Last Friday, a performance art piece got ugly -- and we don't just mean because it failed to critically explore the (mis)/dissemination of the capitalist hegemony: Novato performance artist Joe Canada promised to give $10 away to every homeless person who met him on the plaza in the Civic Center at 4 p.m. in the afternoon on Friday. A similar giveaway on Wednesday and Thursday had gone without incident, and buzz was no doubt building among the community.

First of all, Canada was an hour late, and the 500 people in attendance, some of whom had been waiting since noon, were starting to grow a little discontent. Canada then showed up at 5, gave a bunch of rambling speeches about art, religion, and politics, and then after an hour passed, he fled the scene, jumped in his van, and drove away, without giving the attendees the $10 he'd promised. Dude!

One attendee said he knew there was going to be trouble as the wind picked up and the sun started to set. "I knew when it got darker, there was less of a chance that the money would come," said attendee Rodney Brown. As Canada drove away, the crowd began yelling and cursing, and the remainder of Canada's staff tried desperately to calm folks down. As one man, Brian Boykin, put it, "This is messed up. That whole time we sat listening to him, thinking we would get money -- and then nothing."

You know, that's a great NEA grant proposal, though: "I am requesting $10,000 to fund my project, which will be to promise to give money away to the homeless and then not do it." You know the Bush administration would be all over that!