Jim Kweskin belonged to the F.H.C., and Mel Lyman used to play harp in his band. Maria D'Amato sung in his band, and later, with hubby Geoff, became a Jehova's Witness. You know - the child-spanking doorstep nuisances. Mark Frechette, star of Antonioni's Zabriskie Point, was a Family member, and in '73 robbed a bank and did time, where he died in a "weightlifting accident" in '75.
Mel Lyman's autobiography is called Autobigraphy Of A World Savior. He died, according to one Family member, from a self-administered drug overdose, but nobody knows for sure.
The soundtrack to all this wicked hooey is not the gore metal thrash you might expect, but this - good-timey jug band music. People are strange.
This is, in spite of the context, some swell music, but any connections with the hippie movement are entirely down to cover art. Kweskin, Lyman, and the rest of the sect were rabidly authoritarian right-wing nutjobs, anti-hippie in belief and behavior.
ReplyDeleteYou want? Or you have more of the same? Leave a comment (it's okay - Mel can't see you from Venus).
It seems to be eerily quiet round these parts. Perhaps we are contemplatin' our spiritual journeys in light of this here so-called cult stuffs.
ReplyDeletePerhaps everone's bin taken to Venus on one them undefinable flyin' objec's.
Delete“I’m definitely going to stick around for the transcendent orgies—because really, why else would I have joined—but I’m out of here the second they ask me for a blood sacrifice,” said Hagy, who admitted that while he had yet to participate in any hours-long group sex sessions, he had already donated a considerable amount of time and money to the cult and he hadn’t come this far just to bail.
ReplyDeletehttps://local.theonion.com/man-assures-self-he-ll-leave-cult-after-everyone-starts-1844942198
"... leave his cult ... well before any really bad stuff started to happen."
DeletePoison-laced Kool-Aid or Jell-O Pudding cups. What a choice.
Or... As some of the harshin' the mellow types might say:
Darwin Awards winners...?
By some way, the least popular and least-viewed piece on the blog. I must be doing something right!
ReplyDeleteTo ram the point home - Trumpism isn't about politics. It's not about policies. Trump never gave a shit about any of that. Trumpism is a cult - a charismatic (in a bad way), abusive, egomaniacal, racist, authoritarian leader and a following of fucking idiots who are quite happy to die for him, without knowing why. It's a cult, the inevitable expansion of Brigham Young through the 'sixties charlatans like Melvin Lie-man. This isn't about left-right ideology, it's not about preferring one party over the other from a rational point of view, weighing arguments. This is about cultism - not a uniquely U.S. thing although you do it on a bigger scale than most.
Now, as a nation, you have the opportunity to vote the cult out. You don't have to storm the H.Q. with tanks (yet). You have a struggle at the ballot box. A struggle to overcome apathy, complacency, and the forces working against democracy (something the Confederates have never been to keen on anyway). Get out the vote - vote the fat fuck out - put his enablers and family in jail - and even if he loses, you have three months of living hell to endure while he goes full-tilt batshit crazy in his Cult Bunker and his slobbering followers shoot people in the streets. Good luck with that.
"By some way, the least popular and least-viewed piece on the blog ..."
DeleteThat's a shame; I know she's a passing comment in the piece but Maria Muldaur always deserves attention.
Geoff less so of course - the covers to his LPs "Motion" and "... is Having a Wonderful Time" will never encourage anyone to listen to the music within but Maria's sleeves generally just draw you in.
Her sultry version of Smokey Robinson's "Sweet Harmony" deserves much applause whilst the earlier "it ain't the Meat ..." hints at what's to come with "Bawdy & Blue Naughty"and suchlike.
However, she did submit her entry to the Awful Covers sweepstakes with "Good Time Music for Hard Times" (crumbs) altho' the hokum within redeems her.
I'm a fan.
Cheers, Peanuts Molloy.
Mariah may get her turn in the surf yet, but this was really about cults. My own brush with one (at arm's length) came when a friend invited me down to Guru Maharaj Ji's ashram in (I think) London's leafy suburb of Wimbledon, maybe '70. This porky, cowlicked little shit was maybe eleven or twelve at the time, and his acolytes (thin, pale hippies wearing poverty chic Indian clothes) were trying to outdo each other in their spiritual awakening. Fatboy's method involved "turning your senses inward" - pushing your tongue back down your throat to taste the nectar of god was one, and having him poke you in the closed eyes to witness the light of god was another, as was hearing humming or buzzing in your ears. He arrived in the flower-bedecked sitting room (he'd been playing with his slot racing set upstairs) to general rapture and swooning. I stood by the door, impressed with his Rolex and the sight of a blacked-out girl being carried up the stairs. My friend was out of it, too, and that was the last time I saw him.
Deletealways loved jugs, so yeah, i'd love a peek, but only for historical titbits. Seen them lately and it wasn't pretty. Meditate while listening, and wake up slowly.
ReplyDeleteFoamHero© Richard Greene plays some swell fiddle. I'll up these later after I soak me feet. Thanks for asking.
Deletehttps://workupload.com/file/5Y6rKKsnxqw
ReplyDeleteMr.Kweskin & Mr.Maldaur made a pretty good album a few years ago revisiting a few old jugband faves & Mr.Maldaur's Texas Sheiks are also rather spiffy.I recall there was a good article about Mr. Lyman in Rolling Stone in the days when that publication was also good. Out of interest, are all cults inherently bad? Obviously The Southern Death Cult (a.k.a.The Cult) were/are as are numerous others.Thank you Mr.Throckmorton 111 for providing jollification & enlightenment to this old cult leader.
ReplyDeleteThe Reverend Dr.Baz Minister The Church Of Ecstatic Truth & The Cosmonauts Of Inner Space.
Praise The Lord & Pass The Medication
Saw Kweskin and Maria and Geoff a few years back in PA. Great fun evening and a self inflicted buzz. The show was pure Jug music. Maria/Geoff albums are excellent and Geoff's work with Butterfield outstanding.
ReplyDeleteBut that is not the point of a tome on cults.
Bottom line = VOTE THE FAT FUCK OUT.
We only have this one chance to save our so called democracy.
See ya all on the other side of Tuesday.
I worked for Ft. Hill for a few years in Malibu, Bev Hills etc. Some of you may have seen the bits I did on Twilight Zone blog. "Haven't killed anyone yet" lol. They killed one of their own after their bank robberies. The rat turned state's evidence and was found more than a little dead after an apparent failure to bench press a sizeable amount of weights that appeared to collapse and crush his wind pipe.
ReplyDeleteTrump is part of a larger cult, the Zionazis....run by the Kosher Nostra.
Love any variation of the old Jim Kweskin Jug Band. Saw Jim & Geoff in concert a few years back. When asked how audiences have changed over the years. Jim said, "We see a lot more gray heads in the audience these days. And their parents."
ReplyDeleteApologies Mr Bumppa for concentrating on the music (I endorse his praise of Butterfield's Better Days), my pathetic excuse is that I reside In Australia where we have compulsory voting which has resulted in a government of totally devoid from reality buffoons ( but not in the class of your buffoon in chief ).
ReplyDeleteMany years ago in Northern Ireland ( there's a couple of really dangerous cults ) I gained an honours degree with a dissertation on The Labour Movement & The New Deal so you might excuse my commenting on your political system. The rise of the Orange Mussolini is due to the fact that your political system is totally fucked. A comparison with other so called democracies & their electoral systems will reveal the inadequacies of your system. Hopefully today's election will be the first step in electoral reform to ensure that a Trump like cult cannot assume power. The problem of those deluded, brainwashed Trumpettes will be a much harder proposition to resolve.
I hope today does indeed vote "the fat fuck out" & may I suggest that Rupert Murdoch is charged with crimes against humanity & has to spend eternity in a cube floating in space in the company of Trump & his odious spawn.
Thus endeth today's sermon. Now, I think I might listen to some Jug band Music coz as Mr.John Sebastion told us " it seems to make him feel so fine".
Best wishes
The Reverend Dr.Baz
I know a guy right here is town who is not only [A]: A former side man of the Jim K. klan, but [B]: the guy who some might say, can be blamed for County Rawk as he taught some cat named Bobby Dylan to ride a murder-sikkle. But that (Bob S's Life Story) is another tale for another time... He also says he dated Linda Ronstadt. He IS a crazy old coot... (Hi Bob!)
ReplyDelete