Warren Jeffs acquires pop culture following
 
By Brian Passey
bpassey@thespectrum.com
 
ST. GEORGE - He's been a principal, a prophet, a fugitive and an inmate. Now Warren Jeffs is poised to become a rock star.

Jeffs, the leader of the polygamous sect, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is on trial here, facing charges of rape as an accomplice. But thanks to a Chicago-based experimental music group, one of his sermons is reaching beyond the ears of his followers.

The group, KinkZoid, sampled a sermon in which Jeffs warns students at a private academy in Salt Lake City about the evils of listening to rock 'n' roll because "you are enjoying the spirit of the Negro race."

During the 1990s, Jeffs worked as principal of the FLDS-operated Alta Academy, the sect he would later lead as its prophet. During the course of this lecture to students there, he tells the story of Little Richard teaching elements of his music to The Beatles.

Jeffs condemns the musician for being a homosexual and drug user, calling him the "worst kind of person." He then warns his young audience to stay away from this music because it will "rot the soul," lead them to immorality and corruption and cause them to forget God.

When a friend sent audio files of this and other Jeffs sermons to Steve DeChiara and Greg Chapman of KinkZoid, they knew the clips would fit in perfectly with one of their group's experimental sound collages.

"We were quite fascinated with the way he spoke - how hypnotic and rhythmic his voice was," DeChiara said. "We've always been fascinated with cult leaders."

As they listened to the sermons, DeChiara said they noticed Jeffs was speaking in near 4/4 time. And because Jeffs said rock music was evil, having the "spirit of the black race," they thought it would be ironic to write a blues riff to back up Jeffs' lead vocals.

"It was just really natural, almost too natural," DeChiara said. "It was scary."

KinkZoid released the single, called "Warren Jeffs Explains," a few months ago and followed it with a full-length album in early March. Interest in the single has picked up since "Warren Jeffs Explains" attracted media attention.

About a year ago when Jeffs was still on the run from law enforcement, HBO premiered its "Big Love" series, which follows a fictional polygamous family living in Utah. Inspired by the real and fictional portrayals of polygamous lifestyles, a bevy of polygamy-related products hit the Internet on sites like Cafepress.com.

Marc Cowlin, spokesman for the company, said Cafepress.com has a catalogue of more than 70 million products designed by 4 million users worldwide. Cowlin said when "Big Love" premiered Cafepress.com featured 363 polygamy-related products, including items like T-shirts and mugs.

As "Big Love" grew in popularity and Jeffs was apprehended nearly six months later, the number of products more than doubled to 777 items, Cowlin said. There are now 1,200 different polygamy-related items available in the company's online catalogue.

One T-shirt features what appears to be a caricature of Jeffs dressed as a stereotypical pimp with the words, "Pliggin' Ain't Easy." Another proclaims: "Monogamy is for ugly people." And one even takes the wife's point of view: "I don't mind polygamy if it means someone else will do my husband's laundry."

Other shirt designs wax political: "Mitt Romney 2008: He only has one wife!" Romney is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which abandoned the practice of polygamy in 1890 but is still confused at times with groups like Jeffs' FLDS church.

Some of the designs take aim at Utah in general: "Utah: Three times the wives means three times the fun."

Despite the pop culture interest in polygamy and its ties to Utah, Leigh von der Esch, managing director of the Utah Office of Tourism, said polygamy has not been a point of concern for her staff. She said the office only received one or two e-mails from people who said they would not visit Utah because the state tolerates polygamy.

But she doesn't think the interest in polygamy is promoting tourism either.

"It's not a destination," she said. "It's not like it's something you want to see."

Even the popularity of "Big Love" has not generated interest in tourism. Von der Esch likened "Big Love" to another popular HBO show, "The Sopranos," in that regard.

"I don't think 'The Sopranos' made people flock to New Jersey," she said.

Real figures portrayed in films, such as Butch Cassidy, are more likely to draw tourists to Utah destinations, von der Esch reasoned.

The main FLDS community, based in the twin towns of Hildale and Colorado City, is also known as a fairly closed community, which does not lend itself to tourism. Von der Esch said those in the community do not interface with tourists.

"It's not like the Amish lifestyle where people go there to see them work the land," she said.

Even before the recent pop culture interest in polygamy at least one Utah company had already attached a product to it. The Wasatch Brewery in Salt Lake City introduced its Polygamy Porter beer in 2001.

But Wasatch Brewery's founder and president, Greg Schirf, said the company's interest is in polygamy as part of Utah history. He said the brewery has not noticed any recent increases in the beer's popularity and he has no desire to capitalize on the current interest in the practice.

"People might not believe this but we're not trying to get on that bandwagon at all," he said. "We just think polygamy is part of Utah's history and is fair game."
 
TheSpectrum.com
Originally published April 10, 2007
 
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