Street Theater Original Constructor! "we are winning!"

i’ve pretty much resisted dropping just straight links to other sites in the guise of updates or posts to artofmulata, but i just can’t resist. this is a link to an abbie hoffman interview from 1989 first published in 2007 and recently dropped on us again by the wonderfully fun Reality Sandwich webmag. pretty damn strange to find an interview with the gentleman from that time period, too.

mr. hoffman, for those of you not in the know, was a political activist from all the way back in the civil rights movement days. he was down south getting harrassed by the klan. moved out east at some point and got involved with those who came to be known as the hippies. went international and ran with sinn fein over in ireland. and got in so much trouble for having too much fun showing us how stupid the governments of this world are that he had to change his name and his face (plastic surgery. plastique surgery?), abandon his life and family, and go underground.

dearest abbie (pic swiped from liberalstreetfighter.com)

pretty shitty if you ask me, but, hey! those are the rewards you receive when you monkey with the powers that want to be a little too much. check out the history of the weather underground. or if you really want to get down to a system of rewards based on behavior go read up on the history of the black panthers or the george jackson brigade (those are 3 separate links). for their efforts at social/cultural revolution these cats were awarded the bullet, the trumped up charge, the erasing from official history and many more awards.

awesome.

but enough babbling from my pop-revolutionary/post-political/pre-nuptial ass; go read this fine interview with mr. abbie hoffman. i know he would agree with me that no matter who wins this presidential election you can’t trust them or truss them. and remember it’s your job (after you foolishly vote these barbarian apes into office) to hold them continuously accountable. because they are out to get us. i promise you.

and when you have complaints about their behavior don’t talk to me about it. i’m warning you right now that i will have no sympathy for any of you who vote for the winner. because it will be your fault when they bomb iran or look the other way when israel does it. or whatever warped scheme the new guy signs off on that violates all his campaign promises; unless, of course, mccain wins. at least we know what a fucking nutjob that pickaxe is.

sorry. i am so happy this morning and whenever i get that sensation of sheer ‘goddamn-i-am-so-in-love’ i get to ranting. or kissing everyone around me. or throwing money in the air. i bet you wish you were here with me right now to catch some cash, don’t you? or maybe that you were in love, too? don’t worry. you are. it just hasn’t hit you yet.

until the next post, lovelies!

*pol*

here’s the link again in case you missed it the first time through: http://www.realitysandwich.com/i_know_we_won_abbie_speaks

Published by Pol Rosenthal

Pol Rosenthal has been working in Seattle's theater and music scenes for over 20 years. He used to publish a cultural arts journal then moved to Seattle to be in a rock band, TCHKUNG. This lead to him working with DK Pan's senses altering Butoh company, the P.A.N. In the late 90s he worked for sonic conspiracy company Muzak and while walking out the door helped found radical street art/action group the Infernal Noise Brigade. There he befriended and became a member of multi-disciplinary effort The Degenerate Art Ensemble. Eventually, he moved in next door to Seattle theater company Implied Violence (now St. Genet) and has enjoyed a multi-year, unhealthy relationship to their demanding work and philosophies. Last year he was in Curtis Taylor's 'The White Days' as an "actor". Presently he's wrapped up dancing in Paige Barnes' modern dance piece 'Lead Bunny' (Oct 2012) and is working on Dayna Hanson's rock musical 'Gloria's Cause'. In October he collaborated with Real Change editor Rosette Royale on a wonderful installation, 'JungleBox', for City Arts Fest.