Jennifer Sharpe says:
Various cult energies are converging this week, mostly in New York City. I've flown in from Los Angeles to watch them unfold. Back in the summer, Mark Frauenfelder posted a couple of items about an early 70s spiritual commune, or, "polygamist hippie cult" as they're often described, The Source Family.In celebration of their recently published book, The Source: The Untold Story of Father Yod, YaHoWha 13, and The Source Family
, the family's space rock band, YaHoWha 13, came back together to play their first performance in over 30 years in Los Angeles last November. Tomorrow night, Tuesday the 8th, they'll be reuniting again at New York City's Knitting Factory.
Earlier in the evening, and just a ten minute cab ride away, Ondi Timoner, director of "Dig!", will be presenting a sneak preview of her new documentary, "Join Us" that follows four families who have been brainwashed by their pastor, as they go through treatment at the world's only live-in cult deprogramming center (tickets available here and more info here ).
The following night, Wednesday the 9th, Isis the Aquarian and Electricity the Aquarian, co-authors of "The Source" book, will be showing rare archival slides and footage from the Source Family's vaults at The Shala, downtown on Broadway, accompanied by a Q & A.
And finally, you can hear the Source Family's entire story as told in a 3-part NPR series I've put together, airing April 7th, 8th, and 9th on "Day to Day." If you miss it on air, you can listen online where it will be archived with plenty of web extras, including photos of the family, an early video clip of the band, extra audio of Isis talking about what it was like being one of Father Yod's fourteen wives, and an essay by me about just how native I went working on the story. Won't you join us?
