Did You Lose Your Head?

The last Friday of the month North Miami hosts an outdoor jazz concert downtown by the art museum. The museum and all the nearby art galleries stay open late, showing their new exhibits. I went into Mario's gallery and was surprised to see this crocodile skull being displayed as art. Mario must know something about "art" that I don't know. The skull was the only thing with a sold tag on it from the git-go.

A few months ago he was displaying the jaw bone of a donkey all bleached white from the sun. All the teeth were still in place, but loose in their sockets so they rattled when you shook it. He showed me how in his native Peru the jawbone is used as a rythm instrument. You hold it in one hand, shake it, and every few beats you bang it into the palm of your other hand.

I can't imagine myself trying to explain to a city code enforcemet officer "Oh! The dead donkey in my back yard? The one rotting in the sun? I'm just making some musical instruments. It usually only stinks really bad for the first couple of weeks."