Jaguar Bennett

Accidental Camera Phone Picture #6

2008-02-14T03:09:00.001-08:00

Road, 2007

Just a thought ...

2007-12-09T20:26:00.000-08:00

It just occurred to me that a President of the United States who connives at torture and lies to start a war is, potentially, the most dangerous human being who ever lived, even more so than Hitler or Stalin or the bush-league Osama bin Laden.

If America goes Nazi, there isn't any United States to take us out. That shouldn't be a comfort to anyone, least of all Americans.

Accidental Camera Phone Picture #5

2007-11-05T12:21:00.000-08:00

Turn Signal, Summer 2006

Book Nook: Iraq and Vietnam

2007-09-16T15:42:00.000-07:00

A cursory Google search—which is the only kind of research you're going to get from me—will show you that pretty much from the minute the current war in Iraq started to look like a gooey quagmirey mess, people have been tip-toeing around the dreaded Vietnam Comparison.

Jingoes still sometimes like to pretend that the Vietnam War was a glorious crusade of idealism that we damn well ought to have won, if it wasn't for the Dolchstoss of those dirty hippies back Stateside, but I would venture that most Americans will concede that Vietnam was A Mistake. And for the most part, even the jingoes have been bullied into paying lip service to the invalidity of the Vietnam War and the validity of the anti-war movement—at least in the anti-war movement's early stages, when the protestors were clean and polite, and didn't have laughably hubristic notions of overturning American capitalism.

So, the up-to-date jingo of today must strenuously deny the validity of the Vietnam Comparison. Iraq can't possibly be comparable to Vietnam, because we all know that Vietnam was A Mistake and Iraq, clearly, is Not. If you want an example, you can read a 2005 Christopher Hitchens piece on Slate.

If it seems like I'm being slow and behind the times to pick on a two-year-old Hitchens piece, you'll hate me for dragging in a 40-year-old magazine article.

I was reminded of all this today because I have been reading Practicing History, a book of essays by the historian Barbara Tuchman. Toward the back of the book, there is an article titled "Vietnam: When, Why, and How to Get Out," which was originally printed in Newsday on March 8, 1968—a month and three days before I was born.

My attention was arrested by the first two paragraphs, which are worth reprinting in full:

I should like to offer a number of propositions. One, we are fighting a war in Asia for an objective no one can define. If it is to make the world safe from aggression, that is a slogan, not a possibility. If it is to contain communism, that is not to be accomplished by destroying the society where the containment is being tried out. If it is to keep Asia open to our access and enterprise, that is an aim, which, as formulated by John Hay in the "Open Door" principle, is one of the basic doctrines of American foreign policy; but it always had a twin, "Do not get involved in a land war in Asia." We are trying to maintain the one by violating the other.

Further propositions: The situation in South Vietnam, as regards "freedom from aggression" and democratic institutions, not to mention the general welfare of the people, is worse off than it was before the U.S. moved in. The affairs and reputation of the U.S. itself have steadily deteriorated since our military involvement began. Control of the war and of the policy perpetuating it is in the hands of a President who has locked himself on course and, whether from personal pride or failure to comprehend what is happening, is unwilling to deviate, adjust, or alter direction. One keeps waiting for signs that this is not so—that Mr. Johnson may after all have an ear open to the sounds of history—but no signs appear. By now it seems an absolute that the President is unable to alter course; ergo that the war will not be terminated nor will we get out of it without a change of administration.

The comparison fairly leaps off the page, doesn't it? If you changed a few words—Bush for Johnson, terrorism for aggression, "Islamo-fascism," or whatever they're calling it this week for communism—you could reprint this article today and people wouldn't notice. Growing up in the 70s and 80s, I heard all kinds of claptrap about how America had learned the lesson of Vietnam (does anyone remember George Bush senior gushing "We've licked that Vietnam syndrome" during Gulf War I?), but I'm damned if I can see that anything has changed.

Certainly, nothing had changed by 1972, when Tuchman published "Coalition in Vietnam—Not Worth One More Life" (New York Times, May 26, 1972). Again, I quote at length:

If the goal of coalition government still lies behind the conditions on which the Nixon administration is prepared to make its exit from Vietnam, there can be no foreseeable exit. We have been pursuing this goal (whether from conviction or
for public consumption one cannot say) for four years. As recently as Mr. Kissinger's last visit to Paris he carried with him, as he told the press, "a plan for coalition." On what basis of reasonable expectation? Between erstwhile enemies in a civil conflict, the only form of coalition that can occur is that which results when a snake swallows a rabbit. One side or another must be eventually engorged.

How can there be compromise over a division so fundamental that it requires recourse to war? Could the South and North have agreed to stop fighting after Gettysburg and form a joint government? Or Robespierre share power with Louis XVI? Or Generalissimo Franco settle into coalition with Loyalists after the Spanish Civil War?

To complete the parallel, I note that today, we are asked to believe that the key to Peace in Iraq is for the Sunnis and the Shiites to learn to Play Nice, which will be best achieved by ... a coalition government! I wouldn't say that Tuchman is always right that coalition governments don't work—I don't have the historical knowledge to judge. (It would be interesting for a person more industrious than I to see how well the Protestant-Catholic power-sharing arrangement has settled things in Northern Ireland.) But I do think Tuchman has a telling point, if you look at it from a common-sense view of human nature—that when people start killing each other a paper agreement is not likely to make them stop.

One wonders, of course, whether Tuchman's historic analogies really apply to Iraq. I don't know for a fact that the Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis can't form a working coalition—and considering the question just makes me uncomfortably aware that I don't know anything about Iraq. I would bet that I'm no more ill-informed than the average American, but the truth is, I don't know jack shit about Iraq, and I don't think very many people in America know more.

But despite our ignorance, we, the citizens of the United States, allow our government to pursue a policy whose wisdom and efficacy we can't possibly competently evaluate. And because we don't know enough about the countries our military fights in, we're equally prone to comforting illusions like the Iraqis will welcome with flowers and paranoid fears that if we don't defeat "Islamo-fascism" in Iraq, Something Bad will happen. (Hey, who remembers the Domino Theory?)

And by and large, we like it that way. We prefer to hand over the responsibilities of government to the men of power. We continue to elect Big Daddies who will make the monsters under the bed go away

The American public has no appetite for factual truth about Iraq. Journalists of the Victor Davis Hanson and Thomas Friedman school, who promise they will explain the Meaning of the War, don't get down and dirty with the history of Iraq or current conditions "on the ground," to use the current euphemism for "war-torn Third World shithole." (If the rest of the world is "on the ground," where do we live? Cloud Cuckoo Land?)

Instead, Hitchens, Hanson, Friedman, et. al. give us grand theories based on pure supposition. That Islam is irredeemably opposed to Free Society and the Free Market. That the current conflict is an epic battle between the forces of Ignorant Religious Fundamentalism and Secularist Democracy. That Arabs refuse to Grow Up and accept Moral Responsibility. (Which, I believe, is how 1950s psychiatrists explained homosexuality, too.)

I'm going to throw out three wild suppositions, based on even less knowledge than Hanson, Friedman, and the rest of the gang: First, that what's happening in Iraq has little to do with the Clash of Civilizations and a lot to do with internal Iraqi politics. Second, that there's nothing the U.S. can do to influence Iraqi politics. Third, that unless we finally do understand that the United States does not and cannot Rule the World, we'll have the exact same discussion again circa 2045.

The Future, as seen in 1975, 1992 and today

2007-08-29T14:53:00.000-07:00

I don't write poetry anymore, but I used to, back in the early 1990s when reading poetry out loud in coffeehouses seemed like just a newly revived fad — a bizarre neo-beatnik thing to do. Because it is my nature to poke malicious fun at nearly any solemn enterprise, I immediately expanded my stand-up repertoire to include writing and reciting bad poetry in a mock-Maynard G. Krebs style.

Today a friend reminded me of one of my first pseudo-Beat poems, written circa 1992, which I reproduce here in its entirety:

Gerald Ford haunts my memories
Casting a spiteful trout out of my past
On to the graham cracker crust before me.

My eyes took shape in an earlier age,
Long ago, when telephones walked the earth.
In those days, all things came to a man
Willing to see the world in flames.

Living in a happier time has not suited my disposition.
I yearn for the enlivening dooms of my youth.

It's terrible, but it's actually one of the better poems I've ever written. Ironically, while the poem is about an obsolete picture of the future, it's the viewpoint of the poem that is now entirely obsolete. I wrote the poem in reaction to the view of the future that everybody, including me, believed in the early 1990s — that with the fall of communism and the End of History, life was going to be universally peaceful, pleasant, prosperous and boring.

I compared that to the picture of the future we had in the 1970s — that things were just going to get worse and worse, and we'd face a Soylent Green future of ecological devastation, totalitarian government, natural disasters and wars.

In 1992, that future seemed ridiculously overdramatic, but it had a wistful charm ... imagine, that people used to think the future would be exciting, not boring! In 1992, the near future seemed like it was going to be a melange of Neuromancer and AT&T's "You Will" ads ... an endless suburban shopping mall where stupid yuppies bought stupid corporate products.

Gadgets got better, but there was nothing about the 1990s that seemed whizz-bang enough for a kid raised on Space 1999. I remember being disappointed by the 1990s and the turn of the century because it just wasn't futuristic enough ... the "Where's my flying car?" meme.

But look at the world today ... we have a totalitarian government, we have an endless war, we have a huge ecological disaster ... the 1970s had the future down cold, and the 1990s was living in a dream world.

Accidental Camera Phone Picture #4

2007-08-05T21:28:00.002-07:00

Cool Zoomy Image I Can't Identify

Comedy Thursday Aug. 2

2007-07-30T23:08:00.001-07:00

Somehow, I always get suckered into doing stand-up comedy. And this week is my week to go in front of an angry, hostile crowd and make them even more angry and hostile. It's a thankless job, but, God, I love it.

I'll be performing this Thursday night, August 2, at 8:30 p.m. at the Smokehouse, 1231 Van Ness Ave -- that's in downtown Fresno, on Van Ness just north of Fresno St.

I'll be talking my usual drivel, about sex (good, especially when I can get some), death (really good when it happens to other people), religion (very bad, except when it helps me get sex), women (they don't sleep with me; I wonder why?), and God (the job that's my lifelong ambition.)

Plus more comedy from Ken Lewis, Will Wright and more! And you get to eat those delicious Smokehouse ribs! What more could you want?!

Cover is $15. Proceeds to go to my favorite charity -- guess which one!

“Fresno” on TV!

2007-06-14T14:08:00.000-07:00

Be one of the first to see a clip from Entandem Productions’ upcoming documentary, “Fresno!” Christine and Jaguar are scheduled to appear on Channel 26’s morning show, “Great Day,” this Tuesday, June 19, at way too early in the morning. We’ll be showing a clip from “Fresno”—the first time anyone in the world, anywhere, will get a chance to see a portion of the film.

Want to see a little bit of what we’ve been doing, get up early (or stay up late, depending on your habits) and catch us on Great Day! Tell all your friends!

[Note on the headline: This is an extremely private joke, which I'm now going to spoil by explaining it to you. When I very briefly lived in San Francisco in the nineties, I couch-surfed with an ex-Fresnan and we lived in a neighborhood that was infested with Fresno ex-pats. One day, I was watching the TV news in the living room while there was a gaggle of Fresnans in the kitchen. I saw a story about a horrible plane crash in Fresno. Did I stop to think about the people who were injured and killed? Of course not. Dumbstruck, all I could think was to yell incoherently, "Fresno on TV! Fresno on TV" to bring everyone running. After that, "Fresno on TV" became our catchword for unexpected publicity.]

Comedy This Thursday at the Smokehouse in Downtown Fresno

2007-06-11T09:59:00.000-07:00

I'm putting on a little comedy show this Thursday, June 14, 8:00 PM, at the Smokehouse, 1231 Van Ness Ave. in downtown Fresno.

This is kind of a return of Fresno comedy to its roots. For those who don't know, the Smokehouse is in the location of what was once Fresno's only comedy club, the Athenian. (I played the Athenian once at the very beginning of my comedy career.) After the Athenian closed, the club was bought by new owners who renamed it Screwballz, and after Screwballz closed, comedy was pretty dead in Fresno.

But we're bringing that comedy spirit back to the place this week. We're featuring seven comedians: me, Ken Lewis, Rick Rodham, Nick Nocketback, Kris Devoid, Will Wright and Aimee Ortiz.

Cover is only $15--that's a mere $2.14 per comedian. Now that's your best entertainment value. See you there!

Accidental Camera Phone Picture #3

2007-05-25T08:48:00.001-07:00

"Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism" by Susan Jacoby. Winter 2007

Constant reader reports ...

2007-05-10T08:19:00.002-07:00

When people ask me what I do, I say I'm a writer, but being a reader is actually closer to my true identity. The actual work of writing is nearly always sheer drudgery, and the profession of writing is precarious and ill-paid, but reading always affords real pleasure. If I were forced to never write again, I wouldn't like it, but I'd adjust. If I were forced to never read again—I simply don't know what I would do with myself. The idea is simply too alien to even consider.

I am always reading something. I frequently dine in public alone with a book. (When I had a girlfriend, we would go out to restaurants and read and eat together in silence, which always amazed the wait staff.) I never leave the house without a book in my pocket or in my car; after all, you never know when you'll have to wait five minutes, and far better to spend that time reading than just waiting. I really can't understand it when I see people in restaurants, eating or drinking by themselves, and just staring into space, doing nothing.

I'm pretty sure that makes me a rarity in today's world. Even the bookish people I know don't really read all that much. God knows few people read for pleasure nowadays. I much prefer honest uneducated illiterates to middle-class educated illiterates. The honest illiterate may read twice a year, and he or she may only read People or Lowrider magazine, but at least they read what they read because they enjoy it. The middle-class educated illiterate, who only reads books of guaranteed quality that will improve them, are the real death of literature.

A friend once announced to me with great solemnity, that she was going to read a book that summer and she wanted me to select a really good book that would be worth the time investment. As if reading a book were a grand cultural experience that you might take in once a year, like going to the opera or traveling to Rome.

Bizarre, if True

2007-05-07T08:01:00.000-07:00

The incredibly prolix Eric Field (aka Lacquer, Semi-Gloss Lacquer) made a comment to my last post that I found surprising. In order to give this startling news more publicity, I decided that it needed to be upgraded from a mere comment on a blog that no one reads to a main article on a blog that no one reads.

Here is Eric's comment:

so, um, like, yah... I was catching up with my younger brother about the NY scene, the potential of Rogue East:
(Peter) '..uh, good luck on that one, bud, that's going to be an uphill to get people to hand over venues, things are really tight if not closing down in a lot of ways, it's just not artist friendly...'

then he drops the bomb..

'...actually, what the buzz is, is how Fresno is going to be the third wave... yep, they're even talking about the Rogue and everything over here, and how that it's the last really affordable and decent place to break in your stuff, has a strong performer-artist base, lots of friendly venues, and affordable housing and all that... you guys are about to boom...'

(me) '...you're kidding.'

(Peter) '...nope, that's what I'm hearing this ways... the trend is now shifting away from places like NYC and S.F. and towards Fresno...'

I just don't know whether to believe this at all. If that's actually the buzz about Fresno in New York, there has got to be a Fresnan in NYC who is a demon publicist.

In other news: Entandem Productions' new film "Fresno: the Documentary" (working title) is now in production, with four days of shooting in the virtual digital video can. Check out our progress on the Entandem Blog!

A new venture is launched ... Entandem Productions

2007-04-26T16:51:00.000-07:00

In my birthday post, I made some cryptic comments about new projects. It's time to introduce New Project #1: Entandem Productions, the new Fresno film company founded by my partner Christine Mitchell and myself.

The goal of Entandem is to create unabashedly smart films for smart people, with uncompromising standards of originality and quality. And if that wasn't ambitious enough, we want to build a successful independent film studio right here in Fresno, using San Joaquin Valley locations and talent.

Our first production will be a documentary about Fresno itself, and its past, present and probable future. Fresno is a paradox: a small town that's a big city, a backwater with an amazing arts scene, the fruit garden of the world set in a desert, a place that everyone is dying to leave, but everyone comes back to.

Our new documentary will try to capture Fresno in all its contradictions and complexity. We start filming tonight, at the Fresno Art Council's Horizon Awards, where we'll observe the movers and shakers of the Fresno art scene in their native habitat.

We'll be filming all this summer -- you can watch our progress by checking out the updates on Entandem's website and blog.

Birthday

2007-04-11T07:51:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday. I'm one year older and about 10 years wiser, or so I like to kid myself. This has been the most intense year of my life, with all kinds of developments, personally and professionally: the death of my mother, the ending of a 5-year relationship, a lot of acting work, a little bit of writing and comedy, and one show that I'm nearly entirely satisfied with.

This year has been so full of events and significance that it's impossible to summarize it neatly and say "This is what it all means." I have yet to figure any of it out. I wouldn't want to repeat 2006, but it's been an interesting year, in the Chinese sense.

My friendships and working partnerships have changed a great deal in the last year, mostly in positive ways. Old friendships have sustained me through difficult times; ongoing friendships have transformed and deepened; new friendships have developed. I'm moving away from projects that, while of merit, did not have a lot of personal significance to me, and I'm starting new projects that are about expressing my ideas, not someone else's. (More about new projects in a later post.)

I'm now 39 and I've lost a lot, but right now my life is mostly full of beginnings rather than endings. And as I've always said, you are only as old as you look, and I easily pass for as young as 32 these days.

I will be celebrating my birthday tonight at the Starline Grill from 8 p.m. onwards. All three of the people who read this blog are cordially invited to attend.

Accidental Camera Phone Picture #2

2007-03-16T07:29:00.000-07:00

Street Scene, July 2006

Encore Performance of Bullet Point!

2007-03-15T16:11:00.000-07:00

That's right, you have one more chance to see my one-man play Bullet Point, the world's first PowerPoint tragedy and the surprise hit of the 2007 Rogue Performance Festival. (It was a surprise hit mainly to the author, who is amazed at the audience's response to this show.)

Bullet Point will be appearing in a double-feature with Tony Imperatrice's wonderful one-man show Confessions of a Church Organist: A Sordid Tale of Sex, Booze and Hymns Saturday, March 24, 7:oo PM at Ashtree Studios, 1035 N. Fulton in the Tower District. Cover is $10, and a portion of the proceeds will go to finance the 2008 Rogue Performance Festival.

If you didn't get a chance to see Confessions of a Church Organist, it's a great show that gets my highest recommendation. The true life story of how an atheist became a church organist and all the crazy adventures along the way. Sometimes comic, sometimes tragic, and delightfully entertaining. The story includes all the standard elements of family dysfunction, alcoholism, and illicit sex. Not suitable for persons with religious sensitivities. Strong language, sexual themes, drunken stories.

Here's your last chance to see two Rogue hits for the price of one! Come early — Tony and I sold out Ashtree during the regular Rogue, and this show promises to be even crazier.

Accidental Camera Phone Picture #1

2007-03-12T17:58:00.000-07:00

Supermarket interior, Summer 2006

The Rogue is over. And I am just beat.

2007-03-11T11:28:00.000-07:00

Two years ago, I started referring to the Rogue Performance Festival as the Bataan Death March Performing Arts Festival. That year, the Festival had suddenly grown in something so big, that I started to feel that working on the Rogue had become an endurance contest that would drive anyone to exhaustion.

Two years later, the Rogue is bigger and working on it is even tougher. When you look at the stats of this year's Rogue, the sheer size of this thing is absurd. Seven days of performances. One hundred performance companies, dance troupes, filmmakers and individual performers and visual artists. Over 200 performances. If I had a brain left, I'd calculate how many hours it would take you to see everything that was in the 2007 Rogue.

Producing the Rogue is hard work, and the Rogue Volunteer Corps who make it all happen are an amazing group of people. They work like demons. When situations arise, they immediately take responsibility and fix the problem on the spot. Many of the Rogue Corps are performers who are juggling their own Rogue shows while working on the Festival. There are few for-profit companies that work as efficiently or successfully as the Rogue Festival.

I did 12 performances in six days. Six days when I practically lived in my costume. Six days when I often forgot to eat. I'm so tired I can barely see, but I wouldn't trade this experience for anything.

Opening Night of Bullet Point — It's a Hit!

2007-03-06T11:15:00.000-08:00

Thanks so much to the audience at Sunday night's opening of my new one-man show Bullet Point. It was great to have a full house for opening night — on a Sunday, no less! — and even greater to get such a wonderful audience response. The audience seemed to enjoy themselves through the entire performance, and the applause at the end was truly gratifying.

The extremely talented Mia Paschal (who has a one-woman show in the Rogue called This Lily Was (Fontana) that you shouldn't miss) was kind enough to post a review of Bullet Point on the Rogue website. Check it out here.

I was also very pleased that Rogue performer Barry Smith was in the audience and he said he enjoyed it. Barry's own one-man multimedia show Jesus in Montana is a brilliant piece of work and one of my top picks what you must see at the Rogue Festival.

Putting on a new play, especially a one-person play, is a terrifying experience. Going into Sunday's performance, I had absolutely no idea if this show would work. Getting such a strong response from the audience was a great experience.

So if you were not Sunday's performance, check out Bullet Point. There's four more days to the Rogue Festival, this Wednesday through Saturday. You have two more chances to see Bullet Point, and you should also see my two other shows, Thread and 'Dentity Crisis. And see everything else at the Rogue, while you're at it!

Jaguar at the Rogue!

2007-02-26T08:30:00.000-08:00

The 2007 Rogue Performance Festival, Fresno's biggest, baddest and weirdest arts event, runs March 1-10, with 100 different acts. Because you've been extra good children this year, you get to see Jaguar Bennett in THREE different productions, including the world premiere of my new show, Bullet Point, the world's first tragedy told in the form of a PowerPoint presentation.

Here's the full Jaguar lineup at the 2007 Rogue (click the links to go the show's page at the Rogue website:

Bullet Point: a new play by Jaguar Bennett, premiering at the Rogue. Larry Driscoll has problems. His company is under SEC investigation. His partner is selling him out. Death stalks his family. His wife won't sleep with him, and he suspects God feels the same way. But Larry can't think about distractions; he's making the most important PowerPoint presentation of his life. The world's first tragedy told in the form of a PowerPoint presentation, Bullet Point explores how a modern tragic hero's cosmic hubris is expressed through the technology of total information control. At Ashtree Studios, 1035 N. Fulton. $4. Sun. March 4, 8:45 PM; Wed. March 7, 8:45 PM; Fri. March 9, 7:30 PM.

Thread: written and directed by Christine Autrand Mitchell, premiering at the Rogue. Also starring Gabriela Lawson and Suzanne Garcia. When a monster unravels, is there a man underneath? Lisle Thread is the perfect consultant—silent, efficient, professional. Lisle is an expert at resolving troublesome situations. But when a somber but beautiful woman moves in across the hall, his carefully constructed life starts to unravel…. At Dianna's South, 726 N. Fulton. $7. Sat. March 3, 4:00 PM; Sun. March 4, 2:30 PM; Wed. March 7, 7:00 PM; Sat. March 10, 8:30 PM. More info at Entandem Productions.

'Dentity Crisis: by Christopher Durang. Directed by Julie Lucido and Janine Christl. Starring Ashley Hyatt, Lori Gambero, Adam Schroeder, Jessica Reedy and Jaguar Bennett. Recovering from a nervous breakdown, Jane is nursed and nagged by her relentlessly cheerful mother, and confused by her oversexed brother—who keeps changing into her father, her grandfather and her mother’s French lover. Eventually all (including Jane’s psychiatrist, who undergoes a sex change operation and swaps places with his wife) change characters again and become Jane herself—leaving her with no identity at all and pointing up the near impossibility of self-identification in our uncertain times. At Studio 65, 2965 N. Maroa. $7. Fri. March 2, 8:00 PM; Sat. March 3, 8:00 PM; Sun. March 4, 5:00 PM; Fri. March 9, 10:00 PM; Sat. March 10, 7:00 PM. More info at Epic Theatre.