Sunday, June 14, 2009
32nd Haight-Ashbury Street Fair: (11am-5:30pm)
http://www.haightashburystreetfair.org/drupal_hasf/

Well, I do not usually miss our performances/events.  But Kittee, our Siamese cat, got sick fast the night before the Haight-Ashbury Street Fair.  So Linda, Mikee, and I stayed home to take care of him…  Letting Jen, Alexi and Corey man the LUVER Booth.  So I spent the day writing my novel!

DA BOYZ:

After we had the beautiful booth set up, Jen and Alexi headed out to search out coffee and treats, and Corey stayed to watch the booth and finish putting the streamers up around the front legs …  They came back with mochas and a scone for Jen.  We split a Phoenix choc. chip cookie Jen had brought home.  The mochas were great!  We would remember this place for next time.  Alexi also got us some “real” food … we split a breakfast burrito and a spinach feta pie …

Then people started strolling through the fair, light traffic at first, but soon very much packed … beyond anything we have seen up to now!  At the peak of the attendance, it was a wall of people moving past the booth, and people had a hard time stopping even if they wanted to.  But nonetheless we were getting fliers to lots of people!  We kept evolving our little rap throughout the day … people really liked hearing “anti-corporate” “anti-capitalist” “no limits” “no censorship”!

But early on, you called and we found out that it did not look good for you guys to come because Kittee was not doing well … Alexi relayed that he was exhibiting signs like Cyb before she died … was having trouble walking … it made us cry.  Poor Kittee …  We were bummed too that you guys would not be there, which you confirmed later.  We kicked it into high gear!  But of course, throughout the day, we couldn’t help thinking of how much fun Frank would have had with all the people coming by … he would have had a field day, really worked the crowds, not to mention all the babes!!

It was really fun to outfit our red, white & blue cowboy hats with the LUVeR fliers!  We were cute!  The booth looked amazing …   And like at every event, you felt like people really responded to the vibe of LUVeR … coming through everything … the backdrops, the text of the laminated sign, which a lot of people would just stop and read … what we were saying … everything …   A lot of people said the booth “felt good”, that it was good vibes … that it was the most beautiful booth, best hats, etc.!  Throughout the day, a lot of musicians came by, and were totally thrilled to have an outlet for their music, and also at the possibility of being on Frank’s show!  The CDs again were a major hit.  We just wished we had more!!  But even when it was down to Happy Turtle, Bell the Cat and Skip Skiffington, it was still fun describing the selection to each new person who stopped by … people got a real kick out of hearing about Rod Weston’s mythology of Skip Skiffington, born out of a basement in Missouri … and a collector’s item to boot!  The loquats were a big hit too, and it meant a lot to people to hear that it came from our own tree in Berkeley …  the whole day was like this … really personal, even though in a sea of people rushing by …  Also, a lot of people took the performance fliers and were turned on by them … there were a good number of people who actually lived in Oakland, knew about the space, and were interested in coming …   Then there were people like NSide, a jazz poet, and Kara from Sarathan Records, the label for Two Loons for Tea, who already knew about LUVeR, and were jazzed to see us there at the festival.  NSide said that Frank had even invited him to attend a Temescal performance, and he might “see us there!”

It was always neat too how many different kinds of people came by the booth, all ages, all walks of life … all different interests … and it felt like there was something at the booth for everyone!  And people were really generous with donations!

Time slipped away!  And it was demanding!  We ran out of all of the fliers!  We needed more coffee!  Alexi made a coffee run in the later part of the day, and we were renewed!  At some point, we also had lunch … sausage sandwiches and a spinach potato knish, which were all pretty good … Fair food ….  Jen had a chicken shawerma …

Then the fair people were coming by and telling us we needed to start packing up!  The fair was over at 5:30pm on the dot!  But people were still coming by, lots of people, and wanting to find out about LUVeR, etc.   We were talking to people and giving away the very last of fliers even as we were packing things up …  Another whole level of the day was the people coming by on the sidewalk behind the booth, which we had not interaction with … but we could hear them from time to time, reacting to the “B” side of Mikee’s backdrop, the farting woman with the eye in her pussy!  At the end of the day, there was another group out back, two girls and a guy giggling, and looking at the free stuff … they really weren’t sure what was going on with that woman!!??  They were curious to see the other side.  Corey gave them all fliers for the performance, saying that the backdrops were always hung at the performances … when they peeked around, they liked the other side too … the guy just stood there with his mouth open, saying, “Whoa …  whoa ….”

So we packed everything up … had to unearth the stinky cesspools, which seemed to have grown during the day!  We were getting good at packing everything up really quickly and well organized!  Soon we had it all piled on the sidewalk, and Corey ran up to get the truck, and we were loading it up, wiping down with handiwipes, and heading out!

We talked about the fair on the ride back … it felt like it was still happening … it was a surreal after glow … still riding along on the experience as we drove home.  Back here, we unloaded the truck, gave Cookie lots of love!  Then before long we were coming down to the PH to hear the latest chapters of Frank/Aurora’s book.  Amazing … all these things woven together nonlinearly … Frank’s biography, descriptions of intimacy and philosophy, bits and pieces from our everyday life, and goofy jumps into unexpected places … describing something that you couldn’t wrap your mind around, that more sort of enveloped you … and then for a while it would get very concrete, and very deep, and all of those things that were jumping around would resonate  … it was like a performance, or like Mikee’s art … interconnecting, hitting you on deep levels …. putting you into a trance … funny!

Then we told you guys some about the day, and heard about how it had gone with Kittee from the night before …  We had missed you, but you had no choice .

JEN:

The boyz plan on how to put up the banners better worked really well.  We used heavy duty clamps and zip ties.  They went up fast without any problems.  Then we got the LUVeR banner up.  Next came the decorations and the front table set up.  Everything looked so good when we got it out.  Did some fun stuff like put the Chapped Lap’s in a hanging basket.  Had the great pic of Frank Spins Hot Wax too.  The large big banner for the back went up last.  The boyz had prepared it by rolling it up the night before.  We were so glad that we had gotten there early because it was tough for the latecomers as space on the street was now limited and trucks were squeezing by.  Once we got the booth set up, Alexi and I went to go get mochas and something to eat.  There was a small cafe on Cole St. that served pastries.  I had a scone and the boyz shared a whole wheat organic breakfast burrito and a spinach turnover.    We got back to the booth and started handing out flyers to the people that were already walking up the street.  The fair officially started and the crowd increased quickly.

So many people!  We were handing out a lot of flyers and people were taking the cds, buttons, stickers.  It was a lot of fun!  A spoken work poet stopped by and said that he sent us his stuff.  Corey knew it!  He was glad to see us.  There was a also a girl that worked for a recording label who knew us because one of their bands, Two Loons For Tea, was on The Shaman’s Den.  And at another point a guy came by who said he knew about Frank.  He said he’s always wanted to know what goes on in Frank’s mind because Frank is brilliant.  Other people got the Fiesto cards to send their music in.  There were film makers and djs, all of whom we told about starting a show on LUVeR.  People loved the booth, the great murals, the colours.  We gave out Mikee’s cards telling the ones that wanted to buy the murals that Mikee does commissions.  We handed out performance flyers to locals, and a few lived in Oakland and knew where the Temescal Arts Center was.  We told them it was in danger of closing due to the noise complaints and they all rolled their eyes saying that was lame.  There were people who stopped by from Florida, New York, and a few from Southern Ontario.  All could listen to LUVeR when they went back home!

Alexi went out to scope for food.  Corey reminded me that we had snacks so I started to scarf down the trail mix until we got something a little more substantial – but it was just fare food.   We cried when we heard about Kittee’s health and that Frank, Linda and Mikee couldn’t leave.  Frank would have worked this immense crowd.  He would have had a field day!  It was turning into a wall of people!!  At one point the people almost became a solid mass herding by.  Few stopped because they were just being carried with the crowd.  We handed out so many flyers because all most could do was stick out their hand to take it.  Some people did stop though.  We handed out a lot of The Magical Act of Doing to people who were hungry for more.  Many people who stopped got what we were doing.  They said keep going!  One couple stopped and said that there was a great vibe to the booth.  Another girl stopped by who said we had the best booth, the best costumes (we had the cowboy hats and luver tees on), and the best snacks!  The loquats were going just as fast as the chocolate.  Pretty soon we were out of buttons and stickers.  We were down to just Happy Turtle and Skip Skiffington cds.  We were folding up the large LUVeR flyers because the small ones were all gone, and people seemed reluctant to take the bigger ones.  We had put the donation basket beside the free cds and there were a lot more bills being dropped in there!  There were a lot of musicians that started showing up as well and then signed the contact sheets and said they would love to be on the Shaman’s Den.

What a day!!  We couldn’t believe how many people there were.  At one point I took a short walk around.  There was nothing particularly eye catching.  Lots of food vendors and some of the same stuff you see at all the fairs like t-shirts, fake tattoos, leather purses etc.  Down from us was a bootleg cd stall and they were playing music all day that we could hear.  On the other side of us was a car repair stall that advertised showing you how to fix your own car.  It was one of the more interesting things there.  The guys who set it up were a little gruff at first telling us that we were slightly over the line and they would need all the space available, but everything worked out in the end and one of them warmed up to us right away, while the other guy came around at the last minute and apologized for earlier.  We had a great time!  People were coming up to the booth at the last minute and we even had to take some of the flyers off of the bows that were decorating the booth because we had run out of them.  Our load was lighter as we packed up.

It seemed to end pretty abruptly.  The organizers went around telling everyone that it was over and to start leaving.  The thick crowd dispersed and then it was trickles of people.  The locals started to gather together.  Once we got everything packed up and onto the sidewalk again, we had to tackle the mess over the sewer.  We put the plastic tarps into a couple of bags and then Alexi gathered up all the soaked paper.  We thought at the beginning of the day that we would need incense to get rid of the smell, but it didn’t bother us all day because the fair smells took over – popcorn, grilling chicken etc.  But once it was over, the old Haight smell was coming back.  Corey got the truck and we loaded up keeping a close eye on everything.  It was a quick drive back to the city talking about all the amazing things that happened today.  We were blown away.

We got unloaded here and then came down to hear Frank’s writing for the day.  It was the nonlinear novel, several chapters.  It wove in and out of our consciousness.  Feels like a dream to hear/read it.  Bits of Frank’s life, of his writings, emails, experiences, all dancing together, bobbing up from the whole and then melting back in again.  Some parts just make you laugh!  Some parts become linear for a second and then are off again, into the tangle of images and expressions.  Listening is letting go into it, surrendering to it, because you can’t hang onto any one thing or you will miss the next.  We loved it.  Then we told you about our day.  Was unthinkable that you weren’t there, but you had to stay home because who knows what Kittee is going through.  He may have been much worse had you left him.  We were all starving so we came back to the bh and everyone got dinner ready.

More photos here

Sunday, June 7 12p-6p
Temescal Street Fair
Telegraph Avenue between 45th and 51st
North Oakland

For a lot of years I did street performances where I sat on street corners.  It looked like I was panhandling.  Panhandling was an aspect of those performances.  But at the core, I was making myself available to any possibilities that the human waves would wash my way.  Actually I have been doing this all my life…  Sitting, waiting, ready to jam with anyone who came by, stopped, and got sucked in.  Having a booth at these summer festivals has taken this to a whole new level!  Six hours of human waves connecting, inspiring, opening up possibilities.  It was non stop!  I won’t try to go into detail [see below].   But it was pure core!

DA BOYZ:

We were all ready shortly before noon, but people were already checking out the scene by around 11 or so …  Our first visitors were these three kids, probably around 10-12 … they were starting to load up on CDs, and we had to lay down the law!  One per!  They were really cute.  They had a hard time deciding on which CDs they wanted to take.  But the youngest, a girl, really liked the title of the one she got: “The Happy Turtle”.

Then there was a scattering of visitors to the booth … Sam Sheats from Savante Garde came by … other musicians and artists … Stefan came by …  we were soon starving for lunch!  Jen went to get the fried chicken sandwiches from Bakesale Betty’s, which Stefan had raved about, and we had heard all sorts of rave reviews of …  They were just “ok”.  We were talking about how we would make them!

Then finally you guys arrived, and Frank got right up in front behind the table, ready for action!  The rest of the day was a steady flow of people to the colorful, fun booth that was like a magnet for people … it was really neat the wide variety of people that were there at the Fair …  It was amazing also how many musicians, artists, bands showed up at the booth, and Frank’s Shaman’s Den schedule filled up!  It is always fun to be with Frank, Linda & Mikee interacting with folks … Frank always has the line!  It was neat too how Frank was communicating to people that the Temescal Arts Center was threatened … a lot of people knew about the Center.  It has been a fixture there for years, and it seemed like most people get the dynamics at play  … a yuppie condo opening up across the street from an artists space …   It was also amazing to hear how inspiring, in a lot of different ways, that LUVeR and Frank are to people.  How people “get it”!  The young guy who came by and said that he tells his fellow artists/friends about Frank as an example of how they should not be discouraged from doing whatever they want to do …  the young black woman, an artist inspired by Frank’s paintings …  There were so many moments like this that just piled one on top of the other … overlapping!  You could feel that the booth really filled a need.  It wasn’t trying to sell anyone anything … Frank was just there to connect with people … and you could walk away with a CD and other free stuff, and a sense of possibilities!  Really really amazing …  And it was really fun how much kids loved the booth too …

At the point when Linda turned to us and asked if we wanted to take a walk around and check out the other booths in the fair was right when we were starting to talk about needing some medicinal assistance to aid us in making it through the rest of the day.  The nights of short sleep, and the firewood delivery were taking their toll!!  Alexi mentioned the Scharfenberger dark chocolate mocha “freddo” “extra bold” that they had at Peet’s, which seemed like it was just what the doctor ordered …   We made that our first stop, and then toured the fair.  It was really fun to people watch, and there were a few neat booths … but we wanted to get back to where the action was!  We had heard a guy who stopped by from a local band mention that they had played at a space called Smokey’s Tangle, which actually had a booth right down from ours, and so we stopped in and talked to them, found out that they are an art gallery, but also do music events …  Later, the guy from the Tangle came by the LUVeR booth, and had a good time discussing with Tomek how to handle the people in the condo who were making noise complaints about the Temescal Arts Center.  Tomek suggested that they could be sedated daily!

One young guy stopped by and said that the booth was what he had been looking for all day at the Fair, and he finally found it!  It felt like a lot of folks had that experience …  Altering reality!

It was hard to break it down, as always, at the end of the fair.  We didn’t really start until a quarter after 6, after the fair had officially ended, and only then really because there was a flood threatening all the stuff from the gutter!  People were still coming by, and picking up fliers and talking to Frank …  And all day, people were sifting through the free boxes at the back side of the booth, where they also got to see the backside of Mikee’s backdrop, where the farting naked lady was on full display.  We heard comments throughout the day from back there!

JEN:

We got the tables set up and all the swag laid out.  Decorations and t-shirts went up and the booth looked great!  So fun and colourful.  Corey set up the camera and we were all set.  People had already been coming up and getting cds.  We handed out a lot of luver flyers, and also told people about the weekly performance series, handing out those flyers as well.  Stephan came by a couple of times.  He raved about the fried chicken sandwiches at Bakesale Betty’s.  Also talked about how he got poison oak recently.  He was having a good time.  So were we!  The people watching was so much fun!  Telling people about the cds and everything.

When we got hungry I went to Bakesale Betty’s to get us 3 of the chicken sandwiches.  The line up was huge but moving quickly.  They were really pumping out the sandwiches.  When we ate them at the booth, they were ok but nothing spectacular.  I walked back and saw some neat things, but nothing that really made me want to stop and take a closer look except for some colourful handmade hoodies.  I saw our booth among all the others and it really stood out.  The festival was packed and we were handing out a lot of flyers.  Many of the cds were gone already.  We had plenty of Bell the Cat, Happy Turtle and Sons of Skip left though.  You guys arrived and Frank sat right up front.

The next few hours were really amazing with all the people that came up and saw what we were doing.  Was cool to see what caught their eye on the tables.  A lot of people were attracted to the sign.  They would walk by slowly checking it out or stop and take a closer look, and then when Linda waved a flyer at them they came over!  They really wanted to.  When we told them Frank started the station 10 years ago they would smile at him and thank him.  It was really great!  Non stop.  There were a lot of musicians who were possible Shaman’s Den guests.  One guy said that he was waiting for us, that this was what he wanted at the festival when up until now all he saw were clothes for sale.  People loved getting the free stuff.  One girl from Ohio said that she would spread the word because people there were hungry for this kind of thing.  LUVeR is so great because anyone can tune in from anywhere, so even though we’re local, people who are not local can still experience it when they get home!  It is such a great channel.  I love being a part of this, and this comes out of us being together.  It is really incredible.  And people get that.  They feel that and they love it too.  So many people thanked Frank for doing what he’s doing.  And he does a lot!  There’s luver, but then there’s also the performances, the poetry, the writing, the painting, the Shaman’s Den, the jams…  Blows people’s minds!  We had a great time!!

Tomek had come by several times.  Was great when he was there talking to another musician who we gave a performance flyer to.  At the end of the day he talked to Frank and Linda about another performance that Frank could be a part of.  Many people knew about the harassment Temescal Arts Center was getting with noise complaints from the condo, and a couple of those people said that they would bring it up to certain people or at certain meetings.  Someone also said they heard about what was going on at BTV.  We got a couple of cds from musicians already, and many others said that they would send their stuff in.  Some djs were told about doing a show for Luver so it would be great if they followed up on that.  Around 6 the crowds started to dwindle.  It was time to pack up.  Just in time too, as the drain in the sidewalk behind us started to drain water into our booth.  We got everything down and put away.

In Freedom,
Frank Moore

5/31/2009

Ah!  I loved jamming in the early morning in a hip club in Paris live and having people around the world see and hear us…  And we did not even have to leave our house in Berkeley Ca.!  We were asked to be a part of a worldwide online live streaming musical Marathon, THE NON STOP MUSIC PLANET.  This Marathon was a 24 hour journey around the world, streaming musical performances back to Paris.  It turns out we were one of just four acts from the United States.  The other performances were in Europe, South America, etc. So our piece was an hour jam, The Global Erotic Warming.  In Paris, they were fast cutting back and forth among various acts…  Until we came on.  Then they stayed with us for 45 minutes!  They even got a better player for projecting us on the big screens.  We also streamed the jam on LUVER.  Funny, in the room here, it was intimate and cozy.  Most of us have played together for years.   And the new player, Ava, melted right in and played within the trance.   But it was then injected into what I imagine was a very hip scene.   Funny where we pop up!

DA BOYZ;
We were checking out the Non Stop Music Planet website, which was really neat, watching them flip between different musical acts in progress in different areas of the world … Mumbai, India, to Italy, to Poland …
Soon the jam was starting … NSMP was trying to tune us in … really neat to watch the whole process unfolding.  The jam was really neat, and seemed to just get more and more trance/dreamlike … we imagined that it was just the perfect thing to listen to/watch in Paris at 5 in the morning after almost 20 hours of nonstop music …  Beautiful camshots of everyone!
Meanwhile we ate, and the sauce cooked away …  NSMP kept the jam tuned in for 45 minutes straight … and the jam went on … it felt like it didn’t want to stop after Linda named the band members!
Alexi continued on the sauce, and Corey sent camshots, handed back the stream … soon we were coming down to break down the set … a fun conversation going on in the mac room … histories and long friendships and Ava Bird’s first jam!  What a fun night!

JEN:
I got dressed real quick and came down.  Lob and Yvette were there, along with Tomek.  Soon Ava showed up too, the poet from the People’s Park Anniversary.  I got the toy instruments out and showed them to her, and then we were off on our musical journey.

Frank was working the piano and chimes, Tomek was playing rhythms on the electronic keyboard, and also the roto-toms, accordion and clarinet.  Lob was on bass, and Ava and I had the toy instruments and did vocals with Frank as well.  It was amazing!!  It felt like we were all loose and exploring, and then something would take hold and we would be in the groove together, so much at times we were really trancing out.  The rhythms and the intricate sounds all flowing in and out of each other.  It was a lot of fun and sounded really great.  Mikee mixed and Linda was exploring everything with the video camera.  Yvette took pictures and watched and listened.  We all had such a great time playing!

The music surged through all different stages, slow and floating to grinding and pumping, creating landscapes in that cozy space.  When we got to the end there was a final ta-da!  Really neat that this was being put on the internet live to a gallery in Paris!  Tomek and Ava asked to see the video, so Mikee set it up in the Mac room.  Really fun to watch and hear because it is so different than experiencing it from within.  We heard that the gallery in Paris showed it for 45 minutes straight once they got a good feed.  Really cool!  We could now also hear Mikee’s awesome mixing, playing with the layers of sound and effects.  Everyone wanted a copy.

Then Lob and Frank talked about how they met during the earliest years of the internet.  Even before that on Bulleting Board Systems!  Really amazing to hear how far the web has come in such a short time.  Also fun to hear how Lob met Frank doing the same things, emailing everyone they knew about every event that was happening.  Then Lob and Yvette left to drive back to Sacramento.  We talked with Tomek and Ava about the last Temescal performance and how the performances affect people.  How they take people out of their boxes and show them what’s possible, and how this makes some people really uncomfortable.  But some people, like Kene-J and Tomek, like this uncertainty, the unexpected.  It is where they feel most comfortable.  Ava has just moved up here and said that she was in a band like this back in L.A., so she was really glad to have met us and be a part of this too.  Frank invited her to the next Temescal performance, and also just to come and talk with him.

LUVeR crew at the People's Park 40th Anniversary

SEE MORE PHOTOS HERE

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

On Sunday we started Luver’s summer of festivals by having a “cave “[table] at the  40th Anniversary of People’s Park.  Basically it was nonstop amazing six hours of relating with people!  It really was an overwhelming tide of feedback of How what we are doing has a profound effect on so many people.  Really it’s now a blur…  Not really…  But so dense and intense!  Reading the poem on the main stage for the large crowd, backed by Shelley Doty and her band, felt like a breather from the human stream!  Thank God I have Da Boyz and Jen to write more detailed reports of what went on.  So read on!

DA BOYZ:
Soon we were off, stopping at the PH to pick up the boombox and the last two totes, and off we went!  We were pulling up to People’s Park not too long after 8am.  It was just us and the People’s Park regulars, watching us set up.  We started unloading, and Jen went down to Peet’s to get our coffees … mochas all around!  The first thing that happened, almost as soon as we started setting stuff down at the spot, was a big smear of dogshit on our plastic that we had put down to protect the stuff from the wet grass!  We discovered landmines of dogshit everywhere!  We moved operations over a ways, and covered the poop anytime we found a pocket with plastic and rocks!

Then we got started setting up the booth.  Always fun.  This was the first time with the backdrops, so it was a learning curve to figure out the best way to do it.  Now we know for next time exactly how we’ll do it.  But in any case, it just looked beautiful with Mikee’s colorful erotic flowing backdrop and panels … created a really neat feeling in the booth … we called it a cave!  Especially when it got so cold!

And then it was noon, and people were already coming to the booth to check it out …  There was the guy who knew Frank and Linda from the Mabuhay days, and who noticed when the fliers went up for performances, and how quickly they got torn down, especially on Shattuck Ave.  A guy wearing a 911-truth t-shirt came by and ended up giving LUVeR 2 of his CDs!  He, like a lot of other people throughout the day, really seemed to appreciate what LUVeR did in being such an open channel …  People were really enjoying the booth, and really enjoying looking through and selecting the sample CDs that were out for free from bands that play on LUVeR.  Every one of the CDs amazing!   It was really fun to watch people selecting just the right thing for what they liked … and often asking us to tell them more about the CDs …

In comparison to what it was like the rest of the day, it was kind of mellow the first couple hours, but when Frank, Linda and Mikee arrived, it really got going!  How can we remember everything that happened!  Frank could barely get a sip of water in between talking with the waves and waves of people who came by the booth … amazing interactions, and possibilities opening up …   It was amazing how many people watch Frank’s shows on BTV, and we talked later about how incredible it was to hear, when Frank asked them what they thought, how they really saw what Frank is doing, how he is opening up possibilities, pushing the boundaries, altering reality … using these very phrases!  And a lot of folks remembered the presidential campaign too, which had made a stop at the park the year before.  They loved that Frank had run, one guy said he wanted Frank to run again, and said that he would vote for him!  Later, the black woman who had read Frank’s platform the year before, cover to cover, totally engrossed, not saying a word at the end, but just giving Frank an intense look of approval and appreciation, … came up to the table, and it was the first time we actually heard her voice, big and loud telling Frank how much she loved what he did, and checking in again now with LUVeR!

Before too long, it was coming up upon Frank’s turn at the mic onstage …  Jen and Alexi manned the booth while Corey went down to video Frank.  Frank got Shelley and her band to back him up while he read “That Goddamn Weed of Life”, just the most perfect poem to capture what People’s Park was all about, and it felt like everyone really got it deeply.  There were murmurs and shouts of recognition throughout the poem.  Shelley tore it up on guitar backing Frank!  We found out later that she had asked Frank if he wanted her accompaniment to be “clean” or “dirty”?  “Dirty”, of course!  She knew the answer already!

Wavy Gravy intro’d Frank, was doing most of the MC-ing throughout the day.  After the poem ended, Corey heard a guy telling his friends in the crown about seeing a performance, with strobe lights, Frank, nude bodies, etc., on BTV … pointing out that it was the same guy!

Frank was stopped several times just getting back to the booth by people who loved his poem, shaking his hand … a poet told him that it was amazing, but no one really applauded.  Frank said that was ok, he didn’t like applause!  There were tons of Shaman’s Den interview possibilities that came out of the day, out of Frank just talking with all the folks who came up to the booth.  It was so much fun …

When Frank, Linda, Mikee and Jen went down to Peet’s to go to the bathroom and get a coffee, who should walk up but Wavy Gravy, going on and on about the beauty of Mikee’s backdrops, wondering who did those???  We told him …  He also needed his fish on the end of a harness repaired.  He turned to Alexi!  He had his intuition, obviously!  Alexi fixed up the fish harness with some gorilla tape, and then who else should walk up but Country Joe MacDonald, and he and Wavy bantered about a movie that Wavy was recommending …  it was hilarious!!  And Corey got it all on video!  Wavy left what we called his turd instrument, because it seemed to have a turd in place of a bridge for its one string.  He later pointed out that it was a real meteorite … he said, “A turd from outer space.”

When he came to get it, Frank hit him up, yet again, to be a guest on the Shaman’s Den.  He said that Mrs. Gravy did not approve … she said she didn’t think it was a good idea for someone running a children’s camp, to be on a show where Frank’s weenie was hanging out!  Frank and Linda explained to him that on the Shaman’s Den interview show it  would be Frank and Wavy just talking.  Hearing that, he was open to the idea, and said that they should talk about it.  It was just the weenie hanging out, or “tits to the wind” that made it a problem!  Wow!!

There were so many amazing interactions … near the end of the day, an artist from Vancouver stopped by the booth, and she and Frank ended up talking deeply about art and the function of art and the artist … she brought over her black & white, psychedelic, liquid dreamlike comics, a lot like Mikee’s art in the way that you could see so much in each page, get lost in her drawings …  Linda said later that you could see from what the comics were talking about, that she was on the same page with Frank …  at one point she cried and looked deeply into Frank’s eyes.  It was after Linda had given her the flier for the Temescal performance, and also after she had started reading the Magical Act of Doing …   She did a trade with Frank for his Chapped Lap book of poems …  she gave a copy of her comic, signed …  We also got a few of her painting postcards, which are beautiful …  She couldn’t set up a Shaman’s den with Frank because she was traveling, so Frank did the interview right there.

We were blown away by the day …  Another couple bought Chapped Lap after seeing Frank’s poem about Connie.  They have a daughter named Connie … something struck the guy about the line, “a black sheep, raising black sheep” …

Kay came by, a veteran of jams and performances, and checked in again with Frank …

There was so much, and it was only slowing down a little at the point when the event was officially over, and we were ready to start breaking things down, and Frank, Linda and Mikee were on their way home …

While we broke down, people kept coming up to the booth, wanting to know about LUVeR.  We were handing out fliers right and left!

JEN:

Found a good place to open the canopy and then we went to work putting it up.  Once that was done we put the back drop up.  This was new and we had to figure out how to do it.  We didn’t want it to hit ground.  Clips and ropes were rigged up and we eventually got it.

We put up the other panels back to back on the sides.  Talked about how we could make it better next time using sturdier clips and some weights so that the bottom stays down.  They looked great though.  Really vibrant, creating a cozy space that really caught your attention.  We started decorating.  Table cloths, peace flags and bows were put up.  We got all the flyers, buttons and cds out.  Alexi put up the t-shirts.  Went to the bathroom at one point and when I saw the booth on my way back it looked amazing.  Then I went to Bongo Burger and got us all breakfast.  Tasty stuff.  The boyz had omelets with sausage and I had scrambled eggs with bacon.

We sat and Corey was shooting video.  People came up to the booth here and there.  We told them about LUVeR, gave them flyers etc.  A guy came up who said he knew Frank from the Mabuhay days, and he was glad to see us there.  A girl came up and wanted to take one of the cds but didn’t know what the music was like so the boyz described it to her and she picked one that sounded good.  It was fun.  We got the call from you that you were on your way.  After a while I could feel that you were near and when I looked around I saw you coming down the sidewalk.

You got cozy in the booth and people started coming up more frequently.  Frank worked his magic and asked some of them what they did.  It was amazing the people that came up to the booth and said they saw Frank’s tv show and what they thought of it.  Really incredible how they could see what Frank does.  One guy said that it was disturbing in a good way, in the way that made people go outside of the norm and think about things that weren’t in the box of what is considered normal.  They all loved the show.  I can’t remember what everyone said, but it was really great to see how many people responded to what Frank is doing.  How they could all see the value of Luver, and just everything as being something different than what is out there in the mainstream channels.  Doing it for love rather than for money.  So many people came up and could see that, responded to that, wanted that.  Frank is amazing.  What he does is amazing.  I have always felt that.  It’s what sucked me in to you.

Frank went on stage to read his poem about the goddamn weed of life.  It silenced the crowd.  You could feel how much it touched the spirit of that park and the people that were there today.  When you guys came back and talked about how people came up to Frank and told him how much they liked it you could feel how much more important that was than applause.  When you got back to the booth it was again a constant flow of people coming up and Frank pulling them in, asking them what they did, getting possible guests for the Shaman’s Den, connecting.  It was a great fun day.

On LUVER.COM Saturday May 30th at eight P.M. Pacific time

FRANK MOORE’S CHEROTIC ALL-STAR BAND will perform GLOBAL EROTIC WARMING, an hour long jam live on luver.com …  Psychedelic intimate journey into a shamanistic dreamscape.

It is a part of a 24 hour online global Marathon.

http://www.nonstopmusicplanet.com/?lang=en

It will be fun!  And if everything works, we’ll be on a big screen in Paris live!…  “All your performances will be casted in a public venue on 3 screens (mixed by several directors at Point Ephemere in Paris- on the web: http://www.pointephemere.org/- where a sound system also a final output will be displayed and available on the web (it can be used as a source for anyone who wants) every hour there are people streaming from another time zone.” But here we shall just be playing together!