(Image: @Rockclubfound)
Erick Rock Club and his goat Deer would very much like you to come to the Earth Day festival he has been planning for months Friday afternoon in Cal Anderson. But he’s pretty sure you won’t. And not just because of short notice.
“I’ve been walking around with this goat trying to tell them about this Earth Day festival,” Erick told CHS earlier today. “People are too busy. They keep walking.”
With a threat of rain, Erick said Cal Anderson might not work out and maybe he’ll need to move the music and gathering he hopes comes together to someplace out of the drizzle — maybe the entrance to Capitol Hill Station, he says.
It turns out the man with the goat has a lot of vision and a lot to say about the way the world works and the people who are too busy to talk to him about Earth Day. CHS walked by plenty of times — We should have asked him about the Earth Day festival earlier.
Over the past six months, Erick and Deer have been come part of the Capitol Hill legend. Drunken packs of bros and woo girls pay a buck to pet Deer in the midst of crowded nights in Pike/Pine. The money is mostly inconsequential. Erick says he received regular government support because of his disability from a brain injury as a child. Erick and Deer live in his van, moving around the neighborhood and city as needed. He puts what money he can and all of his energy into an organization he formed called the Rock Club Foundation, “created to empower the people by encouraging creativity, igniting passion and spreading love.”
Erick and Deer’s “goat fun me” page
Erick hoped things like the Earth Day festival and a Free Day Market he works on every Sunday with Food Not Bombs down near the Cascade Playground would help him start to make the changes he wants to see so badly in the world. The Bernie Sanders campaign, he says, also offers hope.
But it probably won’t be enough to keep him on Capitol Hill and in Seattle.
“I’m leaving Seattle. Because Seattle doesn’t care,” Erick said Friday. “What do I have to do? Climb a tree?”
Erick said he is making plans for moving on now that April 22nd has come and almost gone.
“The whole reason I have this goat is to tell people about my organization to try to make the world a better place. All I’m trying to do is save the planet.”
You can learn more and connect with Erick on the Rock Club Foundation Facebook page. There is also a “goat fun me” fundraising page if you’d like to give him a few bucks without bugging Deer.
*goat noises*
— Dear The Goat (@DearTheGoat) April 20, 2016
It’s hard to take someone seriously when they’re milling around in front of nightclubs at 1am with a…goat. Seriously? I’m no goat expert, but I’m pretty sure that’s not what they’re into. Hell, even a dog (a more urbanized/domestic pet) would be annoyed with being toted around like that.
If this article is supposed to make me respect this guy in the slightest, it failed miserably.
That poor goat. I watched them tie the goat to a cart and drag it through the streets and that was one unhappy goat. Sorry guys, not cool. Maybe the goat would like to be doing goat things? Just a thought…
This makes me so sad and mad. That goat does not belong in the city living out of a van. If this guy wants to make changes for the earth, he should start by saving this goat and turning it over to someone who has a farm or land and can care for it.
#GOATLIVESMATTER
More concern over the goat than the homeless guy with clear mental issues. Keep it real CHS posters.
Yes, I am more concerned about the wild animal that is being exploited in bars and held hostage in some guy’s van. Being mentally ill does not absolve a person for their selfish behavior.
“Being mentally ill does not absolve a person for their selfish behavior.”
The selfish person is the one who accuses the mentally ill of being selfish. Being mentally ill does absolve them for much of their behaviors; that’s part of the whole “mental illness” thing. Duh.
Erick is a great person with a lot of love to give. You people are extremely closed-minded, GOOD FOR YOU, ERICK, for moving. Come move to Minneapolis. We’ll give you love in return, for you and Deer.
Erick and Deer are much loved members of the Food Not Bombs community. Erick is not mentally ill, he has a head injury. He cares about the community and the earth, his heart is in changing the world to be a better place. His goat is well fed and cared for. Most goats would not be so tame as to be on a leash but Deer does fine with it. I hope Erick and Deer continue to hang out but we missed him at our weekly Food Not Bombs food bank today. He was quite hurt by the mean postings above. That is really sad to me that our community would malign someone who is different, instead of trying to understand them.
I saw this goat at a honk band show at Columbia city theater. Somehow they had snuck into the venue and made their way to the very front. Some horns started playing and the poor thing shit and pissed itself right in front of everyone. fuck that guy.
I encountered this pair at a honk band show at Columbia city theater. Somehow they had snuck in and made their way to the very front. The horns started blaring and that poor goat shit and pissed itself in front of everyone. Fuck that guy!