From John Breeding:

2/10/08

Dear CAEST Supporters,

 
We are going into week 2 of the 3 week Round of 50. We are at number 12 today, which means we are on course to make the round of 25. Thanks to all of you who are voting to help us out on this.
 
We do need more support to reap the greater benefit of this project, which insiders tell me comes with the round of 10 and beyond when we pick up more and more viewers who are not already our supporters. Hence,
 
 PLEASE VOTE NOW AND EVERYDAY FOR ARTISTIC FREEDOM OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND AGAINST THE HORROR OF ELECTROSHOCK. LET'S MAKE A NOISE ABOUT IT. HELP US BY VOTING!!! PLEASE!  and spread the word...
 
VOTE for our Mary Marvel documentary of:
 
THE FIFTH ANNUAL
ROKY ERICKSON PSYCHEDELIC ICE CREAM SOCIAL
CELEBRATING ELECTROSHOCK SURVIVORS.
 
 
step-by-step DIRECTIONS
 
1. Register on www.FameCast.com as a Voter or Fanatic. Click where it says " 2 The Audience Votes"
Note: Registration is  a bit of a hassle, but once registered it is easy to vote every day--just tell the login to remember you and you don't even need to login again!
2. Click here to view our documentary: http://www.FameCast.com/MaryMarvelMovies
3. Click the "Vote" button at the top right hand corner of the video

Steps 2 will take you to see our video. Steps 1 and 3 are necessary to vote.
 
[ A plea for ardent supporters: The rules of this contest are such that you can vote once a day for the video you like, so please consider adding this to your daily schedule for awhile.]
 
I will send out weekly updates from here on out on our status. I am also doing regular youtube videos to draw folks to our effort. Please do whatever you can to help us spread the message of our Coaliton for the Abolition of Electroshock in Texas (CAEST) and to help Mary win this contest. See our website, www.endofshock.com for related information on the Ice Cream Social, and on our coalition efforts to stop electroshock.
 
 
Thank you!!
 
John
 
 
 
 
 
BACKGROUND
 
In the last two years, our Coalition for the Abolition of Electroshock in Texas (CAEST) was very active, carrying on an initiative in Austin to challenge the use of electroshock at our area's most prolific shock hospital, Seton Shoal Creek. As described on our website, www.endofshock.com, we carried on with them quite a bit, including direct interaction with the hospital board and medical director, a series of protest rallies at the hospital, a resolution from the Texas legislature, and a hearing on electroshock with the Austin City Council.
 
In March 2007, we had a magnificent, unprecedented event--a concert featuring a number of terrific musicians and artists, a number of whom were also shock survivors now joining forces to call for a stop to this horrific procedure. These luminaries included ROKY ERICKSON, J.T. VAN ZANDT, JIM FRANKLIN, LEONARD ROY FRANK,  MICHELLE SHOCKED, SUMNER ERICKSON, ROBYN HITCHCOCK and PETER BUCK, and POWELL ST. JOHN, among others. Check out a broader sampling of creative artists who were electroshocked on page 6 of Leonard Frank's Electroshock Quotationary at http://www.endofshock.com/102C_ECT.PDF .
 
The event was cosponsored by CAEST and a vocal challenge of electroshock was interspersed with great music throughout the day. For a fuller, written summary of the event, see our website at http://www.endofshock.com/Report%20on%20The%205th%20Annual%20Roky%20Erickson%20Psychedelic%20Ice%20Cream%20Social.pdf .
 
Our event was called:
 
THE FIFTH ANNUAL ROKY ERICKSON PSYCHEDELIC ICE CREAM SOCIAL CELEBRATING ELECTROSHOCK SURVIVORS.
 
Some of us affectionately called it the "Rock to Ban Shock" concert.
 
Now our own fantastic videographer, Mary Luker, known professionally as Mary Marvel, has created a short (20 minutes) documentary of our event. It is terrific, and we intend to use it to promote our effort to abolish electroshock, and to create safe haven for artists, who all too often suffer this horrific assault--witness Roky Erickson, Townes Van Zandt and Jim Franklin from our event.
 
In support of our cause, Mary Marvel has submiited her documentary to an internet contest called Famecast. In order to have the greatest impact, we want to win this contest. In order to win,   WE NEED YOU TO GET ON BOARD AND ENJOY A RIDE, bringing music and a big message --END OF SHOCK--  to the world.