The Walking Ruins and "Bananarchy"

The year was 1992. The Gulf War had come and gone and now some hayseed named Bill Clinton was getting ready to knock Little Lord Fauntleroy (also known as George Herbert Walker Bush) out on his ass.
The Walking Ruins were veterans of the local scene, in our fifth year and reveling in raising a ruckus concerning whatever entered our twisted minds. Naturally we currently were focusing on a GOP President and sending him up in songs, flyers, and whatever forums they would allow our socially unacceptable punk rock quartet access.
Somehow, in a way totally unknown to me, an Anarchist Gathering had come together (I won’t say “organized” in deference to the spirit of anarchy) under the guiding hands of whomever was running the Peace and Justice Center. The P & J Center was a left wing oriented something or other that allegedly helped out progressive causes and had sprung up in a store front across from the local police station. I nursed the unworthy thought that they were gathering up all the radicals in one spot close to the police so that they could be easier to round up and thrown in jail.
On Saturday, October 3rd, there was going to be a whole series of events, workshops, lectures and, best of all, free concerts for the unwashed masses descending upon our town. As the most political band in the entire state of Indiana (a claim I make in all seriousness) we looked forward to participating.
The biggest event was an outdoor show at Dunn Meadow but when the Walking Ruins were finally contacted, we were told we could play at a smaller event at the Peace and Justice building.
Quite frankly I was miffed. We were the equivalent of musical bomb throwers with the current White House occupant our main target. Had they no idea of our current set list, with songs like “54 Blows” (dedicated to Rodney King), “I’d Rather Be Looting”, (concerning the LA riots) and “Low Life Crisis”? For crying out loud we even had a song called “Off The Pigs”!
I lost my enthusiasm for the people putting it on and began plotting my revenge. I decided to hone in on the inherent contradiction between anarchy and somebody trying to lecture about it and yes, organize it. I started going around telling people I believed in “Bananarchy” and that I couldn’t wait to play the big Bananarchy Festival.
Finally the big day had arrived. My good friend Eric Esad had helpfully sewn a dozen bananas to a cheap jacket I bought at the Goodwill store. I copped a rainbow afro from guitar legend Frankie and got some glow in the dark deely boppers to accent the fro. We showed up at the show and I harangued the audience about bananarchy.
If you watch the above video and concentrate you’ll see the famous jacket, with various bananas in various positions. When I crawled on the floor like a worm the bananas got squished and gooey. When we were done I tossed the jacket in the corner of the store hoping it would spawn a flock of fruit flies. We went over well, I thought.
I really hold nothing against the idea of anarchy and having workshops about it. But if you going to tell my band we can’t play the main event, you’re angling for a dangling. Peace out.