ON THE ROAD WITH JASON DAVIS
Monday, November 20, 2000, Jason Davis and his camera crew arrived in Grand Marais and filmed a FLASH MERIDIAN feature which is slated to air on ABC stations nationwide near Christmas. Check back here for the air date which we will post as soon as we get it.
Present for the taping were Josh Rice as Krate Azimuth, Tricia Elfvin as Nebula X, Jeremy Chase as Ash Lander, Sarah Vaughn as Crystal Weightless, Holly Young as Hollygram, Heather Anderson as Celeste Vela and Tim Young as Flash Meridian. Photo 2) Jason Davis with Flash Meridian
North Shore APPLAUSE, Volume 05, Issue 03, October 2000
REFLECTIONS OF SUMMER 2000 SPECIAL EVENTS
GALACTIC SLIME, written by John Kalb, is kind of a space fantasy that takes place in the mind of an 8 year old boy, played by Timouth.
Cook County Star, No. 49- September 11, 2000
FLASH MERIDIAN GAINS MOMENTUM
Flash Meridian cast members were interviewed by the Duluth News Tribune recently. (L-R, back) Holly Young as Hollygram; Josh Rice as Krate Azimuth; Jeremy Chase as Ash Lander (L-R, front) Marty Barnier as Fin Martin; Heather Anderson as Celeste Vela; Sarah Vaughn as Crystal Weightless; and Joy Saethre as Bertha.
Back in June, the Cook County Star reported on local artist, Tim Young and his unique internet character, Flash Meridian. The notoriety of the on-line sci-fi cartoon continues to grow – the Duluth News-Tribune arrived at the Cuppa Diem coffeehouse where Young works, to speak to the creator of the Slack Action Production. Young and his actors were interviewed and photographed on the Grand Marais harbor rocks where the Flash Meridian Mars shots were taken. Young took a short break from the website during the busy summer months to work on a Flash Meridian soundtrack, but has been back at work in his alternative universe and recently completed episode 28. There are new characters and adventures for the space man and his friends. If you’d like to take a trip around the solar system in Young’s Trans-Neptunian Interloper, which looks surprisingly like his 1962 Chrysler New Yorker Wagon, log on to www.timouth.com/space.
The Duluth News-Tribune, Vol. 130 No. 129 – September 10, 2000
Into outer orbit
Online science-fiction comic strip ‘Flash Meridian’ launches into cyberspace from the rocky shores of Grand Marais
photo by Derek Neas, News Tribune
Tim Young, a stay-at-home dad and artist in Grand Marais, invented a sci-fi character named Flash Meridian, whom he also portrays in real life. The online comic strip’s cast includes about 15 other Grand Marais residents.
COMIC BELIEF: Online sci-fi strip makes waves on Superior’s North Shore
Online science fiction comic strip ‘Flash Meridian’ has been launched into cyberspace from, of all places, Grand Marais. Its creator, Tim Young, tests the outer limits of creativity.
By Chris Casey
News Tribune staff writer
Flash Meridian (Tim Young) views the red orb of Mars through the windshield of his Trans-Neptunian Interloper in another far-out episode of the sci-fi comic. The online character bio of Flash describes our intrepid hero as being “engulfed in a night that never ends…it seemed only natural that he would devote his life to the exploration of space and the radiation, temperature and other conditions of space.”
People are prancing around in space outfits. A red caboose, once used as a coffee shop, is command central for solar system exploration. Intrepid astronaut Flash Meridian is reading to kids at the library and popping up in local parades.
Holy Wormhole! Grand Marais — never lacking for offbeat artistic activity — has turned into ground zero for interplanetary space travel. Indeed, something cosmic, if not downright odd, is afoot on the upper reaches of the North Shore.
If you thought “Austin Powers” was wacky and found “Wayne’s World” to be a hoot, then you should check out Flash Meridian’s universe.
Naturally, Flash dwells in space — cyberspace. The saga is an online science fiction comic strip that you click through at www.timouth.com/space.
“Timouth” (sounds like Plymouth) is actually Tim Young. Young’s alter ego is Flash Meridian.
Even before Flash, Young was known around Grand Marais as being a tad eccentric. The 40-year-old “stay-at-home dad” is also a painter, graphic artist, car collector, musician, writer and photographer.
Now Young has entered a new, uh, dimension.
For his “Flash Meridian” series, Young dreams up costumes as campy as those in “Plan 9 From Outer Space.” His storylines are as original as those in “The Twilight Zone” and his characters as eccentric as anything you’ve seen in “Lost in Space.”
His 16-member “actor/model” cast — friends and relatives, including 3-year-old daughter Madeline (as “little space girl” K-D) — traipse around town in space outfits for photo shoots.
Even Tim and Holly Young’s 3-year-old daughter, Madeline, is getting in on the outer-orbit fun, portraying “little space girl” K-D in the Flash Meridian adventure series.
The photos of the space fleet — in cheeky poses and even cheekier outfits — get cosmically enhanced on Young’s computer before being digitally posted in Flash episodes. There are now 29 such adventures on the Web site and more on the way.
Young, working from the 1948 Great Northern caboose in his back yard, has also produced a CD compilation of the first 15 episodes. He narrates over an original score by Jeremy Chase of Grand Marais.
A wacky fleet
Chase, 17, is known around town as a member of the rock band Vanguard. But, increasingly, he’s known as Ash Lander, a heroic astronaut in the Flash series.
“I’ll be walking around with Tim and (people) will say, “Oh, it’s Flash Meridian and Ash Lander and that kind of thing,” he said. “But most of the time they’ll focus on Tim because he’s just wacky.”
Two heroes of the Flash Meridian online sci-fi saga are Ash Lander (Jeremy Chase) and Krate Azimuth (Josh Rice). They are dispatched into the solar system to rescue Flash Meridian as he drifts through space.
Wacky. Creative. Spontaneous. Those are words often used to describe Young. Flash is an appropriate moniker because folks say his mind works as fast as his spacecraft — the Trans-Neptunonian Interloper (Young’s 1962 Chrysler New Yorker station wagon) — zips through space.
“He thinks about the stuff and zoom, zoom, zoom, he does it,” said Young’s wife, Holly, who owns Superior Properties, a real estate company. “It’s amazing to watch him paint.”
Of all the far-out characters in the Flash Meridian series, perhaps strangest of all is Nebula X (Tricia Elfvin). Nebula X is a multi-purpose fashion droid with self-generating parts. According to her Flash Meridian bio, she has chrome skin, ruby lips and sapphire eyes, and wears a size 4.
Connie Heithoff, owner of Cuppa Diem, where Young works twice a week, has seen the artist’s turbo-charged creativity in action. She said Young painted a mural — “a goose goddess or a saint caffeine, depending on your bent” — on one of the coffee shop’s walls and he often whips out Flash Meridian episodes while sitting for a spell.
“A lot of times he’ll come (to work) dressed in some of his space clothes — the shiny shirt, the shiny pants. And people will check him out right away to see what he’s wearing today,” she said. “He’s kind of fun to have around. He’s wild and crazy.”
Heithoff enjoys checking out the exploits of Flash Meridian on the Web site.
“I recognize all the people who are all the different characters because they’re local,” she said. “Seeing them in all the episodes is kind of fun.”
Most of the Flash characters were brainstormed by Young and fellow Vanguard fan Sarah Vaughn during one of the band’s gigs last spring.
Unbenownst to them, Vanguard members would become core players in the sci-fi saga. Josh Rice became astronaut Krate Azimuth, sidekick to Ash Lander. Vanguard bass player Justin Chase, meanwhile, ended up as villain Maj. Sly Wormhole “because I looked bad, apparently,” Justin said.
Soon, Jeremy Chase and Young were rummaging for space costumes and Flash was well past liftoff.
“It was really kind of an experimentation,” said Chase, who came up with the name Flash Meridian. “We didn’t expect to get really known by anybody. We were just doing it for fun.”
But now, thanks to the Web site, the CD, T-shirts and frequent Flash sightings — besides library, carnival and parade appearances, shiny-suited Young has performed at the Arrowhead Center for the Performing Arts and chatted on the local radio station and appeared in both Cook County newspapers — they’re all becoming quite well known.
“It’s kind of become a cult favorite up here,” Holly said of her husband’s Web site. “Actually,
he’s gotten e-mail from people around the world.”
The site gets up to 100 hits a day from around the globe, Young said. Flash fan sites have even sprung up in cyberspace.
Young is thinking film footage and a published comic book might be in Flash Meridian’s future.
“This would be the time for me to start pursuing it in a bigger way outside of our little enclosed world here.”
photo by Derek Neas, News Tribune
Actor-models in Young’s Flash Meridian online comic gather for a ride in Young’s Trans-Neptunian Interloper, which is actually a 1962 Chrysler New Yorker Wagon, one of only about 700 made.
Young at heart
Although fearful of flying, Young says he’s similar to the 35-year-old Flash (born 100 years after the original moon landing on July 20, 2069; Young, incidentally, was born July 20, 1960) in that he’s also on a journey through midlife and beyond.
The Detroit native grew up in Liberia, where his parents were interdenominational missionaries. Young spent his latter high school years in Africa teaching junior high art classes. He then returned to the States, enrolling in the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit.
Unable to find work in his field after college, Young took a lackluster office job. Eventually, he
accepted a radio position in Charlotte, N.C., that deteriorated into “insane hours.”
“I got burned out and said, “What do I really want out of my life?”
A key answer to that question was Holly, whom he had met while working on the North Shore a couple of years earlier. The couple married about 10 years ago after Young returned to Minnesota.
“She’s my guardian angel,” Young said of Holly. “And the (Flash) story is more autobiographical than probably people would realize on just a casual look. But my wife is an angel, at least that’s how I see her.”
Tim Young describes his wife, Holly Young, who plays Hollygram in the Flash Meridian series, as both his real-life and online comic “guardian angel.” The character’s bio on the Flash Web site says Hollygram visits people in need and brings guidance and comfort.
As Flash zips through space in the TNI, a visage of HollyGram (played by Holly, of course) mysteriously appears in his dashboard. Depending on the episode, HollyGram offers comforting words or steers the drifting Flash away from a menacing asteroid belt.
On his way from Pluto to Earth, Flash has a lot of time to ponder his life.
“It’s almost like hypnosis in a way, where he’s reverting back and looking at his life and sorting through all of his experiences,” Young said. “And for me, that’s the type of journey I’ve been on. I just turned 40 this summer, so I’m kind of nostalgic about my life. I feel really good about it, but still it’s nice to take stock.”
Young, described as a “real renaissance person” by his wife, has two teen-age stepchildren and a 3-year-old daughter.
“I think some of this (Flash writing) might be born out of him being baby crazy,” Holly said. “Being home all the time, he kind of put art on hold for the first three years of our daughter’s life… he made a New Year’s resolution to do more art this year.”
And he has.
Young has an exhibit of paintings — including “Rocket Boy,” a self-portrait of him blasting into the heavens above Grand Marais — at the Coho Cafe near Tofte. He recently wrote a script for the annual one-act plays production at the Arrowhead Center. Young even has a couple of punk-rock tunes composed for future Flash recordings.
“I’m the type of person that I work really hard on something and then I go on to another project,”
Young said. “So (Flash) keeps me interested because it’s got so many different facets. I can go
from writing the story to doing a stage thing.”
The computer-enhanced photos of Young’s vintage cars — on his Web site they create the illusion they’re buzzing planets — was a seed to the Flash Meridian concept. The idea gained momentum when he began art mentoring through the Grand Marais Art Colony.
“I started mentoring students and then I started mentoring a video class and this space thing has always been interesting to me. I mean, I remember the lunar landing on my ninth birthday.”
Young added, “We have a lot of really creative young people in Grand Marais. We don’t have a lot of distractions like movie theaters or bowling alleys or anything like that. And because we’re such an arts-oriented community the kids are more open to it.”
Crystal Weightless (Sarah Vaughn) begs classmate Celeste Vela (Heather Anderson) to take her to Earth in an episode of Flash Meridian. The two girls set out on a cosmic road trip in Vela’s spaceship (actually a 1961 Plymouth Valiant).
Another teen-turned-space trooper is Sarah Vaughn, a sophomore at Cook County High School. Vaughn plays Crystal Weightless, a restless student-in-space with a bad-girl streak, and her do-gooder twin sister, Gravity.
“I like Crystal. She’s really fun,” Vaughan said. “I suppose people might think this is some strange comic book with no emotional value to it. But it’s just really fun.”
photo by Derek Neas, News Tribune . . . photo by Timouth
Young takes a photo of Sarah Vaughn (back left) and his stepdaughter, Heather Anderson, for the Flash Meridian Web site. Rocky formations along Lake Superior often are used for the shoots, which are computer-enhanced to resemble Martian landscapes.
A humorous orbit
Young is a fan of old sci-fi movies and the ’60s TV sitcom “Lost in Space,” and it shows.
“We had this naive idea that by the year 2000 everyone was going to have a flying car,” Young said.
He’s got flying cars all right. It’s just that they’re ’56 pickups and ’62 wagons. Radio transmitters? They look curiously like cell phones.
“I like to tie in that retro thing with the whole naive retro-futuristic view of what space travel was going to be like.”
The Flash stories are campy — and they’re meant to be.
“If I tried to make this really serious, it would be really dumb,” he said. “… A lot of the things you just have to suspend your disbelief and say OK, well how is Ash Lander flying around without oxygen? He’s got a motorcycle helmet on. That’s when I say it’s fiction.”
But it’s not schlocky. The writing is smart, yet outlandish.
“It’s really weird but when I’m writing, every single one of the characters in a way is autobiographical because I just have to think like that person,” Young said.
So in a day, the cyber-author can go from thinking like robotic droid Nebula X, to bounty hunter Sgt. Snowpants, to space playboy P.J. Raygun to bored government office worker Bertha (on whose street, incidentally, time-warp pioneer Flash finally lands, in the year 1961). Vaughn, who collaborates with Young on storylines for her twin characters, said of the Flash Meridian series, “It’s humorous with a serious side to it. I think that’s what makes it funny.”
Major Sly Wormhole (Justin Chase) contemplates his next dastardly deed in a scene from a Flash Meridian online episode. Chase, who will attend Fond du Lac Tribal Community College in Cloquet this fall, said he was chosen to portray the villainous Wormhole because I look bad, apparently.
It’s been an equally enjoyable diversion for Justin Chase, who’s headed to college at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College in Cloquet this fall. Chase said he likes being able to tell folks he’s an “actor/model” on the Internet — albeit a Wormhole.
“It’s a lot of fun, dressing up in space clothes and driving around town. It’s kind of crazy.”
Indeed, who would have thought that a ’62 Chrysler New Yorker was capable of interplanetary travel?
As for the next incarnation of the Flash series — Young is also toying with music videos — possibilities are as endless as the plot lines for our hero in space.
All this far-out enterprise begs the question: Who exactly does Mrs. Meridian…er…Young wake up to each morning?
“You know, my husband’s an artist, so I just roll with it,” Holly said. “This is just one of (his ideas) and sometimes he just dresses flashy. He puts on his space pants and a tank top and goes to work. He’s pretty hilarious. Life is not dull around our house, that’s for sure.”
Chris Casey covers arts and entertainment. He can be reached weekdays at (218) 720-4109 orby e-mail at ccasey@duluthnews.com
Cook County Star, Vol. 1 No. 44 – August 7, 2000
Space man visits Grand Marais Library
Greetings fellow Earthlings! The Grand Marais Library summer reading program, Cosmic Connections had an interesting visitor last week – a real space man!
The summer reading program at the Grand Marais Public Library is titled Cosmic Connections. In keeping with that theme, young readers were treated to story time with a space-suited Flash Meridian on July 27 and August 1.
Flash Meridian is actually local artist, Tim Young. Young is probably best known for his local artwork – the mural at the Bluewater Cafe, the coffee angel at Cuppa Diem and a recent exhibition at the Arrowhead Center from the Arts. However, his lifetime fascination with outerspace is gaining him an audience of sci-fi fans.
Young and a group of friends have created a web site based on a sci-fi fantasy world. Characters such as Ash Lander, Major Sly Wormhole, android Nebula X, and of course, the library’s friend, Flash travel the galaxy at www.timouth.com/space.
Young had fun with the young reading group, asking them if they believed he was a real space man. The children weren’t sure, so he asked them if they wanted to know what planet he was from. When he told them he was from the planet Earth, a few of the kids started to believe. When he asked what planet they lived on, a few more figured out, until they all realized that they were all space people
As for the reading selection – Flash read traditional earth tales – The Poky Little Puppy and Dr. Seuss’ Happy Birthday to You.
The library summer reading program ends August 11, with a special Kids’ Stuff program with ventriloquist Nancy Baldrica on Friday, August 11 at 11:00 a.m. at the Bridh Grove Center in Tofte; 3:00 p.m. at the Gitchi Onigaming Center in Grand Portage and 7:00 p.m. in Grand Marais in the Bandroom in the Arrowhead Center for the Arts. The event is free, thanks to the Grand Marais Public Library and the Arrowhead Library System and open to everyone.
PAINTINGS AT THE COHO CAFE
Tim Young’s paintings are currently on display at the Coho Cafe
Art Colony and Grand Marais Playhouse present the ART LINK LETTER. Volume 3, No. 7, July 2000
Cook County Star, No. 41- June 17, 2000
GONG SHOW AND GREEK THEATRE
click here to see more pictures of Flash Meridian in the Gong Show.
Cook County News-Herald, Vol.110, No. 12 – July 10, 2000
Tim Young impresses the crowd during the Grand Marais parade.
WTIP NORTH SHORE RADIO – Daily Programming Date: Thu, 06 Jul 2000 09:29:23 -0500
From: mailto:”wtip@boreal.org”>wtip@boreal.org THURSDAY JULY 6, 2000 9:00 AM – John Maiers hosts this fact-filled morning show. Tim Young, AKA Flash Meridan, discusses his Internet comic book stories and recently released CD.
Cook County Star, No. 38- June 26, 2000
LOCAL SCI-FI GOES OUT TO THE WORLD
By Shem Falter
Live from the web! It’s Flash Meridian – sometimes known as mild-mannered earthling, Tim Young. Flash is Young’s alter-ego on the virtual comic strip he has designed. See it at www.timouth.com/space!
What do Flash Meridian hurtling through space, Ash Lander and Krate Azimuth battling Major Sly Wormhole, and Crystal Weightless and P.J. Raygun struggling with android Nebula X, all have in common? Nothing short of all being a part of artist Tim Young’s new Slack Action Production website, FLASH MERIDIAN.
The original idea came about during an Arts Mentor film project a couple years ago when Young made a character of himself as ROCKET BOY flying through space.
Friend, Kim Storm, suggested to him that he should really do something with this space thing.
Then a couple of months ago, Young sat around for a night, making up funny space lines and words with friend-turned-character Sarah Vaughn, and the ONLINE COMIC BOOK idea whas born.
Now 15 episode – more soon – fantasy/science-fiction series has been a combined effort of Young’s script and production, a group of actor/models from the area who serve as the characters, and a ever expanding set of unique SPACE CLOTHES from Young’s own closet.
We look around for clothes that look like they would be worn in space, but much of the time chrome spray paint is the answer says Young.
The story is actually a group of stories, the first involving Ash Lander [Jeremy Chase] and Krate Azimuth [Josh Rice] and their attempt to rescue star, Flash Meridian [Tim Young] from his drift in space. They run into trouble in the form of Major Sly Wormhole [Justin Chase] and the classic good vs. evil battle begins. During his time in space, Flash is forced to confront his own demons as well as his angel, Hollygram [wife, Holly Young].
The second story revolves around Sarah Vaughn’s double role as Crystal and Gravity weightless and the problems they run into after activating android Nebula X [Tricia Elfvin] and dumping her off on exterminator P. J. Raygun [Paul Ramey].
Young expects the stories to interlock at a later date with some help from other cast members, Sgt. Snowpants [Rain Elfvin], Dock Galaxy [Ben Cervenka] and Warrior Woman [Kim Storm].
Young admits much of the time we just take the pictures and let them develop the story. I figure there must be something in my mind when I take the pictures. Young then manipulates the photos on his computer and the future is born.
From there, Young waits for his inspiration an then sits down with his big, red book to let the story unfold. Young says, I got many of the ideas from old 50’s and 60’s pre-NASA books and movies. I really appreciate the Austin Powers/Doctor Evil futuristic feel.
Set in the year 2104, the 35 year old Flash Meridian was born 100 years after the original moon landing on July 20, 2069. Young was also born on July 20 [1960] and has big plans for this year’s celebration, including a possible time warp to the 60’s where Flash may end up involved with that original space program.
The cast members have to create their own version of what 2104 will hold. Young admits you can make it however you want, like many of the old stories Young read which expected Earth residents to be deep in space by now.
Young’s space look is a blend of old and new with a perfect example being his 1962 Chrysler New Yorker Wagon [production only 728], which doubles as his Trans-Neptunian Interloper in the series.
The website is growing and becoming more popular all the time with a reported 50-100 hits a day coming in from around the world.
A fan site has even sprung up with new Playhouse intern Marty Barnier keeping up on the action in the coolest freaking fan site on the internet.
Young says he really enjoys the project because of the wide variety of concepts including theatre, writing, visual arts, design and computer manipulation.
He someday hopes to take the series to other mediums such as film, stage, comic strips or radio drama. Also, watch out for the new Flash Meridian T-shirts and even soundtrack filled with original local music.
But all that aside, Young says, I would be happy to just set everything else aside for awhile and just be Flash. So take a trip around the solar system and join the fun with Flash Meridian.
Flash Meridian is lost and drifting through space. Will he ever find his way back to Earth and the life he left? Tune in at www.timouth.com/space to find out
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