With Tuesday's news that Robert "Prince Mongo" Hodges' uniquely decorated home in Florida was being "cleaned up" with the help of heavy equipment hired by the Volusia County government, let's have a look at what one local scribe has to say about Memphis' longtime provocateur, sometime entrepreneur and oftentime political candidate. Writes Mark Lane of The Daytona Beach News-Journal:Florida has a long tradition of people moving here and creating their own little worlds.
Our state is dotted with sculpture gardens, Tiki temples, castles made out of concrete and coral, bizarre architecture (both personal and commercial), junkyard creations, antic exterior paint experiments and monuments gone horribly wrong.
Add to this lineup the Wilbur-by-the-Sea dwelling of Prince Mongo, known to the people of Earth as Robert Hodges.
But Mongo/Hodges is no lone or reclusive eccentric. He's a provocateur who has enraged neighbors from Memphis, Tenn., to Fort Lauderdale with the weird stuff he's done to his homes.
It's like this is his job, his calling, a kind of performance art.
Sounds about right. Then there's this little snapper:
Although Mongo/Hodges claims to be prince of the planet Zambodia, other sources maintain he's a lowly sub-prefect of the planet Thoraz 3, a dinky swamp world near Proxima Centuri.
Floridians are all too familiar with people who show up here in summer and tell us how important they are back home.
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