THE scene is a Williamsburg loft, the home of Larry Tee, DJ and founder of the Electroclash festival. The characters are Carlos, an aspiring DJ who’s juggling school and his career; Steph, a 20-something fashion intern; Sam Levin, the 22-year-old drummer of Sea Sick; Jason Hall, a 26-year-old fashion consultant who’s worked for the Gap; Tee’s friend and Dance Music Invasion Festival partner Kevin Graves, an aspiring 32-year-old dance music producer and DJ; and Keith Pollack, a handsome, 25-year-old New Yorker who draws a giant circle on a white sketch pad.
But it’s not hipster Pictionary – it’s Landmark Education, the modern-day incarnation of est, the personal-growth organization founded and popularized in the ’70s by Werner Erhard. As Landmark, the granddaddy of the human potential movement is back – and it’s found a home among New York City’s demimonde.
Along with Tee, Levin and Graves, burlesque legend the World Famous *BOB* claims to have found inspiration at Landmark.
Pollack explains his circle: “This what you know you know,” he pointed to the smallest slice of the circle, and “this,” he indicated the largest area, “is what you don’t know you don’t know.”
Discovering what you don’t know, claim adherents, will lead to increased productivity, better relationships and a more enjoyable life. What you Product, another creative type who’s taken Landmark courses, says when he told people about it, “They laughed at me.” He says, “They thought it was a cult.” But, he adds, “I don’t think it’s a cult at all.”
Indeed, Landmark has been haunted by the C-word since its inception in 1991, when Erhard sold his “technology” to his brother.
“I thought, ‘If they pass out Kool-Aid, I’ll just take a cab home,'” says the World Famous *BOB*. “I am not a follower, so I wasn’t too worried about it.”
One reason people are uncomfortable with Landmark is the pressure put on attendees to recruit friends: Landmark doesn’t advertise and relies on word of mouth.
Cult expert Rick Ross likens it to a “virus” that spreads like “wildfire.” “You go because your good friend and person that you trust has told you about this wonderful experience and shared it with you; he’s a great artist, a wonderful person. ‘Why not – I’ll give a shot?'” says Ross. “That’s how people get pulled in.”
And though Landmark is billed as the kinder, gentler version of est, Ross is not so sure. “I think ‘hipster’ really is a good word to describe it because it’s really kind of like ‘That ’70s Show,’ ” he says. “It’s reruns, going back to the ’70s when Werner Erhard created est. All Landmark Education really is is est recycled with a new name and not very different management.”
Landmark, naturally, takes a very different position.
“Creative types get a lot of juice out of our programs – they love removing barriers to their creative self-expression and tell us they experience a whole new level of productivity and inspiration,” says Deborah Beroset, spokeswoman for Landmark Education.
“Any implication that we are cult-like is absolutely ludicrous.”
After a tax scandal (since resolved in Erhard’s favor), in 1991, his brother Harry Rosenberg took over as CEO of Landmark, and Erhard moved out of the country. But the est rep still lingers.
Nonetheless, the “new” formula’s worked – so far Landmark claims to have 1 million Forum customers, including the World Famous *BOB*, who created her first burlesque class in the Self Expression and Leadership course nine years ago, and now teaches a monthly class that seems very Landmark-esque at the School of Burlesque. The “Self Confidence Class” provides the students, writes *BOB* in her e-mail newsletter, with “five tools that you can use on an everyday basis to encourage yourself to take bigger chances in life – on or off stage!”
Pacha co-owner and DJ Erick Morillo was such a fan of the program that he asked all of his employees at Subliminal Records to take the course. “When you get into that conversation about integrity and putting your ass on the line,” he explains. “If am going to have those kind of conversations with employees, I need to create a world around myself where I am communicating in the same language.”
Larry Tee is ground zero for the Landmark’s hipster contingent. He actually developed the Electroclash festival during Landmark’s Self Expression and Leadership Program.
“I really liked the language I heard,” says Tee. “They were talking about integrity, authenticity.”
Before Landmark, Tee was struggling – making $100 a week at a small gay nightclub. “I knew I had this energy and ability but I didn’t have the structure to make my life catch fire.” Now, he’s touring the world as a headlining DJ.
His friend and co-worker, Kevin Graves started taking the courses because he wondered what made his boss so confident. “I just saw how effective of a communicator he was and the fact that he always seemed to get what he wants. And I just figured I wanted to be like that.”
Graves credits the program with enabling him to come clean about his HIV positive status to his parents, and has helped him develop LOUDER, which connects booking agents, managers and club owners, DJs and label heads with each other via a social networking site he is planning on launching in coming months.
It might seem odd for independent-minded creatives to like Landmark, but says Graves. “I think that sort of structure is what every creative artist craves – to translate art into success.”
The corporate types that go to Landmark didn’t scare them off, either. “I am always hanging out with ‘cool’ people,” says *BOB*. “It’s interesting for me to sit with stockbrokers.”
Sam Levin, the drummer, says his other bandmates all signed up for Landmark. “I actually think that it’s such a creative thing to do because the whole point is ‘What do you want to create in your life?’ if you consider that your life is a canvas.”
Jason Hall, the fashion consultant, thinks Landmark works better than anything else he’s tried: “I have started Kaballah, I have done the therapy route off and on – Landmark is the most effective and time efficient. For $600, in one weekend you literally ‘get’ your life.” Not everyone is sold: Spencer Product – who says he spent more than $1,000 on the program – ultimately abandoned Landmark for therapy. “I definitely can say it changed the way I perceive life and work, but the thing about the Forum, it’s a buzz. You get a buzz and it wears off.”