Thomas Pancake

December 4, 2005

Seared into the mind of anyone who took part in Kilometer Zero or attended the Venue series in Paris is Thomas Pancake. He was the MC of our shows and a soulful musician, the best showman I have ever had the joy to work with. (Anybody who would like to see Tom play can watch our promotional video for the Squatter’s Cookbook at www.kilometerzero.org/cookbook.) Tom was a vital member of our collective, the hawk among a bucketful of doves who kept a real world edge to our utopian dreams. For me, he was also one of my best friends, a gentleman who attempted to live by a gentleman’s code and inspired those around him to do the same.

I hadn’t seen Tom since August 2002, when he and his cat Pudding walked out of the Paris squat and flew back to Portland, Oregon. Coming into his city the other day, I was somewhat nervous to see him, as I am somewhat nervous to encounter anybody who I have written about in my book. He is working as a chef in a very hip Portland nightspot, a restaurant called, appropriately enough, Voleur. I walked in at about 4 in the morning and from the moment I saw him it was all good.

As anybody who knows me can attest, discretion is not my strongest virtue. Hence, I gleefully report that there is now some competitive scribbling underway. While Luke the Night Man hastens to finish his vampire epic on Santorini, Tom has leapt into the horror game and is crafting a book that begins with the disappearances of family pets … May they both end up wreathed in laurels.

Tom’s Left Side