FLASH – the interview
By erica
snowlake
Flash is the name he’s
going by for this...printed mirror image of human lightning. he is quite
mercurial. rajneesh meets elvis meets fat freddy’s cat - whiskers and
great chops, lambchops, (got sideburns! get it?) wears all black, the odd
pinstripe suit jacket, leather pants, meticulously clean for a dude living in
his volvo the past seven moons. loquacious, interesting, fascinating, even.
possesses a wisdom apart from the ordinaire. perhaps playing the role of
superhero, in his own mind, and, in fact, in reality. definitely pursuing a
mission related to godhead. teaching me spanish, so far the words arco iris y
pesadilla prove sublime. makes me laugh and gives me hope - if he can sustain
positive vibes day to day “out there” what more affirmations of a
blessed life do we need? why? flash? and more miraculously, how?
flash: i was born in mexico city. we soon
moved to los angeles. my parents are of spanish and italian origin, had four
kids. early on, the feeling “they are not my family”. i remember me
as a kid telling them our family is like a band, everybody needs to play an
instrument in harmony to actually make music. by 9 i wanted to leave, moved in
with uncles and grandmas and cousins. part of this time we lived in hippie
communes with folks from argentina, brazil, europe, and africa. playing with the
commune kids i recall speaking a jumble of five languages! the adults practiced
thankfulness, following a spiritual life over any prescribed religion. as a
mystic, one comes to understand and honor every belief - it is plainly stupid
not to see jesus is mohammed is buddha is
one....
beachhead: ....is spirit is
mystery....
flash: my favorite book as
a kid was The Jungle Book.
beachhead:
you are so totally a mowgli ninja, especially with those traditional koi tats,
you can see your other lives coming through.
flash: i always get asked by the cops
if i’m from the middle east. i just say yeah. i love the streets, and art.
i see it all as mother nature, there is no separation. i channel myself from the
sky. the beauty of my art for six years now is black ink abstracts, i feel
satisfaction in my mastery of this as a process. i went to the National School
of Plastic Arts, (in mexico city), but, believe me, art is a lot more complex
than wine, women, and cheese. the surrealists and dadaists blow my mind, how
alien they seemed to the early
1900’s!
beachhead: just saw this
flick Art School Confidential - great art world exposé! so what jobs have
you had?
flash: forklift driver,
bartender, cook, music store clerk, dishwasher, go-go dancer . i never liked any
of them. you’ve gotta choose your role on earth, we’re here to do
God’s work. people want to see you slave yourself. i have three dreams -
live my life as a creative person doing what i love, travel the world, and
become psychic through meditation and contemplation of my
life.
beachhead:
homeless?
flash: when i first started
hanging out with homeless people, i felt overwhelmed. they need help to heal
themselves, in the heart or in the brain. i’ve been living in venice for a
1000 years with all that craziness, Fellini’s Land, i call it. when i lost
my last job, and, subsequently, my apartment, i asked myself “how are you
going to survive? i was already into drugs and alcohol, i suffer migraines, i
decided to take it as an opportunity to get to know myself deeper, what hurts
me?, what gives me joy! there is a feeling of exhilaration being on the streets
- a freedom like, yeah, you’ve got nothing yet you feel like you own the
whole city. every moment is spontaneous, is totally unknown, time speeds up and
slows down in weird
ways.....
beachhead: yeah the keepers
of the keys! zen alleys! i remember the same feeling walking the streets of
montreal all night and sleeping on rooftops by day. we howled at people carrying
briefcases taking the metros at 6
a.m.
flash: walking is one of my
greatest salvations - really calming. the downside is i feel judged, people
think i’m lazy, you don’t work.....keeping myself alive is my work -
my Jimi Hendrix Experience - it’s a totally psychedelic experience that
keeps me pretty much aware and awake. the cops presume i’m a criminal, and
if you resist them, they kick your ass. i’m not stealing or killing people
- i shouldn’t feel bad about myself - but now the few things i possess
have been taken away - it’s like what penny do you have left we can take?
my vehicle’s been impounded this week, i’ve been pretty down, when i
saw my art gone, i felt dead, they’ve drained my blood. i want to live on
peace, not the constant adrenaline of drama, it’s a big
difference.
beachhead: so you’ve
got zero money coming in? (nods his head) how do you
eat?
flash: before i put myself in this
situation, God gave me some signs. i saw a container when i was walking, it
looked clean, it had pizza and potatoes and salad in it, at first i was paranoid
about poisoning. now i love rich people - cuz they waste alot of stuff!
there’s free lemons, oranges, greens like fennel and dandelion growing
wild....
beachhead: edible flowers!
thank goodness for groups like Food Not Bombs!, though even the dearest angels
are harassed. last week the cops escorted the health dept. to where they set up
sundays at 3 at dudley and the boardwalk to try to shut them down. you mentioned
God?
flash: i didn’t know i am
also a poet, an actor, the movie star of my own life. as far as God goes,
God’s not my boss, but i do follow him. he knows what’s best, the
best chance for me to grow, you have to grow yourself in this life. you can have
lots of talent and money but still be an
asshole.
beachhead: yeah! word up l.a.
so what’s other ways of keeping it real?
flash: on the path to pure existence!
well, i’ve found sweet friends who are also homeless - offering smooth
ways to interact - for example guys sharing their medical marijuana . i enjoy
seeing people who have nothing sharing what little bread they have. it’s
the only way out for humanity, MAN. look and see if you can find it in your
heart. look for absolute truth within
yourself!
beachhead: what can we do in
venice?
flash: create free spaces,
happening places, for everyone and anyone to make art and music. open up
personally owned garages and gardens, as safe, supervised, sleeping and storage
spaces for people, befriend a homeless person with whom to share your humor and
wealth.........
we end with hugs,
flash has a shower at my place and we feast on some tacos. fortunately,
he’s got a friend’s van to crash in, i lend him an umbrella as
it’s pouring out tonight. i’ll see him again and share what i
can.
p.s. the next time we meet he
relates he did get his stuff back from the impound! he’s got a bit of a
sunburn, and just been ticketed that morning by the cops for sleeping in a park
near the beach. under his shades i see a glint of quicksilver....
Posted: Thu - June 1, 2006 at 03:01 PM