The Tribes of Burning Man by Steven T. Jones

Author:Steven T. Jones [Jones, Steven T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CCC Publishing

Chicken for Mayor

When I reentered real life back in San Francisco, I was surprised to discover that the only San Francisco mayoral candidate who was poised to qualify for public matching funds was “Chicken” John Rinaldi, a political neophyte who made his name in the Burning Man world.

Chicken knew he couldn’t win against incumbent Mayor Gavin Newsom, who had millions in the bank and high poll numbers, but he wanted to make a statement about life in San Francisco, which he often called the “city of art and innovation.”

It was a lark as much as anything. Chicken told me that he’d never even voted before and didn’t really believe in electoral politics. So when I washed off the dust and returned to the Guardian offices, it seemed strange that he was the only Newsom challenger organized enough to seek public funds.

So I called him up and set up an interview at his home and performance space on César Chávez Street. Someone else let me in to wait because Chicken was at the Ethics Commission office, trying to become the first and only mayoral candidate to qualify for public matching funds, a goal that requires raising at least $25,000 from among 250 city residents — and having the paperwork to prove it, which was proving the hard part for someone traditionally more focused on big ideas than small details.

Chicken said he’d raised about $32,000 since getting into the race the previous month, including $26,700 from city residents, $12,000 of which came in on the deadline date, August 28th. It was an impressive feat that could transform this marginalized, improbable candidate into one of the leading challengers, despite his enigmatic persona, maddeningly elusive platform, and admission that he can’t possibly win.

Chicken wasn’t your typical politician, as his history and home demonstrated. The high ceilings held rigging and pulleys for the regular performances he hosts, although his bar and a pair of church pews were pushed back against one wall this day to make more space for campaign activities. Dammit the Wonder Dog, one of many characters Chicken has promoted over the years, slept on a deflated air mattress still dusty from Burning Man.

The red brick walls of his main room looked like an art gallery, with paintings hanging on one wall selling for up to $2,000. On another wall hung the massive sign for the Odeon Bar — which Rinaldi owned from 2000 to 2005 — with Odeon spelled diagonally from right to left.

In the kitchen area, just inside the front door, the walls held framed posters from many of his projects — the Life-Sized Game of Mousetrap, Circus Ridickuless (the poster for which, at its center, has Rinaldi’s face and the label “Chicken John, Ringmonster”), the Church of the Subgenius (in which Rinaldi’s eponymous partner on The Ask Dr. Hal Show is some kind of high priest), and “The Cacophony Society Presents Klown Krucifixation” — as well as a framed poster of Pippi Longstocking.

Suddenly, Rinaldi blew in the front door, apologized for his tardiness, and declared, “The fucking Ethics Commission.

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