Ronald Jermakian

Well, after teaching English as a foreign language in Korea for many moons, I've returned to the U.S. to try to help out with school reform in my hometown of Springfield. I finally got my Master's in Bilingual/ESL/Multicultural Education from UMass Amherst last May - a mere 46 years after first attending (clearly a case of "arrested development"...) As far as possible, I try to incorporate art and music with social justice themes into my classes.

Update: Since it's taking longer than I figured to get full-time teaching work in Springfield, I may be ready to transition back to being a visual artist - and maybe open a (blacklight equipped) gallery in a suitable location...

http://www.singsnap.com/karaoke/forum/topic/b21ba428
This isn't a game or funny posting - it's mainly my remembrance of an old hippie associate of mine from the early 70's, Grimes Poznikov, who eventually attained sort of celebrity status as the "Automatic Human Jukebox"performing mainly at San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf during the 1970's and 1980s. At his peak, he also appeared on several popular TV shows such as the "Mike Douglas Show", "To Tell The Truth", and Charles Kuralt's "On The Road" show on CBS. He was also featured in publications ranging from Newsweek and Wall Street Journal to Penthouse ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimes_Poznikov

I first met Grimes in 1972 when I was managing a hippie boarding house in Coconut Grove (Miami), and he and his girl friend arrived in their brightly colored psychedelic van just in time for the anti-war demonstrations at the political conventions in Miami Beach. Sympathetic to the cause, I let protesters, including "Zippies"
stay at "The Bird House" for free as they planned their protest activities .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zippie
(I also supplied marijuana as that was how I was paid for my management duties, which included keeping hard drugs out ...) Grimes briefed me about his "Society For the Advancement Of Non-verbal Communication" (SANC) and showed me a copy the "SANC Manifesto" which he had written in Amsterdam. I recall the main idea encapsulated in the slogan "May Music Be The Ultimate Weapon" in a peaceful revolution, and he traced the power of sound back to the OM vibration in Vedic mantras ...

A major component was the "People's Band" which would have some core musicians who would pass out hundreds of cheap instruments like kazoos and slide whistles to demonstrators who would play patriotic songs when police/government troops moved in with tear gas to break up protests. It would also be mobilized for "guerilla theater" performances, coordinating groups of artists and musicians from all over the country.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_theatre

Among the characters who stayed at the Bird House was "Henry the Fiddler" who also helped organize massive free vegetarian food distribution at the Flamingo Park protest site where up to 150,000 demonstrators camped out - including me - who somehow was designated by Grimes as the "head of the Peoples Band" (probably because of all the free smoke and my terrific slide-whistle playing ...) Grimes main gig there was the "American Lobotomy Machine" which satirically turned unruly demonstrators into "good Americans". The Hare Krishnas - whose Sunday "Love Feasts" in Peacock Park I always attended - were also there giving out thousands of free plates of vegetarian food ...

It was a festive exciting atmosphere with lots of free concerts around the site including Marshall Tucker Band and Black Oak Arkansas, and Democrats even arranged for Tammy Wynette and George Jones to perform as a "calming influence" ...

Anyway, among the organized protesters present were the Yippies, Vietnam Vets Against the War (VVAW), and the Black Panthers. Somehow, I got arrested in a sit-in group that included Allen Ginsberg, and I vaguely remember him chanting "AHHH" as the police moved in with tear gas and clubs ...

But I've digressed quite a bit (and there are lots of anecdotes/graphic details that I should probably save for a book ...) Anyway, Grimes stayed at the Bird House for a couple more months, and I went up to D.C. with him to participate in the demonstrations at Nixon's Innauguration in January of 1973 (I think I helped with designing the giant pig in the Zippie parade ...)

I never heard from Grimes after that. When I was teaching EFL in South Korea over 30 years later in 2005, I got the impulse to Google his name, and I discovered that he had recently died and I learned about his adventures as the "Automatic Human Jukebox". The circumstances of his death were very unfortunate and sad - as I outline in a thread I posted in Dave's ESL Cafe "Off Topic" Discussion Forum ... http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=47166

This YouTube clip from 1993 (20 years after I'd last seen him) shows him at a pretty advanced state of mental decline (though he could still put on a show) and he eventually became homeless, got his teeth knocked out by police, lost hope and died of alcohol poisoning at age 59...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02Nhm3t2G5w

http://www.singsnap.com/karaoke/r/ac65331ff

Probably due to becoming increasing stressed/spaced out near the end of my senior year, I resorted to selectively cutting some classes while attending others (after getting my name placed on the absentee list.)

I vaguely remember spending several days at the library across the street, working diligently on long theses for Mr. Bresnahan's advanced American History course.

Of course Principal Montana (sp?) was none to pleased when he found out, and he voiced his concern about my apparent character flaw to my father. (Meanwhile, poor villagers in Vietnam were getting their faces melted off by napalm ...)