IS IT A BIRD? A PLANE…NO…IT’S THE SPACE SHIZZLE! By L. Natalie Boyd

Lions, and tigers, and bears? No, this enchanted forest was filled with “Space” themed art. The dA Center for the Arts, last July, ran a themed, open art show on Space: astronauts, aliens, ships, robots and rocket machines, oh my!

If the Downtown Pomona Arts Colony art exhibit about Space wasn’t enough, the dA produced their own Cosmic Space Convention including everything from speakers on astrology, space aliens, UFO’s (Wasn’t there a recent headline about aliens landing in Pomona?); extra-terrestrial music plus videos by Franz Keller; and the band“ Lux Nova” rocked the house. Along with all this came the launching of the Space Shizzle (Apollo number II, “Houston, the Bagel has landed!”).
What is a Space Shizzle?

“It’s a conceptual Space Shuttle/Capsule fashioned from a port-a-potty, fo’ sure!” Artist A. S. Ashley said of his assemblage/environment piece, “but as you can see, something has gone terribly wrong.”
That may be an understatement…Opening the door of the silver porta-potty, you could see a tangle of wires and conduit throughout the confined area. A flashing strobe light illuminated the module signaling danger, while the dimly flickering EXIT sign pointed to the only available way out for the astronaut. She attempted to make her escape head first through the toilet seat, but got stuck. Her aluminum high heel boots thrashed about, but her legs are tangled in the electrical conduit. The computer screen showed her earth bound captain (Kirk) in multiple frames, his hands clasped in prayer for her survival.

“Sounds like a plumbing problem to me.” Ashley deduced, “Which is why we re-enacted the space flight to see if we could expel the cargo hold.”

Ashley donned his lab coat and proceeded outside to Main St. with the Space Shizzle and his fellow NOtSO (not NASA) assistants. Ashley now became chief flight engineer Dr. Ashley for this unusual piece of Performance Art; with Commander Toovey (Chris Toovey, dA’s President) at Mission Control atop a 40 foot basket crane, and Han Rolo (Rolo Castillo, the dA’s head curator) manning the instrument panel along side the launching pad.

The high/low tech aspect of this performance was not lost on the throng of onlookers as they wondered why a silver port-a-potty was suspended from a crane on the mean streets of Pomona’s Arts Colony. Ashley stalked about to see if everything was in place, as he tied an old tin flying saucer-top to one of the Shizzle’s tethers…was this suppose to be a gyro mechanism to help keep the capsule on it’s proper flight line?
We will see…the launching sequence had begun and Ashley asked for the onlookers to help do the countdown: 10-9-8-…..LIFT-OFF!

The gleaming silver port-a-potty began its accent into the twilight sky while a small fog machine placed under the Shizzle simulated the rocket fire propelling the spacecraft upward. The crowd giggles and woops at the shear silliness of it all, still confused by the space module’s mission.

With the port-a-potty now a good 20+ feet above the ground, Dr. Ashley set out to inspect the under carriage. He was pacing back and forth under the capsule like he was doing some kind of crazed asphalt spacewalk, then traveled to the west curbside to gather up some much needed OSHA approved protective gear: an umbrella. Ashley moved back to the Shizzle, spying the problem, tether in one hand, umbrella in the other, he gave the line a yank in an attempt to free the obstruction, but to no avail.

Ashley pulled again and again; finally, a bulbous portion of a plastic bag emerges slightly, and started to rain down god-knows-what. The shear weight of the 130lb bag begin to push through the port-a-potty under-orifice with all in attendance giving out gasps and groans as the 16 gallon sack freefell toward the street. The powerful impact revealed the exploded contents consisting of water, chocolate bagels, and rubber ducks flying in all directions. More groans, laughter and applause emitted from the crowd, then Ashley announced to the Command Post, “HOUSTON, THE BAGEL HAS LANDED!”

Commander Toovey began the capsule’s descent back to Earth, as Han Rolo tossed rubber ducks to the audience, with Dr. Ashley, as Gene Kelly, danced through the wet carnage with umbrella in hand, announcing, “Free rubber ducks and bagels for everyone!”

For those who missed the “launching”, you can view two versions of it on YouTube. Enter: Space Shizzle, or Porta Potty/Pomona into the search to see both.