Akron’s Brad Warner has returned home for a whirlwind tour of lectures and loud live music. Warner is best known locally as the bassist for old-school Rubber City hardcore band Zero Defects. Internationally, he’s better known as the author of Hardcore Zen and Sit Down and Shut Up: Punk Rock Commentaries on Buddha, God, Truth, Sex, Death, and Dogen’s Treasury of the Right Dharma Eye. Technically, he’s a Zen master, but he doesn’t trust people who refer to themselves as masters. His combination memoir/spiritual manuals explain the evolution of his punk-like, stripped-down approach to the ancient philosophy — and how to use it. Sure, Zen sounds pretty weird and dry. But Warner’s a columnist for Suicide Girls, and he’s not above using phrases like “full of shit.”
This article appears in Oct 31 – Nov 6, 2007.