Frank Chu

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Frank Chu

Frank Chu (24 March 1959 — ) is one of San Francisco's best-known eccentrics. His protests against US Presidents, corporations, and the 12 Galaxies have been held in San Francisco and nearby locales since at least 1995. Chu has been compared to Joshua A. Norton, an earlier famous San Francisco eccentric.

Chu lives in Oakland, California and commutes daily to San Francisco where he can find the largest audience of passers-by and television news crews to share his thoughts with. He supports himself through a combination of state aid, sign sponsorship(s) and small donations from his supporters.

Before his protests

Little is known about Chu's life before he started protesting. An old resume of his has been found, which states that he has worked as a truck driver and holds an associate's degree in Business Administration..

One of his classmates in Oakland says that Chu was a typical straight-A student throughout junior high and high school.

In early 1985, Chu, then 25 years old, took 11 members of his family hostage in his home in Oakland and was reported to have been beating some with his fists. Chu fired a pistol at one police officer who came to investigate, but missed. Police cordoned off a ten-block area for three hours. Chu eventually released his hostages and surrendered to the police.

Performance/Protest technique

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Frank Chu on Market Street

Frank Chu protests daily, or nearly daily, typically walking throughout the daytime hours in downtown San Francisco (particularly along Market Street and Montgomery Street) holding one of his signs, and occasionally supplementing this with spoken remarks on similar themes. He is also known to protest elsewhere, for instance in downtown Oakland and at the University of California campus in Berkeley.

Chu will deviate from his usual rounds in the pursuit of a larger audience, and he is frequently seen at street fairs and protests. Although a Republican himself, he seems equally at home at protest demonstrations representing all shades of political opinion. Occasionally, people who oppose a protest group will single out Chu as an example of the protest group's incoherent message, not realizing that he is not protesting on the same terms as the other protesters in the group.

Although the form of Chu's actions is that of a picket-sign-carrying protester, it is misunderstood if interpreted merely as a protest or picket. He sometimes refers to “a live performance of my protest” rather than simply “my protest.”

Chu also likes to appear in the news media, and will try to position himself in view of television news cameras and to offer himself to be interviewed. He pays close attention to the local news media scene and keeps tabs on where he has received good coverage. He will depart from his usual parade ground to attend media-magnet events, for instance the Scott Peterson trial or the BALCO grand jury hearings or the court case deciding on the timing of the California recall election.

World view and interests

Frank Chu holds Bill Clinton responsible for directing the CIA to withhold payment to him for being the star of something called "The Richest Family" during the presidency of George H.W. Bush. His protests frequently called for the impeachment of Clinton even after Clinton was no longer in office. Bill Clinton and various other US presidents are frequently accused by Chu of cooperating with the 12 Galaxies to commit crimes and treasons. Chu is strongly interested in television reporters and newscasters, who will bring him the publicity he requires to inform the world of the injustices committed against him. He hopes that this wave of publicity will cause a public outcry, which will result in the impeachment of various US presidents and the awarding of "$20 billions" in compensation for the damages he and his family have suffered. Another source says:

Frank believes that he and his family have been filmed for years now without their knowledge and the show has aired as "The Richest Family". He found out that he was a star (and appeared on the cover of Newsweek, Time, etc.) because California Correctional Officers who were really movie stars who were really KGB agents told him---through ESP. In fact, nearly all the movie stars have ESP. Frank is not from another galaxy and never contends to be. He hasn't even visited them. He is aware of them (possibly) through ESP being sent to him by Soviet ex-presidents (alive and dead/resurrected) and KGB agents. Clinton, Hillary, and even Chelsea are "guiltied" of being in collusion with the first 12 galaxies away from our galaxy, while Frank is being aided by the Zegnotronic (120 galaxies away)

Frank Chu’s interests include NASA, flying saucers, rocket vacations, Benjamin Franklin, Christianity, second salaries, androids, and past and current political events.

Frank Chu performing at the 12 Galaxies bar in San Francisco

The 12 Galaxies bar in San Francisco is named in honor of Chu’s cause. As such, its bartenders have standing orders to give Chu free Budweiser, his favorite drink, whenever he drops by. Chu has occasionally performed spoken-word on-stage at the 12 Galaxies — his performances have a similar theme to his signs, with riffs off of the twelve galaxies theme and the seemingly abstract use of syllable combinations for poetic effect; to this he adds the use of a percussive “ah” syllable at irregular intervals between words, superficially similar to the “uh” pause seen in ordinary conversation but with a more constant tone and duration and a less-conversationally-natural placement.

In the Summer of 2002 Chu sued the Gold Dust Bar in small claims court in San Francisco, claiming that the Gold Dust had failed to provide him with complimentary drinks as they had on previous occasions. The lawsuit was dismissed, and although Chuck the bartender bears Chu no ill will, he has permanently banned him from the Gold Dust to discourage future lawsuits. Chu has said that he enjoys the lawsuit process.

Artistic lineage

Frank Chu's variety of performance art is nearly unique, but not entirely without precedent. Daniel Pratt (1809–1887), “The Great American Traveler,” wandered incessantly, lecturing about “The Four Kingdoms” and “The Solar System,” obsessing about U.S. presidents and complaining about being deprived of his fairly-won fame by the powers-that-be. He was characterized by his incoherent speech and his made-up words, sometimes formed by what appeared to be squishing other words together haphazardly or with a method known only to him. He was widely thought to be nuts, but was humored and honored in a tongue-in-cheek fashion by young wiseacres.

Mental health

Psychiatric comparisons

Frank Chu’s perception and interpretation of the world and his eccentric behavior resemble those of people who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia. One news report from 1985 quoted a police lieutenant as saying that Chu had a history of mental problems and had been prescribed medication. His speech and writing manifest several subtypes of formal thought disorder including his distinctive neologisms.

Public interaction

Though he has been known to raise his voice at times, Chu is safe to approach, respects personal boundaries and most social customs, and is always happy to share his views and answer polite questions. His personality fluctuates in response to changes in his environment and the people around him. Some theorize that Chu has an “in character” persona that he moves in and out of depending on the nature of the audience. Others theorize that his delirium or psychosis increases with exposure to hostility or isolation, and improves greatly with friendly nonthreatening contact. As one person wrote:

I work downtown and have observed Frank from afar for several years. He goes through aggro modes and then returns to his diligent, yet peaceful, marching. The worst I’ve seen him was one morning when he followed me for three blocks, ranting the entire time, but not being physically threatening. When we stopped for a light and he took a breath, I flipped open my pack of cigarettes and said, “Want a smoke?” He paused and then said, in a perfectly normal tone, “Sure, thanks” and wandered off.

Another person recounted:

I’ve had the same experience with him. The first time he followed me to work ranting, I turned and offered him a cigarette and, in the middle of a Zagnatronic outburst, he calmly said, “Oh, thank you” and proceeded to be quite civil.

And another said:

My husband’s secretary invited him to a Giants game one day cause she had an extra ticket. She said he was actually normal.

A reporter noted:

For at least a decade this guy has been doing this thing that he does, this thing that no one really understands. Now he has a club named after him, and, as 12 Galaxies' [Adam] Bergerson points out, he can drink and eat for free in a number of places around town. From the looks of it, he's also got plenty of genuine friends.

Chu is also a regular at San Francisco Bike Messenger Association events, usually in the form of barbecues and parties, and maintains a social relationship with a few bike messengers who live in the East Bay. At such functions he, although quiet at most times, behaves as anyone would expect a sane person to do so.

Health

Chu occasionally walks with a limp, commonly attributed to his strenuous protesting schedule which requires him to walk many miles every day. Supportive friends occasionally buy him new shoes when his current pair seems beyond repair, and one local shoe store gave him a new pair of shoes as part of a promotion. (Size: 7½–8 U.S.)

On 14 April 2001 the San Francisco Cacophony Society awarded Chu a pair of shoes, a certificate and a small honorarium as part of a “Frank Chu Day” ceremony honoring him.

Sign sponsorships

Chu has been sponsored by the likes of Barbary Coast Consulting, Adidas,Learn iT! Computer Software Training and Quiznos Sub, typically through ad-space purchased on the back of his signs. As of May, 2005, his going rate was $100 (U.S.) per week.

Sign texts

Chu’s black signs with fluorescent, all-caps lettering are instantly recognizable even by those who know nothing else about him. His signs change from day to day, and tend to go through syntactically-similar phases, with the phrase “12 Galaxies” being his trademark and a constant presence in the signs.

The earliest of the photos of Chu’s signs show his “classic” phase, in which the signs typically read “IMPEACH [figure] 12 Galaxies Guiltied to a [modifier] Rocket Society”, where [figure] was typically a living-or-dead former U.S. president, and [modifier] was something along the lines of “Zegnatronic”, “Omegalogical”, etc. The very earliest examples are handwritten, for instance:

• Impeach / Clinton / 12 Galaxies / Guiltied to a / Dectrological / Rocket Society[10] (another early handwritten version)

Later versions are professionally-printed, for instance:

• Impeach / Clinton / 12 Galaxies / Guiltied to a / Zegnatronic / Rocket Society[11]

Chu began to use adhesive letter stickers to modify frequently-changing elements on his signs. Examples:

• Impeach / Jefferson / 12 Galaxies / Guiltied to a / Omegalogical / Exortations[12]
• Impeach / Van Buren / 12 Galaxies / Guiltied to a / Omegalogical / Theoretical analysis[13]

He then extended this technique to modifying other sign elements, occasionally attaching the letters beyond the sign's original dimensions, while also moving from the classic text schema to a more varied set including phrases like “Grand Theft Against the Universe” and “Perverted Treasons” and heading the sign not with the demand for impeachment of a public figure but with a short set of letters, for instance:

• BRINST / 12 Galaxies / Betatronic Universal / Perverted Treasons / Against them ruling / Dectronic / Neutron Specu[lations][14]

This began to settle to a more consistent pattern, in which the “12 Galaxies” phrase was followed by a two-word partially-neologistic phrase, a partially-neologistic commentary on the news media, and then an ending phrase. Examples:

• WELCH / 12 Galaxies / Bretrokenitol persecutions / KGO: Textrochenical coverage / Faxkonutikel / Anabolic Contemptuous / Fibrillations[15]
• ALMA / 12 Galaxies / Triogonic scandal / PBS News Hour: Billionaire / Dectrogonic / Skeptical / Preemptive miscreants[16]

A more recent version of this sign phase begins the sign with a pre-printed name instead of a short collection of letters, and mostly abandons the use of adhesive letters. Examples:

• Bridgepointe / 12 Galaxies / Murotunikel repercussions / KBHK: Xaskutanekol / Psokitenucol / Cumbersome Contentious / Emulations[17]
• Massachusetts / 12 Galaxies / Quintronic criminals / Time Magazine: Star / Hextrotronic / Oscillating / Ebullient inoculations[18]
• Gephardt / 12 Galaxies / Quoklochiticil detrimentations / KICU: Dichukitechal coverage / Ulkukatichol / Exchatological contemplated / Agnostics[19]
• Cameron / 12 Galaxies / Kotsdrodenikel emanations / TASS: Gutsprosenical coverage / Phixgrostrenikul / Embellishments Consolations / Apologetics[20]

Awards

Frank Chu has received the following awards:

• 2001 “San Francisco Cacophony Society Certificate of Appreciation”, San Francisco Cacophony Society
• 2000 “Best Protestor” San Francisco Bay Guardian “Best Of The Bay”

See also

• Bumvertising
• David Bradbury Haning

External links

• 12 Galaxies, a San Francisco bar named in honor of Frank Chu
• Photos of Frank Chu by Fabian Gonzalez
• Flickr: Frank Chu
• Video Interview with Frank Chu 09/05
• Video Transmission from the 12 Galaxies
• Video Interview with Frank Chu (4 mins)
• link — a WIPO domain name dispute concerning the “zegnatronic.com” domain
• Ratliff, Evan “Defender of the 12 Galaxies: Life as the city’s most dedicated protestor” 7x7 Magazine January, 2002