Ivan Stang
Encyclopedia
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, raised in Fort Worth, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, and attended the St. Mark's School of Texas
St. Mark's School of Texas
The St. Mark's School of Texas is a nonsectarian preparatory day school for boys located in Preston Hollow, Dallas, Texas, USA. The School offers grades 1–12.-History:...
. He is best known as the author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and publisher of the first screed of the Church of the SubGenius
Church of the SubGenius
The Church of the SubGenius is a "parody religion" organization that satirizes religion, conspiracy theories, unidentified flying objects, and popular culture. Originally based in Dallas, Texas, the Church of the SubGenius gained prominence in the 1980s and 1990s and maintains an active presence on...
. He is credited with founding the Church with friend Philo Drummond in 1979, though Stang himself denies this and claims the organization was founded in 1953 by J. R. "Bob" Dobbs. Since the publication of the first SubGenius pamphlet in 1980, Stang has embarked on a worldwide crusade (spanning at least three continents) to promote the Church. In May 2006 he finished writing, editing and designing a new SubGenius book for Thunder's Mouth Press, The SubGenius Psychlopaedia of Slack: The Bobliographon. He has appeared on several national radio and television shows, including The Jon Stewart Show
The Jon Stewart Show
The Jon Stewart Show was a short-lived talk show hosted by comedian Jon Stewart on MTV. It premiered in 1993 and became the second highest-rated program on the network behind Beavis and Butt-Head....
on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
. Stang is an instructor on the faculty of the Maybe Logic Academy. Both he and J.R. "Bob" Dobbs appear as characters in John Shirley
John Shirley
John Shirley is an American fantasist, author of noir fiction, and science-fiction writer. Shirley is a prolific writer of novels and short stories, TV scripts and screenplays who has published over 30 books and 10 collections...
's science fiction novel Kamus of Kadizar: The Black Hole of Carcosa.
SubGenius Foundation
Stang also founded the business entity of the Church, the SubGenius Foundation. The SubGenius Foundation was located in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
for most of its life, though in 1999 Stang himself relocated to Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Cleveland Heights is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, a suburb of Cleveland. The city's population was 46,121 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Cleveland Heights is located at ....
. The SubGenius Foundation is now based there, and the syndicated show The Hour of Slack
Hour of Slack
The Hour of Slack is a one-hour radio program produced by the Church of the SubGenius centering around the king of slack, J. R. "Bob" Dobbs. Reverend Ivan Stang presents his own commentary, along with recorded material from all SubGenius radio and stage shows, bands, ranters, media barrage collage...
is produced partially at WCSB
WCSB
WCSB is the student operated college radio station of Cleveland State University. It began broadcasting in 1976 on the FM frequency 89.3 MHz....
at Cleveland State University
Cleveland State University
Cleveland State University is a public university located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. It was established in 1964 when the state of Ohio assumed control of Fenn College, and it absorbed the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1969...
. His "Rants" are a regular feature at the Starwood Festival
Starwood Festival
The Starwood Festival is a seven-day Neo-Pagan, New Age, multi-cultural and world music festival presented in mid- to late July. Approximately 1,500 people attend including staff, speakers and entertainers. The Starwood Festival is a camping event which holds workshops on a variety of subjects...
, and WinterStar Symposium both produced by the Association for Consciousness Exploration
Association for Consciousness Exploration
The Association for Consciousness Exploration LLC is an American organization based in Northeastern Ohio which produces events, books, and recorded media in the fields of "magic, mind-sciences, alternative lifestyles, comparative religion/spirituality, entertainment, holistic healing, and related...
(ACE). The Church has collaborated with ACE on a number of projects, including CDs, DVDs and the Rant 'n Rave events in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
. He was awarded Best Crack-Pot Preacher by the Cleveland Scene
Cleveland Scene
The Cleveland Scene is an alternative weekly newspaper based in Cleveland, Ohio. The newspaper includes highlights of Cleveland-area arts, music, dining, and films, as well as classified advertising...
in 2000. Stang himself continues to promote the Church, and he is a prominent member of Cleveland's underground pop culture scene.
High Weirdness By Mail
In 1988, Stang compiled a book called High Weirdness By Mail – A Directory of the Fringe: Crackpots, Kooks & True VisionariesHigh Weirdness By Mail
High Weirdness by Mail, by Ivan Stang is a 1988 book dedicated to an examination of "weird culture" by actually putting the reader in touch with it by mail....
. The book examined many non-mainstream or marginal cultural movements of the period, as well as providing contact information for those wishing to interact directly with those driving these movements.
Filmmaking
Stang is a filmmaker and editor. In addition to creating several stop-motion short films with such titles as The Reproduction Cycle of Martian Peen Worms and Let's Visit the World of the Future, he also edited the 1989 feature-length VHS video spoof-documentary Arise! for the Church of the SubGenius, as well as providing narration and commentary for the 1999 documentary Grass. Commercial jobs have included a 60-second "Art Break" animated short for MTVMTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, animation in a Devo
Devo
Devo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...
music video, as well as writing and editing the feature length documentaries China Run and The Cu-Chi Tunnels.
Discography
Partial discography includes:- Starwood Slack! (recorded rant on cassette) (ACEAssociation for Consciousness ExplorationThe Association for Consciousness Exploration LLC is an American organization based in Northeastern Ohio which produces events, books, and recorded media in the fields of "magic, mind-sciences, alternative lifestyles, comparative religion/spirituality, entertainment, holistic healing, and related...
) - Invisible College Drop-Outs (recorded rant on cassette) (ACE)
- The Stupid Rant (recorded rant on cassette) (ACE)
- High Weirdness By Mail (recorded rant on cassette) (ACE)
- Rev. Stang Live at Starwood (recorded rant on CD + music) ISBN 1-59157-005-0 (ACE)
- I Was A Cultist For The A.T.F. (radio drama starring Stang)
- The Once and Future Legend (panel discussion on cassette with Ariana Lightningstorm, Patricia MonaghanPatricia MonaghanPatricia Monaghan, Ph.D., is one of the pioneers of the contemporary women's spirituality movement. She is the author of more than 15 books of poetry and nonfiction, including the two volume Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines...
, Jeff Rosenbaum, Robert SheaRobert SheaRobert Joseph Shea was an American novelist and former journalist best known as co-author with Robert Anton Wilson of the science fantasy trilogy Illuminatus!. It became a cult success and was later turned into a marathon-length stage show put on at the British National Theatre and elsewhere. In...
& Robert Anton WilsonRobert Anton WilsonRobert Anton Wilson , known to friends as "Bob", was an American author and polymath who became at various times a novelist, philosopher, psychologist, essayist, editor, playwright, poet, futurist, civil libertarian and self-described agnostic mystic...
) (ACE) - What IS the Conspiracy, Anyway? (panel discussion on cassette with Anodea JudithAnodea JudithAnodea Judith is an American author, therapist, public speaker and expert on the Chakra system, bodymind , somatic therapy, and Yoga...
, Jeff Rosenbaum, Robert SheaRobert SheaRobert Joseph Shea was an American novelist and former journalist best known as co-author with Robert Anton Wilson of the science fantasy trilogy Illuminatus!. It became a cult success and was later turned into a marathon-length stage show put on at the British National Theatre and elsewhere. In...
and Robert Anton WilsonRobert Anton WilsonRobert Anton Wilson , known to friends as "Bob", was an American author and polymath who became at various times a novelist, philosopher, psychologist, essayist, editor, playwright, poet, futurist, civil libertarian and self-described agnostic mystic...
) (ACE)
Filmography
Partial filmography includes:- 1973 - Let's Visit the World of the Future (Director, writer, & actor)
- 1978 - Reproduction Cycle Among Unicellular Life Forms Under the Rocks of Mars (Director, writer, & narrator)
- 1979 - Mono (Director & writer)
- 1987 - China Run (Video editor)
- 1989 - Arise!: The SubGenius Video (Island Records) (Director, writer, & appears as self)
- 1990 - The Cu Chi Tunnels (Video & script editor)
- 1992 - Arise!: The SubGenius Video (Polygram Records) ASIN 6302311616 (Director, writer, & appears as self)
- 1992 - Church of the Subgenius: Sect? Satire? Or Satanism? (Appears as self)
- 1999 - Grass (Narrator & does commentary)
- 2000 - Duelin' Firemen! (Actor)
- 2003 - Maybe Logic: The Lives and Ideas of Robert Anton WilsonRobert Anton WilsonRobert Anton Wilson , known to friends as "Bob", was an American author and polymath who became at various times a novelist, philosopher, psychologist, essayist, editor, playwright, poet, futurist, civil libertarian and self-described agnostic mystic...
(Appears as self) - 2008 - God's Cartoonist: The Comic Crusade of Jack ChickJack ChickJack Thomas Chick is an American publisher, writer, and comic book artist of fundamentalist Christian tracts and comic books...
(Appears as self)