Leaving behind a string of un-fulfilled women, unpaid debts and broken promises, illustrator and charismatic frontman Mack Williams heads to Brooklyn next week.
Over the past three nights we've said goodbye to Mack. Three nights are needed - 'cause it's a process saying farewell to an institution - something that can't exactly be done over a Piggly Wiggly cake and a quick slap on the back in the break room.
Saturday night was incidentally the final hurrah for the Athens venue Tasty World. After 100 years (give or take) of operation, owner and operator Murphy Wolford is closing the place down.
***An aside:
One time when I played at Tasty World some of my bandmates threw a cream pie into our banjo player's face. During the show. It was packed house and the crowd loved it. So did I.***
Last night the gritty, tried and true Bearfoot Hookers finished the night off in style, inviting the crowd onstage to sing along with Mack.
Goodbye to Tasty World they sang... and goodbye to Mack Williams.
I met Mack around the same time I met Tasty World.
I was an undergrad at UGA and working at The Red & Black Newspaper. A fresh faced cartoonist burst into our offices one day with a red bandana in his back left pocket (he's a top!) and a portfolio of ideas under his arm. His drawings were crude scratchings but there was something in them that made me say - Give this man a job.
And so it was and over the next few years I would take that submissive artist under my wing, honing his talents and sharpening his sarcastic wit. His work improved tenfold and the response from professors, the student body and the publishing world was deafening: "Kiser's Latest Protege a Hit" declared the tabloids.
Courtesy of The Red & Black Newspaper
After a brief post-college stop doing editorial work Williams made his big breakthrough with 70/30 Productions, helping to create the Adult Swim show SeaLab 2020. From there he helped develop Frisky Dingo, before his latest (and most successful venture) Archer.
Animation from "Frisky Dingo"
As director of animation on Archer, Williams shed blood and endured many sleepless nights but the results were well worth it. The show was picked up for a second season and was deemed a hit amongst the Bearded Skinny Jeans crowd, a demographic close to Williams' heart.
Mack Williams created this by cutting and pasting clip art from FancyClipArtYall.com
Goodbye Mack and goodbye Tasty World.
Goodbye to fun and fellowship, but not forever.
We had some good times me and Mack Williams; me and Tasty World. Like I said, it's not goodbye forever. Hopefully I'll visit Mack in New York and it'll be just like old times - when he was the student and I was the teacher.
And when that day comes I'll stick a red bandana in his back left pocket and tell him he's tops in my book.
Love,
Will
