A longtime Boulder resident, he produces an off-color program for the city's public-access CATV Channel 54, during which he makes political statements against corporate greed and government censorship. And although Brigham is bipolar and suffers from anxiety, he handles his mental illness with humor. His show, called Notes From the Quiet Room, is mainly used to parody mental illness in hopes, he says, of removing the stigma.
Over the years, Brigham, 35, has befriended a lot of the folks who are part of the café culture at the old Beat poets' haunt on the east end of the Pearl Street Mall, and he's even exhibited some photos there of Allen Ginsberg and Ken Kesey that he shot during a Ginsberg tribute at the Naropa Institute a few years back.
So when a friend suggested that Brigham tape some of Penny Lane's twentieth-anniversary festivities for his show, it seemed like a good idea. On March 31, the second day of the three-day celebration, Brigham filmed musicians playing and interviewed patrons about their favorite Penny Lane memories. He finished up the next afternoon and decided to stick around for the rest of the party. That's when Penny Lane owner Isadore Million told Brigham he'd have to leave at 2 p.m., when a poetry reading was to begin.
The reason, of which Brigham was well aware, was that he'd been banned for several years from poetry readings run by Tom Peters, who owns the Beat Book Shop a few doors away from Penny Lane.
Four years ago, Brigham says, he and a friend were having beer with Peters when Peters and the friend got into an argument. Things got ugly, Brigham recalls, and Peters threatened to smash a beer mug against the man's head. The police were called, and Peters was cited for threatening bodily injury, according to Boulder court records. At trial, Brigham testified against Peters.
Hard feelings remained, and one evening in 1997, Peters was teasing Brigham about the case during a poetry reading at Penny Lane. "He nudged me and told me to give him $3 for attending every poetry hour until his court fees are paid," Brigham says. "I swore at him and told him I'd had it. He told me not to swear, and I said, 'Fuck, fuck, fuck.'" Million then banned Brigham from the poetry readings, which Peters had been hosting at the coffee shop for more than a decade. Brigham was allowed in at all other times. (Peters didn't return phone calls from Westword.)
In protest, Brigham staged his own poetry readings outside Penny Lane, which he aired on a segment of his TV program that he dubbed, "Dead, Damned and Banned." But he complied with the ban -- until April 1.
Although Million told Brigham he could return after the two-hour reading was over, Brigham was stubborn. "I said, 'No, why should I leave? I've been filming your celebration and paying you tribute,'" he recalls.
The two argued, and Brigham turned on his camera; the coffee-shop owner can be heard on the tape saying, "This is my place. I have a right to do what I want." Still, Brigham refused to leave and he dared Million to call the police.
That's when Million started shoving him, Brigham says. Brigham picked up his camera then, and forgetting that it was already on, hit the power button, which turned it off. As Brigham tells it, the 73-year-old Million pushed him out of the coffee shop and into a hallway leading to the bathrooms, pinning him against the door to an Indian restaurant. Million then choked him with one hand and punched him on the side of his head with the other, Brigham says. Upon impact, Brigham fell through the door and into the restaurant, where an employee was meditating.
Million doesn't dispute the confrontation. "I was just sort of blown away, because we had an agreement. Then pushing took place," he says, adding, "In this country you don't have to testify against yourself, do you?
"If he would have left and come back after 4 p.m., this never would have happened," Million continues. "He's a lowlife character. This guy is three-quarters full, and that's all I have to say."
According to a police report taken after the incident, "Million emphatically denied striking Brigham in the face or placing his hands around Brigham's neck with the intent to choke him. This reporting sergeant did not see any red marks, scars or bruising on Brigham's neck or areas of his face."
Nevertheless, Brigham pressed charges against Million for assault and physical harassment; Brigham himself was charged with trespassing. Brigham says he'd consider dropping the charges, though, if Million would agree to mediation.
Instead of broadcasting the entire four-hour tribute to Penny Lane, Brigham showed only a small part on April 5, including the initial confrontation between the two men. He opened the show by explaining the incident and chastising Million. Before the show aired, he posted fliers around Penny Lane encouraging viewers to tune in.
Million has since completely banned Brigham from Penny Lane, which is fine with Brigham, although he now says he regrets his actions. "I'm an obstinate person. I'm a provocateur, I admit. But I didn't deserve to be assaulted."
