Emerald Triangle: FREE USA: $1 Everywhere else: It's up to your local capitalist newsdealer

Big Important Stuff in this Issue: LAYTONVILLE IN THE YEAR 2000, PERESTROIKA IN THE USA,EMERALDTRIANGLEANDSANFRANCISCOUPDATES,MEXICO,NICARAGUA, THE DEATH OF GILMAN STREET, NORTHERN CALIFORNIA UNDERGROUND MUSIC NEWS AND GOSSIP, AND A WHOLEBUNCH OF SIMILARLY CRUCIAL INFORMATION

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"The Solar Powered Zine" t Fall 1988 Number 32 ( I �. ,! r

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Sweaty World Issue: Surviving The Greenhouse Effect (Or Should We Bother?)

EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com -2-

New York ... The new logoCBS is using for its coverage of the parks. Yuppies andother real estate speculators are now discussing other 1988 campaign may have startedout as a good old fashioned American possibilities; a popular idea involves setting up snipers on neighboring eagle, butit appears tohave metamorphized intoan ugly, angularstyliza­ rooftops to pick off obnoxious park denizens. Koch has not yet said tionthat bears an uncarmyresemblance to theBig Birdthat along with the whetherhe will allow city police to participate inthis new program. swastika graced everything German during the years of theThird Reich. Anotherversion of how theRiot of TompkinsSquare came about Coincidence? Very little happens by accident in our state-controlled is offered by Mykel Board in his MaximwnRoe/enroll col umn; he claims media. Anyway, it's widely knownthat the C inCBS standsfor CIA. You that thewhole thing wasstarted by Hanis, theChrist-cu m-Manson-like can probably figure out yourselfwhat theother two letters standfor. singerof the wildly unpopular Letch Patrol in order to gain publicity for his band. New York... Tompkins Square Park is not exactly a prime piece ofreal estate. Oh sure,it's got a great location, smack in themiddle of the SantJago_. Democracyin action, US style... Fifteenyears after he rapidly gentrifyingLower East Side, andthe landscaping, though a littleon was installed in power by the CIA, Chile's military dictator Augusto theshabby side, provides a pleasmtrespite from the relentless brick and Pinochetgot aroundto calling an elec tion ofsorts, asking Chile ansif they asphaltthat surround it. wanted him to continue as president What's remarkable is not that the But oh, those tenants! Loud, shabbily dressed, making theworst electorategave backa resounding "No "vote,but that theelection was held sortof impression on potentialbu yersin the neighborhood. Some of the at all. undesirablesmerely hangout inthe park on hot summernights because it's Chile'slast legitimatelyelected president, SalvadorAllende, was one of theonly placesin thecity toget somefresh air. Othershave moved murdered inthe CIA-Pinochet coup,and thousands of Chileanswere im­ right in, becausethe y canno longer afford to live anywhereelse in New prisoned,tortured, or executedin the reign ofterror th atfollowed. US mili­ York. tary and economicaid toChile, cut offduring theAllende years forpur­ Manhattanproperty values have beensoaring, but there's always posesof undermining hismildly socialistpolicies, wasrestored following room forimprovement. Enterthe administration of MayorEd Koch. Now thecoup, andby proppingup theChilean econom y helpedPinochet hold Mayor Koch is anold time New Yorker, andas such he has learnedto put on to powerdespite w idespreadopposition (Chile previously had a tradi­ up withlots oflitde unpleasantri es thatcome withli fein thebig city. Lousy tion of beingamong the most democraticcountri� inSouth America). subways, garbagein the streets, rats doing tap dance revues downlower But don't look forPinochet to beleavin g mytimesoon. His "term" Broadway,md thelarges t homelesspopulation of any cityin the industri­ doesn't expire till 1990, by his own decree, and that leaves him plentyof alizedworld, well, he can live withthat. After all, thisis NewYork. If you timeto cookup some sortof crisis thatwill justify a returnto martiallaw can'ttake the heat, skedaddle on back to Omaha. andthe cancellation of elections. Andjust remember,your taxdollars help But there are some things up withwhich the l ong-suffering mayor makeit allpossible. isnot going to put And rightnear the top of that list is the failure of real estate prices to escalateat theabso lutemaximum possible rate. So when La Paz ... US Secretaryof State George Shultz.,in Bolivia to inspect yuppienewcomers tothe Lower East Side started griping that their n ewly CIA efforts to solidify its hold on the Latin American cocaine trade, convertedcondos in theTompkins Square vicinity were not movingas fast narrowly escapeddeath at thehands of rival narcotics traffickers whena asthey could because of thoseunsightly people who refused to go away, bomb they had planted went off seconds before Shultz's motorcade themayor was quick to lenda hand,ordering that city p arksbe closed after arrived. The CIA, concerned over plummeting cocaine prices and the 1 a.m. and directing police to enforce the curfew. widespread entry into the drug market of independent, thirdworld-based Whatensued was one of the most vicious riotsNew York hasseen entrepeneurs, is attempting to get US troops involved in eliminating the since the 1960s, withhundreds of policeofficers fightinga pitchedbattle cocafields of theircompetitors, usin g, amongother tactics, Vietnam-style for most of the night, and clubbing or otherwise brutalizing dozens of chemical warfare.A similarattempt to controlthe herointrade of the 1950s innocent passersby ( alsoa popular 60stactic). Thepolice ultimatelysuc­ and 60s, was of coursea major cause of the VietnamWar. ceeded inclearing the park. but thelow -lifes anddegenerates who congre­ gate there won the more important victory, at least fornow, withpublic Washington... The pious blatheremanating fromthese quarters opinion forcingMayor Koch to temporarily suspendhis order closingthe abouta cessationof hostilities inthe Iran-Iraq war blithely ignores the fact thatthe United States bears a major responsibility for the 1 milliondead, LOOKOUT: PO Box 1000 1. 7 million wounded, and 1.5 million refugeesproduced by thispointless eight-yearholocaust Laytonville CA 95454 It was US meddling in Irani affairs, dating back to the 1954CIA The LOOKOUT ls publishedperiodica lly (your guess Is as good coup that unseated democratically elected President Mossadegh, that produced the barbaric regime of Ayatollah Khomeini and the instability as mine how often that will be). If you want to receive future Issues, thatled Iraq's equally demented Saddam Hussein to launchhis ill-fated price\are asfollows: invasion. Oncethe warwas underway,the United States,alon g withmost USA: $I/Issue of the major industrialized countries, supplied both sides with enough CANADA, MEXICO: $1.50/issue weapons to insure that neither side could win a clear-cut victory, thus EUROPE, SOUTH AMERICA: $2.50/lssue leaving an openingfor the US toestablish a major militarypresence in the region. Isit tooc ynicalto suppose that c ertainpolicymakers saw the death AUSTRALASIA: $3/lssue andmaiming ofnearly 3 million Middle Easterners as a worthwhileprice I know it's expensive; don't blame me, tell the post officeabout it. topay forkeeping US gasolineprices low and providing photo opportuni­ Press run forthis issue:4000 tiesfor American-flagged warships? Not hardly. Deadline fornext Issue: ? Articles, except as noted, are by me, Lawrence Livermore, who Tel A vlv... Israeli troops have begun using plastic bullets, the niust alsotake the blame forediting and publishing this thing. Art Is beloved and sometimes deadly tools of British occupation forces in Northern Ireland, against the Palestinian resistance. TheIsraeli govern­ J110!itly handled by the brilliant Marty Maceda. ment, despite growing opposition from its own citizenry, continues to Wholesalers: For bulk orderscontact MORD AM PO Box 988 move toward a South Africa-style solution to the unrest, with the West San Francisco CA 94101 BankArabs steadily beingstripped of thefew civil rights they still enjoy. (415) 243-8230 Meanwhile, thePalestine Liberation Or ganization, in the wakeof Electricity used In computer typesetttlng and layout Is furnished Jordan'sabdication of all responsibi lityfor the West Bank.h asdeclared an MMr.Sun. continuedon page 6 ... EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com BattUng Bruce Anderson,the Boonville publisher, was sen- As it turns out, theHuwoods were in big ttouble, and are now tencedto serve60 days inthe county jail forfighting with C0tmty Schools being forced tosell almost all of theirland topay off their debts (i.e., to Superintendent Jim Spence after a rip-roaring trial that made up in avoid foreclosure). The Harwoods had a long-standing reputation as entertainmentwhat it lackedinjustice. Anderson wasfound illllilocent or being among lhe moreresponsible loggersher eabout.&, thoughin recent assault and battery after a number of witnessescontradi cted Spence's years they've been adopting some of the tactics or the major corporate accowu of the incident, and severaljurors indicated afterward that the loggers (forced by market conditions, their defenders contend). In any SchoolsSupe had beennot at all believableon thewi1n ess stand. event, it's unlikelythat whoever talces o ver theirland w ill be animpro ve- Anderson wasconvicted of fighting in puba lic place, anddefens e ment. We'll probably see Maxxam-stylebu youts where absenteeowners attorneyKarll.eipnik then asked �------,.,.,.,. make their payments by prosecuting attorney C. David clean:uttingeverylhinginsight. Eyster if he was now going IO As evidence of what we can file charges against the other lookforward to,the bank han- combatant, Superintendent dling the sale is telling pro• Spence. Eyster, a blow-dried spective buyers that they can Young Republican Ken Doll makeeven moremoney strip- ("Dan Quayle withoutconnec- ping the land of its oak and tions," opined Leipnik) re- madronerofuelthepowerplant sponded with a smirk and an that the Harwoods arestill al- accusation that Leipnik was legedly going to build. Voila, drunk (not true, althoughthere theM endocinoDese:rL Thata hadbeen beera party infrontor vanishingand vital reso urcelike theJustice Court involving the trees can be bought, sold and defendant,friends, and much of�--...-1 liquidated by private specula- the working press while they torsas if they were somesonof awaiteda verdict). manufactmedcommodity stiU Andersonwas offered a boggles themind. sentence of two years proba- tion,during the first of whichhe From the Wonderful would be banned from attend- World of Blll Balley: reports ing county schoolboard meet- fromdeep within the mail or- ings,a great relief to thebelca- der chain saw empire tell of guered Spence, whose shady hiring practices and squanderingof c01mty regular meetingsthat have beengoing on ongam the"mov ersand shakers" education funds have consistendybee n under attack by Anderson. The of theLaytonville community (no, yours trulywas n ot included)to plot the judge's suggestion caused school board member and internationallyre- development of this "town witha future"as it goes hurtling intothe 21st nownedhome scho oler David Colfaxto protest that sucha prohibition was century. Sort of a citygovernment inexile, one imagines,pre sidedov er, unconstitutional as he stompedou t of the court. At thejudge's orders a naturally, by Mayor Bailey. But that's not the item••. Recently Mr.Billgot deputy raced after him and brought him back in handcuffs. He was himself a new table forthe meetingroom, at a reponedcost of (believeit summarily tried and found guilty of contempt. The judge likened lhe ordon't)$30,000,alongwiLh matchingchairsat$2500 per (forthoseofyou behavior of Anderson, Colfax, and friends to thatof Nazi Gennany, at outside thearea, there are houses in L'ville that sell forless than 30 big which defense attorneyLeipnik reminded him that lhe Nazier a had also ones). But that's still not theitem, aL least not all of it. BeeBee then seenmany good Germanjudg es upholdingthe regime. followedup his largesse towardthe tab le makersof Americawith a request thathi s employeestake a pay cut. Responseon theirpart not printable,even A local druglord overheard complaining about the q ualityof life in thisdecidedly non-family magazine. in Jamaica!"They smoke potall thetim e, it's toohot to do anything,and everybody'slazy. It's worse than Mendocino County." More L-vlUe polltlcking (ever notice: Lawrence, Livermore, Lookout,Laytonville; is this cosmic convergence of the12th letter or the Something looked fishy when the Harwoods came up with that alphabet mere coincidence?): Mr. Bill's boy Skip Newell did well in the crackpotschemetoputawood-bumingpowerplantinthemiddleofWillits June primary,bu t not well enough toelbow his way intothe runoff. Skip (naturallythe powersthat bein thatincreasingl y wretchedlittle sub-urban is a populargu y around town, thanksIO his ability to be friendly withall slum enthusiasLically embraced the beutand have been busily trying to sortsof peopleand never actually saying anythingincriminating. But now ramiL down thethroats of theirfellow citizens). Did theHar woodsreall y theelection isdown to the moderately liberal Liz Henry and the overtneo­ think they could get away without environmental impactstatements and naziJack Azevedo("Tinkerbell vs . DarthVader, ,. says BruceAndeison). rushthe thinginto operationbefore the 1990 deadline(after that PG&E) I thought Mr. Bailey, who despite his many antediluvian views will no longerbe required by law to buy independently generatedpower)? maintainsa relativelybenig n image inthe Lay tonvillecommunity, woul d To me it looked likeHarwoods the would have to inbe somepretty be unlikely to risk an endorsement of the coast real estate flack whose seriousfinancial trouble to tryand pull off such a high-risk andlong-shot wacko-from-outer-spaceright wing.ideology (Did you knowthat theHolo­ scam. One friend suggested, � he may have been right, that the caust never happened? Ask Jack to explain it to you sometime.) is Harwoodsnever expected to get theplant buill, but hoped insteadto get becoming the principal issue in November's election. But apparently PG&Eto pay them coa uple million to .. ··,tcancel it (it wouldn't bethe first Azevedo's Private-Property-uber-allesstance has won Bailey's approval; time someone'ssuccessfully milked the utility that way). in aletter to theLedger of September21 Mr. Bill gives his whole-hearted EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com - 4 - endorsement to Nazi Jack. Yes, Bailey allows, he wasa liule concerned "Evergreen" Center is a veryshady scam masterminded by a very shady over rumors of Azevedo's fascist associations, but the Fon Bragg fllhrer character, one "Dub" Baker, who is already under indictment for various has assuredhim that there wasno truthto them, that they were merely "a fraudulentdealings inanother county and is now beingsued by contractors cheapway forfar-leftists to gather half-wit votes". Among much evidence who he has never gotten around to paying forwork already perfonned. to the contraryis a reportby ZackStentz in the coast publicationSidewa/ks-, With at least half a dozen storefronts vacant in lovely downtown inwhich he reviews a neo-nazi tract called lmperiumwhich Azevedo has Willits and Main Street traffic frequently approaching gridlock propor­ been heard to sing the praises of onKDAC's Eloise Keller show. tions, Willits needs another shopping center about as much as a nerve gas As forAzevedo 's willingess to tum the nonh coastinto a lifeless plant in the city park ("We do need the jobs," I canhear Mayor-emeritus petroleumstew via offshore oil drilling, not to worry; the fishingindustry, Bashore saying). But in the midst of his legal troubles, developer Baker accordingto Bailey, is "not important"to ushere in Laytonville. After all, cameto the city with an ultimatum, stating that if the taxpayerswould not we're more than25 miles away from Fort Bragg, and we can always get our pick up the tab (in the hundredsof thousands of dollars) for installingutili­ fish from the Willits Safeway. Given Bailey's occasional reasonableness ties and similar site-work, he would pick up his bulldozers and go home. on someissues, it's hardto believehe would endorsea right-wingextremist Some chutzpah, huh? Not in Willits; even in light of his latest problems, who has little chanceof winning. It's alsohard not to believe that his real the city council is still toying with giving Baker what he wants, and motive is the fearthat his arch-nemesis,Joe Knight, closelyassociated with wistfullyhoping the shopping center will still be built. Onthe bright side, Liz Henry, might get a leg up on him in cotmty politics. Baker will probably end up grabbing as much cash ashe canout of the deal Nazi Jack, by the way, asked why Fort Bragg vandals might be and taking it on the lam. It will almost be worth it to see the voluminous adorninghis campaign signswith swastikas, usedthe time-honored tactic amounts of egg on the faces of the Willits city fathers. of identifyinghimself with the victim. His explanation: 'Theypaint those More depressing Willits news:the monstrosity being built on the on Jewish synagogues too." south end of town by the right wing cultknown as the Mormons nearscom­ Say It ain't so,Rich ... TheLedger reports that Laytonville's own pletion, and an oppressive presence it is indeed. The Mormons, who Rich Gravier has signed up to be a local chairman for the Bush For alreadyown Utah and run it like a quasi-Christian Iran, appearset on colo­ President campaign. Rich's teammates on this hopefully doomed effort nizing the entire western United States, and will probably find fenile will be Louisiana-Pacific's Glennys "Mow 'em down" Simmons and groundfor their repressive andmindlessly patriotic blather among Birch­ Willits asphalt queen Margie "Pave it over" Handley. ers and Klan types here in the Redwood Empire. Theirtactic is to infiltrate established institutions,along the linesof the pod peoplein Invasionof the Reports or Illegal CAMP tactics still abound, but members of the Bodysnatchers, and oneof their number, Jerry Colwell, alreadysits on the paramilitary strike force have been conducting themselves like perfect Willits school board. Your kids beencoming home with an emotionless gentlemen compared to the County of Mendocino Marijuana Eradication vacant stare on their faces lately? Now you know. Team (COMMET). CAMP, hauled into court numerous times in its six­ yearhistory for unlawful activities, is under a restraining order limitingjust There's news In the Laytonvllle Unified School District besides where its helicopters and troops may operate. It appears that COMMET, the brouhaha over where to put the new high school. SuperintendentBrian which spends in excess of a million bucks a year to duplicate CAMP's Buckley reports in his occasional Ledgercolumn that he has given up his functions (despite the Sheriff's constant moaning about there not being duties as high school principal to become full time superintendent. No enough money to provide ordinary law enforcement services), is being word as to whether he has taken a commensuratepay cut,as if you needed usedas a way of getting around the CAMP court order. to ask. New principal is scienceteacher Mark ("Ike") Iacuaniello. It certainly looked that way in early August when COMMET Another perhapsless than thought out plan replacesretiring coun­ descended on a subdivision nonh of Laytonville, barricaded the only two selor Olive Smith with a half-time counselor, with the difference being entrances,and launched a house-to-house, field-to-fieldsearch of the entire made up by assigning remaining counseling duties to various teachers. area(some several hundred acres), all without benefit of warrants. Locks One of them, who will be responsible for counseling the ninth grade, is were cut and houses broken into, and anyone protesting was told that Coach Grover ("Rambo") Faust. Faust has distinguished himself on the warrants were not necessary since they were living in a "felony area," a gridiron, but his teachingrecord is far from stellar,and he has beenknown concept which presumably could be extended to includenot only the entire to bully students whose manner didn't appealto him. Oneshudders to think countryside of northern California, but huge sections of our cities as well. of a sensitive yotmg freshman coming into Counselor Faust's office: Hell, might as well put a fence around the whole state, as a Texas "Coach, I don't want to take auto mechanics. I think I'd rather study congressmanonce suggested. literature and become a poet." "Kid, what I recommend is a regimen of anabolic steroids, football,and enlisting in the Marine Corps assoon as you CAMP Is a last-ditch effort by government and corporate tum 18." intereststo reassen their dominanceover a region that only a fewyears ago Laytonville schools have improved under Buckley's direction, seemed dangerously close to becoming culturally and economically au­ but these new developments do not augur well. With the school district tonomous. "We're out to recapture territory for the United States," said remaining roughly the same size it's been for a while, it's unclearwhy we CAMP commander Jack Beecham during the operation's first year. should suddenly need a full-time superintendent. What we do need are In keeping with that goal, CAMP has made its firsttargets the small good, competentteachers, which Buckley, by most accounts,was. Let's "mom andpop" growers who used to be the backbone of the pot industry hope he's not succumbing to the first throesof Jim Spence-itis. locally while somehow managing to overlook much larger plantationsrun This Is not satire: At least my usually reliable informants swear by apoliticalgangster types. Now it seems asthough CAMP is also getting into the business of direct politicalharassment, as evidenced by their raid it's true; That bit of hillside just over downtownL-ville that lookedlike it on the landof County School Board memberDon Lipmanson. Lipmanson, was the victim of a typical rape and ruinlogging o peration... Supposedly along with David Colfax, has consistently been one of the only voices of the new owner is clearing the land to start a truffle farming operation. sanity in that benighted bureaucracy, andit looks pretty obvious that the Truffles? In Laytonville? When does the I. Magnin branch open? CAMP raid was a set up engineered by henchmen of schools chief Jim But not to worry: there will always be those who will keep alive Spence. The Lipmansonhome was repeatedly buzzed by helicopters at (illegal) treetoplevels duringthe month of July, which, by the way, hasbeen the Laytonville spirit of mean-spirited provincialism. A fineexample can typical ofCAMP tactics this year. Lipman son's lawyer willbe fighting the be seen inthe Confederate flag that fliesdaily in front ofZum'son the north bust on grounds ofillegal search, which meansproving that the helicopters end of town. Let's all those Yankees and nigras who might be passing were flyingbelow the legallimitof 500 feet,and ifhe winsthe caseon those through see that we ain't surrendered yet. For more local color, how about grounds, look formost others arrestedin CAMP raids this year to get off, installing a neon version of a burning cross atop the Community Cretin too. Oh yeah, the grand total of plants found on the Lipmanson "planta­ Church at the south end of town so's we can get 'em coming and going? tion:" eight, although CAMP officials later tried to revise the figureupward Kim Moonwater, to thirteen. of Comers of the Mouth anda bunch of worthy causes and organizations, passed away in September, the victim of a In the hideous sub-suburban sprawl that is south Willits arethe motorcycle crash. I didn't know her personally, but I will never forget her particularly ugly beginningsof another shopping center, called, with char­ appearance at the Fort Bragg oil hearings last February when she galva­ acteristic adroitness,the Evergreen Center, in honor of the fact that there nized the crowd andterrorized the bureaucrats with an awe-inspiring rant/ is absolutely nothingremotely resembling the color green on the site. The chant/prayer. So long, Kim, and thanks for the memory. EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com . 5.

LL: or Ronnie's StarWars tinkertoys'l Pointbeing, if we take the fonner for , Ohl Sonowwearebeginningtogetthe storyofwhoisgoingtopick granted,we '11 believe in thebullshit too. How aboutsomething as common up thetab for the savingsand loan fiasco in Texas,somethinglookolll read­ and simas ple as adoorbell? Go overand find yours, and take the cover off. ers knew six monthsago. Invite a friend over and have himorher press the button. Parents, do Doc Dermis yourself a favor and give your kid an old wind-up alarm clock. Teach Campbell CA herorhim how to fixa flaton hersorhisbike. P.S. Looking forward to winter weather, when hopefully we may get Now I want to learn more. I want lo be able lo decide if genetic anotherissue of thatpeerless publishing gem, the.lookolll. We arewai ting. engineering is good or bad. Isortof knowhow a Xerox machineworks, but whatlfl wantedto.know how to build my ownfrom scratch? My school DearLL: doem't want me to know, that's for sme. When thegovernment flat out Thesoil crisis created by ourfanning methods is a dilemma. The refuses to teach objective things, who knows what they're feeding us in sadfact is thatalternative methcxls arelow-yi eld methods. The soilis de­ history or English class? Not everyone can or wants to learncalcu lus or pletedbecause gwe et somuch out of it withour modem up- to-date fanning advancedbiology. I'llhelp you out there, I'll lookout againstthe system's methods. Sure wecan go to methods which conserve thesoil. It will also para-science b.s. I can'tdraw, cook or sing to save my lifeso maybe you result in less crops, Lars less. canhelp me. Whydon't you dra w a poster,or write a protestsong, ormake Butl wouldn'tworry too much aboutom soil, but oil. We will run a nicelunch for the Concord protesters'? We 're all in this together andI 'll out of oil prettysoon dam inthis country. Thiswill endour pres ent system do my partif you do yours. of farming since it depends ultimately on cheap oil. It will also end our Mike Limon standardof living. It will alsoend many of ourlives. Malthus rules! Moraga CA Bag of Water EdinaMN Howdy HeyLawrence, Long time. I just finishedsch ool(well, almost ••• I stillhave some Yo, Oi, Hey, Yabbadabbadu, revisionsto doon my finalversion of my seniorthesis), so I'm just getting I just got throughre adingLookout #30. Just thoughtthat you would backinto l etter-writing mode. You 're thelucky recipient of the firstletter liketo hear my impressions of education being as I am still in school. I've writtenth is summer. Thisis no ordinary summer vacation, I have to (Campolindo High (Moraga, Contra Costa) class of '90, just in case you keep reminding myself. Today is the firstda y of the rest of my unemploy­ were wondering.) Fmt of all I would like to say that Moraga is very menL That's right, I just graduated with a degree in Environmental different from the Laylonville area. We're right between Lafayette and ResourcesEngineering,noless! Don'taskmeaboutmyfuture;l'm getting Orindaon the BartMap, just in casey ou care. Hereabout 90% of thekids tiredof say ing "I dunno" lately. go tofour year college and the rest go to Diablo ValleyCollege. It seems Thanksfor #30. A winnea-. Onthe subject of public education: my that here at''Campo" we have a small problem. observations haveled.me to believe it's a dismal failure in comparisonwith It was announced last week(May 15) thatC alculus BC, roughly the "alternative" schools, in Humboldt County, at least Many of my equivalentlo U.C secondsemester Cale. would not beoffered in the 1988- locally-raised friends started out inalternativeschools. then w ereshunted 1989 school year. 28 kids signed up forit The reason for this action is a over to the public system at junior high age, since no alternative upper­ primeexampleoflamorinda(omlitllewalledcommunity)reasoning. The grade facilitieswere available. Everyone of themtells me that theywer e Acalanes school board, which governs four high schools in the area, aheadof theo therpublic school kidsw hen they firsthit thepublic schools. decided to raise the graduation requirements for math from two to three By 10th or IIth grade, most of thealternative school kids wereso fed up years. The result of this is that now the schools don't have enough math withthe public schools' enforced codestha t they tookthe eq uivalency tests teachers. The school hadto finda way to keepabout 30 kids from taking andleft school early. Most ofthe m startedcollege between the ages of IS math. The students inBC are in a unique position. AU of themha ve three and 18seem and to bedoing w ell - they find the more flexible,custom­ years of math undertheir bell, and, if BC is not offered, there is no other fitaspects of a university more compatible with the learning habits they class to take. (If the schoolcancels a Honors Trigclass, thekids will just picked up in thealternative schools. take regularTrig). The students in BC have another distinction, they are Having studied the "hard"sciences in college, I tend lo withhold 28 of the smartestpeople in thesc hool. judgment on a problem until I've seen the results of a conlrolledexperi­ Also,only one 30-seat secondyear Bio class will beoffer ed, even ment, but laboratory techniques don't readily apply though9 0 kidssigned up. I realize thatha lf thekids wantingto take these to social problems such as education. I have to rely upon empirical classesare rich snots who are only interested in their college iranscripts, evidence and intuition, which tell me that public education is donefor however, the other halfare the students who wantto learn for learning's in its present form. I'd side with Bruce Anderson overBrian Buckley. sake. How about Pacific Lumber giving up old-growth·clearcutting'! Wantingto learn is themost importantpart of ed ucation. Thereare Soundscool, but I wonder whatthe net effectwill be. The decisionwas part manyreasons to learnthings. "If Idon't go to college I'll never get a good of a dealthat calls for certainstatelegislalors lo shelve a billthat w ouldhave job,"seems to betile most popularat my school. I've f01md thatmo st of banned old growthclearcurs across th e board(no pun intended). We 'II see. the peoplewho want totake advancedcourses,actual lywanttoknowmor�. Richard Engel We live in an incredibly complex world. My dad took Calculus hll Arcata freshmanyear at college, I startedmy Sophomore year inhigh school. That tidbit is overshadowed by the fact that as I type away on a semi-portable machine that would have tilleda Gymnasiumwhen my dadwas first taking Dear Lawrence, derivatives, theworld canbe blown upin an hour anda half(probably less.) So you are still alive! I was beginning to wonder if you hadn't While my parentswere struggling with Calculus in the mid SOs,it would abscondedto Rio withthe vast amount ofluc refrom the Lookout publish­ have taken SAC at least24. Long ago, I made a promiseto myself that I ing empire as well as theroyalti es from the latestLookou t CDs. would not use anydevice thatI knew nothingabo ut I wantto have at least Well, flippancyaside ••. I was quite surprisedto see thatnote that I scrawled a vague knowledgeabout everything I touch, be it mechanical or biologi­ loyou along withmy sub in the letterspage ofissue #30. Hey,if I thought cal•. thatyouweregoing toJlllbli!hit,lwould haveatleasttried tomakeitsoWJd How many people know how fihn works? How about a digital watch, or a telephone, or a Xerox Machine, a TVscreen, a printingpress, continued on page1- EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com -6- NEWS FROM ALL OVER peacefuland ecologicall y harmoniousway of life enjoyedby California's continued frompage 2... Indian tribesbefore the European conquest. In an attempt to gloss overwidespread Nativ e Americanprotest at independent Palestinianstate and a provisional government to be headed thislatest insul t a�ded tocenturies of injury,the churchhas managed to dig by Y assir Arafat, who standsonly slightly behindMoammar Khadafy as up anOhlone Indian. anUncle Tomahawk, so tospeak, wh o will journey the favoriteall-purpose villain of the American corporatemedia. Arafat, to Rome forthe bea tification(one step short of sainthood)ceremony, and, who has in the past of course been guilty of considerable excesses, has dressed in nativegarb, present a basketof acornsto the GreatWhite Father. bec?me qui� themoderate in ecentr years, at least when compared to the rabid terroristsat thehelm of the Jewish state. � ashlngton... Greenhouse effect? Oil shortages? Oops, wrong There remams one verylarge obstacle to thesuccessful establish­ pl�et; rn the wonderful world of Reaganland these dire problems have ment of a Palestinian homeland,howev er, that being the malicious andin­ e�tdentlybe � completelysol vt:d, judging fromTransportation Secretary Jun Bu 1ey s (ever heard of this bozo before? Didn'tthink so.) plan to comprehensible determination of the United States to keep Israel alive f!1 . however vicious andreactionary theIsraeli regime mightbecome. Were scrapminimum fuel econo my standardsimposed on automobilemanuf ac­ it not forth e 3 billion dollarsa yearin Americantax dollars that fmance the �ersduring the 19 70s. The Reagan administrationhas already lopped a Judaictheocracy, a Palestinianhomeland and/or a secularIsraeli state with mile pergallon offthe standards, resultingin more oil wastedin one year equal rights for Jews andArabs would have long ago been a reality. than is believed to be contained in the entire Mendocino-Humboldt offshore oil drilling area Now it wants to do wa a y with the standards Managua ... There'sa grimsense of deja-vuto events in Nicaragua altogether. Reason: wastingmore oil will create more jobs. Really. as the UnitedStates pours millions of dollarsand hundredsof CIA agents A consumergroup , theC enterfor Au to Safety,says thatinstead the into a strategy of destabilization nearly identicalto theone which elimi­ standardsshould be more thandoubled, to 60 mpg, making a huge dentin nateddemocracy from Chile in 1973. ?ur depe�dence o� foreig� oil, reducing greatlyour chances of becoming TheSandinistas arecaught in a double bind.If they respondto US involvedma warmthe Middle East,and taking a big steptoward undoing provocations,as theydid by expellingthe American ambassador and tem­ the massive damage auto emissiOtlli have beendoing to our environment La Prensa, throughout thetwentieth ce ntury. The grouphas promised to file suit if the P?�arilyclosin the�IA newspaper theygive powerful ammu­ � Tr portation Department goes ahead with its. to put it mildly, hare­ n!tlon to Amencannght wmgerswho are tryingto resurrect direct military � wd tothe contras. Onthe other hand, they need o nly lookback al thegrim brwned scheme. fate of Chile's SalvadorA llendeto see the likely outcomeof allowing US agents to operate unchecked. Washington... Continuing itscelebration of thebicentennial of the Constitution, the Federal Communications Commission has slapped New Orleans ••• The Repuglicanconventionwas, asexpected, long KansasCity TV station KZKCwith $2000 fine andthreatened it withthe . PrivaJelessons, on tedrnm and poor taste arid pitifully short on comic relief. But Head loss of itslicense forshowing a minorT &A flick aimed Goo GeorgeBu sh did hisbest to keep satirists inbusiness by reaching at the rampant if unimaginative prurient interests of tee.nage boys of all � _ deepmto the andr oid recessesof Fa! well-landfor the marginally operative ages. Perhapsmildly offensiveto thoseafflicted with a senseof aesthetics and bita moreso tothose who preferthat it not becommon knowledge tha� Ken-doll he hasin mind to bethe next vice-president of theUnited States. _ Privale J. DanforthQuayle (thename sounds morelike that of amustache­ people do occasionally have sexual relations, the unleashing of lessons.even on the infantileAmerican TV audience,is unlikelyto cause �irlingsilent m�vie villainthan blow-drieda yuppie twerp)wa� a]legedly pickedbecause his good looks (the sortof goodlooks that mightappeal to the re1Jublic to crumble, something which unfortunately can not be said about the e continuing Reagan-inspiredassaults on theBill of Rights. Or those �ho find themselves turned on by a Michelob Light commercial) _ � maybe t s all part f a lot to clear the airwaves of anything more would induce women, themajority of whom areinstinctively repelled by _ � ? . _P _ Bush andCo., to come swooning into the Republican camp. sttmulaung than the ms1p1dpotboilers the Prez once starred in. Women, thesi lly little things, of course have no interestin issues, andwould probably vote forthe AyatollahKhomeini if he would only get Karachi.- Another US-backed military dictator went down in himselfa facial makeoverand a couple new outfits. Men,on the other hand, flames as Pakistan's General Zia waskilled in an airplanecrash that may areso level-headedthat they would never allow their politicaljudgment to have bee� thework of saboteurs. Zia.who was inthe process ofturninghis beaddled by some sweet-talkingbimbo. Want proof? Looka t thewomen country mto an an Ir -style theocracy, appropriately took with him the that men put into office. Anyone dying for a dream date with Supreme American ambassador, who with Zia's wholehearted cooperation was Court Justic Sandra O'Connor? Which would you pick: a night on the using Pakistan as aconduit for shipping arms tothe Afghanrebels. That � _ town withDianne Femstem or a root canal? ExhibitA: Professional liar aid continues, in blatantviolation of the treaty underwhich Soviet tJoops and wannongerJeane Kirkpatrick, whose battle-axe physiognomyw ould arewithdrawing fromAfghanistan, and it looks asif theReagan admini­ curdle the blood of the most ardentromantic. stration's desire to continue punishing the Soviets for their ill-conceived Little DannyQuayle ha.�of coursemanaged to additionally distin­ invasionwill soonresu lt inAfghanistan coming under the complete control guish himselfby hiswillingness to send otherpeople's kids to get killed in of the Islamic nazis. whatever warthe rightwing din gbats he palsaround with dream up, in stark New York ... L.M. Boyd, whose syndicated column The Grab contrastwith his own reluctarice to participate when thebullets start flying. Bag, Quayle explains his decision to avoid combat duty by joiningthe is� ardlya hotbedofintemational c ommunism,offers the�inion that . the United States may well be theworld's most warlike nation, having Nau nal Gu d �usly: "At thatpoint I wantedto finishlaw schooland get � � introduced its military into 150 different conflicts since 1850, averaging o!l wtthm � hfe. Onepresumes that the halfmillion otheryoung men of hisgeneration who were compelled to slog aroundj��s getting shot at out to more than one a year. possessedno such clearsense . . of purpose,and had they'£ihninducted into Washington ••• A sad commentaryon the mentality, or lackthereof thearmed forces would have probably donenothin g m�re productive than government circles these days: Whenpos tagerate s w slouch around street comers drinking beer and leering at girls. We in ent up earlierthis shouldn't begrudge special privileges to our young aristocrats, anymore year, the Post Office came out with a new 25¢ stamp thatm ay well have beenthe most beautifulone ever issued,a colorphoto of our lovely planet, thanwe allowourselves to becomesentimental about the plight of thelower takenfrom spa ce. It was avast im provement over thestamps we had been classes, forwhom waris a positiveand uplifting experience compared to the meaningless tedium that will encompass the remainder of theirlives. using, thebulk of whichwe re adorned withAmerican flags or portraits of obscure bureaucrats. Asone who mails a lotofthings overseas,Iwas happy Rome •.• Continuinga grandtJadition dating back to thelnquistion to �� that for�i�ers might now get a differentpicture of us, as apeople begmnmg to think m planetary ratherthan nationalistic terms. and the Crusades, theRoman CatholicChurch will put its imprimaturon another shamefulchapter of white Europeangenocide when it beatifies Guess again; the planet stamp, it turned out, was not valid for international mail. What's more, it was only a temporaryissue, meant to FatherJunipero Serra, the founderof California's mission system. Little e gap until Catholicchildren are stil l taught thatFather Serrabrough t theblessings of fill � � new seriesof (what else) Americanflag stam ps could be put mto producuon. If we must wave the flag al every opportunity, we Christand c ivilization to the benightedsavages who made up California's could at least emulate the Russians, who in honor of therecent summit, in geno population, but what Serraactually institutedwas a system of ?J � produceda stamp showingthe Americanand Soviet flags together,alon g thinlyveiled sla verypropped up by brute force and murder, which paved with a plea forpeace. the way for Spanish colonialism, hardlyan improvement over the largely

EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com pedia ofObnoxiousAmericans ) whenhe comesup withhis facts. He'; gJt • LETTERSTO THE LOOKOUT my birthday a day tooearly andmy age a year too young. If he would've h.continued from page S consultedthe revised '88 edition(sorry Tad, you stilldidn'tmakeit-keep coherent! trying!),he would have alsoseen that it wasnot AnarchyI wrotefor when Anyway, aboutJesse Jackson ... perhaps I'm one of those"termi­ I wasin Englandin the70s , but Freedom. The formerbein g a theoretical nally ideological anarchists," but I findyour endorsement of one of whom journal,the lattera newspaper(started by someone evenolder than both of you can say thatyou are"less thanconvinced of hiscomplete honesty"to us -:-- Peter Kropotkin!). As for me "stealing my style" from there, berather bewildering at the least. Andyou expressdoubts as tohis planto obv10usly Mr. T has never read the rags. They'reboth as dry asju a nkie's militarizethe anti-drug wars, which is certainly\Dlderstandable sinc e you asshole. They(the Freedom editors) complained that my style was too live in the middle of the CAMP war zone. But since you!!Q know what a provocative,t oo" American." Inreal life, I"stole" my stylefrom Columbia military campaign against drugs is like, how can you still support him College's writing workshop and my trueidol, Ed Anger. consideringthis? Thisis probablythe only proposal on hisagenda that the Next, my writing is supposed to resemble "bunches of pseudo­ bun-licks in Congress couldwholeheartedly endorse truin e, all-American, situationiststuff." I like thealliteration. But having neverread bunch es of bipartisan fashion. the pseudo-stuff, I can't say if he's right or not. As far as I know, Not that it matters now, seemingly. Perhaps in a move to steal situationistswant todestroy socie tyby creatinga "situation"(get it?) where Jackson's thunder, I hear that the Congress is now seriously considering life as we now suffer it becomes impossible. This forces a change inthe just such a plan, and according to recent opinion polls being trumpeted world order. I guess the best example of this philosophy working is the about in the media, "drugs" - the perennial evil spectre - are lfill. #1 Nazis burningdown the German parliament before World War Two. It "concern" on the minds of the electorate. Setting aside the obvious created a situation, and boy, did thingschange quickly. questions (who was polled? is it even true?) concerning mass media Anyway, I guess a "pseudo-situationist"wants to createa pseudo­ opinion pollsand theirveracity, one can concludethat if iti§.true that most situationwhere pseudo-life as it is livedtoday becomes impossible(pseudo­ voters are more worried about drugs than poverty(including their own impossible?). It sure doesn't sound much like me. Most of my writing is potential poverty), unemployment, inflation, corporate plundering of the a�e� atra !tling theverteb !� of guys likeTad, who want to change my economy, government corruption, environmental destruction, and the situation without my perm1ss1on. Although I'm pretty far from either, I threatof imminentw ar,nuclear or otherwise,then we 're alreadyin worse reckon I'm closer to being a pseudo-Goldwater conservativethan I am to shapethan we thought. It meansmillions of sheepare going to vote on their beinga pseudo-situationisL greatest(media-created) f ear andfor the man-on-the-white-horse with the As for what I'm doing having been"done before, andjust as well bestso\Dlding answer. It meansthat the general public once againfell for or bet�r ... " Maybeso. There 've alsobeen lots of booksabout guys looking the spectacular moral panic without thinking about why such a situation fortherr fathers,or the search for a big fish. If it• s worthtelling, it• s worth exists(butof course,that's what we have thelikes of Rev. Falwell, etc.for). telling in different ways, at different times, andfor differentpeople. Is this Congressional proposal to send the military after drug Then there'smy positionin the"MRRconspiracy." Tad(andJohn smugglersonly a coverfor something else, somethingeven more - as they C�wfordand others) thinkI'm a tool. Master pseudo-world conqueror, say in theB-movies - sinister? Like an attempt to stop illegal aliens, or Tun Yohannan, usesmy columnto prove th at he is openminded. No one round up thosewho didn'tmake the amnes tydeadline? Perhaps thisis the canquestion his tolerancebecause he canalways point tome andsay, "How prelude to that long-predicted/long-dreaded advent of Amerikanfascism can you say I'm intolerant? I printBoard's column, don't I?" andthe military net is to bedra wn to preventanybody from leaving? Even WellMr. Tad, theanswer is, "HeyTim,lthinkyou'reintolerantand if there isn'tany sinister conspiracy involved here,one can wonder about printingBoard's column has nothing to do with it." That's what I say. the wisdom, from a "pragmatic" viewpoint, of using themilitary in an Besides, thetruth is thatTim• s printingof my column IS anexample of his essentially civilian(i.e. police) are of concern. tolerance. By thesame token, his cuttingout allmention of JohnCrawford Remember the last time theUS army got involved with the anti­ (the only timesTim has edited my column), not printing certain critical drug crusade? Paraquatspra ying in Mexico andthe subsequent deaths of letters, not printing certain blatantly sexual cartoons (e.g. LunaTicks' manywho smoked it? Whatare they going to spray it with now? AIDS? work),and the"banning" of certainpeople Oike Dave Run It), areexamples AgentOrange? And it doesn'ttake one ofNancy'sastrologers to know that of his INtolerance. Surprise! He's not "all good"or "all bad." He's just government-approveddrug smugglers like Ollie• s contrasand the CIA will a short guy (I'm shorter) who'sthe edit or of a fanzine. And yeah, llike the continue to somehow find chinks in thearmor of the militarydragnet. guy personally, even though he is wrong about almost everything. I found that piece on Israel's final solution to the Palestinian Finally,Mr. T complains aboutus oldstersspeaking for ''the y outh problemso apt thatit made me realizeth at only in small zineslike yours movement"that's supposedto be"punk rock." Ho.ho, nowwho's making the rules? Who said it's a youth movement? Michael Jacksonis more of is th� !n!!hthis on matter beingcompletely told, withoutfear of treadingon ethmctoes. Lawrence,you really shouldtry and send that piece in tosuch a youthmovement than punk rock.B esides,if you read MRR andthere are "threeguys pushing40, pushingrhetorical left-wingcrap," what aboutthe "liberal," basically pro-Zionist periodicals like The Nation or Atlantic lots of otherswho arewriting in those pages? What aboutthe hundreds of Monthly(to say nothing of Commentary) and see what happens. And to anybodyinterested in theastonishing link s betweenradical racist Zionists otherpunk zines in America-in the world? If you don't like whatyou in Israel (is the concept of being the"Chosen People of God" any less read, the American answer is: Don't read it! It's your choice in a free blatantlyimperialistic, let aloneparanoid, than being the "M asterRace? ") country. andthe radical Christian fascists of theUS, I recommendGrace Malsell 's Actuallywhat comesout of thewhole thingis thatTad's complain­ ingthat me, Larry L and.• Timmy areY old. Ah, thereTad's right. I hope Prophecy and Politics: Militant Evangelists On the Road lo Nuclear War(Lawrence Mill, 1986). And I might also recommend a zine with that's a condition he'll never face. Yours in the same spirit which I am - ahem! - associated: 4th Reich Update, POBox 536, Rustburg VA 24588,an anti-fundamentalist zine from Rev. Jerry's backyard and a MykelBoard bargain at only $1. New York Well, enoughof my rantings. P.S. By implication, Tad's right about another thing. It's too bad his and Greg K.rupey thislettercouldn'tappear in thepagesof MRR wherethey belong. Bu t• like N. Huntingdon PA I said, Tim's usually wrong. Lawrence, I thought I made iiclear that I was endorsing JJ not because he Well,it shouldn'thave surprised me, but it doesand it• s a bummer come all that close lo reflecting my personal valuesbut because he came of a situation. Sorta like buying somebad acid offa cop and then having so r,wchcloser than the ultimateno minees in rationality and humaneness him throw you in thedrunk in tank the ecstasy of fear you're feeling, but on many of the issues. America will sink into the sea long before it enoughof this... nominates any candidate you or I could wholeheartedly support. - U L<>okou.l has finallybecome an MRR lookalike. ConsideringI am NQI a regular reader, I do not know the full evolution process Hey Larry! L<>okou.l there(nor do I really care to spend time on this when a whole world is So Tad the K is using your new newsprint to namecall Maximum calling on me to speak my mind( altered as it is)). But theBEFORE and RNR andthrow my kit inwith the rest of the kaboodle. Well, I might aswell use a cut from thesame tree to answer him. AFTER situation of a person inthe grandstand may be a little helpful for some outside insight to the iMer workings of an outside worker. Let us Mr. Tad must still be using the'83 edition of theE.O.A. (Encyclo- EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com . 8. proceed, please. Theclock ticks away every second. think I became demotivated or distracted. Well anyway, I think I might LookouJ(#22) wasthe first encounter with you. You were funny! give it another try. Bob is very pleased andproud of his fruittrees that are Interesting ideas, anda way to cut throughBullshit with a laugh and some now producing; the treesvery are young, so the yield wasn'tmonumental, sarcasm with a dash of salt to add flavor! Quality! but they were very flavorful. When you come down we can go get fresh Lookalike (#31) I picked up when I was at Gilman Street a few (still warm) tortillasat Olay Farms. Speakingof coming down, would you wedcs ago (I won't touch on that subject other than to say that I really beintere stedin speakingat the [Vinyl Communications] store? We've had enjoyed watching/listening to your appeals for some common sense thePeace Resource Center speak on nucleardisarmament and theCentral attitudes during theshow so no one would get hurt, Did it work? Well, I Americancommittee give a lectureon Nicaragua. Thisweek there's going didn't stick aroundfor the after-showcasualties). No personalattacks here, to be an anarchy debate and theYouth Activism task force is going to be cause I like you. Just an attack on your output. speakingon how to organize high school events (not the peprally type). It You're very informative, but it's all self-righteous. It's: there's a isn't anything real formal, five to twenty people usually attend - well, problem. BLAH.I.There's always problems. But it's cool,there are people there's always been more than five, but for you - just joking again. Oh saying LOOK! LOOK!,but where arethe practical solutions? Awww, but yeah, I forgot to mention my friend decided to do a victory garden after then again,maybe it's betterthat you left out theso lutions. Theycould have readingthe LookouJ, whichby theway has sold well at thestore. I need to ended up being like RCP/ socialist/ marxist "solutions." I believe you're know if you want to speak at thestore so I can put it on the calendarand above that, but you've lost your humor in presenting things. I mean, make flyers. Also, if you do decide to speak, is there a specific topic you compare"Kids Tum In Your Parents"to "Food Shonage." Big difference. will want to discuss? Or should the flyerjust say Lawrence Livermore, I'd rather tum in my parentsthan stop eatingCH IPS AHOY cookies and famous LookouJ editor andMRR columnist is going to talk about some­ drinking RC Cola! thing? And your musicsection is BORING! witha capitalT! C'mon, it's Readingabout theagricult ural business was interesting. One thing been donebefore and it'll bedone again,you 're no better than anyone else you didn't mention was the problem caused by irrigating semi-arid soils, on presentingmusic! Just stick to LookoutRecords andforget Lookalike! which causesthe concentration of natural toxins like salines and can bejust It's become stale! Just like old hippies trying to recapture their as harmful to the environment as pesticides and other manufactured youthand beliefsby scamming onto PUNK ROCK! Theyouth don't need chemicals. Living and having grown up in suburban communities, I've no adults to lead. But adults need youth to be leaders. always been amazed and disgustedby thetime andmoney people waste on Take care (sic) useless landscaping for their homes. Theyhave sprinklers installed, spend Warren time and energy mowing, spray poisons, and then cut throw away their S. Holland IL "harvest." It's amazing how many homes there are andhow many lawns there are and how much waste there is. Here in San Diego there are Hey Larrry thousands of illegal aliens making a living working on and then throwing I finally read LoolwuJ from cover to cover - a little too much away the fruits, or should I say grasses of theirlabor. Thesad thingis that political gobbledygook forme, but overall it was good; at least it kept me the ones who make everyone's yardlook "nice" are making more money company on the toilet. thanthe ones picking food crops.

I realize thisetter l will probably be unfit for publication after I Please, if you do decide to give a lecture, write or call so I can mention your bizarre rain dance in the living room of The Ashtray with a schedule it. Also tell me the theme forthe next LookouJif you want any raw potato stuffed in your mouth or your very un-hippie like comments more drawings. I don't even mind when you put your name on them. about getting violentwith the unruly baldies outside of Gilman, but what Barney Love thehell. By theway, to clarify things(now that youcan't interruptme),I'm Chula Vista CA not a fucking hippie. If you take a look into my past, you'll find I've exhibited assholeish behavior most of my life. (Howdoes that make you Mr. Love is the artist who drewthe picuJre accompanyingthe food ,wt a hippie?-U) Also,yes, I do wantpeople to thinkI'm obnoxious­ article in Lookout#J1, the onetha t was signed "Lawrence88" in the lower and that image has contributed a lot to the mnor success of Screeching right hand corner. He did it, not me. -U Weasel. You see,I also know a little about humanbehavior, but I keep my observationsabout people to myself most of the time because it• s beenmy Dear Mr. Livermore, experience that nine times out of ten when you call someone on their shit, I was at a party at my friend's place and had to go out back for a they'll deny it and/or justify it to their graves. Everybodyis a poser and minute. While I was sitting on the one-holer looking out at thestark and everybodyhas animage of tehmselvesthat they tryto portraythat is totally majestic mountainscenery, I saw theLookouJsitting on the shelf besideme. different (or maybe just somewhat different) from the reality. Ever been I don't know if it was supposedto be reading material or to beused like we talkingto someoneand you know they're telling you lies but you don't say used to use theSears & Roebuck catalog when I was a kid, but anyhow I anything, #1 'cause you don't want to embarrass them, and #2 'cause started browsing through it. "Food: Where It Comes From And Where It they'lldeny it andyou 'II bethought of as a huge asshole? People arephony, Goes" caught my eye. I'm impressed. I'm 42, andthe lasttimeI subscribed but if you can get under that phoniness, you'll usually find a very cool to a magazine was Glamourbac k in 1967. Here is a couple of dollars. person.just I don'tbother to do thatwith peo ple unless I'm reallyinterested I wish I could affordmore and maybeI canlater on ifl like thenext in knowing them, so I guess I should take your somewhat antagonistic couple issues you send me. Your answer to Jennifer E. Johnson from attitude towardme (amI being paranoid????)as a compliment. To clarify Brooklyn was excellent. I guess this is why I'm sendingyou thetwo bucks, a couple of more things- I am neurotic, and I do have shifty eyes (but so because I think it's important that people who believe and feel as you do do you), and if you decide to do a story on us and make some contrived should be able to keep on writing. hippie/punk connection, I'll come to SF w/ my Doc Martens and smash I used to be like Ms. Johnson. Now I'm a divorced mother of four yourpeace symbols into oblivion. children, handicapped, and on welfare. My small market garden and Over and out natural food business folded, along with my marriage, about the time Ben Weasel CAMP came along. Oh well. Chicago What I have now is one acre of marginal (very!) hillside land and one rundo•vnmobile home, and have spentthe last five years working out Fans of the more obscure forms of pop music will of course a low-tech, one-womanecosystem (does thatsoun d new age!). For the last recognize Mr. Weasel as the leader of the hippie/punk fusion band fifteen years I have been experimenting with the basic garden-chickens­ Screeching Weasel who on their recent West Coast tour distinguished goats theme and have come up with some pretty interesting results. themselves by throwingflowers to their audiences and blowing kisses to The kids and I (they are age 7 to 13) live on $120 worth of food nazi skins. -U stamps per month - that and $30 cash we spend for animal feed is our monthlygrocery bill. Thisis aboutas self-sufficientas you can get on one Lawrence,you suck acre with limited water. Justjoking, I thought you might take me seriously after reading all I am not advocating welfare (right up until four years ago I was of your hate mail. Well, I finally read the latestLoo/wuJ and enjoyed it very always employed full or part time) but sometimes a person finds her/ much. The organic foods interviews and articles were inspiring. I started himself in a spot and it's the only thing you can do to survive. I do resent digging up weeds and making a ahole for compost earlier this year, but being used as a political pawn, that is, handed my welfare grant, and then something happened and I didn't. I don't knew exactly what happened; I being denounced in the media as "lazy, parasite, loafer, etc."

EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com - 9 - I would like to offerto individuals, or groups,my expertisein rural lot. By theway, my brothermoved down to Temessee to a gay (radical skills- gardeningand livestock raising, for example. I've learnedsome faeries)commune with no electricity! But someoneon the outsidemay be things aboutdealing with gophers, bugs, limitedwater supply,etc. that are using a computer to get out their newsletter. Booo! What are you gonna not found in Organic Gardening. This is strictly a volunteer thing, no do ... I guess you felt you needed that equipmentfor your magazine, too. money asked. I believe, like theauthor of"TheCo ming FoodCrisis," that We're all victims, aren'twe, Larry! (sigh) there�a crisis right aroundthe comer, and evenif there isn't, I'm not going Ann Aust to pay ridiculous prices forcrappy supermarket food. New York Fran Ransley PO Box 1542 Dear Lawrence, Lower Lake CA 95457 I have beenmeaning to writeyou for some time to say how much I enjoyedthe food issue (#31). You may be interested toknow thatthere Hi Larry are some apparently successful gardening enterprises going in Southern I readabout the demise of the Lookouts yourin last issue. That's Humboldt. Elderbroc Farms raises organic beef and grows organic. too bad- maybe you'll get back together in the future,ven e if there are vegetables. CampGr antraises organic vegetables. Both of thesefarms are new members. Sure was interestingt o read abouthow the bandstarted and locatedon fertileland near the Eel, by which I mean the flat floodplain. The aboutyou r lack of self-confidence in the beginning. Remindsme of myself location is important. Thefact is thatsteep land and clay soil doesn't lend - lotsof fear, a delicate ego, no self-esteem. No doubt it took so much itself to largescale farming. Thatdoesn't excuse peoplefrom providing at effort. least someof their own foodby havingvegetable gardens, however. A lot Alsoenjoyed the previoustwo issues• the one abouteducation and of people heredo that,but probablynot enough of them. Motivation may about the environmentand the food we eat. They really hit home. Lately bethe key to morelocal food production. Theearly settlers were motivated. I've been reading a lot about the environment, and on shamanism and If they didn'tgr ow theirown food,they'd go hungry. Inthese modemtimes, nature religions. There's one book my brother lent me called Witchcraft as long as we've got money we can eat. AndTheGayCounlerculture,by ArthurE vans. I'm not gay, but Larry,let Another problem with local food production is that we've been me tellyou, thisguy wasreally on theball, and he had somevaluable ideas, conditioned to expectto have fruitsand v egetablesout of season. If you're even though he wasaddressing a gay audiencew hich I didn't relate to. He going to live throughyour own foodproduction, you needto bewilling to attacksour industrials ociety, talksabout how we had to populatelike crazy eat what's in season. to keep it going; he attacksou r institutions, like the militaryand (this is my Takeeggs, forinstance. Whenmy ducks arela ying lotsof eggs,we beef)s chools and universities. He really spoketo me on that topic. eat lotsof eggs. Whenthey're not laying, we don't eat them. Which reminds Of course, he starts off discussing how the Christian religion me that out towardsAlderpoint there's a chicken ranchthat suppliesfresh, messed things up, and also goes back to how the problems had their fertilized chicken eggs. beginnings in the Bronze Age and got really bad in the Greco-Roman Most of us who came out here in the late 60s and early 70s had scheme of thngs. You know,I remember,in another issue of theLookout, dreamsof livingself-sufficient lives. We're still a long way fromachie ving you wrote somethingabout the RomanEmpi re andho w they pillaged the that but we're still trying. Issues like your lastone serveto remind us of the Celts. I'd recommendthis book highly. I wound up buying one formyself goal. (it may be going out of print) and right now my therapistis reading it. At Mary Anderson any rate, I really think it's great that you arebringing up topics like food, Star Route waste, and the enivironment, as well as other social issues in your zine. Briceland CA Please - keepu p the good work. Got a call from Donny [the Punk] the other day. He's backliving Some readers, especially those residing outside of the Northern herein NYC and is startingto look foran aparbnent, maybe in Brooklyn. MendocinotSouthernHumboldlculluralnexus,maybenot befamiliarwith Also made a new friendat a partyjust recently, as well as getting a letter the Star Route, the monlhlymag02ine which Mary edits. Theyare hereby fromano ther penpal. Unfortunately, until thisheat wave goes, my social referred to thereview section, located somewherein this issue.formore life will beabout nil. It's horrible! It isn't five orso days of heat andthen informationabout Star Route andother finepublications. a break. This90-degree heat has beenlasting for weeks on end! I have a hunch that the greenhouseeffect is egging it on. I'll tell you, Larry.often I Dear Mr. Livermore: feel that man took a wrong tum when we stopped being hunters and Your publication hasbegun to turnup with some regularityhere in gatherers. Andpeople tum to a higher technology tostudy and remedy the London. and I feel it my duty to comment on what is a perhaps well­ problem,w hen thehigher technologies are just fueling the problems and intentioned, but ultimately no better than slightly amusing example of buying into the system. American cultural imperialism, something with which we have been Like computers. Face it, they're made out of plastic, the plastic inundatedever sincethe lastWar. While,like most Englishmen of a certain industry pollutes,the microchipcompanies dump into the rivers and these age, I feel a certain gratitude toward your countrymen for the assistance machines might be fuelingbig business. Now maybeit's overly idealistic renderedus during that perilous time, I find myself at times wonderingif andunrealistic of me to expect technology to come to a totalhalt all of a theprice of that aid, specifically, the loss of ourown national identityand sudden. But (andI hopeI'm not insulting anyone's intelligence) I get the its replacement with our current status as an American colony--cum­ feeling that a lot of people see technology as some saving grace and an protectorate might not have been too high. answer, as if they're venerating it, without seeing the insidiousness But forgive me, I believe I misspoke myself in my first sentence underneath. Okay, if you need to use such and such a tool,un til the time when I referred to your country'scultural imperialism. It is of courseoxy­ comes whenpeople wake up and see how ourearth is beingplundered and moronic to speakin such terms of a countrywhich has yet to manifestmore until we're no longer desecrating it, well, what can you do? But to put thanthe barestrudiments of a culture. Theyears in which Englandenjoy ed technologyon apedestal-that's lousy, Anotherthing that irks meis when virtualhegemony over the civilizedwor ld did indeed seesome excesses on peopleturn to synthetics to avoid using leather andother animalproducts. our part,but ourcolonial, and yes, our imperialisticefforts did at leastserve Thisis no answer - the snythetics pollute in the making, and as you may thepurpose of transportingto virtuallyevery area of theglobe the fruitsof know, that stuffdoesn't decompose, and is unhealthy to wear. many centuries of art, literature, philosophy, indeed all the foundation See, we're so over-populated that we're putting pressure on our stones of anything worthyof the namecivilization. Your own colDtby is resources. "Primitive" man killed, but used every part of the animal and merely one of many beneficiaries. had a spiritual link with him/her. No factory farming there! Populations Now that the United States haslong since eclipsedEngland, at least were small - you didn't need tons of leather for shoes, now were you in termsof military and economic strength. it would bereassuring to see brainwashed by the media into having one pairof shoes per outfit. There America's worldwide influence being used to expand upon the British was a balance between man and his environment. Yes, something defi­ example. Unfortunately, I see nothing emanating from the USA but a nitely went sour-wereally screwedthings up. Now eventhe Sarnipeople supermarket mentality nourished by religious consumerism. Granted, (incorrectly know as the Lapps) of northern Scandinavia use helicopters publications like yours do not actively proselytize forw hat I perceiveto be andsnowmobiles to help them herd their reindeer. And the reindeerhav e no more nor less thanan anti-culture, but in a sense they aredangerous in turnedinto a cash commodity. Maybeit's none of my business, but I think theirown w ay, for theyfoster the illusion that Americansociety is capable that is sad. If"economic" man hadn't butted in... of producing some semblance of intelligence and reason, and therefore Sorry I went offon a rampage, but these issues areon my mind a

EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com - 10 - should not bethoroughly scorned and avoided by allthinking citizens of the century,if you have not yet succeededin annihilatingyourselves (and very world. possibly the rest ofus as well),you andyour Russian counterparts will have Yes, I grant that there are men, and preswnably women also, of begun to emerge assomething approxima ting cohesive and matureci vili­ goodw ill andsome ability in yourco untry. But do not preswneat thistime zations. Until then,I recommend thatyou confineyour philosophi cal and to promulgate yourviews throughout othersocieties which arecenturies or politicalruminations to your own shores; they are of littlevalue and even evenmilleniaolderthanyourown. Putsimply,youdonot yetknow enough less consequence to those of us who already have a firm grasp of our to take your place on the world's intellectual stage. Perhaps by the next identity and place in history. G. Robert Hopewell London

Society to Abolish Geography And Other Useless Subjects Forms In Laytonville

somehow lifeis going to bebetter or easieron the other side of thathill or A group of concernedparents and citizens isforming in L ayton ville valley. What we need is for people tostay home andtend to business and to lobby for theelimination of subjectsfrom local schoolcurricula that, in do theirjobs and look after theirfamilies, and I don't see where geography thewo rds of Mrs. Millie Plimpton, chairperson, " ... only serve to confuse is going to do a darn thing to help that." and addle the minds of our young people by forcing them to memorize Rev. Smedley agreed wholeheartedly, adding that the only map a informationthat is of no valueto them and end up distracting th em fromthe person needed to be able to read was 'the one that tells the way toward things that are truly important in life." heavenand away from hell. "I'll admit,"he said, "that certain people need Among the subjects Mrs. Plimpton and vice-chairperson Rev. to beable to findtheir way around foreignplaces, for example,missionaries Oliver Smedley singled out for attack were geography, philosophy, and and ourmilit aryforces. But thoseare specialized occupations. Most of us socialstudies. Mrs. Plimpton stated thatshe becameinterested in justwhat don't need to know anything more than the way to our jobs and the her children were being required to learn last swnmer when she heard a supermarketand McDonald• s or Denny•s on thoseoc casions we decideto guest on thePhil Donahue show state that most American students were dine out, andyou don't need lessons to dothat; y ou just get on thehigh way ignorantof even elementarygeography, to theextent that one out of seven and drive." could not find theUn itedStates on a map of the world, and thatalmost as Rev. Smedley alsoexpressed concernover the studyof historyand manycould not even locate the area theylived in on an unmarked map of philosophy by impressionable young people. "Now you take these so­ the United States. calledphilosophy c lasses," he declared, "andthey're reading stuffwrit ten "At first," says Mrs. Plimpton, "I was shocked just like everyone by outright,admitted pagans like Plato and Aristotle and giving kids the else, just like the media wanted us to be. But then I started thinking to impression there's something worthwhile to it. This Socrates character, myself, 'Now, just a minute, Millie, what is so all-fired important about you knowhe wasexecuted becausehe didn't even believein the falsegods knowing how to find yourown countryon a map? If you 're alreadythere, of theGreeks, let alonethe one trueGod. And as faras history, well, asfar then what on earth do you need a map for anyway?'" asland the Lord are concerned, al l thehistory you need to know,right from Mrs. Plimpton wenton to explain how it thenoccurred to her that the beginningof the world, is written down in the Holy Bible with God's the only thing geography was likely to accomplish was to make students own hand. All the rest of thatjunk just confuses people." curious aboutothe r places and as a result to make them dissatisfied about The Society to Eliminate Geography arid Other Useless Subjects theirown home towns. "Now I'll admit,"sh e continued, "thatback in the (STEGAOUS) will meet every Sunday afterregu larworship s�icesat the days of Christopher Colwnbus and thosefellows, a bit of wanderlust was CommunityCretin Church on the101 Ranchsouth ofLaytonvdle. All are a good thing. But everything's already beendiscovered now, and thelast welcome. thing we need is people traipsing all over God's green earth thinking that

EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com • 11- You're In Good Hands? KMUD: Redwood Time To Put The Insurance Community Radio I finally founda placein my house where ifl aim the radio just right Racket Out Of Business and stick its antennaup through the chandelier, I can pick up KMUD from Of all the parasitic and exploitative industries spawned by the Garberville. And what a differenceit's made in my life. Till now the only cutthroat form of capitalism practiced here in the United States, the station that consistently came in to my little corner of the mountains was insurancebusiness must beamong the leastsavory. It's a formof gambling San Francisco's news-talk KGO, with its foaming-at-the-mouthright wing where the odds are completely weighted in favor of the house. You'd hosts fomenting racism, greed, andknee-jerk patriotism up and down the probably standa better chancein LasVegas. west coast(all right, to be fair, Ray Taliaferro,on from 1 am to 5 am,is Yetnomatterhow unfairthegame,almosteveryonewhocanafford almost asfar left ascretins like JimEason andLee Rodgersare to the right, it plays it. If you wantto drivea car you don'teven have a choice in many but who wants to stay up all night !is tening to people yell about thingsyou states. Andwhile medicalinsurance isn't required by law (yet), there are alreadyknow are fucked up?). Oh yeah, and there'sthe Ukiah countryand some powerful incentives to purchase it, among them being thefact that western station, programmedin LosAngeles by robotDJs, and I think the hospitals have beenknown to let uninsuredpeople die becausethey lacked Christian pod people are setting up transmitterson every mountainso that the cash to pay fortreatment. eventually you won't be able to pick up anything but KGOD (once I read If you want to buy a house, the bank will require you to have aboutsome woman who wasblind andcrippled and lived in a little shack insurance(unless you're one of thoserare individuals who can pay cash), way north of the Arctic Circlethat was snowed in foralmost half the year, and if you want to make sure your familydoesn 't end up living on the streets and the only entertainment she had was the24- hour-a-day Christianradio and eatingout of garbagecans if something happensto you, you'II need life station nearby that blocked everything else offthe airwaves. Boy, if there anddisability insurance. An ordinaryworking mother or fathercould end was ever anythingthat could make hell look good... ). up spending several thousand dollars a year in protection money to the Anyway, KMUD is something that I'm temptedto say could only insurancemob. happen here in the Emerald Triangle. I may be wrong. There may be Insurance wouldn't benearly as big a racketas it is if the state didn't community-supported stations elsewhere that are just as good. I haven't cooperatein making daily lifea risky affair. Many of the financial disasters heardof anyyet. But asone KMUD DJ wassaying the otherday, it's pretty that insurance is meantto protect us against simply wouldn't happen in amazing that anarea with only about12,000 people could supportits own most indusoialized countries, where things like food, housing,medical radio station, especially a non-commercial one. careand education areregarded as human rights ratherthan privile ges. But KMUD isn't strictly non-commercial;much of its programmingis even thoseareas where insurancedoes make sense- forinstance, fireand sponsoredby localbusinesses, who have a little blurb read on the half hour theft on your house or car- could be handled farmore efficiently by a that soundsa lot like a low-key advertisement. That's still a lot betterthan single, state-sponsored insurance company. Socialized insurance? Of every fiveminutes, the way it is at most stations. But you know what's course; how could it not be more practical thanthe current system? really a lot better at KMUD thanat most stations? The programsand the Figure it this way. If you watch TV or listen to the radio, you're people. exposedto dozensof insurance commercialsevery day. Who do you think Yeah, this being Humboldt,of course there's a substantial quotient pays for them? You do, sucker. For thelast couple months, practically of flakes,sproutheads, andnew age wankerama. But there'salso loads of every station in thestate of Californiahas at least once an hourbroadcast great music, including just about any kind I can think of from punk to a blatantly dishonest advertisement telling people how to vote on the bluegrass to reggae to classical. not to mention Middle Eastern, Eastern insuranceinitiatives on thisNovember's ballot. The insuranceindustry is European,Oriental, oh, a few hippie songs thiown in hereor there, and spending $43 million, an all-time record,in this effort to pervert the unfortunatelythey also allow the kindof psychotic jazzso belovedof white democraticprocess. But that's not exactlytrue. Actually, youand Land would-be hipsters who thinkall theirproblems could have beenavoided if anyone else thathas any kind of insurancein this state is paying for it. Your only they'd beenborn black and their mothers hadn't forcedthem to listen rates keep going up? 43 million smackeroos hasto come fromsomewhere, to Mantovani during their formativeyears. and it's sure not going to be out of the pockets of Metropolitan Life KMUD also has politics, conversation, educational stuff, and shareholders. important news like the Pacifica report every evening and information Why not instead have just one insurancecompany that functioned aboutthe whereaboutsof CAMP every morning. And if you still can't find aloni:; l\elines of a pension fundor social security? No advertising costs, a program you like, then they invite you to createone of yourown. This no high-paid lobbyists buying influence in the state legislature, and no is radio as it wasmeant to be,not the faceless, soullessproduct that has exorbitant salariesand dividends for executives and shareholders. In the resultedfrom the past few decades of corporateownership of the airwaves. caseof auto insurance,for example, the cost could beincluded in registra­ What this adds up to is that KMUD needs your supportto stay on tion fees. Property insurance could be computed as a percentage of the air. If you live in northern Mendocino or southern Humboldt, chances assessedvalue, and medical insuranceshould not evenbe necessary, when areyou can pick up KMUD. Checkit out,and if you agree that it's the kind and if we join the civilized world and offer national health care as every of radio station that should begiving lessonsto otherradio stations on how industrialized countryin the world withthe exception of the UnitedStates to be radio stations, why not considerbecoming a supportingmember? The andSouth Africaalready does. Ditto forlife and disability insurance;most standardrate is$35 a year,and they have a sliding scaleof$12 to $20ayear countries,capitalist or communist,do not allow families to be kicked out if you're one of the poorer folks. And when you shop at one of the into the streets becauseof death or injury to thebread-winner. Our own businesses that currently aresupporting KMUD programming, tell them land of thefree is of course a notable exception. thanks,and let them know that their dollarsare coming back to them in the There will be those who will argue, with a certain amount of formof good will. justification,that governmentis by nature corruptand inefficient and thus The new fall schedule, which is more like a magazine, should be out could not do asgood a job of insuring its citizens as private industry now just about now. I don't think you needto be a memberto get one, but if you does. While a degree of waste is built in to anygovernment program, it's canafford to send some money KMU D's way, you ought to. Write to them hardto believethat state-run insurance, evenin the hands of our sleaziest at PO Box 135, Redway CA 95560. politicians,could riv al theobscene practices of private insurancecarriers. As evidence, just take a look at socialsecurity and unemployment insur­ God, what a coilnlry! Everyonewith his own little vaudevilleact. ance, two programsthat, with all their abuses,have provided formillions - Bruce Anderson of peopleat a relatively reasonablecost. In the short run, onething people can do is to vote yes on the Ralph Sovereignty and independence, equal rights and noninlerference Nader-sponsored Proposition 103 this November and no on Props. 100, are becoming universally recognized rules of international relations, 101, 104,and 106, all of which aresponsored by either insurancecompa­ which is a majorachievemenl of the twentiethcentury. To oppose freedom nies or trial lawyers. In the long run,we should work on eliminating the of choice is to comeout againstthe objective tide of history itself. That is private insurance business altogether,or at least offer people a not-for­ why power politics in all their forms andmanifestations are historically profit alternativeto it. obsolete. EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com- Mikhail Gorbachev - 12-

--- ,0- Lovehim or hatehim, theGrateful Dead's JenyGarciais as likely which has given him some of his best publicity in years. a candidate as any to accede to the title of Mr. SanFrancisc o when Herb Emeryville's PlumGraphics markets a lineof gag shirtsportraying Caen and Co. wander off to thelasl roundup at Gardner•sTennis Ranch, the "cats of famous artists,"one of which portrays a (surprise!) shrouded even ifthe v oluminousguitarist hasn 'llived in the cily for a couple decades. cal allegedly belonging to the Eastern European scblockmeister. You'd He may have spenta significanlpartof thosedecades withhis feel think Christowould begrateful for having achieved artist statusin at least in the grave and his face in a crack pipe. but it's gratifying to be able to some eyes, bul Plum's generosity has gained them only the threal of.a reportthat the greybearded fretmaster appears to have donean exceptional lawsuit. job of resurrecting and redeeming himself, at leasl judging from his Post script:lawyers for dead popster And y Warhol (onewonders if performanceat theJuly 16 freeconcert in Golden GatePark celebrating the they communicate withthe soupcan illustrator via Ouijaboard, or if they American-Sovietpeace walk. simply extrapolate from the First Principle of Warhol Artistry:Gel The Fromadislllnce il soundedif as theGra tefulDead themselves were Money) have gone Christo one better and actually filed suit against Plum playing, and you wouldn't have knownothc:1-wise to look al the crowd, a forits r endition of Andy's cal. massively tie-dyed aggregation of which the majority appeared to have migratedover from Berkeley, wi.ethe Dead were inthe midst of a three­ Speaking of "art," thecity is about lo embarkon anothermega. day GreekTheatre stand. Thecrowd, in fact,was thewo rst thingabout an buck culturalboondoggle, the new Museum of Modern Art. Expected to otherwiseen joyable concert,with a disproportionatenumberofBudweiser­ cost at least70 million smackeroos, the building is "desperately" needed, swilling long-hairedjocks doing their best to impersonate a Candlestick we 're told,because the space theMuseum currently occupies in the upper Parkbaseball crowd on acid. floors of the War Memorial on Van Ness does nol allow room for the Also detracting from thegeneral pleasantness was the aggressive Museumto expand its collection. hucksterism of parl-time Laytonvillian Wavy Gravy and actor Robert Whichis onevery good reason for keepingthe present facility, and Blake, who during intermission were hawking T-shirts emblazonedw ith ifit's more roomthat's needed.a good startwould lo beget rid of at least the autographof (gasp!) JerryGarcia. Askingprice, 100smackeroos, and half of thecurrent collection, by selling ii or dumping it out on the curbif a couple people paid it before the price startedplummeting. TheGrace necessary (and it probably would be in some cases). San Francisco has Slick model fetchedconsiderably less. never beenmuch of a museum townanyway, bul theMuseum of Modem Yeah,yeah,all forag oodcause,right? Excepl whynot giveiuresl Art is a repository of ugliness, bad taste, pedantry, and old-fashioned once in a while, huh? The tolal amount raised could have easily been corruption pandering to the moneyed booboisie who typically dominate matchedor surpassedby a coupleof hippiebigshots sacrificing a monthof �•e cultural agenda in arrivisletowns like this one, only a couple genera­ their cocaine budget. Speaking of drugs, I ran iruo the former Mrs. hons removed from the frontierand still a bil anxious about its slalus in Livermore backstage, where she gushingly toldme how she• d started the civilized society. daywith a 6 a.m.Zen meditationsession toppedoff witha dose of Ecstasy Theself-serving clowns who stocked thisjoint (biggestvillain is laced with cocaine. She Jives in Marin, needless to mention. HarryHopkins, sincedeparted to feedat bigger troughs in thesouthland) arepositively salivatingal theprospect of laying out another 100million Back across the Bay, I had occasionto marvel once more at the bucks for thelalesl in crumpledautomobile fenders, painl spilled and/or pervasive powerof culturemogul Bill Graham. In days of old,when there· thrown at a canvas by pretentious psychotics, and rooms full of squares was a particularly altractive concert at the Greek Theater, hundreds of artfullyarranged inside of circles. people would gather theabove facilityon what became knownas Cheap­ Theseare the same guys who earlier this year mourueda "major" skate Hill. Well, no longer. Graham, who probably raked in a couple exhibition of some East Coasl (maybe it was Europe, but that's iust an hundred thousand bucks for what amounts to renting a hall and hiring a . extension of the East Coast anyway, isn't it'l) huckster named Julian band,ordered several squaremiles of theBerkeley hills closedoff, andthe Schnabel, whose specially involvesgluing broken platesinside of picnue UC Berkeley police dutifully did his bidding, presumably at t:axpayer frames. This excitingdisplay wasadvertised lo the world by a dozenor so expense. enormous satin banners emblazoned with the word "SCHNABEL" thal hung outside the building. The cosl of lhe banners alone could have The malling of the Hafght-Ashbury suffered a setback in late supported a couple of real artisl!i for the next year. Septemberas an arsonistwiped out anentire building which was to house a new Thrifty (a misnomer, by theway) drug store and a sel of condos. Mayor Art Agnos continues to disappoint; although his policies Unfortunately,the five-alarmb lazealso rook ou t several nearbyapartment thus far don't compare lO the outright malignancy with which Dianne buildings, leaving over 60 peoplehomeless. Luckily, no one wasinjured. Feinsteindismembered all thatwas bright and beautifulabout the City By The yuppiepr ofiteerbehind the project was unperlurbed; he vowed TheBay, he hasalso done very liule to reverse San Francisco's slideinto to rebuild,and punctuated thatpromise with a smug chortle. Representa­ a morass characterized by the worst aspects of both New Yorkand Los tives of the Thrifty chain, on the other hand, were nol so sure theywould Angeles minus the redeeming cultural advantages of those cities. tty again. Although lhe mayor campaigned on a platform favoring rent A bit of uninlentionalhumor in thepos t mortems: SanfordKeller­ controls for vacanthousing, something his landladypredecessor success-­ man, owner of theneighboring I-Beam, a yuppie disco, was heardon the fully resisted, Agnos hasrefused lo endorse a November ballot initiative of radio proclaiming, "Unfortunately, fire fighters were able to prevent any that would limit rent increases to between 4% and 7%, regardless damageal allto ourbuilding." whetheran apartment is vacantor nol. Hizz.onerclaims lhatthe measure, which would also eliminatetho usands of evictions engineered by greedy Anyone rememberthe conceptual "artist"Christo, he who made landlords as a way of circumventing rentcontrols, is too harsh. thecity-fi nanced a name and several million bucks for himself by inducing thousands of Agnosis also talkingseriously about resurrecting (which he also opposed during the cam­ volunteersto assist him in draping variouslandscape s andmonum ents with baseball stadium boondoggle Pacific lO proceed with its Mission Bay miles uponmiles ofsheets? Inthe fast.fleetingworld of modemcelebrity, paign) and allowing Southern amounts ro the plunking down of a whole new city not thatmany people do, whichmakes it all themore curiousthat Christo' s development, which of an already gridlocked San Francisco. About the attorneys havefired off a stem barrageat anEast Ba y T-shirtmanufacturer smack in the middle EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com • 13 · only issue themayo r hass tood fast on is hisopposi tion to thehomeporting spectacularlycolorfu l troupeof drag queensand flamboyant exhibitionists of the nuclearbattleship Misso uriat Hunter'sPoint, and if votersapprove who made it theirlife's missionto abolish all notionsof preconceivedsex hisProposition Ro n November 8, it will probably deala deathblow to this roles, they burst upon the scene on Christmas Eve of 1969, when they Chamber of Commerce/ Pentagon scam and leave the Hunter's Point performed their own version of the birth of Jesus for slack-jawedparish- waterfront openfor the kind of developmentthat' s alreadybeen occurring ionersattending midnight mass at Nob Hill's Grace Cathedral. there of its ownaccord, providing affordable space for artists and non­ In the yearsthat followed, Angels of Light shows grew into major lethal small businesses. events that attracted thousands and drew high praise even from major media theater critics like the Chronicle's Bernie Weiner. The Angels The new mayor's greatest single crime against the city of San brought to their art the same uninhibited, poly-cultural approach that Francisco reads like a chapter right out of the Dianne Feinstein Book of characterized their lives; a scene featuring space aliens doing a Chinese Horrors. With traffic congestion and air pollution at all-time highs, and folkdance whilea bigger thanlife Hindu sacredcow sporting jewels and with the private automobile clearly indicted as a major villain in the tiara meandered througha bee-hivedclutch of queens buffing their nails greenhouse effect now threatening the entire planet, Agnos has chosen to would not be at all out of character. balance the city's budget by delivering what may well be adeath blow to What brought the Angels backto mind wasthe recent deathfrom public transit in SanFrancisco. AIDS of Rodney Price, one of the founding members. Rodney was a Raising Muni fares to 85¢ is more of an inconvenience than a brilliant dancer, singer, and all-around performer who very likely could financialburden for most passengers;the time spent by passengerssearch­ have wound up on Broadway had he chosen to pursue a more mainstream ing forone more coin will probably resultin still more delaysin thealready career. He alsop layeda big partin designing costumes and sets, and was maddeninglyslo w service. But the real disasteris yet to come: in October a major contributor to thewriting of Angels' plays as well. Muni will adopt major cutsin service, which will reduce it to little more The Angels, asis thecase with theperforming arts in general, have than a commuterli ne for downtownoffice workers. Rushhour schedules been devastated by AIDS; another major contributor, Tommy Pace.died will remain relatively unchanged, but people wishing to use buses and thesame mon th asRodn ey, andin fact, only a relative handfulof themale streetcars during midday hours may find themselves spending twice as members remain alive today. The plague goes on and on, and the much time standing around on street comers as they currently do. And government does next to nothing, other than funnel huge amounts of thoseou t fora nighton the town had better prosperousbe enough to own money into the coffers of profiteering drug merchants like Burroughs­ anautomobileor pay for ataxi, since many lineswil l no longeroperate after Wellcome (makersof AZf)and the obscenelycorrupt medical establish­ 7p.m. ment. Oh, did I forget to mention that the Angels were militantly radical Still more Agnos-bashing: whatthe hell is going on in theHaight? on the politicalas well asthe socialfront? As longas AIDShits hardest at Not only arethe cops, withthe mayor's blessing, rousting peoplewho are people like the Angels of Light, do you think the corporateand religious sleeping in theirvehicles along the Panhandle("If they want tolive in this nazis runningthis society are going to be in any hurry to find a cure? neighborhood, why don't they save up enoughmone y fora downayment p on a condolike I did?" one exasperatedyuppie complained about the bus Closer to home, there was another death, someone who never people), but now the Tac Squad, in full riot gear, is arresting people for made the kind of name forhimself that the Angels of Light did, just an giving foodaway. Maybe thecoalition of peace activistsknown Foodas ordinary person who lived an ordinary San Francisco life, and who in Not Bombs should changeits nameto FoodAnd Bombs, with foodfor the microcosmrepresents the immensetragedy AIDS has inflicted on thiscity. hungryand bombsfor the city hallthat makes charity a crimewhilehanding His namewas Tom Counts,he hadjust turned40 years old, and on overmillions of buc�s intaxpayer money to every cheesy developerwho the surfaceyou wouldn't see that much to differentiatehim from thethree comes downthe pike witha proposalfor another shopping center orcondo thousand or so SanFranciscans who have died from AIDS so far this palace. Agnos, by the way, is buying a $600,000 little bungalow in the decade. What makes him stand out from the rest is that I knew him UpperM arketarea. He could have poppedfor one of the$1.2 million jobs personally, and forthe first time I experiencedthe shock andrevulsion of overin P-Heights, but hewanted to letusknow he's stillone of theordinary seeingsomeone ofmy ownage, with whatlooked like a fulland promising workingfolks. In fact,to showth at he's not onefor putting on airs the way life still ahead, cut down anddestroyed by this awfuldisease. I now have Feinsteinused to, he's orderedthat his limo only be waxed once every two a vague understandingof what it mustbe like forthose who've alreadylost weeks and from now on he's going to answer his own car phone on his fiveor ten or more friends. secretary's day off. Unlike manyAIDS victims,Tom chose notto subjecthimself to the whole medical rigamarole that keeps some patients alive for years, but at Golden Gate Bridge tolls are going up to two bucks every day, the price of constant hospitalizations and often painful experimental ostensibly for theright reason,that of improving service andcutting fares therapies,and the progressof the diseasethrough his systemwas frighten­ on the nearly moribund Golden Gate bus and ferry system. Most of the inglyfast. He firststarted showing symptoms lastwinter, and by midsum­ money will probablydisappear into the bottomlesspockets of the bridge mer, he was dead. The firsttime I saw him afterhe had becomereally sick bureaucracy, however, andlong lines of drivers waiting to pay their tolls left anindelible impressionon me. It hadbeen perhaps a mont})or two since will waste still moregasoline and furtherdeplete the ozonelayer. What's I had last visited him, and the boyishly grinning, constantly clowning worse, thebrid ge boardhas just voted sellto discount tickets priced at$1.25 around youngster had turned into a gaunt and feeble old man hobbling toregular commuters, who arethe biggest villainsin the ridiculous traffic downthe hallway on a cane withhis now-much-too-largeclothes flapping snarl that plagues the bridge every morningand afternoon, and who could in the morning breeze. most easily take advantage of mass transit. I say charge five bucks to Somehow he kept smiling and joking right to the end,though it was anyone wearing a business suit during commute hours, and let everyone obviously only withgreat effort. The last time I saw him in July, he was else cross free. Seriously, the whole ideaof tolls hasgot to be scrapped. no longer able to getout of bedmuch, but he wasstill makingp lansfor the Makepeople pay formass transit,by allmeans , but do it through gasor auto future. I promised to come forano ther visit on my next tripto San Fr ancisco registration taxes. The presenttoll system is anobscene waste of time and the following week. I talkedto himon thephone a couple of times during fossil fuel, and benefits no one but therelative handful of toll collectors. theweek, andhe soundedupbeat. But when I got tothe city andcalled to say I was comingover, a woman's voice answered, andtold me thathe had While we're on the subject, what is one to think of the San passed away the night before. It was the dayafter the big heat wave had Francisco Chronicle (yeah, Iknow, not much) calling one day forall-out broken,b ut apparently the sea breezeshad returned to the city toolate; the action to reverse the greenhouse effect, and almost in the same breath I 00°+ temperatures had just been too much for his feeble constitution. advocatingthe conslT\lction of a secondBay Bridge? Yeah, exactly what Tom waslucky to have his friend Janice, who stoodby himto the we need, a way to get more cars into thecity. end, waiting on him, cleaningup afterhim, doingthe kind of work thatyou couldn't pay a professionalhealthcare worker eno ugh todo. Her story,too, Another Chronicle mind boggier: a lengthy article on the is one of thousands;people motivated by nothingother than friendshipand garbage crisis,focusing on the difficultyof findinga suitable place to dump compassion giving so much of themselves to take care of the sick and thestuff and concludingthat theeventual solution will have to bemassiv e dying. Another womanlknowgave up her ·n room, her ownbed so that incinerators,despit e the obviousenv irortmental drawbacks. Not once was she could takea friend suffering from AIDS into her home. Devotionl ike the word "recycling" mentioned. this goes at least some distance to restoring faith in human nature, and standsin stark contrast to the obscenec allousnessdisplayed by thosewith In thefranchised pinstripe worldthat San Fr anciscohas become, the financial and scientific resources tomake a real impact on this tragic probably not all that many people remember the Angels of Light. A epidemic. EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com . .. :. . - . . -- LAYTONVILLE 2000 Recenlly the Laytonville Ledger has been offering us a series wasto come. Duringthe 1990s, the clima e continuedto grow ri r, and entitled "La ytonville in the 1990s,"whi h promises a bright fut e for ! _ d � � ':'" � after the winter of 1994 came andwent w1thou1 a drop of ram fallmg on aswe become vineyardopera tors, Christmastree fa rmers, or Just cham what wasonce known as the RedwoodEmpire, whole forests starteddying. saw operators forMr. Harwood. Now thatwe whatwe'll be doing � Arguing thatthe dying treesshould nol beallowed to go waste,the timber inthe coming ten years, theLOOKOUT, as usual, will go onestep bey nd � o_ industry was given permissionto clear ut areaswhere, �e words of the andoffersthisvisionofLaytonville aJthe tum of thecenJury, atthe daw11111g � � US Forest Service,"It did not appear hkely that the maJonty of the trees of a newmillennium. Tho se you who wantour 11 t row shouldbe of !� '? ? _ would survive." Firs and redwoods were milled forlumber, nnd the oaks hog heaven by the timeyou get to the end of this 1.T1Spmngpiece. in. and madrones went to fuel the Harwood bio-mass plants in Willits and Branscomb. An allempt was made to replant some of the logged-over Bill Bailey stepped fromhis air-<:onditioned limousine into the air­ areas,but althoughthere was a little rainin the winter of 1995, it was not conditioned lobby of the 56-story Bailey Building that the Laytonville enough to sustain anything but grass and thistles through the record­ Ledger's architecture critichad describedas "the crownjewel of our great breaking heat of the summerthat followed. The monthof Iu!y saw three city. He was not outdoors for more than a few seconds, but the s ° " }edg�­ straightweeks of temperaturesin excess of 120 , and by the ume another hammerheat lefthim feelinga liule staggered, andhe paused to wipe his dry winter had come and gone, the hills of Mendocino County had begun brow andregain his bearings. to resemble the high desert of Nevada or Wyoming. "Gonna be anotherhot one, Mr. Bailey," said the ancient security While many old-timers were distressed at this development, real guard, as he did nearly every day. The thermo eter o the B of ° � !l � andconstruction interests pointedout that it could beconsid · estate �ed a Laytonv ille towershowed 134 , and i I wasbarely 9 o clockm the� ornm¥ blessing in disguise, sincethe newly available openspace co ld u1ckly Bailey nodded, andentered the private elevator thatwould lake him to his � 9 andcheaply be converted to housing forthe floodof people movmg 1� fr?m top-flooroffice. . south and central California. Bill Bailey, although he had madehis first From his glassed-in aerie, Bailey wasafforded a specta ul view � � forruneselling logging equipment, wasaslllte enough to seethe changing inall directions,except of course for theclouds of smoke floaung_ ml and conditions and position himselfto takeadvantage of them. He boughtup from the oil refineries over on the coast. A slight breeze had earned off thousands of acres ofv acanlland surrounding Lay tonville, and theensuing much of the blanket of smog that normallyhung over I.he city, and he could real estateboom hadmadehim oneoftherichest menin California. He was even make out a dim outlineoflron Peak, more thanten miles to the north. universallyrecognized as the fatherof modern-da Laytonville, d th re When he wasyoung, therehad beendays when the airwas so crystal r � � had even beena short-lived movementto change itsname loBruley C11y. clearthat you could see a hundred milesor more, but much had changed Bill, however,had quickly put the kiboshon thatnotion, as well ason a since those days, when anambitious young Bill Bailey had set out to p�I similar groundswell of supporturging him to runfor mayor. "Everyone both himselfand Laytonville on the map. He had succeeded beyond his knows who I am and the role I play inthis city," he declared; "I don'I feel wildest dreams; Laytonville was now the largestcity betweenSant � Ro�a that I need formalrecognition. Besides, I think I can accomplishmore in and the Oregon border, and with drought-plagued southern Cahfonua the private sector." . ruming into a desert, a steady stream of refugees from now largely And indeed he had accomplished. a great deal. He built. the city , s unirthabi1ableLos Angeles promised continued growth for the foreseeable firsthigh rise, and had a prominent role in arrangingfinancing for many of future. the ones that followed. When the State of California hadtried to gel by with It had beenassumed that Ukiah would bethe naruralstopping place convertingHighway 101 to afomlane freeway,it had beenBill Bailey who forthe northwardmigration, but theformer county seat had been destroyed had gone down 10 Sacramento andma .de sure the �ove�or.�ew Layton­ by a minor nuclear accident in 1996, and theresulting fallout had made ville needed at ]east eight lanes. While most California cJUes struggled Willits, already suffering from limited water supplies and severe air with chronic water shortages, Bill Bailey had pulled off a slllnningcoup in u pollution, a less than desirable location: �ort Bragg h� _ndergone a nol only arrangingto damthe Eel River lo flood the Round Valley and significantspun in population when theoil ngs had moved m m 1990, but create LakeCovelo, but throughsome fancylegal footworkhad given �e rising sea levels caused by thegreenhouse effect had Hooded most of the Laytonville Municipal Water Department fast rights to the new reservoir. original town, and what was leftof the coast from Westpo�I �outh to the True, Lake Covelo wasrarely more than half full these days, but it was Navarro River was now given over ahnost entirely to the01 mdus · � !-11' . enough to keep Laytonville growing, andin the wealthierparts of town,one Bill could see thepipeline snaking over thebrown hills, brmgmg could still see broad expanses of green lawns. the lifeblood of industrializedsociety 10 the service stations andfactories Bailey, Inc.is not the only local enterprisethat has flourished. Just of Laylonville. There wasa certain sinuous beauty to them, twisting and down the street fromthe Bailey Building is GeigerWorld,one of the largest ruming over the mountains, occasionally reflecting backa bu�t of s1:111- shopping malls in the United States. It's centerpiece is a museum-<:um­ ligh1. The pipeline, with its illusion ?f movement, made an mter estmg ��� � �� � ¼����� the�� contrast with the lines of trafficcrawling along the Branscomb Freeway. � Laytonville wasa simple logging village. On� canbrowse ma remarkably Even though Bill wassick andtired of the whiningsof environmen­ accuratereplica of Geiger's General Mercanlile, or strollthrough a three­ talists, he did have to agree with them on one thing. He missed the trees. acre plasticreconst ruction of a�.,..,., redwo� forest th�t th?se old enough Once the county had beenahnosl completely forested. Now, except f�r a to remember swearis almost like the real thing. Babblmg ht tie brooksrun few scraggly things that would more properly be called bus es, the hills � between the trees, and concealedspeakers broadcastthe 5?Unds of �al were bare. Last winter it had rained twice, once for an entire day, and calls and the wind sighing through the trees. Nearby 1s an authenuc­ there'd been a brief eruption of wildflowers and grass t!tal had everyone _ looking logging camp,where, for a fewdollars_, childrencanexperie�ce!h e oohing and aahing for a weekor two. Bui theyhad long smce shnveled �P• thrillof wielding a chain saw andac _1ually fall mg a tree, or at least. a lifelike andanytime a strong breeze came in, clouds of dust wou!d come rollmg plasticimitation of one, complete with thesound effoctsof crackmg wood downoff thehills, looking almostlike thesmoke from old-time forest fires. anda lumberjack's voice hollering "Timber!" It had been during the dry years of 1987 and 1988 that the trees Another attraction in GeigerWorld is Restaurant Row, where started dying. At firstthey said it was insects;it was10 beex �ted that the practically anykind of dining ex enceimaginabl canbe had. ere are weaker treeswould not make ii throughdrought years. Dunng that e � � � �� McDonald's andBurger King, Carl s Jr. andWendy sand Burger �mg d time huge areasof thecounty were logged ov r e vantage � � _to � � _ of nsmg dozens of other traditionalAmerican establishments, not to menuon a nch lumberprices and to pay off the Reagan admm1s�anon s campa.tgn_ deb� variety of international cuisine represented by such places as TacoBell, tobig industry. Manylocals had hailed the loggmg boom and �e Jobs 11 · Pizza Hut, andTokyo Stop. "Sometimes I cansit there nibbling on my taco created,and ridiculed those who w amed thatthere would come a lune when or my croissant,"enthused one Laytonville matron, "andit seemslike lean there would no longer be enough trees to sustain anyjobs. see the whole world passing by." But even the mostextreme environmentalistsd idnot envision what continued on page 17... EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com • 15. GREATER LAYTONVILLE? WHY DON'T WE ALL JUST MOVE TO SANTA ROSA? The New School Boondoggle: Subdivide and Conquer? In the spring of 1987, Laytonvillewas turnedon its collective ear Superintendent of Schools BrianB uckley set in motion a chain of events by thenews tha t certainparties wanted to erect anasphalt batc h plant inthe lhatcould hav e a far greater andfar more negative impacton Laytonville's centerof whatpasses for"downtown." Over500 people signedpetitions future thaneven theill-conceived batch plantwould have had. against the scheme, and at least 100 of them turnedout to protest at the This time therewasn't a broadly unifiedopposition, thoughone is Planning Conunission hearing. For once, hippies and environmentalists now begininng to emerge. At first, though, thec ommunityseemed split found themselveson thesame side theas rednecks and old-timers. Almost roughly 50-50 (if you leave out the ronsiderable nwnbers who couldn't no one exceptthos e who stoodto di rectly profit from it favored the batch careless) onBuckley's planto build a new highschool on theCude 101 planL Even the pave-it-over-and-put-a-price-tag-on-it real estate crowd Ranchsouth of town. It's surprising, infact, thatopposition is asstrong as couldn'ts ee any advantage to the noisy,pollu tion-belchingmonstrosity. it is; who, after all, wantsto beseen as unwilling to provideour kidswith So lhat idea quickly got shot down, and folks breathed a sigh of the best possible educational facilities? The current Laytonville High relief. Laytonville was saved. The hippies went back to the hills, the School is no gem. It clearlycould use major improvements, andtearing it loggers back to the woods, and thecivic boosters back to planning their down andstarting over might well be the best approach. bake sales and "cow plop" contests. Hardly any one noticed when SuperintendentBuckley has managedto arrange the financing; so

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Two Futures: You Choose EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com -16 · why not go aheadand build a real high school, one that will be capable of But Mr. Arreola is not alone in licking his chops over the prospect meeting our needs into the next century? Like it or not, Laytonville is of growth. Elementary school principal Matlock likened the new school almost certain to growin the coming years, and it makes sense to prepare and ensuing development to "great projects" that Laytonville was too for the demands growth will place on our schools. short-sighted to develop in the past, among them a reson and golfcourse, But while we couldn't stop this area from growing even if we a threemillion gallon water reservoir, and a town sewage system (rejected wantedto, we can have some say in how it grows. Most American cities several years ago with, guess who, Bill Bailey leading the opposition). have developed with little or no planning; we can see the results in the Perennial pro-business drumbeater John Franklin said opponents of the archetypal urban sprawl, an endlessly expanding wasteland of fast food new school would always find some "irrelevant garbage" with which to franchises,mini-malls, and automobile dealerships that devours ourland­ "cloud theissu e." He recommended thatwe followthe example of those scape asif it had a life of itsown. InSouthern California there are places who built Laytonville and not "get hung up on Environmental Impact where you candrive 100 miles without ever leaving the clutchesof theneon Reports." monster. Northern California is falling prey, too; like a staph infection The Board of Education hasn't allowed itself to get hung up on migrating up an artery, Santa Rosa creeps inexorably up Highway 101. Environmental Impact Reports. It dealt with that issue by deciding Ukiah, and now Willits, too, are lost causes. A certain amount of unanimouslythat the new school didn't needone. "There is no such thing uglification on city'sa outskirtsis understandable,sometimes even endear­ as no adverse environmental impact," said Kathryn Mollar, adding, "In ing. But when full-scale urban blight occurs in theform of McDonald's or order to line the pocketsof real estate speculators and boost the careers of Taco Bell, you've generally passed the point of no return. school administrators, this community is being told to support a boon­ So now it's Laytonville on thefr ont linesagainst the asphalt tide. doggle with a swamping price tag and to complacently allow the area to Sure, there's room for more homes to be built here, and room for more become a suburban housing development." Bill Evans concludes, 'The businesses, too. But what kind of homes and businesses? Do we really consequencesto the communitywill be disaslrous botheconomically and want .to see another version of Santa Rosa or Ukiah or Willits? Is that environmentally." anybody's idea of progress? So what's going on here? Assumingthat we do need a new school, Yes, I'm sure there are people who love those places. And if they what is the reasoning behind putting it outside of town in a previously do, they're freeto livethere. But why, pleasetell me, does every city have undeveloped area? And why are the people pushing this project being so to be just like them? I knowthere are peoplewho think Laytonville won't tenacious in the face of overwhelming evidence that the proposed site be complete until it has the same factories, hamburger joints, and lract makes no senseat all? Superintendent Buckley produced a long article for home subdivisions as our neighbors to the south. So why did they move the ledger purporting to answer all the objections (it's in a flood plain, it here? Do they feel it's their life's mission do bring the American version needs a sewage system, it's on the end of an airslrip, it doesn't even have of civilization to the boondocks? Are they missionaries sacrificing their legal access, etc.), but Philip C. Randle, writing on behalf of R.O.S.S. own comfon. so that they can bring us the used car lots and Sizzler (Resistance to School Site; don't ask me what the O stands for) systemati­ steakhouses that we now so sorely lack? cally demolished Buckley's arguments and made a convincing case for All right, not everyonewho's in favor of then ew high school wants using the existing high school site (already owned by the dislrict) and an to pave over theLong Valley and siring traffic lights and parking meters adjacent 10 acres now belonging to the Larsons. along Highway101. A lot of peopledon't even see theconnection. "What, This site makes so much more sense that it's hard to believe the just becausewe build a new school, thousandsof peopleare goingto move School Board seems to have barely considered it. It's considerably higher intoLaytonville?" they might ask,"You' ve got to be dumb or crazy to live thanthe 101 site, makinga septic system far more feasible, it• s already got in this town, anyway. You'd have to put up more than a new high school a well-developed athletic field, it• s within walking distanceof downtown to convince anyone in their right mind to move here." and theelemen tary/middle school, it's on a road (Branscomb) equippedto All right, I exaggerate. Not everyone in Laytonville is dumb or handle the volume of lraffic it will generate. Most of all, it makesense for crazy, and people will bemoving into Laytonville in thecoming years� not effect it will have on the orderly growth and development of Laytonville. specificallyso their kidscan attend our fine schools, but becausewe've got Buckley claims that the new school, withits various facilities, will serveas clean air, clean (well, sort of) water, lots of open space, and compared to a communitycenter. What more logical place fora communitycenter than most of California, it's still relatively affordable. in the center of a community? So where are these new people going to live? Chuck Arreola, the Right now, Laytonville is a relatively compact town. Though not owner of the 101 Ranch, would like a lot ofthem to live on his land, after many people choose to, you can walkfro m one end of the business dis1rict it's been subdivided and coverered with tract homes, of course, with a to the other in less than 10 minutes. You can park in front of Geiger's or substantial portion of the profits ending up in his pocket. But in order to at theHoiland Centerand do errandsat half a dozennearby businesses. And do that he needs permission subdivideto , and he needs a sewage system. if you want to get in your car to drive down to Gary's or the Chief or the He hasn't had any luck with either, so far, nor have there been any Layton ville Gas Company, well, that's no big problem. Unless a string of takers forthe land, which hasbeen forsale fora long time. Here• s where logging lrUcks or Winnebagos is rolling through town, the 1raffic's not the new school comes in handy. First off, the taxpayers will take at least usually too bad. Yet. 20 acres off his hands at a good price. Then they'll pay some more to put But what if the Arreola-Buckley gang gets its way and we see a in anaccesnoad and utilities. Finally,when the high school'ssewag e load whole new subdivision springing up on what is now open and/or agricul­ canno longerbe handled by themound system, aseven its supporters admit tural land south of town? And businesses stan, Willits-style, lining will happenin fiveto tenyears, the taxpayers will pay to installLaytonville's Highway 101 for a couple of miles to serve the new residents? It'll mean first-ever sewage system, which will just coincidentally be in direct getting in the car to run one errand,back in the car to anotherstore in South proximity to Arreola Acres subdivision and mobile home park. Which Laytonville, in the car again to pick up or drop off the kids at the high might as well hook up to it as long as it's there, leaving old Laytonville to school. And thenback throughtown again to get thekid s at the elementary eitherget on boardthe urbanization exp ress or witherand die while housing school. Of coursewe 'II need betterroads andmore parking spaces, so a lot and business move down Highway 101 a piece. of those 1rees and open'spaces are going to have to go. And people living So it's not surprisingthat Mr. Arreolais in favorof the new school. in the center of town will understandably get tired of the additionalnoise, He's also in favor of growth, as he declared in a lengthy, quasi-biblical lraffic, and air pollution and say, "Why put up with this? I'll just move a epistle to the Ledger which listed, Genesis-style, all the generations of couple miles outside of town so I can have some peace and quiet." More Laytonville, leaving out onlythe begats. He likened the log-butchersand car trips, more pavement, and more urban decay. Indian-killersw ho heraldedthe arriv al of Christiancivilization on the West Let Laytonville grow, by all means. But let it grow in an Coast as "like the Pilgrims," which may be lrUe, and concluded that intelligent and healthy way, not as yet another asphalt jungle where the "Laytonville hasalways worked and grown together forthe benefit of all," infernal combustion engine reigns as king. Why not instead build a which is decidely not, community where it will beboth possible and pleasurableto get around by The theological overtones of Arreola's letter are not entirely walking? A town that counts its wealth by itstrees andgardens morethan incidental. Al the heart of Christian ideology is the scriptural injunction its gas stations and liquor stores? A town that will make a comfortable (I'm sorry I can't quote you chapter and verse, having recently burned my home for its residents andan attractive stopping place for visitors as well? bible in a fit of pique) to be fruitfuland multiply, and to subdue the earth When we get nostalgic for neon, glitz, andgasoline fumes, we can and allthe creatures thereof. This none too subtly sets the human race always headover the hill forthe booming metropolis of Willits. They've aboveand apartfrom its environment,and can be used tojustify everything chosen their path, but we don't needto followit. Laytonville could easily from themin d-body schism that Christi.anity both creates and exploits to sustain two or three times its current population without having to pave the paving over of paradise in favor of the proverbial parking lot. over agricultural land or seriously diminish theq uality of life. But that's EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com -17 - only if we decidenow that we want a different, a better kind of town, that sharplycunailed by governmentmilitary action,and essentiallyeliminated we don't have to or want to follow lhe traditional automobile-oriented when lhetrees and most other ground cover starteddying off. The more pattern. adaptableof lhe hippies cut their hair, movedinto town, andincorporated Most of us came here because we weren't satisfied with lhe way themselves into the local establishment, but others, forced off their now things werebeing done otherplaces, and a lot of us were urban or suburban worthless land, were reduced to lhe status of migrant laborers, and, not

refugees. Among us there is enough talent and imagination to create an infrequently, beggars. The police and sheriffs departments regularly environment!hat inspires anduplifts people instead of driving !hem crazy. break up hippie encampments when they tum up too close to populated Why thenshould we allow ourfuture to bedetermined by lhe short-sighted areas, but a few miles beyond city limits, there arewretched shantytowns and lhe profit-motivated? They already tried !hat in hundreds of other housing as many as a thousand of lhe nomads, usually lacking even lhe cities. Take a look around; it doesn't work. most basic of amenities. Thereis some sentiment among lheChamber of I don't know what Superintendent Buclcley had in mind when he Commerce and other civic leaders to asklhe army to comein andremove got involved in this plan. In lhepast he's shown himself to be intelligent lhesquatters from lhe county altogether. and open-minded, so perhaps there's hope that in lhe face of enough But why dwell only on lhenegative? For most Laytonvillians,life communityopposition he will recognize!hat to build on lhe 101 site would is not bad. What hasbeen sacrificed in naturalbeauty has been madeup belhe beginning of a long-runningdisaster. Even,however, if Buckleyand forby theprosperity and oppommitythat growth has brought to lheregion. lhe School Board don't change their minds, there's a good chance said And while critics decry lheloss of the forests and rivers of the one-time minds will be changed involuntarily in court. Philip Randle reports in his RedwoodEmpire, outdoorrecreation is not entirelya thingof lhepasL Just Ledger article !hat lhe R.O.S.S. group has already employeda lawyer and nonh of lhe city, for example, golfers and tennis players cavon at lhe

will demandan Environmental Im pact Report. That alone should sink lhe quaintly named Hog FarmCountry Club, now protected fromlhe ravages 101 plan. Unfortunately, if lengthy court battles ensue, it will be lhe of the sun and unhealthful air by an enormous dome. There's a movement taxpayers who have to pay to defend lhe School Board's position with afoot to erect a similar dome over a section of Lake Covelo, allowing lhe money that could have been used for books or computers or teachers' youngand lheyoung at heart to once more take uplhe traditionalpastime salaries. Asalways, in these cases of educational empire building, it is lhe of swimming. And eventually, whenlhetechnology makes it feasible, ifs children who stand to lose the most. likely that a still larger dome will be put in place over much of central But in this particular case we all have a lot to lose. The kind of Laytonville. cornmlDlity we live in and that our children will inherit should not be But asone would expect of an advanced civilization like our own. determined by lhe machinations of a few fast-buck anistsor the naivete of most imponant activities take place indoors where air conditioning and lhewell-intentioned but clueless do-gooderswho play into their hands. We filtrationkeeps the atmosphere fresh and healthy. This takes largeamolDlts can do better for our future. We must. In these days of greenhouseeffects of electricity,but we arefortunate in lhat regard; lheHarwood Nuclear Bio-­ and vanishing ozone layers, of dying forests and acid ram, and an earth Mass Plant in Branscomb City keeps us well supplied. strangled withconcrete ropes and exhaust fumes, there is nomore time for l..aytonville has turned into a cultural and spiritual mecca. too. business of usual. Yes, we are a very small community, and what we do Thereare nearly 200 video !heaters and a similarnumber of churches. High here may be little noticed or emulated beyond our own hills and valleys. on a hill overlooking lhe city is lheprincipal Mormon Tabernaclefor the But all change, for better or worse, must start somewhere. let's just this entire West Coast, second in size only to lhe one at Salt Lake City. The once try building a future that works. Mormons have taken an active role in community affairs, too, and in addition to getting prayer re-introducedinto localschools andgovernment, arenow conducting a campaignto sharply limit lhetimes and places where alcoholic beveragesmay besold. Alreadythe bars areclosed on Sundays, and church attendance is almost universal, with school-age volunteers LAYTONVILLE 2000 knowngood-naturedly as lhe God Squad knockingon doorsthroughout lhe city on Sunday mornings to rouselate sleepers. _,continuedfrom page 14 The single biggest threat to Laytonville's continued growth is lhe shortage of some basicresources. While oil supplies are expected to hold Acrosslhe streetfrom GeigerWorld is lheBoomer's entenairunent out for at least another ten or twenty years, water is another story. Lake complex, all 247 acres of it. What started out as aroughneck country and Covelo continues to shrink, andit appears that the only way to keepit from western bar evolved first into a huge nightclub along lhelines ofGilley's drying up altogetherwill be to build pipelines to impon large amounts of or Billy Bob's in Texas, complete with mechanical bucking broncs and water fromOregon and Washington. Thereis a great dealof resistance to simulated cattle drives wendingtheir way among lhe dancers and drinkers. this idea in Oregon, and Oregonians are equally reluctant to cut any more Eventually it grew to include its own football andbaseball stadium,roller of their surviving forests to meet our increasingly crucial need for wood. and ice hockey rink, and a full-fledged amusement park. "We don't want to become another California Desert,"they proclaim, and Sandwichedin betweenBoomer's andGeiger World is a little bar many of them do seem content with lifesty!es thatseem more reminiscent !hat hasn't fared so well. Now known as lhe Interchange because of its of lhe20th. or even lhe 19th century than lhe21st. It's predicted that if location smack under lhe point where lhe Branscomb and 101 Freeways Oregon doesn't come around soon, we will have to ask lhe federal meet, it was once called lhe Crossroads and was a popular drinking and government to step in andforce it to cooperate; it hardly seems fairlhatone gatheringplace. But changing times werenot kind to lhe Crossroads nor state's self-indulgent desire to live inlhe past should beallowed to impede lhe counterculture types who used to frequent it. Now it is a rough and progress for all its neighbors. strictly working-class affair, where one of lhe chief amusements is lhe air But such is lhe nature of hwnan experience: one of constant crisis quality gauge that measures ozone and hydrocarbonlevels outside. It is a andchallenge. The fact !hat Laytonvillehas grown so much more thanany popular practice to make betson when or iflhe pollutioncount would move of us could have imagined a decade or two ago should stand as dramatic into lhered zone,giving the drinkers an ideal excuse forstaying indoors at evidence lhat anything is possible. If current trends continue, we will their alcoholic pursuits. eventually belhe largest city in California, and well positioned to become The less than savory crowd congregating at the Interchange and !heprincipal Americanfinancial center oflhePacific Rim (while still in lhe places like it provides a disturbing reminder that all is not well in planningstages, it looks likely that lhe Army Cmps ofEngineers will soon Laytonville, despite lhe overwhelming appearance of prosperity. In fact, beusing surplus nuclearwea pons to expandFort Bragg's Noyo Harborfar Laytonv ille issomething of a divided city, with a line of demarcationbeing enough inland so !hat Laytonville will literally become a seaport). How drawn between those who are fonunate enough to workand live indoors lucky we are lhat men and women of vision were able to overcome lhe and those who are forced to brave the literally murderous sun. obstructionist anti-growth tactics of lhe nay-sayers who saw impending Worst off are !hose who tendlhe fields and highways. Theheat and doomin anything resembling progress. Thanks to lhe inspired leadership ultraviolet rays of !hesun takea harsh toll, andfew who laboroutdoors full of Bill Bailey and olhers like him, Laytonvillewas able to make far-seeing time will live past lhe age of 40. Most of them live outdoors,too, or in lhe plansand bring them to fruition while othercities floundered in lhe shifting currents of modem times. With lhe 21st century now before us, Layton­ scantiestof makeshiftshelters, becausethey do not earnenough to pay rent on a real house. The majority oflhemare either of Mexican descent or lhe ville, truly a city of the future, has only begun to grow. remnants of lhe hippies who in the mid to late 20th century flocked to Mendocino County in an abortiveback-to-nature movement. Thehippies' main sustenance was marijuanagrowing, but thatwas

EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com -19 · time we're willing to risk World WarIII and the permanentdestruction of The size of treesbeing cut will continue to diminish along with the our coastline to feed our oil addiction. availability of timberland, and under the bestof circumstanceswe will end Anyone who tells you that we canbuild enough highways anddrill up with uniformmanaged forests that resemble outsized Christmas tree enoughoil wells to continuethe currentsystem is either thoroughly out to farms. That's if we're lucky; if the greenhouseeffect turnsout to beas bad lunch or in the employ of the auto industry. Even assuming such a thing as many scientists arepredicting, and the current feverishpace of logging were physically possible (it's not, and.that will become increasingly continues, we could end up with deserts. Farfetched? Not at all; manyof obvious as industrializingthird world countriesbegin competing in earnest the world's major deserts,including the Sahara,were richly forestedat one forwhat's left of the world oil supply),continued reliance on oil andother time. What happened? Climatic changes andtoo much logging. fossilfuels will makeit nearlyimpossible for the human race to surviveinto As I said, radical solutionsare in order, andhere's one for Men­ the twenty-first century. docino County: an immediate moratorium on all logging. No more Not that we'd want to, given the quality oflifebeing envisioned by quibbling aboutsustained yield or even-age management,just stop cutting the traditional industrialists. Alreadybreathing is becominga life-threat­ right now. And don't cut again until the forest is restored to something ening activity in manyof the world's major cities. With the climate itself approximating the condition we found it in. How long will that be? being altered now, the once-pristine countryside will no longerconstitute Probably at least 50 to 100years, and even longerfor the redwoods. an alternative. But those whose fortunes are built on non-renewable And what's going to becomeof the thousandsof workers who make resources like oil, steel, andrubber will resist to their (literally) dying day their living in the logging industry, not to mention the families they anyeffo rts to change the way the business of transportation conducted.is support? They should all be given jobs at similar levels of pay replanting A prime example: the Key System, an economical and efficient the forest landsand undoing the damage logging has done to streambeds, network of trains that linked much of the San FranciscoBay Area was fisheries, and agricultural lands. And who will pay for it? Why, those bought and dismantled by a consortium representing General Motors, responsible forthe damage, of course: the corporationsthat profited from Standard Oil, and Firestone Rubber. Today in its place we have an it. If that means expropriating all the land and financial holdings of unreliablefleet of buses(made by guess who: GeneralMotors) andBART, Georgia-Pacific and Louisiana-Pacific, what's the big deal? It's simple some cranked-out yuppie's ideaof an computerized electric train, which justice. If throughmy greedor negligence I inflictdamage on my neighbor, has yet to provide the quality of service one could expect from the Key I'm expected to pay forit, even if it means selling every last thing I own. System 50 years ago. Why should corporations formed solely for profit be held to a lesser It's really pretty simple. Either we starttearing up the streetsand standard? highways and replacing them with cheap and effective train service, or We're not likely to succeedin saving the trees,and consequently none ofus will be going anywherepretty soon.A fringebenefit, by the way, the water we drink and the air we breathe, without rethinking some of mass transit is that in no longer having to drive, most of us will be fundamental ideas about private property and our relationship to the earth. eliminating fromour lives the biggest single source of stress and alienation Trees and the land they grow on can no longer be treated as assets on a fromour fellowhuman beings.And as a friendpointed out, by not spending spreadsheet. They are essentialelements in our environment,vital to our millions of hours trapped in pointless traffic jams and millions more survival,and as such should bethought of asthe propertyof no one andthe working to pay for the luxury of having our ownprivate chariots,we will concernof all. save a vastamount of the most precious andmost no1'-renewableresource In addition to restoring the forestin our area,it is equally important of all: time. that we re-introducetrees to the now largely barrencities. This can go hand OK, now that we've gotten rid of the private automobile. let's tum in hand with the removal of large amounts of pavement which originally our attention to the other biggest culprit in creating the greenhouseeffect: displaced the treeswhen the cities were built. Between the elimination of the massivedeforestation of the earth. As the white man cut his swath of the automobile and its replacement with trees and gardens, air pollution civilization across America, he did as conquering empires have done in would diminish and temperatures become more moderate. There's no countless lands before: he cleared the land. A certain amount was reason,in fact, that cities couldn't be asclean and healthfulas what's left necessary, of course, forthe sake of agriculture and the building of cities, of our vanishingcountryside. and a certain amount was dictated by esthetics, but the real destructionof Odds are against our taking swift and decisive enough action to the forestswas and still is for profit. stave offthe greenhouseeffect. Thereis toomuch in the way of profitand As long as corporations are allowed to cut as many trees as the political power at stake for anyone to be optimistic. And as conditions traffic will bear, there is little motivation to conserve or recycle wood worsen, pressure will mountfor short-term technological fixesof the sort products, andeven less to search for alternative building materials. The that, if followed to their logical conclusion, could have a privilegedfew casein Centraland South America is even more outrageous;there, the rain living inside climate-controlled domed cities while the masses of people forests that provide the earth with a full 40% of its oxygen are being live short desperatelives in the manmadewasteland outside. bulldozed at the rate of thousands of acres every day just to create It's getting well into Octobernow, and like peoplewho live on the economical grazing land for the cattle that will end up in the fast food Californiacoastal hills have donefor centuries, I watch the sky for signs of burgerjoints of the United States. rain. These past two dry years have been hard on the treesaround me, still A boycottorganized against Burger King hascaused that company establishing themselves on this land thatwas logged oversome twenty-five to slow down its expansion into Central America, and the attendant yearsago. Most of them didn't grow much this year, and some of them publicity is beginning to have a similar effect on other US agribusiness appearto bedying. Without some goodrains this winter, more will die next concerns. An international consensus is building that the cutting of rain year forests must stop, but the temptation is strong for many of the countries Walking around the land, I can see the enormous stumps where involved to let it continue. Brazil,for example, hopelessly in debt to US Douglas firsthat must have been200or300years old once stood. I canonly banks,has few ways of raising money, and the quick infusionof capital that imagine what that forestmust have looked like; there are none like it still can be produced by clearing the Amazon jungles must appear tempting standing anywherenear here. Perhaps it might seem a little strangethat I despite the dire long-termconsequences. talk 10 my land. But I do. I tell it,"As long as I live, no one will ever do So while we here in the UnitedStates can pressure other countries that 10 you again." to stop clearcuttingour planet•s future,and by a more equitable economic Yes, one day someof the treesthat grow here will becut. I doubt partnershipreduce their need to do so, there's something just as important that it will be me who does it; perhaps by the time of my children or we can do here at home. Right hereat home, in Mendocino County, to be grandchildren, the forestwill bestrong enough againto give up some of its exact. In recent years, Mendocino Countyhas become the third or fourth bounty. But for now the forest needsto be largelyleft alone, though when largest producerof timberin California. The resultsare not a prettysight. I can I try to give it a hand by plantingnew trees where none now grow. Much of the damage is not visible to passingmoto rists,but seen fromthe Though it might beeconomically inconvenie nt, that• s the sort of approach airthe huge gouges takenout of the landscape are staggering. But what's we must take on a broad scale, not only herein Mendocino County or in at issue is not appearances, but the survival of the forestitself. California, but all over the planet. Alreadythe characterof the woodbeing milled locally haschanged There's still a chance that we can reverse the destructionof our greatly fromthe days when logging was king. There arevery fewof the environment, though we need to makemajor changes in our way of life, massive firs and redwoodsleft; most of the logs being hauled away today system of government and economy, andabove all in our attitudes. The are closerto the size of telephone poles. Shareholdersin the major logging earth has been patient with us for longer than any errant child could corporationsdon't have the patience to let them get anybigger. Theydidn't rightfullyexpect, but we've pushed our luck aboutas far as it's likely to go. buy Louisiana-Pacificstock so that their grandchildren couldcash in; they It'.sa�simple as c."cn. be. Wechange orwe die. Isn'tthatwhat life'sall about want a return on their investment right now. anyway7 EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com -18 -

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Are You Ready For the Mendocino Desert? The Greenhouse Effect and Our Future (If We Have One)

Thereused to be acrooked oak treeoutside my window. It seemed drought and record high temperatures on the greenhouse effect, which is like kind of a poor excuse for a tree, leaning over so far thatI expectedit the combined result of internal combustion engine emissions and the to fall down anyda y. Although I normally love trees, this particular one wholesale destructions of the earth's forests. They may be a little and I didn'ts eem to get along. I was always f"mding fault with it. prematurein making theconnection-a major change in the global climate I guess themain thingthat bothered me aboutit wasth at it blocked is _something that happens gradually, not the morning after the media thev iew of the mountains off to the east. but I wasn't about to be one of discoverit's coming-but thedisastrous climatic condi tionsoflaceshoul d thoseinsensitive flat landers who tooka chainsaw lo everythingin sight for provide a frightening preview of what we have to look forwllrd toif we purely cosmeticreasons. So I alsocomplained abouthow it kept thedeck don't change ourway s, and fast in theshade most oftheda y, andhow there wasn't enough sunlight to grow Some of thedamage is irreversible, or atleast will takecenturies to anythingon that side of thehouse. For about twoyears I'd lookat thattree undo, and we will have to learn to live with it But the warming of the andthink about cutting it down,but end up deciding10 wait a littlelonger. planet,flooding ofcoastal regions, anddesertification of theinterior is not Besides, my girlfriend threatened that she'd leave me ifl did. something we have to aci;ept as a foregone conclusion. We as a species But eventuallyshe did leave, forother reasons, andin honorof my createdcurrent the crisis, and if we actin timewe canundo the worst effects new independenceand because I hadd ecidedto put it in a rose gardenon ofit. thehillside shadooby theoak tree, one spring morningI fmallyhauled out Onething of which there'sno doubt: radical andimmediate action the chainsaw and in a matterof a half hour or so turnedthe old tree-1 isnecessary. Thisis notthe kind of problem thatc alls forcommissions to figuredit to be about 50 - into about three weeks worthof firewood. be appointed and reports to bepresented. We do nothave time to wait for Thatwas three and a half yearsag o, andI'm still beingmade aw are the full impact of the greenhouse effect to scare people into taking the of the consequences of my action. Theros e garden is finally getting required steps. This is not an issue of weighing the economic benefits established, but it took a long time,beca use once thehillside was exposed againstthe environmental draw backs, noris it one of qualityof lifevers us to fullsun, it driedout so fastthat it was difficult to get anything to grow. the quantity of our gross planetary product. What is at stake here is our Oh, except forthe foxtailsand thistles, which replaced the fernsthat once survival, flourished there. Industrialistswill argue thatwe can'treverse the greenhouse effect But wasn't it nice to have all that sunshine, and an unobstructed withoutsending ci vilization plummetingback in thedirection of the Stone view lo the east? Well, not quite as nice as I had maginedi it would be. Age. Inreality, the opposite is lrue;with arable and habitable land steadil y becausealong withthe sun and view camean average tem peratureincrease beinglost tothe encroaching desert, the struggle fordiminishing resources ofbetw een 10 and20 degrees. Only in summer, of course, which was will create a Darwinist nightm!lre that will have post-industrial society exactlywhenldidn'tneedit You see,assoonasthesuncame up,itwould waxing positively nostalgic forthe good old paleolithic days. now shine directly into the house; the wall that faces east is mostly Is there anythingwe cando? Yes, by all means. Thetwo greatest windows. The effectwas just like that of a greenhouse;by 7 or 8 a.m. the villains behind the greenhouse effect are the private automobile and house was already unpleasantlyhot. deforestation. We herein California are in a positionto do somethingabout And out on thedeck. thetemperature would often reach 110° or both. First. we've got to phaseout the private automobile. I know,that's higher. Not toogreat forsunbathing. During thehottest daysthis summer, radical heresy, and un-American to boot. Besides, how would we get I had to cover thewindo ws withshade cloth; it didn'tdo much forthe view, anywhere? but kept the indoor temperature somewhatbearable. That'sa goodquestion. Governmenthas bc.:nso biasedin favorof TodayI noticedthat the wood on thedeck is aging much fasterthan the auto industry that it allowed most other forms of transp:irtation to it was beforeand it looks as if I'll have to start replacing some of it soon. deteriorate to the p:iint of near-uselessness. If you want to go from Andwhere I used to look out my window and try to thinkof excuses for Laytonville to San Francisco, you drive. It takesa little over three hours, cuttingdown that oaktree, now I look at thenearby lreesand wonder how if the traffic'snot toob ad, and will cost you somewhere betweenfive and long it will be before they'rebig enough to take itsp lace. My bestguess tenbucks for gas. That'syour only choice, unless you're too p:iorto own is somewhere between20 and 30 years. a caror arejust plainmasochistic. Thenyou couldtake a Greyhoundbus. So I'll belivin g withthe results of one thoughtlessaction for a long That's five hoursand twenty-two dollars, and there areonly three busesa time. If there'sa plus side to it. it's thatllearned ho w importanteven one day. Some choice. 1reecan be; somepeople have already strippedtheir land bare beforethey How would you like instead to be able to hop on a 1rain andbe in figure it out. If they ever do. San Francisco inone how, and forabout the same price it would cost you I guess my experience is just a miniature versionof thep lanetary to drive? Japan and France already have high-speed trains that could greenhouseeffect that is finally.as wellitshould, beginning to put a healthy provide that service, andother countries are building them. In America we're destroyin what little train service we have left. while at the same scare intopeople. Some evironmentalists are alreadyb lamingthis year's g

EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com - 20 - Andar A Nicaragua by JaneGuskin PartII intersection. Elena andI got out andasked if we could help. We couldn't, (For those who haven't read or don't remember Part],it ended on so we said thanks, goodluck andgoodbye, and went to catch the city bus. Monday,February 15, 1988, thefirst day of the big "cambio" - the money The city buses are always crowded, except late at night. This was devaluation- in Managua.) the middle of the day. We crammedonto the buswith everyone else. Elena founda seatin the front,and I pushed my way to the back door andstood. On Tuesday, Elena and I went to Leon on the slow anddusty train. When our stop came, I jumpedout andwatched helplessly as Elena tried All public transportation wasfree during those three days of the "cambio"; to forceher way out the frontdoor while abouta million peoplewere trying the usual farewas about 5¢. There's no glassin the windows, so the dust to go in it. She didn't make it. The bus rolled away. I could see Elena blows right in. In the dry seasonof a drought year,which this was,it gets strugglingat the fronto[the bus. I never did seewhere she got off,though pretty bad. Most of the women held scarvesover their faces and covered she told me later she got offat the next stop. up their babies to protect them from the dust. I spentthe next couple of days in Managua. On Friday, I picked up Leon waseven hotter than Managua. The first thing we did when my permissionslip forvisiting the AtlanticCoast. (fo get it, all I had to we got offthe trainwas to buy frescos(cold sweet drinks made with fruit do waspay about$8 to the Ministryof Tourism andgive them axerox of or grains)right outside the station. The woman who made the frescostold my passportand visa. Anyone can do it.) The next day, I went with my us, when we askedher how she feltabout the cambio,that she wasbetter off friendFermin (fromSpain) to a beachcalled Masachapa, just southeastof in the time of Somoza. Though most of the people who run their own Managua on the Pacific Coast. We hitchhiked. (I soon decided that businesses areless happy with the Sandinista governmentthan the people hitchhiking wasthe bestway to travelin Nicaragua. I never did take one who work paid jobs, we hadn't heardanything that extreme before.Most of the buses which go fromcity to city, buses so crowdedthere were people peoplesaid that even though things were bad now, becauseof the economy hangingout the doors and windows and sitting on the luggage rack.) One and the war,that things were worse with Somoza. of the rides we got wasin a pickup trucktaking orangesand mandarinsto Walking around the city that evening, we met a man whose first sell at a small town nearthe beach. Thesemen filledour bags up with fruit words to uswere(inSpanish), "lam aman with alotof money." He invited and refused to let uspay anything. us to stay at his his house in Leonand his house on the beach. We triedto Fermin and I spent the night on the beach. In the morning we make it clearthat we weren 'tinterested but he wouldn't leave us alone. We hitched to Granada, a city on the shores of LakeNicaragua. One of the rides met more reactionarypeople in Leonthan anywhere else. We couldn't wait we got was froma handicapped man and his attendant,who both worked to leave. forthe Nicaraguan organization of handicapped people. They were some But the next day, on our way to the highway to hitchhike back to of the most interesting peopleI met in Nicaragua. We went out to lunch Managua, we ran into a demonstration in support of the money change, with them, so we got to have more indepth conversations than can be with its new, higher salaries,and in support of the FSLN in general. It was managed ina moving car. They dropped usoffjust outsideMasaya,where really encouragingto see that, though we'd talked to what seemed like a lot we got a ride on an army truckto nearby Granada. of peoplewho didn't like the government, in fact there were more people I didn't like Granadamuch. It wastoo colonial andconservative, who actively supported the revolution. There were a lot of women in the and the woman who ranthe overpriced hospedaje where we stayed the demonstration, many wearing army pants illlder their skirts, or army night wasa very illlpleasant,reactionary hater of the revolution. Earlythe jackets over their dresses. The moodof the peoplemarching and demon­ next morning, which wasMonday, Fermin and I parted ways. He went strating was one of excitement and hope, despite the war, despite the back to Managuato his job (volilllteer) doing legal documenting for the economy. government; I went offtowards the Atlantic Coast. We got a ride without even having to wait in a pickup truck with a I had folUld on my map a route to get overland to Juigalpa that couple guys who worked in a local rumfactory. They were happy about looked shorter thanthe main road. I askeda lot of peoplein Granada how their new salaries with the cambio. They told us about their jobs and to get to this road, but no one really knew. Finally I folUldit. It wasa dirt showed us the pamphlet given to them at work that ex plainedthe salaryand road. I walked along it, hoping for a ride. But I didn't want to wait, so I pricechanges. The money changeand everything that came withit wasone just kept walking. There was no traffic. I passedpeople waiting forrides of the most confusingthings I've ever triedto understand. The pamphlet by the side of the road. They told me, "Wait with us, the truckwill come helped a little, but without fluent Spanish I couldn't understand it all and pick us up." I asked them when the truck was coming and they anyway,and even ifl could, there were things aboutthe changethat hadn't shrugged. I kept walking. Finally a couple in a pickup truck stopped for been sorted out yet (the whole process took more than a month to get me. They weregoing to Juigalpa. I climbed in the back andwe spedoff, straightened out) so a lot of stuffwas left unexplained. bo1U1cingalong the rough gravel of the road. After aboutfifteen minutes, Eventually the truckbroke down. (Later, when I'd been hitching the driver pulled over to the side of the road and looked back at the back fora while in Nicaragua,I came to expectthis. But this was my firsttime). wheel. I moved to see: the wheel was abouta footaway fromthe side of It was the brakes. They justsort of disappeared. We pulled over, and the the truck. The axle had partedin the middle and slipped fartherand farther guys looked illlder the hood. They discovered that the problem was no out; anotherminute andit would have slipped all the way out or snapped. brake fluid. Next problem: how to get some. Not so easy in Nicaragua. There was nothing the driver could do to fix it. He hammeredit After abouttwo hours of searchingand askingpeople, they managed to buy back to whereit should have been, but it would just slip out again, so he said some (very expensive)red stuff in a little plastic bag, which was suppos­ he had to turnback. I got out, thankedthem, wished them luck and started edly brake fluid. I said it looked like "Rojita," which is a kind of red walking again. A while later I got anotherride, this time fromthe truckthat ( cherry?) soda commonlyfound in Nicaragua. They agreed; it did look just everyone had told me to wait for. It's sort of like a rural private bus, and like Rojita, but they weren't in a positionto be picky about it. It wasliquid, people pay a fewcordobas to ride it. It took us across the lake on a sort of anyway. So they put it into the brake cylinder. Which had a leak, of course, bargethings that crosses the narrowest part of the lake, a sort of floating so it all ran back out. platformattached to a cable. The lake was only about fifty meters across We did finally make it to Managua, to a placeon the outskirts of at that point. In a town just the other side of the lake, I got off. The truck town called S iete Sur (7 South, meaningthe 7 kilometer markon the South was going somewhere else. I tried to pay, but they wouldn't take the Highway), beforethe brakes gave out again. The driver panicked andlost money. control of the truck, which stalled and rolled backwards through heavy I walked in the direction of Juigalpa, but I didn't get very far trafficillltil it wasstopped by a lamppost on anisland in the middle of the because the road led straightinto a river. I asked someone what I should

EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com • 21- do, and I wastold that I had to wait for a truck that wasgoing to cross the In Bluefields, the money change was havingvery different effects river,and then I could get a ride. So I sat in a tiny patchof partialshade and than in Managua. The farmersweren't willing to sell their produce at the waited. Soon a truck came, and the man driving said he would take me new official low prices, so the marketplace was completely empty. Only across but we had to waitfor the tractor. After a while, the tractor came aboutone restaurant in ten was actually open for business. The first day I from the other side of the river, crossed the river andhooked up a cable to was there, therew ere no vendors on the streets. Thesecond and thirdda ys, the front of the truck. We got in the truck and the tractor pulled the truck vendors would appearand sell out of their foodwithin minutes, as people across the river. I put my feet up on the dashboard as water filledthe floor clustered around to get a fresh fruit drink for one cordoba or came asada of the truck. No cars could cross the river there, only trucks A car would (grilled steak) on a tortilla forfive cordo bas. The priceswere very low, but have been completely filled with water. there wasn't much to go around. For some.reason, everyone was buying The driverof the truck gave mea ridefor about ten mo re kilometers, shoes and clothes at new prices which some people said were lower and and then he hadto turnoff ontoa differentroad. I startedto walk again. No others said were higher than the old prices. No one could really explain to more trucks passed me. I was completely alone. When I did pass houses, me what wasgoing on because I don't thinkthey really understoodit either. whole families came out to watch me walk by. I wavedto them and they It was a time of change and uncertainty, and it was impossible to predict waved back. Finally, after about fouror five hours, I reached an intersec­ what effectthe devaluation would have in the long run. In the shortrun, it tion with another dirt road. There were a lot of people sitting around was causing problems. waiting for rides. They told me lo waitwith them, andI did for a minute, On the positive side, it seemed like the Atlantic Coast Autonomy but then I decidedto walkag ain, knowing my chances of geuing a ride as Project, which allows the people of the Atlantic Coast to make laws and one person were much betterth an ifl waswith a group. Aboutten min utes decisions affecting the region independently of the Nicaraguan govern­ later, I got a ride form a familyin a Land Rover, on their way to Juigalpa. ment, was getting underway. I was in the library of the Atlantic Coast There was barely enough room for all the kids in the back, but they didn't Research Center whilea couple of peoplewere drafting the new constitution seem to mind making room for one more. there. AndI met a North American man who was working on the bilingual We reached Juigalpa aroundsunset. I'd been travelingsince daw n. education programfor the Atlantic Coast, which stresses cultural pridefor I was exhausted. I found an hospedaje and took a shower. I changed out each different ethnic group. Formerly, only Spanish was taught in the of my dustyclothes andwent toeat dinner. The view of the sunsetov er the schools; with the new plan, there were three different bilingual programs hills was incredible., I could really feel that I was in a different part of for the three different ethnic groups. Reading and writing are now being Nicaragua. Everything was a little greener, a little less dusty. taught to illiterate adults in their first language, instead of in Spanish. The next morning I left early to go to Rama, hoping to be able to On my last day in Bluefields, I met a Creole woman named catch the boat there at noon. I grabbed breakfastat a vendor'sstan d by the Esmerelda, who took me to here house and fod me "star apples," a sweet hospital and ate it as I walked. The country just outside of Juigalpa is purple fruit that has a sticky, milky juice, while we talkedfor hours. The beautiful. Andat six in the morning, it wasn't toohot yet. If Ihad realized Creolepeople of the Atlantic Coastspeak Creole English, which is English how many contra attacks happenin that area, in the region of Chontales, with a slightly different grammar structure and a verymusical intonation, maybeI would have beenafraid. But I wasn'tafraid. Nobodyelse seemed like Jamaican English, but a littleeasier to understand. They areCaribbean afraid, so why should I? blacks, descended from slaves and freed slaves of the Caribbean islands. I got a ride in an army truck. It took me as far as the £9ad for Nearlyall of them also speak Spanish, which is still by farthe predominant Acoyapa, where I got picked up by a family in a van going to Rama. I language, since most of the people on the Atlantic Coast are Spanish­ watchedout the window as the land became green, wet and jungly, andit speaking mestizos (mixed Spanish and Indian blood) who came from the even startedto rain a little. There were small thatchedgrass huts in the hills Pacific region when jobs first opened up in the East. nearthe road, andlots of tropical-lookingtrees. It wasquite a change from I left Bluefields on a Sunday before dawn. The boat broke down the drought-ridden dusty yellow land of Western Nicaragua. and we hadto switch to another but we finallyreached Rama. I decidedto The road between Juigalpa and Ramais in terribleshape. There are hitch backto Managua,instead of taking the bus, even though I wasn'tsure

places where the roadjust drops away into nothing andyou have to ypb ass if I could get a ride. Hitching is often harder on Sundays in Nicaragua. I it on a little track. Partsof the roadare paved,other parts are dirt andgr avel. walked out of town, and when a car passed that was only going about ten There are giant potholes everywhere, and lots of bridges where you have kilometers farther, I decidedto take my chances and go, even if it meant I to slow down to a crawl to cross the giant humps of gravel put there as might get stuck somewhere between Ramaand Juigalpa when nightfell. I speedbumps. Every bridge was guarded by a group of soldiers from the got another ride a few kilometers farther in a taxi with a few soldiers (I Nicaraguan army, sitting in covered trenches by the side of the road, didn't have to pay). Finally, I got a ride in a pickup truck that was going reading or talking,or lounging in hammocks,always holding their gunsin all the way to Managua. The driver worked for UNAG, the agricultural the casual way that they do in Nicaragua. I never saw a soldier with a gun union, and wason hisway to a meeting to discuss the problems the farmers pull a macho attitude trip like soldiers and policein other countries often ofBluefields were having with the money change. He drove like a maniac, do. Guns arenot a big deal in Nicaragua because most people have them. but he bought me lunch and took me right lo the door of my hospedaje. So soldiersand police don't handle themlike it's a big deal. Andthey don't walk stiff and "proud" like in some places. They're just normal people,so ••••••••••••••••• that's how they behave. We got toRama at 10 am,a perfecttime to catch the ferryth at goes The last day beforeI left Nicaragua forCosta Rica was Interna­ down the Rio Escondido (Hidden River) to Bluefields, the town on the tional Women's Day. There was a big demonstration in the Plaza of the coast. Except, unfortunately, the boat wasn't there. It was delayed by Revolution; Daniel Ortega spokefor almost an hour and there were other contra attackson the river and wouldn't arriveuntil the next day or maybe speakers and a salsa/pop band who played late in the night. There were a the day after next. But I waited for quite a fewhours beforeI figuredthat lot of policeand army there-men andwomen - but, unlike demonstra­ out.Before I went offto findhotel a (theonerightnext tothe dockwas full ), tions in the US, they weren't there to "keep order," they were there to an old man told me to get there at 5 am the next day because there might demonstrate andcelebrate In ternationalWomen's Day. A whole bunchof be a Red Cross boatthat would take a few passengers. So the next day at new consignias -phrases shou�d at demonstrations - were introduced 5 am, I was there. No boat was there, no other people waiting, either. I forthe year, most of which I forgotright away or didn't' understand in the waited allday, watching youngsoldiers splashingaround in the waterwith firstplace. The Nicaraguans seem lo memorizethem all with no problem, their clothes on, diving off their little speedboats, doing flips in the air. after hearing them only once or twice. The consignias usually have two Finally the ferrycame around noon. Andfinally, after more waiting parts: the first part is shouted by one person and the crowd shouts backthe on the crowdedboat, we left the town of Ramaand headed down the river. responsepart together. Each year there is one main consignia which is the The soldiers came with us, some on the roof of the ferry, others in sort of sloganfor th at year. For example: "1988: P or unapaz digna,paJria speedboats. The ones in the speedboats raced around, chasing eachother /ibre omorir!" ("1988: For a dignified peace, free homeland or death!''). up and down the river. They went to the banks of the river and cut down My favorite slogan introduced on International Women's Day was: "No grapefruitsand oranges with their machetesfrom the treeshanging over the solo queremos dar vida ... queremoscambiarla!" ("We don't only want to water. Theytossed them up to the passengersand the other soldiers on the give life ... we want to change it!"). ferry. Some fruitsplashed into the river, but the rest we sharedamong us. To be continuednext issue••. EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com "Poor Mexico. So farfrom God and so near to the United States." -22- Blood and Oil: The Betrayal of Mexico by Mark Dliher

WhenRonald Reagan thinks of Mexico, which is rare,he thinksof pendence on foreign capital. Again, thismeans theecon omy is subjectto drug smuggling and illegal immigration. When Mexicans think of the crisis. the whims of theinvestor, and in the case of massive foreign investment, UnitedStates, they ,think of la Understanding"The Crisis" is the key nationalsov ereigntyis compromised. Transnationalcorporations, mostl y ro understandingMexico today. from the US and a few from Europe andJ apan, arewelcomed with open For most of thisdecade,Mexicans ha ve sufferedextreme economic arms to Mexico because they provide employment. Yet the benefits difficulties; unemployment and underemployment, low pay, hyperinfla­ derived from the jobs they create are vastly overshadowed by the tax tion, anda·steadydevaluation of the peso. In 1981 one dollarwas equal to concessionsgiven them by the Mex.icangovernm ent,the low wrtgespaid, 180 pesos; Today it will buy well over 2000. and thenumber of Mexicancompanies driven out of business as a result The Mexican government's "survival breadbasket," which in­ Due to the low cost of raw materialsand labor in Mexico. foreign cludest he fooditems necessary to supporta typicalfamily, costsapproxi­ companiesmake enormous profits, but the lion'sshare of the profitsend up mately$4 a day, but manyworkers earn as little as $3 a day. To make up back in the United States. The shelves of Mexican stores are full of the difference, people often work two or three jobs, with spouses and American products (mostly manufactured in Mexico) which introduce children working as well. Millions of Mexicans live in poverty, with chemicals andpreservatives never seen before into the people's bodies and substandardhousing, education, and diets. TheCrisis ha.s broughtuntold theecosystem. It is hard to believe such huge profits couldbe extracted misery to thislong-suffering country. from such a poor country, yet corporate buccaneers have made billions. In the1970s, withoil prices al an all-timehigh, Mexico, pumping Because of differences in exchange rates, American companies can buy from its huge southern reserves, underwent something of an economic Mexican goods cheaply, whereas American products are very expensive boom. Thingshad neverlooked so good, andthe government started nu­ forMexicans to buy. Through thepractice of buying low andselling high, merous ambitious projects. NorthAmerican banks like ChaseManhattan, and then loaning Mexico the money to pay with, American capital has Citicorp,and Bank of Americacame calling, offeringbillions of dollarsin gainedcontrol of a sizableportion of theMexican economy. loans(with the anticipated oil revenuesas collateral)to financethe b uilding Tourism, 100, has become a lucrative industry inMexico. Tme­ of highways,schools, etc.(The banks, incidentally, were under pressureto sharecon dos forvacationing yuppies from San Jose andOrange County are seeko ut new loanmarkets, even those that wo uld normally be considered startingto litter s ome of Mexico's most beautifulbeaches. Yet themillions risky, by the influx of OPEC petrodollars that were then threatening to of dollarsassociated with these vacation scamsare not goingro Mexicans; overwhelm them.) these blots on the landscapeare owned andoperated by Americans,thanks All went well until oil pricescrashed. Themoney stoppedcoming to broadloopholes in thelaws governing land ownership by foreigners. in, the loans couldn't bepa id, and the economy collapsed. Mexico was Ironically, the Mexican Revolution (which began in 1910) was onceagain an impoverished, underdeveloped nation,no w billions of dol­ larsin debt to Northern bankers. The plunge in oil prices was difficult to foresee(though some believeit was engineeredto knockthe wind out of thesails of OPEC and developing nations like Mexico), yet many mistakes were made which could and should have been avoided. Firstof all, theMexicans should have beenmuch more reluctant todeal w ith the loansharks from the North. The loansbecame vicious a cycle, with the government forced to borrow more money to pay the intereston theoriginal loans. In the wordsof EzraPound: "Usury killeth theinfant in the womb." Basingan economy on a poorly burning,non­ renewable fossil fuel of which there are finite resources is also an invitationto disaster. Ultimately, however, the fundamentalpr oblem is the capitalist structure of Mexico's economy, which is almost entirely dependenton foreign andprivate secror investment. Thepr ivate sectorin Mexico consists of a tinyelite corpswhose livesdiffer vastly from those of the great majority of theircountrymen. While some Mexicans live in shantytowns and pick through garbage dumps,the privileged fe w live lives ofluxury, maintaining several sump­ tuousho uses andv acationingfrequently in Europeand the US. If these people do not invest money in productive enterprises, the economy suffersimmensely, When times are hard, theelite often prefer to sit on their money or export it to Swiss banks, leaving the economy sluggish and without the ability to grow and expand. Thestate has always had anactivist role intheMexicaneconomy, controlling, forexample, PEMEX, the national oil company,but it has generally takena back seatto theprivate sector. Some Mexicanlefti sts callfor socialism, which in practicewo uld be state capitalism. Consid­ eringthe inefficiency andcorruption endemic within"the system," this would be an unmitigated catastrophe. Instead of a "top-down" economy, Mex.ico might be better off looking at a bottom-up model. In some parts of the country, it is traditional among the indigenous people to work on projecis, mainly agriculture,in a collectivemanner. Thesecollectives, called ejidos, are usedsuccessfully in many farmsand b usinesses. They differ considera­ bly from the forced, state-nm collectives (which rarely work) seen in ostensibly socialist countries, because they come about organically among friends, families, andneighbors, arecompletely voluntary. and areself-run. People work rogether and are thedirect beneficiaries of their own labor. A loose federation of ejidos, providing such human needs as food, housing,education and health care, funded from thewealth of the naLionby a series ofregional bankssensitive to local needs, would be a strong foundation for theMexican economy, andwo uld go a long way toward seeing thatpeople's basic needs were met. The othermajor problem with the Mexican economy is itsde-

EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com - 23 - foughtlargely to freethe countryfrom foreigndominatio n. After achiev­ defeats were reported. The left was splintered and factionalized to a ing independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico saw the English, French, ridiculous extreme, with over a dozen only marginally difforent parties and Americans vying for control. The Americans settled that issue by arguing dogma and splitting the vote. invading in 1847 and taking over nearly half the country; California, _ In 1968 a radical student movement shookMexico, almost simul­ Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, and part of Colorado became part of the taneouslywith revolts in France, theUS, and Czechoslovakia. It was the UnitedStates, and what wasleft of Mexico, strippedof much of itsterritory first sign of real change in decades, as thousands of young people ques­ and resources, never really recovered. By the beginning of the 20th tionedthe system andcalled for revolutio n. Themovement snowballedat century, Americancompanies were operating freely throughoutthe land, a rate alarming to the establishment. President Luis Echeverria, worried mostly extractingm inerals and other raw materialsto feed theburgeoning that his country's image would be sullied by protests during theOlympics manufacturing industriesof theAmerican midwesL The Americans also being held that summer at Mexico City, was determined to crush the had aloyal friend in Generaland President PorfirioDiaz, a crueland brutal growing revolt. dictator. Movements began around 1905 to oppose the influence of the Ata large protest at Tlatelolco,he sent in thearmy and po lice(CIA­ Catholic Church, the fraudulent elections that kept Diaz in power, the trained, according to popularrumor) with tanks and helicopters. At least strongarm tactics employed by Diaz'spolice and military, and the practices threehundred youths were killed, andthousands injured or arrested. Time of Americanfirms, whi ch had reducedman y peasantsto condi tionsofnear­ magazinereported how a 13 year-oldgirl wasbayonetted to deatht hrough slavery. thehead. Some of the movement'sleaders aresaid to still be in jailor are WhileDiaz grew rich on kickbacksfrom American co mpanies, the "missing." Thismassacre effectively killed the movement. TheOlympics issue of foreign control over Mexico's natural resources stirredup anger, and the system carried on without any further problems from rabble­ resentment, and nationalist feelings. Besides being aninsult to national rousing youths. pride,it wasenabling the US to becomewealthy while preventing Mexico Twenty years later, signs of change are once again beginning to from growing and advancing, and added up to little more than organized emerge in Mexico. It is The Crisis and the extreme conditions brought theft of the national wealth. The idea thatMexico should control itsown about by it that makes the cries for change so poignant, desperate, and resourcesbecame oneof the guiding principlesin the struggleagainst Diaz. persistent. The left, though split andinclined to rhetorical buzzwords, is Diazwas accustomed to using bloody forceto put down uprisings, better organizedand is beingused as a channelfor much of thepro-change protests,and strik es, but the movementagainst him became so strong,even energy. Their marches to theZ6calo (the capital's main square) become involving some members of the Mexican elite, thathe was forcedto hold larger all the time). A student strike in 1986 began to resurrect that an election between himself and the Anti-Re-election Party candidate, movement, and inaddition to theireducational demands, the studentshave FranciscoMadero. Diaz, in an obviously rigged election, "won," and the allied themselves with the larger movement for change. countryerupted in open revolt. A particular rallying point has been the renunciation of The Pact, Madero, a moderateliberal and minor landowner,escaped from the an agreement between government and big business to keep wages low as prison where Diaz had placed him and fled to Texas, where he plotted a meansof controllinginflation. Anotheris the push forcancellation of the against thedictator. Anti-Diazmilitias, and even some anti-Diazp latoons burdensome foreigndebt. of the regular army appearedall over the country. RicardoFlores M agon, The marches are lively affairs, with much chanting, shouting, who fromexile in LosAngeles hadbeen organizing for year s againstDiaz, singing, game-playing, socializing, joking, and banner waving. An im­ returnedwith his owntroops and captured townsthroughout Baja Califor­ promptu march in February of this year brought out 80,000 protesters, nia under the banner of the PLM (Partido Liberal Mexicano - Mexican manyof themstudents asyoung as 13, and left severalmiles oflnsurgentes Liberal Party). Sur covered with circled As and anti-government graffiti. Magon differed greatly fromMadero and other moderates,some of Thewinds of change have even blowninto the electoralarena. This whom desiredonly a transferof powerfrom Diazto themselves. Magon, year'sele ction wasthe firstreal contest in decades, largelybecause the left a dedicatedanarchist, and to alesser extent, Emiliano Zapataand Pancho was able to suspend its sectarianism long enough to mount a serious Villa, called fortotal revolution, with the goal beingcontrol by thepeople challenge to the PRI. Five leftist parties merged to form the Mexican of the means of production and the land. Socialist Party (PMS). Then in June, one month before the election, With the battle cry of Tierray Libertad(Land andLiberty ), they Heberto Castillo, the PMS candidate, withdrew and endorsed Cuahtemoc aroused passions and elicited support throughout Mexico. Even more Cardenas, achieving the closest thing to leftist unity in Mexican history. concerned than Diaz about these revolutionaries were Madero and the Cardenas, son of former President Lazaro Cardenas, had broken moderates, and the Americans, who were seeking new allies now that away fromthe PRI to protest itscorruption and incompetence, and formed Diaz's days were clearly numbered. a new party, the Democratic Current. He campaignedheavily throughout Magon wasarrested severaltimes by the Americansfor things like thecountry, consistently outdrawing the PRI candidate,Sal inasde Gortari, sedition,violations of the NeutralityAct, andimproper use of the mails (to who had beendesignated heir apparent months earlier by PresidentMiguel incite"murder, arson,and treason"). He eventually died in the US federal de la Madrid. At one PRI rally, Salinas was attacked by a crowdangered prison at Leavenworth, Kansas. Pancho Villa, vilified inthe Hearst press overPRI mismanagement of the economy, and which chanted Cardenas' asa bandit, waschased foryears by US troops,and bothhe and Zapatawere namewhile throwing water and sticksat thehapless PRI candidate. finally betrayed and murdered. Cardenas, besides havinghighly favorable name recognition, was Thekilling andchaos continued for the next tenyears as reaction­ able totap populardiscontent and propel the left intoa new role asthe main aries, revolutionaries,and moderates foughtfor control. Practicallyall the opposition party, a position long held by the pro-business, rightist PAN. key players ended up being assassinated, and uncounted thousands of This was perhaps the most important result of the election. Cardenas commonsoldiers also died in this particularly bloody chapterof Mexican preached a populist gospel similar to his father's, and was able to cut history. through the deep-seated apathy of the long-suffering Mexican people, Things calmed downsomewhat in the 1920s and 30s. A new, leftist much as Jesse Jackson was doing in the United States. constitution was put into place, and the PRI (Partido Revolucionario The PRI was concerned enough by Cardenas' popularity to resort /nstitucional- Institutional RevolutionaryParty) was formed, t rying,as its to a fine old Mexican tradition and have millionsof fake ballots printed,a name implied, to institutionalize some of the conceptsof the revolution. In plot uncoveredonly weeksbefore electionday by journalistsand members 1934, PRI candidate LazaroCarden asbecame President. His administra­ of Cardenas' party. Yet, although anti-PR! resentment runs high, and tionwas po pulist andanti-Church, and he beganland andlabor reformsfor Cardenas' campaignwas able to brieflyinspire even the most jadedvoters, which he is still revered today, much likeFranklin Roosevelt is by some in a PRI victory was probablyinevitable. They control the media,the unions, the UnitedStates . Cardenas' most radical activity, though, wasto nation­ local government, and most im portant, the countingof the ballots. alize Mexico's oil reserves, taking them out of the hands of American No one will ever know exactly what the vote totals were; ballots companies. appeared and disappearedas needed all over the coWltrywhile the govern­ During this time, PRI consolidated its power, using as its base ment held offannoWlcing the results and clampeda veil of secrecyover the unionsof workers, peasants,and government bureaucrats. They won every tabulations. To no one's great surprise,the PRI ultimately declareditself important election - president, governor, mayor - and were not above the victor, but Cardenas,even by thegovernment's count, placed a strong fixingthe results or simply declaring that they hadwon. Mexico,despite second. There were widespread protests against what many saw as a its reputation as a pillarof democracyamid the Latindictatorships. became typically rigged election, but for now the PRI remains in power, the more and more a one-party state. PRI came to dominate every facet of difference being that there is now a stron$ and popular opposition. Mexican life - education, the media, business, etc. If you wanted If the PRI is to hold on to power, 1t will have to make substantial something done in Mexico, you had to do it throughthe Party, andpayment changes, somethingwhich it will findver y difficult todo without running of a mordida(literally. "bite," but meaning "bribe") could speed things afoul of its corporate and foreign backers. The PRI has a history of considerably. speakinglike leftists (especially abroad ) and actinglike fascists(especially Occasionallypeople wouldv ote forthe right-wing PANcandidates at home). This was the point peasants were trying to make when they as a protest against the increasingly monolithic PRL but none of these occupied the Cathedraland several foreignembassies inMa y of 1986: that EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com - 24- theMexican government portrayed itself as progressivein the Contadora exploitationof weakercountries as a naturalstate of affairs.The availabil­ Latin American peace process, yet allowed the army and private police ity of cheap Mexicanlabor, on bothsides of thebo rder (illegalimmigration hired by landlordsto harass and even kill peasantactivists involved in the was hardly even affected by the recentUS crackdown)help s keep wages land reform movement. downfor American workers as well, and though Mexico is not able, and Mexico has many problems and will continue to have problems. probably never will be able to fully repay money borrowed fromUS banks, But to call thecurrent situation The Crisis is no idle hyperbole. Action or it continues to make interestpayments that essentiallycome out of the hides lack thereof takenow n will decide whether the country can survive in of Mexican workersand consumers. In fact, the US is unlikely to takeany something resemblingi ts currentform, or whetherits difficulties w ill not action to disturb the status quo unless it begins to feel threatened by an be solved short of another full-fledgedre volution. Overpopulation and increasingunrest and possible revolution inMexico. If things reach that over-concentrationin the capital areon going disasters. Mexico City, the point,the Americanresponse could verypossibly be am ilitaryone, as it has world's largest city, has approximately 20 millionpeople and grows daily beenin the past. as impoverishedpeasants, unable to make a living fromthe land,flock to It is possiblefor the US to have a mutually beneficialand nonex­ the capital. ploitative relationship with Mexico and other Latin American countries. Corruptionand inefficiencymust at leastbe scaled back to manage­ But firstwe must stop thinkingof LatinAmerica as, in the words of Ronald able proportions,and broadeconomic and land reform areessential. It is Reagan,"our backyard,"and begin seeing it, as Jesse Jacksonsays, as"next important, too, for a new spirit of nationalism to emerge, not the blind door." Theadvanta gesof a betterand more equal relationshipwith all our chauvinistsort, but the kind of independentwi ll that would enable Mexico neighborsto the south are many; we could benefiteconomically on both to overcome its national inferiority complex, regain control of its re­ sides of the border,and we could greatlyenrich ourownculture by learning sources, and end exploitation at the hands of the US and other more more of the one that has grown up to the south of us. powerfulcountries. It's interesting to note that while we here inthe UnitedStates are Unfortunately, Mexico needs both less interference and more taught to thinkof North and South America as two separatecontinents, cooperationfrom its northern neighbor if it is to have a chance at solving Latin Americanssee bothas partof single continent,The Americas. For its problems, and neither is likely tobe forthcomingas long as the United the good of the entire hemisphere, maybe it's time we started lookingat States remains under the control of the far right, which looks upon the things through their eyes for a change.

And A Side Order Of Glasnost, Please ... How About Some Perestroika In America? Is this it? Is the best we can do? Four years of almost nonstop all-encompassing, and just plain tedious that intelligent and imaginative campaigning, hundreds of millions of dollars, and when it finally comes individualswere unlikely to survive its labyrinthineintrigues. Theparty time toe] ect a president and vice-president we are given a choice among of theworkers became the partyof theapparaJchiks, and ordinarycitizens fourrich, conservative, middle-aged white men more remarkablefor their beganviewing bothgovernment and political process as malevolentforces similaritiesthan their differences. to be avoided whenever possible. All the sappily patriotic get-out-the-vote commercials notwith­ It's ironic thatjust asthe Soviet Union is makinga major effortto standing,not even half thecitizens of the UnitedStates will bother going correctthe abuses that had made it as much a prison camp as aworkers' to the polls, and many of those who do will only be going through the paradise, the United States is moving in the opposite direction. The motions,figuring that as long as there 'seven aslightchance that votingwill America envisioned by the far right wingerswho control the Republican have somethingto do withhow the country is run,they might as well make Partyis a frighteningplace, a brutal,racist theocracywhich if pursuedto therelativelyminor effort. Butanyonewhocan getseriouslyenthusedover its logical conclusion would end up looking like an unholy amalgamof the prospect of either George Bush or Michael Dukakis running this Nazi Germany, South Africa, and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The countryfor the next fouror eightyears is clearly of dubious intellectualan d/ moderate right wingerswho controlthe Democratic Party offer little in the or emotional health. way of an alternative vision. They may argue that the Republicanagenda The best argument Dukakis has beenable to offer is the factthat is unrealistic,will bankruptthe country, or cause undue suffering(all true), he's not GeorgeBush, which docs carry a certainamount of weight until but these are considered technical, not moral problems. While theymay you consider that what got Dukakis the Democratic nomination wasthe question the means, theyseldom if ever question the ends. factthat he wasn't Jesse Jackson. Someone who campaignsprimarily on And what sort of ends are we talking about? It's a foregone the fact of not being someone else does not inspire a great deal of conclusion of both major parties that America should have unchallenged confidence. military superiority over the rest of the planet, and should use that Bush on the other hand would scare the pants off any thinking superiority to its own advantage whenever necessary. Neither party is personif he hadn't made the pre-emptive sttikcof namingas his veep one likely to dispute theeconomic theoriesw hich are bandied aboutunder the of the most blatantimbeciles to beconsidered fornational office since the nameof "capitalism"or, more insidiously, "the free market,"but which days of Millard Fillmore. Suddenly Reagan's lap dog and Cliff Barnes could more accurately bedescribed as industrial feudalism. And neither surrogatelooks positivelystatesman-like by comparison. party admits to seeing a higher standard by which to measure our well­ Something is just not working here. On a political spectrum that being as anation thanthe condition of our Gross National Product. should encompassa full 360 degrees worth of possibilities,we 're asked to These days our nationalproduct is gross indeed. While Americans choose between candidates who represent no more than 5 or IO degrees are not a stupid people,they canbe inunature,as would be expected of the thereof. More precisely,we 're being askedto choose between candidates citizens of a relatively young country. As children do with parents, who represent little or nothingbeyond the positions deemed least likely to Americans expect far too much of their leaders andnot nearlyenough of alienate the booboisie. Still more precisely, we arc beingask ed to ratify a themselves. A true leader does not merely explain and demonstrate the formof one-partygovernment remarkably likethe one theevil communist ttuthswhich people must know; he or she inspirespeople to discover them empire has allegedlybeen ttying to imposeupon us lo these manyyears. for themselves. This is best done by example; a leader with an open, The mass media have managed to milk a little drama out of the inquiringmind, who visibly rejoices in discovering new ways of seeing the presidential election by alternately announcingthat one candidate or the world and living in harmony with it, will soon bejoined by millions of otherhas gained the momentum. But it's a largelyself-fulfilling momen­ follow seekers. tum; neitherBush nor Dukakisof theirown accordcould generate enough Such leaders are of course rare. Those with a philosophical bent momentum to even lightly ripple the seas of public opinion. They are and a hunger for wisdom are instinctively repelled by the demands of purely manufacturedcandidates, and any vestiges ofhumanityor character political life. Filling the vacuum are leaders, who in fine Machiavellian were long since bredout of them. They would never have survivedthe long tradition,rule by fear. Amongthese are the Hitlers andStalins, who crush and arduous selection processotherwise. all resistance by brute force and intimidation, and eventually create an Which is exactly what happenedin the Soviet Union during some opposingreaction that destroysthem andtheir followers. Then there are of the Revolution's darker days. Thebureaucracy becameso pervasive, themore subtle panderers to fear,w ho appealto thebasest human instincts

EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com - 25. sort of powerbrokers w ho run nearly every state, totaJitarian or "free." We sneer at the Soviet Union. where voters are asked only to approve a slate of officials selected by the CommunistParty. Yet as recente ventshave demonstrated, there is at leastasm uch diversitywithin theSovietCommu. nist Party as there is betweenthe Democraticand Republi• can Parties. The measure of any political system is thecaliber of the leadership it produces, and by that standard the United States is clearly falling hehind the Soviet Union. To compareth e intelligenceorvision ofRonald Reagan to that of MikhailGor bachev should be deeply embarrassing to anythinking American. Andyet Reagan,disastrous as his rulehas been, di splaysmore leader- shipqualities than eitherof thecandi• dates who will replace him. Is Gorbachev merely an aberration, and his much­ vaunted perestroika. (re- structuring) an at- � tempt to reform a 7. ....-!!..-.--S-: ______hopelesslyflawed 1 ( r. ='�=��=== system from the top down"? Or does his rise lo the J �, ��op of the Soviet ,:.. heap indicate that Russian Commu• nismmay finallybe 0 f able to deliver on self­ the promises that ish accompanied the n e s s most significa a n d nt revo)u. greed lion (so far) of the twentieth (which really amount century? This much appears certain: if glasnost and perestroika to the fear that someone _/':.)/,-- conti ue to be broadened,and theSoviet else will prosper at our ex­ � : � p pense). These are the types of °' · eople given the personal and political · freedom which that entails, the USSR could. leaderswe are asked to choose among inAmeric a today. Theytoo set a powerful without a shot firedor a missile launched,replace theUSA on the world's center stage. example, one of acquisitiveness without thought for the This w ld hardly an u itigated disaster. Western Europe conse­ quences, and the people have been quick to fol- . �� � � y1el ed 1L� po 1t10n of dommance without suffering unduly; in fact the low. � _ � quality of hfe m most Europeancountries has if anything improvedsince But let's not be too hasty in blaming the people. Throughoutou r _ ates has taken over theburdens of empire andworld domina history, Americans have responded en masse to allsons of causes noble �e United S� IJ.on. But e the USA may beseeing its andignoble, andif the only cause they'rebeing presented with no� is one whil deservedly brief moment inthe sun slipping away. we can and should auempt to saJvage what is worth­ of lining their poc�ets while retreating into a bunker mentality, why be _ while. surpnsedthat aJarmmgnumbersofthcmare going aJongwith it? Thoseleft The most valuable legacy of our. brief history is the notion of out of thecurrent "prosperity," and there aremany millions of them,must democrati rule, despiteits current sorrysta te. Theidea that human beings nccessa?IY beco cemed with their own survivaJ rather than pondering the � _ _ � arc born with mahenable nghts ratherthan having them granted by some mechanics of social change and the ideals of democracy. _ Thismalignancy of the public spirit is not somethingtha t mysteri­ benevolcn1 king did not originate with the Declaration of Independence, but 11 wasthe Amencancxpenence th at popul ized the conceptto such an ously appears fits own acc.ord, theway the flu starts going aroundwith ar ? xtent that democracy is now a standard by which all governments are theonset of ramy weather. It is fostered, if not created, by the system of � Judged. True democracy can work, but becauseit necessarily involves a gove ent ':'1at hase volved in this c.ountry, and will not go away until that l'I11!1 large degree of trust, it is easilysub verted. And. as w system 1s rad1caJlyaltered . Revolution is not yet an inevitability, but inth e e are now learning, Il 1s even more easily bought and sold. absence of far-reaching reform, it soon will be. T oney into the electoral When I speak of government, I do not refer only to the various he infusion of staggering amounts of m process is probably the biggest single reason that democracy is no longer elected leaders; most of these have become mere afterthoughts to farmore working in America. The only way that a person of average means can powerfulforces. The venalityand mediocrity which almost uniformly dis­ becomeinvolved in politics at higher thanthe precinct le vel is if he or she tinguish those who ho!� Ublic office are only symptoms of the disease . J? can attract backing fromthe wealthy. Andwhile there are the occasional threate g the body P hllc. A certain amount of corruptionis endemic to �� ? philanthropists who don't mind Jeuing go of a fewm illion forthe sake of any poht1cal process, JUSI as any bio-system produces itsshare of waste. puttinggood candicates into office,most people ina position to play thebig But today we see our country, in fact our planet, beginning to strangle on . money game expecl some return on their investment. the volume of wa�tc II has generatcd. Such, I am sorry to say, is aJso the _ At theheart of the need forhigh financeis thecost of access tothe state of the Amencan expenment in democracy. mass media. While pundits bemoan the way in which candidates are Though founded on genocide andslavery and originally limited to packaged as if they were soap suds or hemorrhoid ointments. the true a handful of white, property-owning males, our system of representative scandaldoes not� pla e in the commercialarena. After all, simplybeing governmentmade a great deal of progressover its first two centuries. Yes. � � able to buy adverusmg time does not guarantee success; fringe candidate it was ainfully sloY:,_ but barrierswere gradua lly brokendown to the point I? Lyndon LaRouchehas never allracted more thana handfulof votes withhis where m theory allc111zcns were allowed to participate in thepoliticaJ p roc­ halfhour diatribeson nalionalTV. Thereal powerofthemediais its ability ess. Why then, after all t!1•stune, arc almost all important decisions still to confer or deny legitimacy on a given candidate or party. made by a h�ndful of white, property-owning males? lfwe have a two partysystem which looks more and more like a one Thengh t tovo�e, we aretold from childhood, distinguishes us from partysystem, it is notforlackofother ideas. But if those ideas do not appear the less fortunate totahtar1an states of the world. But of what vaJueis the inprint or the broadcastmedia, to a large extent theysimpl y do not exist. right to voteif ourcho ice is limited to candidates pre-selected by the same EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com - · 26 · views, The costs of such a campaign, which because of its brevitywould Why, for example, is socialism a major force in the politics of most not be toogreat, could beunderwritten by the government,or alternatively, induslrialized countries, while in the United States it is thought of, if it is borne y theb roadcastersas a public responsibility and as a fairexchange tho ghtof at II, asthe provin offuzzy- minded academics andwild-eyed � . . ? � � for therr havingbeen granted a license to use the public airwaves. radicals? Is 11 because Amencansare politica lly more sophisticated than Thesetw o stepsshou ld enormouslyimprove the quality of both the their European counterparts and realize that socialismjust won't work? candidates and eir discourse, but will still leave too much margin for Not likely; most Americans learn little or nothing about socialism from . � error. An add1t10nal reform would be to ban any elected official from ei er theirschools or theirmedia and as aresult remain blissfully ignorant tl_l voting or otherwiseacting on any matter in which he or she haseven the of 11. appear ce of a conflictof interest If, forexample, a congressmanhas ties But we need not go as far afield as socialism, which according to ai:i of anykind to a defense contractor, he has no btL�iness voting on military polls many Americans think of as something alien to or opposed to procw-ement bills. It would probably also be wise to limit the amount of democracy. Even the more progressive elements of our major parties are timeany politician may remain in office. The original conceptof democ­ systematically shut out. A Jesse Jackson may be allowed to makesom e racy is that ordin citizens set apart a few years of life to devote speeches, and occasionally a reasonably liberal candidate like George ary themselves to public service; by the time someone has spent several McGovernmay be allowedto run for nationaloffice, but such candidacies decadeson thepolitical merry-g o-rolllld, he or she is not likely bearmuch are" ealistic,"the media tell us with numbing regularity, untileven the ?ffi resemblance to the ordinarycitiz en. candidates and theirsupporters begin to believe it. Still, these andmost otherreforms will be ineffectual ifwe do not The kind of money required to open and operate a major media begin doing a betterj ob with theraw materialsof democracy, whichare of outletmeans that those who report and comment on the news aresubject . . coursethe c l!zenswho mustm e it work. With subjects like history and to the same sorL� of pressures as would-be politicians. And broadcast ! � geography m danger of becommg lost arts, and with nearly half our me ia in P ticular,w hich e licensedby the government, have a particu­ � 3!' � populationunable to readthings more complex than the lowest-common­ larinterest m accommodatmg themselves to the status quo. Whileit is a denominator daily newspaper, we can not expect too much out of the popular article of faith among right wingers that the media have a left/ electorate. Unfortunately, our educational system has become another liberalbias, it is a fact thatsomewhere between80 and90% of thenati on's victim, and tool,of the political process. Those who have the most control newspapers endorsed Ronald Reagan in the last election. The national over society today are more interestedin obtaining a pliant, well-trained broadcastnetworks do not overtly endorsec andidates, but it is nothard to work force than a new generationof philosophers and political idealists. deduce heretheir self-interests lie; theyarc primarily owned by the same � The strongest point we have in our favor is the Jong-standing corpornt1onswho have profitedso greatlyfrom the Reaganadministration's . . . trad11J.onof mdependence andanti-authoritarianism that characterizesthe massive militarybuildup. Ame c spirit. In the Soviet Union, glasnost is taking a long time to If we are to salvage democracy in this country - and there are � � est hsh nselfbecause people are so unaccustomed to being free tospeak indications that it may already be too late - we must immediately move � . . therr mmds. Inthe Umted Statesthe opposite is true; we take freedom of to takethe profitout of it. Public officials who wishto holdon totheir jobs speech o forgranted that themany attacks being mounted against it bythe mu t devote large part of th ir time to raising campaign funds, most of � � '.'- � New Right and the Reagan administration often go unnoticed. which come in the �orm of thmly di guised bribes. This is necessary not � Because we are a rebellious people, and, one should not forget, a only ause the �1gh costs of media access,but because campaigning, . � heav1ly arm one, revolution is almost inevitable if the government especially at thehigher levels, hasbecome prettymuch a full-timeaffair. _ � contmueson1ts currentcourse. Theeconomic and environmental disasters RonaldReagan had barelybeen inaugurated forhis second term when the resulting frompre sent policieswill eventuallybec ome intolerable. But we firstpolls and firstcandidates of I.he 1988 race appeared. should not anticipatethat our problems will be solvedthat w ay; we arejust Two relativelys imple reformsco uld improve the situation. Firstof _ as likely to e a formof fas ism orbloody civil war as arewe a progressive all c upai s shouldb 7 harplylimi ted,to perhaps60 or90days. Second, � _ � 3;1 �� � andhumanitananrestructurmg ofsocie ty. That'swhy it would befar better all paidpo 1t1cal adverusmgshou ld be eliminated. In its place we should ) to tryreforms now thanstruggle for survivala fewyears hence. It's a slim have a senes of progr s on ad!o and television in which any and all _ � � chance, yes, but if I.his country is to survive in anything resembling its candidates would be given a s1gmficant amount of time to explain their present form, it's the only chance we've got. GILMAN STREET CLOSES; CAN IT RISE AGAIN?

The Gilman Street Projea, the greatestplace in thehistory of rock no less anestablishment organthan the Wall Street Journaldid a substan androll. closed its doors on September 11. The club was the victim of tial andrelatively accurate feature on it (its maindeviation fromreality wa: several factors, amongthem the high cost ofrent andinsurance, the growing characteri7Jng the place as the headquarters of straight edge punk, ifficulty of attracting enough volunteer labor to run the place, and e � misrepresentation that a few days later got a lot of laughs at a beer part ontinual harassment of a couple gangs who felt affronted by the club s heavily peopled by Gilmoids). olidesagainst violence, racism.vandalism. and on-premises consumption Inits year anda half existence, Gilman spawned at least a doze of alcohol or drugs. . bands some of which are on their way to being very successful, and gav Thesituation wasfurther complicated when MaximumRocknroll s a reliable andwell-payin g venue to hundredsof otherbands that otherwis im Yohannan. who hadput up theoriginal $40,000investment to get the might not have had one. It also had a big parl in the birth of l,o()kou lub started (MaximumRocknroll, a monthly magazine withcirculatio a n . Records·oh well, let's admitit: LookoutRecords would probably not ex1s f about13,000, is produ by a staff f unpai volu rs, and it h a � � � !lte;e � if it wer�'t forGilman. Most important, from a purely personalpoint o long-standing policy ofputtmg any profits back mto sITmlar commumty­ view, it gave yours trulysome of themost fun times of my l fe. and gav • riented efforts) felt that he no longer wantedto be financiallyand legally � me tlJ.e opportunityto meet me of the o est ple on th1 planet ( 0, esponsible for Gilman Street. � C? � � � 1: l'mnotsuretheywere allnauves). Thevo1d1tsdemise hasleftmmy soc1a Several otherpeople stepped forward andagreed toput their names lifeis roughly akin to thevoid it's left in theworld of northernCalifomi· n the lease but beforethe transfer of responsibilitycame about, members underground music. ecidedat September 11 meetingthatthey weren 'tconfidentof enough the Fortunately there is still some hope that a resurrected form o supportfrom th e volunteerworkers necessary lo run the place,that and they Gilman.probably under a differentn , will emerg out f theashes . feared Gilman was evolving into "just another rock club." They voted to � e_ CRIMPSHRINE, the story continues... It was sometime in the summerof 1988 that a large brownvan lumbered out of Berkeleyhe aded south toward a rendezvous with destiny. CRIMPSHRINE, not your ordinuy band (would you expect any enterprise involving AARON COMETBUS to be?),was, after no more than five years preparati on,off to see lhe world, or at least the United States punkunderground partof iL Things got offto apretty decent start down Chula Vista way (formore info on thecultural c apitalof southern California, if that's notroo exbeme an oxymoron,see elsewhere in thesepages), b ut somewhere betweenthe last of thepabn trees and the firstof the saguaro cacti, things startedgoing a linleso ur. Thenext thingwe heard back here in NorCal wasthat the band had splitin half,·with bassistPETE andguitarist IDON heading back to Californiawith the vanand AARON and guitarisl/vocalistJEFFvo wingto continue the tour as a two-piece, if necessary. Which they did, andnot without success; a couple reports have already fdtered back from the eastcoast from people who said lhe two• pieceCRIMPSHRINE was bette r thanmany of thel ocalfour or five-piece outfits. Butmean while, AARONwas busy on thephone trying to, as ishis wont, arrange things. Oneof the things he tried to arrangewas for me to meet them out east and become the driver for the rest of lhe tour. Unfortunately it wasnot possibleto detach myselffrom the many respon­ sibilities incumbent on the LOOKOUT empire, so I had to pass on this opportunity,which I amsure would have at the veryleast given me a whole new perspectiveon music, punkrock. America, life, andthe reasons,if any, forexislence, But I amsure AARON, when he atlast revives thelate and lamented COMETBUS zine, will enlighten me on theseand many other matters. But do we digress? Of course. Not only did AARON andJEFF manageto keep the tour going, butby thetime they got tothe Chicago head­ quartersof internationalculture mogul BEN (SCREECHING)WE ASEL, they were able to becomea full-fledgedband again by inveiglingthe pride ofBenicia, PAUL POULTRY MAGIC, to jointhem as bassist. And not incidentally, to bringhis car with them. The rest of the tour went off as scheduled, and the new version of the CRIMPSTERS arrived back in lovely CA atthe end of September. Asof this writing,haven't I seen them yet, but PAUL is an excellent bass player (and guitarist, too), so I'm lookingforward to hearing their newsound. Andas for PETEand IDON? There's talk aboutthem forming a newband with STEVE of PEACE TEST. Onthe otherhand, accordingto JESSEOP IV, they'restarting a new taxiservice, unique because ''it only goesone way:• What's going on with LOOKOUT RECORDS? Well, it disinte­ Thenew CRlMPSHRlNEsomewhere in America. That'sPAUL In gratedand got backtogether, probably without most of you even noticing. the/onground. AARONlooks liuhe's put on somemuselesfro• Somewhere aroundJune, DAVID "SPROCKET"HA YES, the other(and lugging hisdrum lit from trud; stop to tnukslap. yes.I know some of you meanieswill say better)half of LOOKOUTde- cided to go his own way, including resurrecting his SPROCKET REC­ ORDS label, with a mottoof"Fun, Not Profit" (unlikeLOOKOUT , which of courseis no funat all andbrings in themillions faster thanwe cancomtt, let alone spend them). But whatever differences therewere have beenpatched over (of course you know none of it was my fault because I never do anything wrong) andDAVID and I arecontinuing to work together. Andguess what we 're doing next. well,actually DAVID is doingmost of thework: likethe mega-compilation double LP of all time, or at least of the secondhalf of 1988. It will have about 35 bandson it, includingalmost all theLOOKO UT bandsand a whole bunch of othersfrom GILMAN and nearly everywhere elsethat matters in the GoldenState. Yes, CHULA VISTA is represented bythewonderfulandonlyslightly obnoxiousNEIGHBORHOODWATCH. Andsometime inthe reasonably foreseable futurewill be thesoon-10-be­ long-awaitedLP from OPERATION IVY, who arerapidly becoming in­ ternationallyfamous , but still haven 'tgot enough money to fixtheir mostl y handmade equipment Was that them on the cover of FLIPSIDE? And themnot even fromLA? We hearthey're being made honoraryci ti7.ens, though. Thoseof you who withtear-dimmed eyes readthe stor y of thetragic demise of the LOOKOUTSin thel ast issue may have given in to despair toosoon. July 4 saw a LOOKOUTS reunion show at GILMANfor which The waningday s of Gilman: DESTROYER conductsa hootenanny. yours truly sportedthe actualjeans, or atleast the remainsthereof, that he Thal's JASONlSOC RACY flailing the skins, while MARTIN, in the woreto Woodstock. Yes, bellbottoms. Withmany colored patches. We lumberjack shirt, attemptsla conduct the orchestra EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com • 28- were well received. Everyone threw garbage at us, even TIM YOHAN­ Just looking. For fourhours, according to our reporter. Also making the NAN. But that was to be expected, in fact taken as a great honor, scene in a big way at the anarchist unconvention in Toronto: our own considering that the main event of the evening was the grand reunion of the DAVE MDC. Whatwere DAVE, anunnamed but highly inebriatedyo ung sorely missed ISOCRACY. The LOOKOUTS are at least temporarily woman. and the frolicsome dog of J.D.s publisher BRUCE LA BRUCE back in action, pending bassist and very loud singer KAIN KONG's doing in Mr. LA BRUCE's bathroom? Watch forthe video. Yes, thereis decisionon whether or not tomove a way this winter, but in the meantime, one. we're getting ready to record something for the compilation and maybe Speaking of video, AL FLIPSIDE made a quick trip into the Bay even a record of our own. Yes, we're actually practicing. It's this new Area in late June to tape the RockAgainst Racism gig at GILMAN, which concept we 're experimenting with. featuredMDC, BEA TNIGS, and OPERA 11vN IVY, plus some speakers ISOCRACY, meanwhile, are playing all over the place, and even and films from the JOHN BROWN ANTI-KLANCO MMITTEE, which foundtime to invadetiny Boonville in what was probably the firstshow of may or may not be anRC P front,dependi ng who you listen to. MDCwere its type to ever grace that mostly tranquil (don't forget; BRUCE ANDER­ especiallyimpressive.just back froma national tour andfeaturing a leaner, SON Jives there) hamlet. Accompanying them were KAMALA AND meaner sound thanthey have in years, thanksin no small partto their new THE KARNIVORES,w ho with the addition of their new guitaristare now guitaristERIC. In keeping with the Jong-standingMDC tradition of mixed anall-girl outfit. And who with the departure of theirnew guitarist areno w messages, their luxury motor home was parked outside. looking forone. They recordeda great track forthe LOOKOUTcomp, and Also bubbling up from the underground into the mainstream: will be doing a 7" of their own later this year, assuming a guitarist GILMAN's own YEASTIE GIRLZ, who did a half hour guest shot on materializes. Oh yeah, look forboth ISOCRACY and KAMALA AND ALEX BENNET's morning show on LIVE-105. The GIRLZdid threeof THE KARNIVORES to bedoing some more Mendo-land shows, with Fort theiracapellaraps, including their especially appropriateone on the subject Bragg, Boonville, and Garberville all definite possibilities, and if you're of FCC censorship, and reparteed with a professional aplomb suggesting that they'llbe ready forJOHHNY CARSON anyday now. The YEASTIES' really lucky, the LOOKOUTS might even show up, too. calledOvary Action, Further proof that high culture is at last overtaking the Redwood new 7" (no double entendre here) is andlate breaking Empire: spottedat the REGGAE ON THE RIVER festival neartiny Piercy news is that the YEASTIES, three out of four of whom have managed to were JASON ISOCRACY and the wonderful CHANTEL, of whom it was land in variousparts of Europe, may be doing some sort of tour therethis once proposed that a life-size statue be erected over the entrance to fall. GILMAN STREET. Andwhat about Mendocino County's newest celeb­ So: last ish,you may recall, it wasreported thatSanRamon moshers rity resident, JELLO BIAFRA, who is Jiving part-time on some country RABID LASSIE had regrettably changed their name to the more generic land outside of Ukiah. BIAFRA 's place is near that of his longtime friend BREAKAWAY. Since then rumors have surfaced that the ill-advised andassociate WINSTON SMITH, perhaps best known fordoing the cover moniker alteration was not entirely the brainchild of JOEY and company, art on several DEAD KENNEDYS records, but probably on the verge of but was suggested by RAY OF TODAY CAPPO, who felt that if RL becoming even more famous for his unique color xerox work, which back wanted to appear on an upcoming REVELATION RECORDS (big and in June wowed a crowd of underground artsy typeswhen it was displayed getting bigger) compilation LP, they would need a name that was more at the COPY ROSE in San Francisco. Anyway, BIAFRA is hoping to find "straight ahead." Thisis not the first time that RAY has playedthe name time at his Mendocino hideaway to (finally) write some new songs, and game; it's reported that he started the new trend of bands naming them­ there are rumors about a new band emergingsome day. selves after laundry detergents by transformingCRIPPLED YOUTH into "We are the BEAT NIGS andwe are not afraidof revolution!" Not BOLD. But a still later update has JOEY BREAKAWAY denying that . afraid to speakup for theirrights, either; the San Francisco multi-media RAY had anything to do with the name change, and JOEY having always funk, punk, and found-art car bumper thumpers have been sending out been a straightforward and honorable sort of guy, this column is inclined contractsto prospectivepromoters outlining demandssuch as eight quarts to take his word for it. of orange juice, hot towels (or was it cold towels; I don't remember) and Straight edge moshes on: BREAKAWAY's brothers in X-guitar attitude band from confirmationyet on the rumor that he will be growinghis hairand leaving Seattle to the Mexicanborder, has signed a pressing and distribution deal OP IV tofollow the GRATEFUL DEAD around next summer. But he and with semi-major ENIGMA, which may or may notbeafrontforCAPITOL MATTOP IV anda whole bunch of other East Bay typeslike JOEL (THE (which as everyone knows is a totally cool corporation even if they are SPIFFY DRESSER) WING, formerly of CORRUPTED MORALS, are megalithic because as well-known scenester LYDIA (she's the "Typical getting together a strictly ska band,complete with horns, which should be Chick" on the STIKKY LP) remindsus, 'The BEATLES wereo n CAPI­ giggingaround some day soon. Andback to OP IV fora second, European TOL."), At the other end of the spectrum, BLACKLIST MAILO RDE� readers should watch for them over there sometime next spring. has been in business fora fewmonths now. sellingrec ords through� m�l Everyone knows SPIKE ANARKIE, the unreconstructed, beer­ with all labor being done by unpaid volunteers, which makes rt a b!t swilling,safety-pinned, mohawked, spitting, cursing and uncompromising difficult for the larger companies to undercut them. The question now 11 relic of bygone punk days, but not quite sowell known i$'MR.AN ARKIE' s whether BLACKLIST will eventually evolve into a much-needed whole­ alter ego, or should we say waiter ego, the notoriously wonderful, whole­ sale distributor capable of challenging the big guys' stranglehold on the some, and gentlemanly WALTER GLASER, who now that you mention industry. a)relldy it does look a little like MARLO THOMAS. Anyway, WALTER, who Hold it. Stop thepresses. Although RAY OF TODAY� happens to beone of the LOOKOUT' s favorite people in the whole world, enjoyed his two minutes of fame in this issue's column, � latestt had just set the needle down on a record by hisfa vorite rock star, HENRY development is too crucial topass over. It seems that RAY, whose mu,r_es ROLLINS, whenhisheartwent out ofcontrol,soaring to ahyperrateof250 in spiritual matters wasalready widely known, is on the verge oft,ecorllllll Y's Aug t bpm (yes, I know 600 bpm is normal for a hummingbird, but it's not a full-fledged Hare Krishna. At YOUTH OF TODA _ � � considered good for a human being, even a very busy and active one like ance at GILMAN STREET. RAY was hawking Krishna bibles WALTER). This news was relayed to MR. ROLLINS in Hollywood, cookbooks along with the usual YOT paraphernalia. H e also r�� mghtal where he reportedly responded with an inarticulate chortle and growl. abandoned his usual digs at theMRR MAXI-PAD to spen�the ,.. ousness Fortunately. WALTER. after a few days hospitalization anda spiritually Berkeley Krishnatemple. Bay Area f .:nsof Krish;na consc� �c,y o th channeled visit from MR. ROLLINS, returned to normal, or as close as callthat it was not that many yearsago that thech ief swami f :S8Jc1owo. lo ·.• he'll ever get to it, anyway. temple was arrested when police found his Mercedes sedan. of virtu� '=­ Spottedat the Santa Cruz Boardwalk: internationallyfamous punk with illegal machineguns. One also wonders if RAY, th� ed o photog MURRAY BOWLES in an apparent hypnotic trance, staringinto straight e?ge, is aware that the Krishnas were involv in mtill � y y s . , .qu . thescreen of a heavy metal video game. No, he wasn't playingthe game. drug dealingthroughou t the 1970s, and for all I know, ma EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com - 29 - don't funda multi-million dollar worldwide empire selling flowersin air­ a compromise, I offer the name which ROBERT EGGPLANT thought­ ports. lessly rejected for hisband (which broke up as a result): DALMATIONS Also in a religious vein: Berkeley's SWEET BABY JESUS is FROM HELL. Farther up inHu mboldt, the Jost town of Fortunasomehow about to get a new name to go with their recently recorded LP on RUBY managed to produce an excellent band by the name of NUISANCE. Un­

RECORDS (subsidiary of SLASH, which is a subsidiary of WARNER fortunately they've now moved away to Sonoma County to pursue their BROTHERS), scheduled for release around the first of the year. Appar­ educations and because lumberjacks kept trying to give them mohawks ently the name change is not due to record company pressure,but was a with their chainsaws. Just kidding. Honest. Hey, I've got a chainsaw group decision reachedby the banditself. Leadsinger DAL LAS says that myself. Spike my a major factorin the change hair with it all the was that threeof the band's time. fourmembers areChristians And even (news to me-ldidn'treal­ farther up the coast, ize I knew any Christians) there's whole andfelt uncomfortable with bunches of stuffhap­ the old name. All right, pening in Eureka music lovers, who out there and Arcata, and I canguess which member of don't knowanything SBJ is the unrepentant hea­ about it, because I then? Oh yeah, the tentative only get up there new name: SWEET BA­ once every four BYS, which at first hearing, years,and there are fails to, shall we say, reso­ still three and a half nate? Maybe it'll grow on years to go before me ... next time. But back STUCKY have a new down in SoHum 7" record out on OFF THE (Southern Hum­

DISK, an independent label boldt, for all you in Switzerland,which seems unhip big city an appropriate country for geeks), I hear tell those vigorous defendersof that some members capitalism and Republican­ of LAS MALAN­ ism. STIKKY did tum down DRAS, the brilliant anopportunity to perform at all-women's salsa last summer's Republican band that unfortu­ convention, not, as somesug­ nately broke up ear­ gested, because they were lier this year, are afraidto appear on the same putting something stage with their idols, the new together. BEACH BOYS, but because, DARRYL CH­ as their publicist explained, ERNEYwill be lead "The boys felt GEORGE singer. No,no,come BUSH is just too soft on anar­ back, that's just a chy." Oh, the new STIKKY joke, but if DAR­ 7", which contrary to rumor, RYL weren't so LOOKOUTwill NOT be re­ busy saving the pressing, occurs on the most planet, he might amazing marbled vinyl that, have time to put if you stare at it Jong enough together a brilliant while it's spinning round and musical career for round,will probably make you himself. I still think sick to your stomach. And his tape "I Had To then there's the music... Be Born In This New bands in town: Century"is the best among others there's SWOL­ collection of music LEN BOSS TOAD, featuring to come out of the TOMMY STRANGE, once of Emerald Triangleso FORETHOUGHT, andEYE­ far, even though a BALL, withlead singer DAVE certain friend who DURAN, who was far and will remain name­ away the best thing about the less so DARRYL late CLOWN ALLEY (the won't beat him up band, not the hamburger joint, doesn't agree. Which as far as I know is still functioning). Then there's the absolutely OK, this is getting too Jong to fit on the frenetic STEELPOLE BATHTUB, and SCAPEGOAT LEMONADE, number of pages I still have available, so no more gossip. I put in some �ho I haven't seen yet. All the above are from SanFrancisco, a good sign, pictures, too, some of which have nothing to do with anything in this smce the Big City had been falling far behind the East Bay (aka Hoboken column (illiterates have feelings, too), and if you, your band, or your West) in producing exciting new music. musical output is not covered here, it might be because I'm stupid, it might Up here in the Deadwood Empire, there's a couple of happenings, be because you 're stupid, or it might be because we all are. Refer back to �o. 15 year-oldwonder DJ CHRIS APPELGREN and fellow 15 year-old the title of this piece forelucidation. Next issue: no news or gossip.just full­ JUstpJain wonder ABE are putting together anew band inGarberville, hard page nude pictures of all your favorite punk rock and reggae stars (sorry, Upon the ruinsofCHRIS' recentand short-livedDIRTY DONUTS. Name: LINT fans, no ska). Till then, keep those earplugs in; you wouldn't want �ell, CHRIS wants to call it BUMBLESCRUMP, which sounds about to hear anythingthat might disturbyour equilibrium, and besides, it looks ngh1 for southern Humboldt, but ABE, being a total speed metalhead, like the musical agenda for the next four years will be dominated by �?esn't think that's such a hot idea. He's thinking more along the linesof GEORGIE BUSH AND THE QUAYLES. It's a long way to Australia or •vtECHANIZED ARCHIPELAGO OF SATANIC DESTRUCTION. As New Zealand, so maybe you'd better start swimming now. Bye.

EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com -30- around on the beachsoa kingu p the sun. If you 've ever beento Fort Bragg or Mendocino insummer, you knowthat 's not a verylikel y prospect.. So these kids started a magazine. Actually, they didn't exactly start it; Iii."'. Sidewalks originally saw the light of day a couple of years ago as the brainchildof NewSell/er editor Beth Bosk and Radio•Free*Earthhoncho To allof you who sentin books,records, "":' gazines,whal �er: t�e foiiowing, long as it is, representsonly a small Ortw oft ma1eriai t hal s Marco McClean. But it wasintended tobe ayoung peoples ' zine,and B eth P, � � and Marco, while full of youthful energy, are no )�)J�ger the pr<_>ver!> al arrived over the past few months. If you 10n t se ,t rev1ewe� here, that i � springchickens. So in the absenceof youngpeople w illing to eepk 1t going, doesn't necessarilyindicate disapp roval; II maysunply have d1sappea_red Sidewalks beneathone of the alpinepiles of rubble that adorn my desk. Ir's a minor cameout onceand then was rolledup (ha ha! get it? rolledup? miracle that I got thism uch stuffdone. Really. never mind). But thissummer a bunch of college students home on vacationas well as some Fort Bragg and Mendocino High School kids resmrected Sidewalks using the whole logo andgraphic design (which, I mustadmit, PUBL/CA TIONS makes the'Lookout look like a provincial rag emanating from somehick town like, say, Laytonville) and did, as someone lik� Bruce An�n might say, a crackerjack job of it. (No, you wouldn t c atch me saymg HIPPY CORE, ($1? Heck, send $1.50, It's worth it), PO Box I 95, Mesa somethinglike that. Uh uh. Never.) AZ 85211 , Anyway,they promise to doit againnext summer,and I hopethey _.·,_··•!:•· This zine rules! Simply put, the highest expression of the xerox­ __ do. Infact, after theygra duate, I hopethey come back tothe coast and k eep zineart form to yet crossthe thresholdof �y mailbox. �timu_latingb�t.not Sidewalksgoing permanently. _Inmy opinion qui�e a f�w of these roung distracting layout withl otsof cool graphics, and�mtelhgent W!1tmg, peopleha ve brightfutures as writers-I w as especially impressed with� even when it's aboutdumb subjec ts. Though they're pl�nkeddown inone . u work of Dan Timms and Zack Stentz - and w ho knows, Mendocino .. . of theless c ulturally disting ished backwatersof the universe(I mean.we ,'.•·,. .j•. .: County may some day be as renownedfor the quality of its lih:raryoutp ut Californians get a lot of flak for giving Ronald Reagan his political start, as it is now for its marijuana, timber, and wine. Oh yeah, Lisa Henry's but what are you going to say about a state Iha! w ould_ elect �van graphicsare very impress.ive, also. If you'!e anywherenear the coas t, s� Mecham?), editors J@ck andJoel stay well plugg� into the_ �te�at1onal if you can track down either of the two issues these guys put out this cultural/political scene through contributors and kindr�dsp1�ts in f� off summer. places, including South Bay Mosh Crew stalw�ts Chris (St�y� Wilder and WayneThe Silly Skinhead. Peoplewondering aboutthe ongm of the ANDERSON VALLEY ADVERTISER, weekly, 50¢ on newsstands, Hippycore name might think that it was me31?t to rag on th� old _fl<_>wer­ $22/yr In Mendocino County, $27/yr USA, $45Canada, PO Box 459, power gang or that it reflecteda wistful hearkerung backto the1deahsuc �Os BoonvilleCA 95415 on the partof today's youth,and yes, it's 1:111e.was I loo�ing forsomethmp Anyone in Mendocino County who doesn't readthis is probably tocri ticize about Hippycore andI was gomg to complainthat there wasn t either illiterate reactionary, or broke. Almost certainly the bestweekl y enough negativity in it, in fact at firstI thought there wasn'tany, but then newspaper pubiished in theUnited States, and,i f there's any justicein the I searchedharder and found a record review (ART PHAG) thatwas a pretty world at all a fu ture Pulitzer Prize winner. A hundred years from now · g nice to_sarabout the cover totalslag job (though theystill foundsomethin Editor/ pubiisher Bruce Anderson. will be regarded with the sort ?f art). Whether it's politics, music, underground publishing, or youthful reverence now accorded Mark Twain or H.L. Mencken. But why w111t; idealismtempered with a great sense of humor that appeals to you, youneed Bruceis here right now. this zine. Don't delay, send today. TRUST bimonthly, 3DM In Germany, $3 seems about right for THE AMIGO, $1 to PO Box 412, Chula Vista CA 92012 Yankee '1mperlallsts, c/o Dolf Hermannstidter, Salzmanstrasse 53, Anothergo od poIi-cultural zine, not as bi� or �bitious as Hippy­ 8900 Augsburg, West Germany core,b ut just as intelligent and id�alistic. Th� Amigo 1s p� o� a small ?Ut · The best andmost significant punkzine in Europe. Unfortunate�y vital Chula Vista scene that also includes Vinyl Com.murucauons, which forpredominantly monoling ualAmericans, it's almost all in German. This also puts on shows and has recently opened a nonprofit record store/ shouldn't bother a lot of punks who only look at the pictures an yway :,ommunity centerrun along Gilman Streetlines. In fact,The Amigo,VC, '!i (they're generally exc�llent, especially th� <_>rig�al artwork of Hamb�g s.nd related activities of the Chula Vista gang provide ample evidence that cartoonist Andreas Michalke), but the writing 1s almost worth leammg -� the new healthier,happier, more caringGilman-style version of punkrock > Germanfor (at leastas faras Ican tell; my ownGerman is not likely toget ., ,snot confined to the Bay Area,but is startingto bust ou: all over. Themost me appointed the next ambassado�to Bonn), and looks to be several cuts_ recent issue features interviews with CRIMPSHRINE GAN'G GREEN above that found in most US fanzmes. and MORAL CRUX, some lively letters,and (well, nohody's perfect)an absolutelymoronic anti-drugdiatribe which seeks to advancethe cause of MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL, monthly, $2 on newsstands, $2.50 by "anarchy" by beating up and/or killing dope dealers and users. mail, PO Box 288, Berkeley CA 94701 . . . . Most youngerLookout readers will already be f8!1lll1ar w1� this. ABSOLUTELY ZIPPO, varies, 50¢, 1550 Mann, Pinole CA 94564 . one of the two grandaddies of hardcore fanzinedom (Fi1psule bemg � A creation of Gilmanstalwart Robert Eggplantand his buddy M�tt, other). But unless you've kept up withit of late, you may not know that1t AZ delves into themore subterraneanrealms of East Bay punkrock, with recently expanded from 72 pages to l 28, added so�e new departi:nents special attention paid to the teenage perspective. Most things in this zine (most notably news �d news analysis), and finally �creasedthe size?f are done by high school students (and/ordropouts) �x ccpt fora collll!111by both print and graphics to more reasonable proportions. 1:}iere ar� still yours truly,an honorary high schooldropout. Don t expect professional­ weaknesses writing particu terviews,art1�l es, ism or polish, but there's lots of sincerity and intensity, and _a few years in some of the , larlyin band in and (some) scene reports, due to MRR's policy of accepting most things fromwhen theseguys arebig-time publishers (andof �urse will have long <. that aresubmined. But therecord andzine reviews, thele tters,the columns . since fired me), you'll be able to say you were hip lo them from the (yes, I do write one of them, now thatyou mention it), the news, and ev� ·f. beginning. a lot of the advertisements make MRR as close as you get to essentlal reading in the punkrock universe. BROCCOLI MAKES ME SAD, varies, 50¢, but you have to know · :·· ·,! someone to get a copy of this exclusive publication ; THE NATION, weekly, $36/yr, but you can probably find a discount ,., Primarilythe work of Chris (STIKKY) Dodge ( also the new lead rate, especially If you 're on a lot of left-wing malllng lists,72 5thA ve, singer for NO :USE FOR A NAME), this South.Bay gazette of sheer . ;\) New York NY 10011 _ , silliness is a joy to behold. In addition to the considerable ta_lcnts of ML .. If you 're only going to su�cribe_to �me seri�us pohucal !1)aga- Dodge, the nonpareil titan of tomfoolery Walter Glaser .ts a. regular zine, this should be it. It's packed with sohd informat10n �t you re not contribulor not to mention the Finnish Filct, Big (and we mean It man!) /,: likely to find elsewhere, 31?d while it's n'?t.alwaysas entert8;'nmg or ,h Wayne. Ba,nd interviews, pinup photos of th�Fonz andEdith _M:15sey(the u tan � ;,�J as somejou rnals, the quality of both wnung and research IS � � �fy · ..-,. •. � · egg lady fromPink Flamingoes),� dissertalion on the anarchistictenden­ r: TheNalion's starcolumnist is of course AlexanderCockb d ,, ,1• cies of Alf, andof course, the all-important Underwear Pagl!. You i:nust '!1ffl, � •� the best political writerin Americatodar, andnot far bt:hind him ":e:::.ll . - \� have this zine. It's almost worthmoving to SanJose for (but not quite). � expatriate Christopher Hitchen�. I_don t alway� 6 md ume to re.J ; , thingin here, but almostev erything1s wor� re�d�g. My newest di SIDEWALKS, monthly, only in summer; If you didn't find a copy yet, �� is thefil m criticism of StuartKlawans, which is bghty�ar s beyo� . .::C you 'll probably have to wait till next year most major media . His piss-take on The f:astTe mptaJ1on ofChr1st:� ... •· A lot of kids come home fromcollege and spend thesummer lying 1u . September 19 issue was not only hysterically funny, but the only uuu. -�? EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com • 31. intelligent commentary I've seenon the film. Mary andfriends aredocumenting the historyof the60s and70s counter­ culture (one ongoing feature is entitled "Whatever Happened to the FACTSHEET FIVE, quarterly, newsprint, 81/2 x 11, $2, 6 Arlwna HippiesT'), it limits the appealof Star Route to arelatively narro w group. Ave, Rensselaer NY 12144 That's no problemfor me, sinceI happento bepan of said group, but I'd If you 're at allinterested in the undergroundmedi a (or if you're still like to see her incorporatemo re stuffby and about younger people, and convinced the alternative press moreor lessvanished with the 60s), you maybe to find some more common ground between the Mendocino­ must have this zine. It's anencyclopedic listing and re view of publications Humboldt post-hippie culture andthe rest of theworld. of every kind from every comer of this country and quite a few others. Editor Mike Gunderloy apparently reads enough of every one of these COUNTRYACTIVIST, monthly, freeon newsstandsIn the Emerald magazines/ books/ literary broadsides to render anincisive commentary Triangle, $10/yr elsewhere, Box 92,Redway CA 95560 thereofwhile al the same time makinghis way through graduate school. Just whatthe name implies, a journal by and for politicallyactiv e How does he do it? I don't know, but what he's doing deserves your people here in the Emerald Triangle/Redwood Empire. Most of what's attention. FS5 also features extensive record reviews and some regular covered herecenters aroundHumboldt County, although there's a fairbit t colwnnists. $2 forweeks of entertainingreading and acc ess to someof the ofintemationalne ws, too. lftheAc ivisthasa weakness,it's thatit's a little bestjournalistic/ literary o utputof our times? Whal a deal. Don't pass it dry, maybe even stodgy at times; as with its sister publication, the Star up. Roule,it could benefitimmensely from mor e input from youngpeople. Bu t it's a vital link in the north coast communications network, and these ANARCHY, varies $1, Box 1446, Columbia MO 65205 peopledeserv e a lot ofcre dit forkeeping it coming out month aftermonth Most anarchist magazines are, to borrow a phrase from Mykel likeclockwork (Rememberwhen theLookout used to do that?N aaah,most Board's letter elsewhere in these pages, "dry as ajunkie's asshole," or of youprobabl y aren't that old.). hopelesslymudd led in internaldo ctrinaldispute s that are as intlesspo as they are impenetrable lo an outsider. Anarchy manages forthe mo st part SWELLSVILLE, varies, $I.SO, PO Box 85334,Seattle WA 98145 to avoid thosepitfalls, providing lively andirreverent critiques of a wide­ Lengthierarticles than you will probablyever want to read provid­ ranging varietyof society'sills. Whereit occasionallydoes fall short(and ing endless anal-retentive detail about artistswh om you've mostly never this is true of most publications by and for the disaffected, including, heard of (usually with good reason). Swellsville patterns itself after the probably, the Lookout) is in providing sufficient insight into how things early-70s school of rock criticism pioneered in public,ations likeRolling mightreall y workafter the evolution r and/or in the absenceof governmen­ Stoneand Greem, with pageupon page of reverent,almost biblical exegesis tal constraints. After all, as Ihave becomefond of pointingout lately, we lavishedon lhemost inconsequential bits of popfluff (example: sevenfuli already had anarchy once, and look what we ended up with. pages analyzingmid-60s one-hit wondersthe Music Machine). Neverthe­ less, some of the writing is good to excellent, andit's always sincere, even CONTRA WATCH, monthly, $15/yr, San Francisco CA 94140 whenyou wish it wasn'1. Wortha look,especialiy if you spenda lot of time This is aspecialized pub)ical.:lon dealing with just what its name in the bathroom. implies, keepingan eye oncontras every where. It dealsprimarily with the Nicaraguan variety, of course, but takes a global perspective, with the understanding that theattempt to crush the Sandinistarevolut ion ispart of a global sttategy aimed at indigenous and working peoples everywhere. Thematerial p resentedis well documented,an d shouldp rove highlyuseful for writersand political activistswho, unlikeyours truly , insiston backing RECORDS up theirrantings and ravingswith facts. As I've often complained before and probably will again, Ming MENDOCINO COMMENT ARY, Box 1222, free on Mendocino recordreviews is one of my least avoriJef parts ofpublishing this magazine. Countynewsstands, $15/yr by mall FortDragg CA 95437 So usuallyI justskip them aliogether,whi;;h makes me feel bad becauseit Quality varies widely, from the revolutionary and sublime to the doesn'tseem fairto the nice sincerep eoplewho are constanJly sendingme liberal and pathetic. I nevermiss an issue ifl can help it, though I'm not records in hopes that I' II give some favorable pub/icily to their artistic sure I would pay to subscribe. One weakness is the practice of printing efforts. So this time, wilh deadline looming, I hi! upon a brillumJ idea. verbatimmost of thepress releases and lettersthat arrive in the offices of In.steadof tryir1 g to do the job by myself,I recruited someassistants, nmnely every Mendocino Comity publication (I know because I get them too). KMUD DJ ChrisAppelgren and hisfriend Abe, both 15 year-old sopho­ Editor Carol Root is usually right on the mark with her column. while moresatSouthForkHighSchoolin Miranda. I alsofiguredthaJsince these publisher HarryB lytheoften lapses intowishy-washy sentiments in his. guys were yowiger, they'd presumably be more open-minded and less Re�larcolumnist Raven Earlygrowusual ly has some good stuff lo say, cynicalabout the quality of the recordedpr oduct we wereex.amining. Boy, whileRadio*Free•Earth's Marc o McCleanteeters precipitously between was I wrong. They're more negaJive than I would have ever thought of the radical and the ridiculous. being. I think/'ll putthem onthestaffpermanenJly. Anyway, whatfollows is mnre or less a transcript/cm of our reactions to the various records. NEW SETILER INTERVIEW, every six weeks,$10/12 issues,$I.SO/ UnfortunatelyI lackedthe foresight lo bring a tapere corder to capturethe sample, Box 730, WIiiits CA 95490 pearls ofinsight that were tumbling from their lipsfaster than the mind I have a special place in my heart for the New Sell/er, partly could comprehend, let alone than the pen could write, so you're only because we started out in the publishing business about the same time, gelling a bare-bones approximation, which shouldsuffice. Ifthis doesn'I partlybecauseeditorBethBosk wasinterested enough to pr int aninterview cure labels of sending me records to review, nothing will. Oh, you can with me back in 1986, but mostly becauseit' s just a great magazine, and probably figure it out, buJ C = Chris, A = Abe, andL = me. a wiiqueone. Tru::NewSelller's greatest strengthis thedepth of itsinterviews; its J\tETAL MC, Born To Party,LP, Synthlclde/Enigma occasional weakness is their length. Not that I would change anything C: "sexist, macho, really lame" A: "generic sitcom music, like about it,r eally;even though chief interlocutorBethBosk sometimes delves everyone get on the floor and boogie with the Jeffersons" L: "if John further into various arcane points thanwould I find necessary, her styleis Travolta were making Saturday Night Fever today, this would be the a pleasantchang e fromthecocktail party c hit-chat type of interviews fowtd soundtrack" C: "sounds better al 45" A: "straight off the streets of in most publications. Andit's impossible to value tooh ighlyw hat Beth is Stockton" doing in terms of documenting thegenesis and growing painsof a whole new culture. Not only is she writing history (and in a format far more TOKEN ENTRY, Jaybird, LP, Hawker Records accessible than the traditionalone); she's helping to make it, too. C: "startsout like DuranDuran. oops, it's on thewrong speed. no, it still sounds like Duran Duran" L: "Duran Duran with generic mosh STAR ROUTE, monthly, $10/yr, $1/sample, Box 1451, Redway CA chords" A: "lhe drummer sounds like Verbal Abuse, just like the shirt 95560 they're wearing in the picture" C: "you mean Verbal Assault" A: Although inname Star Route hear kem back to anearlier magazine , Star Roo1, "whatever" C: "fairly mainstream New York thrash. not verymelodic. that used lO be one of my favorite Humboldt publications. the when you mosh hard, this is theone to get. not much variety; the spaces new, or, ifyou prefer, resurrectedversion haslit tlein commonwith its more between songs sound like long pauses" homemade predecessor. Under the direction of editor Mary Anderson, Star Roure has becomea fairly professional-lookingmagazine , one which SUICIDAL INFANTS, LP, Indigo Records covers both politics andcul ture, but withgrea teremphasis on thecul tural A: "two of them have pompadour mohawks" C: "no intellect al all" side of things. Its fascination with hippiedom, in both a historical anda L: "if punk's not dead, this record is a good reasonwhy it should be" A: present-day sense, is both a strength and weakness. While it's great that EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com -32- "I'd rather sleepin a garbagebin than listen tothis" got a cystin her throatand can't tallc andright goes aroundbeating up guys" Subvert C: "soundslike Stikky" A: "no, like Metallica" C: "it's ART PHAG, LP, Wanghead Records metallish" A: "no it's not" C: "dude, you gotta see the band members, L: "the cover is handmade" C: ''pretty original. reminds me of the they've all got like Jack Daniels shirts and long hair. but it's got good Minutemen" L: "a little too much art" A: "acid core" C: "so\Dlds lyrics" intelligenL kind of mid-tempo sludge core" A: "kind of a stupid name. Dissent A: "where's thebass?" L: "bassesare hard to get in South music to die to" C: ''Touchand Go/Big Black sound, you could get tired Dakota" C: "kinda soundsl ikeSocial Unrest" A: "doth ey have a bassist?" of it pretty easy" C: "kindof vague political lyrics. doesn't say anythingin particular. I like the guitar" A: "it's kind ofchoppy. but kindofneat. the singer still sounds EL VIS HITLER,Disgrace/and, LP, Wanghead Records like Dave MDC" L: "that was a different band" A: "listenable" C: "guitar-oriented" A: "thebassist hasa lot of Desecration C: "yawn. the artsy-fartsy intro is probably Henry motivation" C: "biker core. theirname saysitall" A:"doesn'titbringback Rollins• favoritepart of the record" L: "does it shred? does it kill balls?" memories of sitting out in the cornfieldin yourtruck w ith yourwoman? " A: "it's all right. guitar'skind of mixed up" C: "metallish, a whirlwind C: "kind of funnybut kindof tacky" A: "tacky bellbottom music" C: "it's frenzy of guitarhotes swarming around your head and screaming vocals got S-O-U-L withall capital letters" throwing heightenedawareness into yourears. and it's good, too" VAMPIRE LEZBOS, LP STEPHEN J. MORRIS, Loud Whispers and Silent Screams, LP, A: "haven't I heard thisng so before?" C: "they can changefrom V eraclous Records slow to fast" A: "basic" C: "lively" A: "good drummer. they're big on C: "is thata recorderI hear? I thinkthe cover might be a joke and animalrights. greenpeacerecords. so\Dldslike Christian Death" L: ''kind thismigh t begood " A: "thisis pretty good" C: "I like this" A: "it's like of remindsme of Follow Fashion Monkeys" A: "touchinganimal lyrics" this guy is one ofthe first Americans, like a pilgrim" C: "interestinglyrics. L: "generic punk lyrics" C: "predictable" this song is aboutan unemployed tistar and a hooker indowntown LA. but I don't like it" A: "where'd you get this? areyou sure theydi dn't sendit ARTLESS,Boy With ACunt, LP? EP? (It's only got one side), Starving tothe wrongperson?" C: "reminiscent of theDead Kennedyson Frank­ MissileRecords enchrist" A: "music to drop acidto . like theDoors, or Tiny Tim. C: "Jello A: "kindof neat. where'd theyget their guitarist?" L: "hilarious" Biafra" A: "kind of, but more squeaky. Ozark yodeland Hawaiian music" C: "I reallylike this" L: "music to be obnoxious by A: "square dancing L: "Jello Biafra singing for the Doors" A: "like the guy in the Talking slamcore. sounds like Country Bob and the Blood Farmers. the singer Heads" C: "now it's like Milton Berle" A: "no, it's like those singing soundslike El Duceif he joinedthe Pretenders" L: "the title songis like puppetson the NashviJJe Network" C: "Bob Dylan" A: "Ravi Shankar" a 70s prog-rock magnumopus. good record" C: "new age Indian music. theBeatles" A: "KMUDmusic, folk fromthe heartof thefu ckingredwoods" All: "we like it" DETOX, LP, Flipslde Records C: "soundslike clean punk,similar to DI" L: "nothing special" A: ARTLESS, Crassdriver,LP, Starving Missile Records "set it on fire" C: "forthe personwho can't choose between Devo andDI" A: "sounds like Weird Al Yankovic. I hope all the songs don't L: "lasts a long time" C: "slow-moving. drug-related lyrics. 'side two sound like this" C: "I don't like it as much asBoy With A Cunt. sounds like doesn't even sound better at 45" New York, though" A: "the singer looks like that guy on Riptide, you know,the computer nerd" C: "so"' far it soundsHke straightahead punk" A: COMPLICATED BONE MARROW TRANSPLANT, 7" "I like theirlyrics, like on 'God C: "soundslike theyregressed from Boy A: "sounds like the Minutemen" C: "no, the Adolescents" A: With A Cunt. thisis more like hardcore. I like thissong ('New York's All "bubblegum hardcore" C: "the lead vocals sound like Telly the muppet Right')" A:" it soundslike Sting" C: "the straightedgesong is cool. maybe monster on SesameStreet" it would be enough tobuy therecord for" CREAMERS, 7" STIKKY, Cuddle, 7", Off The Disk Records C: "balding drummer. they look pretty punk, theyhave a skull. A: "nice beginning" C: "sounds fine" A: "dandy" C: "a nice lj.ttle more bubblegum, kind ofpoppish" L: "good femalevocalist. they were package" A: "nice guitar solo. oops, wrongspeed. well, it soundedgood real good live" C: "kind of cheesy" A: "sounds like themovie Michael J. at 33" C: "doesn'tsound thatdifferent at 45" A: "is thisa joke?" C: "it's Fox made withJoan Jett" C: "they're only hardand raw cause they don't making me laugh. remindsme of KilJdozer" A: "I like this, it picks up" have the money to soundslicker" A: "they lookold, like Led Zeppelin C: "yeah,it does. oh, thisis 'Boy DoGirls EverSuck'. I like thelyrics" people" A: ''yeah, it's like what happenedto thisfriend of mine. did I ever tell you about Ursula?" C: "let's not talkabout that now" A: "sounds like Mr. CHEMICAL PEOPLE, 7", Two Inch Pecker Records Bungle, huh? like disco. I mean funk. niceand short, youknow h ow some C: "the Misfitscover sounds betterthan the Misfits" A: "kind of bandsdrag things out? these guys get it over with quick. they're like good mediocreguitar. aharder Duran Duran" L: "real annoyingguitar" C: "they at not being serious, too" C: "all in all, a nice little package. I like the LP like having their pictures taken next to porno movie posters. the singer better, though, forsome weird reason" sounds like Milo fromthe Descendents. definite guitarhero-ism" EYEBALL, 7" PAGAN BABIES, Next,LP, Hawker Records C: (readingfrom lyrics )'"the world is shit andI'm a fly.' llike this" L: "my partnerDavid thinksthis is great - at leastI thinkthat's the A: "isn't there a glammetal band called Eyeball?" L: "theseguys areglam word he used - but nothing aboutit really grabs me" A: "singer soundslike metal" C: "yeah, look at thecover, dude" L: "wait, now Dave MDC'sback Dave MDC. they look like preppies experimentingwith hardcore. this is again" A: "yeah,singing "No More Cops" C: "I don't know,a good effort, original, isn't it? thewhole albumis making up forlost time,it's all filler, guys, but not outstanding" sounds like theOff enders meetMinor Threat" C: "Dag Nasty,totally" A: "mild skate vocals" C:"nothing out of theordinary. I don't have any bad SURROGATE BRAINS/IAM THE HAMSTER, split 7" feelingsabout it. I might buy it" A: "they'replaying on key" C: "sounds SurrogateBrains A: "I like this,kinda nice production" C: "he's more like DC thanNew York" biased from being fromS tockton" A: "I like the singer" C: "nice echo effectthere" A: "drummer'sgood. sounds kindof like theExploited" C: VARIO US ARTISTS, MetalGives Us A Headache, 1"$2.75 (proceeds "you're wrong. Doggy Style" benefit Concerned Arizonans for Animal Rights and Ethics) from I Am The Hamster C: "thisis nice,this is so weird. reminds me Hippycore fanzine, PO Box 195, Mesa AZ 85211 of those chantsthey do inthe armyw hen they'rerunning around. now it (cut by cut analysis) sounds Ji.Icegrandma's singing. really good" A: "no bass?" C: "nobas s" Dead Silence C: ''metal-tingedpunk, dark lyrics, kind ofgloomy" A: "singer so\Dldskind of warped. likehe just hitpuber ty. he's probably middle-aged" C: "I liked them,they 're totally original" A: "kind of melodic,but it's okay. thesinger "' sounds like Udo Dirkschnei­ der of Accept on 'LondonLeather Boys C: "I liked it. thesinger sounds like D. Boon. he might be kind of fat, cause he's got that thicknessbehind NEUROSIS, Pain Of Mind, LP, Alchemy Records him" C: "wait,I thinkthis record's screwedup" L: "no, it's supposedto Cringer A: "listenable" C: "pretty straight ahead hardcore. sound like that" C: "thick,fast, hard. definitemoshability. good cover art" sounds like the singer's trying to be English. pretty nice" A: "I like this, what song is it, 'SelfTaught Infection'?" C: "soundskind Stlkky A: "cool" C: "I love it. this is rad. brings back lovely oflike anAmerican Exploited" A: "so\Dldskind oflike 'Nazi Go Home'" memories of the 70s" A: "the singer sounds like that girl at school that's C: "yeah, it is sort of German. sorI t of like it. threestars" A: "threeand a hair' EBP-DA | www.eastbaypunkda.com