​Preserving, Protecting and Promoting Jerome Caja’s Artistic Legacy

This is at the core of our mission here at The Jerome Project. The removal of Ric Warren’s Jerome video from YouTube underscores the importance of our goal.

Several weeks back I got an email from my friend Ric, who was frustrated and annoyed with YouTube for pulling his Jerome Caja video “Venus with a Penis” off their website. Ric had first posted the video long before I even created The Jerome Project back in 2010. His video was key in keeping Jerome’s spirit alive for many, many years, and it was also instrumental in illustrating the need for a feature-length documentary film on Jerome.

Like many of us queers from the late 80’s and early 90’s in San Francisco, we are activists at heart and do not take No for an answer. Ric kept re-publishing “Venus with a Penis” many times, but it was always getting taken down for supposedly violating YouTube’s adult-content policies. It had been public for over 10+ years without any red flags or inappropriate-content problems.

Is it porn? Is it art? Is it pornographic art? Do we know it when we see it? It seems that Ric’s video is mistakenly getting flagged as inappropriate content or pornography based on the name alone, “Venus with a Penis.”

Or did Ric’s video get taken down because Jerome…
​

• poses like a 50’s pin-up model on his back with his legs spread wide open?
• attempts to seduces a goat outside while slinking around in women’s lingerie?
• wields a Michael Myers-sized kitchen knife for our viewing pleasure?
• fake pukes in a toilet and then attempts to fellate his own fist?
• takes a bubble bath and enjoys himself orgasmically while Mr. Rubber Duckie is perched on the  back of the toilet and watches voyeuristically?
• performs ancient erotic theater in a bathtub and re-enacts un-consensual sex scenes between a troll doll and an innocent child doll?
• has Mickey Mouse and Mini Mouse dolls talk dirty to each other while they frolic in the bathtub with him?

​I am very curious to know which of the YouTube categories Ric’s film violates. Is it their “Nudity & Sexual Content Policies” or is it the new “Child Safety Policies”? After reading YouTube’s fine print, my hunch is that Jerome’s silly filthy “Mouseketeer” talk is what flagged Venus with a Penis as inappropriate.

​Needless to say, I told Ric it would be an honor to permanently house his lovely Jerome video on The Jerome Project’s website.

​— Thank you, Ric Waren!

THE JEROME PROJECT: 2020 Lewis Walden Vinyl Drive

PART I: If you have any vintage vinyl (especially club music from the late 80’s & early 90’s) that you want to donate, please fill out this GoogleDrive subbmission form and we can coordinate a local SF drop-off/hand-off. We will house your gifts and with the help of other Lewis Lovers (Don Baird, Stevyn Polk, Derek Boyle) we will transport all this newly gifted music to Lewis personally. It is our hope to be bringing him thousands of albums in a month.

PART II: Make sure to double-check your contact info (name, phone, email) and don’t forget to hit the submit button at the bottom of the form so we can get back to you ASAP and coordinate a SF drop-off. It will be in the Mission District near the intersection of 22nd & Dolores. If you cannot drop them off, please let us know so we can arrange a pick-up.

PART III: Your gift can be either anonymous or personal. If you want, please feel free to use yellow stickies on your album covers and write your name and add anything else personal that you want to say directly to Lewis. We know he would love to hear from you.

PART IV: Spread the word. If you know of anybody that would like to participate in helping Lewis out, please share this link on your FaceBook page or kindly ask your friends and family if they would like to contribute. This is not about replacing what was, but is about building a new collection.

Lewis was a lifeline for so many of us here in SF back in the late 80’s & early 90’s. He was very generous to us all as a DJ and inspired many of us to build our own music collections. This is our way of thanking him. It is our hope that we as a community can pull together a couple thousand (or more) priceless vinyl gems so that Lewis has a new collection for his new home!

 Lewis — WE ALL LOVE YOU! 

​PLEASE NOTE: Because this is a gift, we kindly ask that you not just dump a bunch of old vinyl to off-load it. Please select meaningful stuff with intent. Again any club music from the 80’s & 90’s is most appreciated (Rock, Industrial, Electronic-Dance, Techno, etc). We are also NOT limiting this gift to just vinyl; CD’s are also welcome. If you are not able to drop music off, you can also send it through the US post office via “Media Mail.” It is quite inexpensive. Contact us directly for the address.

ALTERNATIVELY: For all those Lewis Lovers out there that do not live in the Bay Area and would like to help, you can also order an online AMOEBA Music Store Gift Certificate here. If you decide to go this route you would not only be helping Lewis but also helping a local small business that has been shut down since mid March. Make sure to select “Ship to New Address” on AMOEBA’S form and insert this address info — P.O. Box 14842, San Francisco CA 94114.

LASTLY: To help Lewis track gift certificates, please make sure to also fill out the GoogleDrive submission form with your contact info — THANK YOU!