Shox Lumania

"TRAWLING WITH THE BIG BRAIN SUCKERS"

One weekend, several people of the band had a party somewhere in Brooklyn, I think it was Richard Bone's apartment. The purpose was to go to the beach in Coney Island the next day and have a picnic.
Lari Shox was the last to arrive to the party, he wandered in at around 3 or 4 am. I was sleeping on the couch so I woke up and asked him what kept him, what had he been up to? He said "trawling for love". "Trawling" is a fishing term I learned from my grandfather....using large nets, the ocean floor is dragged for fish and whatever else gets in it's way comes along for the ride...I went back to sleep.

Much later that morning we all hopped on the subway to the end of the line, Coney Island. After visiting friends at the freak show, we walked along the shore til we passed all the crowds. We were heading for the gay beach. I had no idea there was such a thing, there aren't any signs posted, and it was delightfully desolate. One of the things that made this pilgrimage memorable besides all the funny commentary which I now totally forget, is the image of Joey Arias. This was a "bathing suit optional" beach, but Joey was covered from head to toe in black, and he was carrying a black parasol. Lari was mock-complaining that Joey was embarrassing us all, even though there were all sorts of naked freaks wandering around, everybody was staring at Joey. Joey explained that he didn't want to ruin his cultivated palor.

A year later I asked Lari Shox to participate in an improvised monster movie called "Filthy Little Beasts from Not Around Here". I had him kill people by sucking their brains out through a tin-covered straw. He confronts a drag queen played by "Jody May" who fends for her life with a folding pocket comb. His last line in the movie reveals what he is here for, "I need love" he states as he leaves his last victim. This was a line I came up with on the spot, but I am sure it was from remembering Lari that morning in Brooklyn, back from his prowl.

I only showed this 30 minute movie once in San Francisco. Half way through the screening which included a large sample of my "Live at Hurrah" music videos, a group of Hell's Angels arrived. They made quite a stir by driving their motorbikes into the screening room, it was a ground floor squat and they didn't want to leave their bikes on the street for some reason. At the site of Jody May arranging her wig, one of them flashed the screen with his headlights and commanded his entourage to go, throwing a bottle of beer at the screen. Most of the crowd stayed. The event organizer, Steven Parr, apologized saying that usually the angels were cool, but I guess they draw the line at cross-dressing and brain sucking.

Almost 20 years later I was on stage at my first job in Paris, camerman for a live concert of Ornet Coleman. During the rehearsal, the guitarist approached me and said, "Hi Merrill, remember me?" I did not, so he reminded me. "I am the neighbor you woke up at 3 in the morning and asked if you could run an electrical extension cord from my apartment into the hallway and suck my brains out."