What is the name of the legendary voodoo blues man who shared the stage with a ciggie-smoking skull called Henry, sired as many children as Heinz has pickles, and wore an eyeball ring on his pinkie? Screamin’ Jay Hawkins is the only answer, of course.

 

But I know someone else who wears an eyeball ring. Phil X. Milstein has been wearing his for more than twenty years, since Screamin’ Jay first put a spell on him at a live concert.

 

photo by Anne Rearick

 

The best eyeball rings are made from real live prosthetic fake eyeballs. Although the prosthetics were once made of glass, they’re now made of acrylic, as Phil discovered some time ago when his first eyeball ring suffered a meltdown under a jeweler’s torch. I was lucky enough to travel with him to C’est Magnifique on MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village so he could buy a replacement. Click on the photo above to read up on this amazing shop.

 

In a case of bizarre synchronicity, when I told Phil I needed a picture of his eyeball ring for this piece, he went out and tripped over the eyeball eraser below. It was just lying on the sidewalk in front of his house. I think Screamin’ Jay must have thrown it there from beyond the grave. Click on it to read a great interview with the wild one himself.