Warriors for Peace
- The Summer Solstice 2008 - Lee Harris
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I met Lee Harris when I first moved to London, some people are like magnets and Lee has a strong pulse. I first met him at his store in Portobello Market - at that time I wrote a small article about the Market, an excerpt:
'Because it is Saturday and crowded I analyze the manner in which people move through the street. Some seem to be consistently blocking my progress as my more nimble friend sprints up ahead I find myself behind a chador covered woman with a hand cart, and then behind two enormous treasure hunters, hand in hand blocking the entire sidewalk. My companion disappears into Alchemy, a shop owned by a very interesting character with which I had an engaging conversation about the Bay Area and the Haight, Timothy Leary and Underground Comic Art some months ago. We just hit it off, me the child of the sixties movement, and he, a perpetrator of the same.'
I've become friends with Lee over the years as I always stop by his shop to buy incense and I bring my family and friends to meet him when they are in town. There are few people like Lee, now they are mostly gone to the great hippie-beatnik rainbow in the sky. In his 70's and so full of life he recently began putting out CD's and performing live. He's affectionately called the 'Underground Soulja - footsoldier of the underground', and his music, collaborative in form, also has his poetry/rap weaving through the hip-hop beats and rhythms of River Styx. Lee's a writer, performer, playwright, editor, publisher and owner of Alchemy…he's a busy man!
But I like Lee because he is one of the more fascinating people I know in London. A dharma bum, and a friend of the Beat Poets - Ginsberg in particular, he is also a poet and author in his own right. Creative always, his endeavors cross many genres. A strong supporter of Underground Comics of all types and publisher of Brainstorm Comix, we initially hit it off as I am a fan of R. Crumb who was a part of a similar scene in my California hometown in the 80's. Growing up in a counter-culture household made making friends with Lee a natural outgrowth of having followed the 'yellow brick road' to Alchemy.
Lee's gift to me is his life, his story and his benevolent nature, gregarious personality and non-conformist attitude, a true artist; he attended the Alchemical Wedding with John and Yoko. In Lee's words, "The Alchemical Wedding had a profound effect on many of us who were there that night. It touched our lives and helped bring about changes. There is a difference between what a person does and what happens by itself. You will set yourself a task with determination and tenacity and then, suddenly, a gust of wind will come from another world and everything changes. You seem to be used by the gods; and, in spite of yourself, you are part of the Myth."
Lee is the Myth now and I am looking eagerly forward to reading his memoirs.