Following in a family tradition
born of a long line of pioneers:
For the past thirty-eight years (since age 15)
Alfred Goolsbee has been involved in a pioneering
effort of his own design; that of spreading the
message and methods of earth-friendly lifestyles,
biodynamic farming techniques and
sustainable energy technologies.
EARLY YEARS
While attending Fairfax High School in Hollywood, California (where the busing experiments of the 1970’s [racial integration] were being pioneered at the expense of other students’ stability) Alfred made a carefully considered decision to forego a “traditional” education.
(At age 15 he had already learned, among other things, how to smelt gold, prepare wax models for jewelry castings, to make gold inlays for dental applications and make polished gold filigreed jewelry… and was already skilled as a Photolithographer/color-film serperator. )
Although his elders had offered to pay for his education in any university of his choosing, Alfred decided to take the road less traveled. Alfred dropped out of high school at age 15 and took up independent studies at the university level (informally) in the fields of neurochemistry, neuro-chemical bonding, and the prevention of criminal behavior in children (Dr. Albert Hoffman’s* research had captured Alfred’s attention [*of Sandoz Pharmaceuticals Switzerland and Professor at Harvard University]).
Alfred explains that, “They hadn’t yet written the courses that I wanted to take in the Universities! …And I could see that I was going to waste far too much time dealing with sociopolitical issues at a very mundane level (dealing with teachers and their delicate egos);
“So, I dropped out of high school because it was undoubtedly interfering with my education.” (He had been admitted to school one year early after his mother had him tested for aptitude and IQ.) By age 13 he had already won various awards in the fields of gymnastics, creative writing (1st place out of several thousand entries), speech, and architectural drafting, etc.
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It was only a few weeks after Alfred had removed himself from Fairfax High School that he and his best friend had built a small jet engine with no moving parts (similar to those used by NASA in low gravity environments). The engine utilized the energy discharge of negatively-charged ions from the tips of rather long needles, to displace deficient oxygen molecules as they passed through an aluminum cylinder (this was all prior to the, now fashionable, negative-ion generators being sold to the general public). As the ions entered the orbit of the deficient oxygen atoms, those atoms were driven forward.
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He then took up studies in “subliminal persuasion,” while operating his own business as a graphic designer and advertising artist at age 16; working as an independent contractor for a branch of Warner Brothers in Hollywood (with the team of one of the most famous guitarists in pop history, Jimi Hendrix). During this time, he took every opportunity to remind famous individuals of their responsibility as public figures to become more aware of environmental issues and to act aggressively to promote what they had learned (and to convince their fans of the need to respect the Earth). This is before it became fashionable to have fund-raiser concerts like Band Aid, Live Earth etc.
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Soon thereafter at age 18, he moved to New York City, where he worked with the likes of RCA Mainman Productions (assistant to Publicity agent for David Bowie) where he designed menus for organic food served at publicity events and designed a line of airbrushed clothing at the behest of men’s fashion editor at Playboy magazine, Robert L. Green.
He was present when Wolfman Jack made his debut appearance in New York City and together with Cathy Dorrity, Publicity agent for David Bowie, Alfred welcomed the world famous Temptations shortly before his 19th birthday.
He went on to launch his own line of airbrushed clothing in Bloomingdales Department Store in New York, introducing airbrushed clothing “for the masses” for the first time in history when his designs were rejected by Robert Green as being too avante gaurde. With the revenue realized from that successful fashion enterprise, he moved to Costa Rica, Central America.
It was shortly after attending a world peace event at the world headquarters of the United Nations in New York, that Alfred received an invitation to travel to Costa Rica and “help change the world through agrarian reform,” (by an individual who had previously acted as personal secretary to the, then deceased, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.).
YOUNG ADULT YEARS
In Costa Rica Alfred helped manage projects designed to introduce temperate fruits to tropical climates by utilizing chill-factor, made possible by locating farms at high altitudes (situated above 2,500mtrs in the mountains). They used altitude to achieve chill-factor. There, he and his colleagues, Amigos de La Naturaleza (connected to Audubon Society), were responsible for encouraging the Government to convert 60% of the temperate rainforests into National Parks where, slash and burn logging was finally brought to a halt after years of dedicated activism.
During this period, Alfred and his associates helped the local (very rural) people to organize a cooperative transportation company (where only horse and oxen had been the norm), a local agricultural cooperative center (seed, fertilizer, tools and shared tractors, etc), a dairy-cheese factory cooperative, and a local health clinic (Alfred’s favorite). All of which resulted in many indigent families having become successful, healthy, wealthy and well educated.
Whenever the president of Costa Rica, Pepe Figueres entertained diplomatic figures and other dignitaries from foreign countries, the goods from this project were often specifically featured in official functions as an example of the fine progress being made in his (Pepe Figueres’) country.
With respect to the farm that Alfred and his colleagues built: They made the lumber from trees felled in selective clearing process with Alaskan chainsaws, built hearths, chimneys and homes from the natural river sand and rocks, all from scratch (wheelbarrows, hand filtered sand and pebbles, etc etc.) When the original land was purchased, it was accessible by oxcart only. They cut the roads, brought in electricity and shared their knowledge freely with the community as volunteers.
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While working 7 years off and on in Costa Rica, Alfred returned to California, where he continued his studies of T’ai Chi Ch’uan at the world renown, Inner Research Institute (along with Hatha Yoga at the Integral Yoga Institute) in San Francisco.
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At age 23 Alfred was referred by the founder of the Inner Research Institute to the Gaia San Francisco Ballet Company and was subsequently hired as Publicity Manager and Stage-Tech Consultant; the troupe was awarded “#1 Critics Choice” status in San Francisco during Alfred’s tenure. The Gaia San Francisco Ballet Company was created and led by an ex-Prima Ballerina of the Netherlands Dance Theater.
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It was around this time that Alfred inadvertently became instrumental in the building of a Traditional Japanese Bath House at the Faralones Institute in Sebastepol, California; an experimental sustainable energy/biodynamic village (first of its kind) that was headed by the State Architect of California, Mr. Sym Van Der Ryn. Sym Van Der Ryn’s right-hand-man, Dale Krenik, (at Alfred’s invitation) had been with Alfred in Costa Rica during the last two years of the Costa Rican period.
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Moving on to the Washington State University’s FM Radio station a few years later: At age 26 Alfred was responsible for opening the Belingham FM Radio stations doors every morning for the winter, where he was Creator Director and Programer of the “First Impressions” show, a live 2 hour, early morning radio program for pregnant women and very young children. The program gained the attention of Gore Vidal (who scheduled an interview on the show) and other figures of notoriety. It was, to say the least, a very, very popular show among Belingham City’s residents.
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From there, Alfred moved back to his hometown in Port Neches, Texas, a city which was founded by his ancestors, wherein his senior female family members all had streets named after them. There, in the nearby city of Beaumont, he was recruited by patrons of the cultural arts societies in Beaumont, to act as the interim Preparator for the Beaumont Museum of Fine Arts in Texas. He was responsible for the installation of art exhibitions, manufacture of custom crafted displays, interior painting and reform of the premises, the running of the local printing press, plate making and management of the grounds in various capacities.
RECENT DECADES
In the years that followed, Alfred continued to pursue efforts to raise the public’s awareness of what he considered to be, “the sorely neglected environmental issues,” through various means. He approached many other famous individuals such as: Jermain Jackson (of “Jackson 5” fame [Michael Jackson]), Joni Mitchell, Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeplin, Sting, etc. and asked that they give more time and attention to emerging environmental issues. He continued to devoted his life and time to helping spread-the-word in praise of sustainability and biodynamic farming.
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One of the highlights of Alfred’s efforts as a career activist was his achievement in introducing “new” business methods to the agronomists of New Zealand. Alfred lived there for three years while promoting the growing of herbs, which yield medicinal and aromatic essential oils (destined for the emerging aromatherapy industry).
Alfred subsequently introduced the SHISEIDO Cosmetics Company of Japan (3rd largest in the world at that time) to the Maori Komatua (Tribal Elders and Foundation Trustees), at which time Shiseido directors and family members personally visited the Maori Tribal Lands and met with the leaders and trustees. This meeting occurred as a direct result of Alfred’s appearance on National Radio (NZ), where he interviewed the Director of International Affairs at Sheseido, live from Tokyo by telephone. The program directors (of NZ National Radio) reported that they had never received so many call-ins at the radio station in the history of NZ National Radio broadcasting. “The phone lines were lit-up like a Christmas tree.”
Today, as a direct result of Alfred’s vision and passionate pursuit of serving the earth and its inhabitants, a thriving lavender industry (and other herbs) is in full bloom in New Zealand. This action was very timely in that the treaty of Waitangi had just expired and the Maori’s ancestral lands had been restored to them after 200 years of British occupation. Being unsure how to make the best use of it, Alfred suggested that they enter into the business of growing herbs that produce medicinal and aromatic essential oils for the newly emerging aromatherapy industry.
PRESENT (Past 15 Years)
In most recent decades, Alfred started the first No-Smoking Vegan (no animal egg or dairy products) restaurant in Tokyo in the famous Gaen-mai district of Omotesando, an area which world-class designers call home. Although everyone insisted that it couldn’t possibly work (a no smoking restaurant in Tokyo?) the concept was a smashing success: a venue that played host to evenings of “reservations only” dinners for eight and twelve, as well as luncheons, whereby folks stood in line daily for a table and a chance to sample Alfred’s Gourmet Vegetarian cooking.
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It was during this period that Alfred’s jewelry and accessory designs had also become world famous. Millions of dollars in annual sales are collected daily (even today, at the time of this writing) by companies that have manufactured replicas of Alfred’s original designs (without his permission). Worn by many famous Japanese (and other international) celebrities, copies of Alfred’s designs are still marketed throughout the world in literally thousands of jewelry boutiques, department stores and other venues and are often seen in many a Hollywood and BBC movie. Alfred recalls that the very first prototype was sold to a diamond trader in San Francisco when he needed money to buy his first book on The Art and History of Perfumery. “It was very well received,” Alfred notes, “and the fellow asked if I could produce more of the same in the near future. It was called ‘The DAKINI Necklace,’ and was made from Jurassic amber, pink tourmalines and gold plated beads that I’d made by hand from powdered rose petal, frankincense and myrrh, and trimmed with graduated fancy-cut garnet, strung on 100% silk thread. It was then soaked in my own 100% natural fragrance~ a composition that I had been working on for a few months.”
Although, in later years another company copied yet another of his designs, “At least they kept my original campaign slogan, ‘to respect the ocean and keep it clean!’” The copy-company did arrange to donate a very small percentage of the revenue to a Save the Ocean campaign fund in Japan. (These designs are still sold by the thousands on a weekly basis in airports, ferry terminals, department stores and in airline magazines etc. Several million dollars worth are sold annually, but none of the revenue has ever been given to Alfred.)
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Additionally Alfred was the first person in the world to create a sophisticated perfume from 100% all-natural essential oils, a project financed by the (now deceased) President of the Southern Japan Rotary Club Union, Mr. Kukubun Shigeo.
Similarly Alfred’s perfumes have been copied~ At one stage, Alfred’s computer was stolen in Tokyo, a computer which contained several priceless perfume formulas that he had created especially for Japanese women (based on their unique body chemistry~). A few years later the fragrances (which have very specific, unmistakable and unique characteristics) appeared on the market in bottles proffered by very well known design houses. However, it is most certainly, very unlikely that those companies are aware of the origin of those formulae.
