I was raised in the Midwest and dreamed about bridges from a very young age. I attended the first Suicide Club initiation a year after my arrival in San Francisco in 1976 and through his apprenticeship in that saturnalian cabal came to know many of the world’s greatest bridge spans. It is my great good fortune to be affiliated with singular organizations (past & present) such as Survival Research Labs, Dark Passage, The Cacophony Society, PeopleHater, Seemen, Circus Redickuless, S.F. Cyclecide, and The Madagascar Institute to name a few. I joined Laughing Squid as a partner in 1999. I was involved in the genesis of the Cacophony Society in 1986 (though not an official “founder”) and was for decades an integral instigator in this group. I was present at the inception events for Seattle, Portland and Brooklyn Cacophony and was happily involved with LA and Detroit Cacophony over the years of their existence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1977, I co-founded (along with David T. Warren {Irving Glikk} and Jayson Wechter {Simon Wagstaff} and directed (for 35 years) The Billboard Liberation Front.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Past projects include: co-founding the Burning Man Festival an event I parted ways with in 1996.

 

 

 

 

I currently live in the San Francisco Bay Area and spend a lot of time in Detroit

 

 

Links:

Suicide Club

Cacophony Society

Doggie Diner

Billboard Liberation Front

Survival Research Labs

SF Neon Talk on SF classic neon signage hosted by Randall Ann Homan & Al Barna

Detroit

 

Books:

Tales of the San Francisco Cacophony Society – 2013, co-authors Kevin Evans, Carrie Galbraith. Paperback reprint to be available late 2018.

“The Space Between” – December 2008, Furnace Press. Out of print.

 

Media (a small and very random collection of links to various Cacophony-centric, BM or other related events and stories):

Project Mayhem: Inside the Wild World and History of SF’s Cacophony Society 7X7 Magazine 

“An Oral History of Burning Man, the Biggest, Weirdest, Most Clothing-Optional Desert Carnival on the Planet”
by Brad Wieners, Outside Magazine, October 2012

“Paris’s Suburban Underground”
Julia Solis, National Geographic

“Who the hell is John Law?”
Mark Beers, Comet Magazine

https://laughingsquid.com/tales-of-the-san-francisco-cacophony-society/

Burning Man rogue founder Ready to talk after 20 years – Reno Gazette 8/14/17  (note – tie dye guy on first page NOT me!!!)

“Face Time John Law”
Louise Rafkin, San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, November 4, 2001

“Gargolyles Over Manhattan”
by Brad Wieners, Blue, June

“Suicide Sports”
by Brad Wieners, The City, October 1991

photo by Scott Beale

http://nytimes.com/1994/10/02/magazine/sunday-october-2-1994-the-burning-man.html?sc

http://www.sfweekly.com/2010-10-13/calendar/living-outside-the-law/

Some Cacophony links:

Washington Post, Santas 2007:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/08/AR2007120801389.html

Time Magazine, Fantasia protest:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,973582,00.html

NY Times:

Improve Everywhere & Chuck Palahniuk connections:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/27/fashion/27PRANK.html?pagewanted=2&sq&st=nyt%22%22Cacophony%20Society&scp=2

Rev Billy, Ducky Doolittle connections:

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/17/style/mirror-mirror-consumerism-and-its-discontents.html?scp=3&sq=

SF Chron, Flash mob connection:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/08/11/DD115584.DTL&ao=2

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/10/MNMVT8UM9.DTL

http://www.sfweekly.com/2003-07-30/news/mob-rule/

JL Bridge lecture on You Tube, connects SFSC & Cacophony to bridge climbing/UE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn7ZUKBPGPQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l46zhTgJ0q8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h3ZsPP_V24&feature=related

SF Chron, BM connection:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1996/07/19/DD53157.DTL

http://www.sfweekly.com/1995-09-20/news/hunka-hunka-burning-wood/2/

SF Chron, Salmon:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1997/05/19/MN72531.DTL

SF Chron, Santa’s & Palanhiuk:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/09/12/DD300263.DTL

SF Chron, Proust:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2000/12/22/WB160156.DTL

SF Chron, Squid:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2000/06/02/WB33809.DTL

SF Chron, Brides:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/03/19/MNL31944.DTL

SF Chron, Santas:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1995/12/19/MN41547.DTL

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/e/a/1995/12/19/NEWS10975.dtl

SF Chron, Kevin Evans, etc & Kincaid:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/17/DDI11AL7RR.DTL

SF Chron, UE, Julia Solis, JL,

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/03/06/LVGVPBI8MC1.DTL

SF Chron, Brian Goggin:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1997/11/25/MN4844.DTL

SF Weekly, Goggin:

http://www.sfweekly.com/1997-03-05/news/duck/2/

SF Weekly:

Santacon:

http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-12-03/calendar/don-t-talk-about-santacon/

http://www.sfweekly.com/1997-03-05/calendar/slap-shots/

Misc:

http://www.sfweekly.com/2005-02-16/calendar/bruin-mob/

Flash Mobs:

http://www.sfweekly.com/2003-07-30/news/mob-rule/

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/2007/11/urban_playground_movement_suck.php

JL Book:

http://www.sfweekly.com/2009-02-25/calendar/law-fought-the-law-and-law-won/

Pranks:

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2008/03/pranks_film_festival_coming_to.php

Chicken/Dr. Hal

http://www.sfweekly.com/2003-07-30/news/the-wizard-of-ass-has-spoken/4/

Chicken:

http://www.sfweekly.com/1998-07-08/news/the-one-the-only-circus-redickuless/

note:11 pages to this article.

White Trash:

http://www.sfweekly.com/1996-03-06/news/white-trash-nation/6/

http://www.sfweekly.com/1996-03-06/news/white-trash-nation/7/

Silke Tudor:

http://www.sfweekly.com/1995-12-20/music/night-crawler/

http://www.sfweekly.com/1998-01-28/calendar/night-crawler/

http://www.sfweekly.com/1998-01-28/calendar/night-crawler/2/

Urban Golf

http://www.sfweekly.com/1996-05-15/music/night-crawler/

http://www.sfweekly.com/1996-05-15/music/night-crawler/2/

St. Stupid, Subgenius:

http://www.sfweekly.com/1997-04-09/music/night-crawler/

DD:

http://www.sfweekly.com/1999-11-17/news/night-crawler/

http://www.sfweekly.com/1999-11-17/news/night-crawler/2/

Joey Skaggs “The Art of the Prank” blog, Cacophony listing:

http://artoftheprank.com/2007/03/24/the-cacophony-society/

LA Times Cacophony 1994:

http://articles.latimes.com/1994-01-23/local/me-14466_1_bus-route-cranberries-winter-wonderland

Online encyclpedia:

http://www.knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/Cacaphony_Society/

Jon Alloway’s movie: “Into the Zone: The Story of the Cacophony Society”:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1745916/plotsummary