GENESIS AND BEYOND: The Boyd Rice Christmas/Hanukkah Extravaganza

“Every calamity is to be overcome by endurance.” -Virgil “Endurance is more important than truth..." -Charles Bukowski Ben Bennett (c.1984) is a unique, virtuosic free improvising percussionist who rose to international prominence and notoriety in 2014. After creating a series of live-streamed internet videos, in which he sat cross-legged and gazed into a camera all while maintaining a ceaseless grin upon his face for four hour durations, Ben joined the ranks of weird YouTube celebritydom. In 2017, after creating 300 episodes of “Sitting and Smiling,” he inexplicably began a new series entitled “Walking and Talking,” in which he walks and talks (often self-reflexively) on camera, typically also for four hours at a time. Ben is the son of American experimental text, sound, and visual poet John M. Bennett and brother of composer/performer John Also Bennett. Additionally, he is also a highly skilled urban forager, survivalist, and as we discover towards the conclusion of this episode, something of a freestyle rapper. Join us for this episode of THE EXILE HOUR in which we engage Ben in a fast & furious dialogue about the nature of post-human consciousness, endurance art, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, conspiracy theories, and suicidal selfie sticks. ...

Shaun Partridge (“hatched” c. 1968) aka The Partridge in the Pear Tree is a writer, visual & recording artist, prankster, and co-founder of The Partridge Family Temple (aka “PFT!”). PFT! was created in 1988 as a bonafide religion devoted to the philosophy of absolute 24/7 fun (“Fun is the Law”). In short, the religion is based on the concept that the characters of the original The Partridge Family TV show are not mere fictional personae, but in fact are human incarnations of ancient archetypal deities (Danny represents Loki the trickster god, Shirley is the virgin mother/“Earth Goddess”, Laurie is the Holy Whore of Babylon, Tracy is the virgin nymph, Keith is the saytr-like god of war and sex, etc.), and television itself represents the almighty Yahweh. Other notable lifelong PFT! worshipers and devotees include Whale Song Partridge, Reverend Dan “Point me in the Direction of Albequerque” Partridge, K is for Kaleidoscope Partridge, 7Up Partridge, Boyd Partridge, Giddle “C’mon Get Happy” Partridge, and the late Lorin Partridge. Shaun holds the belief that EVERYONE is a defacto member of PFT! even if they aren’t yet aware of it (making them/us the largest and most widespread organized religion in the world). In 2004, Shaun co-founded an alchemical art movement known as UNPOP ART which defined itself as “The application of pop aesthetics, stylings, or techniques to unpopular, unpleasant, repressed or otherwise censored ideas.” According to writer Brian M. Clark, “UNPOP ART juxtaposed the explicitly profane and overtly offensive with the fun, whimsical and lighthearted. Attempting to render racism, sexism, intolerance, disability, disease, rape, genocide, suicide, terrorism, hatred and war ‘fun,’ UNPOP ART (predictably) received little welcome from either the art world or ...

“Boyd Rice is a black pimp.” —Charles Manson “Boyd Rice was my mentor." —Marilyn Manson “Boyd is an iconoclast!” —Anton LaVey, Church of Satan “Boyd Rice could be the next John F. Kennedy or Jesus Christ.” —Kim Fowley “(Boyd Rice) is a bad influence.” —Der Spiegel Referred to by some as “The most dangerous man alive”, Boyd Rice (c. 1956) is a pioneering American artist, occultist, prankster, mystic, social critic, archivist, and provocateur whose impact & influence has penetrated nearly every level of global underground culture; a remarkably brazen and polarizing figure who has courted endless controversy worldwide over a span of more than four decades. Rice initially came to prominence in the 1970s as one of the founders of the “Industrial Music” genre and as one of the first artists signed to Mute Records. He quickly gained a reputation for starkly ritualistic live performances that were regarded as being the most abrasive, minimalistic, dangerous, and blisteringly high volume concerts ever staged. As early as 1980, he was already being hailed as “The Godfather of Noise”. Since then, Rice—a high school dropout raised in a Southern California trailer park—extended his creative pursuits to innumerable fields including visual art, film, literature, photography, acting, interior decoration/design, and culinary arts (taking first prize in the 2012 Denver County Fair Jello molding competition) among other things; something of a Renaissance Man for an age of decadence and decline.  In his own words: “My life is a testament to the idea that you can achieve whatever the hell you want if you possess ...