The Fly: 11.29.06 What Part of 'Humorless' Don't You Understand?

On its website, Starbucks encourages customers to "Become more involved in your community through your local Starbucks store." That's what Robert Therrien Jr., a.k.a. Bad Bob, creator of Screaming Man comics, intended to do on Nov. 5 when he hung some of his paintings at the so-called eBay Starbucks at San Jose's Bascom Square. But the day after Therrien, 52, hung his paintings, he got an anxious call from the store's manager asking him to take them down. It wasn't a complete surprise to Therrien, who said he felt a "really bad vibe" when he was hanging the art. He had put up eight pieces, three of them related to coffee: Screaming Man pointing a gun at the viewer with the caption "What part of 'no decaf' don't you understand?"; a vibrant, lovingly shaded espresso machine under the text "God doesn't make decaf"; and Screaming Man behind the wheel under the words, "caffeine ... road rage enhancement." Therrien, now an engineer for Lockheed Martin, has been published in Mad magazine and authored a book of Screaming Man comics in 1994. During that time, his work appeared on T-shirts and coffee mugs from Haight to Melrose. Starbucks manager John Renna didn't offer much explanation for why the paintings had to come down, says Therrien, but a pending visit from the company's regional manager was mentioned in the conversation. (Attempts to contact Starbucks representatives in person and by phone were unsuccessful.) On Nov. 6, Therrien took down the paintings and replaced them with some less provocative work—traditional oil paintings of landscapes and architecture. In an ironic twist, Therrien had originally hung the landscapes in Santa Cruz at the Chill Out Café, but felt that the manager there was disappointed with the content. "I was ready for some crazy shit," admitted Allen Guild, 23, Chill Out's general manager. But Guild loves the paintings. "I think Bad Bob has really captured the vibe of the coffee shop. You got all these stimulants lying around and people get really edgy."

see also: http://www.metroactive.com/metro

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