Shawn Huelle

untitled (all the best names)

They took all the best names in the 70s & 80s. The obvious like Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious. The less obvious but obviously better like Darby Crash, Pat Smear, Poly Styrene or "Blue" Gene Tyranny (the list goes on). And so what could I possibly call myself? And why do I feel the need to call myself anything other than what I am already called?

My middle name IRL is -------, so I could call myself ---- in homage to Uncle ----, but my father goes by ----, so let's look back up to the missing part about why I want to call myself anything.

If we stick with the idea of paying homage, I could call myself David Burn, but what I do and what I want to do are (hopefully) so much more than "simple" modern anxiety (and, let's face it, what Byrne has done and continues to do is also much much more than simple modern anxiety, though, and let's face it again, he perfected that).

My IRL last name comes from a language not English and could be translated into English as shroud, shell, sleeve, envelope, cover, husk, wrapper, mantle, case, coat, coating, cloak, spout, velum, slipcase, jacket, involucrum, or enclosure. Of those, I like sleeve, husk, mantle, and slipcase, but I have to strike mantle from the list because of Hillary. So, sleeve, husk, or slipcase for a last name? Husk it is. John Husk? Doesn't sound punk enough? Does it need to? Let us again look up to the missing part.

Ben instead of John? Ben Husk? John and Ben are both monosyllabic words, and I don't like the names Jonathan or Benjamin.

Forget Husk. Let's look at the one totally weird word in that list: involucrum (which means a surrounding envelope or sheath). One could simply turn that word into a name (and pay homage to a disturbed man and his more disturbed brothers). One would also need to play a bit with the first part:

Invol U. Crumb
Noivl U. Crumb
Vinol U. Crumb

And if someone asks what the U. stands for, I could say unctuous, uranus, underage, undo, uxorial, utmost, urticate, ungulate, ulcerous, upchuck, usufruct, underpants, urge, uretur, ugsome, uppity, ubiquitous, uropod, umbles, urchin, undulate, unitard, or unguent . . .

Stephen Slipcase
Patrick Sleeve
David Husk

Why did the punks rename themselves? To stick a finger or two in the eye of convention? To say things without embarrassing their parents? To distance themselves from a previous reality? To make a new one?

Voinl U. Crumb
Richard Sleeve
Knot Slipcase
Howard Husk
Lead Coating
Vel Um

. . .