Category: The Shaman’s Den (Page 9 of 9)

We have survived the first double-header of The Shaman’s Den Sunday…over 6 hours of conversation. And not superficial chitchat either! Both babes have lived rich lives committed to social change. And they came ready to delve deeply. In one way, this made my job easy. No pulling/dragging things out, no padding. But it was so intense! There was so much to cover! Christ, these two are heroes…and they are not done. Afterwards I was spiritually inspired, but physically fried!

And in Penny’s case, it is the beginning of a long relationship. I am not sure “beginning” is the right word. She said she and I are the same person in two [or more] bodies. If that is true, we will continue our old relationship!

JEN:

The first Shaman’s Den started and we were blown away by Marjorie Swan Edwin and her history as a peace activist. Her stories went back to WWI and she was in jail several times for standing up for her convictions. She was solid on her belief that peace could change the world, that non-violence would end war. She had a violent father and knew that this violence was being passed down from past generations. She wanted to stop that cycle so there were a couple of people in her childhood that taught her peace and she followed that. She had amazing stories about protesting the war tax by not doing her taxes since before 1950! And how she just trusted and remained open and transparent about it, and how that basically kept her out of trouble with the IRS. She saw everything like the fight against segregation and gay rights as being a part of the same bigger picture of peace. She was of a time when all of that was treated as the same fight. Then to hear about her husband now and their disagreement on gay rights was a real trip. You read her Frank’s platform and she loved it and said he should run for Governor. Can’t wait to hear more of her stories. Saw that you rebooked her to be on the show again.

Then Penny got here and she ate a little something while the boyz were telling her the story of how the blue house became what it is today. We gave her a little tour of the downstairs and then it was time for her to come down to the ph for the show. What an amazing night! It was incredible to hear how similar her experiences and stories of the ‘art world’ were to Frank’s. They’ve been working in the same circles for years so it’s not surprising that she knew who Frank was. The talk about art and life was real and grounded. It fleshed out a lot of what we had experienced at her performance a few nights ago, about how all these little groups have emerged that just isolate everyone further when we should really all be coming together and realizing that we are all just people no matter what our sexuality or sexual preference or skin color or culture or whatever. She talks raw and she sees Frank, sees what he has built, sees us together and how important that is. You both talked like a winding river, non-linear and dancing. Her talk about the younger generation feeling entitled rather than having to earn respect hit home, as well as her talk about art school and art as a career. She said that art is not a career, it’s a vocation and you really need a mentor or just to do it for a long time, not thinking that you can make money off of it, just doing it and honing it and learning about it. You read her that crazy letter from the woman who worked at High Performance magazine and it sounded even more crazy than ever. It sounded psycho! She did a great Quentin Crisp impersonation. It was really great to have her here and we all thought the show was too short. It was fuel.

The boyz went down to drive her home, and then when I came down after that to talk about the shows you said that she said she’s ready to move in. Frank said there’s room! She took a copy of Cherotic Magic and said she was going to study this, ‘Frank’s mystery school’. It was an amazing night for sure. History in the making. The first double header!

DA BOYZ:

Wow … only part 1 of an historic Shaman’s Den double-header … first up, lifelong activist, pacifist, war protestor, founding member of the Committee for Non Violent Action … it was amazing to hear her talk about an uncompromising life in opposition to war and to the operations of the state, and the stories around her refusal to pay taxes, and many other things. Meanwhile, there was a lot of veggie prep for the baked veggies, saving camshots, and then the two of us left about an hour into the show, to go pick up Penny! Later, Jen told us some of what we missed … the reading of Frank’s platform, and how much Marjorie liked it, and suggested he run for governor! And how much she enjoyed being on the show, and would like to come back!

We were to meet Penny at Udupi Palace, an Indian restaurant on Valencia … we were right on time, but Penny and three friends had really only just sat down to eat … Penny had been getting her hair done, and it had gone late, plus there has been a long wait at the restaurant… They were just starting on their lassis when we arrived. Penny introduced us to everyone. It was an Indian man, and a younger woman sitting next to Penny, and one of the pastors from Grace Cathedral, (“third in command”, Penny said) where earlier that day, Penny later told us that they had talked about her show during the Homily! The woman pastor she introduced us to had come to see Penny’s show 4 times! They had known each other for several months now … the part of the show we think she said they were referring to in the Homily was about “judgment” … how people will always judge you … “If you’re afraid of getting up to dance because someone will judge you, they will. Because it takes the spotlight off of them to put it on you.” Penny was talking Frank way up to the folks at the table, and the woman next to her asked us what Frank taught to apprentices? We said life! Penny kept talking about Frank and how he inspired her, and how they should all check him out, and should watch her on the show that night. We told them how to tune in …

When we got into the car, Penny was thrilled to be riding in one of the tie-dye cars! She had seen them online. The pastor came out and took pictures of Penny in the car! Then we were soon heading off down Valencia toward the freeway. Penny was talking to us nonstop the whole ride … we were a little worried that she would talk about stuff to us, that she wouldn’t then tell Frank, but there was no need to worry …. she actually talked about everything she had said to us with Frank on the show, and then went deeper into it! She is amazing … so fun to talk with, to just listen to … At one point, she said that some people that she has talked to about Frank assume that he is “queer” because he is disabled … and she tells them she doesn’t think so … she asked us if Frank was straight, heterosexual, if we would identify as that … We said that Frank never talks about himself in those terms, but — (we were about to say that Frank always says he is a lesbian in a man’s body!) Penny said, well, I know he likes women!

Back here at the BH, we set Penny up with the take-out that she had brought with her from the restaurant, and we were telling her how the Blue House came to be, the story of Roy, the brothers, Granny, etc.! She loved the story, and really loved the house, loved all the colors, and loved Frank’s paintings! We started on a house tour, but only got through the downstairs before it was time for the show. She was talking about how much she loved thrifting, and had been doing a lot of it while she was here in SF. Someone told her that the place to thrift was San Leandro, so she was going to check that out next time she was here!

Then the show was starting!! One of the most amazing Shaman’s Den shows ever … there are so many ways in which it was amazing … one of the things which struck us over and over again was how similar Penny’s experiences with the “art world” and in general are to Frank’s experiences, and how similar the way that they approach things. It was very intense the way that Penny absorbed everything Frank was saying, and how deeply she saw and recognized what Frank does and how deeply she appreciated it …. and how her own art/life was oriented in this way as well. It was really striking to hear how Penny does what Frank does in trying to break down barriers, fragmentation, separation in her art, and how she does that …. the amazing stories from her life and art … Hearing Linda Burnham’s letter again was intense!! Alexi said later that it was a lot different hearing it now than the experience of hearing it years earlier … now you can see how her attitude has been so solidified into the “art world” that Alexi said that someone like her now, in the position she was in then, would never even talk to Frank today …

We just loved Penny’s humor, her gutsy, no nonsense directness, her practicality and honesty and laser sharpness seeing through things, so much like Frank … It was really neat how she said she could do one of Frank’s performances and Frank said he could do hers … we could really see that! There was such a feeling of closeness and possibilities … Corey saved over 100 camshots, because every single one was alive! After we dropped Penny off later in SF, we were talking about how amazing it was to connect with someone like Penny, and it creates a feeling of a lot of possibilities, of expansion, deepening of this …. We loved what Penny said about “entitlement” vs. earning it! And what she said about how people who work in the arts should be serving the artists or they should just kill themselves!

When the show finally ended, only because of time!, we said it could have just gone on and on … as if it had just begun!

When we came down with the food and to take Penny home, the feeling of Penny with Frank, and all of us was so intensely affectionate and fun, deep and direct. We loved how Penny danced with Frank, saying she was diving deep into the roots of Frank’s shamanistic tree!!

When we got into the car, Penny was going on and on about how incredible it was to meet and talk with Frank, what an amazing person he is … She said that Frank was fucking amazing, and Linda was fucking fucking amazing, and Mikee was fucking amazing! And we two were fucking amazing, and that if you follow that logic, then the girl from Toronto, Jen, must be fucking amazing! She was saying, “So this is Berkeley … ” She liked it … she was talking about the documentary about Frank, how it really needed to be done, that people needed to see the way we all live, to see what is possible. She asked us if we two were “tied to the hip”. Yep! And what our ages were, and where we grew up … She asked about Frank’s brother, and Connie … She said she must have said, “Wow, crazy!” like 50 times that night! She was getting really tired, and her voice was going … She was telling us about Steve, and how he does construction, is a carpenter, and was trained as an architect. At one point, she had tried to get the apartment of Jack Smith moved. She had been with him up until his death. His apartment was an art piece, every wall handpainted by him … she had consulted with Steve about how they could remove the walls to set up somewhere else as a museum … it was going to cost $40,000! When she first met Steve, she was about to have some tile work done in her place … the guy who came over to bid the job was also trying to take her out, and he was going to charge her $1,500 for a very small tile job. Steve happened to be coming over the same day to show her his video work, and she was freaking out about the tiling guy. She told Steve the whole thing, and he offered to do the work for $300, and he did a great job! She said he is from Iowa, and really likes being from Iowa, being a “real person”! She said that her and Steve do a lot of the fliering in NYC, but it is illegal now. She said that this happened because of the corporatization of everything … we told her that we do the fliering here, and that the same thing is happening. And finally we were at the place where she was staying in Noe Valley … She had said that she heard that Alexi was a great cook, and was looking forward to eating his food next time she is here!

We were soon driving back home again, taking a circuitous route to the freeway to avoid possible back-ups, but there was very little traffic anyway … We were talking about how amazing the night was …. how amazing it was to connect with Penny, and how overdue a documentary about Frank was!! Penny was commenting about how great it will be to do this because of the amazing amount of material that we have on Frank.

In Freedom,
Frank Moore