Gridley's Interview

In 1971, after living and working in Thailand for ten years as American expatriates, my friend, David Salisbury, and I decided to undertake a recording project in Bali.

Recent visits to Bali revealed a culture in transition. The handful of English speaking people living there -- among them, artists, Balinese intellectuals, aristocrats, and a few restaurant owners -- were fast becoming an endangered species. The early 1970's brought developers, tourists, and surfers to Bali, whose arrival overtook the way of life of Bali's' English-speaking population.

We travelled from Bangkok with a professional sound recordist, Khun Manas. We stayed at a traditional inn at Sanur. Each day, with the famous  guide, Njoman Oka, we stopped here and there to make our interviews.

I asked a photojounalist to describe the scene on Kuta beach, size = 198 kB.

We noticed growing numbers of hippies from the West. Most were too stoned to make much sense, but we kept enquiring if there  was one among them worth a story. Several tip-offs led us to a 38 year old  American who was practicing yoga, sleeping on the beach, and generally  confounding everybody he met. What really interested us was the news that  he had incinerated his passport. Why?

The next day we cornered him in Djenik's warung, one of only two cafes -- bamboo and thatch -- in Kuta at that time.

The lean American's name was Patrick Gridley Wright III. He had a few aliases, but all knew him simply as Gridley. He was reluctant to answer our questions, especially on tape, calling us:   "You television guys."

I asked Gridley what he was doing in Bali.
Gridley replied with a picture of his vision, size = 221 kB.

After some haggling Gridley finally agreed to talk  to us that evening in a cabana at the old Yasa Sumudra on Kuta Beach, but only if we could pose a question to him that he couldn't answer. David spoke up: "Gridley, if my aunt had balls, would she be my uncle?"  Gridley snickered: "Ok."

So we met again and interviewed him late into the night, reel after reel, while he sucked on joint after joint.

His story was compelling. Back in Bangkok we edited his many tales and reminiscences into a 20 minute sound track and added the comments of a few others who knew of Gridley's bizarre activities.

Balinese authorities deported Gridley soon after we interviewed him. When we learned of his demise in Goa, India in late l978 we  felt  that the world had lost a certain free spirit, a l960's social critic who consistently flaunted his views, founded stone age communes (in the  Philippines and India) and railed against the complacent status quo in  America.

Here are a few additonal selections from the interview.

Chris' favorite, size = 148 kB.

How Gridley sees himself, size = 83 kB.

Gridley on: Reincarnation, size = 109 kB.

The complete 1971 interview in Bali with Gridley Wright is available on CD. Order your copy now.