One of the most amazing things in the world is the Throne of the Third Heaven The Nations Millennium General Assembly. James Hampton, a janitor, was called by God to create it, and worked on it secretly for 14 years in a rented garage. It was intended to herald the Second Coming. The throne is huge, nearly ten feet tall, and made of foil and scavenged materials. It was discovered after Hampton's death, and is considered quite rightly to be one of the most remarkable pieces in the history of American folk art.

The throne, composed of humble materials, is spectacularly beautiful, and every piece vibrates with the care of an untrained hand driven by divine revelation to create beauty. It was literally Hampton's life's work: he never created another work of art.

I saw some amazing pieces of art at the Smithsonian this weekend in DC, but the Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations Millenium General Assembly is always the highlight of the nation's capital for me.

A month or two ago, an artist from Brazil named Daniel Ferreira emailed me to ask me permission to use a Sound of Young America podcast to make a derivative work. I was more than happy to say yes, and the product was a wonderful bit of sound art called "Ahn. Hm."

Here's what Ferreira says about the piece:
"The idea behind this was to remove all audio except for the portions referring to the secondary functions of language, like the emotive (non-verbal sounds) and the phatic (referring to the message itself or to the communication channel)."

I think it's kind of beautiful and completely fascinating. One thing I really like about it is that he focuses on how these sounds do have meaning -- they're not just noises we make if we're too dumb to make words. Sometimes I get an email from an irate radio listener upset because there are too many "likes" and "uhms" in the show. From now on, I'll share this piece with them.

The interview used is our show from last year, with cartoonist Ariel Schrag.

Our old pal Brandon Bird has posted some new Law & Order: SVU valentines on his website. If you're looking for a special way to say that you are defenseless against your partner's love prosecution, this is a great way to do it. Check them out in sets or alone here.

Hello people. So. We have chosen the three winners of the Morris Day VS. A Wild Animal contest. Here they are in no particular order. Thanks to all who entered!

Jenny Whiting: Just look at this image. I know hippos are vicious, but eating a U.F.O.? Damn, that's cold. You've got skills Jenny. Skills.

Chris Vendrick: Morris Day strangling and kicking a bear in the knee. Do you see fear on his face? I don't. If you like this illustration Chris has a blog. Nice work Chris.

Ian Thompson: It looks as though this lion has interrupted Morris Day walking like an Egyptian through the park. You know what you get for that Mr. Lion? A finger in the eye. Excellent MS paint skills Ian.

Thanks again everyone. You're a talented bunch.

Jon Reiss is the director of the films Better Living Through Circuitry and more recently Bomb It. The documentary traces the origins of graffiti from cave paintings, to the reinvention of the art form in the 70's and 80's through to the global phenomenon it has become today.

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We continue our journey into The Sound of Young America's vast audio archive with this program from The Sound of Young America Classics.

America's radio sweetheart in conversation with the laughter star of the eastern block, comedian Eugene Mirman. We'll also hear from incredibly talented painter Brandon Bird and Kyle MacDonald who writes the blog One Red Paperclip. His aim is to trade up from a red paperclip, to a house.

Every year at UC Santa Cruz, the art department hosts a gala print sale. You can buy original works by UCSC artists for as little as five or ten dollars in all formats, from huge works on paper to greeting cards and t-shirts. I always felt the print sale was one of the best parts about living in Santa Cruz, and my home still has several prints I purchased there prominently displayed. The works available are an extraordinary range of styles and aesthetics, and it's impossible to leave without buying something.

This year's sale is June 6th and 7th (that's Friday and Saturday!) on the UCSC campus. You can find more information here.

Above: untitled by Amy Toucey

Comic and television writer Mark Evanier was once assistant to Jack Kirby. Now he's compiled a monumental art book cum biography of the artist called "Kirby: King of Comics." Jack Kirby's dynamic aesthetic style and new ideas about how comic book characters should relate to each other and to their readers revolutionized comics.

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If you enjoyed this show, try these:
Tony Millionaire
The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare
Comics & Comix with Art Spiegelman, Chris Elliott and Matt Walsh

Tony Millionaire is the creator of the comic strip Maakies, which runs in alternative newspapers around the country. The strip has also birthed two television adaptations: a series of shorts that ran on Saturday Night Live in the 1990s, and now a new longer-form series which premiers later this year on Cartoon Network [adult swim]. The strips are known for their combination of distinctive and often complex line art and typically profane humor. The newest collection of Maakies strips is "The Maakies with the Wrinkled Knees."

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If you enjoyed this show, try these ones:
New York Stories with Cartoonist Roz Chast
Tim & Eric
Joke Warfare with Terry Jones and Dino Stamatopolous

File this one under "posts I would have made this weekend, only I was moving."

Imagine my surprise when I opened my New Yorker this week, only to see an illustration in the inimitable style of MaxFunster Ape Lad. I looked at the credits, and yes indeedy, it was our very own Floridian superfan. In The New Yorker's august pages, of course, he is known by his guvmint name, Adam Koford. Adam was the winner of a contest to re-imagine the magazine's venerable mascot, Eustace Tilley.

Above is the image that's reprinted in this week's magazine. Below is an image that was *also* a winner, but was not among the few featured in print. That makes Ape Lad a DOUBLE WINNER!