OK in 1994 john henry toney was plowing my garden and plowed up a turnip root that had a face in it . 2 eyes a nose and a mouth , looked just like a man . so he drew a picture of it and gave it to me and i gave it to frank turner who ran a dinky junk shop in Pittsview , and he stuck it in his window as a joke and put a $50 dollar price tag on it . well in about a week some folk art collector came along and bought it . so thats how it all started.
then we started having these DOONANNYS and this is the 12th one. we didnt know what DOONANNY meant, but john henry always said it. Then about 2 years ago we were at the DOONANNY and after this woman walked by john henry leaned back to me in his chair and said” you know thats one thing i cant stand” and I said what is that , and he said “the way a big woman’s DOONANNY smells! ” and everybody lived happily ever after.
This is the Doonanny, which is what happens when you have a folk artist with a bunch of land in Alabama, and lots of friends who want to get together and sell art and see unusual things and listen to music and watch movies and eat food together. Jessie from the Studio is an Alabama native and she and Will and I went on a pretty sweet road trip to see the Doonanny, sell some art and t-shirts, hang out at her mom’s house, visit Auburn University, and generally have a good time. Some of the highlights:
- The Museum of Wonder, a labyrinth-like collection of art, bizarre junk, curiosities, and thousands of other accumulated objects.
- Hearing the words, “Now THIS is an interesting snake” as something is dumped on the ground near my feet.
- Picking dozens of pecans.
- Jamaican barbecued ribs.
- Riding a tandem bicycle at unsafe speeds around a crowd with Jessie.
- Short films like “Tumbleweeds”, consisting of footage of tumbleweeds, and “Road Reflections”, footage of reflections of the road off a shiny tanker truck.
- Delicious food at Jessie’s mom’s house.
- Road trip “20 Million Questions” guessing game.
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