Posts Tagged ‘Counter-culture

27
Nov
19

The 42nd Occasional Doo Dah Parade

The 42nd Doo Dah Parade on Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena California on Novemebr 24, 2019.

On November 24th, a glorious Sunday in East Pasadena, folks gathered with expectations in street clothes and ludicrous costumes. They were standing or setting in anticipation of the 42nd running of The Pasadena Occasional Doo Dah Parade. These people were a mixture of participants, spectators, young, old and most specifically counter-culture in nature ready for a day of shenanigans and mischief.

The lure of the Occasional Doo Dah Parade is partially the irreverent unexpected combined with a spark of color, oddly innovative creativity, the mockery, and satire of the soon approaching Rose Bowl Parade. So much like other parades, there is a Queen that presides over the Parade and the day’s events. This year Queen Jesselynn Desmond held court over all the zany insanity.

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Royalty from previous years (Doo Dah Queens and Kings) set at the judges’ table mildly judging or simply being amused as the cavalcade of carnivalesque participants pass by. The parade proved to be one of the most entertaining in recent memory. If you can imagine it you can be it at the Doo Hah Parade. After the parade, there were more celebrations and after-parties to send everyone off in fine fashion for Sunday with another year of Doo Dah as a glorious memory made.

There is a photo gallery here for your enjoyment but if you want to get the full effect of all 189 images for the parade please follow this link to my Flickr Doo Dah Parade Album. They are big beautiful pictures in radian color!

16
May
19

Movie Review: “J. R. “Bob” Dobbs Church of the SubGenius”

“J. R. “Bob” Dobbs Church of the SubGenius”

“We are actually Religion, that seems like an Art Piece, that seems like a religion, that seems like performance art, that seems like a joke, that seems like a religion…” This quote got my attention in the “J. R. “Bob” Dobbs Church of the SubGenius” and most readily defines the J.R. Bob Dobbs’ movement and the message in Sandy K. Boone’s documentary film currently making its way through the festival circuit. The documentary envelopes everything from the Church’s inception to the current status as the Bob Hobbs’ story is told anecdotal fashion representing the aesthetic of movement itself. The history and evolutions of the Church of the SubGenius is as infamous and as obscure as it is dense and complicated for the outsider to fathom. Founders Doug Smith (a.k.a. Reverend Ivan Stang) and Steve Wilcox (a.k.a. Dr. Phyllo Drummond) were just 2 dudes smoking some weed when the revelation of “Bob Dobbs” was conceived in these young men’s minds. The message was clear and can be summed up in a few words to quote the Reverend Ivan Stang from his very own lips, “Bob, Slack, and the conspiracy!’

 

Sandy K. Boone and the “J. R. “Bob” Dobbs Church of the SubGenius” crew at the South by South West screening at the ZACH Theatre.

“J. R. “Bob” Dobbs Church of the SubGenius” is a relatively linear storyline covering the inception of J. R. “Bob” Dobbs “Super Salesman” as conceived by Doug Smith and Steve Wilcox as a means to reject the idea of American mid-century normalcy. “Bob” Dobbs found a sweet spot in the ‘70s and ‘80s counterculture that perfectly reflect their and many others overall disenchantment post-WWII America. It portrays the counterculture’s common ill at ease feelings with normalcy and socially acceptable behavior. Both Smith and Wilcox taps into a similar sensibilities that both R. Crumb comics and Gilbert Shelton’s “Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers” does, but in a twist explores the rejection of social norms by embracing  in “Bob”, the pinnacle of those beliefs from a different vantage point, rather than extolling the virtues of the eccentric and weird. J. R. “Bob” Dobbs and the Church of the SubGenius uses the facade of normalcy in a satirical attack of those accepted and worshipped values. Of course, something like J. R. “Bob” Dobbs movement evolves and grows over the years by adding layers and enlarging mythology takes on a new depth of meaning. The doc captures all the key moments that crystalized the Church of the SubGenius into a movement. The doc familiarizes the audience with church history by informing the audience with the cult’s terminology and jargon, like these terms “, Pinks” or “Normals”, “Pleasure Saucers” and the very important and fundamental concept of “Slack”. These all are essential parts to understand the ideals and social commentary the Church of the SubGenius lampoons and ridicules. 

Continue reading ‘Movie Review: “J. R. “Bob” Dobbs Church of the SubGenius”’




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