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Some local artist is mad that some other local artist won’t pay him $2,000…

2:05 PM EDT on May 17, 2016

Tanner Frady Rick sinnett

Unless it involves a car dealership using deceptive advertising practices and media payoffs (a.k.a. advertising) to rip off consumers, or a simple warning to the public about a con artist who uses a sad story about pantyhose and car belts to pull at the heartstrings of intelligent and experienced people, I try to avoid investigative reports into alleged scams and con artists that don't involve politics or the Real Housewives of Oklahoma City.

Okay, I'm just kidding... kind of.

Investigative reporting on scams, flakes, bad people, etc, is my least favorite thing about being an obscure local social blogger. First of all, we have plenty of In Your Corners, Consumer Watches and Fireside Chats with Phil Cross to cover that beat. Second, that type of reporting usually involves actual reporting. It takes time and effort, which means it's way too time-consuming and boring for an impatient lazy person like me. It's much easier to piggyback on someone else's reporting and then share your opinion on it rather than to do all the work on your own.

Knowing all that, imagine how disappointed I was to learn that not one local media outlet has covered the recent beef between local professional sign maker Tanner Frady (pictured left) and local professional muralist and Foo Fighters drummer Rick Sinnett (pictured right). It's straight from the pages of "As The Local Hipster Art Scene Turns."

Tanner is claiming that Rick, a former Wayne Coyne groupie and the Paseo's 2015 artist of the year, owes him $2,000 in back pay for helping paint that weird ass psychedelic mural at Rocktown. Instead of choosing a court of law to express his displeasure and attempt to get paid, Tanner went with a much more affordable option – the court of public opinion and Facebook shaming.

Check out this Facebook diatribe he posted last week. It's been shared nearly 200 times:

tanner frady facebook post

Seriously, how has the local media not covered this? I know it doesn't involve an elderly couple being scammed by a tree trimmer, but it seems right up Channel 4's or Channel 9's alley. We're talking $2,000 here! At the very least, they could get some colorful stock photography of weird ass murals out of the deal. Who knows, maybe they were too busy covering Kevin Durant's heroism.

A few days after his post made the rounds, Tanner posted this update:

Screen Shot 2016-05-17 at 12.24.25 PM

I have an idea. If Tanner really wants to get back the "two grand" that he claims he's owed, perhaps he should hire Aaron Tuttle's attorney and file a wage dispute claim with the Department of Labor instead of whining about it on Facebook. Also, maybe he should Google a person's name before doing work with them. If so, he would come across gems things like this:

Wow. Rick Sinnett was once called out by Wayne Coyne for being a "rip-off who preys on the art community." I have no clue if Wayne's claims are true, but that's a pretty serious accusation coming from a once brilliant musician turned old creeper who now spends his days and nights riding Miley Cyrus' coattails with all his schweddy fwiends.

Anyway, I played the role of serious journalist and sent both Tanner and Rick a Facebook message to see if they had any comment or something to add about the story. Neither replied.

Screen Shot 2016-05-17 at 1.29.56 PM

The radio silence makes me wonder if this is some big ruse by a couple of starving artists who are looking to get some attention. To see if that's the case, I think we should settle this beef the old fashioned way – Trial By Combat. It would be great. Simply put these two high up on scaffolding connected to a grain silo, arm them with a couple of paintbrushes, and then let the art gods decide who's guilty and who's innocent. I bet the local media would cover that!

Or maybe Rick should pay Tanner $2,000 and be done with it.

Anyway, I guess we'll follow this kind of pointless, "I already had 400 word written so I figured I should finish it" investigative news story and let you know if there are any updates. Also, if any other local media organization now wants to piggy back on it, feel free.

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