rocker/guerilla artist Jesse Cole has been talking about building a commune in the Los Angeles high desert to anyone who will listen. He's even taken to having a collections plate—passed around by a roadie in a priest costume—at his shows. Listen to him speak on the issue, and one senses a mounting tension in his demeanor. The Sixties are now officially over, he seems to be saying. Everyone who has latched onto the promise can feel the waves of history shifting once more. "It's the media that's done it," he says, punctuating his point with a long drag from his fourth or fifth cigarette of the interview. "The clothes, the lingo, it all meant something more real just a few years ago. Now it's like Halloween or something." At this point, I still can't tell if he's wearing his own tasseled leather jacket and bandana as an ironic statement on this pageantry, or if he's as much caught up in it all as everyone else. "Altamont, Manson—it's all turned a lot of people off to the promise, especially in L.A." Only he says it like 'the Promise' with a capital 'P'.
What do You think about Bridgetown, Issue #1: Arrival?
