Merry Wankster

Last time we saw our friend Sean Penn, he was hanging aronud down Venezuela way.

In August of last year, I wrote a post, “Sean Penn And Friend”.

“If the people of the United States, those millions and millions of poor people … if that nation realizes what is truly happening here, there would be a revolution in the United States,” Chavez said, eliciting applause from Penn.

So, Sean Penn applauds the idea that we, the “millions and millions” of “poor” Americans would revolt if we could, somehow, be allowed, presumably by our imperialist government, to see how great things are in Venezuela. That we would unite as poor people and say we’re not going to take it anymore; look how good things are in Venezuela. Do you think that Sean Penn really believes that?

What is Sean Penn trying to accomplish here? I really would like to know.

In Reuters today, Leslie Simmons writes…

Sean Penn is fighting the war in Iraq, poverty, homelessness and saving the environment, all from a bus.

The actor, who baffled many when his name showed up on the lineup for the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival underway this weekend in southern California, plans to board a fleet of biodiesel buses and take about 300 people on an 1,800-mile trek across the U.S., ending in New Orleans.

Penn’s brainchild, the Dirty Hands Caravan, will take off Monday and is expected to arrive in the Big Easy on May 4 for the city’s annual jazz festival.

I’m liking this guy more and more, I really am. A BUS TRIP! Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? A bus trip-go figure.

Hunh?

How is a bus trip “fighting the war in Iraq, poverty, homelessness and saving the environment”? How does, putting a bunch of people in a bunch of buses and going to a jazz show, do all of that?

“I see this as a reckoning,” said Penn, who’s set to appear twice on Sunday at Coachella. “My generation and those that came before have to recognize the numbing of incentive that we’ve passed on to the change hungry, imaginative, smarter than us youth of today.”

Hunh?

Penn said he’s simply providing the wheels and the young people are leading the ride.

So, it’s kind of a crap shoot. Put a bunch of youngsters on some buses, let them “lead the ride” and they will probably figure out ways to fight the war in Iraq, poverty, homelessness and saving the environment. I could see that happening but, you’re going to have to stop at Taco Bell first ’cause young people-Have you been around them? They are bottomless pits.-’cause young people aren’t going to solve everything on an empty stomach.

“The Dirty Hands Caravan seeks to empower young people to stand up for what they believe in, with its longevity based on inspired individuality and pride,” he said.

Hunh?

As the biodiesel buses make their way across U.S. cities, the plan is to have its members volunteer for local organizations or do whatever they feel inspired to do.

I get it now, just let them do whatever the hell they want to and the kids will figure it out for us because, after all, they are “the change hungry, imaginative, smarter than us youth of today.”

With the goal to “encourage individuals to take individual actions,” the caravan will stop at campgrounds where they’ll be joined by musicians, activists, artists, filmmakers and guest speakers.

Is this a cry for help?

Is this a genius thespian having some kind of mid-life crisis maybe, trying to score some chicks?

Is this an attempt to gain publicity?

Will there be a documentary released later?

While the answer to all of those questions may be yes, what this really is, is an attempt to do this…

Sean Penn is no Ken Kesey or Neil Cassady. And, whatever lofty goals there were for that famous bus trip, came after the fact. Kesey had to go to New York to meet a publishing commitment, not to save the world. You could make a good case that the Merry Pranksters were making some kind of performance art but, was that planned or did it just happen that way? Maybe, that’s what Penn is going after but, if it is, don’t make it out to be something else, something more noble. That leads to falling short.

If a guy like Sean Penn showed up with his bio-buses, unannounced and said,”Hey kids, let’s party. We’re going to the jazz festival. Wanna ride along?” Then, I guess it’s remotely possible that something of some genuine cultural significance would develop. But, cultural significance doesn’t feed the bulldog.

Tom Wolfe, the eccentric geezer in the white suit after Labor Day, he knew. He had a birds eye view. He summed it up pretty good on the first go-round.

“The Bus is perhaps the artifact of the entire psychedelic era, the very embodiment of the trip.”
– Tom Wolfe