The French.
They have this term - deconade. I’ve struggled with being too lazy to secure the exact, viable-source meaning but from what I’ve gleaned it’s doing something stupid, with purpose or import behind it. I suppose it’s a kissing cousin to French Da Da art. I first saw the term, and was smitten with it, in an article about a band (Lowdown from Santa Cruz, CA):
“Something that comes to mind is the French word, ‘deconade,’ which means to do something bad or stupid but on purpose, or to make mistakes intentionally.
“Traditional rock performance – it’s kind of boring, yeah,” says Harmonson, 25, relaxing with a few after-work Budweisers and Euro smokes on the back patio of Mission District bar Naps, as Arabian disco drifted over the fence from El Rio.
“I don’t mean to be so cynical. Anyone can play a song or stare at their feet or pull a rock move, but we decided we weren’t going to be satisfied with that; we were going to do something dangerous or stupid.
I mean, Arnold Schwarzenegger might get elected, and there’s someone up there doing the Mick Jagger thing. But the Lowdown is more a selfish product of our own brains, doing it in reaction to some world events – we’re not taking some arrogant stance towards other music.”
Deconade. This is why I often choose to whistle out of tune. Flexing my deconade. It flouts the formality of living, the pursuit of perfection? It reveals vulnerability in a land where strength and brute force and imperviousness is applauded and lauded? Coming from that same core of behavior, I find myself going after deliberate obsolescence. The above drawing is one of these ideas. I want to see this woman, let’s call her Veronique, roaming around the city, let’s call it Neu Yorke, stopping occaionally to ask people for the time, offering her raised chin so they may quote the digits on her neck.
Sasquatch Bridal Gear is a phrase made popular (to at least 2 people) on a road trip to Santa Cruz with good friend Matt Hollis, himself a fan and practitioner of deconade. We were passing a bridal shop. I decided an implausible store, named Bridal Gear, was just what Santa Cruz needed on the stretch of Ocean Rd. we were aimlessly driving down. Then we passed Sasquatch Computers. Then I put the 2 together. With paste.The painter Richard Diebenkorn got his young children a pet mouse and tasked them with naming it. They did. And Library Paste lived out a nice life in a city that loves cats - Berkeley, CA.