Emmett did enough, rest assured. He proved with his existence that each of us could act out the life of our highest fantasies. This was his goad and his compassionate legacy. Don’t minimise it or let yourself off the hook of his example by quibbling over details. Think about what you read, but more important, as Emmett would have said, “Dig yourself!”.
Peter Coyote, introduction to Ringolevio: A Life Played For Keeps, 1989.
I’m a recently converted disciple of Emmett Grogan.
I was turned on to Grogan’s epic meta-memoir Ringolevio by the persuasive pairing of beat music entrepreneur Kosmo Vinyl and writer Steven Daly when hanging out with them in a series of New York bookshops last year. By the time I was home a few days later I’d devoured Ringolevio’s 500 pages twice and still refer to it constantly. It is a masterpiece.
This morning this absolute delight appeared as if from out of the blue: Grogan – in his capacity as founder of The Diggers – promoting the newly published Ringolevio by participating in a 1972 episode of the guess-the-guest game show To Tell The Truth.
And naturally Grogan does tell the truth. Asked to differentiate between hippies and Yippies he caustically defines the latter group as attracted to “morons like Abbott Hoffman and Jerome Rubin”.
Grogan also tells host Gary Moore – who praises the Larry Rivers cover of the first edition of Ringolevio – that he is working on a new book, entitled The Impossibility Of Fair Play In Democratic Society Because Of Loneliness.
Put-on or not, the sad fact is that this was just one of a number of Grogan’s projects which failed to see the light of day in the wake of Ringolevio. As Peter Coyote wrote in 1989: “Emmett’s road petered out at the end of the line of the Coney Island subway April Fools Day 1978 – where his body was found, dead of an overdose.”
Bob Dylan subsequently dedicated his album Street Legal to Grogan’s memory.
TTTT from Eric Noble on Vimeo.
If you don’t already own a copy do yourself a favour and buy Ringolevio.
As Coyote also wrote: “Think about what you read, but more important, as Emmett would have said, “Dig yourself!”.
lisacolorado
January 29, 2015 at 6:09 pmI found a copy of Ringolevio and felt like I needed to have it before I even read it. I didn’t read it for a long time, but after I got started I had a hard time continuing because of the stuff he did that I have been expressly taught not to do. I quit reading it, but got curious about the author. Once I found out about his views, I started to confront my own beliefs–thoughts I didn’t really know I had. The video in connection with that old game show, To Tell The Truth, makes a line of connection between things I saw when I was first becoming aware of the world, and things the way they are now. I’m so enthralled with this idea of democratic society using loneliness to control people–especially with the advent of the computer. I’ve been such an addict to really hollow, mindless stuff that makes it feel like you love something, but you really don’t because if you did, you’d behave much differently. I hope some of this makes sense. I Googled the phrase Grogan used and found this page. Right on.
Paul Gorman Author
January 31, 2015 at 2:06 pmGlad you liked the post Lisa. As you say EG is a continuing source of inspiration. All best, Paul.
lisacolorado
January 29, 2015 at 6:10 pmOh yes, and also I wanted to note that Emmett Grogan is charismatic, and that in itself makes me wonder a lot.
BigSpeckyB
January 29, 2016 at 11:43 amThanks for this!
I’ve only just found this post although I regularly scour the web for Grogan references this seems to have eluded me until now.
Ringolevio is a book I first read in 1973 and I have re-read in probably 100 or more times since in part or in whole. It’s not the best book ever, nor is it the best written but it is my favourite read of all time and I’m proud to a couple of inscribed copies and a growing collection of associated memorabilia.
Emmett wasn’t a character, he HAD character and I find him utterly fascinating. He’s not a hero to me – he never wanted to be anyone’s hero but his own and he encouraged other people to be their own hero to themselves.
He truly lived the life of a “life actor” until his last moment and it’s a real shame he’s not with us now in person.
If you like his style I suggest you seek out his novel “Final Score”, a good piece in “Oui” – look for the comment about Sweet William’s prophetic message “beware the deadly underdose” and various interviews in OZ and Cream magazines of the time.
I’m in Scotland but if you’re ever in NYC I can recommend taking a walk around what’s left of Little Italy, copy of Ringolevio in hand. The fire hydrant which forms the centre of one team’s den is still there today. Emmett is buried on Staten Island but his spirit is still alive. The current growth of foodbanks in the UK is the modern manifestation of what the Diggers set out to do. It’s just a huge pity we need them.
Whenever I’m in a tricky situation I often think, “what would Emmett do?” I’m sure I’m not the only one.