Walden Pond Punk

Henry David Thoreau has played many roles as an American writer and philosopher – environmentalist, abolitionist, progressive, libertarian, and punk rock poet. While the punk label is less well known, if acknowledged at all, it’s every bit as valid and worthy of discussion. The punk of Thoreau, the transcendental punk whose lineage runs throughout American history, is not the stereotyped punk of spiked hair, tattered clothes, anarchy symbols splayed across leather jackets, mosh pits, slam dancing, and loud, fast, riveting guitar rock. It’s the punk of individual liberty, authenticity in the sense of self, and the rejection of conformity amidst a mindless society.

This small paragraph is the beginning of a piece I published several years ago with Pop Matters. It's really the beginning of the idea that I have now decided might be a longer project, a book even. Read the rest of the piece here:

Henry Thoreau as Performance Art

 Far from being a hermit and a recluse in the woods, Henry Thoreau actually lived a very public life, and he was every bit a citizen of his Concord community. As I've noted before, if Thoreau truly hated people and wanted to go off and live in the woods somewhere secluded, he easily could have and would have. Instead, as Laura Dassow Wells notes in her esteemed biography, "... the circumstances meant it [his journey] would be performed on a very public stage. His two years living at Walden Pond became and remain an iconic work of performance art."

Thoreau's experiment at the pond was meant to be seen and talked about, for he intended to be "a rooster crowing to bring in the dawn." He had a strong message to deliver to his neighbors, whom he feared lived "lives of quiet desperation," and he wanted to be asked about his work, his thoughts, his realizations, and his insights. The economic argument in which he grounds - and introduces - his performance was enthusiastic social commentary, calling out and even mocking the drab, dour existence of the Puritans as well as the work-driven existence promoted by Adam Smith.

Because the market economy and the rise of consumer culture treated people inhumanely as simple cogs in a machine, and because writers like Smith promoted well-being and self-worth solely through material wealth and the exchange of labor for money, Thoreau saw people diminished to an inauthentic human experience. He sought to explore and model a life lived for experience and knowledge. And, in many ways, the philosopher in him took the action of living his performance as a test of whether man could live as he believed.

Wild & Free

Here's the final Thoreau mixed media piece I recently put together last weekend. This uses a shadow print of Felix Edouard Vallotton’s portrait over selections from Thoreau essays “Walking” and “Civil Disobedience.” While Thoreau is obviously known first and foremost for Walden, and as a nature writer, he was also an ardent advocate for individual liberty. Civil Disobedience is perhaps his second best known piece, while "Walking" is known mostly to Thoreau scholars and fans for its discussion on his "case for the Wild."

Wild Heart

 Another Thoreau-inspired mixed media piece. This piece draws from the Lynchian theme "Wild at Heart and Weird on Top," and works in some Thoreau quotes on "the Wild." While many know Thoreau as an early environmentalist and nature writer, many of his passages are often misquoted as talking about "wilderness" rather than "wildness."

Thoreauvian Wild

 I've been meaning to do some Thoreau-inspired mixed media art that emphasizes the Thoreauvian Punk vibe I've been writing about. So, when a local gallery put out a show call centered on David Lynch and his film Wild at Heart, I figured it was the perfect time. 

I'm decently happy with this piece, though I'm still learning the technique.

These Are the Best Music Venues in Fort Collins

Home to the Fort Collins Musicians Association, FoCo, or Fort Collins, CO, is a town that is overflowing with live music from local and touring musicians. Home to the heart of Colorado's craft beer industry and a legendary punk rock recording studio The Blasting Room, Fort Collins is a dream location for musical artists, young and old. In fact, I loved the music scene so much after visiting for FoCoMX, the local music festival, that I moved here. I just published a feature on the best places to see live music in town:

Fort Collins, home to FoCoMX, the "biggest little music festival in America," is a genuine music town that can rival the best in the country for its support of the local scene. Anchored by a tight-knit community of musicians and artists through the Fort Collins Musicians Association, the area is always vibing to great music across every imaginable genre. Fort Collins residents simply love to go out for live music, many doing so several nights a week, and there's no lack of opportunities.

Just a drive up I-25 from Denver, FoCo's thriving music scene is supported by a seemingly endless network of bars, breweries, restaurants and venues that showcase the best in both local and national touring music. Discover your next favorite music venue in Fort Collins below:

For the complete list, check out the rest of the story at Westword.com

What is Punk & Who is Thoreau?

In a video clip asking What is Punk?, former Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins explains that punk in his view is “everything from the Velvet Underground to Occupy Wall Street and everything in between.” In that regard, then, Rollins, like many other punk musicians and artists, moves the term beyond simply a descriptor for a musical genre and into the realm of an idea, an attitude, a philosophy, a subculture, and even a socio-political movement. A similar board stroke could be used to characterize the life, identity, persona, and legacy of Henry David Thoreau, who defied simple explanations and encompassed a universe of ideas during his brief forty-four year life. Henry was a brilliant young man who lived, studied, worked, and wrote at the time of the New England Renaissance. Punk is a musical style that originated in New York and London in the early to mid 1970s with the rise of bands like Television, the Ramones, the Clash, and the Sex Pistols. Henry was a Harvard graduate who worked as a surveyor while also writing essays and poetry. Punk is a anti-authoritarian subculture that coalesced around alternative styles which rejected and challenged mainstream institutions. Thoreau was “simplicity, simplicity, simplicity.” Punk is three chords and aggressive beats. Thoreau was an abolitionist who developed and articulated ideas of civil disobedience to challenge the abuse and overreach of government. Punk is an attitude that rejects oppression by societal institutions that are unresponsive to the margins of society. Thoreau was a man who “lived deliberately … front[ing] only the essential facts of life.” Punk is a way of life boiled down to the essentials.

Groundhog Day — “An Existential New Year”

It’s not about monotony — it’s about re-birth.

Twenty-six years ago, an unassuming little film about a cantankerous weatherman on the most random of holidays became a pop culture phenomenon that ingrained itself in our consciousness. The title became a metaphor for reluctantly acknowledging the dailiness of life. With the silly story of Phil Connors waking up everyday in Punxsutawney, PA, with Sonny and Cher singing “I’ve Got You Babe” on an endless string of February seconds, Groundhog Day entered the lexicon as a way to describe the drudgery and repetition of daily life. But the movie was never simply about the mundane nature of existence. It was always about self-awareness and second chances and reinvention and hope.

Let’s face it, by February 2 the New Year’s resolutions are fading, the fitness centers are back to the regulars, and we’re all bogged down in the drudgery of winter. These moments are ripe for a bit of pop culture existentialism, and the quirky film from Harold Ramis and Danny Rubin puts that long cold winter, the odd little holiday, and the repetitiveness of daily life in perspective. Watching the story of a disgruntled weatherman pondering the absurdity of a weather-forecasting rodent provides a second chance at mid-winter self-reflection and re-invention. The conceit of the film is not only the ridiculous holiday but also the inexplicable weirdness of Phil Connors’ predicament.

The film Groundhog Day is actually a wonderful primer for the wisdom of existentialism, and when I taught the philosophy in my college literature class, I would often lead or conclude with a viewing of Bill Murray’s brilliant portrayal of a man trying to bring some sense of meaning to a life that seems nothing short of absurd ....

Read the rest of the story on Medium

Dead Pioneers Are Punk Rock’s New Conscience

I've written about this new punk band out of Denver before for the alt-weekly Westword. In the past year, the band has seen some incredible growth and exciting new opportunities.

Gregg Deal has a warning for everyone: “America is a pyramid scheme, and youain’t on top!” The self-proclaimed “Bad Indian” behind the new Denver punk band Dead Pioneers delivers that blunt assessment in the opening track “Tired” from the band’s 2023 self-titled first album. It’s a scathing indictment of capitalism, racism, sexism, and every insidious side of prejudice and corruption pulsing through contemporary American society.

Delivered in aggressive spoken word against a backdrop of riveting punk guitar riffs from veteran punk rockers Josh Rivera and Abe Brennan, the song launches a new band, a new sound, and a necessary, timely new voice in punk rock music. Though Deal ends the song by acknowledging, “I’m so very, very tired,” he has channeled that centuries-long weariness into a powerful, energetic music project that projects a bold social consciousness.

Read the rest of the story at PopMatters.

Thoreauvian Punk: Rebel and Revolt

 Few political theorists ever note the political side of Henry Thoreau's writing, and, true to form, Thoreau often disavowed any explicitly political slant to his writing. However, that's difficult to accept of one of American history's most ardent abolitionists and a man who wrote a pivotal piece of American political philosophy that has come to be known as Civil Disobedience.

Scholar and Vermont history professor Bob Pepperman Taylor has written two books specifically focused on the political angle of Thoreau's work, and in a classic punk rock connection, Pepperman notes that "Thoreau exhibits a young person's rebelliousness." A classic criticism of Thoreau has been that his writings, especially early pieces, were "so youthful as to appear immature." Was Thoreau too young and inexperienced to be a true political philosopher? Or was the spirit of his passion, young and inexperienced, not old and jaded. 

Pepperman also observes how Thoreau's reflections on economy in the opening section of Walden enable us to "think of Thoreau as the first and perhaps greatest American writer to attack the complacency of the emerging American middle class." And that characterization is an apt connection to the early 80s post-punk, early hardcore of Greg Graffin's band Bad Religion and Henry Rollins work with Black Flag. 

Thoreauvian Punkonomics

 While many see Henry Thoreau as primarily or even exclusively as a nature writer, it's no surprise that the opening section of his opus Walden, or Life in the Woods begins with a section titled "Economy." Having graduated from Harvard in the economically turbulent year of 1837 (recall the "Panic of 1837" from your high school history class), Thoreau was significantly impacted by and focused on the economic and working conditions unfolding in America during the early part of the nineteenth century. This was a tumultuous era grounded in growing industrialism and the rise of the commercial economy.

And Thoreau had his questions, his skepticism, his criticism. 

As scholar Brian Walker noted in a piece on Thoreau's Alternative Economics, "Thoreau's central theme is that working conditions in a market economy can easily undermine liberty and erode autonomy." Thoreau was writing not too long after Adam Smith had begun to weave modern economic views with his treatise on Capitalism, Wealth of Nations. And it can be argued that Thoreau's work in Walden was a direct response to and even political satire of Smith. Thoreau was quickly realizing the insidious power of money and capital to compromise even to warp individual lives and choices. 

Similar views can be found in the rise of punk rock and punk culture in and around the year 1977, with comparable economic turmoil in both the United States and Great Britain. The similarities between 1837 and 1977, and the response of artists and writers to those challenging conditions, is a unique connection between the views of Henry Thoreau and the themes of punk. The nonconformist do-it-yourself attitudes of Thoreau and punk are intriguing and an interesting way to view both the man and the movement.

Because the market economy treats people inhumanely as simple cogs in a machine, and writers like Smith promote personal well being and individual value through material wealth and acquisition, an important key to understanding Thoreau, and specifically the section on Economy is as a critique of the rise of consumer culture, noting and criticizing the shift to a commercial and industrial economy that exploited man and forced an individual to view himself primarily, if not exclusively, through his economic value.

Thoreau: Not a Recluse or a Hermit

Henry David Thoreau, the sage of a Walden Pond and the Transcendentalist writer and philosopher of early 19th century Concord, Massachusetts was not, as many people believe, a grumpy reclusive hermit living out in the woods, escaping from society. Anyone who has ever been to Walden Pond knows it is actually a short walk into town, especially for someone like Thoreau who regularly walked four to eight miles a day. And the close proximity to "civilization" is often used to criticize Thoreau for being a poseur or a fraud. In fact, a New Yorker article from years ago raised the ire of a many a Thoreauvian when the writer railed against Thoreau as "pond scum" because, according to her, he walked into town for his mother to do his laundry. That hit piece of unresearched commentary has been roundly exposed and criticized for all it gets wrong, and it's not worth extending the discussion here.

For, I am much more interested in revealing the fully engaged citizen and community member Thoreau who was a shining example of the rebel and the punk who achieved the impressive feat of living in society while also apart from it. The Walden experiment was actually an exercise in non-conformity, and the book reads as a guidebook for nonconformists. Thoreau was well aware of his surroundings and quite familiar with the wilderness and the natural world. If he wanted to truly escape society and live out in the woods away from people, he most certainly would have. Instead, his decision was, according to renowned Thoreau biographer Laura Dassow Walls, "an iconic work of performance art." His proximity to town and his regular visits (as well as receiver of visitors) was intended to ensure his actions were "performed on a very public stage." 

Thoreau's intent was quite literally to rattle the bars of society and raise important questions about how to live. And I am writing about Thoreau today as a bit of a reflection on the work I am doing with Thoreau and the punk rock ethos. What began as a simple magazine piece of pop culture criticism has actually become a bit of a passion. Following the PopMatters piece, I developed the piece into a longer journal-style conference paper, which I presented at the MPCA's (Midwest Pop Culture Association) annual conference at Depaul University in October of 2022. In the past year, I wrapped up my thirty year teaching career to pursue a fellowship of sorts, researching and writing about The Punk on Walden Pond. My initial plan and goal was to pursue this project in an official fellowship or MFA program, but when those options didn't pan out, I moved up to Fort Collins where I've been writing about music and trying to turn this idea into something more. 

We'll see how it goes. Check back occasionally to learn a bit more about what I call Thoreauvian Punk.