For some reason this guy kept refusing even to consider drawing a caricature of Wagner. (Maybe he has more respect than we do....) He'd just throw his head back, laugh, and repeat, "I can't...I can't," over and over. (We should have such shame!)

We kept pestering him, though, every time we walked by. Finally, we came by when he was in the john. Never ones to refuse to capitalize on weakness, we took the opportunity of his absence to enlist his street vendor neighbors in our cause. Was it persistence or peer pressure that got through to him at last? Who can tell? Who cares?

"I see your game," he said when he returned. "Yer gonna bug my ass till I draw yer statue. Am I right?"

He was.

And he did a great job. (Especially when you consider the price: only two bucks!)

I KNOW you want a closer look at this one. (relax--it's only 32k)