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What people are saying about Caravan to Oz – D.S. Ripley

What people are saying about Caravan to Oz – D.S. Ripley
By D. S. Ripley on August 31, 2014
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

“Caravan to Oz” is the collective story of an irrepressible family with dazzling energy, unbreakable optimism, and unflagging creative spirit. But it isn’t just that: it’s a history of the decades through which the family has lived, persevered and grown, and even helped to shape events, in theatre and in the broader American culture. It can almost be challenging to believe that so many stories – some of which will be familiar to you, some that you will hear for the first time – could come from the experience of a single family. It’s as though George, Sr., Ann, George III, Walter Michael, Fred, Jayne Anne, Eloise and Mary Lou were the love children of Lewis Carroll and L. Frank Baum, midwifed by J. M. Barrie. However, that’s not quite it – there are certainly fabulous and fantastical elements to the story, but they have all worked very hard, all their lives, to turn their magical vision into reality.
And it’s all, or mostly, there, told with humor, love, grace and honesty. From the early “Let’s put on a show!” days in Florida, to the risky transplanting of the whole tribe to New York, to the beginnings of the Theatre for the New City, the family-written and produced shows at La MaMa ETC, the groundbreaking and culture-changing phenomenon of “Hair”, to the founding of the Cockettes in San Francisco, the journeys through Europe, a monastery, and Bay Area communes, to the shattering new reality of the AIDS epidemic and the maturity and mellowing of seasoned performers with an amazing range of talents and accomplishments. They renewed themselves with each success, setback, and new inspiration, began new families and, through it all, retained their devotion to each other. The Harrises were, and are, in and of their times in a way that very few, if any, other families could have been. It’s a remarkable ride through a time that must have looked very different on the inside of the magic mirror, as they were. I found this ride to be enriching as I looked back over the years they describe, and saw those times from a fresh and exhilarating perspective.
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The Harris Sisters – Had an all-access pass to the greatest music scene on earth!

The Harris Sisters – Had an all-access pass to the greatest music scene on earth!

the harris sisters rock and roll

By Jayne Anne Harris, Eloise Harris and Mary Lou Harris

Photo by Dan Jansen

(L-R Jayne Anne Harris, Eloise Harris and Mary Lou Harris)

 Off-Off Broadway theater was our first home. For two decades, The Harris Sisters (Jayne Anne, Eloise and Mary Lou) and the rest of our family performed in original drama and musicals at New York City’s La Mama ETC., Caffe Cino, Joseph Papp’s New York Shakespeare Festival Public Theater, Theater for the New City, Judson Poets Theater and more. They travelled across Europe with their brother Hibiscus and his Angels of Light Theater troupe. 
Inspired by the beat of the New York punk and rock scene of the late 1970’s, The Harris Sisters and Trouble (our band), led by brother Fred, included bassist Ray Ploutz, guitarists Bill Davis and Josh Callow and drummers Mike Pedulla and Mike Kimmel, played at CBGB, SNAFU, Great Gildersleeves, The Mudd Club, RT Firefly, Peppermint Lounge and other rock venues of the day.

At the height of the disco era, The Harris Sisters were unable to resist our charismatic brother Hibiscus’ charms in wooing us to form the bejeweled rock and roll group, Hibiscus and the Screaming Violets. We embarked on a new tour of New York City disco clubs such as Studio 54, Xenon, The Ice Palace, Bonds, Danceteria and The Red Parrot. We performed on the same circuit with Madonna, The Weather Girls, Blondie, Nona Hendryx, Grace Jones, Michael Musto and The Must, Billy Idol and Cyndi Lauper. It seemed that we had an all access pass to the greatest musical scene on earth…. Stay tuned for more blogs from The Harris Family…
Read The Harris Sisters’ full story in their new memoir, Caravan to Oz: a family reinvents itself off-off Broadway

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