Message from the Czar

If you're one of the many people who signed up for my website and then started wondering if the site was just a quirky prank on my part, here it is -- at last.

Due to the ever-shifting sands of the entertainment industry, a good portion of my life has been about reinventing myself. With that thought in mind, it would logically follow that the idea of having a website was met with cartwheeling enthusiasm. Wrong!

First of all, I wasn't exactly in the "fly or die" phoenix bird dilemma that occasioned past reincarnations. Second, I viewed the Internet and all things related as an interesting concept -- for somebody else. And in the midst of this negativeness was friend Monello, patiently trying to feed me heaping spoonfuls of website. It was as if the Mikey of the Life Cereal commercials had grown up and was now on a mission to make the rest of the world try the product.

Still pretty convinced that it'd taste awful, I agreed to try this stuff that was purported to be "good for me." A house guest arrived in the form of a grumpy little purple monster, accompanied by a book on it's care and feeding called "iMac for Dummies." The monster and I spent a lot of time glowering at each other, and much of my early correspondence with Mike and the crew at GMD Studios concerning the site's development was via phone, fax and letter.

Somewhere along the line, the "Purple Plague" and I formed a truce -- probably on the day I started to see the early work on the site through it's beady little eyes. I began to realize that I was -- God help me -- having FUN putting all of this stuff together!

The site is now ready for viewing at: http://www.czarofbizarre.com

I'll keep tinkering with it so you'll have new things to enjoy when you revisit it. Meanwhile, I've joined a Ludite Support Group and the little purple guy no longer sleeps with one eye open for fear of retaliation.

Most of all, the completion of this electronic funhouse is a tribute to all those who've had faith in me and never faltered in their efforts on my behalf. Heading that list is, of course, Joan -- and if you didn't know Joan you missed something better than all the websites in the World!

All the very best,

Johnny Meah
"The Czar of Bizarre"

Notes from the Home Office

Hi folks - Mike here to fill you in on the latest updates. Since this is the official launch of the site, there's a ton of stuff to report.

The Art Gallery (http://www.czarofbizarre.com/art/) has eight whopping pages of Johnny's art to tickle your eyes! We have TONS of art from Johnny's past, and he's ALWAYS in the studio working on a new canvas, so we'll be adding to the gallery often. Each banner is accompanied by commentary from the Czar himself, so take your time in our little museum of the strange and unusual.

Plenty of show dates for next year have been added to the "Czar Biz" section, (http://www.czarofbizarre.com/czarbiz/), so be sure to visit Johnny in person if he shows up in your hood. We'll update the listings as they come in. You can also check out a nifty "filmstrip" of Johnny swallowing a sword, and read up on the folks behind the curtain as well as a bio of Johnny.

In the "Goodies" section (http://www.czarofbizarre.com/goodies/), we have a plethora of freebies for you. Download one of the free desktop backgrounds and turn your computer screen into a virtual sideshow banner. Better yet, download all of them onto the computers at work and make a virtual banner line right in the office! While you're there, download the free "Meah Font," hand-lettered by the Czar himself and fonticized by world famous graphics guru/tiki carver Greg Rebis. Now you can send letters in the Czar's own distinctive handwriting. Johnny has several lettering styles in his repertoire, so we'll be making plenty more of these down the line.

The "Prose" section, (http://www.czarofbizarre.com/prose/), has started up with four articles by the Czar. This section will be updated often with histories, rants, and musings from the Czar's life in show business. I'm particularly fond of "The Frog Prince" so check it out.

Last, but certainly not least, you will be excited to check out the very first officially sanctioned series of Johnny Meah lithographs in the Czar's Shop (http://www.czarofbizarre.com/shop/). Those of you who don't have the wall space for a real sideshow banner will want to grab "Baby Irene," a beautiful 17.5" X 16.5", 4-color lithograph in a signed and numbered edition of 500. You can also see a preview of upcoming lithographs. We are only printing 500 of these, so once they have been signed, numbered and sold, they are gone for good, sure to be a collector's item.

That's all from the home office. I hope you have as much fun surfing the site as we've had making it. Watch out for any low-lifes lurking behind the tent -- I hear there's a "special show" for some lucky visitors!

Sincerely,

Mike