Jim MacQuarrie

Jim MacQuarrie, the second son of the guy who ran the Tilt-a-Whirl at the state fair, was born on a chilly gray October morning, one year after Sputnik was launched and four months before Buddy Holly died. A paying job drawing cartoons for the Los Angeles Kings booster club at age 14 convinced him that this art stuff was an effective way to avoid working for a living and turned his interests away from his previous career of vandalizing vending machines. Several years of well-deserved obscurity followed, during which he designed patches for outlaw biker gangs, sculpted little clay bunny rabbits for craft shops, twisted balloon animals at birthday parties, and appeared onstage as a killer pygmy, a dinosaur and a British housemaid. After a brief stint creating t-shirt designs for Corona Beer, he moved on to such projects as illustrating the Hooked on Phonics reading program. His experience includes 3-D modeling and computer animation, telemarketing (selling fraudulent investments), coloring comic books, website design, dressing in a chicken suit, photo retouching, and airbrush painting. He has never learned to juggle. Jim carries a "Get Out of Jail Free" card in his wallet in case he is ever arrested. He can't whistle, but he has correctly used the word "encephaloplegia" in a sentence. Among his influences are Jack Cole, Penn & Teller, Kitty Genovese, Professor Fate, Harry Chapin, and Don Martin. Jim has been caller number nine and won the concert tickets. He is a certified archery coach and a very bad fencer. He has no tattoos, and his lifelong ambition is to be a curmudgeon.