Making it real weird

Rusty's Electric Dreams :: Issue #365

Hey, you.

When I started Rusty’s Electric Dreams over a decade ago, I was on a mission, one inspired by Timothy Leary’s idea to find the Others. I wanted to connect with people who saw the world a little differently, who lit up at the same quirky, electric, culture-shifting things that I did. This inbox zine was my experiment in doing just that. And, wow, did it work.

Fast-forward to now, and I’m still here, still experimenting. But the world has gotten weirder. And not in the fun way. You don’t need me to tell you that big, unsettling shifts are happening, especially in the U.S. The kind that can make you freeze up, feel small, doomscroll, and think, what can I even do?

Here’s what I think: Be a Trojan horse. Be a glitch in the system. A joyful saboteur. Smuggle meaning into the mundane. Inject absurdity into the ordinary. Make something that seems playful but carries a spark that wakes people up.

The Dadaists knew this. The Cacophony Society knew this. Look at how Cacophonists describe themselves:

The Cacophony Society is a randomly gathered network of free spirits united in the pursuit of experiences beyond the pale of mainstream society through subversion, pranks, art, fringe explorations, and meaningless madness.

You may already be a member.

If you didn’t know me in my twenties and thirties, here’s something you should: I didn’t just hear about the Cacophony Society, I was swimming in it. I wasn’t an observer; I was there, creating, conspiring, and shaping the kind of playful disruption that makes people rethink what’s possible.

That entire mission statement stuck with me—the commitment to subversion, play, and pushing beyond the mainstream. It wasn’t just a concept; it’s how I began to move through the world, even professionally. So when I was dreaming up a title for what I do—or what I wanted to do more of—I gave a nod to the Cacophony Society’s ethos and became a Professional Free Spirit, a title I still proudly use today.

I wasn’t joking.

Think of this as culture hacking through surprise and delight. Instead of telling people what’s wrong with the system, you show them a better, stranger, more joyful way to exist… and suddenly, the old rules don’t make sense anymore.

Take the Clown Church, for Example.

Yup, clurch. A perfect example of hacking culture through absurdity and radically reimagining what community can be.

The system says religion has to be solemn and serious. That belonging has to follow a certain script. But what if it doesn’t? What happens when you disrupt that expectation with face paint, joy, and rubber chickens? In the clurch, we’re all fam.

If I’m being completely honest, it’s not my particular brand of community but I love that it exists. The idea that people can build belonging around something so unexpected, so playful, so unapologetically absurd, is proof that there’s no one way to create connection.

So What’s My Role in All This?

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I’m doing here, not just as someone who points to cool stuff, but as someone who has spent the better part of my adulthood creating and shaping culture. Culture is a collective act, not a solo one.

This zine has always been for positive deviants and the people who love them. That hasn’t changed. But the world has.

So consider this an evolving experiment from the Professional Free Spirit that I am—not just in sharing what inspires or tickles me, but in rallying us to Trojan-horse our way into the future.

Let’s make it real weird. Let’s make it real. Let’s make it ours.

Here’s something you can do right now. [(now broken) TikTok link (sorry, friends)]

— Rusty Blazenhoff

P.S. What’s the best, weirdest act of joyful rebellion you’ve seen lately? Hit me up. I love knowing where the good mischief is happening.

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As seen on the Internets

Culture jamming at its finest. @therealpandemonia (IG) uses the very tools of celebrity, advertising, and mass media to critique and subvert them, embedding herself within the system to expose its absurdity. A-mazing. (Thanks, Candace!)

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Featured Events

❤️ [Los Angeles :: 4/9] Willis Wonderland isn’t just a house. It’s a living, breathing world of creativity, kitsch, and pure Allee Willis magic. And on April 9, you’ll have your chance to hear about this legendary space from dear friends of Allee’s, Hillary Carlip (designer of the upcoming pop-up book) and Charles Phoenix for a slideshow-like tour of this legendary space and a celebration of Allee’s one-of-a-kind vision.

📖 🎉 Willis Wonderland pop-up books will be available for purchase & signing!

Been curious about the LA Breakfast Club? This is your chance! Yes, it’s early. But, I’ll tell you, as a member, it’s worth it. Where else can you eat breakfast, sing silly songs, and be part of a 100-year tradition all before 9 a.m.? Plus, you don’t need to be a member to join in on the fun! Tickets are available now.

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BAY AREA, CA+

[Bay Area :: ongoing] Go get lost in an Explorers Guild event. Make weird art with Raining Chainsaws or just show up for the spectacle. If it’s low tide, TEPCO Beach is calling. For a steady stream of fantastic and affordable happenings, Richie Rhombus’ Cool Happenings list is your go-to (beautifully described as an “in-the-know guide for intimate, quirky, thoughtful events as well as ridiculous parties and larger gatherings outside the mainstream”). Also worth keeping an eye on: Flora and Fungi Adventures, Artists Television Access, City Arts & Events and The Marsh.

[San Francisco :: 3/7, 3/8, 3/9] Pretty Gritty 2 (IG link) is a three-day art show, auction, and party celebrating 40+ artists with bands, installations, live darkroom printing, and a zine fair, all benefitting Bill Daniel’s new black-and-white darkroom project, Bayshore Industrial Black & White. Hosted at the former Rayko Photo Center in San Francisco, it promises a full weekend of art, music, and creative chaos.

[Oakland :: 7/19 +7/20] Mosswood Meltdown 2025. DEVO/John Waters/etc.

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LOS ANGELES, CA+

[L.A. :: ongoing] There’s always something happening in L.A., often steeped in pop culture and entertainment. Here are a few spots worth knowing:

Electric Dusk Drive-In, Vidiots, 1iota.com, Groundlings, Cosm, Puppet Up!, Largo at the Coronet, Dynasty Typewriter, Cinespia, Bob Baker Marionette Theater, Freak Nature, Lodge Room, Lucky Tiki Speakeasy, Magic Castle, Black Rabbit Rose, Stash House, “Unique and Unusual” museums, and Philosophical Research Society. My personal favorite? The Los Angeles Breakfast Club.

[San Diego :: 8/6-8/10] 25th (!) anniversary of Tiki Oasis

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ELSEWHERE

[New York :: Ongoing] Shadow Traffic

[Worldwide :: 6/14] Game of Shrooms: “a once a year worldwide art-N-seek event created by Attaboy.”

(One of my favorite events of all time!) And here’s why:

I don’t know if Attaboy set out to Trojan-horse radical ideas about art into the world, but whether intentional or not, Game of Shrooms does exactly that.

It isn’t just an art event, it’s a perfect example of participatory culture hacking. One day a year, artists around the world create and hide mushroom-themed art for strangers to run aro und and find. No tickets, no gatekeeping, no top-down curation. Just pure creative chaos, where art belongs to the people, not the institutions.

It invites play. It builds community. It’s unexpected. It gives people permission to create. It’s super fun. And like any good Trojan horse, it disguises something radical as simple fun: the idea that art isn’t just for the trained, the chosen, or the elite.

Art should be for everyone, everywhere—not locked in galleries, paywalled, or reserved for a select few. Anyone can make it. Anyone should. Because when more people create, more people connect, and that’s when real culture shifts happen.

This is the kind of thing that shifts culture from the ground up, not through lectures or think pieces, but by getting people to play along. If you want to see what joyful sabotage looks like in action, Game of Shrooms is it. [chef’s kiss]

Are you hiding or hunting this year? I wanna hear about you’re making and/or what you find!

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❤️= I plan on attending!

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Proof the Internet still has a soul

Ah, you’ve made this far. You’ve earned the antidote to doomscrolling.

[Link Code: TT=TikTok, IG=Instagram, YT=YouTube, SS=Substack]

:: A dingus named Fingus (IG)

:: Flight club (IG)

:: 1,043 takes later… (YT)

:: Flukey wow

:: Chick watch

:: Letterheady (SS)

:: “Leonardo de Jiffy” (IG)

:: There are no rules (IG)

:: You can just start something (IG/Thx, Mel!)

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