Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
To John Ross:
      Are you the "Rebellion From The Roots" John Ross? 
  

    
Paul, and y'all, check this out!  It's a smaller world, after all.

I was just next door visiting topic 166, Howard Rheingold, Smart Mobs,
went to look at www.smartmobs.com/ and clicked into the intriguing
topic title:
"Sousveillance: Wearable Counter-Surveillance"
                  (www.smartmobs.com/archives/000406.html)
"... an alternative framework would be to build a stable system to
begin with, e.g. a system that is self-balancing. Such a society may be
built with sousveillance (inverse surveillance) as a way to balance
the increasing (and increasingly one-sided) surveillance." 

Once there, scrolling down, I found this gem:
 
"you gotta love this

 http://cryptome.org/tia-eyeball.htm     [go check this out!]

The SF Weekly's column by Matt Smith in the Dec 3 issue points out
that there may be some information that John M. and Linda Poindexter of
10 Barrington Fare, Rockville, MD, 20850, may be missing in their
pursuit of total information awareness. He suggests that people with
information to offer should phone +1 301 424 6613 to speak with that
corrupt official and his wife. Neighbors Thomas E. Maxwell, 67, at 8
Barringon Fare (+1 301 251 1326), James F. Galvin, 56, at 12 (+1 301
424 0089), and Sherrill V. Stant (nee Knight) at 6, may also lack some
information that would be valuable to them in making decisions
--decisions that could affect the basic civil rights of every American.


Posted by: rur42 on December 10, 2002 07:50 AM" 
  

    
Yes, that's,

"Total Information Awareness Demonstration for Poindexter" 

at http://cryptome.org/tia-eyeball.htm

and,

"Calling All Yahoos!  
Worried about what John Poindexter's up to as federal 
information czar? Call his home number and ask." 

at http://sfweekly.com/issues/2002-11-27/smith.html/1/index.html
  

    
Wow. I grew up in Plainfield, Vermont (home of Goddard College). I
don't believe I attended the Alternative Media Conference, being only
two years old at the time, but having read the above reminiscences I'm
thinking it's possible some of my younger friends were conceived
there.
  

    
#176: No, that's not me.
  

    
     As interlocuter, I've allowed a slack-off in Krassstock. 
Therefore, I'll ask a question and hope this kicks off a thread.
      Paulsie, you've been friends with some of the 20th century's
heavyweights: Ginsberg, Kesey, Abbie, Terry Southern, Lenny, Garcia and
known dozens more.  Of the famous folk you've known in your life,
which ones impressed you the most and why?
  

    
It wasn't that they were famous, it was their dedicated passion for
life and justice and creativity and spontaneity and responsibility, all
taking different revolutionary paths, whether it was Abbie Hoffman
along a political path or Ken Kesey and Terry Southern along literary
paths or Dick Gregory and Lenny Bruce along comedic paths, or Mae
Brussell along a conspiracy research path, of Allen Ginsberg along gay
and poetic paths or Tim Leary along a psychedelic path, or Margo St.
James along a prostitute organizing path or Ram Dass along a spiritual
path or Phil Ochs and Jerry Garcia along musical paths.  I think I miss
Kesey the most, not so much for becoming a countercultural pioneer via
the bus Furthur and the Merry Pranksters, but for the private time we
spent together, his humor and morality and gentle humanity.  I've been
extremely fortunate to share the energy of these folks without the
barrier of their iconic images.
  

    
P.S. I forgot to mention Wavy Gravy, who is a force of nature
underneath his clown make-up.  But it feels like I'm dropping names
here, because there are countless invididuals I''e met whose names may
not be famous but who have excercised the same qualities and charisma
of the folks Mikey listed.
  

    

Okay, I have a really sick question for Mr. K.

Who was it who came up with the idea of Jackie finding LBJ thrusting his
throbbing member into JFK's neck wound on AF One and screaming, "OH MY GOD!
NECK-RO-PHILIA!"  You or Southern?  Because that was pretty sick.
  

    

And I don't think of you and the people Munz asks about as "name-dropping."
You guys were/are all heroes (not all of you have survived) like the first
wave of Marines at Tarawa.  You established the beach head for the years to
come.  MORE!
  

    
Actually, Jack inspired an interesting question here, Paul:

Who do you see coming up who are fit to at least try on the shoes of
those in that "name dropping" list? 
  

    

As as an attorney, I object to form.  Could you rephrase the question?
  

    <scribbled by jonl Sat 14 Dec 02 11:11>
  

    
Objection overruled! The witness may answer the question!
  

    

You goddamned judges never sustain my objections.  Okay, hold me in
contempt, throw me in the pokey overnight, been there before.
  

    
The question wasn't directed at you, Jack.
It's a great question, and I'd love to hear Paul's response to it.

Also: it's not name-dropping if they're your peers and friends.
  

    
No, we'll just handcuff you while Paul comes up with the worst joke
he's heard in the last couple of weeks. Then we'll let you go.

Corrective slippage by Herr Gans. 
  

    

I object as to form!

I want to hear the answer as much as anybody.  I just want a more
comprehensible question for the dummies like me.
  

    
I'm glad you ammended your list, since I grew up in Tujunga when the
Hog Farm was there. What a lifesaver for a despairing teenager. I
swear, you and Wavy saved my life, Paul! 

Now, back to the questions at hand...
  

    
Jack--I was writing The Parts Left Out of the Kennedy Book, not
knowing where it was heading, when Marvin Garson, the brilliant editor
of a San Francisco underground paper, called and read a four-page
scenario, which I boiled down to one paragraph and er uh inserted it,
where  it organically fit, into the manuscript I was working on.  I
gave him credit in the next issue, and he was mad because it was scary
and he wanted to remain anonymous.  Terry Southern had nothing to do
with this.  He called and wanted to write something about  the
censorship by Jackie & Bobby Kennedy of William Manchester's book, but
I told him I already had something and told  him what it was about.  He
then proceeded to write the short story to which you refer.  Just
today I received a letter from my brother, who was involved in space
communications projects.  He enclosed a letter to him from Arthur C.
Clarke in 1969: Here's an excerpt: "Personally, I take a very dim view
of Paul.  I've often enjoyed The Realist, but was disgusted by his
story about LBJ fuckng JFK's body--it was just witless nastiness..."
  

    
captward: names to drop today...hmmm...the interesting thing is I know
of organizations  like United for Peace, but I don't know the names of
their leaders...which is, partly because of the Internet, Yippie type
tricks for attention, in order to manipulate the media into providing
free publicity and organizing, aren't that necessary...and that's just
one aspect of the culture...it's a good question but my mind is blank
at the moment...it would be more productive if WELL participants were
to suggest names.
  

    
let's see, the worst joke I've heard...well, since reality outshines a
structured joke as such, it would  have to be Bush appointing
Kissinger as a fact-finder...and the coda is that Kissinger has quit
and is going to live in sin with fellow resignee Cardinal Law.
  

    
Okay, I guess Jack was right, my question must have been confusing. 

The list was people like Kesey, Ginsberg, Lenny Bruce, et. al., and my
question about who's fit to wear their shoes these days was more
towards the edgy culture and entertainment aspects rather than
politics, which, yes, usually actually gets done by anonymous people. 
  

    
I suppose Jon Stewart on the Daily Show has an edge, but although 
he's a talented comedian, he's an awful interviewer, and always covers 
his mouth when he laughs as if he's embarrassed by cigarette breath.  
  

    
      The Diggers -- Peter Berg, Coyote, Grogan, etc. -- were angry at
the Yippies for becoming media figures, arguing that anonymity was
revoltionary and Hoffman, etc., were media hounds.  
       But Ed asks about young(er) people.  I think of Zack de la
Rocha -- political but also a singer/man of the word.  Naomi Klein,
author of NO LOGO.  But it's true that the current counterculture is
closer to the Diggers' original concept of stealth (from the media)
lives.  I'Ve met some extraordinary people under 30 in the global
justice movement, but they purposely do not seek out the media.  I'm
not sure that this strategy is a good idea, by the way, since most
Americans get their news from TV, you're effectively shutting yourself
out from the mainstream.
      As far as current, countercultural artists, writers, etc.,
they're to be found in zines, on the internet, in small temporary
autonompus zones.  I'm going to a an art opening/rock concert/party
tonight thrown by local L.A. anarcho artists.  Who are their leaders? 
They don't have leaders.