For sale: 1 arts community.

May 12, 2004 2:31 PM

Chicken John is quitting!(SanFranciscoFilter) It looks like the Odeon is looking for new management. Does this mean the end of good/bad/scary performance art in SF, or is it just a new beginning?
posted by badstone (4 comments total)

I know few other people will understand your post and FPP critics must already be lining up. But, as a former San Franny I must say that Chicken John's antics and those of the other underground artists and entertainers made it hard to leave. Porn-e-okie, how great was that?! The weekly game shows in the Transmission theater rocked so hard! He used to send out weekly/monthly missives over email that were remarkable.
I ran the door for him at one of the Lost Vegas's at Cell.

Anyway.. He's not quiting I'm sure, just moving on to other things.

Damnit the wonderdog - what a great mutt
posted by dirtylittlemonkey at 2:39 PM on May 12, 2004

Yeah, I'm sure he's moving on, I just couldn't imagine him quitting the life. I also think the Odeon really has a life of it's own now and if it's passed on to the right person it could definitely have a bright future.

And yeah, this is a narrow post. I should have put something more general into it about the life and death of performance art communities everywhere.
posted by badstone at 2:59 PM on May 12, 2004

oh no! the odeon was one of my top 3 bars in sf! chicken john was really nice and would gladly expound on topics ranging from black rock city to tropical fish. and the bartenders were cool, like that guy 'flash' who was artist in residence at the sunset scavenger. i remember trying to convince my gf to go see seemen there on valentines day. no dice though. i dunno, to me killer robots are romantic...

anyway, i tip my hat to chicken john. he's definitely put a lot of time and energy into making fun things happen in the bay.
posted by jcruelty at 3:04 PM on May 12, 2004

Well, it's interesting from far away too, although if anyone has a link for the history of this place, it would be gravy.
posted by milovoo at 3:12 PM on May 12, 2004