My ini­tial fas­ci­na­tion with want­ing to exper­i­ment with clay­ma­tion began with the infa­mous clay ani­mated series, Wal­lace and Gromit by Nick Park. I remem­ber see­ing it for the first time at Spike and Mike’s Ani­ma­tion Fes­ti­val in down­town River­side, California.

Accord­ing to Spike and Mike Online, Mel­low Manor Pro­duc­tions, Inc. was formed by pro­claimed hip­pies Mike Grib­ble and Craig “Spike” Decker (infa­mously known as the duo Spike & Mike). Their pro­duc­tion com­pany was aptly named after the famed Vic­to­rian House that resides as a his­tor­i­cal land­mark in River­side, California.

The orig­i­nal pur­pose of MM Pro­duc­tions was to sup­port and pro­mote under­ground bands with ani­mated shorts. Even­tu­ally their love for ani­mated shorts blos­somed into full-time posi­tions look­ing for the next lat­est and great­est tal­ent in the indus­try. After receiv­ing shorts from the likes of Nick Park, Tim Bur­ton and a hand­ful of other ani­ma­tors, Spike and Mike cul­ti­vated an ani­ma­tion fes­ti­val called “Spike and Mike’s Twisted Ani­ma­tion Festival”.

It was the home to oth­er­wise repul­sive and adult in nature car­toons and spawned the birth of a lit­tle known duo called Beavis and Butthead. Accord­ing to the site, Spike and Mike served as exec­u­tive pro­duc­ers for B&B long before the char­ac­ters gained a cult fol­low­ing on MTV and intro­duced South Park as well.

To say the show was “fun” would be not say­ing enough. In fact in all of the times my fam­ily and I attended the show­ings of Spike and Mike’s Ani­ma­tion Fes­ti­val I can tell you that not only was it fas­ci­nat­ing watch­ing the shorts (which were edgy at the time) but the “pre-show” was just as fun. I can remem­ber Mike Grib­ble toss­ing a foot­ball around with atten­dees lined up for the next showing.

Before the show began Mike would bring out the infa­mous con­cert beach­ball. Watch­ing the ball bounce and float across the crowd was awe­some and if you hap­pened to get the chance to hit the ball you felt like you were a part of some­thing grand. With­out Mike Grib­ble there to intro­duce the show and enter­tain the guests I can hon­estly say it wouldn’t have been the same.

To think that two for­mer hip­pies from River­side, Cal­i­for­nia formed a sim­ple ani­ma­tion fes­ti­val that even­tu­ally grew into an eagerly antic­i­pated event is an achieve­ment that deserves recognition.

Sadly in 1994, Mike Grib­ble, at the age of 40, died of pan­cre­atic can­cer leav­ing behind a legacy that I will always remember.

For all of you trivia buffs; Dale Gribble’s (the char­ac­ter from King of the Hill) last name pays homage to the late Mike Gribble.