott Hammond: Got this. Yeah. [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: You know, you gotta- [laughs]

Scott Hammond: I'm confident. I got this.

Duane Flatmo: I tell people now, just act like you know what you're doing.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: Go back and then figure it out. [laughs]

Scott Hammond: Right.

Duane Flatmo: You know? And I had, I had learned, you know,

grid on a, a piece of work.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Duane Flatmo: And then you can make a larger grid on the building

those squares numbered. And so I had learned that in high school,

so I just… I knew I could do it.

Scott Hammond: Sign painting.

Duane Flatmo: And when I first-

Scott Hammond: Bigger

Duane Flatmo: … put that up, I was like, "Gosh, I can do murals," you know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: And then, uh, uh,

Greg Rail from, uh, uh, Los Bagels-

Scott Hammond: Oh, Dennis

Duane Flatmo: … saw it. I mean, [sighs] Greg. That's his brother, Greg.

[laughs]

Scott Hammond: They, they are brothers, right? Isn't he-

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, yeah

Scott Hammond: … his brother?

Duane Flatmo: Greg Rail.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: And, uh, no. Uh, Dennis ta- said, "Hey,

building."

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Duane Flatmo: And I came up with that style with, uh,

Geographics and then putting them in my own-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Duane Flatmo: … the own scenes that I make up.

Scott Hammond: He was here two weeks ago. They're gonna be 40 years old this year.

Duane Flatmo: Was he? Oh.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: Oh.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. And you've repainted that mural since,

Duane Flatmo: I sure did.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: And I also was there the day they got their first bagel machine in.

Scott Hammond: Is that right?

Duane Flatmo: And they were so amazed. And we had a toast.

We were drinking tequila, and we had a toast. And then we all sat there and watching that machine with the thing, going in, and it-

Scott Hammond: Right, it pops them out

Duane Flatmo: … it, it cr- and it k- puts them together, you know,

it, it was a,

it was a-

Scott Hammond: That's funny

Duane Flatmo: … upgrade for sure.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, it's funny. One of the stories I

and he was saying that they used to, uh, bring bagels here from New

York.

Duane Flatmo: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Now it goes the other way.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: They ship their stuff out.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I think s-

Duane Flatmo: They've, they've won some bagel competitions.

Scott Hammond: Oh, they're great.

Duane Flatmo: You know.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: They're some of the best, I think.

Scott Hammond: We took two big bags to Amsterdam to my son-

Duane Flatmo: Did you? [laughs]

Scott Hammond: … when we, a couple of months ago.

Duane Flatmo: Did they stay nice?

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: Which b-

Scott Hammond: Jody kept them kind of cool. I,

Duane Flatmo: Huh. Okay.

Scott Hammond: But it was only maybe 24 hours, and…

Duane Flatmo: Now, my favorite bagel, [clears throat] garlic, toasted garlic,

toasted, medium cream cheese-

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh

Duane Flatmo: … albacore, onion, and Larrupin mustard on top.

Scott Hammond: Gosh, that sounds amazing.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. You never wanna eat it

[laughs]

Scott Hammond: I know. It's like-

Duane Flatmo: It's real close. [laughs]

Scott Hammond: Wait, I gotta get a drink of water right now.

Duane Flatmo: [laughs] But I'll tell you, I can eat one of those things with the

and it, it, that'll last me till 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon.

Scott Hammond: I love it. It's hearty, yeah, so-

Duane Flatmo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … so with nine kids, we've, I take my kids with purpose to go do

before church or wherever.

Duane Flatmo: Right.

Scott Hammond: So I would take one or two to Los Bagels for the last-

Duane Flatmo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … 40 years.

Duane Flatmo: Nice. Nice.

Scott Hammond: Is that right? Jacob's 40, so that would probably work, but…

And yeah, always a nice experience. And funny thing that you're sitting here, 'cause we would sit there across from

your mural-

Duane Flatmo: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … and we'd, we'd kind of play a game.

Do you see the guy with the, with the, with the funny little top hat? Can you spot him? You know?

Duane Flatmo: [laughs]

Scott Hammond: And here's, here's little Jacob. He's two

"Yeah, Dad, he's right there." "Okay, your turn." He goes, thing?" [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: [laughs] What are you talking about?

Scott Hammond: Like, "Purple." But we'd, we'd have fun because the art

sense.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And so back to Bucksport-

Duane Flatmo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … which is, uh… I gotta consult my map here.

Oh, it's right here. That's actually on the-

Duane Flatmo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … my map here for Eureka.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And so it's a sporting goods store for those that don't know.

You, you probably know this.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You might know this. It's, and,

Duane Flatmo: Well, I, I… When I moved here,

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Duane Flatmo: The big giant wave on the waterbed store.

Scott Hammond: Oh, right.

Duane Flatmo: That blew me away. And I, that's the first time I-

Scott Hammond: That was his?

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. That's the first time I saw one and went,

murals someday?" You know? And, and, uh, I met Randy. I've known him for years. Uh, kind of a recluse, you know, doesn't get out a lot. And, uh, he did, he's done a lot of, you know, Fin and Feather.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Duane Flatmo: He did the, the-Louis Armstrong,

on the other side of the Arkley Center.

Scott Hammond: On the other side?

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, that one of the big… It's got a clown and all that music stuff.

Scott Hammond: Oh, right, right.

Duane Flatmo: And he did that. [clears throat] And then the…

Oh, by the library there's a bunch of horses He did that, which is beautiful.

Scott Hammond: I've seen that one, yeah.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. He's really talented.

Scott Hammond: So the backside of Redwood Capitol… By the way, nice t- sweatshirt.

Duane Flatmo: I did that one. [laughs]

Scott Hammond: That's all, that's all you.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. And, and I'm al- I always marvel because the two windows

up there in, in the, the light, the light blue-

Duane Flatmo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … it's funny how you got it so close to most

Duane Flatmo: That's what you're trying to do.

Scott Hammond: 'Cause you look at-

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, you look at it, it's… I could…

And I don't know if it changes color with the day-

Duane Flatmo: No, it doesn't

Scott Hammond: … or with it contra, but it's pretty close.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. When I get a good day and I see it even,

You know, that's when I got the photo-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Duane Flatmo: … that I take that I use for that. But, you know, I,

[clears throat] I kept thinking that some bird is gonna fly right into that thing- [laughs]

Scott Hammond: Oh

Duane Flatmo: … trying to go through. [laughs]

Scott Hammond: There's a lot of dead birds at the-

Duane Flatmo: And I told-

Scott Hammond: John Tolvey

Duane Flatmo: … I told somebody that and they go, "Oh,

a pile [laughs] on one of the window sills." I go, "No, no."

Scott Hammond: We're just collecting birds at the end of the day.

[laughs]

Duane Flatmo: Oh, but that was a great job. Uh, Sherry Arkley, she

Really good.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Duane Flatmo: And a sweet person. I've always dealt with her.

I, I know Rob a little bit, but not, not much.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: Uh, but, but she was… When she first asked me to do something

brought that image, she just, "Are you serious? Can you put this on that building?" [laughs]

Scott Hammond: Oh, it's fine, man.

Duane Flatmo: And I said-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Duane Flatmo: … "I know I can. It's gonna take six months,

Scott Hammond: Is that your biggest mural to date or-

Duane Flatmo: That's my largest-

Scott Hammond: That you've done? Okay

Duane Flatmo: … project. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: And it, uh, it was gridded with two-foot squares.

I put, I'd put six chalk lines, tape them up two feet apart.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Duane Flatmo: And I'd drop all six chalk lines.

Then I'd take the boom truck down and I would snap each one, wind them up, pull them off, and I'd just keep doing that.

Scott Hammond: So it was all sectioned?

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Duane Flatmo: So I drew it on, and I think I painted…

Four-inch brushes is all I used on that whole building is-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Duane Flatmo: … and I used all those kind you throw away,

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Duane Flatmo: And they're those little throwaway.

Scott Hammond: Is that Pearson's on your hat?

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: They've got-

Scott Hammond: Shout out

Duane Flatmo: … those brushes are better than people think.

Um, I can cut lines with those. I can do soft, uh-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Duane Flatmo: … uh, fades. Um,

you know, they, they wash up good. They've got good bristles.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Duane Flatmo: Um, and then I had to clear coat

Scott Hammond: Wow

Duane Flatmo: … with a brush four inches wide.

with a brush-

Scott Hammond: With a brush

Duane Flatmo: … to clear coat it 'cause you can't,

kind of makes a foggy, it makes… it gives it a foggy look.

Scott Hammond: But when you brush it on, it's-

Duane Flatmo: When you brush it on, you get in the cracks.

You have to get in those crevices-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Duane Flatmo: … uh, up close. You don't realize how many deep grooves

are in that building.

Scott Hammond: So this is 100% you? You didn't have help doing it?

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, no. Just myself every day.

Scott Hammond: Man, that's a lot of work.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's beautiful, though. Nice art.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So what, um, what, what do you see in the arts community

backwards? So we're f- Humboldt's famous for a lot of things,

things-

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, yeah

Scott Hammond: … it turns out. Uh, one is our arts, uh,

our, our community.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, what,

what did it look like 20, 30 years ago when you were-

Duane Flatmo: Uh, you know, there-

Scott Hammond: How was it different from today's?

Duane Flatmo: There were some amazing artists around,

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Duane Flatmo: There was Savoy Studios, which they did some of the m-

glasswork.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Duane Flatmo: All the stuff you see in the Jacoby Storehouse-

Scott Hammond: Oh, right

Duane Flatmo: … all the sandblasted glass, and all the work done-

Scott Hammond: Right

Duane Flatmo: … behind the bars, like at the Ritz-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Duane Flatmo: … and all, they were the top notch.

Scott Hammond: Oh, really?

Duane Flatmo: And they moved to Portland and started getting big, huge.

They're, they're really big now. They went totally big. Dan Legree

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Duane Flatmo: And then Becky Fletcher was one of the best,

here. And, uh, you had Chuck Ellsworth, you know, All Points.

Scott Hammond: I was gonna ask if you worked with Chuck.

Duane Flatmo: Nobody… Well, I wanted to.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: I tried to hire, I tried to get him to hire me-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Duane Flatmo: … but he's, he didn't want to hire me, you know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: So I, "Oh, I'm gonna start my own business," you

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Duane Flatmo: And so I started painting signs, and he came by one day

and he goes, "Come down here." And I was like-

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: … "Uh-oh." And he goes, "What brush…

You shouldn't be using this brush." He said, "Let me see your brushes." And he started going through and he goes, "This quill, lettering." And I went, "Oh, really? Okay. Thank you." You know?

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Duane Flatmo: And, you know,

I, I was inspired by him. He never taught me anything, but I by his work. I would go look at it-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Duane Flatmo: … figure out how he was doing it. I remember sitting, um,

Diego, there was a guy doing a, a, like five different types of gold leaf on the inside window of a Swensen's Ice Cream Parlor.

Scott Hammond: I remember.

Duane Flatmo: The most detailed, beautiful, uh,

workmanship. And you all-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Duane Flatmo: … you have to paint it all backwards on the

fill it in, the, all the li- uh, the gold from the backside, and then put a f- a coat of black over the whole thing to

Scott Hammond: Right.

Duane Flatmo: And then when you look at it front, it's, it's the right way, you know?

Scott Hammond: Right.

Duane Flatmo: But you gotta do everything backwards.

And-

Scott Hammond: So backward painting.

Duane Flatmo: I learned how to do that. So Savoy Studios, I remember hearing that

they got this big job, and I went up and visited their studio in Portland on the way to visit my mom, who lives in Seattle. And, uh, I stopped by and they told me, "Oh, we got this good gig with, uh, the Taj Mahal for Trump. You know, we're gonna be d- doing it all." And then when it came time to pay them, he stiffed them for… He t- he told them-

Scott Hammond: Stiffed them

Duane Flatmo: … he owed them a million and a half, he owed them-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Duane Flatmo: … of money. That was their biggest job they ever got.

And they went to get paid, and they go, "No, we can only pay you 10 cents on the

dollar."

Scott Hammond: Sorry.

Duane Flatmo: Okay? And they went, "No. No, you have to pay…" He goes,

not him, but his company said, "Well, take us to court. Get in line."

Scott Hammond: Right.

Duane Flatmo: That's what they told them.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Duane Flatmo: You know, so they had to eat that job.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Duane Flatmo: And every… That's way back. You know, that's like in the '80s.

Scott Hammond: That's-

Duane Flatmo: And-

Scott Hammond: … pre- pre-crime

Duane Flatmo: … and when I heard about all this stuffYou

And I just went, I kn- I literally know people [laughs] –

Scott Hammond: Who got ripped off

Duane Flatmo: … who, who… And there's a lot

Scott Hammond: Yeah. How's that ever okay?

Duane Flatmo: And those are the workers. Those are the workers, you know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah. We had an auto guy downtown that was

He just, he, he was a car dealer. He just ripped everybody off. But old… He's long gone now-

Duane Flatmo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … in Eureka. So th- there was a lot of art going on back in

day.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Still, still is, but who, who else comes to mind

creating or…?

Duane Flatmo: Well, I th- I think one of the best logo people f-

Sampson.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: Uh, God, that guy is-

Scott Hammond: He's great.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: I work with… I'm working with him now.

He's printing up all of our, uh-

Scott Hammond: Oh, good

Duane Flatmo: … all of our shirts and all of our, uh-

Scott Hammond: He's a great guy

Duane Flatmo: … sweaters and coats and stuff.

Scott Hammond: Visual Concepts.

Duane Flatmo: And he's, he's easy to get along with.

Scott Hammond: Yep.

Duane Flatmo: I, uh, he takes my designs, and he always fixes them,

Scott Hammond: Nice

Duane Flatmo: … before they go to press. And I go, "Here it is." He goes, "Well,

the old school. You're the master man." I go, "No,

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Duane Flatmo: You know?

Scott Hammond: That's good.

Duane Flatmo: Uh, but he appreciates where I came from,

Because I started out with before we had computers, you know?

Scott Hammond: He's digital, and you're analog.

Duane Flatmo: Oh. Yeah. Well, I'm-

Scott Hammond: And then-

Duane Flatmo: … I'm Photoshop. He's Illustrator.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Duane Flatmo: And that's vector.

Scott Hammond: That's different.

Duane Flatmo: That's vector.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Duane Flatmo: And I never went vector. I don't know why. Uh, I just…

I couldn't do my art in, in, uh, Illustrator like I do in Photoshop. Um, it's just, it's not intuitive to me and-

Scott Hammond: Do you know Matt Beard?

Duane Flatmo: I know Matt well. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: He's great. I gave him the Dixieland Festival job.

I, I-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Duane Flatmo: … I ran out of… You know, every year after 20 years,

of ideas. How many more?

Scott Hammond: So he di- Okay.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, and he took over that. And I thought-

Scott Hammond: I saw your Facebook page, the very first one, right?

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I… Gosh, I remember when that was brand new.

Duane Flatmo: Actually, you know, you, you wanna see most of my art

Scott Hammond: Okay

Duane Flatmo: … duaneflatmo.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Duane Flatmo: It just #duaneflatmo. And you'll see I've posted mainly

all the, my favorite art I've ever done.

And it-

Scott Hammond: Oh, nice

Duane Flatmo: … goes way back.

Scott Hammond: So it's on Instagram.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, so y- that's where I post all-

Scott Hammond: So just your name, duaneflatmo, Instagram?

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Shout out. Shout out to Noah Sampson too.

Duane Flatmo: Noah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What's up, Noah? Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: Noah.

Scott Hammond: So, uh, wh- who else, um… What else is going on now in, in, in-

Duane Flatmo: Well, here's the deal now. I've…

I remember back when we, when we first started doing murals in this it was hard. You could not just go put up a mural

Scott Hammond: Right.

Duane Flatmo: You had to go through the Arts and Culture Commission.

Then you had to g- do the City Planning Department.

Scott Hammond: City of Eureka.

Duane Flatmo: And you had to, and you had to meet at a meeting where

mural and told you what they liked and what they didn't like.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Duane Flatmo: And I was frustrated many times. I walked out of there-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Duane Flatmo: … pissed off. You know, like, "Hey,

that's nothing there."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: And,

and, you know, it used to be tricky. And they used to say, "Okay. Yeah, that can go up. That looks nice." You know?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Duane Flatmo: And my, my kids all said, "Well, it's freedom of speech.

We should…" You know, and I go, "Well, you can't put a p- you know, a picture of Jesus hanging on a, pole and paint that on a wall. You know, you're gonna-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Duane Flatmo: … get people upset, you know?"

Scott Hammond: Right.

Duane Flatmo: And little by little, the, it's really lax now.

I mean, it seems like everybody's an artist.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Duane Flatmo: Everybody's a muralist.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Duane Flatmo: And I see some of the murals that are going up, and I'd

say, you know, I like a lot of them.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: But I s- I think there's a large percentage that's

mediocre.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: And I, I hate-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Duane Flatmo: … to say that. I mean, people are, "Oh,

Scott Hammond: No, there's some stuff. Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: But I-

Scott Hammond: Like the alley, the alleys through Old Town

Duane Flatmo: … you know, some of them that just, uh, you know,

uh… I'm not gonna name any of them.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Duane Flatmo: And I… But there are some really good ones too.

A- and I'm trying to stress to them, don't keep having this festival and getting more and more artists putting up more and more murals-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Duane Flatmo: … until you repaint the ones that

Scott Hammond: Good point.

Duane Flatmo: 'Cause, like, I've got four or five that are fading.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Duane Flatmo: Like, uh, the courthouse market with the animals.

Scott Hammond: Right, right, right.

Duane Flatmo: That looks really beautiful when it's fully painted.

Scott Hammond: It's beautiful, yeah.

Duane Flatmo: But it's fading, and all the bums, you know,

been, you know, putting cigarettes out on it,

Scott Hammond: Be it on the wall, yeah.

Duane Flatmo: You know, and so, you know, Finnegan Ason, beautiful artwork.

Scott Hammond: I was gonna ask about that. That's you.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, and that-

Scott Hammond: And that-

Duane Flatmo: … was like my third mural.

Scott Hammond: That was beautiful.

Duane Flatmo: And-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Duane Flatmo: … it's, it's, it's going to hell.

And a while back, Nancy Fleming was helping get that, uh, um, oh, what is it called? It's a animal shelter place, you know, uh-

Scott Hammond: Oh, Miranda's Rescue?

Duane Flatmo: W- It's like a thing that they've-

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: I forgot the name of it. But anyway, she asked me, "Hey,

repaint?" I gave them a great idea, a great deal. Like, "5,000, I'll redo that whole wall, just 'cause I want it repainted."

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Duane Flatmo: And time gone by, time… And now it's peeling, and it's-

Scott Hammond: Oh, man

Duane Flatmo: … almost too far.

Scott Hammond: That's hard.

Duane Flatmo: And they just recently asked me, "Can you repaint it again?"

I wish I could've when, you know-"

Scott Hammond: Would've been easier.

Duane Flatmo: And there's a whole… I, I'm sure there's a group of a merchant's

Henderson Center. They ought to all pitch in, you know,

Scott Hammond: A landmark

Duane Flatmo: … and have that thing painted.

Scott Hammond: So is that you also behind the, uh, the Firestone Station and the,

courthouse? The, on H?

Duane Flatmo: Old courthouse.

Scott Hammond: That, that painting that's behind, um-

Duane Flatmo: Hmm

Scott Hammond: … it's, it used to be the courthouse.

Now it's the, the post office at Four- Fifth and H.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. I did that-

Scott Hammond: Is that what you meant?

Duane Flatmo: … with the mural class, the mural class.

Scott Hammond: Okay. Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: Uh, it was kind of normal. It's like a building.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: It looked like a building. And then as you…

There's a guy standing in front of a doorway.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: He came down and gave us $500 to put him in the

mural.

Scott Hammond: [laughs] Is that right?

Duane Flatmo: And I used it for pizza, to buy the kids pizza.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Duane Flatmo: And I said, "You guys, all we gotta do is put this guy's picture

Let's do it, you know? He's a nice guy.

He's-"

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Why wouldn't you?

Duane Flatmo: "… he's retiring, and…"

But then we got really crazy at the back end of it, and I just let the kids-

Scott Hammond: Then it got real artful

Duane Flatmo: … really weird. [laughs]

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: I said, "Just go wa- Just have fun, you guys."

Scott Hammond: Get creative.

Duane Flatmo: "Show me the, show me the drawing,

or not."

Scott Hammond: Are these high school kids? College?

Duane Flatmo: These were, uh, let's see, uh, Libby Maynard and,

um, Cindy Trobets, uh, and, uh, let's see, Libby Ma- and Nancy Fleming asked me to do a mural

Scott Hammond: Mm

Duane Flatmo: … through the State of California,

And they were paying… I think they paid me, like,

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Duane Flatmo: And I worked two days a week. Uh-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Duane Flatmo: … so I did eight days, and it was all the weekends,

uh, at-risk kids-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Duane Flatmo: … and kids that just-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Duane Flatmo: … didn't get enough art in school,

And then a lot of people came in f- you know, service hours. Maybe they vandalized something or they spray painted on a building, and-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Duane Flatmo: … so we called it the Rural Borough Mural

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Duane Flatmo: And, uh, Jack Freeman came up with

uh, Leah, was in my class, and we were all coming up with names

mural.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Duane Flatmo: So we thought mural, borough, rural.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. And, uh, we were trying to put the words-

Scott Hammond: Borough

Duane Flatmo: … in order, [laughs] and he came in, and he just looked at me.

He goes, "Oh, just call it the Rural Borough Mural

Scott Hammond: Perfect. He had it. [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: And I went, "Oh, my God, Jack, that's it." So he came up with that.

Um, so I worked every… For 12 years I did that project, and I finally got burnt out. It was just new kids coming in. Some of them were really tough. Some of them actually wanted to fight me told them to-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Duane Flatmo: … "Hey, wash out some brushes.

Scott Hammond: Wow

Duane Flatmo: … and flip me off, [laughs] you know.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Duane Flatmo: I'm like, "Come on."

Scott Hammond: Not here for this, yeah.

Duane Flatmo: You know, "Come on. Come on. Watch me." I'd show them how to-

Scott Hammond: They don't pay me for that part.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: But it was fun 'cause I felt like I was in touch with the younger

all the music that came out. You know, when Beck came out, they

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Duane Flatmo: They were playing all these albums by all kinds of groups, and I

this stuff's good," you know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: And, um, I'd mention to my friends.

They go, "I've never heard of that stuff," you know?

[laughs]

Scott Hammond: That's cool stuff. That's new stuff.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So where do you, where do you find inspiration today?

Where do you go? What do you… What… Or do you expose yourself to new stuff?

Duane Flatmo: Well, every day I'm inspired by everything I see

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Duane Flatmo: Uh, and I take photos of things I like.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Duane Flatmo: Um, I've been in touch with other people on

uh, on Instagram. Um, Wayne White is one of my big inspirations. He did all the set for the Pee-wee Herman show, all those-

Scott Hammond: Right

Duane Flatmo: … characters, Randy, and all the sofas-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Duane Flatmo: … and the crazy stuff. And he's got a great Instagram page,

get inspired by his work. Um, Gary Baseman. Gary Baseman's a, a amazing artist from the '60s, and-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Duane Flatmo: … uh, Robert, uh, Armstrong. He used– He did Mickey Rat.

I don't know if you remember that. It was like a-

Scott Hammond: Kinda do

Duane Flatmo: … it was like a,

it was like a rough Mickey Mouse, you know.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Duane Flatmo: And, uh-

Scott Hammond: The cartoon, or was it animated-

Duane Flatmo: Mickey

Scott Hammond: … too?

Duane Flatmo: Uh, he might have done an animation thing,

When I [clears throat] Jesse, Jesse Crum lived up here. He passed away about, probably about eight years ago.

Scott Hammond: As in Robert Crum?

Duane Flatmo: Robert Crum's son-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Duane Flatmo: … lived up here, and he'd come to the mural class.

He rode his bike all over Eureka.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Duane Flatmo: And he'd always stop by the mural class and hang out

Scott Hammond: And Crum was Mr. Natural and the, all the initial-

Duane Flatmo: Mr. Natural, Keep on Truckin', you know.

Scott Hammond: Like, Grateful Dead s-

Duane Flatmo: All that-

Scott Hammond: … sort of stuff

Duane Flatmo: … stuff, yeah.

Scott Hammond: What was his, um-

Duane Flatmo: Cheap Thrills.

Scott Hammond: Cheap Thrills-

Duane Flatmo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … the Janis Joplin album.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. He… Was he Bay Area? Was he San Francisco?

Duane Flatmo: Uh, I believe he was mostly down there in-

Scott Hammond: What did they call his art though? It was kinda hippie, uh-

Duane Flatmo: Um

Scott Hammond: … early-

Duane Flatmo: It was a lot of cartoon.

Scott Hammond: Did he do the, the Freak Brothers-

Duane Flatmo: Zap-

Scott Hammond: … comic book?

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, Zap Com- yeah, Zap Comix, Freak Brothers.

Scott Hammond: That is a whole genre-

Duane Flatmo: Uh

Scott Hammond: … in the day that was-

Duane Flatmo: Well, he was… Like, I grew up with a Keep on Truckin' poster

bed 'cause I loved those three little characters just walking with their big

and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Duane Flatmo: … that was it, man. We were into it.

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: And so here I am going to Jesse's wedding up in,

uh, Bayside, and there's Robert Crum and Robert Armstrong, and they're both playing guitars, a saw he was playing with the bow.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Duane Flatmo: And I was like, "Man, I'm in heaven." You know, I

Jordan, and we're both thinking, "Man, we're right here with Crum, you know, talking to him and stuff."

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Duane Flatmo: And, uh, so I kept in touch with Robert Armstrong

really l- reminds me of my stuff, you know, when I find someone who's doing similar things, and we kinda have a, um, uh, a like-minded, uh-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Duane Flatmo: … vision, you know?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Duane Flatmo: And it, it always gets me to, you know, do stuff too, you know,

so.

Scott Hammond: Nice. Step the game up.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. So l- let's talk about some of the stuff in the

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. I-

Scott Hammond: Uh-

Duane Flatmo: … I brought a sketchbook, but the last-

Scott Hammond: So you-

Duane Flatmo: The last-

Scott Hammond: So you got… Y- you've been on the C- Carson show, or

Duane Flatmo: Let's see. I did… [clears throat] I

We did a open mic comedy night.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Duane Flatmo: And I did it with my friend Bobby Clasper, and he was just in town.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Duane Flatmo: And we had played at the Eagle House a few times and did our whole show,

and Bobby Show. And [clears throat] when we played at the Bar and Grill, it was during Halley's Comet was coming, you know, going by.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Duane Flatmo: And we said, "Halley's Comics," we call ourselves.

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: "It is about to hit the Bar and Grill." [laughs] And it shows this-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Duane Flatmo: … comet ready to hit the Bar and Grill.

And we came up with so many good routines, and I came up with the eggbeater. I played the guitar with an eggbeater.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Duane Flatmo: I did Flamingo.

Scott Hammond: Oh, right.

Duane Flatmo: Flamenco.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Duane Flatmo: And then someone said… You know, I brought the house down.

Every time I played it, they waited at the end of the shows, that last so we get a nice big applause."

Scott Hammond: That's the… [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: You know. And [clears throat] it never failed.

And I did it a couple comedy clubs, uh, up in Seattle, and I would tell them, "Hey, I'm a Bay Area comedian. Can I do a…" You know, "Oh, yeah.

Get up."

Scott Hammond: Come on up.

Duane Flatmo: You know, I didn't tell them Humboldt Bay [laughs]

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: … Bay Area. [laughs]

Scott Hammond: Close enough. [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: Um, but anyway, that routine, I went down to the mall, and they were

having auditions for America's Funniest People way back.

I-

Scott Hammond: Bay Sh- the Bayshore Mall?

Duane Flatmo: The Bayshore Mall, the, uh-

Scott Hammond: The, the New Sad Mall.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, the New Sad Mall. [laughs] And so

I went down there, and then I got the call, and they said, down, and you're gonna be on the show," and-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Duane Flatmo: … I f- I was third, you know, th- the third-best

one. I didn't win first prize. I got a T-shirt, a flight, you know, down there. [clears throat] And, uh, and then the, they said, "Sometimes you send these to the Letterman Show, and they'll let you do it there."

Scott Hammond: That's right.

Duane Flatmo: So I sent it there and didn't hear back for half a year.

Then I get this call. "Can you be on a plane tomorrow to the

Scott Hammond: New York City

Duane Flatmo: … to do stupid human tricks?" And I

Scott Hammond: That's great

Duane Flatmo: … "Are you kidding? Yeah," you know.

And then it went from there. I did a ad in-… uh, Minnesota for a theme park. Then I was on America's Top Talent, I was on the Leno Show.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Duane Flatmo: And then I got asked to go on Telemundo TV to open for Carlos Santana.

Scott Hammond: Hilarious.

Duane Flatmo: He was on the show.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Duane Flatmo: So I got to do my bit and then come out, and here's-

Scott Hammond: Here's Carlos

Duane Flatmo: … Carlos coming right up. I had my Sharpie pen all ready with the

Scott Hammond: Sure

Duane Flatmo: … so he could sign my guitar.

Scott Hammond: Absolutely.

Duane Flatmo: And, uh, he's just looking at me, shaking his head,

up [laughs] with that?"

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: You know, and I just said, "Hey." I went …

Scott Hammond: Yeah. [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: "Oh, I don't know."

Scott Hammond: I don't know. Carlos?

Duane Flatmo: "I just thought about it, you know?"

Scott Hammond: [laughs] He's a great guy though, right?

Duane Flatmo: Oh, he's so great.

Scott Hammond: Very nice.

Duane Flatmo: He was so-

Scott Hammond: Nice band

Duane Flatmo: … warm, you know, nice, you know?

Scott Hammond: So he's the real deal.

Duane Flatmo: And so I got a picture of him doing the peace sign next to me,

my guitar for me, and, uh, that wa- that was a big moment 'cause he's one, one of my heroes.

Scott Hammond: Wow. So you branched out of, way out of murals.

Duane Flatmo: Oh, boy, I, you know-

Scott Hammond: Yeah. [laughs] You're way out of mu-

Duane Flatmo: Well, now I'm a carnie, basically.

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: I go, I take the … This El Pulpo I could take three times a

than I used to make in my whole doing jobs all the time.

Scott Hammond: This El Pulpo means, does that mean octopus in-

Duane Flatmo: El Pulpo, yeah, it means octopus, so-

Scott Hammond: In, in Español.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. So-

Scott Hammond: And there's two of them?

Duane Flatmo: I sold the first one. I built one-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Duane Flatmo: … out of junk metal, and it started getting really funky.

It started breaking down a lot, and pieces would fall in this machine while we were-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Duane Flatmo: … working it. And it was so heavy and,

uh, it just, you know, we could have been, been better. We could have done it better.

Scott Hammond: So you've re-

Duane Flatmo: So-

Scott Hammond: … you redesigned.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, I, but I built a brand new-

Scott Hammond: So describe it because for folks that never s- have, haven't seen it,

have a sketch.

Duane Flatmo: No, I don't.

Scott Hammond: Ha- have you seen, have you seen the, uh, El Pulpo?

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's, uh … So you had it at Dick Taylor Chocolates,

didn't you?

Duane Flatmo: Right. So it's eigh- it's a 28-foot tall-

Scott Hammond: It's amazing

Duane Flatmo: … o- octopus made out of, uh, old discarded kitchenware

and aluminum, uh, pots and pans and muffin tins and pie tins.

Scott Hammond: It's shiny. It's, it's silver-

Duane Flatmo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … chromey.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: And a lot of people look at it from a distance,

kitchenware.

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: They look at it and think, "Oh, that's a beautiful texture."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: And then they get close, and they start looking at it.

Scott Hammond: What?

Duane Flatmo: And they start pointing at all the different cake pans and these things.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Duane Flatmo: Um, so we built a beautiful one. I sold the,

money.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Duane Flatmo: Like, I put it in my retirement, so-

Scott Hammond: There you go

Duane Flatmo: … and I took part of that,

uh, and I bought a little car. I bought, [laughs] bought a car I wanted to have. It was a little Nash Metropolitan, a little two-tone red and white.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Duane Flatmo: And it's just a little f- it wasn't really expensive, but it was,

little toy. And then I built the new machine, which is El Pulpo Magnifico. Instead of mecánico, it's magnifico. And, uh, people see it, and they want us to go to these different We've been to Telluride.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Duane Flatmo: We've been to, uh, Calgary, Canada.

Scott Hammond: Burning Man?

Duane Flatmo: Uh, we've been to Burning Man like 16 times.

Scott Hammond: With that?

Duane Flatmo: Uh, well, yeah, with … Not with the new one.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: But the old one-

Scott Hammond: Dick Taylor Chocolates Festival.

Duane Flatmo: D- we did that, you know.

Scott Hammond: That's amazing. To see this at night, it blows fire.

Duane Flatmo: It shoots 30-foot-

Scott Hammond: It, it blows a-

Duane Flatmo: … flames in the air.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: 400 gallons of propane every night we shoot at Burning Man.

Scott Hammond: So it's propane?

Duane Flatmo: Propane, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Duane Flatmo: And there's a, there's a giant bin inside the machine,

uh, those troughs where you fill up and the horses can drink out of and stuff.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Duane Flatmo: And there's four 50-gallon tanks

sitting in that bath with a, a, a cover that holds them down. Uh, if the … And we fill that with water, heater that heats that water up to 105 degrees.

Scott Hammond: So it keeps that propane-

Duane Flatmo: It, it never freezes, see.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Duane Flatmo: Uh, if you ever use a weed burner-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Duane Flatmo: … they, they freeze up, and then they don't work.

They, they just-

Scott Hammond: So you figured that piece out.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: So we heat the water up.

Scott Hammond: And there's a no smoking sign right there.

Duane Flatmo: You know what? It, you don't need to worry about people

Scott Hammond: Like you'd get-

Duane Flatmo: … we're shooting fire. [laughs]

Scott Hammond: Yeah. [laughs] It's already on fire.

Duane Flatmo: The fire department told us that when they put all these no smoking

Don't you think that's a little redundant? I mean, we're shooting 30-foot flames here-

Scott Hammond: Right

Duane Flatmo: … and you're saying, "No flames near the machine." [laughs]

Scott Hammond: It might blow up. Wait. [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: But the beauty about propane is it's a good, clean-burning fuel.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Duane Flatmo: That's why they've used it in all our barbecues and things, and

it's not real volatile. I mean, if you have a small leak in a can, it, it dissipates if, if you're not indoors.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Duane Flatmo: So when you're outdoors-

Scott Hammond: It's not gonna be a thing.

Duane Flatmo: Uh, yeah, but if you have it in a room

lights-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Duane Flatmo: … you know, that's where you get the explosions.

Scott Hammond: 'Cause of the c- condensing.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: And, uh, so, you know, I've been around this kind of fire for a

uh, never even been burned once.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Duane Flatmo: Not even touched something hot.

Scott Hammond: Do you have a picture of it or, or anything?

Duane Flatmo: I don't have-

Scott Hammond: Oh, well

Duane Flatmo: … I don't have … No.

Scott Hammond: People could go to your Facebook or your Instagram-

Duane Flatmo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and look at it. It's, it's, it's amazing.

So, uh-

Duane Flatmo: Well, so the latest sketch I just did, uh, y-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, what's late?

Duane Flatmo: I got that card from

… Uh, I got the card, which was a Krusty the Clown drawing from David so I did my own little version of Krusty the Clown.

Scott Hammond: And this is the guy from, from Simpsons.

Duane Flatmo: From The Simpsons, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: So I sent this to him. You know, I sent a picture-

Scott Hammond: I bet he loved it

Duane Flatmo: … of that. Yeah, he liked it. But I …

You know, I sit there in the evenings, and I watch TV, and then I just, you know, start drawing bats, you know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: And then I-

Scott Hammond: Here, show … R- right up there.

Duane Flatmo: Then I just do, like-

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's creepy. Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: You know? Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Duane Flatmo: I wanted to do a machine that was kinda rabid and scary. You know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: Wanted to have, uh-

Scott Hammond: There's one

Duane Flatmo: … raccoons popping up out of trash cans with

Scott Hammond: And the other thing.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, whatever that is.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: The rat. [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: Then I do normal stuff. This was in Guanajuato.

I was sitting there-

Scott Hammond: Oh, nice. Yeah

Duane Flatmo: … and drew a statue that was in the center of the square.

Scott Hammond: That's gorgeous, yeah.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, so

… Well, let's see. Uh, what'd I give you?

Scott Hammond: Some of us do our phone on, while we're watching TV.

You're, you're creating a masterpiece.

Duane Flatmo: I do that too. [laughs]

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: I do that too.

Scott Hammond: I saw the, uh-

Duane Flatmo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: …

lo- love to see more of that. Uh, and but don't forget the card 'cause I think people would love to see your Christmas card-

Duane Flatmo: Oh, okay

Scott Hammond: … from, from Silverman.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, this was a guy.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: He walked up … In Mexico, we have a house in Mexico-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Duane Flatmo: … we stay in for, like, three or four months out, out of the year.

And this guy walked up, and he had a bottle in his hand, and, uh, it was a bottle of rubbing alcohol.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Duane Flatmo: Okay? It was half full, okay?And he goes, "Ah, I need some water.

I need some water." And I go, "Oh, good. You should drink some water, yeah."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: And I went and got him a bottle of water, and he, he filled the,

full bottle of alcohol. He filled it-

Scott Hammond: With water

Duane Flatmo: … with water and shook it up and started drinking it.

He was drinking-

Scott Hammond: Oh, boy

Duane Flatmo: … rubbing alcohol.

Scott Hammond: Right. Wow.

Duane Flatmo: And the next year, he, he died. They, they told me, "That

guy's not around anymore. He died."

Scott Hammond: Didn't make it.

Duane Flatmo: I go, "No wonder. He's…"

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: That's what he looked like when I saw him.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: You know? And so it's kind of fun when I…

I'll, I'll see people that I can draw that I go, "Oh, that's a good face. I wanna draw that."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: You know? Uh, certain people that you-

Scott Hammond: Nice memorial, yeah.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, that's a good one.

Duane Flatmo: Pretty fun.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, love to see that card again you showed me.

Duane Flatmo: Oh, you wanna see the card?

Scott Hammond: Let's… Yeah. I'd love to see that.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. I get… Uh,

uh, I… David Silverman from The Simpsons, there. He got up on the machines. He plays a, a flaming tuba. I've seen him for years before I even started going there much. And he has a tuba that has flames coming out of the [laughs] the bilge or whatever it is.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Duane Flatmo: And, uh,

so I was talking to him a bunch, but then after we did El Pulpo, he got up on the machine, and, uh, we had a couple whiskeys. He's a good- he's a whiskey drinker.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Duane Flatmo: Um, and he said, "Hey, The Simpsons, we're doing an episode, and

we wanna use El Pulpo as the main character in it, and-"

Scott Hammond: Oh, really?

Duane Flatmo: "… uh, we'd like your permission." And he says,

permission or sign this, we're still gonna do it because it's a parody, and it's… we're allowed to do that. It's satire and parody, so."

Scott Hammond: It's le- it's legal, yeah.

Duane Flatmo: "We're legal to do it."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: "But we'd love your-"

Scott Hammond: How nice of him.

Duane Flatmo: "… great," you know?

Scott Hammond: Respectful, yeah.

Duane Flatmo: And I said, "Well, for sure." And he goes, "Well,

That's what you get for it."

Scott Hammond: Okay. [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: And [laughs] I said, "Well, I'm-"

Scott Hammond: There's a benefit.

Duane Flatmo: "I'm excited 'cause I'm a Simpsons fan," you know?

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Duane Flatmo: Well, he sent me… He sends me a card every year now.

He sent me this,

this card.

Scott Hammond: That's pretty cool.

Duane Flatmo: And, and then, uh, he did a little drawing of Krusty the

which I thought-

Scott Hammond: Mr. Krusty

Duane Flatmo: … was really cool, you know?

Scott Hammond: Gosh, that's-

Duane Flatmo: Which is basically-

Scott Hammond: … personal

Duane Flatmo: … it looks like Homer with hair on is-

Scott Hammond: Right. [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: [laughs]

Scott Hammond: That's Krusty the Kl- Clown.

Duane Flatmo: But I drew him, I drew him one and sent it back to him.

Scott Hammond: So what do you see for the future of arts here at Humboldt?

Duane Flatmo: Well, you know, there's a great art community here.

I mean, the, the young kids that are coming out-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Duane Flatmo: … they're doing…

I mean, I go to the different galleries, especially the Epitome Gallery. Um, you know?

Scott Hammond: Is that in Old Town?

Duane Flatmo: That's in Old Town, right near, right by Eureka Books.

Scott Hammond: It's right over here on my map.

Duane Flatmo: You, you can show your map.

Scott Hammond: Eureka, California, right there.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: Um-

Scott Hammond: North of San Francisco, the other Bay Area.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, the real Northern California.

Scott Hammond: The real Bay Area.

Duane Flatmo: [laughs] Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Come on.

Duane Flatmo: Oh, geez. So anyway, uh, I, I go in there,

and it's so funny because there's all these young kids. I call them kids, but they're 40 years old and under, ones. And they'll see me, and they'll go, "Oh, my God. You're a legend." [laughs]

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Duane Flatmo: So I get this legend thing lately of people calling me a legend,

and, uh, I, I hope that doesn't mean, "Hey, you're out the door now."

[laughs]

Scott Hammond: No.

Duane Flatmo: But I've always had, uh… I always stay busy, and I always

like to build things, and I like to do, I like to outdo myself. I think my whole life has been-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Duane Flatmo: … trying to outdo what I just did

then I see-

Scott Hammond: Right

Duane Flatmo: … what everybody else is doing. I'll go, "Okay,

all of that, what they're doing?"

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: And, and when I, when I get around other artists that

it usually pushes me to be better, and I push them to be better.

Scott Hammond: Love it.

Duane Flatmo: So there's like a-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Duane Flatmo: … a yin-yang kind of, uh, thing that allows you to keep growing.

Scott Hammond: I love it.

Duane Flatmo: I-

Scott Hammond: We were talking about that with Demark and music.

Duane Flatmo: Paul Demark.

Scott Hammond: So musicians, Paul-

Duane Flatmo: Oh, same thing

Scott Hammond: … goes, "Hey, there's musicians in their 90s that

it-"

Duane Flatmo: Really good

Scott Hammond: … and doing it better, and-

Duane Flatmo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … you know, uh, Tom Brady's pretty much done with

Duane Flatmo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … at 40-something.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: But you're, you're still creating, so.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, I'll still be able to draw and paint and-

Scott Hammond: Right

Duane Flatmo: … stuff like that. I do a lot of sketching and then painting.

I wanna build one more machine. I think I have another machine in me Uh, you start to get where you don't wanna… You know, you're bending over on your knees and,

Scott Hammond: I do know that, yeah.

Duane Flatmo: I'm feeling pretty strong right now, you know?

Scott Hammond: Good.

Duane Flatmo: Um,

so I mean, I'm feeling great.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, good.

Duane Flatmo: So I still can do it. I'm 66 years old.

Scott Hammond: I was gonna say, you're 40 what?

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. [laughs] I was, gosh, 20, 22 when I moved here.

Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow. Yeah, I just turned 64 this last week.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. So-

Scott Hammond: It's like the Beatles song, "When I'm 64."

Duane Flatmo: Yep.

Scott Hammond: Hey, I should just play it.

Duane Flatmo: No. [laughs]

Scott Hammond: Right now. When I g- uh-

Duane Flatmo: I'm not gonna feed you.

Scott Hammond: Better yet-

Duane Flatmo: I'm not gonna-

Scott Hammond: I should… Better, better yet, I'll sing it for you.

Duane Flatmo: [laughs]

Scott Hammond: So yeah, I, I, I get it, the, the aches and pains,

creating.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, yep, and, uh, we were getting…

Get back to, um, College of the Redwoods. I had Roger Cinnamon, was a great teacher, very easygoing, didn't, you know… Very kinda, uh, spiritual, kinda… He always wore sandals into class, and very cool, very cool teacher.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Duane Flatmo: And so high school, I had the, Mr. O'Hare, then I had Roger Cinnamon,

and then I-

Scott Hammond: Cinnamon?

Duane Flatmo: Roger Cinnamon.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Duane Flatmo: And then I heard about this guy, Jerry Smith, that was teaching, uh,

in a commercial illustration class.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Duane Flatmo: And so I went and joined the class, and he

me started.

Scott Hammond: At CR.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, he was at CR, and he was doing local work, uh,

designing stuff for a lot of people, and he's the one who actually gave me the, um, Old Town Bar & Grill job 'cause he left to Seattle, and he's up there now.

And, uh,

he, he inspired me. He was doing all this stuff for heavy… You know, we were all into Heavy Metal Magazine.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Duane Flatmo: And we were into all those different cartoon magazines, you know,

those.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: I grew up on Mad Magazine.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Duane Flatmo: And, uh, learning how to draw the body by looking

Scott Hammond: Right

Duane Flatmo: … and Mort, Mort Drucker, the, the, the kings of cartoon.

Scott Hammond: Those are the guys, yeah.

Duane Flatmo: And, uh, I got a lot from that, but JerryOne of

the class projects was to design a business card, Flatmo Graphics, and had a bottle of ink tipping over with, the stopper was flying across the painting with ink f- following it, you know? And he said, "That's a weird thing. You're putting an ink bottle spilling on a card that you're supposed to not be spilling ink on [laughs] stuff."

I go, "Well-

Scott Hammond: Hey

Duane Flatmo: … yeah, it gets their attention." [laughs]

Scott Hammond: It's creative.

Duane Flatmo: But I used that… I printed up those cards,

Printing-

Scott Hammond: Right

Duane Flatmo: … for 500 cards. I started giving them out,

in.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Duane Flatmo: And, you know, it made it look-

Scott Hammond: People knew you

Duane Flatmo: … like I was a company, you know, but I really was just-

Scott Hammond: You were official

Duane Flatmo: … I was learning, you know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: Uh, I'm still learning. I learn every day new stuff-

Scott Hammond: Great

Duane Flatmo: … you know?

Scott Hammond: I love it.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, Joni and I have a s- a saying, "Let's get curious."

Let's disco-

Duane Flatmo: Oh, that's great

Scott Hammond: … let's do some new stuff. Let's discover. Hey,

Let's go find out.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. Yep.

Scott Hammond: You know, we, we can get curious and not have to buy it.

We can-

Duane Flatmo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … find out where they're coming from and so-

Duane Flatmo: Well, YouTube is so great for that.

I go on YouTube-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Duane Flatmo: … me and Mickey. Oh my God, there's a whole thing about, you know,

clover that grows in this area of Ireland.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Duane Flatmo: You know, let's go look at it. Boom, get the whole story.

Scott Hammond: There's so much on YouTube. Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: [clears throat] Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah. So a, a couple of personal questions, if I may.

Duane Flatmo: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: So what, uh… what are you super proud of that you've done

or, or doing when, when you think of-

Duane Flatmo: Well,

um, I'm proud of my relationship with Mickey and my f- my home

life.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Duane Flatmo: Um, and I'm very proud of my family.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Duane Flatmo: And I think the most…

You know, doing kinetic, this kinetic sculpture race for-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Duane Flatmo: … 33 years.

Scott Hammond: Wanted to talk about that. Year, every year.

Duane Flatmo: Uh, back when Ho- I was Mr. Pencilhead back in 1982-

Scott Hammond: Gosh, I remember

Duane Flatmo: … when I started, and went through 33 years, and-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Duane Flatmo: … uh, I knew Hobart really well, and we

I always asked him, "So Hobart, how do you do it camera? I always get seized up, you know?" And-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Duane Flatmo: … he goes, "Well,

you just built a pencil, so know that there's gonna be people coming to you to talk to you, so have a couple good l-

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: So I… He says like, "Hey, man, I'm,

know?

Scott Hammond: Right. Right.

Duane Flatmo: "Oh, I don't need an eraser because I never

Scott Hammond: Right.

Duane Flatmo: And just say funny things.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Duane Flatmo: And, uh-

Scott Hammond: I stay sharp

Duane Flatmo: … and I did.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: That's the way it worked. I… He wouldn't come up.

I started using those, and then it led to them asking questions.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Duane Flatmo: And, uh, he d- he-

Scott Hammond: He was a showman, right?

Duane Flatmo: I loved Hobart.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: Uh, we had our ups and downs. I…

states and overseas. I said, "Just concentrate on this race. Make this the best one."

Scott Hammond: Yeah, right on.

Duane Flatmo: 'Cause it started failing when you started doing other ones,

going to those in Ventura.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Duane Flatmo: You know, Klamath, Corvallis.

Scott Hammond: And this one diminished as a result.

Duane Flatmo: It did a little bit.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: And now it's, it's run by a bunch of really good people,

a crowd.

Scott Hammond: Gosh.

Duane Flatmo: Um, but I always felt like I did it all those

we brought, you know, Ken and June, Ken Bidelman and June Moxen.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Duane Flatmo: And, uh, the art was going downhill.

Everybody was building pontoon bikes, we call them.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Duane Flatmo: A bike with two pontoons, and they run really fast,

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: And we're like, "God." So we, we made it a point to bring back the art,

started really building big art pieces.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Duane Flatmo: And I felt like we did that. You know, once I got up to the dragon

of the pots and the tin pans, that's what led to-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Duane Flatmo: … me going to Burning Man and building that,

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Duane Flatmo: Um, but that… I'm proud of all my years in the kinetic

all the people I met.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: And I just didn't wanna be… I wanted to get out at a time

on the stage like, you know, "Hey, this is Duane Flatmo. He used to be a racer."

Scott Hammond: Right. [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: And, you know, "Say hi to everybody." "Hi."

Scott Hammond: Right. [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: You know? I don't wanna be

Scott Hammond: Right. [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: You know? And I told him that. I'm gonna,

let young people come in and take my spot and get the-

Scott Hammond: Heck yeah

Duane Flatmo: … accolades and get all the spotlight.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Duane Flatmo: You know, I'm not gonna drag myself out and that…

Scott Hammond: So you've done it every year.

Duane Flatmo: Uh, 33 years straight.

Scott Hammond: Was the big giant bus back in the day, was that-

Duane Flatmo: That was Hobart.

Scott Hammond: That was Hobart.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. He never built stuff

It, it was-

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: It looked cool, and, you know, just out of the pl- plaza, he would be

pushing it already. You know, it-

Scott Hammond: I remember

Duane Flatmo: But-

Scott Hammond: They're broken already, two blocks in

Duane Flatmo: … that's still human-powered.

Scott Hammond: [laughs] For three days.

Duane Flatmo: But I'll tell you, that's how I broke my…

That's how I got my chops to go to Burning Man. Once I built something big, I'll tell you, it was like a, it was like a, a, a wide awakening because you don't have a s- you don't have to race to a finish line.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Duane Flatmo: You don't have trophies that you're arguing, "Oh,

Why'd they?" You know?

Scott Hammond: Right.

Duane Flatmo: There's no trophies at Burning Man.

Y- you know, there's-

Scott Hammond: I like that

Duane Flatmo: … no time schedule,

and you can build something really heavy, and you don't have to worry about it has to float. All of our machines-

Scott Hammond: You truck it all in and, and set up

Duane Flatmo: … yeah, all of our machines in the race,

They were beautiful, and then we go, "Oh, now we gotta put two sleeping bags, pontoons, a, a pump for the…" And we'd load them down so heavy that they just… You didn't wanna pedal them in-

Scott Hammond: Right

Duane Flatmo: … the sand. It's-

Scott Hammond: It's too much.

Duane Flatmo: And so at Burning Man, you know, I'm getting a big truck,

and I'm gonna build something huge on it.

Scott Hammond: And stay in the RV.

Duane Flatmo: I don't care how heavy it gets. [laughs]

Scott Hammond: Sleep on a mattress. [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: And I remember the first time at Burning Man,

We had some cool music on. We played mellow music during the daytime just cruise out there. And I remember looking, Jerry, my buddy Jerry, who raced with me for those 30 years, We're sitting in the front seat, and I go, "This is pretty nice, huh?" And we all just put our feet up and started pretending like we

Scott Hammond: Oh. [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: You know? [laughs]

Scott Hammond: In unison.

Duane Flatmo: We had a good laugh. [laughs]

Scott Hammond: The Flintstones.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. It's just like, we don't have to do…

I mean, it does all the work, you know?

Scott Hammond: That's great. [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So, uh, I imagine that looks really amazing, El Popo, at,

at night in the Nevada desert.

Duane Flatmo: Oh yeah. Oh, the desert makes it.

Scott Hammond: 'Cause there's no light competing with it.

Duane Flatmo: Oh, and you're like… And even the daytime, you go… You know,

People say, "Oh, there's tons of people. It's too many people for me." AndIf you look at a lot of the pictures from Burning Man, they're just wide open space. And you can pull your machine … We'd pull our machine out and take a, um, a leaf blower, and we'd blow all the dust off every day. In the morning- Sure … we'd blow all the dust off it, we'd take photos. And when you take a photo there, foreground, these beautiful purple mountains, some great clouds. Wow. Uh, it's, it great for photographs, you know? I bet. Yeah. And at night it's just people see us clear across the playa. They always know where we're at. What time of the year is it? It's, uh, Labor Day, which is the end of August, So it can still be pretty darn hot. It gets hot. It, I've never seen it over 100. Yeah. Um, you know, it gets up to 90 a lot. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And we have a shade… Mainly what we do is we shade structure. There's a huge one in the middle of our camp. Mm-hmm. And all of our vehicles that people sleep in and- Mm … motor homes or we sleep in the back of our truck. Mm-hmm. And we have a tent over our c- cooking area, and we all just, we meet in the middle, usually hang out in, most of the day and just like camping, you know? Yeah. Hanging out, talking. Going off and seeing stuff, getting ice, go out and buy some ice. Right. And, and then right when it starts to get dusk, our clothes, and I'm like, "Oh, getting ready to leave, you guys." There's a special song I play. They know we're gonna go pretty soon. Uh, it's c- it's, uh, [laughs] it's a sheep… It's a, um, it's like a hip hop sheep, you know? It's like boom, t- t- doom, baa, baa. Nice. You hear this little [laughs] – That should wake us up … all these, uh, all these lambs in there. [laughs] And it makes everybody laugh when I play it, you know? And so they know that, and then we're all getting our outfits on, are getting all primped out, you know? We got our, we got our propane all ready, and we're getting re- And you go out at, at, uh, at, uh, is it dusk? You know, right when the light is perfect for photographs and stuff, and we sh- go out there. And then we do a big thing about lighting all the legs, and people are crowding. And the funny thing about our machine is it's become m- like the Burning Man machine- The deal … that's, that's- Ah … never been seen out there before, It, it's n- it's- Huh … by said by many people. I wouldn't say it if I didn't read all the blogs and, you know, how many people. Sure. And- So it's the signature act. It's a big act. Yeah. Is it every night? Do you light it up? We do every night we go out, yeah. So you must have to truck in tons of propane. No, Oh, they do. Yeah. They have a- And- … like a main big truck? Yeah, there's huge trucks, and they get… You know, they come in, and then they have also petrol you can And so there's two lines, and there's chain link around it. Very stringent out there, you know? And so- Huh … we're the only machine they let fill up twice. So we have 200 gallons, which will go about four hours. Uh-huh. And then they said at midnight… You know, the guy Chris, who works out there, he s- him and his girlfriend live out there in a guess. Mm-hmm. And he said, "Come out at midnight, you know, and we'll come out and fill you a second time so you can go morning if you want," you know? Wow. Which we do a lot. Wow. So we do nighttime like vampires. We're kind of out at night. Wow. We get back in in the day, sleep, and then sit around the camp all day. Um- I can't imagine at 66. It's [laughs] – Oh, man, I love it … gotta retire. No, it's not. That's energizing. Damn, I'm so- You're napping and then- I get so excited. Oh. Yeah. So it's all costuming and- Oh, yeah. We, we wear- The whole nine … we wear outfits that are black, uh, flames on them and our logo on the back. Mm-hmm. And then we wear h- black hard hats with our- Nice … Hard hats are for getting banged by the legs or by- Sure … anything metal. Yeah. 'Cause a lot of us have hit our heads, wearing hard hats now." Why not? Yeah. On board. And then these jackets are, uh, fire-resistant, so a little spark can land on it, it won't burn. It won't hurt you. So, uh, yeah. People probably love it. It's all, it's all free- Yeah … right? It's k- completely a free- Yeah … thing. We look really different, too. We're, we're different than anybody you see out All of a sudden, these guys come in. We look like we work in the oil fields. You know, we're all in black- Yeah … with the flames on the arms and our logos, and then we got those helmets. What's going on? It really has a nice- Who are these guys? … stands out from everybody, you know? [laughs] So- It's an oil derrick [laughs] Yeah. [laughs] I could literally- In the middle of Burning Man. And th- those helmets k- stay off your head a little bit, much air in there that keeps your head cool. Right. And when you're shooting fire, I can take my helmet off and have someone touch it, and it, That's, there's that air that- That's how hot it gets up there … so it insulates against your- Yeah, yeah. Huh. Yeah, it's pretty funny. That sounds cool. I wanna go now. I think Joanie would love that. Well, by the end of the week, it's like $8,000 worth of propane we s- you know? So- Yeah … I usually do a, a GoFundMe before we leave and say, "Hey, if you guys wanna see some fire, you better help pitch in," you know? And- They're pretty good about it, I bet. Oh, yeah. We make our money every time. That's cool. So- Did you ever do any of the structures dragon? Remember those on the 101 coming into Did you ever see the airplane? I think so, yeah. It crashed. It was crashed. Well, it was buried. It was not crashed. [laughs] Right. [laughs] But it was a crossbar. It pretended to be crashed. [laughs] You know, I saw those, those, um, out in the desert, they got those Cadillacs. You know, that are buried. Yeah. Yeah, West Texas. And I thought, "Oh, I'll bury a plane." Cadillac… That's something else. Yeah. No, yeah. It's the Cadillac, uh, it has a name, though. It's like Cadillachens or like Stonehenge type thing. Yeah, they're all, they're all sideways. So I saw those, and I thought, "Oh, I'll bury an airplane. That'll be cool." That's a easy thing to build 'cause there's… I built two wings. I built a fuselage- Uh-huh … and a tail, and we built them under the Samoa Bridge. There was an old mill where all those Right, yeah. There was a big mill down there. We went inside. Thousands of nails everywhere, big f- freaking nails this big. And I got people. They were all bent. So I had, I had, like, 10 people. We were from the, the Marty Malzahn Show big band. I don't know if you remember that band. Kinda do, yeah. They were like the Lumberjacks. People mistook us for The Lumberjacks. [laughs] And, uh- [laughs] Big band … I had one person over there bending nails, making them straight, 'cause once you got them fairly straight, they're not gonna bend huge. Right. And so we made a big bucket, and then I made little hexaglo- hexagon rings, like a small one for the-The tail of the plane, boom, boom, boom, bigger, and we l- nailed long boards along it and built that, put it on a trailer

Scott Hammond: Huh

Duane Flatmo: … built the tail, put it on a trailer,

I laid boards down. We put crisscross boards.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Duane Flatmo: So it came in one, two, three,

four big pieces. And 6:00 in the morning, it's dark.

Scott Hammond: You're out there assembling.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, we went out there really early.

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: You know, we had big boxes full of [laughs]

Scott Hammond: Big boxes

Duane Flatmo: … cheap hamburgers, cheap Egg McMuffins and stuff,

together. But the pilots really did not like it. They thought, you know, uh-

Scott Hammond: It's close to Berry Field right there, yeah

Duane Flatmo: … Gene Rakowski was the main guy, and he said…

You know, they went out and cut it down. They went out-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Duane Flatmo: … after it was up for about a month.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Duane Flatmo: And then they went out with chainsaws and chopped it up.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Duane Flatmo: And then we went out and rebuilt it and put it back up,

out-

Scott Hammond: I remember

Duane Flatmo: … and chainsawed it again.

Scott Hammond: Jeez.

Duane Flatmo: And I said, "Well, this ain't gonna go anywhere," I…

And, you know, he said, "Well, I've, I've, I've scraped my friends off of runways that have crashed."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: "And coming in here when we're flying in, you know,

downed plane," you know. Uh, and I go, "Well, I'm sorry. I didn't really think of it like that."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: And then it was, um… Oh, who was the judge up here?

He retired. Judge, um… I wish I could think of his name. One of the judges up here.

Scott Hammond: Reinholtsen?

Duane Flatmo: No.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Duane Flatmo: The older guy.

Scott Hammond: He's older. Ah.

Duane Flatmo: Big, big guy. Uh, anyway, he, he

quoted in the paper when they did the story about this whole through. He goes, "Well, it's kinda like building a coffin out in hospital." [laughs]

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: But it put me on the map. I mean, I was nobody.

I was just a little guy-

Scott Hammond: Now you're-

Duane Flatmo: … working at Sears

Scott Hammond: … controversy

Duane Flatmo: … and now all of a sudden, "Duane Flatmo, blah, blah,

Scott Hammond: He's out here.

Duane Flatmo: You know, that, the Kinetic Race,

Scott Hammond: Huh

Duane Flatmo: … started snowballing me, uh, you know, more and more,

um, uh, advertising, kind of. I've never advertised, never did an ad-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Duane Flatmo: … never did any of that. It's all word of mouth.

Scott Hammond: Business cards.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. Yep.

Scott Hammond: So I have three, three ending questions for you.

Duane Flatmo: Okay.

Scott Hammond: I, I'm gonna give it to you in order.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. Okay.

Scott Hammond: You don't have to answer them in order.

Duane Flatmo: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Uh, who are you?

What do you want? And what is it gonna say on your gravestone?

Duane Flatmo: Well, I'll tell ya. Who am I? I'm Duane Flatmo.

Um, I'm a giving, uh, nice person who loves to teach the things I know,

and I don't hold long grudges. I-

Scott Hammond: Fair enough

Duane Flatmo: … life's too short to-

Scott Hammond: Yep

Duane Flatmo: … I let things go u- under the bridge.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Duane Flatmo: After a while, you know, you get it over…

You know, you, you face it and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Duane Flatmo: … get it over with. And, um,

I care for others a lot, and I, you know, I pray for people and, you

know-

Scott Hammond: Fair enough

Duane Flatmo: … yeah, I have some friends that

And, uh, let's see. What was the second question?

Was-

Scott Hammond: Who are you? What do you want?

Duane Flatmo: What do I want? I want peace-

Scott Hammond: Hey

Duane Flatmo: … in the Middle East.

Scott Hammond: Amen.

Duane Flatmo: One thing. Um-

Scott Hammond: And everywhere else.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah, I want a good president.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Duane Flatmo: A good, caring president.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Duane Flatmo: Um,

um, you know what? I, I, I want people, you know, to help other people. That's what I want. I want people… You know, you see people that are on the streets.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Duane Flatmo: And one day I'm sitting here just like, "God dang.

You know, they're all everywhere. They're messing up and…" And then I go home, house is cold. I put the heater on. It's not even warm enough yet. And then I think of those people-

Scott Hammond: Right

Duane Flatmo: … out there trying to find someplace-

Scott Hammond: In the rain last night

Duane Flatmo: … and it's so icy cold and it's raining.

Scott Hammond: It was cold. Yeah, freezing last night.

Duane Flatmo: And some of them are sitting in an ice-cold bag.

My heart just melts, and the next day I'm usually out. I carry [clears throat] I have poker money that I, you know, change that I have in a big thing. I'll just roll up quarters and $10 things, come by, and I'll just… Yeah, I carry them in my car, and I just-

Scott Hammond: Good for you

Duane Flatmo: … give them to them, you know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: Um,

just to help them out. And I s- you know, I've heard… When I'm in my shop, it's right down there by Schmidt Power and it's a metal wall, and they sit there sometimes, smoke pot

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Duane Flatmo: And, uh, I'll hear someone crying, you know,

girl crying, and the guy leaves.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Duane Flatmo: And it's just so sad. You know, I hear-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, sure

Duane Flatmo: … the whole thing. And then I'll go out, and I'll say, "Hey,

Are you okay?" And then I'll just give them a little bit of money.

Scott Hammond: That's awesome.

Duane Flatmo: Go get some soup or some food or something.

Scott Hammond: Good for you.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: And then

on my tombstone-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, what's that gonna say?

Duane Flatmo: Um, I'm not gonna have a tombstone.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Duane Flatmo: And I don't wanna be put in the ocean.

Scott Hammond: Okay. [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: Um, you could put me in a river. [laughs]

Scott Hammond: River's okay.

River's fine.

Duane Flatmo: But, uh, you know, after you're done, I, I don't know.

I don't know what it would say on my tombstone. Let's see. Duane Flatmo. I don't know. I don't know.

Scott Hammond: That's all right.

Duane Flatmo: I don't know what it would say.

Scott Hammond: Get back to me on that one.

Duane Flatmo: Um,

I hope I'm looking down. [laughs]

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Duane Flatmo: How's that? How's that?

Scott Hammond: At the fish in the river.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Love it. Hey, thanks for coming.

Duane Flatmo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Duane Flatmo: It's been good.

Scott Hammond: I think there's a kindness to, to show up for me, a guy you

didn't know from Adam, and-

Duane Flatmo: Yeah. Yeah

Scott Hammond: … I appreciate that a lot.

Duane Flatmo: You seem like a pretty nice guy.

Scott Hammond: Appreciate you coming.