Earlier today, I had an occasion to make reference to the Goddess Kring, then immediately wondered if the reference would make sense to the average 21st-century Seattleite. So I sent an email query to everyone in the Stranger building:

when I refer to the local celebrity the Goddess Kring, do you know who I’m talking about? please reply yes or no. thanks.

15 respondents said no and 14 respondents said yes, making it a near-even split, unless you count the overwhelming enthusiasm/emotion of those who said yes, nearly all of whom incorporated some sort of outburst into their responses (“dear god yes!”; “oh goddess yes!”; “I’ll never forget the Goddess Kring, no matter how badly I’d like to”).

For those who don’t know, the Goddess Kring is the creation of Shannon Kringen, a local artist/artist model/spiritual seeker best known for the cable-access television show she hosted throughout the ’90s (and beyond?), on which she would take off her clothes and say things with her mouth.

She’s still around and working and if she’s no longer on cable access, she’s found a home for herself on the internet, which is where I found this most recent example of Goddess Kring doing her thing (with clothes on, so SFW.)

David Schmader—former weed columnist and Stranger associate editor—is the author of the solo plays Straight and Letter to Axl, which he’s performed in Seattle and across the US. His latest...

44 replies on “Today in Seattle History: The Goddess Kring”

  1. I had no idea who you were talking about until I saw that image. YES.

    I see her periodically at various hippie events around, and all I can think about are her breasts and fleshy tallness.

  2. I’ll be sure to wear my Bill Bored t-shirt, and have my “Who Killed Kurt Cobain” fanzine, along with my Spud Goodman spatula.

  3. Her show was still on in the early 2000’s at least until 2003 when I was doing a show with some friends at that station. She was even a guest on our show. She was pretty nice.

  5. I had both the pleasure of happening by her trippy show on cable access and having her model for my drawing class. The 15 who said “no” must be the whippersnappers you enslave as interns/human footstools?

  8. imo, she is actually a very good/reliable life model, pleasant and professional. the haters have other issues, but thats sorta just how they roll.

  11. I hadn’t heard of her before.

    Mmm, nice visuals: sepia tone followed by Warholesque screenprint coloration. She sounds like a nice mellow chick, eccentric, but I like that. I also like that the last 30 seconds sound as if they come from an album by the progster band Gong. Now, where’d I put those sandlewood incense sticks?

  14. Late 90s Seattle cable access was pretty rad: Goddess Kring, the Courtney Killed Kurt guy, and the inimitable Bong Hit Championships.

    However, GK with her clothes on is vastly disturbing.

  15. Ugh I had the misfortune of having her model for a drawing or painting class (can’t remember which) I was in at SCCC many years ago. All I could see were the rolls… The hideous, hideous rolls.

  16. She looks like she has dropped a few pounds – odd for someone who was so staunchly unapologetic for her weight. I’m thinking the person blowing the horn in the video is wanting some curbside chakra therapy.

  19. @2:

    I still have a set of “Handy & Bandy” eyes around somewhere.

    As for you Mr. Schmader, I must now go find my bottle of brain-bleach…

  20. Dave – a while back you mentioned doing an art show displaying sketches people have done of the Goddess Kring in life drawing classes over the years. I love that idea – I hope you’ll make it happen someday, and I have sketches to contribute!

    BTW is it me or does she seem unusually sane in this clip..?

  23. Ah yes…90’s public access in seattle. I miss the days when the “Mike Hunt” show would cause controversy, and the papers would publish his name, totally unaware of why this guy called himself “Mike Hunt.”

  28. What made him so scary was the people who stood behind him and leered into the camera while he screamed about “PAAAIN” and “LOVVVE”.

  30. I only had cable tv for a short time in Seattle (and it was just Basic Cable), but I’m glad I got to watch many great cable access shows:

    All U Can Stomach
    Handy & Bandy
    The Goddess Kring
    Mike Hunt
    Richard Lee
    Deface the Nation
    etc.

    And then YouTube was born and now we have Justin Bieber.

    The End.

  32. We need way more usage of “eYE” and “aRt” in here for this to be a proper Kring discussion.

    (Though the commenter above me got close!)

    I remember a time, nearly a decade ago, that my friend wrestled her to the ground with a cardboard box on his head at a party she crashed. She left after that.

    I also still totally have my “Issaquah – Epicenter of Rap” Afronaut t-shirt. And somewhere in a box in storage I have tapes with a bunch of old Rev Bruce Howard episodes on them. I should dig those out and see if they still play at some point.

  33. The Mike hunt show and Goddess Kring always had those ‘what the fu…’ moments when you were surfing around late at night.

  37. As a teenager I’d always turn to public access late at night hoping to find some porn… the disappointment was deep when Goddess Kring appeared on the screen.

  38. Wow, that’s amazing, I just saw her last at night at 911’s Open Screening. She looked like she is doing fine. I remember doing a bodypainting photo shoot with her 15 years ago. Glad to see she’s still hanging in there and that some folks remember her.

  40. Jerkbeast can currently be found fucking with people on chat roulette or what ever that is called. Google Jerkbeast+chat roulette.

  42. Someone asked if Kring was still on public access. Yep, every Monday night, 11:30 p.m. as of June 2010.

    (Whatever happened to Richard “Kurt Cobain Was Murdered” Lee? He shoulda gotten a section of the Kurt/Warhol exhibit at SAM.)

  43. Update on Shannon Kringen: she spent five years actively nagging LiveJournal to censor a comedy journal that was loosely based on her (kannonshrigen) and some other artists. She finally succeeded this month claiming the journal was “impersonation” despite everyone knowing this was not the case.

    Kringen was charged with harassing another female artist a few years ago (King County Superior Court, 08-2-01357-0).

    Makes her claims of supporting freedom for artists (or aRtists as she says) a little dicey.

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