Gone Daddy: The Treasures of Long Gone John

THE TREASURES OF LONG GONE JOHN
(Greg Gibbs, USA, 2006, DV-CAM, 95 mins.)

Todd Schorr poster art

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We almost really care.
--old Sympathy for the Record Industry motto

18 years of performance anxiety, instability, and poor judgement [sic].
--new Sympathy for the Record Industry motto

It's hard to be objective when a film features all my favorite stuff. I majored in studio art, I've been writing about music for 20+ years (boy, do I feel old), and cats have been a part of my life since day one. That's right, The Treasures of Long Gone John involves art, music, and cats. Mostly, it involves Long Gone John, founder of inimitable indie label Sympathy for the Record Industry.

Born John Edward Mermis in 1951, Long Gone John is also an art collector and feline fancier. And he isn't just any collector, but the rabid, obsessed kind. He's as single-minded as the movie loonies in Cinemania (2002) or crossword crazies in Wordplay (2006). Fans of those films will probably like, or at least appreciate The Treasures of Long Gone John, even if they don't share his interests. Further, director Greg Gibbs' freewheeling approach to fringe culture creates a link with previous art documentaries, like Crumb (1994), In the Realms of the Unreal (2004), and Tales of the Rat Fink (Gibbs uses time-lapse photography to bring artworks to life).

The Sympathetic Nerve Center

To be clear, Long Gone John isn't an artist. He's just a guy who grew up in Southern California in the 1960s and '70s, meaning he was there for the advent of So-Cal punk. Suffice to say, he loved it, and it changed his life. His childhood was crap, and punk gave him something to believe in. He attended all the shows--the Screamers, the Weirdos, the Germs, etc.--and became, like many, a fanzine writer. Instead of picking up a guitar, however, he released bootlegs.

This led to the production of band-sanctioned recordings, and in 1988, Sympathy for the Record Industry was born. Independent labels may be a dime a dozen, but Sympathy was different. Long Gone John sealed his deals with a handshake and let artists retain the rights to their masters. It isn't a great way to get rich. But then, it was never just about the music or the money. Sympathy's sole employee also has a keen eye for visuals and called on promising painters and illustrators to design the cover images, the inserts--the vinyl itself. He paid them next to nothing and kept the originals.

So, you could say the musicians ripped him off, while he ripped off the artists. (When the White Stripes left for V2, they took their masters with them). It's not that simple. Pretty much every outsider artist you could name--Savage Pencil, Coop, Frank Kozik, Mark Ryden, Camille Rose Garcia, etc.--is in the film, and they have nothing but nice things to say about Long Gone John. No, he didn't pay much, but he gave them a start. People bought the records, then they bought the art. And those people include the man himself, who started collecting and commissioning their work for his Spanish-style abode, which he refers to as a museum--as well he should.

In the film, he shares his entire collection, which doesn't just include paintings and drawings, but toys (Hitler in a nighty!), celebrity prescription bottles (Debbie Harry's Prozac!), strange artifacts (a doll tricked out like a mummified baby!), over 10,000 LPs, and about half a dozen cats...

Mark Ryden - The Ecstasy of Cecilia (1998)

Why does he do it? He admits he doesn't know, but suggests it has something to do with growing up underprivileged. In fact, he's a little concerned about this ceaseless urge to acquire, but not so much that he intends to do anything about it.

Towards the end of the film, Long Gone John mentions that he plans to move to Seattle.* The anti-mogul/art collector/crazy cat man, is now one of us (cue "Pinhead"). Why he chose Washington, I couldn't say. Except for his comments in the documentary, he's never been known for his love of interviews (and doesn't own an answering machine or cell phone), so I have no idea whether he'll ever reveal the reason. I just know that the chances of running into him at Roq La Rue or the Fantagraphics store aren't bad.

The Treasures of Long Gone John is so stuffed with, well, stuff, that it may overwhelm some viewers, but I just can't get enough of this kind of thing--and that includes the garage-oriented tunes by Sympathy acts, like Holly Golightly and Sonic Boom--so I was in my element. As I cautioned at the outset, I can't be completely objective, so your mileage may vary. 

While I'm at it, I should note that the term "lowbrow art" gets tossed around a few times. Every artist agrees: it sucks. My use of the words "outsider" and "alternative" is, perhaps, similarly insufficient. Most of the featured artists make a living at what they do, but they haven't come to a consensus on the best way to describe it. Gary Baseman, for instance, laments that his attempts to popularize "pervasive art" have come to nought. Call it what you will--there's a lot of it in the film. Plus music. And cats.

* On screen, he mentions Seattle, but the official website notes that Olympia is the new home of the Sympathetic Nerve Center.

The production team...has just learned some unfortunate news that we deeply regret reporting to our extended family. Last week, our favorite feline and a true star of the film--Go the Cat, left the physical world. Those that have viewed the film never forget the lasting impression Go leaves. In every city, at almost every screening... Go elicits howls and hoots that represent the peak of reactions. Go will truly be missed by us all and will live on forever in his silver screen debut.
-- From The Treasures of Long Gone John website

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The Treasures of Long Gone John plays Northwest Film Forum Jan 5-7. The NWFF is located at 1515 12th Ave between Pike and Pine. For more information, please click here. You can also call 206-329-2629 for general info and 206-267-5380 for show times. Images from WikiArt and Vice.