Life as Art: The Amazing Story of Frank Moore
Podcast on Independent Idaho, Jun 06, 2024.
On Wednesday, June 5, we appeared on a podcast, the Independent Idaho podcast hosted by Jeremy Maxand, the Executive Director of LINC. It was a really great show!! Jeremy started by asking how each of us ended up with Frank and we were both able to give detailed accounts of that history. Jeremy asked good questions. Linda was able to tell a large part of Frank's history including: how he realized he had to leave home or he never would; how he hitchhiked to Santa Fe and had to stay in a crash pad for a few months until Louise arrived and have strangers feed him and put him on the toilet, etc.; how he hitchhiked to the commune in Massachusetts and met his wife Debbie there; how the community in Berkeley was started through workshops and evolved into people becoming households; rehearsing Meb at a strip club on Broadway in San Francisco and meeting Dirk at the Mabuhay Gardens and doing Meb and the Outrageous Beauty Revue there; and how the group dissolved. Jeremy also wanted to know Frank's involvement in the disability movement in Berkeley and Linda told him about how Frank was a controversial figure in the disabled community there, how he emphasized getting your friends to be your caregivers instead of hiring strangers because you could depend on your friends more than strangers and how Frank was just a "person" doing his art rather than a "disabled person" doing art. He also asked how we ended up in Idaho and we told him the story of how we moved to freedom during the pandemic to escape California's trend towards fear and authoritarianism. There were lots more stories and Linda also read Frank's poem, "Wrapping/Rocking". The show went almost two hours! And after the show we sat and talked for another hour! He gave us a tour of the place and said that he would like to stay in touch and maybe have dinner sometime. We enthusiastically agreed.
Listen to the full show here:
Here are some photos:
LINC has Frank’s wheelchairs on display in their lobby:
Linda Mac with podcast host, Jeremy:
Tarey, the wheelchair master:
