We tell our Venice tales in hair-raising astonishment. Paul Rosenfeld, journalist and music critic, once wrote that, “Complex works of art speak not through individuals but ensembles.” Etymologically, the word “ensemble” is rooted in the “union of all parts in a performance . . .together, at the same time.” Our Venice community is embedded in harmony. Let us resound our clarion call for togetherness.
Let’s inventory over six sexy ways of motherly love cultivating stories.
Mary Jane Shoultz
ONE: I met Mary Jane Shoultz in researching Marshall McLuhan and James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake. Though she recently passed away, she will always evoke Anna Livia Plurabelle, “the flowing female presence that opens the WAKE and runs throughout it as a river. Indeed, it could be said that the entire book is devoted to this female-archetype with the initials ALP. The ‘Mamafesta’ is a letter written by ALP memorializing her deceased husband and, as can be seen from even a brief glance at any part of the chapter, it is also Finnegans Wake itself.” – Peter Quadrino https://www.abuildingroam.com/2010/03/james-joyce-quarterly-and-tunc-page.html
Mary Jane Shoultz vitalized many as the classic courageous heroine. She thundered an “all essence” shifting between the past, presence and future redefining our own identity – we are more than the sum of our parts. As her obit details, “At heart a poet crafting words for emotional effect, she coined many words along the way ($pliteracy, Manstitutions, Academentia, Pimperialism ). Her life was dedicated to radical educational reform, moving literacy and the phonetic alphabet to the periphery where reading might not be taught until a child was in their teens. All meant to make space for a fairer, more flexible educational system, open to all. . . While a student at University of Iowa in the mid-50’s, she majored in French, worked in the emerging language lab there, and was eventually able to study at the Sorbonne- a dream come true. Mary Jane also enjoyed a guest editorship at Mademoiselle in New York City. . . Even while writing a 4-viewpoint novel and teaching, she became the creative heart of the neighborhood, hosting fundraising carnivals and creating interesting kid games. She loved making new; in paint, in clay, in food and in theatre. That passion lit fires in each of her children.” https://obits.mlive.com/us/obituaries/annarbor/name/mary-shoultz-obituary?pid=205940082
Note that in one of her own newly created words, “$pilteracy,” the first letter is spelled with a dollar sign $. When humans started printed word we split the right (intuitive) and left (linear) hemispheres of the brain. More than meets the mind? The pocketbook? Her percepts probe the death of the visual, linear straight-jackets of books as a plus. Shoultz was bold education professor, and founder of the “open” school movement having founded Community High (also know as Commie High) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She was a close advisor to Marshall McLuhan, Norman Mailer & Ivan Illich. I booked her as a guest speaker at Midnight Special Bookstore many years ago. She updated our consciousness about the electric environment as the major learning tool. She emphasized newness inspired by McLuhanisms like “Our young people are not illiterate, they are post-literate. Today’s students want immediate roles, not far-off goals.” and “The trouble with a cheap specialized education is that you never stop paying for it.” Timeless advice indeed, via McLuhan’s The City as Classroom. She was watching multi screens (several TV’s) way before it became the norm.
Most important, Mary Jane stressed having fun. I have fond memories of our merrymaking with playful conversations, laughter galore and some delicious carrot cake, too. Our joyous jollifications live on. Make Love, Not War.
Shoultz resonates “Motherly Love” ala Marija Gimbutas, who showed us, in the words of Joseph Campbell, “an actual age of harmony and peace in accord with the creative energies of nature which for a spell of some four thousand prehistoric years anteceded the five thousand of what James Joyce has termed the ‘nightmare’ (of contending tribal and national interests) from which it is now certainly time for this planet to wake.” – from the foreword to her 1989 book, The Language of the Goddess. Gimbutas, as an archeologist of prehistoric Europe, documented findings showing that these goddess- and woman-centered cultures were peaceful, without weapons and warfare. She inspired systems scientist Riane Eisler’s 1987 book The Chalice and the Blade, which promotes “partnership.” These themes reverberate on every page of the WAKE.
Since the WAKE is the history of everything that ever happened, and will happen, the study of Gimbutas reverberates with the knowledge that we humans are not naturally violent. There was 4,000 years of no warfare. The Greeks start introducing weaponry, horses and chariots around 1700 BC. We are not wired for war. We are wired for cooperation. Why do we accept that war is inevitable? McLuhan learned from Joyce “There is absolutely no inevitability as long as there is a willingness to contemplate what is happening.” Contemplate “matristic,” which means “being or relating to a prehistoric female-led society based around Mother Goddess worship.” Matristic is based in the word “matrix,” which is etymologically rooted in “the womb, source, origin, mother.” Consider the T-shirt slogan: “The Matrix is a Documentary.” This is for real, people. We can find commonality and humanity in cooperation. Motherly love. Seek peace. Nurture partnerSHIP. Ahoy. “All crew, no passengers” – Bucky Fuller.
Shoultz echoes the female protagonist in FINNEGANS WAKE as the manifestation of Anna Livia Plurabelle (aka ALP), the core matriarchal presence in the text. The wife of HCE (the male protagonist, aka Here Comes Everybody) and also the life-giving River Liffey, she is first introduced as a hen or little “gnarlybird” (WAKE page 10.31) scavenging from the “midden heap.” How’s that for reverberating Veniceness? Gnarly surfing (the Net?) and dumpster diving? Then, she morphs into a more recognizable human female, and eventually a river. “The ocean is the ultimate solution”, as Frank Zappa quipped. Go with the flow!
And, please fellow Venetians, let us resound Frank Zappa’s cry “You know we gotta to stick together.”
THREE: Frank had a Rent-A-Beatnik act with Terry Kirkman, who just passed away last year. Terry was best known as a vocalist for the pop group The Association and the writer of several of the band’s hit songs such as “Cherish”. Join us in April 14, for our annual VENICE BEATS III at Venice West. My new film SPONTO BEATS, which premiered at the Venice Heritage Museum Film Festival last year, is a love letter to our roots. The not-to-be-missed VENICE BEATS event is co-sponsored by Venice Heritage Museum, who have finally found a home. They’ll be celebrating their opening soon, stay tuned. And see the SPONTO BEATS film on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLRm4crc3kc
FOUR: Join Miss Jessica & Johan for their annual N’Orleans Parade starting at the Boardwalk & Rose Ave on Feb 25. “Laissez les bons temps rouler” is Cajun French for “let the good times roll.” Stir up that gumbo stew wif sum wiggle & warble, quiver & quake, shimmy & shake. We be leakin’ all over da curb, Baby Ba Ba! Rock & rollick The Second Line and dance nasty with wild abandon. As James Brown taught us: “Cause you got to use just what you got, To get just what you want-a.” And I wants to get funky, so I got down and knee deep in the N’awlins swamp muck with my new funk song “Mainline My Funk” by Black Shoe Polish (aka MMF by BSP). Preeminent guitarist Steve Vai calls it “Cool, slick, funky track. Really cool. Go man go.” Hear the song on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqLG0k84bwA
& watch the experimental film version
Alexis Smith
FIVE: Local art star Alexis Smith has passed away. Her vibrant scavenger collages chronicles our culture. Poet Amy Gerstler said, “Alexis Smith is necessary; her work essential. Luckily for us, she sprang into existence somehow. If she hadn’t, we would have had to invent her.” I have interviewed both of these courageous women and explored their creative process. They inspire me to hoick up the Venice mission to invent new questions and new metaphors. McLuhan motivates these possibilities, too. How about Zappa’s “Does humor belongs in music?” Yeah, I’ll ruin that question with an answer, “YES!” Like another recent loss, Peter Schickele (aka P.D.Q. Bach), the talented composer who caused so much laughter in the world with his classical parodies. He declared, “Years ago I used to watch Victor Borge, still concertizing in his 80s. And it never occurred to me that I would do the same. I’m amazed that P.D.Q. has gone on for 50 years. It just goes to show, some people never learn” and “Bach had 20 children because his organ had no stops.” I also salute William Pope.L, who was called “The Friendliest Black Artist in America,” transitioned in 2023. I interviewed him in Santa Monica in Nov, 2007. https://pfsuzy.medium.com/william-pope-l-interview-by-gerry-fialka-424fd48dd906
His intervention art continues to make me try harder to do better. He has crawled on Wall Street dressed in a Superman outfit. He chained himself to a bank and handed out 5 dollar bills as reversed panhandling. Does art activate or passive us? I am deeply moved by everything these artists did – their visions, their tales, their bravery.
In Venice, we eat burritos supreme. So ring out more good vibrations, and propagate this “love supreme combinations” of the female spirit (as giving birth) and the feast (as feeding us with stories as nutritious food). Put this paper down right now and literally take in a conscious yoga breath, and release it bellowing a loud deep cry of motherly love and beautiful blast of storied positive energy. As George Clinton & Bernie Worrell sang in “Cosmic Slop” by Funkadelic: “I can hear my mother call.”
Please tell me your thoughts, Gerry Fialka pfsuzy@aol.com
Marshall McLuhan
ADDENDUM ONE: The 1994 book WHO WAS MARSHALL McLuhan? published by Barrington Nevitt with Maurice McLuhan contains the introduction line: “Mary Jane Shoultz, Now a mother, hails from Ann Arbor, Michigan, is a teacher and a ‘woman’s lib’ pioneer,” followed by this essay by Mary Jane:
There is not a day that I don’t think of Marshall McLuhan. There is not a magazine that doesn’t quote him. There is not a present-day problem that couldn’t be solved, if we understood his insights.
In 1962, as a teacher and mother in Wayne, Michigan, I was in despair over the plight of the younger generation unable to master the “3Rs.” I could teach anyone anything one-to-one. But I could see that the huge classes then being integrated made competition hopeless for those at the “Fs” end of the grading curve. It seemed that the black children when being bussed in to get the “Fs” that formerly went to white children, when kept in their groups.
I was in despair, feeling hopeless, almost suicidal. I wondered what could there be for the illiterate majority, but drugs and disaster. Then lightening struck – an article by Marshall McLuhan, in the morning mail.
McLuhan wrote: “Our young people are not illiterate, they are post-literate. Today’s students want immediate roles, not far-off goals” (regardless of ideology: Left, Right, or Centre – Russia, USA, or Canada). That opened my eyes! It gave me hope and insights into the problems of today’s education. From then until retirement, I remained a teacher, and a professor of education reform, never in despair again, only waiting for all the others to see Marshall McLuhan’s insights recognized. …
For the next ten years, off and on, I attended his fascinating classes with international students and gurus of “futures” and media. I remember that to promote conversation, he preferred the glow of lamplight – the intensity of a dimly lit restaurant – instead of the harsh glare of fluorescent lighting.
I think that I helped McLuhan as well. We all felt that we helped; that was part of his charm. We’d bring clippings, sayings, rumours, and jokes to mingle with his, and we’d all be enriched.
I was into “woman’s lib” at the time. I proceeded to introduce Marshall to some of those ideas. He laughed and listened. Strange for a man! I insisted that male literacy, male mathematics, and male logic had been on the decline, since the advent of the electric age.
Of course, this reflected my main concern – the smothering of children with the now useless “literacy” – and I tended to see the death of those visual, linear straight-jackets as a plus. McLuhan explained why schools were so boring to TV-oriented children. Due to television itself, they even focused their eyes differently.
Personally, I love television. McLuhan rarely watched TV. He underlined the point that the TV child is constitutionally different from the literate child. He emphasized that it was not what they read or watched, but that they read or watch. The medium makes the difference between my generation and theirs.
People seemed to make much of the fact that McLuhan, though completely literate, emphasized the explosive changes inherent in the electric media. If we disagreed on any point, McLuhan would not argue. He’d just keep filling in facts, ideas, and one-liners until we understood. I pointed out to him how feminine were his ideas, like his Mom, his wife, his daughters, of even the Virgin Mary.
In 1970, during the Bahamas conference, I was astonished to see him cross himself at breakfast. It surprised me. I didn’t know then that he was a devout Roman Catholic, also a Marian, who never tried to foist his faith on anyone.
He also warned me on the noise level to expect from the slaves in the kitchen, who could express their rage and frustration only by dropping and clanging things. This they did in decibels! Bless them! Bless him!
When I was on staff at the University of Brandon in Manitoba, McLuhan visited us at home, and took us all out to breakfast. He told my sons about the guy who protested at having to go to school one day. “You must,” said his mother. “But Mom, … ” “First you’re all dressed. Second, I’ve made your lunch. And you’re the principal!”
Next day, after lectures, he came over to my place for a huge whipped-cream-strawberry-shortcake party. We had four TVs, four Radios, and four Record Players for accompaniment. By means of cereal, we buried the alphabet, reading chapter and verse for the the Bible ( the TV Guide).
A professor of Religion, who attended, was affronted. “What if someone wants to read?” “That’s OK too.” McLuhan got a kick out of that. The Professor thought we were serious and said so. “We are,” I said.
When the Brandon newspaper called for an account of this mysterious ceremony, I hesitated to explain for fear no one would understand. I did. They didn’t!
In Toronto, through the years, McLuhan held both formal classes and informal meetings and lunches on campus, as well as at home, where his gracious wife was always so present and aware – not afloat and aflit, like many wives. I remember their familial conferences about refreshments and arrangements. We watched while McLuhan brought up logs from the woods to the fireplace – a scene so homey, generous and safe, so hopeful for us all.
McLuhan’s birthday and mine fell on the same day, July 21st. I thought it more than coincidence. One year, my students phoned Marshall on “our day.” They all shouted: “Happy Birthday! Whatcha doin’ Marshall McLuhan?” He answered each in turn, and shared with them new thoughts and discoveries. My students were shy, but they didn’t’ want to say “good-bye.”
In my classes, we all saw his movies, read his books; rather, I read the books and shared them with my students. McLuhan’s writings are acoustic, not visual. His magic is personal and involved, not stand-offish and stiff. He was never abstract or “in the clouds.” I always found him precise and concrete in his observations concerning the drug scene, ads, music, art, demonstrations, and communes. (They always break up over one question,” he observed, “Who’ll do the dishes?”)
Long before we became aware of Sushi and Zen, McLuhan saw that the West was going East, just as the East was going West; and this, before the Japanese began turning out cars and appliances (of high quality).
He further pointed out that multi-national corporations have no boundaries, and can, at any moment, instantly transfer their assets to any part of the globe. We rode the acoustic wave of new knowledge, and of course, never thought it would end.
Though I saw McLuhan only a few times each year after this more frequent association, each day he kept me alive with his shared insights and observations, and his hope. Funny stories, calls, letters were forthcoming, and I knew that I could always call and he would answer. I still pretend it possible.
This Mary Jane Shoultz essay continues to inspire me. What is humanly possible? As jazz shaman Sun Ra proclaimed “The impossible attracts me because everything possible has been done and the world didn’t change.” Change is possible. Pretending can lead to change. Read more about her:
https://obits.mlive.com/us/obituaries/annarbor/name/mary-shoultz-obituary?pid=205940082
This tour features one of Zappa’s most beloved vocalists of all time – Napoleon Murphy Brock. As the iconic front man for Frank Zappa’s most infamous 1970’s ensemble, Napoleon Murphy Brock helped breathe life into many of Frank’s most enduring compositions over the course of 4 albums including what many consider to be Zappa’s greatest live release, Roxy and Elsewhere. Decades later, the Grammy Award-winning San Jose native’s voice and performance are as strong as ever – still boasting a 4-octave range and wielding a magnetic personality that dominates the stage.
The Stinkfoot Orchestra presents the intricacies and eccentricities of Frank’s music with power, authenticity, and musical prowess – leaving even the most critical Zappaphile pining for more. If you were able to catch the ensemble’s last trip to Southern California, you know what an amazing show to expect. If you missed it, don’t make the same mistake twice.
“The Stinkfoot Orchestra with Napoleon Murphy Brock admirably delivered all the musical virtuosity, compositional non-conformity, and satire of American culture that Frank Zappa distilled within his extensive oeuvre. The impression left upon driving home from this experience was one of deep appreciation mixed with laughter and amazement.” – Ted Silverman, Jambase. Join us Feb25 at the https://thevenicewest.com with this rockin’ teenage combo https://stinkfootorchestra.com at 7:30pm Enjoy their videos on Youtube. I will tell the history of Frank Zappa in Venice CA (with special guests) at 6:30pm. CHECK OUT more events info for 2024 at https://laughtears.com/
Addendum Three:
28-Year Book Club Conquers Literary Everest
Gains National Attention
Press Event: Reunion Party is Set for Friday, February 2, 2024, Venice, CA, on the birthday of James Joyce
Jan. 12, 2024 – (Venice Beach, CA) For many, reading Finnegans Wake would be a daunting undertaking. But after 28 years of perseverance, Marshall McLuhan/Finnegans Wake Reading Club (a.k.a Venice Wake) in Venice Beach has finally reached the last page of James Joyce’s infamous and widely considered unreadable novel. It took 28 years to read a novel that Joyce took 17 years to write!
Location: Venice – Abbot Kinney Memorial Branch Library 501 S. Venice Blvd. Venice, CA 90291
https://www.lapl.org/branches/venice
We invite you to celebrate community & literature evoked by this line written by James Joyce from Finnegans Wake (p.154): “Let me be Los Angeles.”
The book group will begin again on Friday, February 2, at 1:00 P.M., Photo opportunity:
Book club founder Gerry Fialka (Wikipedia) will read aloud the last and first lines of “Finnegans Wake” Restarting the book where he began his book club 28 years ago beginning mid-sentence:
“ riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.”
Available for Reporters/Editors: Photos and press-ready still images= https://laughtears.com/hi-res-pics.html
Archival Video Footage of the ‘Finnegan Wake’ book club in action on YouTube (Courtesy of book-club member Duncan Echleson):
To learn more about the Marshall McLuhan/Finnegans Wake Reading Club (a.k.a Venice Wake), visit https://LaughTears.com/McLuhanWake.html
“Fialka brings his distinctive approach. My phone interview with him lasted one hour and eight minutes, and its zigs, zags, and sheer velocity were unmatched in my nearly 20-year journalism career. Was I writing about Finnegans Wake, or was I suddenly inside it?” – Lois Beckett, The Guardian 11-12-23 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/nov/12/california-venice-book-club-finngeans-wake-28-years
Marshall McLuhan/Finnegans Wake Reading Club is an independent, unaffiliated public-service literary group. Not a part of the LAPL.org. Free admission.
Book-club founder Gerry Fialka available for interviews on request at pfsuzy@aol.com
Recent NEWS articles about the Venice Wake’s record-setting 28-year read-a-thon:
The Guardian (Sunday edition, called The Observer)
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/nov/12/california-venice-book-club-finngeans-wake-28-years
The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/11/16/finnegans-wake-book-club-california/
https://finwakeatx.blogspot.com/2023/11/guardian-observer-celebrates-galaxy-of.html
https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/book-club-reading-james-joyce-finnegans-wake-30-years
and NEW YORK TIMES
https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/greater-la/venice-book-club-humperdinck-indigenous/finnegans-wake
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/finnegans-wake-book-club-1.7028252
CBS Evening News and more https://www.youtube.com/@gfa1930/videos
Worldwide news coverage, too:
Pretoria https://maroelamedia.co.za/vreemdhede/boekklub-lees-28-jaar-lank-aan-een-boek/
Mandarin WorldJournal.com/wj/story/122986/7516835
Munich, Süddeutsche Zeitung https://www.sueddeutsche.de/panorama/james-joyce-finnegans-wake-buchclub-lesen-1.6302605
Berliner-Zeitung https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/panorama/james-joyce-finnegans-wake-buchklub-liest-28-jahre-an-einem-buch-und-faengt-jetzt-wieder-von-vorn-an-li.2159346
Estadão, São Paulo, Brasil: https://digital.estadao.com.br/article/282303914871638
Stockholm, Sweden: Bokklubben läste https://omni.se/bokklubben-laste-varldens-svaraste-bok-i-28-ar/a/0Q618E
LondonTimes theTimes.co.uk/article/book-club-takes-28-years-to-read-james-joyces-finnegans-wake-vfzvlgcm5
Miami en Español https://www.infobae.com/leamos/2023/11/18/en-1995-empezaron-a-leer-una-novela-de-james-joyce-en-grupo-acaban-de-terminar/ “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Venice, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Venice is a movable feast.” – to transform Ernest Hemingway after the phase shifting of the moon caused mucho munchies.