Motley Blog

Two things made my name right from the start as a 'red-shirt' freshman at the 1200 student liberal arts residential campus of Hampshire College. First was getting Hepatitis, contracted on a Mexico trip, within about a week of starting. I'd had sex the first night at school, and boy, I'll tell you, she wasn't happy - and rightly so. Thanks to an alert college nurse about 75 people got shots and no one contracted it.

Second thing was a bit of artistic writing, a fake suicide note (which I thankfully photocopied) posted on my dorm room door prior to leaving for the weekend. The Dean of Students was pretty steamed, was on probation for the year, though technically I'm not sure he had cause. No big deal, or so I thought.

As I recall it was the Brandeis place on the Cape via a second cousin - though I'd best check on that before dropping Supreme names. John Mitchell might recall better than I.

Two more great stories from that year, one more I'll tell here. See also this one.

From the 1984 April Fool's Edition of the Hampshire College paper.

I tried to post a claim on Wikipedia for inventing the Rave. It survived an initial challenge but later would be pulled down. The production group operated under the name 'Deviant DoubleSpeak', aka the Doctors of Dental Science, DDS. Several events were attempted, only one was funded, 'SpringFire, a Bachnalian Firefest'. The general idea was 'participatory entertainment' with volunteer 'actors' mingling with the crowd with a very loose impromptu oriented 'script'.

Raves are implicitly associated with the drug Ectasy. This event didn't have that connection, however it was within a year or two of when it first started showing up on that Campus, likely one of the first. I think the claim to being the first Rave has some relevance as part of a tradition of partying that includes the Grateful Dead and Warhol type loft events. I actually have never tried that particular drug, a minor regret.

The best evidence of this connection likely comes from an even more memorable event a year later closely following the themes of this one, organized by a participant.

View image

FWIW, I don't think this was the proposal that was funded. I do believe this group did an event themselves, a bit more arts oriented, in the same theme. Very well done.

BTW, Phil and I would probably make a pretty good director/producer team, should anyone have the backing.

Below is the AP story about a tragic incident at my Alma Mater, Hampshire College, a protest suicide on closed circuit campus TV. I had never met Mr. Hermann, but the rest of the cast and crew were all friends, a de facto artist collaborative, if you will. The group is best known for the roots grunge band 'Supreme Dicks'. I was the 'manager' of said group - as much for fun as anything, but I did do one good event for the group (co-organized with Phil Jackson, the show's production manager). NYC marketeer John Mitchell would later make a similar effort, even booking them on a short European tour.

Though the tape of the incident was sought after by the 'Faces of Death' folks it was confiscated, under threat, by the Campus Administration. I don't know if my experience at Hampshire was listed in Mr. Hermann's speech, but it was certainly part of the general problem.

FWIW I'd guess the tape does still exist somewhere.

Here's the poster for the memorial for Andrew, modeled after that same event Phil and I co-produced. See also this story.

This is a picture of me from early spring, 1985. Like the recent Evergreen riots in Olympia a party resulted in some anti-police action. In this case a cruiser didn't get rolled and burned, rather just 'keyed' - scratching a paint job with a set of keys.

Standing next to me is John B. Mitchell, a great friend.

In hindsight, I have to wonder if the on-campus, unarmed, security force blamed me for that. Not the case, though I was certainly known to play a prank or two.

This posting marks the start of some biographical and portfolio items - these will be filed by original date, so won't show up on the home page. They all can be accessed easily from the Biography/Portfolio Category page.

Jean Enersen and Jeff Renner, on the occassion of the last J.P. Patches show.

(speculation only)

Knute "Skip" Berger, writing for Crosscut recently made the comment that he was a teetotaler in the context of commenting on the State Democratic Convention, I speculate that Mr. Berger has smoked Marijuana in his life, and that his current status as a near teetotaler is not uncommon among the more intelligent of marijuana users.

Mr. Berger is a graduate of the elite Lakeside Highschool, and as such a speculation following the theme of this category:

Skip Berger and Peter Steinbrueck, 'skipping' sophmore algebra!

Another 'speculation' from Lakeside High:

Bill Gates and Paul Allen, after Gates was rejected by a girl looking curiously like Melinda Gates...

This isn't a great photo, but it is a timely one, if you note the odometer reading. The moment was a great one, that's the Malheur River just above the Seattle Commercial Parking Permit and my old Renton (41st Legislative District) apartment parking permit. The sunset was spectacular, the right mix of clouds, and yes, sun.

This is near the Vale/Ontario area on the Idaho border, the start of what they are now calling the 'Oregon Outback'. I'd spent the day driving up from Utah, much of it on dirt roads through the Jarbridge/Bruneau areas and the headwaters of the Owyhee river, a rather sublime spot. The area has the reputation of being isolated, and that I can confirm. The dirt roads however are still quite good, at least in dry conditions.

I spent the night at a campground not too far upstream from here, near the beautiful town of Junturas. Though the mosquitos were hellish, the spot was otherwise quite nice.

My four week trip, in part exploring relocation, was coming to an end, a good one. From a slow simmer in SW Colorado, to the full heat of the Great Basin desert, to the cool green of Oregon it had been a western odyssey of personal significance. Capping things off with a traditional Fourth of July visit with Bro and his kids was great.

On that final day coming home, I came back through Tillamook, crossing over to Longview, via the Wilson River and the Trumanesque/Harley Destination of Vernonia, outside of Portland.

I knew a girl from Tillamook once. She tells a story of a life after death experience, crashing into the Devils Fork of the Wilson River, returning from a High School trip to Portland. It was an event that meant a lot to her, and I think I knew her well enough to be able to plug into at least a small portion of that experience. Call it empathy, call it what you will, but it was certainly something.

My particular travels had never taken me down that particular stretch of road, but as a whitewater guy with several Oregon first descents to my credit it was a river definitely on my list. Like all of the Coast Range rivers the Wilson is a rainfall driven creature, and this was not the time to paddle. But I do think I was able indulge myself a bit healthily in making a guess as to the spot.

Not exactly Freudian, but heck, he was a crack head, at least later... I wonder what Mom's opinion would be... :-)

A bit of speculation, for fun and perhaps a bit of enlightenment, a comparison of Bush and Clinton during their College years at the same institution, Yale University in the Connecticut river valley.

Although both got their undergraduate degrees in 1968, Clinton did not arrive at Yale until 1970, for his Law Degree - after his Rhodes Scholarship. The Washington Post biography of George W. cites 1968, Bush's senior year, as a notable transitional political year at Yale, as it was also for the Country as a whole.

I've done a quick google review of both men's record at Yale, but before I get to the facts let's start with some assumptions I had before starting to write this piece.

Eating Raoul

Directed by Paul Bartel

Written by Paul Bartel, with Richard Blackburn

1982

Imagine the Wine aficionado couple from the recent movie 'Sideways' (Paul Giamatti and Virginia Madsen) ten years later and you have the start of this movie.

Then put on your bell bottoms and other 'inspired' items from the 1970's, light up some Thai Stick and get ready to swing baby! Or, if you prefer, a glass of Pinot Noir or a Fume Blanc!

FWIW Giamatti and Madsen could probably put together a pretty mean Country Restaraunt, but I'd hope they treated the help better than Bartel and his screen wife.

Like a wave crashing on the Southern California shore suburban America spread inland from the western US coast starting in the 1950's.

I was born in that wave, at the crest of another wave in the history of America, call it John Kennedy's Camelot, of the early 1960's. It has been said that as goes California so goes the nation, and our family was much a part of that.

As you know, southern California was once under Spainish rule, and the last remnants of that were the citrus groves of 'Orange' County and surrounding areas, just to the south of LA. This county is the conservative balance point to weat Hollywood and it's global influence. It is where John Wayne died with 50 pounds of 'stuff' in his colon.

My elementary school, in Yorba Linda, was built on the site of Richard Nixon's family Lemon Grove. The trees were gone, but the modest family house remained, housing the school's custodian.

The British Economist John Maynard Keynes reshaped the world with his theories of government infrastructure stimulus during the Great Depression. This blog entry is about Keseyian Economics - a bit of randomness inspired by a typo in a comment on a good piece on the current election in Seattle based Crosscut.

Economics according to Ken Kesey would be a very different thing - however one could certainly imagine both of his major novels - 'Sometimes a Great Notion' or 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' - being rewritten for a Wall Street setting.... :-)

FWIW, Kesey's brother continued in the family Dairy business starting Nancy's Yogurt - far superior to ANY other mass produced product, save that from Trader Joe's (and I'd not be surprised if Nancy's manufactures that). This continues a proud tradition of Oregon dairymen, including those of the Tillamook area on the Oregon Coast.

(I usually buy mine at Fred Meyer's, a chain founded in Portland, now under national Corporate ownership.)

Your City's baby boomer power couple's marriage is based not on love, but power. This is power based on hate that advances itself by putting others down, it is a marriage made not in love and heaven but in hell for profit at the expense of others.

Local couples include Judy and Jon Runstad, Barbara Linde and Greg Canova, and perhaps Mayor Nickels and his wife, though I'm not sure about that one.

New York City vs. Washington D.C.

Ten business days from now, April 5, Microsoft will be holding a virtual 'special' olympics on the servers of the MS network. (The 'real' event was originally founded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Schwarnegger's Mother In Law, on the proposal of a Chicago Educator)

**Please note - ridicule of this particular brand of abusive degenerate is not only allowed, but encouraged. Boos will suffice, but if you have personally had your life endangered by these individuals all restraints are removed, per the US Constitution.

Nick - els n., prop. Mayor of Seattle during the period leading up to the economic crash of September 2008, symbolizing the corrupt elitism that overtook his City and its role in setting these standards and techniques on a national basis.
n. 1. Homeless camps of the era, 'Nickelsville'. 2.A metaphor for relative poverty among the average American of the time, as in the people had only nickels.

Nim-by acronym; Not In My Back Yard n. A perjorative stereotype with some basis in reality but more often used by those unable to communicate outside of the controlled confines of a public or private corporation - nor able to design a project worthy of survival outside of same. (Ed Note:Abusive behavior does occur in neighborhood groups, curiously though it is most often public servants, usually acting outside of their lower middle roles that do so. The other common type is a victim seeking revenge, rightfully or wrongfully. Note also rhymes with Quimby, a synonym for 'N' word #2, 'Nickels')

From Tooley Street in London comes this curiously relevant story about a government (the burough) rejecting its own building permit for failing to complete a transportation component.

For the deeper meaning of this, see the story on Tacoma's own efforts at drafting just such regulations.

Dan Satterberg, prosecutor for King County Washington, and Rainn Wilson, the actor playing Dwight Shrute on NBC's 'The Office' are both from suburban Seattle. This blog piece irresponsibly speculates on a shared parentage, given the very close physical resemblance.

That's a nice professional picture of Rainn Wilson. Kinda looks like he could be the prosecutor for the nation's 12th largest County, right?

Compare to this somewhat embarassing 'backyard' shot of the real King County Prosecutor, Dan Satterberg.

For more Halloween fun, consider this advice from Satterberg, er, Rainn. (I'd better get this one right!)

Don't Follow Me I'm Lost

by Richard Rushfield

2009

At the height of the Reagan revolution author Richard Rushfield chose to attend the most prestigious radical institution of higher learning, Hampshire College. This book is his story, and the story of the allied group of artists, producers and marketers that was the Supreme Dicks. It was a coming of age in a moment of political and artistic zen, the time between punk and grunge in the musical world.

The Supreme Dicks were the sperm that fertilized the egg that would become the Universe of Nirvana, Sonic Youth, and Dinosaur Jr, and, as a side project, create the first X fueled raves.

In this book RR skewers the pinnacles of the corrupt and hypocritical NE establishment with humor blending Sean Penn in 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' and Hunter S. Thompson. His words are filled with the freshness and perspective of a west coaster wandering free in the strict class society of the east coast.

Rushfield leaves the titans that used Hampshire College, and the Dicks, to forge the abusive corporate and political tool of Nifong political correctness sleeping under the bridge with recently released Priest pedophiles.

You however, will walk away laughing, with a buddha smile of enlightenment and individual empowerment that will carry you through whatever the bastards may throw your way.

Available at Amazon and other booksellers.

(A mea culpa: I was a friend of the group in its early days - I believe I was the one who started calling the civilian security force as a prank, a 'theme' that apparently persisted after my departure from the campus.)

The Vancouver Winter Olympics open tonight with snow and money stories, plus a smart ass red head.

Like many Western Ski areas Whistler's Intrawest development is struggling for lack of green, and proceeding through a Wall Street foreclosure, just as the games kick off. Talk about supporting the Olympic Spirit of amateur athletics!

Freestyle skiing and snowboarding are being hosted closer to Vancouver, at Cypress Mountain - where, curiously they have no snow..

Shaun White, the jaggeresque redheaded snow boarder is a good bet for plenty of US Gold, and should prove to be quite entertaining. Speculation will no doubt continue as to White's supply of green, certainly he is not hurting for the monetary kind.

FWIW, I do hear that semi-legal marijuana is openly available, and used, in Whistler. Personally I remember paddling the Class IV Capilano River **in** West Vancouver (located between Cypress Mountain and Grouse Mountain, hosting the Today show crew) high, only time I did so, with the Canadian National Whitewater Slalom Champ.

Quite memorable, that.

And a tip of the hat to Jon Stewart: