NorCal L.O.W.F.I

Archive for February 26th, 2009

One of the funnest (is that a word?…if not, dammit, then it should be!) aspects of being a LOWFIAN is the different events that unfurl under the banner of “waving our freak flags high”, to quote Jimi Hendrix on acid. Being a fledging outfit, we (and when I say WE I mean mainly grand poobah Skylaire) has hosted a smattering of events previously, and – in advance of our forthcoming visit to the haunted Nixon museum – I’ll give you now, dear readers, a recap of some of these past excursions.

In July, LOWFI representatives led a contingent of like minded adventurers to the Holyland Bible Exhibition, which in our press release was described thusly: “…an absolutely unique and bizarre repository of Biblical knowledge. Betty, the caretaker and guide of the property will give us a talk on the Bible and the old Testament, complete with Paul Laffoley-style charts and diagrams from the 1930s, a tour of the rooms full of antiquities gathered by founder A.J. Futterer (who was the real-life inspiration for Indy’s adventures in The Raiders of the Lost Ark), perhaps punch and cookies, and a visit to one of the most interesting gift shops this side of Jerusalem….The Holyland Exhibition was built in the late 1920s as an educational center and museum; the two-story complex houses an incredible collection of Egyptian, middle Eastern and Biblical items. The Bible Art and Archaeology Room has stones, pottery and other items from Nazareth, Bethlehem and the Jordan River. Travel back in time with us and brush up on your ancient history, religious studies, geography and archaeology!”

Skylaire channeling some biblical babe with a basket on her head at the Holyland Exhibit.

Later in July, our aforementioned SoCal chief led a group of seekers to one of the regular Aetherius Society meetings, which — although I wasn’t in attendance — I would highly recommend just such an outing, of which I partook of a decade ago with my then tour guide and UFO devotee friend, Greg Bishop.

The Aetherius Society, for those not in the know, is a religious order founded by British UFO contactee George King in 1955. I’ll refer you to the Aetherius wiki for more in depth details, but basically what goes on at one of these Aetherian religious services is this group chant thing, as I recall, where they all line up in their robes and such and each of them (it was like twelve or so apostles, or whatever they call themselves) line up and chant/shout their psychic vocalized energy into this box-like thing in which their vibes are stored and then later released to the cosmos to help mankind and all that sort of jazz. However, if I’m sounding a bit trite about the whole song and dance, don’t let that dissuade you from witnessing one of these ethereal affairs, because it really is a quite powerful experience whether ye be a spacebrother believer or not. You can go to their website for more details, but as I recall you need to RSVP and wear proper attire, such as a tie for the dudes, which is a distinct rarity in my case. In fact, John Cater (author of Sex And Rockets) went along with Greg and I, and had to tie my tie for me, since the last time I did that was at my wedding and I don’t think I even did it then.

In September, Skylaire and her crew visited a tiki exhibit:http://skylaire.com/lowfiseptemberart.htm

Lastly, in October, yours truly, Adam Gorightly, esq. was the featured speaker at our first LOWFI mini-con, at which I delivered my lecture Were The UFO Contactees Ritual Magicians? Keeping with the theme of Forteana meets Cacophony, the event was hosted at the house of a certain Professor Paul K., a surreal and spooky art installation living space/house pictured below.

Also on the bill were these two characters below playing theremin and trying to get us to join their upstart religion, which as I recall had something to do with plasticene. Whatever the hell that is.

I’ve also dabbled in conference organizing a bit, and with Barb Harris put together last years ill-fated Retro UFO 3, which was a success in terms of the speakers and events we lined, up but not so good in attendance, as only about 60 total showed up for the event, partly due to the “remoteness” of the location. And so with the collective backgrounds of myself, Skylaire, and Smiles Lewis (who organized the greatest ufo conference that never happened) I think we bring together a lot of past experiences to be used for setting up future events, one of which will be some full scale conference somewhere down the line, we hope.

Anyway, boys and girls, if you’re down L.A. way and looking for something enlightening and “different” to do this weekend, follow this link and click your heels three times. At the least, you won’t be bored.