THIS AIN'T NO SECRET WORLD, REVISITED

When the age of false Hermeticism first dawned in Los Angeles in the 1930’s, ambitious huckster prophets such as Manly P. Hall converged on the high vibration hub of Los Feliz, its current locus being the University of Philosophical Research nestled in the foothills below Griffith Park. I have overheard certain enlightened beings claim to see lighting bolts and solar flares shooting out from its central spire. Walking circuitously through the surrounding neighborhoods, you can find Father Yod’s first mansion or the house where the La Bianca murders took place. Down the street stands the site of the first Walt Disney Studios, now an overpriced grocery store with an excellent bakery, where I once saw Crispin Glover buy a turkey baster and then stealthily duck into a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. But back to ol’ Walt, it seems that America’s dark prince had commissioned some tiny homes to be built nearby for the animators working on ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.’ I live in one of these dwarf-hewn villas and rarely leave except for live performances, to climb the close mountain, or replenish my supply of latex gloves. I’m working on a wax sculpture of Gloria Swanson’s close-up, which I keep hidden in my attic. It is said that her ghost roams the courtyard. In the truest sense of the words, this is not a house it’s a home. I live with my wife Kristina and my cat Hank. I spend my days working at the old typewriter, writing songs, playing guitar, singing, reading books, listening to records and making dal (of the Urad and Masoor varieties.) The paintings on the walls are either borrowed or stolen museum pieces; other objects are gifts from cult leaders, or family heirlooms (the organ, sitar and hammered dulcimer.) In every room there is an altar, some are invisible, some guarded by Netsuke or Vedic statuettes, but all are conductors of potency and desire. Here I create in peace as those who came before me, one in a long line of seekers living in bubbles.

Text: IW, Photos: Shelby Duncan for Apartamento Magazine.