There is more to Robert E. Brown than clowns and naked girls- kinda

What is the point of managing an indie arts culture site if you can’t plug your own work? A lot of people, perhaps including myself, have forgotten where my roots lay. So recently I set out to redesign and relaunch the Sniveling Goat, my portfolio site.

Being born named Robert  Eric Brown has had it’s positives and negatives. The plus side is that it functions as modern urban camouflage, I am lost in a sea much the same way John Smith is. I’ve often been accused of using Robert Brown as a fake name. Once a freelance web client intentionally left the name of the check blank. Nudging and winking at me as he handed me the check. “You know so you can write in who you really are.” I’ve had bills sent to the wrong people and I’ve had parking tickets paid for me on accident.  The down side is that when you WANT to be found, the name becomes problematic. Google is not kind to the Robert Browns of the world.

In the 00s ridiculous screen/stage names were all the rage and I chose the Sniveling Goat as my nom de plume. I got it from a girl I fooled around with in College who once said, “you rarely see a Capricorn whine.” Seemed as good a name as any.

If you’ve never seen my media barrage prints, check them out. I’ve included four prints and their corresponding details bellow. They are made up of hundreds, in some cases thousands of images. The Mind is Meat Triptych has 28,000 images in it, and my Stimulation Snake project is 33 feet long with roughly 40,000 images in it. I’ll get to the other 67 feet as soon as Swellco & Swellco is finally, truly up and running.

You can see the rest my portfolio here

-R.E. Brown
Swellco & Swellco 64312b

Photos courtesy of http://thesnivelinggoat.com

Over the weekend, Jelly Boy The Clown from the Squidling Brothers Sideshow Circus was burned in a fire in a Queens Apartment. He was staying at a friends house after gigging in Coney Island. Oddly enough, the fire wasn’t a death defying stunt gone wrong, but a run of the mill house fire tragedy. Reports are saying that both he and his friend passed out from smoke inhalation after their escape was blocked by the fire. They both suffer from severe burns and smoke inhalation and Jelly is currently in critical condition.

My connection to Jelly Boy and the creation of Swellco & Swellco are almost synonymous. I met the clown five years ago while developing a reality show pilot called Sideshow Nation. Jelly was just starting out at that time. He was a new comer who was encountering serious resistance from the sideshow community. His desire to push boundaries and his outsider status made him perfect for the show. After a year of work and a year of shopping, we were picked up and dropped by A&E all within 48 hours. My partners and I decided to transition the concept of Sideshow Nation into our own DIY company-Swellco & Swellco. Initially Jelly Boy was slated to be a main component in S&S as he had been in Sideshow Nation. But a whole lot of stressors and resentments had built during Sideshow Nation (there is a lot to mistrust in reality T.V.) and we had a falling out.

I still highly respect him as a performer and I think he is extremely IMPORTANT. He has developed, through sheer force of will and perseverance, into a major player in a community that once shunned him. We here at Swellco & Swellco value creativity, talent and dedication over all other things. The clown is a role model in our eyes and his hospitalization cuts deep. He and his troupe exude a beautifully twisted mastery over their art and strive to exist in a world that they create. They live our mission statement.

Like so many performers who choose to live on the precipice of society, we know Jelly does not have many resources and he is going to need your help.

-Nasau Chainsaw has started a paypal donation to help with his hospital bills.

-There will be a benefit show to help raise more money for his care held on Saturday, July 14th in NYC.

-Tattooist Mike Deering of Citizen Ink on Ave U and 16th st in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn will be donating 40% of his profit to help Jelly and the squidlings with the hospital bills. Call or email to set up an appointment. MikeDeeringInk@aol.com

-A FB page has been set up to help co-ordinate benefit efforts

-If you are a performer interested in helping to put together a Philadelphia Benefit, please contact us: info@swellco2000.com

Jelly Boy, we wish you a speedy recovery.

-R.E. Brown
Swellco & Swellco 64312b

Photos courtesy of facebook.com/people/Squidling-Brothers

Everything has meaning, even if you don’t see it.

I’m getting ready to add the last color highlights to my back plate. When you’ve gotten a lot of ink, you stop really thinking about it, even though you get a lot of questions. Both my arms are sleeved in sideshow freaks, my own personal obsession and metaphor. But my back is where the real party is, even though I rarely show it, and never see it.

The young girl is the metaphorical idealization of my artistic muse that I have carried with me since a teenager. The abstraction of who, when and where I first realized that my own creative expression was something I would spend my life needing to pursue.
-She is blindfolded so that I will not be distracted.
-In her left hand she holds a pistol so that I will not be stopped.
-In her right hand she holds a spread of tarot cards because I know my destiny.
-Her ankle is shackled to a weighted ball so that I stay grounded.
-She lounges surrounded in an opulent cornucopia of fruits, flowers and plants, because life is a feast
-Next to her is a severed (sniveling) goats head. To remind me to always try and temper my considerable darker urges
-Behind her is a classical temple to remind me that all great creation stems from a knowledge of the past.
-It is on fire with people fleeing to the hills because in order to advance forward, you often have to destroy those traditions.
-The banner reads NEUTIQUAM ERRO which means I AM NOT LOST in Latin. Some people spend their whole lives trying to find out what road they’re on. I know where I am and where I’m going, for better or for worse, I’m staying on that path.

Trish over at Valor Tattoo in N.E. Philadelphia has done most of my work, obviously, I recommend her.

-R.E. Brown Philadelphia
Swellco & Swellco 64312b

Photos Courtesy of fuckyeahgirlswithtattoos.tumblr.com & kindofcreepy.com

This entry is brought to you courtesy of Swellco & Swellco’s month-long homage to Women’s History Month, “The Female Power Project.”

R.E. Brown & Uncle Wheat Toast sit down for an intense interview and glue huffing session with the internationally renowned pro dom & BDSM model Simone Kross to discuss her music career, BDSM lifestyle, sexual mores,  Jesus Christ and good BBQ. Check out the first of two parts bellow.

Uncle Wheat Toast: Tell us about your childhood. We understand you were raised in a Belgium monastery.

Simone: (laughing) Yes, well, my parents thought I was so rebellious that perhaps sending me off to a Belgium monastery was the thing to do.

I feel I benefited from such a spiritual upbringing and now having a polar opposite lifestyle I feel I have a different perspective but coming from such a diverse background has been beneficial. I had of time and for reflection but feel I missed out on having a fun and playful childhood since I spent most of my time in prayer. LOL

I actually grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. It’s so damn hot there and I miss the desert sky, monsoon season. I think growing up in AZ is what influences me even now looking back at my experiences as a young girl.

Wheat Toast: Great. I’ve got the wrong notes again.

R.E.: You recently relocated to Nashville. The south isn’t always known for it’s open mindedness when it comes to sexual mores. As a very open Pro Dom, how has your reception been?

Simone: Oh well yeah, I moved from California to the heart of the Bible Belt, I feel like Nashville is much more progressive a city than people might think. Certainly, it is not like California, I mean San Francisco is as liberal as it gets especially about sexual culture. San Francisco is very sex positive however it also has a more formal approach to the BDSM lifestyle and this is also something that rings true in the Pro-Domme industry. It is a mixed bag. Kink.com is based there and is the largest video production house. The Pro-Domme community has a new influx of women and also Dominatrixes who have been in the game for quite a while with outstanding well-equipped dungeons. You can find classes or workshops. Mr. S Leather & Fetters is the largest BDSM supply house in town. You just don’t get all of this anywhere else.

LA is just a crazy town there’s the BDSM/Gothic/Industrial nightclub thang and there is more happening in the alternative fetish video production world. Stockroom offers classes and there is more happening in the underground scene in LA but this changes constantly.

I got my start in BDSM in San Francisco so I feel that the bay area is just the best place to learn about the fundamental core of the BDSM lifestyle with all the parades or street fairs and education and fun nightclubs or bars where BDSM is just a part of the culture. It is more accepted overall.

Truth is the response to my being here in Nashville has been great. It seems there is some excitement about my now being based here and some enthusiasm. I like feeling appreciated this has been a big change for me and it has been really good for me on a personal and pro level. I was not sure what to expect really I had spent time here but never “worked” here before but there are sincere fetishists and kinksters with whom I have played with so this makes me incredibly happy. My career has been always been about the live interpersonal session experience. There seems to be some people who are into kink and fetish; it’s here but it is quiet and not so out in the open. It is not in the clubs, it is not about video production. I think it is in some ways it is more about the opportunity to play with people who appreciate that I did not move to another big city to play I moved to Nashville. It is certainly not an over saturated market. I would prefer to be discreet and sincere about my business here and build a clientele who might not have had the opportunity to play with me when I was on the west coast. I am more centrally located. Nashville is location from which I can travel, I spent the past couple years or so as this nomadic dominatrix going from city to city much like a rock band would going from town to town playing shows, I like to travel. Nashville might be considered to be a more conservative a town but Nashville is the one place I actually feel I fit in. There are kinky people everywhere. The thing is my clients more often than not tend be more the conservative business professional. Kink might be more prevalent in a more conservative society in my opinion because it is considered to be taboo.

I also feel like my musical tastes and my style of music jives with Nashville, Music City.  LA is not really a music town but a movie town here it is all about the music. I don’t like over produced music but music that comes from the heart and to keep it simple. It’s a slower pace in the south, I can be creative, I am more grounded and honestly I think I can accomplish more here because it is easier for me to get centered and focus on my projects. I really like the south the people are so nice and it is a pleasant place so I am happy to now call Nashville home.

Uncle Wheat Toast: You are known for your yogurt only diet, what made you come up with that idea?

Simone: Yogurt is good for you and well it’s smoooooth and creamy goodness. I was on a McDonalds hamburger diet for a while binge purge binge purge (laughing)  Oh but now actually I am on a carb kick hoping to put on a few pounds so all I eat are donuts. (kidding) I actually eat healthy but I can put down the food. I like southern food and I will say the fried chicken and biscuits at the Loveless Barn here in Nashville are the best.

Wheat Toast: Biscuits always give me gas.

Simone: It has been great to go out and the BBQ here is great.  There are so many waffle houses I was curious if there were more waffle houses than Churches here. (laughing)

Uncle Wheat Toast: Is it true that you really dated Brigitte Nielson?

Simone: No, no that is just a rumor. Brigitte Nielson is not really my type of gal. I have always had a mad crush on Joan Jett though.

Wheat Toast: Could you pretend you did? I have a lot of Flavor Flav questions.

R.E.: Don’t answer that. As a song writer, you kind of have to wear your heart on your sleeve so to speak, there is a certain level of vulnerability needed for your lyrics to be credible. Do you find this difficult after having worked so long as a Dominatrix? It is a profession that requires you to retain complete control and maintain a stoney disposition.

Simone: Who says that a dominatrix is not a vulnerable woman?

Wheat Toast: The handbook.

Simone: The idea that we must create a strong image and demeanor is true but that does not make us any less human. I have had my fair share of heartbreak and disappointments in love and most of my songs have been about heartbreak. I do wear my heart on my sleeve especially when it comes to the music. You gotta feel it. I have had some people say why not wear the fetish outfits or the boots and sing or perform.  I just don’t think the music is about my being a dominatrix; it is different. I am not sure the image of a dominatrix is in line with the music but who knows. The dominatrix me is separate from the music me. I have all these different aspects of my personality. I feel I can be as creative as I want to be and keep reinventing myself. These are my true feelings and I have been challenged by music, I am still learning how to play guitar. I don’t think I am a proficient guitar player. I am a minimalist, I have a vocal focus and learning how to sing and play guitar was difficult. I am still learning. I will say this also I have been a professional dominatrix for over 14 years now and I am still learning in that realm also. We never stop learning new tricks or methods. The art of BDSM is not something I have ever mastered I don’t think it is possible to do. Being a dominatrix is about connecting with people and playing music is also about connecting with people, similar but different.

Wheat Toast: While Romanesque architecture is usually defined in relationship to the Roman and earlier medieval past, Gothic architecture has been described, by contrast, as a revolutionary or modern architecture. Could you assess the validity of these assertions, you know, maybe describe the origins and development of Gothic architecture in the Ile de France, explaining its technical and aesthetic innovations, its theological motivations, as well as its, you know, formal relationship to Romanesque architecture and maybe the earlier mediaeval past.

Simone: While that is all very fascinating, I don’t feel the need to elaborate. I just happen to think Gothic architecture is beautiful. One day I hope to acquire and old Gothic church or castle that would be a dream come true. The Simone Kross dream dungeon

R.E.: What can fans expect next from Simone Kross? When are you going back on tour?

Simone: I am planning to make a trip to Chicago this month March 22nd & 23rd and that is the just the beginning of the Simone Kross Gypsy Tour. I plan to travel once a month once spring hits. I can’t really travel much during the winter months with the cold weather and snow. So spring, summer and fall I should be bouncing from town to town, hoping to visit Boston, NYC, DC, Atlanta, North Carolina, New Orleans, Maybe St. Louis and Philly. Texas might be possible. I will probably more than likely be back to LA and San Francisco also.

Uncle Wheat Toast: Any message you’d like to put out there for other artists?

Simone: You have to be willing to put yourself out there and not care about public scrutiny. Although, I believe you have to care about what you are producing and work at it to be good at it. Being an artist is about self-expression and freedom.  Art is not about making money it is about having passion and putting your time into creative projects to see what the outcome might be.  Art is about the creative process if it challenges you and you are able to persevere then you might find fulfillment in performing or making art. I say just keep at it, writing down your ideas, drawing, painting, photography, acting, singing, performing, whatever it is keep at it.  Come from your heart and soul and be true to yourself.

Come back tomorrow for the second part of the interview. In the meantime check out Simon’s Site

Photos Courtesy of simonekross.com

As a New Years present, we answer the question… this once.

Since the launch of The Swellco & Swellco Video Circus, there seems to have been one burning question in everyone’s mind:

What IS this?

We get a steady stream of emails asking this question. We’ve seen arms-length threads on message boards where people debate the answer. We’ve been accosted in the street. “I love what you are doing, but I don’t know what it is.” The staff has been instructed to be vague. In all honesty, some lower down the ladder ask the question themselves. I, myself, have frustrated people to the point of watching them storm away in anger.

But I haven’t refused to answer the question because I don’t have one, or because I revel in exasperating people. (However, I often do). I don’t answer because it’s the wrong question.

The question isn’t “WHAT is this?”
The question is “WHY is this?”

Why do we revel in the most twisted and bizarre? Why do we encourage the most base urges and depraved fantasies? Why do we propose that aging drag queens are role models and pornstars are saints?

Because we believe the world is dying, and we’ve gone through the 5 stages of grief – Denial – Anger- Bargaining – Depression – Acceptance… and Swellco & Swellco is a direct result of this 5th step. We see the dark times ahead as the Empire begins to burn, and we have made peace with that.

The overwhelming hordes of literal and figurative barbarians are at the gate, and we think it’s time to hand out fiddles.

The Video Circus, Cinema Barbare, Hard Times, the Circus Cult franchises and all departments of Swellco & Swellco currently under development are being constructed as a hospice during the great decline we are witnessing. We feel a lot of people need protection from the cold.

We recognize the American Dream is no longer in our grasp. The game is truly rigged and there is no way to win by their rules. But if you can’t win, why even play? Why not honestly create a new reality?

In our world, there are no market researchers trying to dissect us in order to water down and wash out our passions. In our world,  there are no corporations steam-shoveling our futures into their pockets as Judas politicians give excuses. In our world, there are no religious fanatics trying to beat us down with their dogma and rules. Maybe those things are all still there, but we no longer allow them to effect us.

Here there are no whores, there are no losers, there are no judgments. There is joy in the realm of honest consent and, within that realm, anything is possible. Straight, gay, master, slave, clown, goddess, nerd, twenty-year-old or senior citizen, everyone comes to our party.  There is only us and them.

We take the blind ignorant narcissism and excess that is the national symbol of their control and make it a conscious insolent act.  Our hedonism is an act of defiance. We loot the buffet as the ship starts to sink, and we give the finger as we drink from the last bottle of champagne.

Why do we do this?
Because there is no reason to cry when you can laugh, and there is no reason to stress about your life when you can run away and join the circus.

-R.E. Brown
Swellco & Swellco 64312b

Photos courtesy of R.E. Brown

Right after I wake up from the infamous before it’s even happened party on the 29th, (assuming I go to sleep) I am off to celebrate my wedding anniversary which is on the 31st. I have no idea what we are doing, because my very warped wife took charge this year. She is one of those giddy, bad card players who is just beaming with the urge to divulge the secret. In fact half the time she is almost begging to. I chose not to know and it’s been driving her even more insane than she already is. The one thing she did divulge, was a change in plans. She had been making arrangements for us to see Mini-Kiss on Halloween/our anniversary. Sadly, she had read the date wrong and was off by a year.

I was bummed. Better not to have known. I would far rather see Mini Kiss in a Jersey night club than the ridiculous old men stumbling around a stadium. My heart raced at the thought of it and fell at the idea of missing them.

My interest in little people isn’t the same interest of anti-PC comedians, or people seeking novelty. Reality demands conformity to function and the population is crushing in on itself. In my world view, difference is king. Compound that with technology that allows parents to end pregnancies if birth anomalies are detected, and you suddenly have a world where physical difference is more and more rare. Little People are becoming extinct. Like my Idol, P.T. Barnum, I believe these people are special. Not special ed, but special like a gem to be venerated. These are real stars, just by being. In a world of same same, god bless the different.

I may miss Mini Kiss this year, but god damn it if I don’t get to see them soon.

Be sure to visit their site

-R.E. Brown
Swellco & Swellco 64312b

Photos courtesy of http://www.ghostshorty.com/minikiss/

Shhhh… The party is at the Khyber Pass Pub, 56 S. 2nd St., Olde City, Philadelphia
Password: Tubal Cain

Big League Snack Attack

1/3 cup butter

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

1/4 teaspoon onion salt

6 cups unsalted popped popcorn*

1 cup thin pretzel sticks

1/2 cup salted, roasted peanuts

1. Toss together the popcorn, pretzel sticks and peanuts in a large bowl.
2. Melt the butter and stir in the seasonings.
3. Drizzle butter/seasoning mixture over popcorn mixture, stirring to coat well.
4. Spread the mixture in a large, shallow baking pan and put it in a preheated 250°F (120°C) oven to bake for 45 minutes. Stir with a wooden spoon every 10 minutes while it’s baking

Makes 8 cups.

*1 ounce of unpopped popcorn kernels (2 tablespoons household measure) makes approximately 4 cups of popped popcorn.

Nutritional Information:(based on 1-cup serving)

Total Calories 136.4; Fat – 9.4 g; Carbohydrate 10.7g; Sugar .5 g; Fiber 1.6 g; Protein 3.6 g; Sodium 273.2 g; Cholesterol 7.7 mg.

Recipe provided courtesy of The Popcorn Board.

You Know Our Work.

You don’t fuck death, death fucks you

Suspension of disbelief can be applied to all aspects of life.
To be “mentally” reconditioned means that Swellco & Swellco’s Video Circus process “quickens” (or makes alive) our numb mind. When a consumer believes in the process of the Video Circus, trusting us alone to encourage all perversions- then Swellco & Swellco come’s into one’s mind in the form of a new and better reality.

Señor Pee Pee V.1 has a special treat lined up for the Dead Hooker in a Trunk premiere.

Ever feel like you need a break? Well, even degenerates trapped in a lascivious and perverse never ending circus funded by an evil corporation in order to test subversive subliminal mind control signals on unsuspecting viewers do too. The fact is, there is a lot on our plate. Starting in September, The Swellco & Swellco Video Circus will be expanding exponentially.

A full street team package will finally become available to all those across the country who have been patiently waiting. In this package will include graffiti stencils, stickers, business cards and Video Process brochures.

A line of 4 tee shirt designs will unveiled and made available for sale on the site and in select retail stores.

Starting in September the first monthly Cinema Barbare Film Screening/Dance Party begins, featuring the film “Dead Hooker in a Trunk”… (Sept. 14th at Bob & Barbara’s. Be there!)

In September, our first feature-length pilot episode of the Video Circus will be filmed at the palatial armed compound and testing facility in the posh Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia.

And finally. in October, the first full fledged permanent Video Circus live troupe will perform. **more details soon** But before the storm really rages, we are going to take a break. Mr. Black (Swellco & Swellco 12124a) is staying behind to oversee the final construction of the studio while everyone else pauses to contemplate what bad choices they’ve made in their lives.

Louise LaTease. Our party never ends.

Even Uncle Wheat Toast knows it's true. We are all going to hell, and life is just a circus.

The Devil drinks the good shit

Suspension of disbelief can be applied to all aspects of life.

To be “mentally” reconditioned means that Swellco & Swellco’s Video Circus process “quickens” (or makes alive) our numb mind. When a consumer believes in the process of the Video Circus, trusting us alone to encourage all perversions- then Swellco & Swellco come’s into one’s mind in the form of a new and better reality.

Photos courtesy of http://culturetrash.tumblr.com