Brutus Chieftain

Poet and doghouse-bass player Johnny Bender, (AKA Brutus Chieftain), followed the Beat tradition in attitude but also enjoyed fiddling with form. He lived with his longtime wife, René, near the Box Springs Mountains in beautiful Moreno Valley. A short workshop he took with Allen Ginsberg at Naropa Institute in summer 1982 inspired Bender to start the poetry performance troupe "Poets in Distress" that same year. The group still gives raucous readings throughout Southern California. Bender also...See more

Poet and doghouse-bass player Johnny Bender, (AKA Brutus Chieftain), followed the Beat tradition in attitude but also enjoyed fiddling with form. He lived with his longtime wife, René, near the Box Springs Mountains in beautiful Moreno Valley. A short workshop he took with Allen Ginsberg at Naropa Institute in summer 1982 inspired Bender to start the poetry performance troupe "Poets in Distress" that same year. The group still gives raucous readings throughout Southern California. Bender also used the names Brutus Chieftain, Bombastus, Henry Heaven, Brutusaurus Rex Chieftain, Wunderbender, and John. See less