Sean West Wispy profile picture

Sean West Wispy

TAKING AIM AT MEDIOCRITY & GETTING CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE

About Me

Grew up in suburban blue collar family. Got bored. Ventured into alternative music scene. Got Bored. Resettled in Anarchist scene and made trouble around various noble causes. Got Bored. Went to Vermont and smoked weed. Got Bored. Got Involved in the Labor Movement. Got Bored. Remembered that teenage friend Joe Scott once said ,while we were hanging out in some abandoned building, "You have to make your own fun." Had epiphany. Everything got interesting again. Remembered that the clock is ticking for all of us and that as Edward Ka-Spell of the Legendary Pink Dots says, "Sing While You May." or as Soren Kierkegard put it "Do you not know that there comes a midnight hour when every one has to throw off his mask? Do you believe that life will always let itself be mocked? Do you think you can slip away a little before midnight in order to avoid this?" Word.

My Interests

people, neighborhood and local history, noise and experimental music, collage art, the labor movement, Revolutionary Socialist Anarchism, NEFAC, working class struggles around bread and butter issues in general and against the capitalist control of everyday life in particular, weird christian heresy, hanging around campfires in the Autumn, wood stoves, a good story, coffee, loco weed, beer, the woods and nature and all that hippie stuff.

I'd like to meet:

good story tellers, spooky punks, melancholy hippies, ordinary working class folks who fight back (and in the process become extraordinary), most people to whom the adjective 'scrappy' can be applied, pragmatic anarchists, ecumenical leftists, lifestyle anarchists [who can accept that their lifestyle is not a political movement, have the courage to engage in a political movement outside their lifestyle and the wisdom to know the difference], the ghost of Jhonn Balance, Peter Kropotkin (or any friendly interesting ghost for that matter), people who make their own fun and assorted adventurers.

Music:

Current 93, Coil, Joy Division, Sorrow, Bauhaus, Crass, The Mob (UK), Zounds, Strawberry Switchblade, The Legendary Pink Dots, Depeche Mode, Erasure, The Cure (early stuff), Sol Invictus, Imminent, Vromb, Orphx, Dive (early stuff), Harmstryker & the 804 Noise crew, Six Organs of Admittance, Magic City, Run DMC, Digital Underground, The Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, El-P, Cannibal Ox, Espers, Antony and the Johnsons, GSYBE!, Ed Flis & Duran Duran Duran (not a typo), Hecate, DJ Scud, NQ Arbuckle, Bruce Springstein, The Pixies, Tim Barry, Avail, Red Devil and basically tons of noise, breakcore, turntablism, found sound, hip-hop, dark folk, alt country, various psychadelic, experimental and punk rock musics. The darker, the more melancholy, the noisier...the better.

Movies:

Delicatesen, The City of Lost Children, Amille, A Very Long Engagement, Blue Velvet, The Garden, Lost Highway, Surviving Desire, Henry Fool, Rushmore, The Royal Tennenbaums, Lost in Translation, The Red Balloon, The Shining, Eyes Wide Shut, Gods & Monsters, Kinsey, Drugstore Cowboy, Kingpin (yes the one about the Amish bowler), Dumb & Dumber, The 40 Year Old Virgin and much more celluloid than I care to name.

Television:

'After Six Feet Under' ended nothing's really doing it for me. Well actually 'The Wire' rules and I can't resist The Colbert Report even if the fucker crossed a picket line.

Books:

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (and all stories) by Alan Sillitoe, The Beans of Egypt Maine (and all antics, literary and otherwise) by Carolyn Chute, Our Lady of the Flowers (and anything I can manage to get through) by Jean Genet, Dead Until Dark (and all silly mysteries) by Charlaine Harris, Neverwhere (and everything!) by Neil Gaiman, Noctuary (and many dreadful tales) by Thomas Ligotti, The Silver Key (and all the brilliant cosmic horror) by HP Lovecraft, The Conquest of Bread (and all of the warm and insighftful words penned) by Peter Kropotkin, Organizational Platform of the Libertarian Communists by The Dielo Trouda Group, The Ecology of Freedom (and lots of stuff that I don't always agree with, but makes me think) by Murray Bookchin, New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton, A Month and a Day: A Detention Diary by Ken Saro-Wiwa, The Bible (and especially all of the gospels deemed heretical and excluded from the official cannon) by Various Authors, and well lots of graphic novels, books on inspiring social movements who rattled the power structures of their days, religious texts, and always, above all, a good work of fiction.

Heroes:

All of My Parents especially my step-father who astonishes me in his serene fight against Parkinsons Disease, My Mentors in the Labor Movement: Jason W., Terri L., Kim L. and Christi C., Kenny and Kelly Harmstryker and all those who dare make art but aren't 'artists' and the many persons who have fought the good fight against hierarchy, exploitation and injustice and for a classless world of freedom, equality and direct democracy.

My Blog

Dave O'Neil RIP and my move to Franford.

Recently an old comrade Dave O'Neil passed away. His manner of death is unimportant, and his life was rocky filled with ups and downs, wrong turns and brilliant adventures.The last time I saw or spok...
Posted by Sean West Wispy on Mon, 21 May 2007 09:38:00 PST

My phone blew up...send me your digits

Recently some people have inquired into how my phone blew up and what my new number is. In full disclosure I'd like to set the record straight. In a MacGyveresque situation I found myself locked ...
Posted by Sean West Wispy on Sat, 12 May 2007 12:26:00 PST

Much work and a few wonderful pleasures...

As of late I've been working 12 to 16 hour days for 2 and a half weeks straight with only one day off for good behavior (well actually because,  I had a doctor's appointment I had to go...
Posted by Sean West Wispy on Thu, 26 Apr 2007 11:00:00 PST

Stuck In Scranton & More Things You Should Check Out!

I am now stuck in Scranton, PA organizing workers for class war!While I am occupied in reformist/revoluntionist/job activites I advise you to check out the following musical projects.More on my friend...
Posted by Sean West Wispy on Sun, 01 Apr 2007 05:54:00 PST

Neat People & Projects that You Should Check Out

1. Places & Chillin Crazy Party at Tom's Space Saturday, 3/17 10p till 8a @ 2nd and Tilghman: My old buddy Tom bought a warehouse in Philly and he and the rest of  his crew have bee...
Posted by Sean West Wispy on Wed, 14 Mar 2007 07:49:00 PST

The Most Important Message: I Hate New York

While I'm living out of hotel, organizing airport workers in NYC there is only one important message I have to share with you, my dear friends, I hate New York. Mikey Wild's musical genius really sums...
Posted by Sean West Wispy on Sat, 24 Feb 2007 03:04:00 PST

I Gots Me A J-O-B

So this morning I'm chillin' drinking my coffee and my phone rings and low and behold its' this organizer I interviewed with earlier this week for a union gig. I am super-psyched, without revealing al...
Posted by Sean West Wispy on Fri, 26 Jan 2007 09:02:00 PST

Belated Noise Show Review w/ Video Clips: Caustic Castle, Constant Mauk and Carz Will Burn

So much to my pleasant surprise, only a day after I arrived back in Philly, I found out that two great friends and noise artists were playing a show at the 409 haus in Philly. Kelly and Kenny form the...
Posted by Sean West Wispy on Fri, 19 Jan 2007 08:00:00 PST

Of Cats, Cool Robots and Vegas

So I travelled across the country to Vegas.  I departed from Philly and ended up taking the 81 through Virginia into Tennessee and then the 40 across the Mississippi through the high plains onto ...
Posted by Sean West Wispy on Fri, 19 Jan 2007 08:20:00 PST

I'm dreaming of a Vegas X-Mas

So I'm headed out to Vegas for X-Mas.  Don't ask me why...it just seems like the most absurd thing I could do for X-mas and right now I need a bit of that stuff what do you call...absurdity in my...
Posted by Sean West Wispy on Wed, 20 Dec 2006 01:01:00 PST