of people,” he said.  “I’ve been making balloon animals for kids in Cahuita who now have kids of their own.”

Another character is Tico Manley, a radical left wing hippie from the ‘60s who satirizes the culture and politics of the day and a role Lee said is the closest to characterizing his real self. 

In his years of performing he mastered the art of the whip, a skill which, along with his abilities as an entertainer earned him roles in two movies Young Guns with Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez and Brenda Starr with Brooke Shields, he said.

Lee said he believes that “with the gift comes obligation.” So he and two partners established Blue Moon in 1990, an artists colony near Alachua, Florida, to serve as a place for other artists to stay between jobs and to give them a place to rest from the road along with likeminded people.  Blue Moon boasts a 40-foot stage with lighting, a sound studio, cabins and campsites.

Now, his life revolves around his work at Blue Moon, his trips to Cahuita and writing poetry.  He wrote his first poem at the age of 23 but never saw it as a career.  “I always admired the people who could paint the pictures, sculpt the sculptures and such,” he said.

In fact, his son Jason teaches sculpture at Kent State University.  Daughter Jahmin works in a “Wall Street-type job.”  He laughs when he says, “She probably doesn’t tell people she was born in the back of a circus truck.”