Saturday, May 13, 2006

Franc remembers us!

Hey Yall, remember Franc, the gay,1940's,army clown who was in our show last year?
He sure pleased the crowds with his amazing spool riding and
wonerful skits. Boy did that guy leave a cool legacy of drawings, plans, props and ideas. He and his gal Naya played huge rolls in getting those clown videos made that we keep showing.
Well they ran off to Indonisia for some reason (I think it was because she told him to)and I hear they are getting wedlocked soon.
Here is word of clownarchy from the other side of the world.


HEY DOODS
I've got a couple of minutes here at the internet rental place so I thought I'd say howdy. Congrats on the little rugrat. I think Naya expressed how happy we are for you guys in her last e-mail.
Mayday here was really intense. The government is enforcing a new labor law which takes rights away from farmers and factory workers (as if they weren't fucked enough already). Groups of activists and demonstrators came in to Jakarta from the busload. We live in a little flat about a quarter of a mile from the main Roundabout where most demonstrations converge. The whole week before the demonstrations, the military was setting up barricades and distributing vehicles. They even positioned tanks in front of the swanky gated communites where the politicians live. We woke up monday morning to the distant marching of thousands of demonstrating workers. We strolled down to the roundabout to check things out and cheer on the working man and woman. If there is one thing that Indonesians do, it is demonstrate, and Mayday was no exception. The malls were closed off and hundreds of police officers and military police lined the streets. Demonstrators marched in matching bandanas from various different unions. We were all a little afraid that it might get out of control, as mob mentality in this country can be disastorous (in the chaos following the governmental collaspe in '98 - mob violence and destruction cost thousands of Jakartans their lives). The event was peaceful though, and we watched as all the workers marched down the main drag in Jakarta, now car free for a couple of hours, lines of colourful bandanas and printed banners. A succesful Mayday.
Gotta run, the coin op computer is running out of juice!
Keep making those portlanders happy - I love being able to check out what's going on from this side of the globe. Oh yeah, my friend Patrick is moving up to Portland. He is a really cool guy and an excellent photographer and video artist. I told him to check you guys out.
FRANC


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

we just went to a wedding in nyc of a friend who is indonesian. he is the most politically active guy i know. well his brother was at the wedding, and is a journalist in jakarta (who also writes about food, as it turns out).

i guess my point (if i have one!?) is that we now have been invited to visit jakarta and have a place to stay. this all happened like 2 days ago, so it feels nice that a clown with portland-connections is already there.

Anonymous said...

Shoot us an e-mail if you're coming to this side of the world. Maybe by the time you're here I'll have finished Indonesia's first tall bike. Jakarta is a crazy place to live, and Indonesia is a really beautiful country. If you can afford the airfare, SE Asia is a great part of the world to see, and travelling from Indo to Singapore/Malaysia/Thailand can be really cheap if you've got the cash from amerika saved up. Take care!

justinflood@gmail.com