jabanga bingelow fall 1982 and beyond

In the fall of 1981, after returning from California minus about 60 pounds, I met Sarah Stodghill who would have a profound influence on my life as well as be an active part of it for many years to come. I had been introduced to her by Pam Dalton, an ultra-hip New Yorker who I had known for a while. I in turn, introduced Sarah to all my friends one night at the infamous Mod 6 and she wound up being really close to all of us. She and I went away one weekend to Bridgton and I had thoughts that we were going out, but it didn't really turn out that way. Not too much later, my friend Warren Hays, who I had just spent alot of time with in Berkeley, turned up at Hampshire and he and Sarah fell something like head over heels for each other.

The following fall, after returning from Alaska even skinnier, I met Madeleine Altmann and you want to talk about head over heels, that doesn't even come close to describing what a perfect match we were at that point in time. I had come along way from the socially awkward overweight kid I had always been. I had really blossomed spiritually, creatively, physically, and was now in love with a beautiful and amazing woman. I was completing my studies at Hampshire with my only basic responsibilities being painting, going to critique classes where everyone massaged my ego, teaching art to troubled kids with Sarah, attending occasional committee meetings (Sarah was on my committee, I was on hers) and having the time of my life.

Sarah's Division III project was something called Bingelow which she had managed to get Aurthur Hoehner to Chair and Joan Murray (Joan is currently a regular customer of mine at Starbucks) and I rounded out her commitee. Arthur was my Chairperson also and Joan and Sarah were also on my commitee. What Bingelow actually was was Sarah's alternative concept to "Art". Sarah worked with found materials and creating environments. She had this spooky old shack by the Enfield parking lot that she did up and named the Bingelow Bungalow. I made an awesome Super 8 film with Madeleine and Shiela Manion-Arts about the spooky spirit (played be me) that inhabited the bungelow. Our trip as a commitee to "evaluate" the bungalow was certainly a surreal event.

Sometime during this period Sarah started giving certain people Bingelow names. I have no idea how this process worked, interestingly enough, Warren did not merit a Bingelow name. I was, of course, Jabanga Bingelow. Madeleine was ChaChaChi. Sarah was Wandaway. Dave/Dave Taub was Brixton Bingelow. Shiela was Stella. A girl I barely knew named Jennifer Spinner was Sally Flake and I think that was it. Just the six of us. Every time I saw Jennifer anywhere she would shout out "Jabanga!" which was just as cute as can be (so was Jennifer). Noone ever really discussed the significance of these names. I always have just assumed the names apply to what is really free in us, our free-being names. That fall I had gone to the infamous Hampshire Halloween party (the raves I would later attend were tame compared to these events) as a sort of beatnik bongo player wrapped in torn pieces of purple cloth supplied by Sarah and I have always considered that persona to be Jabanga Bingelow personified.

An outgrowth of the Bingelow clan was these enamel necklaces that Sarah started making after "settling" (if you can call it that) in California with Warren. My original and

very abstract one I wore for many years. In 1993, when my life again was in state of blossoming and rebirth (I had been turned onto snowboarding and raving simultaneously, as well as having met Chandra Carlson, another powerful influence in my life) these necklaces started getting recognized. Chandra and her close friend Erin asked if they could each have one. I asked Sarah for a few and she sent me a batch of about ten that were spectacular. Most of my close friends were quickly adorned with them. I was doing lots of small playful paintings at the time and I started selling them and Sarah's necklaces to everyone and I'm sure to this day most of my friends from that period still have either a painting or a necklace or both. That spring I went to California and visited Madeleine and Warren and Sarah and made ten necklaces myself. I made two featuring necklace versions of the Golden X painting I had given Chandra that also served as the Excellent Drinks logo, one for Chandra, and one for me.

Chandra and Erin took it one step further than the necklaces, asking me to actually join the Bingelow clan. I called Sarah in San Francisco and she called back a few days later. Shortly after Chandra and I had snuck away to our first Rave, Kris Clark's Deep, I gave her the Golden X painting, a rose, and her Bingelow name: Jolzangi Bingelow. Erin's name was Jo Jo Perroza. I could write a thousand pages about Chandra and how special she was. Let me just say that on May 18th, 1996 my partner Steve Gagnon and I threw a party called Deep '96 and that was the day Chandra passed away from cancer. A powerful thunderstorm passed over that night, striking the building and temporarilly shorting out the light show programming. While I know she is always with me, I miss Chandra tremendously.

I could have let Jabanga go by the wayside years ago. I'm sure most of the rest of the clan has. I can't. Why would I want to? That would be like giving up on my Youthful Idealism.