06.26.08
Posted in Friends and Family, Me at 12:13 am by Spencer
From the Indianapolis Star, June 22, 2008:
Lt. John M. Rader, 64, passed away Sunday, June 16, 2008 while being cared for by friends and family. He devoted his many talents to serving in the Marion County Sheriff’s Department and volunteering as an interpreter and educator at Conner Prairie Living History Museum. Lt. Rader joined the Sheriff’s Department in 1971 as a Reserve Deputy, and in 1976 became a Merit Officer. In 1992 he was honored as Crime Stopper of the Year. In 2005, he was promoted to Sergeant in the Investigation Division and later to Lieutenant when he was appointed Commander of the Internal Affairs Section where he served until his death. An accomplished historian, storyteller, actor, tailor, craftsman, and writer, John enjoyed a variety of roles at Conner Prairie. He portrayed Sgt. Ross of the White River Guard Militia Unit and was known for the fine meals he cooked over an open fire for the militia. John helped visitors understand the hardships of slavery and the Underground Railroad with his portrayal of the Owner in the Follow the North Star program [view images] and helped develop scripts, characters, and props for the Mystery on the Prairie event. On numerous occasions he embodied the characters George Whitaker and Doctor Campbell among others and put his rich sense of humor to use as Harrison Hamlin Whitley, the side show operator at the County Fair. John taught many young people at Conner Prairie skills such as leatherwork, cooking, sewing, gunsmithery, and interpreting. With his late wife, Carolyn Lee Rader, John also peddled his handmade wooden measuring spoons and lanterns at area rendezvous and pursued their interest in early American history. Visitation will be Sunday, June 22, 2008 from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Shirley Brothers Washington Memorial Chapel, 9606 E. Washington Street. Funeral services will be Monday, June 23, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. He is survived by his mother, Grace Dale; sister, Nancy (Nan) Brooks; nephews, Spencer and Matthew Sundell, and a wide circle of neighbors, friends and co-workers. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, contributions are sent to Salvation Army Flood Relief ( www.salvationarmyusa.org) or Conner Prairie Living History Museum ( www.connerprairie.org).
Related Link
“Back to the Frontier,” Smithsonian Magazine, May 2008 — a feature story about the Conner Prairie living history museum.
Reflections
To be honest, it’s quite late as I write and I don’t have the focus or energy to write about this properly right now (not with a pending morning alarm clock anyway), and I’m sure I’ll expand on this later. But my uncle John and his impending death has been pretty much my sole focus for the last month. John was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis about a year ago. It killed him slowly, until he was reliant on bottled oxygen at all times and was reduced to a frail shadow of the big, burly, robust man I’d always known. Through it all, he worked at the Sheriff’s Dept. in Indianapolis.
Just before the Melies show I did at the NW Film Forum on May 15, I got word that John’s wife, my aunt Carolyn, had died while he was in the hospital for a short stay to treat what amounted to a case of pneumonia. I flew out for the funeral and stayed 10 days to help care for him, which was at once a “clinical” experience — I was just doing what practical things had to be done — and also probably one of the most illuminating experiences of my life. It was agonizing to have to come back, even though one of the things that death teaches us is that it is important to live our lives.
Less than a month later, on Father’s Day, he died. His long suffering aside, his death was really pretty great. The day before, he went to the wedding of a young couple he knew from Conner Prairie farm. By all accounts he was his old self (as much as he could be), had a wonderful time, kissed the bride (”of course,” he said), and stopped for chocolate ice cream on the way home. The next day, a neighbor came by and said “We’re grilling some steaks, John, ya want one?” Steak was a favorite of his, and he gave precise instructions on how he liked it to be cooked. When the neighbor came back a short while later with the carefully-prepared steak — grill still going in case they’d cooked it wrong — they found him. He’d gone. Still in his own home, still calling his own shots.
I’ll share one story before I sign off for the night. In the waning weeks of his life, he was still working — bound and determined to die with his boots on. He only had enough bottled O2 to last four hours, but by god he pulled his four hour shifts every day. But at a certain point he would have to take a nap. A Department buddy of his told me that John’d sack out in a big overstuffed chair in the office of the Internal Affairs Section he commanded. He’d pull a blanket up to his chin for warmth, and under each arm he’d tuck…a teddy bear. Not one teddy bear — two.
This, to me, epitomizes everything John was, insofar as I knew him. A career deputy sheriff who was utterly devoted, tough, deeply principled and sometimes feared, and yet fulsome with ever-ready humor and a profoundly gentle kindness. The kind of man who could sleep with his teddy bears in his office at Internal Affairs, and still be deeply respected by all of the men and women working with him.
Goodbye, Uncle Johnny. You set one hell of an example. And wherever you are, I hope you’re getting all the homemade ice cream and blueberries you could possibly want.
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04.05.08
Posted in Music, What I'm Reading, Friends and Family, Avant Experiwhosis at 3:16 pm by Spencer
The new April/May 2008 edition of the online music zine Perfect Sound Forever includes an article by Alan Bishop about Charles Gocher, his adoptive soul brother and co-conspirator in Sun City Girls who died of cancer in February, 2007.
“Invisible Tempos of the Vanishing Assassin” was written over the course of a month-long journey through Indonesia that Alan took last August. It takes the form of a kind of memorial diary, in which Alan tells old stories, describes Charlie’s creative process, rants, and generally undertakes the impossible task of sketching who Charlie was.
It’s a great piece. Here’s a taste:
Gocher used to carry around an ant colony in his pants pocket in the form of a salt shaker filled with dirt, sugar, and a large collection of red ants burrowing within. He once brought a lawnmower to a SCG show and during the set, fired it up and ran it over several large trash bags filled with confetti. Afterwards, the confetti was stomped into the beer-soaked concrete floor and it took the manager the entire next day to remove it all with a scraper. At house parties in Arizona, he would hold court in the kitchens, playing oven rack concerts into the night or scat sing and dance till dawn. On tour in 1990, we visited the grave of Edgar Allen Poe in Baltimore and Charlie traded some new flowers he picked himself for the ones already on the grave. He later convinced a whole room of people at a late-night party to smoke those dried flowers from a pipe, claiming they had special powers from the spirit of Poe. There wasn’t a soul in the room who refused to smoke them. Regardless of how absurd or impractical he could be, people trusted him and listened to him, hanging on every word. And on the other side of the world, there he was as an aloof be-bop version of Peter Pan in a village in Sumatra 18 years ago playing a wooden flute leading a pack of 50 children all over town with the good citizens watching nervously along the way in disbelief as if an alien had landed from beyond and was taking their children away….
But this is all anecdotal. His greatest moments are reserved for those who could perceive them for their full-effect, as he was light years ahead of most of you and your shallow, socially-engineered points of reference, sorry.
…What’s a full-grown Bengal Tiger got to say to a roomful of crickets? I wouldn’t park a Rolls Royce next to an AMC Pacer. Gocher would have put the Bengal Tiger in the Rolls Royce and rammed it through the window of your fucking living room.
As the Sumatra anecdote above implies, Charlie really did have a way with kids, and kids dug him. At various parties and gatherings I attended over the years, he could almost always be found hanging out with the kids. They’d spend hours talking and laughing, pretty much in their own meta-party. For a while, he and the early-teen daughter of one scene perennial even formed their own band and gigged out a few times. She fronted, they created the music together, and it was both great stuff and inspiring to see.
How children respond to a person is, I maintain, a true barometer of that person’s character. Despite all of Charlie’s dark edges and interests, fanged black humor, and inner demons he was — deep down — a gentle and playful man with a huge heart. The kids always seemed to spot this a mile away and loved him for it. They’d bring out the best in each other.
I wasn’t especially close with Charlie (few were), and so I was spared seeing him at his darkest and worst. But every time I think of Charlie, I hear his laugh — mucousy from smoking so damn much, and because it came from deep down within him.
Be sure to catch Alan and Rick Bishop’s Brothers Unconnected: A Tribute to Charles Gocher & Sun City Girls, coming soon to a US or Canadian city near you. Visit SunCityGirls.com for latest tour info.
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03.10.08
Posted in Music, Events, Friends and Family, Avant Experiwhosis at 10:23 pm by Spencer
Beginning in May 2008 the surviving members of Sun City Girls, Alan and Richard Bishop, are embarking on a tour of the US and Canada called “The Brothers Unconnected: A tribute to the Sun City Girls and Charles Gocher.”
The tour begins in Seattle on Sunday, May 18 at The Triple Door. (Tickets are available online.)
As followers of the legendary band know, drummer Charles Gocher died of cancer in February 2007. A private memorial was held shortly after. With this tour, Alan and Rick make good on their solemn vow to publicly honor Charlie, his memory, and his immense talent.
Most dates will feature an opening 40 minute film of Charles Gocher’s video works, which are equal parts demented, brilliant, hilarious, and inventive. This will be followed by two acoustic sets of Alan and Rick playing selected songs from the impossibly voluminous catalog of Sun City Girls material created during their 27 year history together.
Listed below are the dates announced as I write this, and more will be announced as they are confirmed. For the very latest information please consult the official Sun City Girls web site.
Whatever you do don’t miss it, and while you’re there have a shot of cheap scotch for Charlie.
5.18.08 - Seattle, WA - Triple Door
5.19.08 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir
5.21.08 - San Francsico, CA - Slim’s
5.23.08 - Phoenix, AZ - Modified
5.25.08 - Los Angeles , CA - Echoplex
5.27.08 - Sacramento, CA - TBA
6.14.08 - Chicago, IL - Lakeshore Theater
6.15.08 - Louisville, KY - TBA
6.18.08 - Montreal, QC - La Sala Rosa
6.19.08 - Cambridge, MA - The Brattle Theater
6.20.08 - Portland, ME - SPACE
6.21.08 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s
6.22.08 - New York , NY - Knitting Factory
6.24.08 - Pittsburgh, PA - Andy Warhol Gallery
6.25.08 - Washington, D.C. - Black Cat
6.26.08 - Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle
6.27.08 - Atlanta, GA - TBA
More Dates coming: Austin, Tucson, San Diego and more.
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02.26.08
Posted in News of the World, Friends and Family, Chicago, Malachi Ritscher, 1954-2006, Online Video at 9:28 pm by Spencer
On January 13, 2008, Al Jazeera’s english-language station aired a story about my late friend Malachi Ritscher. As I posted here about at the time, he died on the morning November 3, 2006 when he set himself on fire next to the Kennedy Expressway in Chicago, before a statue named “The Flame of the Millennium”. He left a handmade sign that read “Thou Shalt Not Kill.” On his web site, before he killed himself, he posted last testaments that said he was immolating himself to protest the US invasion and occupation of Iraq. Except for a handful of fleeting stories, US press coverage was essentially non-existent. Coverage in Europe was slightly more extensive, but equally fleeting. Malachi videotaped his self immolation but his family, understandably, has not released the tape and they have stated they never will. Further information about Malachi’s suicide and its impact can be found at the link above.
The Al Jazeera story was aired as part of their series People and Power, described as an investigative program “which looks at the use and abuse of power.” This particular episode was titled “The North Front Line.”
Streaming video of the segment has been posted on YouTube. I am also posting it here. Many thanks to Eric Leonardson for bringing this to my attention.
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02.18.08
Posted in Friends and Family, Indiana, Me at 10:50 pm by Spencer
My dear old friend Steve Niman just resurfaced and sent along some scans of old photos from The Day. This one is of my buddy Joe (left) and myself (with, um, accouterments and stylin’ Zero Boys t-shirt) taken, I believe, right around Thanksgiving of 1985 during our first trip back to Indianapolis after moving to the bizarre and overwhelming megalopolis of Chicago.
Joe and I spent a summer living on the streets of Indianapolis together, as a result of (and resulting in) a series of events far too long to recount here. We were part of a tribe of punk rock kids that became our collective family and fellow- and sister-travelers during a time that truly changed my life. (Someday I may get around to writing that book.) Joe and I both wanted out of Indy pretty much more than anything, and when I eventually got it together enough (thanks almost entirely to my dad) to move to Chicago and go to college, I was only too happy to have Joe ride my coat tails northward.
But imagine, if you will, going directly from a Huck Finn lifestyle, living free as can be and sleeping under the stars in the woods by the river, to a grey concrete jungle where you could never see the horizon and only the faintest hint of the Holy Sunset, weeping at its occlusion. It was a brutal case of culture shock, for true.
Joe and I are clowning for the camera, but in retrospect that’s pretty much what we must’ve looked like trying to adjust to the Big City. In the end, Joe didn’t last very long — he wound up moving back to Indy after a few months, joined the Army and got hitched in quick succession and then, after a series of personal tragedies, wound up vanishing somewhere in the far distance. Wherever he is, I hope he’s doing well.
Man. What an amazing time.
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02.03.08
Posted in Friends and Family at 8:08 pm by Spencer
Whilst trolling about the web for family info, I came upon the following obit for Alice McComb, sister of my maternal grandma and known in my family by the nickname of Auntie Augie. I thought I’d post it so I’d have this in the future. Alice was universally beloved by everyone in the family and, I daresay, by everyone who ever met her. She was the most genuinely sweet person I’ve ever known, someone who was always smiling and whose gentle, ever-ready laugh I can still hear.
Alice B. McComb, age 103, of Indianapolis, passed away April 17, 2007 after a short illness. Alice was born in New Albany, IN on March 11, 1904, she lived in Indianapolis all of her adult life. She was a genius with a needle and specialized in fine fashion alterations and bridal gowns. An employee of Potpourri Shop in Zionsville, she assisted many brides until her retirement in her 80s. She enjoyed bridge and bingo with her friends at Marquette Manor Retirement Community until her 103rd birthday. Mrs. McComb was a member of Tabernacle Presbyterian Church, Pi Omicron Sorority, the Women’s Department Club and the Indianapolis Symphony Women’s Group. Her husbands, Herbert Massie and Erwin McComb and her brother, E. Bartlett Brooks of Dayton, OH preceded her in death. She is survived by her sister, Grace. E. Dale; niece Nancy (Nan) Brooks and nephew John M. Rader of Indianapolis as well as nieces Marsha Brown of Denison, OH, Sandra Jordan of Athens, GA; grandnephews Matthew Sundell of Chicago and Spencer Sundell of Seattle and a wide circle of friends. A memorial service will be held at Marquette Manor, 8140 N. Township Line Road, Indianapolis, IN 46260 on April 28, 2007 at 1PM.
A couple years before Aunt Alice died, I spent an enthralling four hours with her in Indianapolis as she told me tales of her life, over a dinner of fried catfish (one of her favorites). Among the stories that stick with me was one when she was a young girl, which I hope I’ll recount correctly. (Alas and alack, I did not have a tape recorder with me that day.) Her father, I believe, owned a shop in the Ohio River town of New Albany that was devoted to “all things with wheels”, as she told me. In the early 1900s bicycles were still a relatively new and evolving novelty. In those days, it was apparently scandalous for a female to ride one. Nevertheless (or perhaps precisely because), young Alice would occasionally ride a bike through the tiny town, attracting attention and leading curious followers back to the shop.
It may not be a surprise, then, that dear Aunt Alice was a true coquette who was a flirt, albeit always a proper and lady-like one, right to the end. She was also a woman of taste. She told me of how much she loved to attend dances as a young lady, and how at one particular dance she ultimately dumped a very serious suitor for the man who would be her first husband because he wore such fine trousers.
Alice was also an adventurer, in her Indiana Presbyterian way. In the 1970s, she joined a “jet club”, a jet-age travel club that would charter trips all over the world. Among her travels, she told me, was one in 1979 that included a stop in Kabul, Afghanistan…which would have been just barely before the Soviet invasion that same year. Believe me, for ’70s-era Indiana this was about as cosmopolitan as you could possibly get. My father also fondly tells a story of once traveling in Germany with my step mom, when they literally bumped into Alice and her sister, my grandma Grace.
It was truly a pleasure and honor to have known Alice, let alone have her in the family. We all miss her dearly.
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01.15.08
Posted in Music, Events, Friends and Family, Avant Experiwhosis, Seattle Stuff at 11:01 pm by Spencer
Not to dis any of the other performers (all of them outstanding and well worth your lousy half-a-sawbuck all on their lonesome), but I think they would agree it goes without saying that The act to catch is Alvarius B (aka Alan Bishop from Sun City Girls), who will be playing only his third solo show ever. If you haven’t heard his albums (or perhaps his collaborative releases with Cerberus Shoal and Dylan Nyoukis) you’re missing out. (Although: the SCG site offers the recent CD re-issue of his first album.) If you’re in town for this show Thursday night, you shouldn’t miss out even more. So what if it’s a school night? Everyone else at work will prolly have a hangover, too — only yours will be cooler.
There’s more about the line-up (including links to their various web sites) at The Rendezvous’ own web site.
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09.22.07
Posted in Music, Friends and Family at 8:26 pm by Spencer
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06.27.07
Posted in Whatever, Friends and Family at 9:39 pm by Spencer
My copious and heartfelt congratulations to League of Intoxicated Gentlemen Brother Jeffrey and League Ladies Auxillary Grand Dame Tricia on the birth of their son, Benjamin Richard Sharman, who arrived on this plane yesterday afternoon in all perfect splendor with a weight of 7 pounds and a length of 20 inches.
Blessed be to you all.
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03.02.07
Posted in Cinema, Music, Friends and Family, Avant Experiwhosis, Seattle Stuff at 9:52 pm by Spencer
Well, it’s now official. As widely suspected since the death of drummer Charles Gocher nearly two weeks ago, the legendary avant-something group Sun City Girls are climbing into Shiva’s arms and departing for planes unimaginable to mere mortals, although they do intend to send occasional transmissions back to us when they can, drawing from the group’s voluminous Akashic archive.
The public announcement was made on Monday (Feb. 26, 2007) via the group’s web site, and I quote it here in full:
Our sincerest thanks for the many letters, messages, posts, and tributes all of you have sent to us this past week in support after the passing of Charlie. There were simply too many of them for us to even begin to respond to personally.
We have decided to hold a private memorial in Seattle for close friends only to celebrate his legacy. At a later date, when we can collect our thoughts to properly honor him, we will pay tribute to Charles at a public venue by screening films and displaying some of his drawings and photographs, and possibly perform some of his songs.
As many of you have suspected, Sun City Girls will no longer exist as a performing entity. Nor will any new recording projects be created utilizing the name Sun City Girls. There are many unreleased recordings and videos that will surface when time permits to release them.
– Alan and Richard Bishop
To learn more about Sun City Girls’ epic 26 year journey, visit the official Sun City Girls Chronology and their positively vast discography, consisting of 50 full-length LP/CD releases, 23 full-length cassettes, 12 seven-inch singles and EPs, appearances on a couple dozen compilations, plus full-length video tapes, movie soundtracks, bootlegs, and even a 78rpm record released by a precursor of Revenant — in all, very nearly 100 releases…and that’s not counting related side projects or the stuff they just forgot about.
Sun City Girls had, I think, a significant impact on underground music. They introduced an entire generation of punk rockers to avant garde music and, many years after bands of the same (initial) era either sold out or gave it all up for neckties and martinis, they remained 1000% committed to their own vision — especially if it meant confusing or, better yet, completely pissing off their audience — and to that most important imperative of the punk ethos: Do It Yourself.
But while born from the early ’80s punk scene, they were never really of it at all — you might say they were so punk they didn’t even play punk. By the same token, they were an avant garde band, but they were never really of that sprawling universe either. So what the hell were Sun City Girls, then. Maybe The Fugs of free jazz? The Cecil Taylors of disco? The Captain Beefhearts of ethnic lounge music? The GG Allins of musical theater? The La Monte Youngs of crunk? The snake dancers of Gregorian chant? The truck-stop floor show on the Apocalypse highway? The Yippies of religious studies? The Winston Smith rat masks of situation comedy? The UFO contactees of square dancing? The James Chances of particle physics? The Mexican gynecologists of cabinet making? Yes, all of these and more. But whatever they were, all you really need to know is the group are revered far and wide by the most creative minds of fringe music — both influential (read: “famous”) and obscure. There was, quite simply, nothing at all like them.
The legacy of the Girls will continue, of course. Alan and Rick are (obviously) creative and driven guys and its impossible to even imagine them just fading away. Rick has been pursuing a rewarding and notable solo thing (as Sir Richard Bishop) for a few years now; and Alan has his Sublime Frequencies film imprint and Abduction label, and has been active in various musical side projects as well. Once they recover from the loss of their adoptive brother Charlie, the brothers Bishop will continue to warp our minds for many years to come.
But nothing can possibly replace Sun City Girls…and I imagine Alan and Rick would probably agree.
Meanwhile…just a couple weeks before Charlie’s death, it was announced that a new film by Harmony Korine (Gummo, Julien Donkey Boy) will feature music by Sun City Girls. Mister Lonely, currently in preparation for a Cannes screening, centers on a love story involving celebrity impersonators and will feature the on-screen talents of Werner Herzog and magician David Blaine (both of whom have collaborated with Korine in the past). To learn more, you can read a PDF (187 kb) of a Feb. 2, 2007 article from ScreenDaily.com here or here.
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