The history of the Angels from the pages of Kaliflower, the Free Print Shop,
articles in the underground press, films, home movies, photos,
recollections, reminiscences, &c.
As with all images on this page, CLICK ONCE to enlarge, ONCE again to return.
Introduction
The Angels of Light Free Theatre was one of the communal groupings born from the
Digger movement. Their performances embodied Digger Free, infused with
the queer aesthetic of Kaliflower.
Angels of Light
performances played an important role in the growing interconnection of dozens and
eventually hundreds of communes in San Francisco. Their dazzling blend
of art, politics, and queer spirituality embodied the communal
experiment and the impulse to dissolve boundaries between performer and
audience, art and life. Men with beards wearing dresses and makeup and women
portraying gods and androgynous spirits gave the name "gender fuck" to this form of theater. The Angels personified the tribal
communal counterculture that had emerged from the Digger vision of Free.
This section of the Digger website will present the early influences and subsequent flowering
of this magical synthesis over the span of fifteen years and dozens of
shows that entertained, enlightened and enlivened the San Francisco Bay
Area counterculture.
Hibiscus was the catalyst for the Angels of Light. His swirling freeform
energy as he danced the streets of Haight-Ashbury with robes and headdresses of
discarded flowers captured the hearts of many who were pulled into his
orbit. Out of this vortex two theater groups formed — the Cockettes and
the Angels of Light. The Cockettes made a huge splash in the gay hippie
underground in 1970, bringing national media attention in its wake.
Soon, a schism in part over the question of free versus paid shows
propelled Hibiscus to leave the Cockettes and continue on the path
of Free Theatre. A core group, including some ex-Cockettes, joined
Hibiscus in a series of shows that were announced in the pages of
Kaliflower over the next two years. After Hibiscus left and moved back
to New York City in 1972, the Angels of Light evolved into a collective
troupe with a message of communal joy and social commitment. And Free to
the end.
We are fortunate that the pages of Kaliflower contain a record of the
early years of the Angels of Light, starting with Hibiscus' first use of
the phrase in the communal kitchen of the Sutter Street Commune, and
continuing through the first two years of the Angels of Light
performances. After 1972, the record consists of the announcements and
programs that the Free Print Shop published, and increasingly, articles
that appeared in the above- and underground press about the Angels as
they achieved notoriety in the local theater world.
Note to readers: the story presented here is based on diligent research
in the archive of the Digger movement. There will undoubtedly be things
missing from this record. For example, the Angels often gave
performances that were never announced in printed posters, nor reviewed
in Kaliflower or other publications. Feel free to
contact me with anything I have
left out (or gotten wrong).
As with all images on this page, CLICK ONCE to enlarge, ONCE again to return.
Jilala ("Jet") in his own words: [click the
play button for audio]
"In any culture there are aesthetic secrets, evidences of what seems to pass
as an alien or spiritual event. We cannot explain these always and sometimes
refer to inspiration or actual religious experience to communicate to subsequent
generations what happened. We, the first whole generation fueled by Lysergic
Acid and magic mushrooms, began to transform our every aspect, clothing, food,
literature, music and clearly, theatre into tenets of a new religion, invented
by us for us.
"Spawned in the sixties, we ate neck-soup out of tin-cans in the Panhandle
prepared by the Diggers; were clothed in their Free Stores, fed on the manna of
their ideas, that gloriously, we could exist without cash, sharing our treasures
with everyone. Not signing our egoless masterpieces was a start. The early
Platos of San Francisco in the late 60's, imagining a Free City, created the
template we were following — heavenly and practical solutions for Earth's final
day."
—James "Jet" Tressler,
"On the Angels of Light," White Crane, Fall 2008
[This was an audio recording I made with Jet in 2023, in the early
stages of designing this web page. Jet died in November, 2024. My only
wish is that he could have seen this page, but he knew the general idea
and loved that the Angels would finally get their history told.]
As with all images on this page, CLICK ONCE to enlarge, ONCE again to return.
Digger Do
The San Francisco Diggers emerged in September 1966 and over the next
two years created a social agenda that was inspired in part by the
English Diggers of the seventeenth century who proclaimed that "There
shall be no buying nor selling ... but the whole earth shall be a common
treasury for [all]." Three hundred years later, the Diggers of the
Haight-Ashbury created free feeds, free stores, celebrations of
planetary consciousness, all manner of free services, and a culture of
mutual aid. The San Francisco Diggers called this "Digger Do."
An important aspect of the Digger ideology was "life acting" which had
evolved from the San Francisco Mime Troupe's idea of guerrilla theater.
The goal of guerrilla theater was to act as a vehicle for social change
by being a living example of that change. The Diggers extended this
definition to the idea "create the condition you describe." How do you
want to live? Just do it!
Irving (left) in Jack Smith's Flaming Creatures; photo by Smith for the
cover of Sheeper.
Irving Rosenthal's Queer Aesthetic
Irving Rosenthal arrived in San Francisco in November 1967 after a
ten-year absence in which he had been ensconced in the Beat literary
revolution. Rosenthal was the first to publish excerpts from William
Burroughs' Naked Lunch in 1958, and edited Big Table #1, an important
collection of writing that included Gregory Corso's poem POWER which
inspired the Digger ideal of autonomy. In New York City, Rosenthal had
collaborated with Jack Smith in the making of Flaming Creatures, a
transgressive film that blurred gender boundaries and celebrated queer
aesthetics. In 1967, Rosenthal published Sheeper, a surreal,
semi-autobiographical exploration of homosexual love, sex, and spiritual
longing. Rosenthal arrived back in San Francisco later that year with
the goal of starting a publishing commune.
As with all images on this page, CLICK ONCE to enlarge, ONCE again to return.
Free Print Shop
Within weeks of arriving in San Francisco, Rosenthal founded the Sutter
Street Commune. Over the next several months, the commune got pulled
into the orbit of the Digger/Free City activities in the Winter and
Spring of 1968, including weekly free food deliveries and the daily Noon
Forever rallies on the steps of City Hall [upper left, bottom left
photos]. The Diggers convinced Rosenthal to bring his print shop from
the Lower East Side of New York, and the commune announced the Free
Print Shop in August with a psychedelic poster [middle above]. The
following year, a new member of the commune suggested a communal
newspaper and Kaliflower was born [above right: page from first issue].
For the next three-plus years, weekly issues of the intercommunal newspaper
were hand delivered free to what eventually amounted to more than three hundred communes in the Bay
Area. Kaliflower seeded a network of communes devoted to Digger
Free.
Transformation from gay hippie to genderfuck.
Sutter Street Commune
Three of the first members of the Sutter Street Commune became
instrumental in the founding of the Angels of Light Free Theatre. James Tressler had been working as a mail carrier in the Haight and helping
the Diggers with their Free Feeds when he read Sheeper. The passage that
brought him to the Sutter Street Commune read: "Have you been touched by
a book whose author still is living? Love him back. Seek him out and
help him get over his shyness." George Harris came to San Francisco with
Rosenthal. George was 18 in 1967 and came from a family steeped in
off-Broadway theater. Ralph Sauer had gravitated to the Haight-Ashbury
after art school and had a photographic memory of Broadway show tunes.
All three gay men, under the influence of Irving Rosenthal, blossomed
into creatures of queer sensibility and adopted their alter ego names of
Jilala, Hibiscus, and Ralif.
Two pages from early issues of Kaliflower.
The Kitchen Sluts
Ralph, Jilala, and Hibiscus would prepare the communal dinners each
night while performing scenes from Broadway shows. They called
themselves The Kitchen Sluts. Both the pages above are from the first
issues of Kaliflower. The page on the left
announces "Tropical Heat Wave," a floor show that The Kitchen Sluts
were set to
perform the following week while delivering Kaliflower. The page on the
right has two communal recipes with the lyrical title, "Angels of Light dancing by the River Ganges." Both
pages were designed by Hibiscus in his inimitable style, even though it
(as most artwork) was not signed, in the Digger tradition of anonymity.
"Tropical Heat Wave" would later be one of the theatrical shows
that Hibiscus wrote and directed, first with the Cockettes, then as the Angels of Light.
The issue of Kaliflower that announced both the Cockettes and Angels of
Light.
First Spark
On New Year's Eve 1969, Ralph and Hibiscus invited a group of similarly
like-minded friends to the Sutter Street Commune for dinner and dress-up
afterwards. They adorned themselves with costumes from Irving's drag
room that he was using for a film in which Ralif played a geisha with
full beard. This was the origin of what would become known as "gender
fuck." The group of friends made their way to the Palace Theater in
North Beach where they jumped on stage and performed a Can Can to the
tune of the Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Woman." They were introduced as
The Cockettes, a name that Ralph punned up. The page on the left is from
the following week's Kaliflower and shows the group at the commune all
dressed and ready for their premiere performance. The page on the right
is from the same issue of Kaliflower and shows that Hibiscus' dream of
an Angels of Light Free Theatre had not been extinguished by the Cockettes emergence.
Clippings from the underground press with notices and reviews of the Cockettes.
Cockette Revolution
Over the next two years, the Cockettes were the rage of the San
Francisco gay hippie counterculture. Hibiscus' relationship with the
troupe would be a rocky one but the first shows were his creation as
well as the stage for his full plumage to take form. An early article in
the underground press reported that, "The acts are concocted of
burlesque, majesty, insanity and sexuality. Everyone got a chance to
caricature or personify some famous celluloid heroine, from a pathetic
Judy Garland to a very worldly if long-unshaven Mae West. There was a
perfect mime of Laurel and Hardy jerking through a flickering
stroboscope until that combative fellowship is inverted and illuminated
by Laurel's nude beauty." The Cockettes performances were "a mockery of
established Broadway and Hollywood theatre — along with an extended
parody of institutionalized entertainment." Soon, they were getting
noticed in Rolling Stone and the East Coast underground.
The schism between Hibiscus and the Cockettes goes public.
Schism: Paid vs Free
From the outset, internal contradictions around the issue of paid versus
free shows would lead in part to a schism in late 1970. Hibiscus, Jilala, Tahara,
Harlow, and Sandy would become the core group of the Angels of Light Free
Theatre that eventually encompassed dozens of members spread over
several communal households. The Cockettes would continue performing
paid shows (although no one got rich off the proceeds) for another year.
It all came to a head in a public spat carried out in the pages of the
Berkeley Barb in December 1971 after the Cockettes had returned from
their disastrous New York tour. “Cockettes Crumble” was the opening
salvo in a three-week-long back and forth, with jibes, accusations, and
true to the name of Max Scherr’s underground paper, barbs from all
sides. The only breath of sanity was a message that the Angels of Light
had in a short response they sent in.
Dear Berkeley Barb: Media coverage does not help the
Free Community no more than it helped the Haight Ashbury blossom. We
are trying to do a beautiful Free Theatre for the people. It is
entirely free, anyone can be part of the shows. There are no
donations and we try our best to serve the audience free food. We do
not want to hassle publicity—we strive to show people a glimpse of
Paradise here on Earth and make people high on singing and dancing.
Love, The Angels of Light
By this point (December 1971) there was an identifiable
"Free Community" that the Angels clearly reference. This was the network
of communes that had been receiving Kaliflower. Through its pages and
its unique hand delivered distribution method, Kaliflower had conjured
this network committed to the Digger Free philosophy of no buying no
selling. In the next section, we will look at the outlines of this
culture.
Over the span of three-plus years of weekly publishing, the pages of
Kaliflower helped spawn a thriving intercommunal culture unique to the
San Francisco Bay Area. What were the elements of this social
experiment? From the outset, the editors staked out clear moral and
philosophical positions on a wide range of topics. What became known as
the “Kaliflower philosophy” was centered on three interwoven
commitments: gift economy as an alternative to capitalism; ecological
imperative as an answer to exploitation of the natural world; and,
communalism as a radical social alternative to the nuclear family. The
articles pictured here are a small sample of this outlook. "Look Aloft"
gave tips for reusing construction materials to build lofts in the
typical high-ceilinged San Francisco Victorian. Lofts became the mark of
a communal household. "Against The Tars" was an early diatribe against
cigarettes. Eventually, smoking disappeared from intercommunal events
such as Angels of Light performances. "Lousy Dreams" was a manifesto
against communal capitalism in all forms.
The Digger blueprint for an intercommunal network and its legacy in
Kaliflower.
Inter-Communal Network
The Diggers' "Post-Competitive, Comparative Game of a Free City" can be
seen as the blueprint for the Kaliflower intercommunal network. The
Diggers posited a mutual aid society with dozens of groups performing
specialized roles in the Free City: free stores, free schools, free
banks, and a multitude of others. Kaliflower helped this vision become
manifest. But the Kaliflower philosophy went one step further in arguing
for a communal culture free of the mass culture of mainstream society.
From "Finer Arts": "Writing a good book, or composing a far-out song,
are and always have been worthy goals, but there is a secondary goal
that our arts should now carry, and that is the goal of forming a new
culture." From "Against the Stars": "The star system is a facet of mass
culture. Stars are unreachable by definition. They are high 'above' the
mass and out of touch with it. (Indeed how can you be in touch with a
mass?) They are so far away from us that we cannot confide our dreams in
them or tell them that something they said or did hurt our feelings. Let
the stars fall down!"
Photos of a Free Food Conspiracy delivery. Listing of communes involved.
Free Food Conspiracy
The apex of the Kaliflower experiment was the Free Food Conspiracy
(later renamed the Free Food Family). The idea grew out of the explosive
growth of food conspiracies among counterculture communities. Families
would get together to purchase fresh fruit, vegetables, dairy, grains,
nuts in bulk, thus bypassing the large chain grocery stores. Food
conspiracies purchased directly from the farmers at produce markets or
at warehouses in bulk. The Free Food Conspiracy sprung up among nearly
10% of the communes receiving Kaliflower. The idea was that each commune
contributed their total food budget (usually the food stamps that
individual members received monthly) and in return they received what
they needed for food that week regardless of how much they contributed.
"From each according to ability, to each according to need" -- the
cardinal principle of communism.
Top: Angels of Light (in Greek Show), Scott Street Commune, Cathy and Muldoon of
the Angels. Bottom: Leonce and Owen of the Medical Opera, Hunga Dunga Commune,
Victoria in the backyard at Scott Street. Photos by Miriam Bobkoff.
Mutual Aid
Hunga Dunga Commune ran the Free Food Conspiracy, taking orders,
collecting the funds, making the food runs to the Produce Market for
fresh fruits and vegetables and to other specialty food outlets for bulk
grains and other staples. They then distributed each commune’s portion
(as seen in the previous slide showing Little Richard and Mikey making a
delivery to the Scott Street Commune). The Medical Opera Commune
provided free medical care to the communes including home birthing.
Konnyaku Commune was a group of artists from Japan who offered
meditation and art shows. The Sutter Street Commune (commonly known as
the Kaliflower Commune) ran the Free Print Shop and published the
eponymous newspaper that was in a sense the intellectual glue of this
community. The Angels of Light at this time were primarily located at
the Oak Street Commune. Dozens of other communes participated in the
Free Food Conspiracy and contributed energy and services to the larger
network. The Angels of Light offered performances that were
the cultural glue of this Free community.
The transition from the Cockettes to the Angels of Light took place
starting in 1970, as seen in the items shown here. In May, 1970,
Hibiscus, who had recently moved out of the Sutter Street Commune, put an ad into Kaliflower: "Cockettes / Angels of Light Free
Theater Need Warehouse We Can Live and Work In." Appended to Hibiscus'
note was a comment by one of the Kaliflower editors: "What about the
admission at the Palace Theatre Hibiscus?" This was the long-standing
criticism of the proponents of Digger Free. Supporters of the Cockettes
point out that no one was getting rich, but that is beside the point if
one had adopted a Free Frame of Reference. One of the early Digger
actions in 1967 was picketing the Love Conspiracy Commune when they put
on "The First Annual Love Circus" at Winterland and charged $3.50.
It is interesting to note that within two months, Hibiscus turned two of
the Cockettes shows he had written and directed into Angels of Light
performances, with many of the Cockettes performing for free. The two
notices seen here for the Cockettes' shows, "A Fairytale Extravaganza"
and "Tropical Heat Wave," became the first performances under
the banner of Angels of Light, although the permanent cast for the
Angels would ultimately become a whole new troupe, save for the original
guiding light of Hibiscus and a few crossovers from the Cockettes.
When Jilala left the Sutter Street Commune in the summer of 1970,
Hibiscus prevailed upon the Cockettes to let him move into their
communal household on Haight Street near Divisadero. Jilala soon became
the trumpeter for all things Kaliflower, the philosophy of Free and the
practice of communalism. After a steady harangue that culminated in
Jilala's equivalent of Martin Luther's 99 Theses, an ultimatum appeared
on the kitchen wall. "The invisible invocation of transcendental powers
can only become visible on a FREEEEEE stage !!! All else is pulling dead
rabbits out of hats." (See above reproduction by Jilala for a future
issue of Kaliflower.) Most of the Cockettes soon moved out of Haight
Street, leaving it to the core group of performers who would become the
Angels of Light Free Theatre — Jilala, Tahara, Harlow, Sandy, and
Hibiscus stayed
and were soon joined by Ralph (after he moved out of
Sutter Street). Within a few months, the troupe grew to a couple dozen
including Beaver Bauer, Rodney Price, Martin Wong, Muldoon, Michael
Ruby, Cathy, Viking Dan, Johnny Dancer, Jenny Cooksey, Theda, Bella,
Sister Ed. The Angels of
Light had taken flight. In 2025, Beaver and Daniel Nicoletta prepared a
listing of everyone who had performed, or otherwise were involved in any
of the dozens of Angels of Light shows from 1970 to 1984. The listing
was over 150 individuals.
There have been innumerable attempts to compile a chronology of the
Angels of Light performances. When I first started this project as part
of my history of Kaliflower, I decided to only use documented sources to
put together a definitive list of Angels performances. The problem is
that many Angels of Light shows were spur of the moment without any
poster announcement or programs or subsequent write-ups. So this listing
is woefully incomplete, but know that what is listed here has strong
evidentiary support.
The first two years of the Angels of Light were under the auspices of
Kaliflower, where their performances were announced and often critiqued.
This is of course how it should have been. Kaliflower was rightfully the
ground out of which the Angels of Light sprung, just as the Cockettes
had been. But, whereas the Cockettes never accepted the Kaliflower
philosophy of Free, the Angels of Light were from the outset dedicated
to free theatre, even to the point of serving free food at their shows
(in the tradition of the Digger free feeds).
Image Gallery:
Click image once to enlarge, click once again to return.
Credits: Miriam Bobkoff, Lynn Brown, Joseph Johnston, Daniel Nicoletta, Gregory
Pickup, James Tressler, Ralph Sauer, Martin Wong, Free Print Shop, Neighborhood Arts, and countless other Angels and
Friends.
Three Proto Angels Performances
The Fairytale Extravaganza, July 11, 1970
Old Committee Theatre, 836 Montgomery Street, San Francisco
Tropical Heat Wave / Hot Voo Doo, August 2, 1970
Committee Theatre, 836 Montgomery Street, San Francisco
Childern of Paradise (sic), December 5, 1970
Japanese Tea Garden, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
Within a few months of the first Cockettes shows at the Palace
Theater, Hibiscus took steps to realize his original inspiration for
free theater. The first two shows here were ones Hibiscus wrote and
directed for the Cockettes, but under the banner of the Angels of Light,
and a month after they took place at the Palace. Many of the Cockettes performed
in these two free shows, although according to Rumi, not all made the
cross-over. The
eventual troupe that formed the Angels of Light Free Theatre included Tahara, Sandy,
and Harlow who had been cast members of the Cockettes.
In late fall
1970, Joseph Johnston of the Sutter Street Commune filmed Hibiscus at
the Cockettes’ house on Haight Street — perhaps the earliest footage of George Harris fully embracing his alter ego. Among the films
that shaped Hibiscus’s vision was
Children of Paradise, whose influence shows in his flair for
theatricality and the blurred line between art and life. In the December
3, 1970 issue of Kaliflower, he
announced his first performance apart from the Cockettes, titled “Childern
of Paradise,” (sic) to be staged at the Japanese Tea Garden. Whether
that event ever occurred remains uncertain — but Joseph’s film endures
as luminous proof of the joy, energy, and ecstatic magic Hibiscus
brought into being.
The Angels of Light Free Theatre Presents 'The Blue Angels' at Grace
Cathedral Christmas Eve
December 24, 1970
Grace Cathedral, San Francisco
This is considered the first actual Angels of Light
performance that included many of those who would become regular troupe
members over the coming decade.
On Christmas Eve 1970, the newly formed Angels of Light — joined by
many of the Cockettes—brought their glittering pageant to San
Francisco’s Grace Cathedral, transforming the solemn midnight mass into
a moment of exuberant queer street theater. Dressed in shimmering,
homemade costumes as psychedelic versions of Mary, Joseph, Jesus,
shepherds, and angels, they sang carols on the cathedral steps as
startled parishioners arrived. When police asked them to move, they
entered the church, filling the aisles with incense, song, and ritual
parody: one performer baptized others with a salt shaker, while another
burned incense until it was extinguished by police. Hibiscus had staged
the event as a re-enactment of the Nativity—part reverent, part
revolutionary. Though eventually expelled from the church, the group
continued outside, singing “Silent Night” and the “Hallelujah Chorus,”
their laughter and bells echoing through the night, turning Grace
Cathedral into a fleeting vision of free celebration and defiant joy. In
the articles (below) from the San Francisco Good Times and Gay Sunshine,
the reporters assumed the performers were the Cockettes. As seen in the
posters for the event, Hibiscus clearly planned this as an Angels of
Light performance.
"The entourage included men, women and children dressed in
psychedelic versions of Mary, Joseph, Jesus, the wise men, shepherds and
angels. The costumes were the glittering, opulent creations we've come
to expect from the Cockettes. Faces glowed with gold silver and colored
makeup; hair sparkled with metallic glitter; fantastic robes, beads,
jewels and medallions adorned the celebrants. The angels wore huge wings
made of white feathers glued to cardboard."
Two reviews of the Christmas Eve show in the underground press.
Three variants of the poster announcing the Angels of Light Free
Theatre Christmas Eve Mass. They were printed by the Free Print Shop, a
clear indication that it was acknowledged by Kaliflower as an Angels of
Light (not Cockettes) event.
Free Kabaret
March 21, 1971
Committee Theatre, 622 Broadway
Sweethearts Kome to Free Kabaret | Opening 9 P.M. | Committee
Theatre | 622 Broadway | Sunday Nite
This was the first Free Cabaret that the Angels of Light put on. It
was announced in the March 18, 1971 issue of Kaliflower. That explains
why there was no date listed — simply "Sunday Nite." The audience was
strictly people from other communes that received Kaliflower — a true
intercommunal cultural event. This was also the first Angels performance
that received critical reviews in Kaliflower — one of the most valuable
aspects of performing primarily to a communal audience. The three
reviews that were printed in the next week's issue are reproduced below.
Sunday nite's Cabaret (and intercommunal cruise) at the
Committee theater sure was a pleasant alternative to the usual San
Francisco night life — and showed enormous potential if and as it
evolves onto and into newer and more disorganized and spontaneous
forms of entertainment for we communards — heaven knows it sure was
a treat to see so many beauties out in the world — ones that would
generally stay home rather than get involved in the "money hungry
pleasure syndrome".
The show was extremely loose knit and down to earth with groovey
solos and a marvelous chorus line. So many familiar faces amongst
the actresses and actors on both sides of the footlights. Numbers
ranged from "Grand March from Aida" to "Cabaret" and some morbid,
but well done heroin blues (quite significant these days) .
Then what to our wondering eyes did appear across the
smoke-filled room — but troupes of gorgeous communists laden with
arm-loads of sumptuous organic taste treats.
Future soirees could surely be appreciated, with more
intercommunal output — something on the order of the old Kaliflower
picnics. Any mass media coverage would certainly be a thorn in the
long range, even if we did have a huge place.
Sure hope to see more of these free communist bashes in the US
of A.
"What the Boys in the Backroom Will Have" is Irving Rosenthal's first
of many critiques of the Angels' free theater. His suggestions were
prophetic in that each one would be implemented in the coming year.
(Click the thumbnail image to the right to read the full text of all
three reviews.)
Kaliflower, March 18, 1971, announcement for the first Free Cabaret.
Appearing the week after the first free cabaret, this free ad (in the
March 25, 1971 issue of Kaliflower) is reminiscent of the first ad
Hibiscus ran in Kaliflower the previous year calling for musicians, set
designers, etc. Note the address: 946 Haight Street. This was the
Cockette house until Jilala's sermons on Free drove most of the
Cockettes out.
Reviews of the first Free Cabaret (Kaliflower, March 25, 1971)
Plaster of Paris (Second Free Cabaret)
March 28, 1971
Committee Theater, 622 Broadway
Kabaret Morocco De La Flaming Flamingo Presenting Plaster of Paris
At the Committee Theater | 622 Broadway
Sunday Nite | 9 P.M. | Free to All
This was the second free cabaret show that the Angels produced. The
announcement appeared in Kaliflower, March 25, 1971, and again the
audience was made up of members from the 100+ communes that received
Kaliflower weekly. Soon afterwards, Jilala began creating what would
become known as his psychomagnetic drawings invoking Free Theatre. The
first set of these is shown below. Also, in the next week's issue of Kaliflower was the announcement seen to the right, seeking
resources and
people interested in helping out the Angels.
"Because the higher dream is a native Kabuki-like or Kathakali-like Free Theatre
No Penny Opera to tap our magic source ... Angels of Light are free of this
world. They do not cling to the dream of praise, reward or fame." (Kaliflower,
April 22, 1971)
Announcement of the second Free Cabaret (Kaliflower, March 25, 1971)
"Blue Angels need carpenters and lumber for building the Free Cabarets ...
stage" (Kalflower, April 22, 1971)
Titilating Titresses of the Amazon
May 2, 1971
Polk Gulch Gala (two-day street fair)
I originally titled this appearance of the Angels (along with many of
the Cockettes) "Polk Gulch Gay-La" in part after the title of an article
that appeared in the Bay Area Reporter (B.A.R.) shortly after the event
in 1971. The official name that the Polk Street Merchants Association
gave the two-day street fair was "Polk Gulch Gala" — the B.A.R. changed
the spelling of "gala", which might account for this being the first AND
only street closure with that name. Subsequently, it was known simply as
the Polk Street Fair. The video below uses the name that I originally
gave this appearance of the Angels and Cockettes. Years later, Rumi sent
me the poster that appears here. Consequently, the true name for this
event is shown as in the poster.
The video is Jilala's footage from that sunny May Day Weekend on Polk
Street. The exuberance and transcendent sexual energy of the group of
performers high up on a stage overseeing the throng of fairgoers is
palpable in the video. The poster that Rumi sent me is in Hibiscus'
hand. It is obvious that by this time, he had broken with paid shows and
was committed to free theater as an Angel of luminescence.
Above, the poster for this event, designed by Hibiscus. Below, the
article in the B.A.R. recounting the street fair. "I don't believe the
audience was ready for the Cockettes, but on they came. We must say that
theirs is quite a show, and the straight as well as gay crowd got right
with it." Local reporters still had not distinguished the Angels of
Light separate from the Cockettes.
Finer Arts
Series of Kaliflower Articles, May-July, 1971
Soon after the Angels and Cockettes’ May Day appearance on Polk
Street, Kaliflower published a series of three essays under the title
“Finer Arts,” with the third essay appearing on the cover as “AGAINST THE STARS.” Together they set forth the philosophical
foundation the Angels of Light would follow in the years to come. Though
collectively authored, Irving Rosenthal wrote the principal draft—and,
for all the complicated feelings he aroused, he served as the prophet of
the free communal culture that the Angels came to embody.
Finer Arts offers a radical critique of mass culture and a passionate
call for decentralized, communal art. The essays argue that corporate
media commodified even rebellion, turning figures like Bob Dylan and
Allen Ginsberg into relics of a mass-produced past. [As an aside, the
first Digger Papers made similar arguments.] In place of a
commercial “youth culture,” Finer Arts envisions local
expressions—handmade books, free plays, and intimate performances
created by and shared among the communes. Rejecting the “star system” as
a form of alienation, Finer Arts anticipates the Angels of Light, whose collective-based theater realized that ideal: a communal culture
of beauty created and given freely in love, beyond the reach of the
marketplace.
The first two articles of the "Finer Arts" series in Kaliflower.
"The star system is another aspect of mass culture we can do without. ... Stars
are ready-made culture heroes—they are the TV dinners of the soul. They keep
thousands of pertinent neighborhood cultures from forming. They dehumanize and
isolate millions of people by feeding them a counterfeit but handy ink or
plastic image in place of the eager flesh trying to please them a touch away.
Let the stars fall down!" —from "Against the Stars," Kaliflower, July 1, 1971
Earthquake — A Midsummer's Night Scream (Blue Angel Free Cabaret)
August 6-7, 1971
330 Grove Street
By late spring 1971, Hibiscus had arranged with Gregory Pickup to
stage Angels of Light shows in Gregory's rented loft space at 330 Grove
Street. This was the first show at that location. It was also the first
show that the local underground press recognized as an Angels of Light
production. The Berkeley Barb provided an intimate account of the
show and the audience, likening the scene to Marlene Dietrich's "Der
Blaue Engel" cabaret (which the Angels had obviously referenced in the
poster seen here). In particular, the reporter noted that "free
lemonade, whole wheat bread, plums, peaches and bananas" were
distributed by troupe members to the audience. (This became a signature
ritual at Angels of Light shows.) The article also reported on the
schism within the Cockettes. The review in Kaliflower was critical of
certain aspects of the cabaret, but hopeful that the Angels would
"develop other forms in addition to freak-parody of the crimes Hollywood
has committed against womanhood." Ironically, given the recent article
"Against the Stars" in Kaliflower, Allen Ginsberg, who had read "Stars"
as implied criticism of his fame, joined in the festive occasion,
performing William Blake songs on harmonium.
Review of the Earthquake Show in the Berkeley Barb, and a review in Kaliflower.
Jilala on stage at the Free Cabaret, August 6, 1971
Allen Ginsberg singing "The Nurse's Song" and playing harmonium at the Earthquake
Free Cabaret show
[Left above] Reviews of the Earthquake show. The Berkeley Barb article
discusses Gregory Pickup who was instrumental in helping the Angels at this
moment. The review in Kaliflower was ascerbic but hopeful.
[Left below] One of Jilala's psychomagnetic drawings invoking free theater.
(Kaliflower, September 9, 1971.
Cotton Club Cabaret / Flaming Hot Erotica Exotica
October 2-4, 1971
330 Grove Street
The Cotton Club Cabaret was the second and last Angels performance at
330 Grove Street (not counting the film that Gregory Pickup made of the
Angels cavorting for his camera). The following is from the review that
one dazzled audience member wrote for the next week's issue of
Kaliflower:
The Monday performance of the Free Cabaret was first
rate. I thought when Hibiscus first got up on the stage, "Oh shit — the
big gold tits again," but then he started dancing, his incredible aura
flowed out, filled the room with fun — and the free cabaret was off to a
joyful start. He pranced and sparkled and poured forth his funky love
vibes, the essence of his shining magic. But I think he should realize
that the marvelous presence he manifests almost inevitably takes away
from others on the stage. And when it happens to be somebody else's
number maybe Hibiscus should manifest less presence and give the other
more of a chance. This was particularly noticeable in his duets with
Ralif, whose talent is as great as free (or any) theater will find, but
who's too meek to compete for attention. Ralif's genius was a delight,
but I hope eventually to see him alone or in numbers with performers
more sensitive to his brilliance.
Ajari and the Mantric Sun Band, though they seem to play one tune with
variations, do it really well and they added a lot of spirit (excuse the
pun) to the night's revelries.
The Gospel Pearls are a score for the free community — sort of strange,
excellent and dynamite. A lot of other good trips were unfurled: Rumi,
especially in the Russian number, was fun. Sandy — how couldst we but
love and adore thee? One boy (anyone know his name?) did a really
excellent job with "Take back your mink, etc." And I thought special
thanks were due to the various piano players for keeping things so
lively.
All in all it was a wonderful show, one of the best I've seen anywhere,
tons of talent and merriment. All thanks to the Angels of Light et al. —
and one last gold star to the audience for breathtaking human
loveliness.
Note: the illustration on the page in Kaliflower shows a depiction of
the street-facing edifice of 330 Grove Street. [Click on the page
thumbnail in the right-hand column to view a large version of the
illustration.]
Poster announcing Cotton Club Cabaret at 330 Grove
Announcment in Kaliflower, September 22, 1971
Review of the Cotton Club Cabaret, Kaliflower, October 7, 1971
Ghoul Diggers of Transylvania, a Halloween Opera
October 30, 1971
Castro Street Halloween Festival
To date, no photos or film footage of this Halloween show have shown
up. There is footage of Angels of Light performances at future Halloween
celebrations and at future Castro Street fairs. But none (so far) has
turned up of this one. However, the panels below were Jilala's report to
the Kaliflower readers of the preparations for Ghoul Diggers: "The
Halloween blow-out is in dress rehearsal every night at 542 Church St!!"
(see below)
Four panels of Jet's psychomagnetic drawings in Kaliflower.
Announcement for the Angels of Light Halloween Show that appeared in
Kaliflower, October 28, 1971.
Theatre de Ange du Lumiere's
DRACULA or I Love Lucifer | A Keystone Cock Opera
Digging up Things from the Past
Come One Come
ALL ANGELS
Fallen and Otherwise
For Our Bizarre Celebration of the Spirits
O All Saints in Paint!
IO PAN in Black and Orange Seequins!!!!
—from announcement in Kaliflower, October 21, 1971 (see panels on left)
Anti-War & Gay Pride Appearances
November 4-5-6, 1971
San Francisco City College
San Francisco State College
Civic Center Anti-Vietnam War March
For anyone who didn’t live through the 1970s, the Vietnam War (known
in Vietnam as the American War) was a time of profound anger,
frustration, and ultimately disillusionment for millions who saw the
U.S. campaign against the Vietnamese people as an abomination. This
sentiment ran deep in the counterculture and across the broader
“Movement”—the loose coalition of radical, artistic, and political
groups that challenged the status quo. The Angels of Light brought their
theater into this struggle repeatedly, staging performances that were as
politically charged as they were aesthetically defiant.
The two
articles presented here are significant for several reasons. First, they
document the Angels’ explicit commitment to both the anti-war and gay
liberation movements. Second, they mark the first recorded use of the
term “gender-fuck” to describe the Angels’ theatrical style—a term that
would later become central to queer performance and identity politics.
And third, the second article captures a moment of internal critique: a
reaction against Hibiscus’s recurring portrayals of Hollywood femmes
fatales, which had dominated the troupe’s aesthetic. Within months, that
mode of parody vanished from Angels performances, signaling a shift
toward something more communally and politically resonant.
Gays to
March, Berkeley Barb, October 29, 1971
Gays organizing gay contingents for the November 6 peace
demonstration in San Francisco are spurring interest in the march with a
free dance the night before and a party the night after.
Two gay contingents are planned for the National Peace Action Coalition
— a "Gay Pride" contingent and a Gay Women's Contingent.
The groups were formed by a Gay Mobilization Committee which grew out of
the April 24 march, when 4,000 gays participated, and have received
official endorsement from numerous SF gay groups, including the San
Francisco Gay Liberation Front, which is sponsoring the 'Eve of the
March' dance.
The dance will be held Nov. 5 at 8 pm in the SF State Gallery Lounge and
will feature live music.
On Nov. 6, gays will gather at the Civic Center at 9 am for the march.
During the march, members of the Angels of Light gender-fuck troupe will
perform.
Following the rally at the Polo Field, gays will be invited to go to a
Gay Movement Center to meet other gays, have coffee, pick up literature
from different gay groups, and eventually have a post-march party.
The location of the movement center has not yet been set, reports
Dorothy Dillon, a gay woman, member of the Young Socialists Alliance and
one of the key organizers of the gay groups for the march.
"We will pass the word around about where the center will be located
with handbills during the march," she told BARB.
She said that any gay group wanting to have its literature available at
the center should just bring it with them.
In addition to the dance, advance interest in the march will be
generated by a Gay Day November 4 at San Francisco City College. The
campus' Free Gay Student Union has scheduled the Student Activities
Center for the entire day. There will be speakers on gays in prison and
in the war, entertainment by Angels of Light and a literature table,
among other things.
A similar thing will be happening at Sonoma State, Ms. Dillon told BARB.
Housing for gay people coming in from out of town of the march is being
set up, she said.
In addition to the SF State and SF City College campus gay
organizations, the march is being endorsed by Emmaus House, S.I.R.,
Metropolitan Community Church, Community of St. John and the Daughters
of Bilitis. Actively opposed to gay participation in the march is the
Gay Activists Alliance, which charges co-option of gay people by march
organizers.
Hibiscus on stage—balloon breasts and all—lampooning Hollywood’s image
of the femme fatale in full camp flourish.
Important article in the history of the Angels emergence.
"In protest against what many women felt was 'ridicule of Lesbianism and
women,' dozens of Lesbians walked out en masse from the gay lib dance
held at S.F. State College on November 5. Many women felt the
caricatures of females presented by the Angels of Light, a gender-fuck
troupe, were offensive and a blatant insult to them."
Thanksgiving Show
November 25-28, 1971
Organic Life Mission, 541 Hemlock Street
No photos, footage nor subsequent reports exist of this show. It was
scheduled for four nights at the Organic Life Mission. In an issue of
Kaliflower a month later, with the announcement of the next show for
Christmas Eve, a comment was appended by a Kaliflower editor: "The last
Angel of Light event, which was advertised in KF, aborted, and those who
brought 'instruments' and 'offerings' to the Organic Life Mission found
it boarded up." No subsequent explanation has ever surfaced. Since the
Thanksgiving show was over four nights, it's possible that the appended
comment was referring to the last night of the run. In any case, any
artifacts from this show would be most welcome.
Announcement in Kaliflower, November 25, 1971.
Whatever
Happened to Baby Jesus?
December 24, 1971
Poet's Theater, 430 Mason Street
From the San Francisco Good Times (January 2, 1972):
Hibiscus and the Angels of Light did a free show at the Poet's
Theater on Christmas Eve called "What ever happened to baby Jesus?"
Dressed in their stunningly beautiful gowns gleaned from the trash bins
of America’s changing fashions, the Angels did a glamorous recreation of
the Bible, from the Creation to the birth of the infant Jesus. The show
is so real and honest that [it] is sometimes hard to follow. I mean they
give stage directions out loud from the stage: "Pull the curtain!" — and
they handle dozens of tinsel props and lacy backdrops. When you realize
that they don’t care about anything but having fun, the show gets
contagious. They make the Dadaists and surrealists look commercial.
Announcement in Kaliflower, December 23, 1971 [Note the use of "Free
City"]
A collage of scenes from "Myth Thing," photographed by Miriam Bobkoff
This was a watershed performance for the Angels of Light. "Myth
Thing" received more reviews and critiques in Kaliflower than all their
previous shows. There were numbers in the show that reflected the
growing intercommunal culture, such as the "Hunga Dunga Song" that sang
the praises of the Free Food Conspiracy. This was also Hibiscus' last
show with the Angels of Light Free Theatre. The growing criticism of his
onstage upstaging of other performers, especially the two reviews posted
here, was in part instrumental in his leaving San Francisco and moving
back to New York five years after first traveling cross-country with
Irving Rosenthal in 1967. After this last show that Hibiscus directed,
the Angels of Light expanded into new directions.
Here are excerpts from the two reviews below (both in Kaliflower,
February 3, 1972):
[From: Rough Stones and Gems]
The performance of the "Myth Thing" showed definite signs of a trend
from the accustomed impromptu free-for-all toward a more mature form of
theatre. The score was mostly original and the whole show had been
rehearsed. Parts of it were even polished gems: the Belladonna duet, the
Dionysus number, the Katha Kali dance, Psyche's performance. … The
Angels of Light can now be viewed as an evolving art form that will
thrive on criticism and review.
[From: On the Road to Oregon Looking Back. Note: although published
anonymously, as most articles in Kaliflower were, the handwriting is
distinctive. This was written by Irving Rosenthal, who penned the first
critique of the Angels the previous year.]
Last Saturday and Sunday nights the Angels of Light presented "Myth
Thing" at the Poet's Theatre. 1) Their glitter headdresses, rays, and
thunderbolts still gleam in the imagination. These props were used
almost like mudras, and there were mudras present also, in the form of
the Kathakali dance number; and between the props and the Kathakali
dance on the one hand, and the concern with communes as represented by
the Hunga Dunga song on the other hand, the Angels of Light have a
future to move into.
The review then hit on some points that were criticized: the
overcrowding, the cigarette smoke, the lateness of the hour, the
upstaging of other performers (although Hibiscus was not named), and the
continuing "obsession with the capitalist theater of the thirties." The
hope was expressed that the Angels' theatre will ...
... grow more involved in our actual community, in the food
conspiracies, in the free bakery, in the Medical Opera, and in the real
sex problems of communal living … Then their art would grow into
something we could relate to. We have had the liberated feminism of the
Cockettes for 2 years now, the shock is over, the battle is won, the
time has come to pick up other problems. One song on the program, the
Hunga Dunga song, manifested the first very beautiful beginning of a
community consciousness.
Two of the reviews of "Myth Thing" that appeared in Kaliflower (February
2 1972)
Poster printed by the Free Print Shop (Scott Street Commune)
This announcement appeared in Kaliflower, January 27, 1972. "Myth Thing"
had many aliases. Here it is "The Freek Show."
A few more aliases for the show in this panel that appeared with the
above.
The Angels were master punsters (especially Ralif). Here is a list of
possible names for the show that was printed as an "upcoming attraction"
announcement before the final name was chosen.
It's All Greek to Me | Olympus My Dick! | The Hibiscus Complex | Greeced
Lightning | Pan of Greece | Delphic Delight | Titan Hot | The Orpheus
Circuit | Myth Thing | Urine Greece | Greecing It Up | Fadera | Greek to
Greek | Greek and Ye Shall Find | I'll Be Greecing You In All the Old
Familiar Places | Pansies of the Parthenon | Hermes Hermits Meet Homers
Homos | The Argonuts | Chimera Shy | Muses Fuses | Ares Fairies | If You
Knew Zeusie Like I Knew Zeusie | Satyr Day | Hades Ladies | Flaming
Cretans | Ya Oughta See Eurydice | Narsissy | The Isadorables |
Pandora's Box | Isadildo in Greece
Peking On Acid
May 20, 1972
Inter Communal Free Carnival
Douglass Playground, San Francisco
Collage of images from Peking On Acid and the Inter-communal Carnival
Two years after the first (proto) Angels of Light shows, Peking On Acid
represented craft transformed by a radical evolution in style and substance.
Staged as part of the Kaliflower
Intercommunal Carnival, the Angels were one of many communal tribes whose
energy fused into a collective celebration greater than the sum of its parts.
While the Angels performed amidst stupendous backdrops crafted by their set
designers, and wore fabulous costumes sewn from free store scraps, the open
space of Douglass Playground bloomed with a dozen tents, each offering something
unique.
We are fortunate to have so much documentation from this signal event in the
intertwined histories of the Angels and the Kaliflower network. The panels to
the right reproduce pages from the booklet handed out as the show's “program” —
the first time the Angels inaugurated this practice. Below is Irving’s review of the show
which clearly demonstrates the extent to which the Angels had come to embody the
communal culture. And beneath that, footage Jilala shot on his Super
8 camera, capturing the day in motion.
PEKING REVIEW
NOTES on "PEKING on ACID," a NEW SHOW PRESENTED by the THEATRE of
TOTALLY DISABLED ANGELS of LIGHT at the FIRST INTERCOMMUNAL CARNIVAL,
SATURDAY, MAY 20, 1972
THE AUDIENCE: The Angels of Light played to communal brothers,
sisters, and friends, and there has hardly ever been assembled a calmer,
more appreciative, and less paranoid, audience. And it was not captive.
It was sitting on the grass and could come and go freely any time it
wanted, and so it consisted mainly of those spectators whom the Angels
had spellbound.
THE SUN: It was daytime, and the power of the Angels' performance
dispelled forever the idea that theatrical magic happens only at night,
in a blacked-out auditorium. The baseball diamond turned into a great
Greek amphitheater.
PAINT: No justice can be done to the sets, costumes and make-up by
describing them. Considering the humble scope of our intercommunal
culture, they were titanic in conception and galactic in execution. The
courtesan was a walking Brazilian jungle. Our gasps were answered by
still more spectacular sets and still more spectacular poses. Sets and
costumes are hard to preserve intact, outside of a repertory theater
warehouse, but some attempt should be made to pickle PEKING ON ACID, at
least by color photograph or watercolor sketch—for unborn fans of the
future.
SPACING OUT: A baseball diamond was the huge space conceived of by
the Angels as their theater, and they handled it masterfully, building
sets and costumes of a size to fit it, transforming the backstop into a
proscenium and the pitcher's mound into an orchestra pit. The
Courtesan's procession meandered slowly over the vast lawn to open the
second act. The twelve-inch high sandals of the Courtesan, and shorter
sandals of her retainers, gave them the added height to cope with so
large a space. Greek drama was also played in the sunlight, and the
players wore high shoes called buskins.
MUSIC: The orchestra proved that you don't need a bunch of
professional pianists in order to provide an aesthetically perfect
musical accompaniment. You just need nerve. There was no obstacle that
the orchestra and its radiant leader did not glide over or zap away.
When two unscheduled trumpeteers appeared on a promontory overlooking
the park, and started a loud duet, the new unavoidable tempo was simply
picked up by the orchestra.
FREEDOM: The Depression musical has been the stock in trade of the
so-called "Cockette—Angel-of-Light phenomenon," and it was offed
somewhere between Poets' Theatre and Upper Douglass Playground. For what
opened at the Carnival was the whole world of theater, East and West,
past and present. How can the Cockettes and the Angels of Light ever be
mentioned in the same breath again? The Angels at last squeezed out of
their godawful Busby Berkeley plaster casts, a wide swarm of exotic
butterflies slowly strolling back and forth through world myth and
history, sipping from the glorious bouquets of other cultures the nectar
they need to refresh us back at home.
CHARITY: The Angels have made peace with women. The bitter misogyny
of all their past shows is gone. In PEKING ON ACID a gifted female
impersonator successfully portrayed feminine elegance and beauty. Now
they are theater for everyone instead of just half of us. A few months
ago this reviewer thought he had had it with what passes for drag these
days. It was nice to see this ancient art redeemed.
ENSEMBLE: The show was not marred or drowned out by the din of
egomaniacs battling with each other for the limelight. A new, gentler,
and more powerful company has formed, with room for everyone to be seen
and heard. The egomaniacs were conspicuous by their absence.
PACING: The great flaw of the show was the long lags between acts,
and the corresponding failure to burn away the straw from inside the
acts. But because Saturday was a lucky day, even this flaw was a
blessing. It dragged out the show to true all-day Kabuki length,
allowing us to leave when we got bored, and visit other booths of the
Carnival. We came back when the action picked up.
HIGHLIGHTS: Everything and everyone that was painted, the printed
program, the bigness of everything, the beautiful zany leader of the
orchestra, the frog, the red-headed demon, the Courtesan's skillful
stilt-walking, the love-making sequence between Courtesan and swain at
the end of Act I.
COMPLAINTS: Not enough rehearsing, one actor smoking on stage, a
film maker directing the performers to act for him rather than for the
audience, the too frequent refraining of Sandy and Jilala from appearing
on stage.
WHERE TO: There is a rumor afloat that the Angels are planning a
trip to Amsterdam and possible European tour. Nothing would be more
detrimental at this time. They would be cutting themselves off from the
community they come from and play for, and just before their last
amazing spurt of growth has had a chance to ossify. They should wait a
couple of years before thinking of foreign travel, at least as a troupe.
Their "ticket" should invest his capital in a warehouse theater,
lighting equipment, and so forth. And in the meantime, if the Angels
want to tour, we know of a dozen West Coast communes they could visit,
and in particular we know of a mountain top in Oregon with what could be
called a challenging backdrop.
The program for Peking on Acid, an eight-page unbound booklet,
printed by the Free Print Shop.
"Peking Review" of the Angels of Light show, and photos of the day, Kaliflower, May 25, 1972
Martin, Tahara, and Beaver taking advantage of the invitation in the
last paragraph of "Peking Review" (visiting the Kaliflower Commune's
land on Roundtop Mountain in southern Oregon).
End of Kaliflower
June 22, 1972
After 165 weekly issues, the Scott Street Commune ended publication
of Kaliflower. From this moment on, the record of the Angels of Light is
lacking the reviews and critiques from the intimate audience that the
pages of Kaliflower had provided. The Free Print Shop (the parent of
Kaliflower) would continue printing posters, announcements, and now the
increasingly popular programs that the Angels designed and gave away for
their shows.
Within a few months, the Free Food Conspiracy comes to an end over a
dispute about dairy products. And the Scott Street Commune (publishers
of Kaliflower) undergoes a rupture with many of the core members
leaving. The intercommunal network in San Francisco slowly fades away.
The high-water mark is still recognizable decades later.
The next-to-last issue of Kaliflower in 1972. The article is by the
first editor and recounts the early yearnings and hopes for an
intercommunal network. "A remarkable number of these dreams have come
true. ... Now it is time to jump orbit."
San Francisco’s First Gay Freedom Day Parade (called
“Christopher Street West”)
Sunday, June 25, 1972
Angels appear on the Hot Moon Commune’s float
"It was The City's first-ever Gay Parade. Costumed in an array of
paint and polish, over 1000 gays wound their way through downtown San
Francisco … The parade was intended by its organizers as a celebration,
not a protest, to show the unity of The City's gay community. … Also in
the parade were … a float from the Metropolitan Community Church, the
Hot Moon Commune, and the Angels of Light." (S.F. Examiner, June 26,
1972)
"A celebration, rather than a protest, was how the city's first
annual Christopher Street West parade was organized. 'A celebration of
what?' gay militants asked, condemning the parade for all sorts of
reasons. And although they were right in a lot of ways, the parade
somehow came across with something no one could have predicted or
planned for — call it a total effect, 'charisma,' or whatever, the
"freaks" showed this hard-pressed up-tight world that there's something
they've got just ready to bubble to the surface that the world don't
know about. … The Hot Moon commune float, 'Flamingo You,' was 75 feet
long, was covered with feathers, sprays, and streamers and featured 25
Angels of Light dressed in drag with Platania in the middle as the great
flamingo." (Berkeley Barb, June 30, 1972)
The Eqyptian Show
August, 1972
The Intercommunal Carnival at Wolf Creek, Oregon
In the months after the first Inter-Communal Carnival in June, plans
developed to hold a second version at a commune in Wolf Creek, near the
Kaliflower Commune's land in southern Oregon. There had been a migration
of hippies to the area and by 1972 there were several communes in the
area around Grants Pass. Due to the fact that Kaliflower had ceased
publication, there is very little documentary evidence of this event.
What we have was resurrected during the Covid pandemic when a zoom group
of ex-commune members began meeting weekly. Walter Fitzwater, who had
lived and performed with the Angels of Light, provided the photos seen
here. (One of which gives us the approximate date of the event.) Walter
also wrote about the show that the Angels performed at the
inter-communal carnival. The following is an excerpt and a wonderful
remembrance of the aura of an Angels show.
Excerpt from "The Egyptian Show" in Memoirs from An Angel by
Walter Fitzwater
[Walter met the Angels of Light shortly after "Peking on Acid" and
immediately moved into one of their communal households. He described how he helped design
sets with an Egyptian motif since he had studied architecture. Prior to
this excerpt, Walter recounted the communal trek to Oregon from San
Francisco in the Angels van and the encounters along the way — very
reminiscent of hippie "on the road" tales. The setting where the Angels
staged their performance was a rural commune, typical of the
back-to-the-land movement.]
Actors took their places, but Jeremy and I had to wait until the
lamps along the entrance path were lit for the presentation. We have the
entrance procession, which supposedly takes us to where the Pharaoh will
be sitting on the stage, our "queen," Miss Titty, and us, her entourage.
Jeremy and I don white tunics that droop to the floor and cover our
sandals. We each have a coin belt and a beautiful necklace created by
someone in the troupe that drapes down our chest. Our headdress is a
black weaved hairpiece with a golden elastic band across the forehead.
We each carry a gold plate with lit candles. The plate is hot! I am
trying my best to manage it and rush up the steps so we get to the stage
sooner than anticipated without burning my hands. What else do dancers
do? Jeremy and I are cued to start dancing to what we had rehearsed. We
get a stern look from some cast members, but who cares? I did not sign
up to burn my hands.
I am so glad to see that the Egyptian columns work. They are the
color of sand and styled like the ones in the temples by the Nile with
papyrus leaves for capitals. I had painted hieroglyphics of all kinds
all around with black paint. It looks terrific. I am so proud of them!
And here comes the Queen!
The skit is starting to take shape with Titty and the others. There
is a lot of high-pitched screaming and celebrating. We see Titty and the
others scramble for their lines. They use an oversized tea set; Rose has
the honor to make the Teapot symbolic of a pyramid; Miss Titty screams
when she notices that it has three sides, "A pyramid has four sides!"
Details drive a queen nutty! The dexterity of the Queen and her
entourage manipulates them with incredible equilibrium despite the cups
being hard to hold.
Le chat "amongst them" is catty for at least 20 minutes. Yes, the
audience loves it while some is over their heads; it deals with personal
stuff back in the city. The rumor is that John Apple is having sex with
Michael Ruby's beau. Dah! Oh, dear!
The audience enjoyed the cut-up dialogue section; I saw they were
having a great time. I don't think this is what they were expecting to
see; so much camp.
On the other hand, when Rodney appears so tanned and shirtless, he
releases that energy. He wears Hindu pants, wraps the material around,
and draws the leftover fabric from the back through the legs and into
the front. I can't keep my eyes off him. His hair is long, matted, and
disheveled. I think he looks like an Indian warrior. He wears his makeup
beautifully, distinguishing him as a supernatural being from another
world. He is Magic!
Rodney, with his long hair, dances beautifully. He loves ballet and
does most of the choreography. As a human male, he is attractively put
together. I have seen some of Rodney's other props. He knows how to draw
and paint, and his sets hang on a few walls or from the ceiling
throughout his house.
He is sweet and calm and features a beard and hair as gigantic as a
lion's mane. Rodney's costumes are intricate and well put together. His
robes and costumes have glitter, but always in the gentlest ways. I
always like to copy and mimic what he does.
He emotes talent as opposed to us because we smoke too much pot and
drink too much. He loves to sing. Although he likes to drink, I have
heard stories about Rodney and Beaver when they were in New York City.
Beaver plays a frog from the Nile, who is full of wisdom and is
coming to save the Princess, who was turned into something awful and
then taken away by an evil lord. I never did get the connection until
the show today. The magic is in the air, and I feel that truth is good
and, hands down, wins over evil.
Miss Beaver’s frog costume skills are mind-blowing. She has molded
egg crate foam into the frog's body and thighs. She uses water flippers
for her feet and giant gloves on her hands. She has made a mask that
covers her entire head so that she can peek out from the front. She has
painted the whole costume green, of course, but there are spots with
yellow centers outlined in blue. She added many other colors to augment
the shapes and shadows. She is so funny, hopping all over the stage!
My dreamboat is Beaver, who brings great characterization to her
part. She is a talented costume maker who can paint, draw, sing, and
dance. Beaver Bauer is a gentle individual who ensures we, the gang,
stay on track. She is modest and blames herself for not meeting her
demands. Damn, but she delivers.
If you have a question, just ask Beaver. She will have the answer or
tell you where to find the answer. She gives me the impression that she
wants to be an artist because her work is good, and even though she
cringes when complimented, I believe she will one day make a great
painter. She pours all her energy into work that has to be done and is
not satisfied till all is perfect.
Something else to remember is that when shopping, Beaver is the
person to hang out with at the thrift stores. She can tell you if the
material matches to make a great costume piece or if something else
would work better.
Our group adds music from beginning to end. One of our troupe’s
members, Toufik, from North Africa, directs the melodies and
compositions played throughout the performance. Many of the group
members practiced for days to add in various songs. Each member creates
a mood for the performance, using symbols and bells for an ethereal
atmosphere. Other times, we play a crescendo with drums to accentuate
the drama.
The group borrows makeup from one another. We look fabulous. Someone
in the group has a 'tan base' that makes us look severe. We cake on lots
of blue eyeshadow and apply black kohl around our eyes. We emulate faces
in the paintings depicting the Egyptian tombs.
All the cast members dance, and many people in the audience join in,
coming and going. We all blend. What a bunch! We are free spirits.
[Walter remembered that The Egyptian Shows was reprised at Monte Rio, California, at a
later date in a Quonset hut.]
These are the only photos that have come to light of the
Intercommunal Carnival at the Wolf Creek Commune in August 1972. Walter
sent these. It is a fair assumption that others exist, and specifically
ones that depict the Angels of Light performance.
Maritza performing an incantation.
Members of Hunga Dunga and Scott Street Communes.
Kai Butsu
November 30, 1972
University of California Extension, San Francisco
Film: RODAN
Intermission
Nourishment
KAI BUTSU (Lamé East)
Scene 1
The firefly Suki Yuk Yuk Yuk, at the end of her 25-year life cycle, is
flying toward a dark cave on the Island of Ah So So, where she is to
hatch the larva Kai Butsu. When she enters the cave, three Bats
(midwives) begin to force the larva out of her. To catch this special
moment, photographer Gloria Herzelf of the Japan Sun and radioactive
scientist Dr. Ooky Icky have hidden themselves in the cave. After a
ritual dance, the monstrous larva, Kai Butsu, is hatched. The human
intruders are discovered by the Bats, who lunge for Gloria, but she
fights them off and manages to escape.
Scene 2
Gloria wins the Pullitzer Prize hands down for her story on the birth of
Kai Butsu, and then gives a demonstration of her photographic talents.
Scene 3
Geisha entertainment at the Some Fun Teahouse, following the Pullitzer
Prize dinner. Just as Dr. Ooky Icky is proposing marriage to Gloria, Kai
Butsu descends into the teahouse and abducts Gloria, in outraged anger
for the ill effects that publicity has had on his life.
Scene 4
Dr. Ooky Icky searches through smoke and flame, wind and storm, for his
lost fiancée.
Scene 5
Dr. Ooky Icky discovers Gloria and Kai Butsu making love on a remote
volcanic island. In jealousy he tries to kill Kai Butsu. Gloria, insane
with sorrow over so vile an act, touches Dr. Icky's heart. Realizing his
mistake, he kisses the beloved monster.
[Back cover]: NOURISHMENT
Starring | The Blob Shish Kebab | Cream de la Scream | Fruit Fright
Delight | a scairy non-dairy production
Jingle Belles
December 21, 22, 24, 1972
University of California Extension, San Francisco
Inner fold of program
Fire birds light
our way home
thru the green hallow
and deep under the tree—
What ho?!! Trouble
in faerie — Stop
thief! The Opal
heart gift of the
Angels of opalescent vision
broken and one
half stolen—
Across the
aquahelene waters
out of the ashes
of the Phoenix fire
"Retrieve the jewel
ye elves or see the
dimly once again"
Then born through
the door in the old
Moon to the
Honey
Wine—
Poster for the Stanford show, printed by the Free Print Shop. No photos
have surfaced from this show, but Jet has footage, although way
under-exposed.
Gay Freedom Day
June 24, 1973
[The Angels of Light lead the parade to Golden Gate Park]
Parade Points Way! by Richard Boxer [Berkeley Barb, June 29, 1973]:
More than two thousand gay people turned out to march in the San
Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade under a beautiful blue sky and warm
weather.
The parade and picnic last Sunday was the finale of Gay Pride Week,
celebrating gayness and commemorating the Stonewall gay riots of New
York four years ago. (The riots mark the beginning of the Gay Liberation
Movement as it was the first time gays literally fought police
oppression.) …
As the parade formed in the financial district downtown, Polk Street
personality Jesus Christ Satan amused bystanders. Mr. Satan is well
known for his frequent presence on the corner of Polk and Sacramento
Streets holding a United Nations flag. …
[The article goes on to describe many of the contingents, groups, and
floats in the parade.]
…Two men from East Bay Gay decided to show [a busload of sightseers]
what gay love is all about and kissed voluptuously under the bus
windows. "What a liberating experience it is to be out-fucking-gayrageous
on the street," said one.
… The parade went from Bush and Montgomery to Polk to Larkin to
Sacramento to Lafayette Park. … From Lafayette Park people headed for
Golden Gate Park for a post-parade picnic. Muni buses were packed with
gay folk in a festive spirit, while others jammed cars and parade floats
to ride to the park. Members of the Angels of Light, a drag troupe, in
elaborate colorful gender-fuck costume hopped on a huge flatbed truck
crammed with people and the truckload partied all the way to Golden Gate
Park. The Angels screamed and sang and sent campy kisses to mind-fucked
pedestrians as the truck crawled at ten MPH down busy Geary Blvd.
Live music greeted the picnickers at Marx Meadows in Golden Gate Park
and hundreds of gays of all ages and all walks of life danced and
enjoyed themselves. Mike Wagener, Assistant Director of Emmaus House in
San Francisco, enthused by the spirit of the day, told BARB, "The most
significant thing about Gay Freedom Day is just this happening. Look
around: everyone is gay, together, mellow. It's fantastic."
"Members of the Angels of Light, a drag troupe, in elaborate colorful
gender-fuck costume hopped on a huge flatbed truck crammed with people
and the truckload partied all the way to Golden Gate Park. The Angels
screamed and sang and sent campy kisses to mind-fucked pedestrians as
the truck crawled at ten MPH down busy Geary Blvd."
[Jet has footage of Jesus Christ Satan (mentioned in the article)
but I'm not sure it is from this parade. Jet filmed several Gay Freedom
Day parades in the 1970s, but his films don't have any dates for the
most part.
Deep Frieze: a Free Soup Opera
August 9-10, 1973
University of California Extension, San Francisco
"Deep Frieze"
a free soup opera
by ANGELZ for u!
also
"Flying Sauces"
"Kitsch-On"
"Tin Can-Can Alley Follies"
"the Pot & Pan" a toe dance romance
also
Madame Butterdish will cameoh! as Leftover Lil
and a pest appearance by a CAFFIEND!
[Reconstructed plot of the show:]
Deep Frieze, a revolutionary tale, denounces fast food, preservatives, and meat. A housewife, trapped in her kitchen, sings all day, surviving on pills and medications. The scene reveals a kitchen with painted walls and four windows, each displaying a season's distinct view. She cries out, "Alas, the dog has not been fed!" Engrossed in Vague Magazine, she watches soaps like The Old and The Ugly, and As The Stomach Turns. Society, enslaved by pills and medications, deems physical eating impure and unethical.
Aliens (as agents of change) bring healthy, compassionate food to a world on the brink. Upon their arrival, vegetables and appliances awaken, speaking, singing, and dancing. Cockroaches invade the stage, symbols of oppression. With the aid of vegetables and appliances, the aliens create a feast of vegetarian sustenance for the housewife. The "Spirit of the Kitchen" emerges and a transformation occurs, leading humanity toward a balanced, healthful existence.
Alas, the enemy, the "Preservatives," attack, seeking destruction. They imprison the Spirit
of the Kitchen in the pantry, but hope persists as the Herbs and Spices liberate her. The Spirit, once freed, defeats the Preservatives, symbolizing the triumph of the masses. The housewife and all rejoice in newfound health and happiness. The cast unites, singing their anthem, "The Tomato Blushed When It Saw The Salad Dressing." Deep Frieze transcends the "kale" of duty, calling the audience to action against a corrupt system of consumption.
The horizontal panel of the poster attached at right angles to the
vertical panel to give the 3-D illusion of a kitchen floor. Printed by
the Free Print Shop.
Deep Frieze marked the Angels
metamorphosis from exuberant Busby Berkeley send-ups to a
countercultural critique of consumerism and the corporate food industry
— framed through a communal lens where the kitchen becomes a site of
liberation, as it had been with The Kitchen Sluts in the early days of
the Sutter Street Commune.
Angels in Morning (Halloween Show)
October 31, 1973
University of California Extension, San Francisco
Cover, inner fold, and back cover of the program.
All Hallows Eve
"Angels in Morning"
A ding-dawn mellow-trauma
or
"Stage Fright"
or
"Rouge and Vertigo"
or
"Deviled Hams and Hallowed Queens"
and
Costume Party
Come as Hoo-ever You Are
Back cover of the program printed by the Free Print Shop.
One of the unique aspects of Angels of Light posters and programs was the
playfulness with the titles of the shows. Often, a multitude of alternative
titles were included. Among the troupe members were several inestimable
punsters.
Picketing at the opening of "Pickup's Tricks"
November 9, 10, 1973
Palace Theatre, San Francisco
[Text of the leaflet handed out at the picket line:]
You Can See This Film For Free
This film was made to be shown for free. The actors agreed to make
the film only if it was shown for free.
TRICKS, a film by Gregory Pickup, is a ripoff! In 1971, Pickup
filmed the Angels Free Cabaret shows: "Flaming Hot Exotica Erotica,"
"Earthquake" with Allen Ginsberg, & "Crucifixion and Resurrection," plus
a few minor shows, all the while telling the Angels of Light he wanted
to record their shows in a free film for posterity. This double-crossing
brazen hussy has since become a liar by making TRICKS a commercial film.
He is rich enough (he told us his parents own C&H Sugar) so he doesn't
need the money. Don't let this backstabbing, fast talking rat swindle
you out of $2.50. Protest! Insist on seeing a free film by not paying.
You are invited to join our picket line.
RIP-OFF
Matthew, Ralph, and Tahara getting read to head out to the picket line,
photo in the Scott Street Commune's library.
JET filmed one of the nights at the picket of Pickup's Tricks. This video (see
next column) was one of the first set
of JET's films that were digitized. There have subsequently been three
additional digitization projects with his films. Pickup's Tricks on
occasion is shown in public.
Front side of leaflet printed by the Free Print Shop.
Reverse side (text is reproduced in the main column).
Video of the Picket Line
Footage by JET Tressler. There is no sound to the video. To expand the
window in which the video plays, move the mouse until you see a little box
with an arrow. Click it. Then when done, close the popup window.
Comets You Are
December 22, 24, 1973
Tenderloin YMCA, San Francisco
Ballet Ruse
Act 1
Io Pan-handlers! A flock of gypsies, banding, camping along a
Georgian river-bed, lanterns hung like fireflies in each of the circle
of carved and colored wagons. In the center a great bonfire, around
which huddles the storytellers and cooks, all laughing and pretending to
argue about whose destiny is so charged by the motion of stars and
moons. Each an elder, and each singing to a silent, invisible guitar,
mystic brotherhood by the forest's edge, sometime venturing into towns
to read palms, bumps and cards — and the rarest of magic tools, a
crystal ball!
For many weeks now the Ball has only shown one shimmering vision — a
comet will pass by Earth, grazing our atmosphere with its awesome
spectacle — a precious sign from heaven that has all the gypsies
murmuring and tingling with unknowing and delight, their bracelets
jangling like nervous tambourines and castanets, each trying to express
what they imagine the comet's coming to mean.
They hear haunting melodies from their children's mouths, making up
songs as children will, about the fiery visitor on the early morning
horizon, like an earring for the sun.
They freely associate unexpected star- like bodies with new messiahs and
are filled with hope. The strange and mysterious knowledge the gypsies
hold in this world without telescopes comes out of them not in words,
but in weird, unearthly hand gestures as though some incandescent spirit
wriggled in them like an unborn baby.
It comes to pass that the gypsies assume a very odd air about them.
Their arched brows put off the townspeople, who simply misunderstand
their visionary state for conceit and witchery. They call the gypsies
thieves. They call the gypsies devils, giving them 24 hours to get out
of Dodge.
Naturally this puzzles and bewilders the gypsies who are merely
intoxicated with dreams they barely understand. So, hurrying back to
their trunks and greasepots, unrolling backdrops in the town's square to
put on a miracle play for the superstitious citizenry, to allay their
fears and once again have their trust.
The confused and angry townsfolk nonetheless gather around the perimeter
of the stage as if to dare the gypsies to be entertaining. And much to
their disbelief and astonishment the gypsies perform splendidly ,
beribboned and sparkling in the sunlight, chanting and twirling as if in
a trance, often pointing heavenward, to a bright dot on the horizon, a
glistening visitor whose footprint is 100 million miles of flaming dust.
The audience's heart, by this time, has melted. Everyone can be seen
fanning each other. Most all have fainted from the sheer beauty of the
performance.
Suddenly the comet strikes, splitting the mountain in halves like an
egg, revealing a never-seen secret city, all spires and cupolas, whose
windows are of a strange alloy of innocence and faith. The avenues are
designed after human bloodstreams, overlapping paths or arteries, like
huge petals opening everywhere as stepping stones. The governor's
mansion is a heart-shaped structure whose lip-shaped door startles
everyone, gypsy and townspeople alike, struck speechless.
Slowly they realize that the city was empty, waiting for a population to
live in its perfection, walk its breezy canyons and gleaming boulevards,
alleys and bayous — sip at its opaline waters, whose colors are
numberless, breaking up in the throat, tickling as no liquid ever has.
Blue forests appear and a bright green sea laps the edge of the shore.
Liquid mirror of the sea — whose steaming images come through our ears
with a shell as surely as visions of divinity have come to us while
love-making, bless this comet that is a Key.
INTERMISSION
Act 2
ls an allegory in 3 parts. Half-mime with spiders, bees, turtles,
flowers and a Cantonese dowager empress who has lost her voice. The play
reveals 3 themes, that of Time, Nature and Love. The last phase unfolds
in a 50's pizza parlour in Miami. Spare the anchovies and God bless us
everyone.
Video of "Comets You Are" filmed by JET. Click the PLAY button to view.
Cover for the program printed by the Free Print Shop
The plot summary of the show (inner fold of the program).
Plot summary cont'd. Act 2 is a hilarious, jarring and poignant shift
from the utopian allegory of Act 1.
Back cover. Psychedelic cartography of the subconscious.
Gay Pride Week
June,
1974
Stanford University, Palo Alto, California
[from the article, "Gay Pride Week at Stanford University", Bay Area
Reporter, June 12, 1974]:
The "Angels of Light," a radical consciousness-raising theatrical
assembly will perform in Cubberly Auditorium at 8 PM on Friday, June 28.
They have performed in Europe and on television.
Their unusual and bizarre performances
are given only with the condition that no admission be charged.
[emphasis added]
Front page of the Bay Area Reporter vol. 4, no. 12, June 12, 1974. [Date
verified at Internet
Archive]
Halloween Show
October 31, 1974
The Farm, Potrero Avenue in the Mission, San Francisco
The only documentation (to date) is Tahara's memoir which mentions
this show. It took place at The Farm which was a radical, community
space founded by Bonnie Sherk and Jack Wickert. Tahara gives the name of
this show as "Somebody Else's Grandchildren" which he says was a
take-off from a letter to Beaver from her mother. David Flatley
remembered an Enchanted Forest Scene. He also recalled that Hibiscus had
recently returned to San Francisco and performed with the Angels at this
show. Walter Fitzwater recalled that his character was Private Keep Out.
University of California, Berkeley, Extension, located at 55 Laguna
Street, San Francisco.
After Brian Mulhern made the acquaintance of Keith St. Clair, the
manager of the facility, this became one of the venues where the Angels
were able to schedule shows in the auditorium. St. Clair had lived in
one of the communes that was receiving Kaliflower before it ended
publication in 1972.
Paris Sights Under the Bourgeois Sea
June 11-12, 1975
Veterans Auditorium, San Francisco
[From the program:]
Once upon a time there was grumbling heard in the streets. Rats
roamed in the streets and ruled the palace. A riddle revealed to the
people:
Search for the maid who hears with her eyes
She will unravel countless lies.
Travel inside a steel bellied fish.
Beseech the captain to do as you wish.
Under the land of blue, black & white,
Where the water is hard & birds have no flight
Enough is enough. Out of their desperation and anger comes new
energy; turning their anger into love. They are filled with the spirit
of Courage, Good Fortune & Vigilance.
Inside the Palace the Court prepares for festivities. Alas, people
of the streets invade the party, spies reveal the secret plan, which
takes them under the Bourgeois Sea, while others stay behind caring for
victims of the plague.
Inside the Belly of the Fish, a mutiny takes place and the tables
are turned. The answer to the riddle charts the course to find a cure
for the plague.
Intermission — 10 mins —
We pause at the Polar Paradise for plenty of plush pink party
poopers and prissy pasties. The big freeze in the fire of fever breaks
the ice.
The sea cools the heat of the plague and from a faithful love comes
the answer: the cure. The power of the Spirit makes the transformation.
Thereafter joy was to be heard in the streets.
Please
No Smoking
in
Auditorium
or
Food Area
It would be best for everyone
if you don't smoke at all.
[dedication in the program:]
The mime piece "How the Spirit of Courage came to
France" is a tribute to the heroic, loving, courageous spirits of George
& Jonathon Jackson; and is dedicated to the victorious peoples of Viet
Nam, Cambodia & Laos.
Galactic Extravaganza Event
August 16-17, 1975
Live Oak Park, Berkeley
In Tahara's autobiography, he mentions a show that the Angels put on
for the Berkeley Free Clinic in July 1975. The name of the show was "The
Medical Opera." I have found no documentation for it. However, there is
this. From the Berkeley Barb, August 15, 1975:
Starting at 10 a.m.
with yoga and continuing throughout the days of August 16 and 17 at Live
Oak Park, Berkeley's First Annual Galactic Extravaganza promises to be
an envigorating (sic) and creative experience for all who participate.
The creators of the event are asking people to come to the park and help
them celebrate the merrymaking of mystic, theatre, martial, healing,
music, dance and poetic arts. Specific happenings will include: ...
Theatre: The Angels of Light ...
The only documentation I have found for this is a blurb in a column
by Mr. Marcus in the Bay Area Reporter (July 8, 1976):
On Sunday, Polk Street from Pine to Broadway was the staging area
for the Gay Pride Parade, a most diverse conglomeration of lifestyles
within our own community. ... Marx Meadows in Golden Gate Park
afterwards was akin to a crowded bar — body to body. A bucolic and
permissive atmosphere prevailed while Sweet Chariot on one end of the
area and the Angels of Light on the other end were contributory to the
dancing, writing crowd that caused that HUGE cloud of dust to hang over
the scene.
In the same issue was an ad for Femme Fatale with Hibiscus and Angel
Jack ("Hibiscus who created the original Cockettes and the original
Angels of Light is back home.")
Bay Area Reporter, July 8, 1976. The mention of the Angels is
highlighted. The SF Chronicle referred to the event as the "Gay
Liberation Alliance parade" and quoted a police estimate that 90,000
participated, "the biggest gay event in San Francisco history." (SF
Chron, June 28, 1976, p. 2)
Transcendental Medication
(by the Assorted Nuts)
January 26, 1977
YMCA, 121 Leavenworth St., San Francisco
In 1975, the Angels placed a bid on an abandoned synagogue in the
Western Addition owned by the Redevelopment Agency. After a bitter and
prolonged battle, with the Agency playing fast and loose with their
rules, the Angels lost out even though they had initially been
successful. The building would have been a permanent home with a theater
and living space. Tahara was the lead negotiator with the Agency. He was
in consultation with Irving Rosenthal, who had been successful in the
negotiations between Redevelopment and the Sutter Street Commune in
forcing the Agency to move the commune together in 1971 to Scott Street.
The battle with Redevelopment took a toll on the Angels, with much
acrimony that ended with Tahara moving out of the Oak Street commune.
Tahara, who had been one of the key creative directors of the Angels
of Light, formed a spin-off theatrical assembly. The first of the shows
by the Assorted Nuts, as Tahara named the group, was this performance in
the Tenderloin neighborhood. I include both this and the next show under
the Angels chronology because many of the actors were also Angels of
Light, and because Tahara's vision was central to both groups.
Atomic Testes: A Dirty Power Play
(by the Assorted Nuts)
March 9, 10, 16, 17, 1978
YMCA, 121 Leavenworth St., San Francisco
This was the second show by the Assorted Nuts, the spin-off group
that Tahara formed after he left the Angels' Oak Street Commune in 1975.
The video is a mashup of Jet's footage from the several nights'
performances.
What would happen of an ambitious research scientist stumbled upon the raw materials to conduct an elaborate experiment involving a civilization, human nature and machines.
Proposition
What would happen if that raw material was in the form of the inhabitants of an uncharted island.
Proposition
What would happen if after a prolonged period of reconditioning, all variables are still not controllable.
Proposition
What would happen if these variables were the elders of a race desperately trying to preserve the dignity of their heritage.
Statement
This situation arose on the Island of Uma in the South Pacific when the powerful Eldebron
imposed her experiments on a primitive culture.
The Tango Palace Scene, photo by Daniel Nicoletta
Much more could be said about this show. It was the last show of the
Angels in front of a homegrown audience who had matured in the
post-Summer of Love counterculture. After this, the Angels began moving
into a larger theatrical universe. Recently, Beaver Bauer put together a
small sampling of the designs, sketches, photos, and drawings from Sci-Clones
as a "thank-you" gift to the donors of the Angels of Life Archive
Project. Beaver's archive is most amazing. Perhaps some pieces will make
their way online.
A second poster design printed by the Free Print Shop.
The Angels of Light is a free non-profit theatre collective. All of the
money necessary to produce our performances has been donated.
We are very grateful for your support because without it, this type of
theatre would not be possible.
Thank you for keeping Free Theatre Alive.
The Angels of Light
333 Noe Street
S.F. California 94114
—from the mimeographed program
Post-1978 Shows and Appearances
Holy Cow (or Chakra Treatment)
May 25-June 17, 1979
Lone Mountain College Theater, Turk & Anza Sts., San Francisco
Holy Cow!
April 11-May 18, 1980
Project Artaud Theater, 450 Florida St., San Francisco
Werezatz Airzatz
September 26, 1980
424 Valencia St., San Francisco
Hotel of Follies
September 25-December 22, 1981
Project Artaud Theater, 450 Florida St., San Francisco
True Tales of Hollywood Horror
September 24-October 9, 1983
Victoria Theater, 2961 16th St., San Francisco
Cinderella II: Happily Ever After
August 24-September 30, 1984
Theatre Artaud, 450 Florida St., San Francisco
After 1978, the Angels of Light began a transition into the world of
"mainstream theater" as Bernard Weiner, the San Francisco Chronicle
critic, put it. The second run of Holy Cow! in 1980 blew the minds of
the theater world. Weiner praised the performances, the sets, the
costumes. He invited a group of nation-wide theater critics, who were in
town, to attend a performance, followed by ecstatic reviews in
newspapers from New York to Los Angeles. Subsequently, the Angels won
several critic awards for the show. In the years following, Weiner would
review every major Angels of Light performance, but not with as much
enthusiasm as he did Holy Cow. Awards kept coming, not so much for the
shows themselves as for the costumes and sets.
The Angels also started charging money for their shows. At first,
with the 1980 version of Holy Cow!, it was $3.00 by donation. The final
show, Cinderella II, saw the Angels taking advance ticket sales and
charging $10 at the door.
The other distinction of this period is the
transition from communal theatre to a "loose knit theatrical
collective," as Rodney Price put it in an interview. Rodney, before his
death from AIDS in 1988, wrote one of the most incisive accounts of the
early years of the Angels. The article is included here (see side
column). Rodney also discussed the Angels history in numerous
interviews. An annotated
bibliography about the Angels of Light could be compiled from the
numerous articles that appeared in the underground press prior to their
move into the "mainstream theater world" and in the "aboveground" press
after they did.
Another telling aspect to this period of the Angels of Light is
that there are no posters or programs printed by the Free Print Shop.
The Shotwell Street Commune (as they are known after moving to the
Mission District) continue holding to Digger Free and their policy of
not printing for paid anything. As well, the final four shows from 1980
to 1984 had no notices in the Berkeley Barb (the premier
underground counterculture newspaper in the Bay Area). Instead, regular
notices and reviews appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Again, let me stress that this listing of shows is most assuredly
incomplete. In the article posted here that Rodney wrote, he estimated
that the Angels had put on forty shows in their first ten years
together. I'm sure to be missing a few. Anyone who knows of errors that
I've made (of commission or omission, as the Catholics like to say):
please contact me. —Eric
Except where noted, these films were shot by James (Jilala, JET)
Tressler with a Super 8mm camera that he purchased in 1971. We digitized
the footage in three batches, the most recent in 2025. Four of these
films are included in the chronology above. The rest are viewable on our
Vimeo account.
This section is still waiting consultation with the various Angels of
Light to make sure it would be appropriate to include the names and
information on the nearly 200 individuals who participated in the
creation of this whirlwind of Free culture over the span of the 1970s.
Check back later for updates.
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to a streamlined view.
Use the Table of Contents at the top to jump directly to key
sections — from Invocation of Free Theatre to The Shows.
Each heading is linked for easy access.
Use the “Top” Link at
the end of each section to quickly return to the Table of Contents. This
is especially helpful if you’re exploring the page non-linearly or
jumping between sections.
Look for “Index of Shows” Links in
performance-related boxes. These will take you directly to the
chronological list of documented Angels of Light shows — a valuable
resource if you’re researching specific dates, titles, or themes.
Think of These Links as Anchors: They’re designed to help you stay
oriented as you move through a dense and richly layered archive. Whether
you’re tracing a performer’s journey or following the evolution of Free
Theatre, these links keep your footing steady.
Follow the Chronology if you’re new to the Angels: start with
Introduction, then move through Early Influences,
Cockettes Take the Stage, and Angels Take Flight to trace the
evolution of the troupe.
Look for Visual Cues: Flyers, posters, and scans from Kaliflower and the Free Print Shop are embedded throughout. These
aren’t just illustrations — they’re primary sources. Click to enlarge,
click again to return.
Use Your Browser’s Find Tool (`Ctrl+F` or `Cmd+F`) to search for
specific names, shows, or communes — e.g., “Ralif,” “Deep Frieze,” or
“Oak Street.”
Expect Gaps: This archive is built from what survives — flyers,
programs, Kaliflower issues, and memory. Some performances were
spontaneous or undocumented. If you have stories or materials to
contribute, please reach out.
Read with a Communal Lens: This isn’t just a history of
performances — it’s a record of a living network. The Angels were
inseparable from the Free Food Conspiracy, the Kaliflower philosophy,
and the Digger ethos of mutual aid.
Let the Language Guide You: The writing blends archival precision
with poetic resonance. Some sections quote directly from Kaliflower
or personal recollections — others are stitched together from fragments.
Read slowly, and let the rhythm carry you.
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