UV: Where did you come across your inspiration for this piece?
TKS: I often drove past the old "Java Red's" coffee shop, along the old Embarcadero en route to Hunter's Point where I had an art studio. I would stop in to get coffee or breakfast. One day I noticed these construction or union blue collar types indulging in laughter and crude conversation. I admired their unabashed purity of 'what you see is what you get' attitude toward life. No apologies. Their lives seemed to be so simple--work, get paid, off at 5:00 and home to watch a 49'ers game. The problems of the world, even their health and the complications of urban pretentions would never occur to them except in bar room joking.

UV: When you painted this were you imagining yourself as one of the guys?
TKS: I have always wanted to be 'one of the guys'. However, this inclusion has always eluded me. Maybe because I am an artist, I'm an observer by nature--on the outside looking in. Look on the outer ring of the herd, you'll find me.

UV: Do you ever work from photographs?
TKS: Sometimes I work from a collage of photographs but mostly I work from sketches. I never seem to have my camera with me at the best moments. This particular painting was originally sketched on a ripped paper napkin smeared with egg and bacon grease.

UV: Given the current state of events, how do you feel about classic Americana?
TKS: Due to the times Classic Americana is definitely re-emerging. Nolstalgia, national identity, and a yearning for simplicity are just brimming beneath the American consciousness. Extraordinary times force people to look at themselves to see who they really are or who they forgot they were.

UV: Would you ever go to a dinner with your friends and dress the same on purpose?
TKS: Absolutely! I love theme parties and dinners. When people dress alike the pressures of having to be unique and original are diffused. Often when we are under one guise our individual special qualities are revealed.