Bill Hicks Statue Project

BILL HICKS is revered throughout the world as many things - legend, truthsayer, shaman, philosopher, and many more. Bill was a rare breed of human; A guy that comes along once in a lifetime to challenge us to be better. He made you think, he kept you on the edge of your seat, and he was completely fearless. He's one of the few comedians that is still relevant almost 20 years after being taken from the world too soon, and his legacy grows every day. Yet, there does not stand a single monument in the world to him. Bill began his comedy career in Houston at the now defunct Comedy Workshop on San Felipe and Shepherd. A statue to permanently pay homage to him in the city where he began his journey would solidify his legacy. This statue would serve as a symbol to remember the past and everything Bill gave us, but also as a reminder for the future generations to seek knowledge around every corner.

Houston sculptor DAVID ADICKES has agreed to build the statue of Bill. If you've ever seen his work, you know he is the best man for the job and that the statue will be nothing short of amazing. A Houston legend sculpting a Houston legend - It doesn't get better than that. The family and estate of Bill Hicks has given their blessing to this project and will be on hand at the statue's unveiling.

THIS IS WHERE YOU COME IN. You can directly support the building and placement of the statue to honor a hometown hero by clicking the PayPal link below and donating money to the cause.

The costs for creating, placing, and maintaining such a monument are staggering. Costs also include a nationwide PR campaign and location fees. We estimate this total to be about $70,000 yet any funds which exceed cost will be donated to Bill Hicks Foundation for Wildlife.

Free Press Houston is going to start this project off with an initial donation of $10,000. BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP.

For the most generous donors ($5,000 or more), we have something special for you-- YOUR NAME WILL BE PERMANENTLY INSCRIBED on the statue thanking you for making it a reality.

For donations of $1000 or more, YOU WILL BE HONORED AT A PRIVATE THANK YOU DINNER AND PARTY the evening preceding unveiling. This party will have very special guest performers.

People who donate $200 or more will receive hand signed and numbered,LIMITED-EDITION SILK SCREENED ART PRINTS OF THE 'REMEMBER ME?' POSTER BY WORLD RENOWNED POSTER ARTIST JERMAINE ROGERS.

But really, anything helps, and if you aren't able to donate money, a simple share on your social networks spreads the word about this project to more people and helps immensely. Please pass this along to everyone you know and encourage them to support in any way they can.

We have our own ideas about where this statue should be placed - a public historical place where fans can pay homage, but also where people who Bill is unknown to can discover him for the first time. Because you're the ones who are going to make this dream a reality in the end, we'd like to have your opinions on where this statue should go as well. Please email us your thoughts on where you'd like to see this statue at, and any other suggestions here.

SOURCE

Russell Crowe to direct Bill Hicks biopic

Russell Crowe has confirmed that he will direct a biopic of Bill Hicks, according to Sydney's Telegraph. Crowe was originally thought to be playing the comedian, but Mark Staufer, the actor's schoolmate and writer on the film, has suggested the part is now open for casting.

"It is a huge role for someone, made all the more special, or downright scary, by the fact the director is an Oscar-winning actor like Russell," Staufer said. Casting will have to be finalised before production starts early next year.

Crowe is currently playing Noah in Darren Aronofsky's big-budget telling of the story of the ark, which is filming in Iceland. He's also set to appear as Dracula in Eli Roth's Bram Stoker adaptation, throw kung fu shapes in the RZA's The Man with the Iron Fists and go for a song in Tom Hooper's forthcoming version of Les Misérables.

The most recent movie representation of Hicks was Matt Harlock and Paul Thomas's documentary American: The Bill Hicks Story, whichreceived good reviews on its release in 2010. Hicks, who died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 32, was known worldwide for his caustic wit and influential brand of aggressive standup. Crowe's respect for Hicks's work may stem from the fact that the hard-to-please comedian was unusually complimentary about the New Zealand-born actor's adopted home country, Australia. In a routine he performed in the early 90s, Hicks mocked Britain's 18th-century practice of sending convicts there. "Let me get this straight," says Hicks in the guise of a soon-to-be transported criminal, "you keep the shitty weather and the shitty food. And we get the Great Barrier Reef and lobsters the size of canoes."

SOURCE

Big in Japan...

Bill was recently featured in this article from avclub.com about American cultural entities that found greater popularity overseas...

6. Bill Hicks in the UK

Although the Texas-bred Bill Hicks styled himself like a consummate vision of outlaw Americana—a chain-smoking, black-clad nexus of Lenny Bruce and Johnny Cash—he became the toast of Britain well before his home country caught on. By 1991, Hicks had already toured the U.S. club circuit for years, appeared on several TV specials, and released his first album, but he didn’t truly become the revered cult figure he is now until an appearance at Montreal’s Just For Laughs Festival made him a UK sensation. It certainly helped that Hicks “debuted” overseas having already honed his act, as did the fact that his specials, particularly the London-taped Revelations, aired repeatedly on British TV in their uncensored entirety, rather than in the bite-sized, sanitized form necessitated by U.S. talk shows. Hicks himself credited his UK popularity to the country’s eagerness to laugh at America, and cynically praised the UK’s more sophisticated sense of irony. Whatever the reason (and certainly it was a combination of all those factors), being bigger overseas allowed Hicks to think of himself as something of an expatriate, and you can’t get much more “outlaw” than that.


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Bill Hicks Skull

Check out this interesting piece of Bill Hicks art by David Hollier. Available to buy for $85 -

Source

Disinfo's Bill Hicks Editorial Was Recently Reposted

Posted by Wes Moore on July 13, 2012

[disinfo ed.'s note: this original essay was first published by disinformation on February 20, 2002. Some links may have expired.]

“Thank you. How you doing folks? Me too. You gotta bear with me, I’m very tired, very tired of traveling, and very tired of doing comedy, and very tired of staring out at your vacant faces looking back at me, wanting me to fill your empty lives with humor you couldn’t possibly think of yourselves. Good evening.”

Bill Hicks: the Nietzsche of comedy, the most legitimate social critic of the 1990s: a renegade messiah who tried to make people laugh, but usually ended up pissing them off, or drawing blank stares.

Born in 1961, Hicks died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 32, just as his career was peaking. He left in his wake a legacy of biting criticisms against American society: no inadequacy or hypocrisy was immune to his scathing satires, but don’t take my word for it. For Christ sakes, if anyone demands our undivided attention, it’s Bill Hicks . . .

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The 7 Best Comedian Heckler Smackdowns—From Bill Hicks to Joe Rogan

Bill Hicks Flips and Drops the C-bomb

Watch Now

If you had your choice of comedians to heckle, Bill Hicks—a legendary comic known for his intense and enraged monologues on the hypocrisy of society—would be the very last man you’d want to incense. Apparently, the lady in the front row of this show didn’t get that memo, and boy does she soon regret it. In what can only be described as an outburst and diatribe of epic proportions, Hicks blasts this woman with every verbal insult known to mankind. And, along the way—in between physically flailing around the stage like a demonic pastor—the audible hiss of this poor woman’s deflated soul causes Bill to take a small reprieve after the oral assault: “I dug a real hole on this one, didn’t I?”

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Bill Hicks deserves a monument in Houston, DAMMIT

From Free Press Houston
Submitted by Editor on June 3, 2012 – 4:32 pm

The folks who organize FPSF are a sordid and disparate group of people who come from every different age and background. ( It may be a fact that we collectively have more felony convictions than college degrees.) But there is one commonality between all of us: We are all admirers of late great Houston comic-philosopher legend Bill Hicks. Hicks is one of the world’s most influential comics and the closest thing to a philosopher to ever come out of Houston. While in high school at Stratford, Hicks would sneak out at night to perform at downtown Houston comedy clubs. Yet despite being world renowned, there does not stand a single monument to this native son. We want David Addicks to build a statue of Bill Hicks and erect it AT ELEANOR TINSLEY PARK park as a tribute to the man who taught us to laugh at the absurd, question the dominant paradigm, and stick it to the man with a smile while chuckling. Help us spread the word about this. Donate to the cause.Tell your city council member that you support a Bill Hicks statue at Eleanor Tinsley Park. We will soon release donation and cost information on this project. STAY TUNED.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE