My band played at F Yeah Fest in LA over the weekend and noticed quite a few Crass shirts and patches, which reminded me that I’ve been meaning to do some serious listening to Crass records. Then I got home and saw a blog story about Gee Vaucher helping to organize an art club for a shy kid living out in the country with hardly any neighbors, which led to my several-dozenth moment of being rendered speechless by how just fucking amazing the people behind Crass can be.
Tom was overwhelmed at the success of his club at first and didn’t know what to do. Gee told him it was obvious. “You have to make ID cards, silly. Get to it.” Tom immediately came to life and carpe’d the diem. “YOU’RE RIGHT” he yelled, and spent the next two days making each applicant their own ID card. Tom went from a solitary farm kid to the head of one of the most Fantastic Art clubs in England.
The fact that Vaucher is engaging in direct action to introduce art and weirdness into little kids’ lives and living in edenic splendor on an anarcho-commune housed in a 16th-century manor is a direct refutation of the idea that punk ideals are something we’re better off growing out of.