Mutualism, anarchism, intellectual history, electronic music, civil defense culture, the Alliance of the Libertarian Left, White Mountains (NH), literature, cultural studies, walking, poststructuralism, Ojai (CA), environmentalism, the politics of memory, Movement for a Democratic Society, strong coffee, Red Sox, field recording, the Redwood Empire (CA), collage art, old postcards, poetry, Oregon.
[Civil defense films: archive.org]
Music
The Clash, Muslimgauze, Skinny, Woody Guthrie, Swimming Pool Q's, Delta 88, Scritti Politti, Son Volt, Windbreakers, Jay Farrar, Georgia Satellites, jason zeh, Roger Miller, Kingston Trio, ELO, Cast Iron Filter, Metaphysical Jones, Crazy Eddie, The Kafkamachine Series of Failed Experiments, The Sweet, Woody Guthrie, Utah Phillips, Counting Crows, Elvis Costello, Love Tractor, Robb Johnson, Chaotic Euphoria, Kim Cascone, Terre Thaemlitz, Akira Rabelais, 101ers, Dream Academy, Spandau Ballet, Men Without Hats, Kraftwerk, Trio, Landscape, B.E.F., The Ex, Chumbawamba, Tom Robinson Band, Gary Numan, Laibach, Einsturzende Neubauten, Yello, Bobby Sutliff, Lets Active, Marty Robbins, Gordon Lightfoot, Bee Gees, Sun Ra, Parliament-Funkadelic, Sledge, Game Theory, Loud Family, Tim Lee, Baader Meinhof, Auteurs, Black Box Recorder, Pylon, Bill Laswell, Iannis Xenakis, John Cage, Aisha Kandisha's Jarring Effects, DJ Soulslinger, Marti Jones, Lori Carson, REM, Big Country. Alan Lamb, Hugo Largo, Mimi Goese. I'm an electronic musician, phonographer, dulcimer player, sound tech and karaoke jockey.
Movies
Battleship Potemkin, Gojira, Magnificent Seven, Rude Boy, Sid and Nancy, Duel, Seven Samurai, Metropolis, Westway to the World, V for Vendetta, In Tandem, the SLA "Tanya" film, civil defense films, educational filmstrips.
Television
Now: Jeopardy, baseball, Lost, Jericho. Back when I actually watched TV: The Prisoner, UFO, Rockford Files, Six Million Dollar Man, A-Team, Thunderbirds, Speed Racer.
Books
Leaves of Grass, Moby Dick, R is for Rocket, Richard III, The Baroque Cycle, The Doctrine of Life, A Sketch of Morality Independent of Obligation Or Sanction, Specters of Marx, Beyond Good and Evil, all the Thornton Burgess books, Alice in Wonderland, Max Stirner, F. T. Marinetti, The Revolution of Everyday Life, Lewis Carroll, Jacques Derrida, Jean Baudrillard, Paul Virilio, Edward Bellamy, Pierre Leroux, Beyond Good and Evil, Benjamin Tucker's Liberty, Basic Outline of Universology, Voltairine de Cleyre, Ted Mooney, Don Delillo, Giorgio Agamben's The Coming Community.
Walt Whitman, Golden Rule Jones, William Batchelder Greene, Jacques Derrida, Rick Metheny, P.-J. Proudhon, Jack Oliver, Mike Oriard, Kevin Carson, Raoul Vaneigem, The Question, Stephen Pearl Andrews, Ken Stabler, Alfred W. Lawson, Marc Guyau, Charles Fourier, Julie Wichman, Ken Vinyard, Calista Crane Harris, Bolton Hall, Carl Yastremski, Bartleby the Scrivener, William Blake, Abiezer Coppe, Lebbeus Woods, Joshua King Ingalls.
About me: A son of the Redwood Empire, just back in the Pacific Northwest, after 18 years among the leavings of the last ice age in NW Ohio.
["Our story begins here, in a small northern California town..."]
I wear a lot of hats in life. Some of them fit. I've been a bookseller, and had my own shop for awhile. I've taught American studies, philosophy, women's studies, environmental studies, "great ideas," and communications at the university level. I've written about popular literature, internet communities, poststructuralist philosophy, art and radical history. I'm pretty much driven by my interests—heavy on vocation, but so far a little light on career. I'm a electronic musician, play appalachian dulcimer, and I'm the sound tech/karaoke jockey for a really great little local bar. I love to watch baseball and translate 19th century French socialist texts. I write poetry and make collages, and blame the latter on Gabe Solly. But he's really just a guy I found in a stack of unidentified photos. We've both got pretty big shoulders anyway. He can take the heat: I mean, I made him the main character in the novel...
In my most serious moments, and many of the others, I'm a historian of the libertarian and anarchist traditions. You can see that part of my life at In the Libertarian Labyrinth. I'm currently working on a number projects: a colleague and I are co-editing an anthology of the writings of Josiah Warren; I am working on a series of books and articles covering the life and writings of William Batchelder Greene (1819-1878), starting with a critical collection of his writings on currency reform; I tinker as the fit takes me with an alternate history novel, The Distributive Passions, which attempts to explore what might have happened had Americans been a little more open to reform; and I am involved in a number of digital archiving efforts, particularly an online archive of Benjamin R. Tucker's Liberty, and an article exploring some of the promises and present shortcomings of digital libraries. I go to work everyday and lose myself for part of it in some book or archive, digging out the bits of peoples' history that might otherwise be forgotten, then scanning a lot of the public domain material for archiving.
Coming up: the next big transition—back from the Old Northwest to the New...
[Collage: "Quagga on the Beach" - Gabriel Solly]
The images come unbidden, and mostly in dreams. The Absent Father, standing in attendance to Our Lady of the Shelter, making love to Our Lady of the Radar Array. Prophecies of or for La Femme, always to the tune of some Thomas Dolby song: “Radio Silence,” “Europa and the Pirate Twins,” “One of Our Submarines.” Windpower, switch off the mind and let the heart decide, what you were meant to be. If only it was that easy. He cobbles them together in the wee hours of the night, and in those hours, Gabe feels the Solly blood, strongly.
Who I'd like to meet: Benjamin Schlegel, randomly, on a streetcorner in another part of the world. The ghost of Joe Strummer in a windswept alley. The werewolf's tailor. Interesting people with ideas of their own. Anarchists. Mutualists. Left-libertarians.
As a rule, I'm not so sure about meeting people. As an anarchist, I'm always breaking rules, including (and sometimes mostly) my own. People are, as the song says, people, and sometimes I am pleasantly surprised. So feel free to surprise me, or humor me as I surprise myself.
If I sent you a friend request and don't already know you, it's probably because you said something clever in your blog, or perhaps held it in reserve in the corner of a smile. Or I like your art. Generally speaking, I only stalk historical figures.
Life is never what you think it will be, is it?! I am happy though. I am a nurse, living in my home town, and expecting my second child in june. How hae you been???
i'm about half way through kevin's book...mutualist political economy and i'm liking it a lot. lots of the ideas are simple and obvious at least in principle. its not such an easy read though, and has a bunch of stuff that is hard for me to get a grip on too, but it is good to read i think.
we have a collective going in bg now and we were sitting around the other day talking about you and the workshop you gave. we all thought it would be nice to talk to you again.
there are two different groups of people talking about starting up an anarchist reading group as well.
in toledo the folks up there bought a commercial building a bit outside downtown and are going to open up an infoshop/living space. its pretty exciting.
just thought i'd catch you up on some stuff and say hi.
hey shawn, i was thinking of picking up kevin carson's book. the mutualist political economy...or something like that. do you recommend this book? i'm mostly trying to find more info about some of the ideas you talked about in your workshop.
Thanks doll. HAlloween in S.F. was very Surreal. Headed down to the city to watch some show at the Red Devil Lounge. Good times. Miss you! Never seen so many adults in costumes especialy in a city. It was so weird.
So were both finally in random states. How's Oregon treating you? California's a trip. I miss you. Hope all is well. Keep in touch. Writing anything? Any adventures?
Shawn, great to hear from you man! How are things out west? I hope all is well. As for me I'm back in school trying to finish up my degree. It feels great to be back. Staying pretty busy with that and working with the campus radio stations. All in all things are going well. I hope the same for you. Again, it was great hearing from you. Let me know how things are going for you. Take care! -Big Matt
Hey Hey fellow Portlander! We are all finally here and getting settled into our life here on SE Flavel St. near 72nd st. How's everything going? You posted a bulletin about working at a bookstore downtown, when and where was that? I'd like to stop by and say hi sometime. Take Care!
YES! Stopped in the old haunt for the second time since I cut my chain and it was good not to see you there! Happy to know you landed on your feet and I hope you and the cats are well.
I'll be sending updates for the site your way soon - had some time restraints but we are on our way. found a good job for the moment, but thinking about flying again. Josh gives his regards.
