2C
THE DAILY ASTORIAN FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2016
For Cannon Beach’s Fraser, art was life itself
Musician, kite
shop owner’s
pranks were legend
By NANCY McCARTHY
Special to EO Media Group
C
ANNON BEACH — John Fraser called
himself a Dada artist. But for John, his art
was life itself.
He rebelled against rules and created minor
moments of chaos in his community of Cannon
Beach. In effect, he colored outside the lines.
John died at home Feb. 25 following a battle
with cancer that ranged over 15 years. He was 73.
A community gathering in his honor is
planned from 4 to 6 p.m. April 20 in the Coaster
Theatre Playhouse.
‘Juan Man Band’
John moved to Cannon Beach in 1975 after
living in Spain and London. He was already well
known as a tavern musician in Portland. Calling
himself the “Juan Man Band,” John played sev-
eral instruments at once — an organ keyboard
with one foot, a high-hat drum with his other foot
and, with his hands, a guitar, along with a box
containing Àutes and recorders.
“He was a hot act,” said John’s wife, Lisa.
“He was one guy, and he could sound like an
entire band.
“When I was 18, I sneaked into a bar to hear
this amazing musician. He could do the solo
from ‘Peter and the Wolf’ and go right into a
blues song where everyone would hit the dance
Àoor.
“He played 28 different instruments, and he
played them well,” she added.
He often took his act to the streets of Cannon
Beach, where, as a mime, he entertained children
and their parents by playing his music and twist-
ing balloons into animals for them.
He worked at Osburn’s Grocery and also
lived above the store.
Erick Bengel/Cannon Beach Gazette
John Fraser, in his music room, shows off the MIDI controller he is making by hand with spare parts. The 12 colored buttons, once
belonging to pinball machines, produce different notes.
Odd jobs
Like many Cannon Beach artists in the 1970s,
John also held other odd jobs: a fry cook at a
local restaurant, bartender at the Rathskeller and
at Bill’s Tavern. He also was a “beach Àyer” for
D.K. Smith, owner of the Once Upon a Breeze
kite shop. It was his job to Ày kites on the beach
to entice customers.
“John liked to say he worked his way up
to owner,” Lisa said. John bought the shop in
1982.
But John was known in Cannon Beach as
much more than a local business operator. He
was on the City Council, Planning Commission,
Design Review Board and community policing
team. He helped to organize the Cannon Beach
Preschool and Children’s Center; the original
center was housed in the same building as the kite
shop on Spruce Street.
John loved living in Cannon Beach, Lisa said.
“He took it so, so seriously. He tried to maintain
the community so people could enjoy it, whether
they were living here or visiting here.”
Followed his whimsy
While he took his civic involvement seri-
ously, John also earnestly followed his whimsy.
Known for years as the utmost April Fools’
Day prankster, John once bought many keys, had
them engraved with words that said, “Back door,
US Bank,” then distributed them all over town.
He wanted to see how many ¿nders would return
the keys to the bank and how many would keep
them.
“And the bank didn’t even have a back door,”
Lisa said.
The bank also came into the spotlight when
John put up Àiers around town announcing that
the bank had a “special” event. For every dollar
?
9-1-WHAT?
Submitted Photos
LEFT: John Fraser was considered a “Juan Man Band.” RIGHT: John Fraser “smokes” a pickle in front of the “pickle store” he staged
next door to the kite shop he owned. Although the store appeared to be a real operation with a sign that said, “Back in 5 minutes,” it ac-
tually wasn’t a store at all, and no one ever appeared to open it.
bill with four or more “ones” in its serial number,
the bank would replace it with a $100 bill.
“The bank manager at the Astoria branch
called John and asked him to take down the Ài-
ers,” Lisa recalled. “John refused.”
A crosswalk on Hemlock just south of Bruce’s
Candy Kitchen also became the focus of another
prank when the police put a pedestal in the street
warning drivers to watch for pedestrians. On the
pedestal’s Àat top, John would place objects, then
sit back and see what people would do with them.
One object included a landline telephone.
“My favorite was when a cop came into the
(kite) shop with a giant box fan and asked, ‘Is
John here?’” Lisa said. “What better place than a
crosswalk in town to study people.”
Turkey bacon strips
And then there was the time John nailed
cooked turkey bacon strips to telephone poles.
“He delighted in watching people do a dou-
ble-take when they saw that bacon,” Lisa said.
Most of the time she was as taken off guard as
anyone else at his antics.
“I was constantly surprised at every turn. I
never knew what was coming next,” she said.
John threw “surprise” birthday parties for
himself at Bill’s Tavern with special themes;
designed bumper stickers during the Lewis and
Clark Exposition that said, “Dogs: Pets or Food?
Let’s ask Lewis and Clark”; placed jars of may-
onnaise in a crosswalk on Cinqo de Mayo; and
arranged to have his dedicated credit card line at
his shop (436-BOMB) become a “confessional”
for people to call and record their darkest secrets.
‘God’
One of his best-known creations during the
late pre-Facebook 1990s was a website called
Cannon Beach Weather.com, where people could
check out the “weather station” (a stick that fol-
lowed the sun) via a webcam in John’s backyard
and write about the goings-on in Cannon Beach.
As the website administrator who oversaw the
messages, John called himself “God.”
While adults only laughed and shook their
heads at John’s latest project, children loved him,
especially when he drove his van through town
and threw out small plastic animals for them to
catch.
“He had a huge box of toys,” Lisa said. “He
was like the pied piper. It took forever for him to
get home.”
And when he drove, it was usually in a car
decorated with ¿gurines he had glued to the sides
and hood — plastic lizards, iguanas, nuns, doll
heads — and a lawn chair on the roof. On one of
his cars, he glued a clip on the front and put a $1
bill in it, with the sign, “Take Me.”
&DQFHU¿JKW
In 2001, John was ¿rst diagnosed with pros-
tate cancer, and he successfully fought it off. In
2005, however, the cancer returned. In 2013, the
community held a fundraiser to help him pay for
his medication.
But for several years, his illness didn’t deter
John from playing his harmonica with other local
musicians during burger night every Monday at
the American Legion.
“He continued to play music until he couldn’t
do it anymore,” Lisa said.
Moon river
S
o if you insist on mooning passers-by in public, go big.
Do it on U.S. Highway 101, on a Monday afternoon, on leap day ...
Follow reporter Kyle Spurr on his 9-1-What? Twitter watch, where a few of
the sometimes head-scratching calls to area dispatch take center stage. The full
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