Opinion

Let's honor Bill Hicks Houston's late comedian-philosopherdeserves to be memorialized with a statue.

Bill Hicks, a legend, truthsayer, shaman, philosopher and much more. Bill Hicks, a legend, truthsayer, shaman, philosopher and much more. Photo: handout cover scan Photo: handout cover scan Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Let's honor Bill Hicks 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

One of the downsides to living in a city built on oil and gas is that we have few celebrities. A local economy lacking in media companies, amid a landscape that can be underwhelming, doesn't attract all that many famous people. So when a local talent does hit it big, Houston usually exhibits a sense of civic pride beyond what you might see in other big cities.

On the other hand, our preoccupation with business also makes it easy to forget our once-hometown celebrities when they become famous. So when a figure remains on our minds long after he's gone, you have to admit that Houston had someone special.

Someone like the late comedian Bill Hicks.

So we are enthused to hear about a campaign by the Houston Free Press to commission Houston sculptor David Adickes to build a statue of Hicks, with a proposed location at Shepherd and San Felipe, near the defunct Comedy Workshop where Hicks first performed.

In a city filled with statues of important historical figures - Sam Houston, William Marsh Rice, George Bush - it is about time we commemorated someone who stood athwart history, providing important counterbalance in our city that at times embraces consumerist progress like a runaway train.

And whether you enjoy his routines or not, Hicks undeniably influenced the world of comedy in ways that can still be felt today.

The campaign is more than half way to its $70,000 goal, and we encourage fans of subversive comedy or public statuary to contribute to the fund at www.BillHicksStatue.com.

We're not sure if Hicks or his fans would appreciate words of praise from this establishment newspaper in our corporate city. But he had an impact not limited by a circle of fans, or his untimely death of pancreatic cancer in 1994 at age 32.

On their website for the campaign, the Free Press calls Hicks a "legend, truthsayer, shaman, philosopher, and many more."

We call him a Houstonian.