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Arthur No. 1 (cover date Oct 2002). Quarterfold, newsprint, 56 pages, 11X17. Color, one-color, black and white. We printed 70,000 of these suckers somewhere in New Jersey in September 2002 and got ‘em out—free—to the people across North America thanks to every volunteer my partner (Laris Kreslins) and I could find… including Byron Coley’s eldest, who was paid a set fee by his dad to refold several boxes’ worth of Arthur because our genius printer had folded every single copy of the magazine incorrectly. (That printer begged off the Arthur gig two weeks prior to printing our next issue. Thanks, guys.) Art direction by the brilliant designer-motorcyclist-bodysurfer-Bastard Noisenik-outdoors enthusiast W.T. Nelson—a CalArts grad with serious chops who’d put in serious time art directing for Larry and his psychotic underlings at Hustler only to be (of course) unceremoniously dismissed. Bill used self-designed fonts for the mag’s distinctive interior headlines and deks, and pulled photo editor and ad production duties as well, all for a pittance. Epitaph/Anti/Fat Possum bought something like $4,000 of ads, which was the main income for the project—in addition to $6,000 each from Laris and me. (We had credit cards with room then.) Eddie Dean’s beautiful piece on driving through Bacon Hollow selling Fudge Bombs is the real highlight of the issue for me—his text, and the gorgeous color photos, woulda been at home in National Geographic or maybe Harper’s. But here they are, next to Mat Hoffman talking up his BMX injuries and some New York literati guy called Daniel Pinchbeck talking up his ayahuasca exploits. Big thanks to Geoff McFetridge, who I’d worked with just a bit at the Beastie Boys’ Grand Royal magazine, for coming through with a full-page color illo of Arthur C. Clarke, who we’d expected to be the first in a series of Arthurs to be featured every issue in the mag. Also big thanks to Camille Rose Garcia, who I’d known since our toilage together at Larry Flynt Publications (1996-7) and our time together working for an extremely difficult doofus rich kid on an allowance/magazine called Mean in 1999. For some reason I decided that her painting “Who’s Afraid of the Peppermint Man” would go well with a piece by Joe Carducci on why mass culture sucks, and she let us run it. Still looks good to me. Pretty weird to look back at what Byron & Thurston reviewed—so many bands that went on to be Somebodies—as well as at all these old record label ads, and what must be the coolest American Apparel ad ever (”fuck the brands that are fucking the people”), from the period before that guy realized softcore could now be used to peddle underwear. Total time capsule, dudes! Enjoy it. These are gonna be worth something someday.

Contents

THE SOUND OF THE BONE DRILL: An exclusive chapter-length excerpt from The Ride of My Life, BMX madman MAT HOFFMAN’s new autobiography written with Mark Lewman. Photos by Spike Jonze, Steve Giberson and Mike Castillo.

THUS SPRACH PEATZCHES: The crotchtastic electro-dynamo PEACHES, interviewed by indie-rock godstar IAN SVENONIUS. Portrait photos by Pat Graham and Shawn Mortensen.

THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE VINE: An interview by Joseph Durwin with shamanic psychonaut/journalist DANIEL PINCHBECK, author of the just-published Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism. With a piece of color artwork by Alan Moore.

FAMOUS ARTHUR: A rendezvous with ARTHUR C. CLARKE in his Sri Lankan technoasis, by Paul Moody. Full-page one-color illustration by Geoff McFetridge.

DAMSEL IN THE WELL: A frightful fairtytale in prose by DAME DARCY, excerpted from her new collection. Illustrated by the Dame herself.

ICE CREAM FOR CROW: Writer EDDIE DEAN remembers driving an ICE CREAM TRUCK route in mid-’80s summers through the Blue Ridge Mountains. With stunning photos by Dave Brooks.

LIFE AGAINST DEMENTIA: An essay by the legendary JOE CARDUCCI (author, Rock and the Pop Narcotic: Testament for the Electric Church) against the sorry state of contemporary culture. With a painting by Camille Rose Garcia.

One-panel comics by DAVID BERMAN (Silver Jews, poet), including the now-legendary series “Scenes From the First Yes Tour.”

ONE TEXAS BAND, UNDER GOD: A profile of LIFT TO EXPERIENCE, by Jay Babcock with photography by Jason Amos.

An appreciation of EAGLE PENNELL, the late Texan filmmaking maverick whose work inspired Robert Redford to create the Sundance Festival. By Paul Cullum.

ASK NEIL HAMBURGER: America’s funnyman offers his considered counsel.

BULL TONGUE: Underground culture, as surveyed at lengthy by the dynamic duo of Byron Coley & Thurston Moore.

Plus more…

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Long interview with the author of Finding Community: How to Join an Ecovillage or Intentional Community and Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities.

From the “Radio Unnameable” documentary Kickstarter page…

THE STORY Radio Unnameable is a documentary film about influential radio personality Bob Fass who revolutionized the FM airwaves by developing a patchwork of music, politics, comedy and reports from the street, effectively creating free form radio as we know it today. And for nearly 50 years, Fass has been heard at midnight on New York City listener-sponsored station WBAI. Radio Unnameable documents Fass’s eventful and controversial career, his involvement with some of the most gripping cultural movements of our time, while placing his story in a larger context of the struggle to keep free expression on the dial.

HOW FAR ALONG ARE WE?
We started shooting in Spring 2007 and are about to begin editing the film. Our goal is to finish by the end of 2010 then premiere at a major film festival in 2011.

WHY PLEDGE? WHAT WE NEED.
For the most part, we have been self-financing the film over the past few years. In order to meet our deadline to finish the project, we need your support…

Film for the title track off the gorgeous new Enumclaw record, Opening of the Dawn. Streaming album preview, limited edition vinyl and mp3 downloads: Honeymoon Music

(Click here to VIEW LARGE.)

Above: The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, John Martin

From the Laing Gallery:

Alan Moore & Stephen O’Malley

Simultaneous Conjugation of Four Spirits in a Room: 2010

13 Mar 4 – 4.30pm

For the opening of ‘The Great British Art Debate: Turner Versus Martin,’ AV Festival 10 brings together two great forces in contemporary culture, the graphic novelist Alan Moore (V for Vendetta, Watchmen), and musician Stephen O’Malley (Sunn O))), KTL, Gravetemple). Alan Moore will write and perform a new text responding to the energy of the two paintings on show: John Martin’s The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and Hannibal Crossing the Alps by JMW Turner. Stephen O’Malley will create a new ambient soundscape, sonically melting in the radiance of the paintings.

In 1966 one of the most brilliant American New Wave movie directors—Joseph Strick —made a documentary for the BBC. It was about heckling in the British general election of that year. It is great piece of verite film-making…

In the film you can see both an old Britain and fragments of the new Britain that was emerging side by side in the audiences.

Empire Loyalists shout about the betrayal of Rhodesia and the loss of the last bits of the empire, while in the same audience – towards the end of the film – you can see early examples of British counter-culture. Long hair – but still beatnik, not hippie, fashion – with the slogan “Anarchy – don’t vote, Anarchy don’t vote”…

Read the rest of Curtis’s post and watch the doc here

Edward Abbey: wiki, fansite

We’ll be posting some articles on the MC5 from Arthur No. 9 shortly. here: TEN OUT OF FIVE.

From afterthefallcommuniques.info:

Collecting the major statements from the recent wave of occupations, After the Fall is a love letter to the insurgent students and workers on California campuses. It is intended to spark excitement and discussion and we encourage students and others to use After the Fall to mobilize forces ahead of the March 4th offensive.
• 44 tabloid pages of communiques, texts and photos from across the state
• includes a two color map, timeline and pullout poster

After the Fall: Communiqués from Occupied California is now available as a pdf for download and for viewing on-line at issuu. We have also posted the original conclusion of the publication No Conclusions: When Another World is Unpopular for you to read on-line and repost widely. 10,000 copies of After the Fall, a 44 page compilation of texts that emerged from the struggles on California Campuses in the last months of 2009, were released on Valentine’s day. They have all now been distributed to various sites across California and the world and the stacks that cluttered a living room have dwindled to a few bundles to be handed out locally.

more info: afterthefallcommuniques.info

Deforestation in the US from 1620 to 1992
From the English Wikipedia

Source of 1620, 1850, and 1920 maps: William B. Greeley, The Relation of Geography to Timber Supply, Economic Geography, 1925, vol. 1, p. 1-11.

Source of TODAY map: compiled by George Draffan from roadless area map in The Big Outside: A Descriptive Inventory of the Big Wilderness Areas of the United States, by Dave Foreman and Howie Wolke (Harmony Books, 1992).

“Bishop Beesley, endlessly corrupt gluttonous villain series. Thirsts for power, money, pleasure.” (wikipedia entry on the villain from the Moorcock books)

2008…

February 18, 2010…

2006…

Michael Moorcock (with Arthur editor) at Arthur event at Church of Casper the Friendly Ghost—SXSW, 2005…

Above: Sonny (right) and a Sunset

Stream:

Download: “Lovin’ On An Older Gal” — Sonny & the Sunsets (mp3)

Buy:

There’s something about this song… From an album full of Velvets-on-the-beach singalongs called Tomorrow Is Alright, released late last year by San Francisco-based Sonny & the Sunsets. A run of 500 on vinyl is gone already but CDs are available for pre-order now from the good folks at Soft Abuse.

Sonny & the Sunsets: http://www.myspace.com/sonnythesunsets

Sonny Smith: sonnysmith.com

Subscribe to Arthur’s iTunes Podcast and receive music automatically: click here

We’ve got 50 copies left of Arthur No. 3 (cover date March 2003, pub’d February, 2003). This one’s from the original incarnation (read: best) of Arthur—the pages are gigantic (11×17) and the paper is reasonably high-quality newsprint. Some color, some b/w. We’re selling our remaining stock for $10 each over at the Arthur Store.

Notes on this issue…

Joe Strummer died on December 22, 2002. His death received some notice, of course, but since he’d left us in the period between Thanksgiving and the New Year—when glossy music and culture magazines are basically shut down—real coverage of his passing, and the life that he lived, didn’t happen in the pop culture magazines of record. Big-budget American publications like Rolling Stone, Spin and Blender had already finished their January 2003 issues, so major features couldn’t fit in there without major expense (pulled features, pulped magazines, etc.); and by the time their February 2003 issues rolled around, the news of Joe’s passing would be (to their market-minds) “stale,” and thus to be deserving of only an obligatory page or two. Which is absurd for someone of Joe’s stature, his body of work, and commitment to The Cause.

At Arthur, we decided to pull the cover feature that we had in progress. Working together, with no editorial budget, the budding Arthur gang was able to put together something of substance very quickly, and get it out to the people, for free, in mass quantities (50,000 copies), within weeks of Joe’s passing.

Our wake for Joe Strummer would not have happened without journalist/archivist Kristine McKenna. She had a recent, lengthy (3800 words), and yes, poignant conversation with Joe on tape—a really great conversation, of course (this IS Kristine McKenna, after all) that the LAWeekly had used just a bit from in a feature earlier in the year. Kristine had witnessed The Clash at the top of their game, so she could offer some real historical perspective. And, crucially, Kristine knew that her friend, the L.A. photographer Ann Summa, had a trove of gorgeous photographs of Joe, few of which had ever been published. And Kristine got us permission to reprint a Clash-related page from Slash, the crucial late-’70s underground L.A. magazine. Meanwhile, my old colleague Carter Van Pelt, a reggae enthusiast, offered a new interview about Joe that he conducted with Mikey Dread.

Soon we had reports from all over. People were picking up multiple copies of the magazine and redistributing it. The golden centerfold of Ann Summa photo of Joe (worked on with a great deal of care and attention by Arthur’s brilliant art director, W.T. Nelson) was being torn out of the magazine and posted on record store walls, in dorm rooms, in clubs. There are other strong pieces in this issue—the John Coltrane book excerpt, especially—but it’s Joe’s issue. As it should be.

Here’s how the contents page read:

JOE STRUMMER, 1952-2002

Arthur holds a wake in print for a man who mattered. In addition to stunning photographs by Ann Summa and excerpts of back-in-the-day Clash coverage from Slash magazine, we present reflections on Joe by Kristine McKenna; a lengthy, poignant interview with Joe from 2001 by McKenna; a consideration by Carter Van Pelt of the Clash’s embrace of reggae, featuring insights from Clash collaborator Mikey Dread; and a brief on Joe’s legacy: a forest in the Isle of Skye.

At the height of both his popularity and his artistic powers, JOHN COLTRANE went for something deeper. An exclusive, chapter-length excerpt from A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane’s Signature Album by Ashley Kahn.

The intrepid Gabe Soria connects with every single member of THE POLYPHONIC SPREE, the cheeriest 24-person pop symphony on the planet, in addition to chatting at length with Spree leader Tim DeLaughter about the “c” word, the Spree’s next move, and the sadness that remains. Portrait by Paul Pope.

“ASK JOHN LURIE”: He may be in self-described “hermit mode” but this longtime Lounge Lizard is eager to lend a helping hand to his fellow man. And woman too.

In the work of artist SHIRLEY TSE, plastic aspires to more than Pop. Mimi Zeiger reports.

COMICS by Sammy Harkham, Jordan Crane, Johnny Ryan, Sam Henderson, Marc Bell and Ron Rege Jr.

Byron Coley & Thurston Moore review underground music, film and texts.

And more more more

Arthur No. 3 is available from the Arthur Store.

From today’s The Guardian, on the occasion of the new Ballard exhibition at the London Gagosian…

PAUL DELVAUX: Le canapé bleu, 1967 (Oil on canvas/55 1/8 x 70 7/8 inches)

Crash: JG Ballard’s artistic legacy

Shortly before JG Ballard’s death last year, Iain Sinclair made a pilgrimage to the author’s Shepperton semi, a shrine to his surreal tastes and happy family life. A new exhibition of his favourite paintings and of art work he has inspired honours this distinctive vision

Coming away from the official path, on a walk from the mouth of the Thames to Oxford in October 2008, I diverted through Shepperton. Light rain misted my spectacles. An uncertain detour was blocked by a two-tonne Jaguar saloon, white and racing green: XJ MOTOR SERVICES. The upstream settlement has evident 21st-century loot, as well as Edwardian weekend villas and chalets. There is a blue plaque to the literary giant they choose to commemorate: THOMAS LOVE PEACOCK LIVED HERE, 1823-1866. Modernist white cubes with big windows are attracted by reflections of light on water. Natural metaphors for unnatural liquidity in a time of recession.

I head for the station. That’s where JG Ballard met me when I visited him. I never saw the inside of his house. We drove to a riverside pub and sat under whirring fans. I wondered why, after his great success with Empire of the Sun, he didn’t relocate to one of those balconied, sharp-angled properties that were so attractive to the convalescing architects and blocked advertising men who populate his books. Foolish thought. Ballard was a working writer, first and last; the where of it was not to be disturbed. Fixed routines served him well; so many hours, so many words. Breakfast. Times crossword. Desk overlooking a natural ­garden. Stroll to the shops to observe the erotic rhythms of consumerism. Lunch standing up with The World at One on the radio. Back to the study. Forty-minute constitutional down to the river. TV chill-out meditation: ­Hawaii Five-O and The Rockford Files rather than Kenneth Clark.

The interior landscape of the suburban semi was a mirage. The more you studied it, the cannier the decision to settle the family in Shepperton, all those years ago, appeared. It was far enough out of London to limit the pests, the time-devourers. When journalists gained access they were mesmerised by the reproduction Delvaux canvases propped on the floor, the ­aluminium palm tree, the lounger in the front room; dutifully they repeated the standard questions about surrealism and how The Drowned World was saturated in Max Ernst. The house in Old Charlton Road was a premature ­installation; a stage set designed to confirm the expectations of awed pilgrims. But it was also a home in which the widowed author brought up three children who are always laughing in family snapshots.

Ballard may be the first serious ­novelist whose oeuvre is most widely represented in books of interviews. And whose future belongs as much in white-walled warehouse galleries as the diminishing shelves of public libra­ries. He was so generous to those who found his phone number, so direct: he rehearsed polished routines – and ­always agreed, with unfailing courtesy, that the world was indeed a pale Xerox made in homage to the manifold of his fiction. A late moralist, he practised undeceived reportage, not prophecy: closer to Orwell than HG Wells. Closer to Orson Welles than to either. Closer to Hitchcock. Take out the moving ­figures on staircases that go nowhere and stick with hollow architecture that co-authors subversive drama.

CHRIS BURDEN: L.A.P.D. Uniform (1994, Fabric, leather, wood, metal and plastic
88 x 72 x 6 inches Ed. of 30)

Spurning critical theory, Ballard joined his near-namesake Baudrillard as the hot topic for air-miles academics. Off-highway universities, indistinguishable from hospitals or hotels, approve infinite theses. A hall of mirrors in which students, who have lost the habit of literature, recognise, in the Shepperton master’s exquisitely calibrated prose, intimations of a hybrid form capable of processing autopsy ­reports and invasion politics into accidental poetry. The incantatory manifesto, “What I Believe”, deploys Ballard’s favourite device, the list, as he curates a museum of affinities: “I believe in Max Ernst, Delvaux, Dalí, ­Titian, / Goya, Leonardo, Vermeer, Chirico, Magritte, / Redon, Dürer, ­Tanguy, the Facteur Cheval, / the Watts Towers, Böcklin, Francis Bacon, and all the invisible artists / within the psychiatric institutions of the planet.”

It was almost dark when I got there, after walking down a street occupied by Indian ­restaurants, Chinese take­aways, charity and novelty shops. A man spotted me as I lined up the shot.

“A writer bloke is supposed to live in that house. We’ve been out here 25 years and I’ve never set eyes on him, tell the truth. But he’s on the box….”

Read on at The Guardian

Wikipedia: Chris Morris

From the archives…

Here’s a nice follow-on from the Raoul Vaneigem interview, posted earlier this week: British author/poet/journalist Iain Sinclair on what he’s discovered through the years from “motiveless walking” in London. From the Telegraph:

In London, from the first, I walked. As a film student, newly arrived in the early Sixties, I copied the poet John Clare on his feverish escape from Matthew Allen’s asylum in Epping Forest, when he navigated by lying down to sleep with his head to the north. Skull as compass: all the secret fluids and internal memory-oceans aligned by force of desire. Clare returned, as he thought, to Mary, his first love, his muse; to his heart-place, Helpston, beyond Peterborough, on the edge of the dark fens. My drag was cinema, Bergman seasons in Hampstead, Howard Hawks in Stockwell. Or art: the astonishing Francis Bacon gathering at the old Tate, at Millbank, former prison and panopticon. Bacon’s melting apes were robed like cardinals. Naked men, stitched from photographs, wrestled in glass cages.

Motiveless walking processed the unanchored images that infiltrated dreams of the shadow-belt on either side of the Northern Line. I lodged in West Norwood, a house on a hill, like the one I had left behind in Wales. I wandered through mysterious suburbs to the rooms above the butcher’s shop in Electric Avenue, Brixton, where the school was based. Street markets, I discovered, were a significant part of the substance of this place. Walking was a means of editing a city of free-floating fragments. I composed, privately, epic poems conflating the gilded Byzantium of W.B. Yeats with the slap and strut of Mickey Spillane’s California. London was an impossible relativity of historical periods and superimposed topographies.

After Dublin, where I enjoyed four years of apprentice exile, I came to Hackney: perched, settled, stayed. The modestly impoverished zone had the virtue of being unknown, even to itself. Submerging into a novel territory, as a casual labourer, I found both time and means to pursue my obsession with alignments, reforgotten writers, lost rivers, Hawksmoor churches, crime clusters. Street signs and spray-can slogans were a code to be broken. I had no idea, back then, that rogue Parisian intellectuals had already branded these strategies and given them a provocative title: psychogeography.

30 years later, assembling a collection of essays on London, which I called Lights Out for the Territory (after Mark Twain), I realised that, unconsciously, I had been operating, all along, as a disenfranchised psychogeographer. I stalked a defining urban narrative by sleepwalking through downriver reaches, sniffing after faded traces of Thomas De Quincey – and challenging the post-architectural infill of Docklands, the empty hubris of the Millennium Dome, with ritual expeditions that doubled as curses. Compulsive digressions disavowed the bullet-point banalities of developers and promoters. I wrote about pit bulls and satellite dishes. I attended the funeral of that mythical east London gangster Ronnie Kray: the godfather of the ghosted memoir, of mendacious boasts disguised as confessions. The pulp model for self-serving political autobiographies. I looked down on the glittering Thames from Lord Archer’s penthouse. London was revealed as a city of hidden connections and weird coincidences.

I had stumbled on a model for future projects: the walk as a narrative, as a moving film made from static images. This was a method of preparing the writer for an act of occult possession: in the way that William Blake was captured by the spirit of John Milton in the form of a star striking his heel. Considerations of the present Olympic Park in the Lower Lea Valley would begin by employing the Lights Out for the Territory template…

Read on at the Telegraph…

First, some biographical notes courtesy of Vaneigem’s American publisher, PM Press:

Raoul Vaneigem (b. 1934) is a native of Lessines (Hainaut), Belgium, a small town whose traditional claim to fame was the production of paving stones but which in the twentieth century also produced the Surrealist painter René Magritte and the Surrealist poet Louis Scutenaire. Vaneigem grew up in the wake of World War II in a working-class, socialist and anticlerical milieu. He studied Romance philology at the Free University of Brussels and embarked on a teaching career that he later abandoned in favor of writing.

Situationist International bongo session, November 1962: from left—unknown woman, J.V. Martin, Raoul Vaneigem and Guy Debord

In late 1960 Vaneigem was introduced to Guy Debord by Henri Lefebvre, and soon after he joined the Situationist International, which Debord and his comrades-in-arms had founded not long before, and he remained in the group throughout the decade of the 1960s. There is a grain of truth in the stereotypical view that Debord and Vaneigem, as two leading lights of the SI, stood for two opposite poles of the movement: the objective Debord versus the subjective Vaneigem: Marxism versus anarchism: icy cerebrality versus sensualism: and, of course, The Society of the Spectacle versus The Revolution of Everyday Life—the two major programmatic books of the SI, written by the two men without consultation, both published in 1967, each serving in its own way to kindle and color the May 1968 uprisings in France.

Raoul Vaneigem’s The Revolution of Everyday Life offered a lyrical and aphoristic critique of the “society of the spectacle” from the point of view of individual experience. Whereas Debord’s masterful analysis of the new historical conditions that triggered the uprisings of the 1960s armed the revolutionaries of the time with theory, Vaneigem’s book described their feelings of desperation directly, and armed them with “formulations capable of firing point-blank on our enemies.”

“I realise,” writes Vaneigem in his introduction, “that I have given subjective will an easy time in this book, but let no one reproach me for this without first considering the extent to which the objective conditions of the contemporary world advance the cause of subjectivity day after day.”

Vaneigem names and defines the alienating features of everyday life in consumer society: survival rather than life, the call to sacrifice, the cultivation of false needs, the dictatorship of the commodity, subjection to social roles, and above all the replacement of God by the Economy. And in the second part of his book, “Reversal of Perspective,” he explores the countervailing impulses that, in true dialectical fashion, persist within the deepest alienation: creativity, spontaneity, poetry, and the path from isolation to communication and participation.

For “To desire a different life is already that life in the making.” And “fulfillment is expressed in the singular but conjugated in the plural.”

Other works by Raoul Vaneigem already published in English translation include The Totality for Kids (London: Christoper Gray/Situationist International, 1966 ["Banalités de Base", 1962-63]); Contributions to the Revolutionary Struggle (London: Bratach Dubh, 1981 [De la grève sauvage à l'autogestion généralisée, 1974]); The Book of Pleasures (London: Pending Press, 1983 [1979]) The Movement of the Free Spirit (New York: Zone Books, 1994 [1986]); A Cavalier History of Surrealism (San Francisco: AK Press, 1999 [1977]); and A Declaration of the Rights of Human Beings (London: Pluto, 2003 [2001])

Hans Ulrich Obrist: In Conversation with Raoul Vaneigem (2009)

Translated from the French by Eric Anglès

Excerpts from http://www.e-flux.com/journal/view/62:

Hans Ulrich Obrist: I just visited Edouard Glissant and Patrick Chamoiseau, who have written an appeal to Barack Obama. What would your appeal and/or advice be to Obama?

Raoul Vaneigem: I refuse to cultivate any relationship whatsoever with people of power. I agree with the Zapatistas from Chiapas who want nothing to do with either the state or its masters, the multinational mafias. I call for civil disobedience so that local communities can form, coordinate, and begin self-producing natural power, a more natural form of farming, and public services that are finally liberated from the scams of government by the Left or the Right. On the other hand, I welcome the appeal by Chamoiseau, Glissant, and their friends for the creation of an existence in which the poetry of a life rediscovered will put an end to the deadly stranglehold of the commodity.

HUO: Could we talk about your beginnings? How did your participation in situationism begin, and what was your fundamental contribution? At the outset of your relationship with the Situationist International, there was the figure of Henri Lefebvre. What did he mean to you at the time? Why did you decide to send him poetic essays?

RV: I would first like to clarify that situationism is an ideology that the situationists were unanimous in rejecting. The term “situationist” was ever only a token of identification. Its particularity kept us from being mistaken for the throngs of ideologues. I have nothing in common with the spectacular recuperation of a project that, in my case, has remained revolutionary throughout. My participation in a group that has now disappeared was an important moment in my personal evolution, an evolution I have personally pressed on with in the spirit of the situationist project at its most revolutionary. My own radicality absolves me from any label.I grew up in an environment in which our fighting spirit was fueled by working class consciousness and a rather festive conception of existence. I found Lefebvre’s Critique of Everyday Life captivating. When La Somme et le reste [The Sum and the Remainder] was published, I sent him an essay of sorts on “poetry and revolution” that was an attempt to unify radical concepts, Lettrist language, music, and film imagery by crediting them all with the common virtue of making the people’s blood boil. Lefebvre kindly responded by putting me in touch with Guy Debord who immediately invited me to Paris. The two of us had very different temperaments, but we would agree over a period of nearly ten years on the need to bring consumer society to an end and to found a new society on the principle of self-management, where life supersedes survival and the existential angst that it generates.

HUO: Which situationist projects remain unrealized?

RV: Psychogeography, the construction of situations, the superseding of predatory behavior. The radicality, which, notwithstanding some lapses, never ceased to motivate us, remains a source of inspiration to this day. Its effects are just beginning to manifest themselves in the autonomous groups that are now coming to grips with the collapse of financial capitalism.

HUO: The Situationist International defined the situationist as someone who commits her- or himself to the construction of situations. What were those situations for you, concretely? How would you define the situationist project in 2009?

RV: By its very style of living and thinking, our group was already sketching out a situation, like a beachhead active within enemy territory. The military metaphor is questionable, but it does convey our will to liberate daily life from the control and stranglehold of an economy based on the profitable exploitation of man. We formed a “group-at-risk” that was conscious of the hostility of the dominant world, of the need for radical rupture, and of the danger of giving in to the paranoia typical of minds under siege. By showing its limits and its weaknesses, the situationist experience can also be seen as a critical meditation on the new type of society sketched out by the Paris Commune, by the Makhnovist movement and the Republic of Councils wiped out by Lenin and Trotsky, by the libertarian communities in Spain later smashed by the Communist Party. The situationist project is not about what happens once consumer society is rejected and a genuinely human society has emerged. Rather, it illuminates now how lifestyle can supersede survival, predatory behavior, power, trade and the death-reflex.

HUO: You and Guy Debord are the main protagonists of the situationist movement. How do you see Debord’s role and your role?

RV: Not as roles. That is precisely what situationism in its most ridiculous version aims at: reducing us to cardboard cut-outs that it can then set up against one another according to the spectacle’s standard operating procedure. I am simply the spokesman, among others, of a radical consciousness. I just do what I can to see that resistance to market exploitation is transformed into an offensive of life, and that an art of living sweeps away the ruins of oppression.

HUO: You have written a lot on life, not survival. What is the difference?

RV: Survival is budgeted life. The system of exploitation of nature and man, starting in the Middle Neolithic with intensive farming, caused an involution in which creativity—a quality specific to humans—was supplanted by work, by the production of a covetous power. Creative life, as had begun to unfold during the Paleolithic, declined and gave way to a brutish struggle for subsistence. From then on, predation, which defines animal behavior, became the generator of all economic mechanisms.

HUO: Today, more than forty years after May ‘68, how do you feel life and society have evolved?

RV: We are witnessing the collapse of financial capitalism. This was easily predictable. Even among economists, where one finds even more idiots than in the political sphere, a number had been sounding the alarm for a decade or so. Our situation is paradoxical: never in Europe have the forces of repression been so weakened, yet never have the exploited masses been so passive. Still, insurrectional consciousness always sleeps with one eye open. The arrogance, incompetence, and powerlessness of the governing classes will eventually rouse it from its slumber, as will the progression in hearts and minds of what was most radical about May 1968.

HUO: Your new book takes us on a trip “between mourning the world and exuberant life.” You revisit May ‘68. What is left of May ‘68? Has it all been appropriated?

RV: Even if we are today seeing recycled ideologies and old religious infirmities being patched up in a hurry and tossed out to feed a general despair, which our ruling wheelers and dealers cash in on, they cannot conceal for long the shift in civilization revealed by May 1968. The break with patriarchal values is final. We are moving toward the end of the exploitation of nature, of work, of trade, of predation, of separation from the self, of sacrifice, of guilt, of the forsaking of happiness, of the fetishizing of money, of power, of hierarchy, of contempt for and fear of women, of the misleading of children, of intellectual dominion, of military and police despotism, of religions, of ideologies, of repression and the deadly resolutions of psychic tensions. This is not a fact I am describing, but an ongoing process that simply requires from us increased vigilance, awareness, and solidarity with life. We have to reground ourselves in order to rebuild—on human foundations—a world that has been ruined by the inhumanity of the cult of the commodity.

HUO: What do you think of the current moment, in 2009? Jean-Pierre Page has just published Penser l’après crise [Thinking the After-Crisis]. For him, everything must be reinvented. He says that a new world is emerging now in which the attempt to establish a US-led globalization has been aborted.

RV: The agrarian economy of the Ancien Régime was a fossilized form that was shattered by the emerging free-trade economy, from the 1789 revolution on. Similarly, the stock-dabbling speculative capitalism whose debacle we now witness is about to give way to a capitalism reenergized by the production of non-polluting natural power, the return to use value, organic farming, a hastily patched-up public sector, and a hypocritical moralization of trade. The future belongs to self-managed communities that produce indispensable goods and services for all (natural power, biodiversity, education, health centers, transport, metal and textile production . . .). The idea is to produce for us, for our own use—that is to say, no longer in order to sell them—goods that we are currently forced to buy at market prices even though they were conceived and manufactured by workers. It is time to break with the laws of a political racketeering that is designing, together with its own bankruptcy, that of our existence.

HUO: Is this a war of a new kind, as Page claims? An economic Third World War?

RV: We are at war, yes, but this is not an economic war. It is a world war against the economy. Against the economy that for thousands of years has been based on the exploitation of nature and man. And against a patched-up capitalism that will try to save its skin by investing in natural power and making us pay the high price for that which—once the new means of production are created—will be free as the wind, the sun, and the energy of plants and soil. If we do not exit economic reality and create a human reality in its place, we will once again allow market barbarism to live on.

HUO: In his book Making Globalization Work, Joseph Stiglitz argues for a reorganization of globalization along the lines of greater justice, in order to shrink global imbalances. What do you think of globalization? How does one get rid of profit as motive and pursue well-being instead? How does one escape from the growth imperative?

RV: The moralization of profit is an illusion and a fraud. There must be a decisive break with an economic system that has consistently spread ruin and destruction while pretending, amidst constant destitution, to deliver a most hypothetical well-being. Human relations must supersede and cancel out commercial relations. Civil disobedience means disregarding the decisions of a government that embezzles from its citizens to support the embezzlements of financial capitalism. Why pay taxes to the bankster-state, taxes vainly used to try to plug the sinkhole of corruption, when we could allocate them instead to the self-management of free power networks in every local community? The direct democracy of self-managed councils has every right to ignore the decrees of corrupt parliamentary democracy. Civil disobedience towards a state that is plundering us is a right. It is up to us to capitalize on this epochal shift to create communities where desire for life overwhelms the tyranny of money and power. We need concern ourselves neither with government debt, which covers up a massive defrauding of the public interest, nor with that contrivance of profit they call “growth.” From now on, the aim of local communities should be to produce for themselves and by themselves all goods of social value, meeting the needs of all—authentic needs, that is, not needs prefabricated by consumerist propaganda.

HUO: Edouard Glissant distinguishes between globality and globalization. Globalization eradicates differences and homogenizes, while globality is a global dialogue that produces differences. What do you think of his notion of globality?

RV: For me, it should mean acting locally and globally through a federation of communities in which our pork-barreling, corrupt parliamentary democracy is made obsolete by direct democracy. Local councils will be set up to take measures in favor of the environment and the daily lives of everyone. The situationists have called this “creating situations that rule out any backtracking.”

HUO: Might the current miscarriages of globalization have the same dangerous effects as the miscarriages of the previous globalization from the ‘30s? You have written that what was already intolerable in ‘68 when the economy was booming is even more intolerable today. Do you think the current economic despair might push the new generations to rebel?

RV: The crisis of the ‘30s was an economic crisis. What we are facing today is an implosion of the economy as a management system. It is the collapse of market civilization and the emergence of human civilization. The current turmoil signals a deep shift: the reference points of the old patriarchal world are vanishing. Percolating instead, still just barely and confusedly, are the early markers of a lifestyle that is genuinely human, an alliance with nature that puts an end to its exploitation, rape, and plundering. The worst would be the unawareness of life, the absence of sentient intelligence, violence without conscience. Nothing is more profitable to the racketeering mafias than chaos, despair, suicidal rebellion, and the nihilism that is spread by mercenary greed, in which money, even devalued in a panic, remains the only value.

HUO: In his book Utopistics, Immanuel Wallerstein claims that our world system is undergoing a structural crisis. He predicts it will take another twenty to fifty years for a more democratic and egalitarian system to replace it. He believes that the future belongs to “demarketized,” free-of-charge institutions (on the model, say, of public libraries). So we must oppose the marketization of water and air.1 What is your view?

RV: I do not know how long the current transformation will take (hopefully not too long, as I would like to witness it). But I have no doubt that this new alliance with the forces of life and nature will disseminate equality and freeness. We must go beyond our natural indignation at profit’s appropriation of our water, air, soil, environment, plants, animals. We must establish collectives that are capable of managing natural resources for the benefit of human interests, not market interests. This process of reappropriation that I foresee has a name: self-management, an experience attempted many times in hostile historical contexts. At this point, given the implosion of consumer society, it appears to be the only solution from both an individual and social point of view.

HUO: In your writing you have described the work imperative as an inhuman, almost animal condition. Do you consider market society to be a regression?

RV: As I mentioned above, evolution in the Paleolithic age meant the development of creativity—the distinctive trait of the human species as it breaks free from its original animality. But during the Neolithic, the osmotic relationship to nature loosened progressively, as intensive agriculture became based on looting and the exploitation of natural resources. It was also then that religion surfaced as an institution, society stratified, the reign of patriarchy began, of contempt for women, and of priests and kings with their stream of wars, destitution, and violence. Creation gave way to work, life to survival, jouissance to the animal predation that the appropriation economy confiscates, transcends, and spiritualizes. In this sense market civilization is indeed a regression in which technical progress supersedes human progress.

HUO: For you, what is a life in progress?

RV: Advancing from survival, the struggle for subsistence and predation to a new art of living, by recreating the world for the benefit of all.

HUO: In your view there is no such thing as urbanism?

RV: Urbanism is the ideological gridding and control of individuals and society by an economic system that exploits man and Earth and transforms life into a commodity. The danger in the self-built housing movement that is growing today would be to pay more attention to saving money than to the poetry of a new style of life.

HUO: Is Oarystis based on natural power, like the Metabolist cities? Rem Koolhaas and I are working on a book on the Japanese Metabolists. When I read your wonderful text on Oarystis, I was reminded of that movement from the 1960s, especially the floating cities, Kikutake’s water cities. Is Oarystis a Metabolist city?

RV: When Oarystis was published, the architect Philippe Rothier and Diane Hennebert, who ran Brussels’ Architecture Museum at the time, rightly criticized me for ignoring the imaginative projects of a new generation of builders. Now that the old world is collapsing, the fusion of free natural power, self-built housing techniques, and the reinvention of sensual form is going to be decisive. So it is useful to remember that technical inventiveness must stem from the reinvention of individual and collective life. That is to say, what allows for genuine rupture and ecstatic inventiveness is self-management: the management by individuals and councils of their own lives and environment through direct democracy. Let us entrust the boundless freedoms of the imaginary to childhood and the child within us.

HUO: How can the city of the future contribute to biodiversity?

RV: By drawing inspiration from Alphonse Allais, by encouraging the countryside to infiltrate the city. By creating zones of organic farming, gardens, vegetable plots, and farms inside urban space. After all, there are so many bureaucratic and parasitical buildings that can’t wait to give way to fertile, pleasant land that is useful to all. Architects and squatters, build us some hanging gardens where we can go for walks, eat, and live!

HUO: In 1991 I founded a Robert Walser museum, a strollological museum, in Switzerland. I have always been fascinated by your notion of the stroll. Could you say something about your urban strolls with and without Debord? What about Walser’s? Have other strollologists inspired you?

RV: I hold Robert Walser in high regard, as many do. His lucidity and sense of dérive enchanted Kafka. I have always been fascinated by the long journey Hölderlin undertook following his break-up with Diotima. I admire Chatwin’s Songlines, in which he somehow manages to turn the most innocuous of walks into an intonation of the paths of fate, as though we were in the heart of the Australian bush. And I appreciate the strolls of Léon-Paul Fargue and the learning of Héron de Villefosse. My psychogeographic dérives with Guy Debord in Paris, Barcelona, Brussels, Beersel, and Antwerp were exceptional moments, combining theoretical speculation, sentient intelligence, the critical analysis of beings and places, and the pleasure of cheerful drinking. Our homeports were pleasant bistros with a warm atmosphere, havens where one was oneself because one felt in the air something of the authentic life, however fragile and short-lived. It was an identical mood that guided our wanderings through the streets, the lanes and the alleys, through the meanderings of a pleasure that our every step helped us gauge in terms of what it might take to expand and refine it just a little further. I have a feeling that the neighborhoods destroyed by the likes of Haussmann, Pompidou, and the real estate barbarians will one day be rebuilt by their inhabitants in the spirit of the joy and the life they once harbored…

Read the complete interview at http://www.e-flux.com/journal/view/62

New edition of Vaneigem’s classic The Revolution of Everyday Life:

The White Stripes have come out swinging very hard and very righteously against the United States Air Force Reserve’s unauthorized (and yes, illegal) use of their music in a major Super Bowl commercial this past Sunday.

Here’s their statement, as posted at Jack White’s Third Man Records‘ website yesterday:

“We believe our song was re-recorded and used without permission of the White Stripes, our publishers, label or management.

“The White Stripes take strong insult and objection to the Air Force Reserve presenting this advertisement with the implication that we licensed one of our songs to encourage recruitment during a war that we do not support.

“The White Stripes support this nation’s military, at home and during times when our country needs and depends on them. We simply don’t want to be a cog in the wheel of the current conflict, and hope for a safe and speedy return home for our troops.

“We have not licensed this song to the Air Force Reserve and plan to take strong action to stop the ad containing this music.”

Apparently the geniuses at Blaine Warren Advertising of Las Vegas, Nevada were behind this idiocy. According to the New York Times, Blaine Warren will be issuing a statement later today. That should be amusing reading.

Here’s an idea for a settlement: The Air Force Reserve must fund an anti-military recruiting commercial in next year’s Super Bowl, put together in consultation with the American Friends Service Committee’s “Youth and Militarism” program. And the ad should be scored by, oh I dunno, maybe the lovely lads from Godsmack? Or maybe by Charlie Nothing’s “Fuck You and Your Stupid Wars”? Whatever works.

P.S. Have you been to an anti-war protest in the last two years in the USA? Do they even happen anymore? Because voting for Obama didn’t stop the wars, did it?

Hiya,

If you are interested in advertising on Arthur, fer crissakes don’t hesitate to drop us a line or give us a ring.

We offer ad packages that range from $100 to $250 to $500 to, oh, $1.75 million: basically there’s something that should be affordable to anyone with some cash who wants to get the word out about something via the Arthur website and/or weekly Arthur Email Bulletin.

We don’t have any hard-and-fast rules about what is advertised on Arthur—we don’t “curate” advertising—so, if you think our audience/readership is who you want to be reaching, please be in touch. Especially if you have $1.75 million.

Please direct all advertising inquires to:

Jesse Locks

Advertising Director

(916) 548-7716

jesse@arthurmag.com

Thank you kindly,

Jay Babcock
Arthur Magazine

Above: Sonny and a sunset

Stream:

Download: “Too Young To Burn” — Sonny and the Sunsets (mp3)

Buy:

Haven’t heard a California beach party bonfire singalong this ramshacklin’ good since Little Wings drifted out… On second thought: this song is plenty sturdy, isn’t it? From an album full of Velvets-on-the-beach singalongs called Tomorrow Is Alright, released late last year by San Francisco-based Sonny & the Sunsets. A run of 500 on vinyl is gone already but CDs are available for pre-order now from the good folks at Soft Abuse.

Sonny & the Sunsets: http://www.myspace.com/sonnythesunsets

Sonny Smith: sonnysmith.com

Subscribe to Arthur’s iTunes Podcast and receive music automatically: click here

Q: How would you define the current cultural moment?

Douglas Coupland: I’m starting to wonder if pop culture is in its dying days, because everyone is able to customize their own lives with the images they want to see and the words they want to read and the music they listen to. You don’t have the broader trends like you used to.

Q: Sure you do. What about Harry Potter and Taylor Swift and “Avatar,” to name a few random phenomena?

Coupland: They’re not great cultural megatrends like disco, which involved absolutely everyone in the culture. Now, everyone basically is their own microculture, their own nanoculture, their own generation.

We’ve got 50 25 copies left of Arthur No. 13 (cover date Nov 2004, pub’d October 2004). This one’s from the original incarnation of Arthur—the pages are gigantic (11×17) and the paper is reasonably high-quality newsprint. We published 50,000 of these suckers and got ‘em out to the people for free during the final run-up in the Bush v. Kerry prez contest, so the mag has an extra dose of fury/urgency in it. The cover feature, conceived prior to the magazine’s birth, was constructed in just a few weeks somehow. Brilliant art direction from W.T. Nelson, as ever.

We’re selling our remaining stock for $10 each over at the Arthur Store.

Following is the original promo rap/rundown of the issue’s contents. Dig it!

The cover feature is a MEGA oral history of the 1967 exorcism/levitation of the Pentagon and the birth of Yippie!. This piece was painstakingly compiled by Jay Babcock from old and new interviews with Abbie Hoffman, Allen Ginsberg, Ed Sanders, Kenneth Anger, Gary Snyder, Paul Krassner, Bob Fass, Norman Mailer, Tuli Kupferberg, Anita Hoffman, Jerry Rubin and many many others. Introduction by Michael Simmons. With stunning photographs by Robert Altman and Roz Payne, Ed Sanders’ original magical rite program, a page from The Oracle (San Francisco’s mid-’60s psychedelic newspaper), event buttons and Arthur No. 13 cover artwork by John Coulthart that will render you mindless. You have been forewarned.

PLUS:

“If Little Bush Wins…”: DAVID CROSS and EUGENE MIRMAN smash their funny bones on the bully pulpit.

“Camera Obscura” columnist Paul Cullum on the inspiration of Haskell Wexler’s “Medium Cool.”

A recipe for Matzoh Ball soup from THE BLACK KEYS’ Dan Auerbach.

GENESIS P-ORRIDGE’s ten favorite psychedelic folk songs.

Erik R. Bluhm investigates California’s nascent New Energy Movement and the communal folkish leanings of LITTLE WINGS’ Kaisle Feeled. Get the scoop on the movement’s collaboration with noted New York minimalist Ferg DeWitt, their taste in abstract paper clothing, and the current state of West Coast Naturmenschen. Illustrated with beautiful color photos by Jamison Carter.

Oliver Hall talks utopian pop and practical politics with feminist electro-dance bullhorn radicals LE TIGRE.

Comics by Jason Miles, David Lasky, Vanessa Davis, Tom Gauld, Ben Katchor and Howard Cruse.

Why [Arthur columnist] Daniel Pinchbeck went to Burning Man again. Illustrated by Arik Roper.

“Bull Tongue” columnists Byron Coley & Thurston Moore on new work from many of the known undergrounds including Ben Watson’s DEREK BAILEY book, plus new stuff from FAT WORM OF ERROR, kuupuu, WITCYST,THE DEMARS, BARDO POND, TOM CARTER, PRAIRIE DOG FLESH, 500mg, PAIVANSADE, JOE + N, MIKE SHIFLET, CARLOS GIFFONI AND LASSE MARHAUG, ERIC ERLANDSON, DYLAN NYOUKIS, BLOOD STEREO, PENGO, JUSTIN BRADLEY, RICHARD RAMIREZ, REYNOLS, CRANK STURGEON, “PRETEND I AM SOMONE ELSE,” SIGHTINGS/TOM SMITH, XEX, BRAN (…)POS, ‘IN THE MIRROR OF MAYA DEREN,” “BRAKHAGE,” MAT BRINKMAN, GENEVIEVE CASTREE, GIGI PERRON, JOCKO WEYLAND, CHARLES POTTS, THE EVENS, DANIEL HIGGS, ET AT IT, DON ZIENTARA, FOXY DIGITALIS, PETER WRIGHT, MUSTI LAITON, HUSH ARBORS, AFRI RAMPO, “No W…NOW! A MUSICIAL PETITION AGAINST GEORGE BUSH” (featuring GLENN BRANCA, WHITE OUT, JACK WRIGHT, LOREN CONNORS, PAULIVE OLIVEROS and ERIC DROOKER), LOREN CONNORS, CHRISTINA CARTER, VIBRACATHEDRAL ORCHESTRA, VOLCANO THE BEAR, AVARUS, EYE, THREE FORKS and DEVILLOCK.

C & D wax polemic about the “PICK A WINNER” DVD and new albums by TOM WAITS, THE CRAMPS, THE HIDDEN HAND, BLUES EXPLOSION, FELA KUTI MIXED BY CHIEF XCEL, AFRIKA BAMBAATAA, TIM HECKER, CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN, THE FUTUREHEADS, THE VERVE, PATTY WATERS, HANDSOME BOY MODELING SCHOOL, MARISSA NADLER, ENTRANCE, WILLY MASON, NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS, BROTHER JT, NAGISA NI TE, and GROWING.

PLUS MORE MORE MORE MORE.

Arthur No. 13 is available from the Arthur Store.

SAD: Jay Reatard cause of death: cocaine toxicity, alcohol

FINALLY: huckster creep James A. ‘Harmonic Wealth’ Ray indicted for October 2009 Sedona sweatlodge deaths

AC/DC new singer tells Bono, Geldhof to stop telling their fans to do charity (understandable sentiment). He sez, “I don’t tell everybody they should give money—they can’t afford it.” Of course, one of the reasons they can’t afford it is… they’re stuck working in the sick Walmart system that AC/DC goes out of their way to profit from.

Now it’s Giant Robot Magazine that is ailing–asking $60k to stay afloat—donate info: http://www.giantrobot.com/donate

Harper’s is also ailing—”readership down 35k, newsstand sales plummeting” but still funded by the MacArthurs. (Wow: according to that NYT article, Harper’s has 18 people on full-time editorial staff. That’s an awful lot.)

Global Monoculture Update: “One of the world’s oldest languages has come to an end”

Erik Davis tipped us to “The Magical Basis of Corporate Personhood” by author Dale Pendell

Quality blown-out garage rock (with all-important tuneage!) from EAT SKULL of Portland, Oregon—this via their new seven-inch out since January from the gentlefolk of (them again) Woodsist. Enjoyeth:

Stream:

Download: “Dont Leave Me On the Speaker” – Eat Skull (mp3)

Does anybody really want a world like this?

Why does it seem so inevitable?

Film by Keiichi Matsuda

“Over the last couple weeks I’ve found myself in a number on conversations with different people about the nature of the soul. The soul is one of those subjects that everyone has an opinion of but nobody really knows what the darn thing is or even if it really exists. Interestingly, I had a dream the other night in which I saw my soul! It was basically a globe with lots of geometric shapes attached that was constantly changing at a rapid rate. I’ve made a quick little black and white animation that kind of gets it across. In the dream there was an ever-changing riot of pattern and color on each of the geometric shapes. Maybe at some point I’ll do a color version of this to make it complete….”

More Veitch on Arthur:

A conversation with dreamworker/cartoonist RICK VEITCH, with an introduction by Alan Moore

From PBS:

Within a single generation, digital media and the World Wide Web have transformed virtually every aspect of modern culture, from the way we learn and work to the ways in which we socialize and even conduct war. But is the technology moving faster than we can adapt to it? And is our 24/7 wired world causing us to lose as much as we’ve gained?

In Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier, FRONTLINE presents an in-depth exploration of what it means to be human in a 21st-century digital world. Continuing a line of investigation she began with the 2008 FRONTLINE report Growing Up Online, award-winning producer Rachel Dretzin embarks on a journey to understand the implications of living in a world consumed by technology and the impact that this constant connectivity may have on future generations. “I’m amazed at the things my kids are able to do online, but I’m also a little bit panicked when I realize that no one seems to know where all this technology is taking us, or its long-term effects,” says Dretzin.

Joining Dretzin on this journey is commentator Douglas Rushkoff, a leading thinker and writer on the digital revolution — and one-time evangelist for technology’s positive impact. “In the early days of the Internet, it was easy for me to reassure people about what it would mean to bring digital technology into their lives,” says Rushkoff, who has authored 10 books on media, technology and culture. “Now I want to know whether or not we are tinkering with something more essential than we realize.”

Read more at PBS site

Poster by Alia Penner

From Cinefamily:

“Daisies is a bubbling and buoyant spring of irrepressible female creativity; it is an overflowing audio-visual bouquet of color, music, and texture; it is a freewheeling and effervescent farce, a formal free-for-all, a paradoxical mixture of bourgeois indulgence and cultural critique, and it’s your next favorite movie.

“Two young Czech girls (both named Marie) decide that the world is so corrupt that they might as well join in, and they do so with wild abandon — prancing, food-fighting, pranking old men, carousing in nightclubs, and creating anarchy everywhere they go.

“Director Vera Chytilova’s love of cinema’s potential is both playful and palpable, as exuberant as the spirit of the two ‘daisies’ whose misadventures have surprising weight and meaning. Banned upon its release by the Czech government, Daisies has become a major cult favorite thanks to its dazzling setpieces, the charismatic and fashionable art-girl heroines, and an infectious sense of fun that’s as potent today as it was when it first premiered behind the Iron Curtain.

Dir. Věra Chytilová, 1966, 35mm, 74 min.”

Extract:

Click on image to enlarge.

About this document:
Pretty self-explanatory. Published sometime in the second half of 1966.

Text
Money Is An Unnecessary Evil

It is addicting.

It is a temptation to the weak (most of the violent crimes of our city in some way involve money).

It can be hoarded, blocking the free flow of energy and the giant energy-hoards of Montgomery Street will soon give rise to a sudden and thus explosive release of this trapped energy, causing much pain and chaos.

As part of the city’s campaign to stem the causes of violence the San Francisco Diggers announce a 30 day period beginning now during which all responsible citizens are asked to turn in their money. No questions will be asked.

Bring money to your local Digger for free distribution to all. The Diggers will then liberate its energy according to the style of whoever receives it.

[fingerprint]

Previously posted Diggers Papers:
http://www.arthurmag.com/contributors/diggers

About this series:
Arthur Magazine is proud to present scans of essential documents produced by and about the San Francisco Diggers, who were in many ways the epicentral actors in the Haight-Ashbury during the epic, wildly imaginative period from late ‘66 through ‘67. The Diggers’ ideas and activities are essential counter-cultural history, sure, but they are also especially relevant to the current era, for reasons that should be obvious to the gentle Arthur reader.

These broadsides were handed out on the street; some ended up being posted in windows.

Donate
You can be a patron of this series by making a tax-deductible donation to Arthur Magazine via our fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas: info here

One from the archives: an interview conducted in person with Jodorowsky in Burbank back in summer 2003. Jodo’s then-forthcoming book on the Tarot has since been published, and is now available in English as The Way of Tarot: The Spiritual Teacher in the Cards (Destiny/Inner Traditions). Click on the cover above for purchase info at amazon. Here’s a 4.2mb PDF excerpt from the book, courtesy of the publisher. Also: Jodorowsky and Allen Klein reconciled prior to Klein’s death last year, and as a result, all of Jodo’s ABKCO films are now available on dvd.

In the Heart of the Universe
Jay Babcock talks with visionary comics author Alexandro Jodorowsky

Originally published in LAWeekly on January 01, 2004

In 1970, Alexandro Jodorowsky was launched into the counterculture consciousness via an utterly outre film called El Topo, which screened for seven straight months at a theater in New York City. Violent, mystical and more outrageous than Bunuel or Fellini’s surrealist dreamaramas, El Topo was the first midnight movie, a Western that divided critics even as it gained a rabid cult following of turned-on heads including John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Dennis Hopper. Without the benefit of advertising, the film showed seven nights a week to packed audiences. “Within two months,” said the theater’s visionary manager, Ben Barenholtz, who booked the film, “the limos lined up every night. It became a must-see item.”

Allen Klein, infamous manager of the Beatles and Rolling Stones, signed Jodorowsky to a film deal. An El Topo book was published by Lenny Bruce/Miles Davis/Jimi Hendrix/Last Poets producer Alan Douglas—its first half was the film’s nominal screenplay; the second half was a lengthy, startling interview with the auteur.

Born in 1929 and raised in a Chilean seaside town by Jewish-Russian immigrants, Jodorowsky had early ambitions as a poet. Dropping out of university, he formed a puppet company that toured Chile. He left for France in 1953 to find the Surrealists. With Artaud’s The Theater and Its Double as his bible, Jodorowsky worked in film, theater and with mime Marcel Marceau—for whom Jodorowsky wrote various ingenious scenarios. He spent the ’60s bouncing back and forth between France and Mexico — in France, he co-founded the post-Surrealist Panic Movement with Spanish playwright Fernando Arrabal, and in Mexico he drew a weekly comic strip, wrote books, staged plays and finally directed his first real feature-length film, a Dali-esque version of Arrabal’s play Fando y Lis. The Fando y Lis was scandalous and barely screened, but it allowed Jodorowsky to raise the money to make El Topo, the film that would bring him into the English-language world.

By summer 1972, anticipation for Jodorowsky’s next film was high enough for Rolling Stone to send a correspondent to Mexico for a visit to the set of his new film, The Holy Mountain. The resulting article, which was second-billed on the magazine’s cover to a piece on Van Morrison, described scenes, props and conversations that bordered between sensational and plain mad. Participants in the film seemed to be in awe of what they were doing: One P.A. said, “You know, I think this is the most important thing going on in the world today. At the very least, it’s the most far-out.” The finished film may be just that — if you can find it. At some point around the film’s release, Jodorowsky and Klein had a serious falling out that continues to this day, which means The Holy Mountain has never received a legitimate release on videotape or DVD (bootlegs are, of course, available).

In the following years, Jodorowsky attempted to adapt Frank Herbert’s Dune to film. The project ultimately failed, but it drew Jodorowsky into contact with French comics artist Moebius, who, along with Swiss artist H.R. Giger, had contributed design and storyboarding work to the film. Jodorowsky began to collaborate with Moebius on comics, and a new career was born.

Indeed, when I sat down with Jodorowsky this past summer for an hourlong conversation, the extent of that career was obvious: He was hard at work on scripts for six different comics projects. Collaborating with a host of the world’s finest talents during the last 25 years, Jodorowsky has found in comics an art form that can accommodate his seemingly boundless imagination. And what comics they are: the Philip K. Dick-gone-cosmic series The Incal, the Homeric space opera The Metabarons, the revenge/ redemption series Son of the Gun, the strange Western Bouncer. With the opening of Humanoids Publishing’s North American branch in 1999, most of Jodorowsky’s comic work is finally available in English.

In conversation, the almost 75-year-old Jodorowsky remains dazzling. Speaking in broken English (which has been slightly cleaned up in the following excerpts from our conversation), his tone is generous, self-deprecating, inquisitive and almost childlike in its sense of wonder. He has made only three films since 1972’s The Holy Mountain — the lost-children’s fable Tusk (1980), the gonzo Grand Guignol Santa Sangre (1989), and the make-work The Rainbow Thief (1990) — and although he has often spoken of an imminent return to the form, one guesses that in the business climate of 2003 this has got to be a long shot. He has, however, recently finished a number of substantial projects: a book-length commentary on the Bible, a lengthy restoration of what he considers to be the original Tarot deck, a collection of short stories and a book of poems. And in February, his decades-in-the-making, 400-page guide to the tarot will be published in Europe.

Q: You are at work on an alarming number of projects for someone of any age. Where is all the energy coming from?

ALEXANDRO JODOROWSKY: Energy is coming because I will die very soon. I am old. I have so many things to do, so every day I get quicker, in order to do them! I don’t want to die without doing everything I wanted to do.

Q: You are known as a filmmaker, but for the last 25 years you have been writing comics, not making films . . .

Everything I could not do in movies, I make in comics and writing. I do comics because I think it’s an art form as big as movies or painting or poetry. The graphic novel is a fantastic thing for me. For four or five years every Sunday I drew a comics page, a complete story. But it was very basic. When I saw Moebius making the drawings, I stopped. And I never make any more. Moebius, Boucq, Bess, Juan Gimenez, Beltran — they’re geniuses. How can they draw like that? It is a miracle. When you see a painting by Travis Charest? He’s incredible . . . some kind of a monster!

Q: When you make films, you are present at every stage: scripting, designing, directing, editing and so on. But with comics, you write a script and give it to someone else.

No, it’s not like that. First, before I work with an artist on a series, I see his drawings. If I like his drawings, I can write for him. Because I admire this person! Then, I have a long conversation with him, to learn what he likes drawing, what he actually wants to do [in the series]. While he is speaking with me, I start to see him, his psychological profile . . . I make an invasion of his soul. An exploration. I go inside to find out who he is. What he is like. Then I discuss with him an idea for a story. He gives me a lot of ideas, and I say yes. Then I go up to the house and I write my story and then I convince him that I used everything he said to me. And he is happy because I am working with him. Not with his idea — I work with his feelings.

Q: So there is a constant collaboration with the artist?

Yes. Constant. With Boucq, for example, on Bouncer, I call him by telephone at the end of every day. I say, “What have you been drawing today? How did you feel doing that?” Sometimes he says, “In this scene, I feel this character cannot do that,” and we discuss. If he doesn’t like that, or he cannot do it, I make another scene, similar, where he feels good. I am fascinated with these stories. For me it is not a work to earn money only. It’s a creative thing, you know?

Q: Do you take risks in your work?

Yes . . . In The Metabarons, I always finish each book with an impossible crisis. They have a problem. The person has no testicle; he needs to make a son. How? Impossible. I wait . . . I wait . . . And then, slowly — thank you! — the solution came. It’s kind of a “mediumity,” a kind of inspiration. In one moment I have the idea. Then, when I start to write, everything comes! It’s like when you are a photographer, and you put the paper in the acid and slowly the photograph starts to develop. It’s exactly like that.

Q: Can you know that it’s going to happen?

I don’t suffer to write it. But when I need to write a new series, a new album, for three days I do nothing. The only thing I can do is to see movies, see television, read . . . Because I am as if paralyzed! Suddenly, [with relief] the idea comes. I say thank you, because I am grateful. I am really grateful because I received the idea. But I don’t construct the idea. I am not a constructor. I receive the idea.

Q: Where do you think it comes from?

The unconscious. It comes directly from the unconscious. I think the unconscious is a very, very enormous universe, no? And when you open the doors to the unconscious, you start to receive. Sometimes you see a terrible vision of yourself: desires you don’t want to have, ideas you detest, feelings that hurt you. When you open the door, you can see yourself in a very weird way, like a bad trip on LSD. You can have that. You have all the hell, and paradise, no? You need to have the courage to open the doors.

Q: And then you need to use what comes through the door, no matter how terrible or strange . . .

Yes! When I wrote Son of the Gun, I was writing very comfortable, then suddenly I said, “He has a tail like a cat. Impossible! That will change all my story, all my characters. What I can do!” And [my intuition says] “Trust me, he needs to be like that.”

Q: You are a tarot expert. Do you see a connection between comics and the tarot?

Sure, because the tarot is the language of the German, or of the American, or of the Spanish. It is an optical language. A person might not be a magician, but you can still read the tarot, and you can learn to develop your gaze. With the tarot, you have drawings and words together, and you can read it. You know, some people like to play chess; others play cards. I myself like to read the tarot. It’s fun for me to do. Every Wednesday I do the tarot for something like 20 to 30 people. I only answer to present problems. I don’t see the future. I don’t believe in the future! It’s an exercise for my mind, because it’s the furthest from rationality. It awakens the intuition.

And, when you work years to develop your gaze, then you can create all these things. It makes it easy to imagine the pages, a story, art, comics. Look at what I am writing in The Metabarons: a whole, enormous story! It’s unique. It surprises even me.

Q: In the late ’60s and ’70s, especially in the period around the release of The Holy Mountain, you spoke often in interviews about trying to lose your ego.

Yes. In the beginning, I hoped to lose my ego. But this is impossible. You cannot lose your ego. But you can tame your ego. But to lose your ego is a legend — it’s not true. Even Buddha had an ego!

Q: How did you go about taming it?

By suffering. Life is full of suffering. And joy. But when you take the lessons of the suffering, you start to realize that you are not the center of the world. You are onecenter, but not the center. Every one of us is a center of the universe. But the mistake is to think “I am the onlycenter.” And not the person around me. Also, you need to learn you have value. Not to be a person who says, “I am not the center, I am nothing. Nothing at all.” You need to diminish on one side, and on the other side you need to grow. That is the Work.

Then, you need to learn to see yourself with objectivity: As you see a tree, and you see a cat, you see yourself. Every night I caress my wife before sleeping. And then, I try to see myself. [Acting as if he is looking in a mirror] I say, “What is that? Who am I? Am I a body who has a spirit, or I am a spirit who has a body?” And then slowly I find myself saying, “I am a spirit who has a body.” And then I say, “What am I saying? I am the product of this body. I don’t love this body. I don’t like my belly, I don’t like my white hair.” But this awful thing, this old man, is creating so beautiful a spirit! This body is creating that! I need to honor this body.

Listen, for a lot of years I made a mistake. I thought to be humble was to hide yourself, to not show you have a value. But, to be humble is to recognize yourself. I am speaking as I am, in reality.

I am a national legend in Chile. I left before Allende; I returned after Pinochet. They published my books and invited me to the book convention. Because Chile is very closed — it’s like an island — when a Chilean goes out in the world and makes things, other Chileans are astonished; you become a legend. They lined the streets . . . little boys, they speak to me and demanded advice . . . and I gave them answers. In that moment, it is very difficult to not have an ego, you know?

New Joanna Newsom song from forthcoming triple-album via Drag City of Chicago
Stream:
Download: Joanna Newsom —’81 (mp3)

“Dungeons & Dragons Prison Ban Upheld”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/us/27dungeons.html

New Joanna Newsom song from forthcoming triple-album via Drag City of Chicago
Stream:
Download: Joanna Newsom —’81 (mp3)

LA City Council votes to put 80% of cannabis dispensaries out of bizness
http://bit.ly/aBIKTt

First ish of JOE THE BARBARIAN, new comic book miniseries writ by Arthur No. 12 cover star GRANT MORRISON, is now out. $1 at your local comix hut.

Via machineproject: “how come nobody told us you could make emergency glasses out of a leaf?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5on1id-0m4Y

Via ecstaticpeace: “MV & EE “Barn Nova” OUT ON REAL VINYL WAX NOW”:
http://alturl.com/qsei

“Tune in to Erik Bluhm’s “West Coast Fog” this Tuesday [tonite] from 7-9 PM PST
Expect Canyon people fort music, Millbrae mysto-rock, and East Side proto-garage! Only the best mid-to-late 60s Kalifornia kounterculture and teen-time vibes! Pretty much mostly vinyl originals! Romancers! Kim Fowley! Vejtables! Plebs! Kensington Forest! Love-Ins!”
http://www.luxuriamusic.com/lux_listen.html
All West Coast Fog shows are now archived as podcasts at
http://www.luxuriamusic.com/station/podcasts
Weekly Fog playlists posted at
http://greatgodpan.com/

Far East Family Band
Parallel World
Phoenix Records ASHCD-3013

UK vendor Volcanic Tongue sez:

“CD issue of what’s regarded as the most perfectly realised of the collaborations between the post-Far Out Far East Family Band and visionary Kraut cosmonaut Klaus Schulze. Recorded in 1976 on the back of Schulze’s classic Black Dance LP, Parallel World is a beautiful trip on hand drums and percussion through wiggy keyboards that leave sagging after-images across the jet black backdrop, droning vocal chants, outta space grooves and the kind of gorgeous choral synth levitations of the greatest devotional Krautrock, all cut up with long passages of semi-silence, sunrise tones and hallucinatory folk melody. One of the holiest of Japanese Kosmische sides, this one sits comfortably next to Popol Vuh’s In Den Garten Pharaos and Sergius Golowin’s Krishna Von Goloka as a truly epic trip. Listen to this one on headphones and feel the silence. Numbered edition of 1000 copies. Highly recommended.”

Available now from UK vendor Volcanic Tongue

Stream:

Download: Robert A.A. Lowe and Rose Lazar — “Fantomoj de la Vitro Domo” (mp3)

This lovely piece of still-time new age is off “Eclipses,” a new album by Robert A.A. Lowe and Rose Lazar, courtesy the good folk of Thrill Jockey Records. Available on LP with 12” x 36” full color double sided poster (!), which, they say, is “included to properly voice the images, which end up as a sort of storyboard to the music…”

You may recognize Rob from his work as Lichens, or as a member of 90 Day Men and Singer…or the mighty Om, who he played with on their recent North American tour. (He’s about to leave for Europe for more dates with Om.)

Buy “Eclipses” direct here.

Intrigued parties might also enjoy the tones of Enumclaw, previously featured in this space…

This extraordinarily appointed (and very reasonably priced) boxset was released by Harte Recordings of San Francisco late last year, but just came on my radar last night. Here’s the lowdown from the label:

“Alan Lomax in Haiti: A unique boxed set containing 10 CDs and two books, chronicling Alan Lomax’s 1936 Haitian recording expedition for the Library of Congress. Each volume showcases a specific style of music that Lomax encountered, each thoroughly discussed in the accompanying books: Gage Averill’s meticulously researched liner notes, and Lomax’s own field journal…

“The Alan Lomax Estate and Harte Recordings are dedicated to supporting earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. To aid in that effort, the price of the Alan Lomax in Haiti boxset will be reduced for a limited time to $115, with $15 going directly to local disaster relief organizations in Haiti. Topspin, Harte’s partner in the online selling world, has agreed to donate a portion of its net profit from box set sales as well.”

More info, including interviews, news, songs from the boxset, and direct order info at the HAITI BOX BLOG: http://thehaitibox.blogspot.com/

Just spotted this announcement in the “Forthcoming” section in the Autumn/Winter 2009 catalog from Starfire Publishing (available as a PDF from here):

Two Grimoires by Austin Osman Spare — set for publication in Spring/Summer 2010

The early years of the 20th Century were a time of great creative ferment for Spare, and amongst the items which survive from these early years are two intriguing and sumptuous grimoires, each of which is a notebook consisting of fine pen and ink and watercolour drawings. These notebooks were unfortunately not completed by
Spare. There are a number of full-page and half-page paintings and drawings; other pages have embellishments, with spaces for text which clearly was to have been inserted later. From the addition of his bookplate, it is clear that both notebooks were at one time the property of Spare’s patron Pickford Waller.

The first of these grimoires, entitled The Focus of Life & The Papyrus of Amen-AOS, is dated 1905-6. Much of the lettering remains in pencil, some of it giving clues to the underlying meaning of the imagery. An important element of this grimoire is that it features an early form of the ‘exteriorisation of sensation’ which Spare subsequently developed into the Sacred Alphabet which is a feature of The Book of Pleasure.

The second, slightly later notebook is The Arcana of AOS & the Consciousness of Kia-Ra, dated 1906. This is in some ways the more finished of the two notebooks, and picks up some of the imagery from the earlier notebook as well as integrating some new elements.

These two grimoires by Spare are at once enigmatic and full of haunting beauty. The paintings and drawings from each notebook are here reproduced in full colour. With analytical essays by Michael Staley, Stephen Pochin and William Wallace, and an introduction by Robert Ansell, this publication adds to our understanding of Spare’s early years as an artist, mystic and philosopher, and sheds light on the early development of his sigilisation techniques.

Stream:

Download: “MLK” —The Entrance Band (mp3)

“There’s a reason I sing/Because I want to hear freedom ring”

Dig it: essential message groove music from The Entrance Band’s latest, available on 2xLP and cd through the good folks of Ecstatic Peace.

“I think records were just a little bubble through time and those who made a living from them for a while were lucky. There is no reason why anyone should have made so much money from selling records except that everything was right for this period of time. I always knew it would run out sooner or later. It couldn’t last, and now it’s running out. I don’t particularly care that it is and like the way things are going. The record age was just a blip. It was a bit like if you had a source of whale blubber in the 1840s and it could be used as fuel. Before gas came along, if you traded in whale blubber, you were the richest man on Earth. Then gas came along and you’d be stuck with your whale blubber. Sorry mate – history’s moving along. Recorded music equals whale blubber. Eventually, something else will replace it.”

Above: Jay Reatard, gone far too soon

“Memphis musician Jay Reatard runs ‘out of time’; dies at 29″ — news article at Memphis Commercial Appeal

October 2005 interview with Jay from the LARecord:

Jay Reatard was about 15 when he started the Reatards, who were the brightest young scum in the Memphis rock ‘n’ roll scene. After several frightening albums recorded on his famous broken four-track, he purchased some old keyboards and started a new band called the Lost Sounds, but they finally broke up and now Jay is back as a Reatard and playing some of the first songs he ever wrote. He speaks now while recovering from a 33-hour Greyhound ride to the West Coast to start the first tour…. Read on at LARecord

…The “open” paradigm rests on the assumption that the way to get ahead is to give away your brain’s work—your music, writing, computer code and so on—and earn kudos instead of money. You are then supposedly compensated because your occasional dollop of online recognition will help you get some kind of less cerebral work that can earn money. For instance, maybe you can sell custom branded T-shirts.

We’re well over a decade into this utopia of demonetized sharing and almost everyone who does the kind of work that has been collectivized online is getting poorer. There are only a tiny handful of writers or musicians who actually make a living in the new utopia, for instance. Almost everyone else is becoming more like a peasant every day.

And it’s going to get worse. Before too long—in 10 years, I’d guess—cheap home robots will be able to make custom T-shirts from free designs off the Internet. When that day comes, then a T-shirt’s design will be no more valuable than recorded music is today.

…The owners of big computer resources on the Internet, like Google, will be able to make money from the open approach for a long time, of course, by routing advertisements, but middle-class people will be increasingly asked to accept a diet of mere kudos. No one should feel insulated from this trend. Poverty has a way of trickling up. Once everyone is aggregated, what will be left to be advertised?

…I don’t want our young people aggregated, even by a benevolent social-networking site. I want them to develop as fierce individuals, and to earn their living doing exactly that. When they work together, I hope they’ll do so in competitive, genuinely distinct teams so that they can get honest feedback and create big-time innovations that earn royalties, instead of spending all their time on crowd-pleasing gambits to seek kudos. This is not just so that they and their children will thrive, but so that they won’t become a mob, which, as history has shown us again and again, is a vulnerability of human nature.

SUPERFLEX were interviewed in Arthur No. 14 (January 2005).

Buy Arthur No. 14 here.

Read the article here.

REAL-LIFE “AVATAR” NO. 1: “The Coconut Revolution,” a 52-minute documentary on a successful uprising by original people (led by Francis Ona, pictured above) versus the combined might of a giant multi-national mining corporation, paid mercenaries and two governments’ militaries…

The first few minutes of “The Coconut Revolution” documentary…

This is an incredible modern-day story of a native people’s victory over Western globalization. Sick of seeing their environment ruined and their people exploited by the Panguna Mine, the Pacific island of Bougainville rose up against the giant mining corporation, Rio Tinto Zinc. The newly formed Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) began fighting with bows and arrows and sticks and stones against a heavily armed adversary. In an attempt to put down the rebellion the Papua New Guinean Army swiftly established a gunboat blockade around the island, backed by Australian Military personnel and equipment. With no shipments allowed in or out of the island, the People of Bougainville learned to become self-dependent and self-sustained.

The full 52-minute documentary is viewable here:
http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=9073157933630784238

REAL-LIFE “AVATAR” NO. 2: The Dongria Kondh (India) vs. Vedanta Resources (UK)

“Niyamgiri Mountain is a living god for us,” said the father of four who until now had never left the state of Orissa. “It has provided us with food, water and our livelihoods for generations. Even if we have to die protecting our god we will not hesitate, we will not let it go.” Read more here

REAL-LIFE “AVATAR” NO. 3: “Quilombo Country” (above)

“Quilombo Country” explores Afrobrazilian village life among the forests and rivers of northern Brazil, with rare footage of festivals and ceremonies that blend Catholic, African and native Amazonian rituals and customs, including the use of dance, drumming, tobacco and other sacred plants to facilitate the communication between the spiritual and material worlds.

Ranging from the abandoned sugar plantations in the Northeast to the heart of the Amazon rainforest, “Quilombo Country” is alive with first-person accounts of racial conflict, cultural ferment, political identity, and the struggle for land and human rights.

quilombocountry.com

From the New York Post (via Joe Carducci), a piece on Jaron Lanier’s new book, You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto:

How the Internet is leading toward “digital Maoism” and the loss of individuality

By LARRY GETLEN
Last Updated: 6:07 AM, January 10, 2010

The most popular aspects of Internet life — including Wikipedia, Facebook and digital music — are so detrimental to humanity that they give young people “a reduced expectation of what a person can be.”

That’s the disturbing conclusion of Jaron Lanier, the computer scientist famous for coining the term “virtual reality.” Lanier, a visiting scholar with the Department of Computer Science at Columbia University, among other positions, says that the Web has reduced communication to the point where we’re molding ourselves to serve it in harmful ways.

Social networking, for example, reduces people from complexities to categories, and subjects them to the will of what he calls the “hive mind.”

“The most effective young Facebook users are the ones who create successful online fictions about themselves,” he says. “They must manage off-hand remarks and track candid snapshots at parties as carefully as a politician . . . avoiding the ever-roaming evil eye of the hive mind, which can turn on an individual at any moment. A Facebook Generation young person who suddenly becomes humiliated online has no way out, for there is only one hive.”

The Internet favors the mob over the individual, and group efforts like Wikipedia are prized, even as they peel away personality and perspective. Uncredited bits of information — article excerpts, photos, video, etc. — are stripped of their humanity by being stripped of their context.

“Something like missionary reductionism has happened to the Internet with the rise of Web 2.0,” Lanier says. “The strangeness is being leached away in the mush-making process.”

Lanier regards this as an “anti-human” approach.

“Emphasizing the crowd means de-emphasizing individual humans in the design of society,” he says. In one notable instance, Wired Magazine founder Kevin Kelly posited that society no longer needs authors, and wound up in a feud with John Updike after declaring it a “moral imperative” that all the world’s books become “one book,” available for editing and mashing up by anyone who sees fit.

The result of all this, says Lanier, is that “when you ask people not to be people, they revert to bad, mob-like behaviors,” noting how vicious anonymous commenters even have driven some to suicide.

In explaining how we got here, Lanier discusses how computer science tried to replicate complex human activities with inferior results. One example is MIDI, which was developed in the early 1980s for the sole purpose of imitating the sound of a keyboard. Yet MIDI was limited, inherently unable to digitally represent “the curvy, transient expressions” of a singer or sax player.

Nonetheless, MIDI became “the standard scheme to represent music in software,” and is now the basis for all digitized music — including songs on our iPods — despite sounding far inferior to analog recordings.

Rather than search for a better solution, Lanier says that our response has been to lower our expectations of music quality. In the same way, we settle for what the Internet can give us in terms of information, entertainment and personality. The medium limits the message.…

The consequences of letting things persist could be dire, he says, comparing those who believe in the anti-human path to “digital Maoists.”

“History tells us that collectivist ideals can mushroom into large-scale social disasters,” he writes. “The fascias and communes of the past started out with small numbers of idealistic revolutionaries . . . I am afraid we might be setting ourselves up for a reprise.” …

“We have “entered a persistent somnolence,” he says. “We will only escape it when we kill the hive.”

Read more…

A Benefit for Tuli Kupferberg
Produced by Hal Willner
Friday, January 22 at 7:30PM

at St. Ann’s Warehouse
38 Water St
DUMBO, Bklyn, NY 11201

Tuli Kupferberg, the influential songwriter who co-founded the Fugs, suffered two strokes, in April and September 2009, which left him blind, confined to his apartment and in need of 24-hour care. He is recovering well—he is able to speak clearly—but has overwhelming medical expenses not covered by Medicare or the very modest publishing/royalties income he earns at the age of 86. A number of his friends and admirers are coming to his aid by performing in a benefit concert produced by Hal Willner, including his fellow Fugs [Ed Sanders, more], John Kruth and an all-star band, Lou Reed, Sonic Youth, Peter Stampfel, John Zorn and others who will be announced soon.

Venue: http://stannswarehouse.org/

Tickets: https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pe/7900805

The Fugs: http://www.thefugs.com/

Album is out February 23, 2010 via something called E1 Music…

Stream:

Download: “The Fire Of Love” — Terminal Twilight (mp3)

Here’s a slice of coldsweat disco funk from Terminal Twilight, a new project by multi-talented former Arthur art directors (Nos. 26-29) and contributors Molly Frances and Mark Frohman. It’s a cover of a song by rockabilly pioneer Jody Reynolds, released in 1958.

Terminal Twilight’s four-song debut, Black and Blue, is available as a 12-inch 45rpm vinyl record direct from Infinite Soundtracks.

From Dame Darcy:

“NEW E Z BAKE COVEN CALENDAR(cy). The 2010 Witchcraft Calendar has many exciting spells to try at home plus lots of offbeat holidays and fun facts about Witchcraft through the ages. Comes in various random colors. 2010 with two bonus months until Feb 2011. Hand crafted, only $10. ”

Buy direct from Dame Darcy via Etsy

In 2009, Arthur has been unable to publish a print edition due to the ongoing financial disaster, which has severely impacted advertising and merchandise sales. With our income thus depleted, we’ve moved our energy into online activity, which is less costly but alas, has (as yet) failed to pay for itself.

Although our online readership and advertising sales have climbed steadily over the last 10 months, we remain partly dependent on donations from our readers. The good news here is that because Arthur is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization, all contributions, of any amount, by individuals or organizations to Fractured Atlas in behalf of Arthur are tax-deductible.

If you have appreciated Arthur Magazine’s work in 2009, and want to see us continue on our mission into 2010, please consider making a donation. If you do it today, you will be able to claim it on your taxes in April.

Click here to go to the Arthur Magazine page on the Fractured Atlas website, where you can make an online donation:

https://www.fracturedatlas.org/donate/2024

Thank you,

The Arthur Magazine Gang

STRANGE BREW
Canadian-Swiss anthropologist JEREMY NARBY on what hallucinogens like LSD and the Amazonian drink ayahuasca have to teach us

Introduction by Erik Davis
Q & A by Jay Babcock
Illustration by Arik Roper

Originally published in Arthur No. 22/May 2006 (available from Arthur Store)

The anthropologist and author Jeremy Narby hit the intellectual freak scene in 1998 when he published The Cosmic Serpent, an audacious, intriguing, and entertaining dose of righteous mind candy that grew out of his decades-long explorations—both personal and scholarly—of the ayahuasca-swilling tribes of the upper Amazon. A Canadian living in Switzerland—at least when he’s not researching in the jungle or working on indigenous rights—Narby is no bug-eyed hippie prophet of “the tea.” He is a grounded, sensible fellow with a dry wit, an unromantic but respectful view of shamanism, and an allergy to vaporous supernatural claims. (In Europe he also sometimes performs with the guys behind the Young Gods, a seminal Swiss industrial band that led the Wax Trax pack back in the day.) While Narby’s head has definitely been broken open, his book does not spend a lot of time on the “spiritual” import of the jungle brew. Instead, Narby focuses on one of the biggest claims made by the Amazonian shamans: that their ritual ingestion of the hallucinogenic brew not only brought them contact with the spirits of animals and healing forces, but actually gave them knowledge—actual data—about the workings of the jungle around them.

After co-editing a powerful collection of first-hand reports of Western encounters with shamans, Narby came out with the book Intelligence in Nature. Rejecting the idea that plants and “lower” animals are mute mechanisms, Narby uncovers scientific evidence that impressive feats of cognition are going on outside the precious smartypants club of the higher primates. Narby looks at bees capable of abstract thought, and unicellular slime molds who are able to solve mazes. Perhaps inevitably, the book is not as wild a ride as The Cosmic Serpent, and Narby spends too much time describing his mundane journeys to research labs and too little time wrestling with how “intelligence” relates to choice, or awareness, or intention. Nonetheless, the book is a worthwhile example of Narby’s “defocalized” gaze – an undeniably scientific appreciation whose inspiration lies with the fundamental shamanic belief that other creatures, and even some plants, are, in their own world, “people” like us. —Erik Davis

Note: This interview was conducted by Jay Babcock over the telephone in late January, 2006.

Arthur: You attended the conference on LSD held in Basel this past January to coincide with the 100th birthday of the father of LSD, Dr. Albert Hoffman. What happened there?

Jeremy Narby: What didn’t happen? I think one needs metaphors to get at it, really. When LSD hit in the ‘60s, it was like a drop of mercury that went in all kinds of directions, broke into a lot of different shards. Because LSD affects consciousness and consciousness affects everything, LSD had an impact in art, in music, in thinking, in the personal computer industry, in biology, and so on. In Basel all the different little pieces came back together and arranged themselves in a kind of mosaic that was psychedelic, multi-faceted and beautiful. All the chickens came home to roost after 40 years, looking good. One of my favorite moments was when Christian Ratsch came on the big stage with Guru Guru, which is the original Krautrock band. He was walking around with amber incense and stuff, providing incantations and shamanistic energy during the set, and these sprightly gentlemen, who must be about 55, just rocked the house down. It was fantastic.

Arthur: So, where does it go from here?

Jeremy Narby: One of the aims of the symposium was a kind of explicit political aim at getting psychedelic research back on the scientific map, and I think the point’s well taken. But you know, I’ve been working as an activist to get recognition for the knowledge systems of indigenous peoples and essentially despite a couple of decades of work and a lot of clear data (it seems to me), there’s really a fundamental resistance coming out of rationalism, coming out of Western cultures, coming out of the political systems. So I have the feeling of having led the horse to water but it didn’t want to drink. Sure, we can talk to the horse nicely and try and get it to drink the water some more, but finally I feel like more drastic tactics are needed. Like kicking the horse in the butt, or telling it to go and take a hike, or turning your back on it.

So I applaud these efforts to legalize psychedelic research, but… There are those among us who have wanted to use hallucinogens how indigenous people use them—in a serious way to understand the world. And we’ve been doing it, underground, for the last bunch of decades, and getting results that are richer and more interesting than what the Western rationalists are producing. So, I’d say that I’d rather take hallucinogens and then write stunning books than make speeches about hallucinogens.

Arthur: What was the response of Western rationalists to your hypothesis in The Comsic Serpent—that Amazonian shamans were actually receiving information at the molecular level via the ayahusaca trance?

Jeremy Narby: Scientists said that I hadn’t tested my hypothesis. Well, okay : I was just happy to have it considered testable! [chuckles] So how do we test it? Well, you try to falsify your hypothesis. You come up with a test to try to demonstrate that it’s wrong. That’s the scientific method. So, I thought, let’s send three Western molecular biologists with questions in their labwork down to the Amazon and put them into ayahuasca-induced trances. If they didn’t come up with any information then my hypothesis would start to look falsified. Now, it is a heavy thing to ask people who have never taken mindbending hallucinogens before to submit themselves to the experience in the name of science. These people are making their psyches available to you and then you distort them with these powerful hallucinogenic plants. In terms of ethics, this is even worse than experimenting on animals. It’s experimenting on humans. They were consulting subjects and all, but sheesh, this is serious business. I mean, the first thing that ayahuasca does, before it answers whatever questions you might put to it, is it tells you about yourself. It puts its finger on your weak spots, fast. It encourages you to clean up your act. This makes it a hard path to knowledge for somebody who’s into ‘being objective’ in the lab. As a scientist, you’re not supposed to pay attention to your subjectivity—you’re supposed to jettison it. But when you end up in an ayahuasca experience, it’s your little subjective self that is the hot point. Your subjective self comes to the forefront in your acquisition of knowledge. For a scientist, that’s a rough one.

Arthur: You were able to find volunteers, nonetheless. I gather they were colleagues… ?

Jeremy Narby: Actually, no. Fishing for molecular biologists is a kind of special sport. One of these molecular biologists runs a lab at a federal research institute here that specializes in modifying plant genomes. After a talk I gave in Lausanne in 1997 where I said that I was looking for molecular biologists to test the hypothesis, she raised her hand and said, ‘I am a molecular biologist.’ This other French molecular biologist, who was 64 and about to retire, had written to me, saying how impressed he was with The Cosmic Serpent and so on. I corresponded with him and cultivated the relation. Finally there was this Californian woman molecular biologist who runs a genome sequencing lab with 60 people under her responsibility, and she showed up at the book launch of The Cosmic Serpent in San Francisco and introduced herself. It’s no light thing getting people to do this. But, as scientists, they agreed, they found it too interesting to pass up.

Arthur: They each had questions from their individual researches…

Jeremy Narby: The French fellow was studying how sperm cells become fertile. When a sperm cell comes into the sperm duct out of the testicles it isn’t capable of fertilizing an ovum. But by the time it gets to the end of the sperm duct, it can fertilize an ovum. There’s something like 50 different proteins that work on it in that duct, somewhat like automobile workers working on a car as it goes through the chain. So the question that he was working on is, Which of the 50 proteins is responsible for making sperm fertile? He was working on this at the French National Center for Scientific Research because he was looking for a male contraceptive. He had two other questions: Why is it that we’ve been looking for so many years without being able to find the answer, is it because this is ‘forbidden’ knowledge? (That was a kind of Catholic question.) And, Is the mouse the appropriate model for us to be studying this, because what interests us is humans, of course.

He got some fairly clear answers. In his third ayahuasca session, fairly early into the session a voice explained to him, he later stated, that the answer to Question Number One was that it wasn’t one protein, but the combination of all 50 that was doing it. The answer to the second question was, See my first answer. In other words, you’ve been not finding it for so many years because you’ve been concentrating on one protein rather than how the 50 interact. And the answer to the third question was, ‘This question is too small for me to consider. Ask me something else.’ You know, you figure out for yourself whether the mouse is an appropriate model for humans. He later stated that he did not have the impression of accessing independent or outside information. The two women, on the other hand, had definite impressions of encounters with independent intelligences in the form of plant mothers: the mother of tobacco, and the mother of chacruna. We actually had to negotiate over words. I asked them whether they thought these were ‘outside’ intelligences and both of them preferred the word ‘independent.’ So the jury is still out on just where the information may be coming from…

Arthur: At a minimum, though, the ayahuasca was an activating agent.

Jeremy Narby: That, and the singing of the shamans. I was surprised by the extent to which they did come up with ideas and hypotheses in their visions. But when I reported this [at a 2000 symposium, later published as the final chapter in 2001’s Shamans Through Time: 500 Years on the Path to Knowledge anthology], nothing happened. It never got reviewed. Like I said, the world doesn’t seem to be ready for this stuff.

Arthur: Your work seems to complement that of Benny Shannon, the professor of psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Jeremy Narby: That guy is a heavyweight. To me his book [The Antipodes of the Mind: Charting the Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca Experience, Oxford University Press, 2002] seems to demonstrate beyond argument that knowledge can be gained in altered states of consciousness attained by ayahuasca. He’s interviewed hundreds of people who are experienced ayahuasca users and he’s made sense out of their answers. So yeah… It’s very complementary. Benny Shannon pointed out to me when we first met, it might’ve been in ’97 or ’98 that he thought that my hypothesis was rather narrow. He was one of the few people that said that. He said, ‘All you talk about is molecular biology, but there does not seem to be a limit to the domains that are pertinent to ayahuasca, where people can learn things about these domains via ayahuasca. You can have insights into all kinds of domains, not just molecular biology.’

What I like about Benny’s work there is that he places us like the early European explorers in the 16th century, arriving on this new continent, without maps: the first thing they had to do was to get in those canoes and go upriver and make maps. So Benny took ten years to map the ayahuasca continent, to provide a preliminary map of these altered states of consciousness induced by ayahuasca from a scientific point of view. That hadn’t been done before. I don’t know if he’s the Christopher Columbus or the Amerigo Vespucci of consciousness, but what that means is we’re in kindergarten, or the 16th century, when it comes to understanding this stuff. More research is certainly needed. Benny himself is working on the philosophical implications of what he’s found.

Arthur: Where is your own work headed from here ?

Jeremy Narby: If we are part of nature, as science indicates, and if nature is intelligent, as science and shamanism also indicate, then is there anything special about human intelligence? In other words, I’m looking at human specificity, reconsidered from a point of view that presupposes no separation between humans and nature, and appreciates the presence of intelligence in nature. So it comes down to the question: What are human beings? How do they fit into the scheme of things? What are we doing here, in other words. If Nature has got intelligence, what does it have in mind coming up with us?

Arthur: Western thinkers like Terence McKenna, Richard Tarnas and Grant Morrison have suggested that humans are what happens when the universe becomes self-aware.

Jeremy Narby: Well, there have been many things that have seemed to be uniquely human but when we looked at it closely we found out it wasn’t so uniquely human. Shamans are telling us that the other species are human just like us in fact. We usually say that humans are the “symbolic species” but it turns out that DNA molecules are symbols, and that all of nature is shot through with symbols. We used to think we were the only humans, now indigenous Amazonians tell us “humanity” is a condition that applies to all the beings in the world. We first think, What does that mean? But if you think that being able to symbolize is specifically human, and then you understand that there are symbols in every cell in the world, you can see the whole thing more clearly. [Humanity] as the symbolic species remain a quintessentially natural product. But admittedly a peculiar one. We do all kinds of things that other species don’t do. This is true of other species, also, but we are a pretty surprising bunch. So just what is going on with these human beings?

Arthur: If Western rationalism is simply catching up to the shamanic understanding of reality, why not just go native? Rather than spending time and energy translating these truths into words that Western rationalists can understand and maybe even accept, why not just embrace the shamanic worldview?

Jeremy Narby: Well, I’m a Canadian, with blue eyes, and I like ice hockey, y’know? So I can put on feathers and start smoking pipes, but it’d be a bit of a fraud. Not that I don’t smoke a pipe or anything, but… I think that [going native] would be a mistake. Part of my dayjob, as the Amazonian Projects Coordinator for Nouvelle Planete, a small Swiss NGO, is to live in the Western world, to be an outsider here, to explain to the Westerners indigenous reality in the Amazon, why it should be interesting to us, and to back the survival of indigenous people there. And these are very concrete projects: right now I am trying to get funding for people in Peru who are running programs to benefit Aguaruna Jivaro women and their knowledge about nutritional and medicinal plants, or to help fund the Cacataibo people’s efforts to demarcate an area for non-contacted Cacataibo people in the central forest area. My role is to find funds for them here, in the West. I go to Peru once a year, I am in constant contact with the people there, but the money is here. So I’ve got to speak the language of these Westerners, I’ve got to know what motivates them. But I want to have a distance from it.

Arthur: So you’re constantly crossing between the Amazonian shamanic worldview and the materialist, rationalist worldview that you were raised with and are embedded in. There must be moments of jarring culture shock, right?

Jeremy Narby: I used to have that problem closer to 15 or 20 years ago, just getting back from the Amazon and stuff. I went through a couple of years of, I dunno, cultural schizophrenia. For example… I’m not Catholic myself, but in this part of Switzerland people are. All you gotta do is read the last chapter of the Bible and you’ll know who the cosmic serpent is associated with. So on the one hand I’m walking around with serpents and DNA molecules in my head, and outside there’s the Judeo-Christian rational world. Probably when you go to the supermarket you don’t want to get into the ‘I am transforming into a jaguar’ mode! [laughter]

But that’s the profession of the professional anthropologist: to know how to feel at home abroad and how to feel abroad at home. So, okay: bi-cognitivism. Bilinguals have more fun! It’s fun to have two languages, because there are things that you can say in another language that you can’t in your own, so being able to go back and forth between a kind of rational view and a shamanic view, I think it’s beneficial. To be able to know how to juggle points of view; to be able to look at your own presuppositions, it’s something that your average citizen would gain from being able to do. The world that’s currently unfolding in front of us where Pakistan and Denmark are linked and the same news bulletins about what’s going on in Iraq are read on television in Japan, Switzerland and Venezuela [is one in which radically different points of view need to be better understood.] In other words: everybody’s gotta become a kind of anthropologist at this point. And to those of us in the West, this can be painful. It was shocking to me as a rationalist to discover that my way of looking at the world actually was pretty arrogant in its presuppositions, and that I had excluded a priori shamanism as being a ‘real’ way of knowing, and that the only real way of knowing I presupposed with most rationalists, is Rationalism. Opening one’s mind to that I found rather painful.

Arthur: Some basic presuppositions need to fall away, or at least be put up for debate. Which brings us back to LSD: a deconditioning tool that challenges what you know, and even how you know.

Jeremy Narby: It’s not for nothing that they call it a trip. You can go traveling and physically take your body to different countries and learn that people in different places do things differently. And that forces you to look at your own presuppositions. Or you can stay home and if you work with these psychoactive plants correctly, you can examine your own presuppositions in your living room. And I’d say, if you do both, it’s even better.

I get a lot of strength from being specific—in working from particular cases and then generalizing from there. My beat has been the Western Amazon for the last 20 years. But I’m sure that one could make similar gains by going to Siberia or China or India or Lebanon or Africa. The whole world is interesting.

From Hush Arbors’ Yankee Reality, available direct from Ecstatic Peace of Easthampton, Mass

Extremely moving tribute to Vic by his friend Kristin Hersh, with paypal donate button for Vic’s family

New York Times news story by Ben Sisario

Announcement from Constellation Records, Vic’s label

This just in from Charmin’ Allen Larman (pictured above, on the left) regarding this week’s edition of his online radio show, Thee Charm School…

“Tune in Christmas Eve, Thursday, Dec. 24 from 6 to 8 p.m. California time at luxuriamusic.com for a special holiday edition of the most salacious on-line radio show Thee Charm School. It is the perfect soundtrack for all holiday celebrations, including family gatherings, gift exchanges and lovemaking!! Hear wild Christmas selections from Jack Scott, Homer & Jethro, Johnny Otis, Ral Donner, Pappy Stuckey, Babs Gonzales, Rufus Thomas, Hasil Adkins, Butterbeans & Susie, George & Tammy, James Brown, Ray Stevens, Art Carney and more….”

More info: http://www.luxuriamusic.com/djprofiles/charmin-larman

Birdman Records’ David Katznelson writes:

World Boogie Is Coming: If you were ever fortunate enough to get a letter or package from legendary record man Jim Dickinson (November 15, 1941 – August 15, 2009), it would end with those four words.

 It is the way he ended his first note to me, which contained the recording plans for the Texas Tornadoes (the project that facilitated our meeting). It is the way he ended his last words to his constituency as a mortal on this planet (see his message at zebraranch.com).



World Boogie Is Coming: It was his motto, his mantra, his mission — something he’d developed through the decades, from when he was a young boy, witnessing Elvis and the merging of music cultures in 1950s Memphis; to his years as a working musician, blowing away boundaries with his jug bands and session work with The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Ry Cooder and the Flaming Groovies; to his work as a producer for artists as varied as Big Star, Toots and the Maytalls, The Replacements, Tav Falco’s Panther Burns, The Sugar Cube Blues Band, Screaming Jay Hawkins and Mudhoney.



Jim Dickinson saw sound as the vibration that would and could bring us all together. He believed that some of the finest music is that which we cannot hear. He believed some of his best production was done in absentia. He talked about the red and dark green sounds that vibrated the warmest through the soul. Jim Dickinson literally saw music… smelled music, and created his own world—a studio in Independence, Mississippi—where he could capture the music….if only for a brief second….and revel in its piety. Over the past few years, as he felt the burden of his own finite time on this planet, he would weigh heavily every time he punched the RED button—that magic portal to recording the molecules vibrating in the room—because he had but a limited number of punches left, and each one had to count. Jim lived his life ferociously fighting for the truth and purity that well-intentioned music promotes; he did not have patience for anyone or any sound that did not fall in line with his mission.



In Jim’s final note, he wrote: “I will not be gone as long as the music lingers.” And with that, he has left an amazing body of work, a family that is continuing his pursuit of world boogie, wonderful stories (many of which can be found in Robert Gordon’s book It Came From Memphis) and the extensive memoirs that his wife Mary Lindsey, his son Luther and I will be compiling.



I became a disciple of James Luther Dickinson a long time ago, believing wholeheartedly that there would be FREE BEER TOMORROW and that world boogie was just around the corner. Working with him on records was such an incredible experience for me that I would contrive projects for us to do together, whether it was sending ex-Spacemen 3er Sonic Boom to Mississippi to collaborate (cf. Spectrum Meets Captain Memphis—”Indian Giver”)…or having him do a spoken word record where he read from passages written by his favorite Southern writers. And while the latter experiment might seem the most eclectic, check out the following track, a reading of American singing poet Vachel Lindsay’s “The Congo,” and hear the might of the man they called DICKINSON.



World Boogie IS coming, and when it does come, the mountains WILL come together and Jim will be the first soul to be flying towards the party…

Stream:

Download: Jim Dickinson — “The Congo” (mp3)

Purchase mp3: ilike.com

From Fishing with Charlie & Other Selected Readings by Jim Dickinson, available on cd direct from Birdman Records and Amazon

British Priest: Shoplifting by Poor Sometimes OK

LONDON (AP) … The Rev. Tim Jones caused an uproar by telling his congregation that it is sometimes acceptable for desperate people to shoplift — as long as they do it at large national chain stores, rather than small, family businesses.

Jones’ Robin Hood-like sermon drew rebukes Tuesday from fellow clergy, shop owners and police.

From his pulpit at the Church of St. Lawrence in York, about 220 miles (355 kilometers) north of London, Jones said in his sermon Sunday that shoplifting can be justified if a person in real need is not greedy and does not take more than he or she really needs to get by.
…
Jones told The Associated Press that he stands by his comments. He said he regretted only that the media is focusing on his view on shoplifting rather than the underlying problem he wanted to address.

”The point I’m making is that when we shut down every socially acceptable avenue for people in need, then the only avenue left is the socially unacceptable one,” he said, adding that people are often released from prison without any means of support, leading them back into crime.

”What I’m against is the way society has become ever more comfortable with the people at the very bottom, and blinded to their needs,” he said.

From The Times of London:

Yorkshire vicar advises hard-pressed parishioners to shoplift

The Ten Commandments include a fairly straightforward instruction: Thou shalt not steal. Now a Yorkshire vicar has come up with an interesting interpretation, advising the more hard-pressed of his parishioners to shoplift.

They should do it only from big shops, the Rev Tim Jones said, and it would probably be best if they did not take any more than they needed. Inevitably, some less spiritually enlightened individuals, including North Yorkshire Police, have taken his remarks in entirely the wrong way, assuming that by advising people to shoplift he is in some way encouraging shoplifting.

Father Tim’s remarks came in his Sunday sermon at the Church of St Lawrence, York, when he said that stealing from large national chains was sometimes the best option open to vulnerable people. It was far better for people desperate during the recession to shoplift than to turn to prostitution, mugging or burglary, he said.

“My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift,” he told the congregation. “I do not offer such advice because I think that stealing is a good thing, or because I think it is harmless, for it is neither.

“I would ask that they do not steal from small family businesses but from large national businesses, knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices. I would ask them not to take any more than they need, for any longer than they need.

“I offer the advice with a heavy heart and wish society would recognise that bureaucratic ineptitude and systematic delay have created an invitation and incentive to crime for people struggling to cope.”

Arguing that society had failed the needy, Father Tim, 41, continued: “My advice does not contradict the Bible’s Eighth Commandment because God’s love for the poor and despised outweighs the property rights of the rich. Let my words not be misrepresented as a simplistic call for people to shoplift. Rather, this is a call for our society no longer to treat its most vulnerable people with indifference and contempt. Providing inadequate or clumsy social support is monumental, catastrophic folly.”

Stream:

Download: “Somebody’s Gone” — Bro. Theotis Taylor (mp3)

A 1976 Pitch Records 45 side by Bro. Theotis Taylor coming to us via The Pitch/Gusman Story, a 3xcd, 71-track set available for $19.99 (!) direct from the good people at Big Legal Mess Records of Oxford, Mississisppi.

A note regarding the song’s producer from the compiler at JustMovingOn.info after the jump…

Waymon Augustus Jones was born into a Bulloch County, Georgia farming family in June 1932. He moved to Washington DC after graduating from high school, spent five years in the Navy, and tried on several occupations before relocating to Savannah, Georgia to study accounting at Savannah State University. Waymon Jones was long interested in music, although his brother Furman says they both had voices that would prompt people to ask them to “sing solo – so low we can’t hear you.” In 1967 he abandoned his studies and opened the Gusman Co record shop at 1210 East Broad Street in Savannah. “Gusman” was his nickname since childhood, derived from his middle name. From the outset the Gusman Co was a gathering place for local gospel singers, and Jones built a recording studio attached to the shop. Not long after opening the record shop Waymon Jones purchased the Pitch label from an unknown person. Several Pitch 45’s had already been released, some of them probably recorded as early as the mid-50’s. Jones was soon releasing records on his revived Pitch label, and later on Gusman records. If all the numbers were used it appears that there may have been seventy eight 45’s released on Pitch, perhaps fifteen on Gusman, and five albums are known.The last Waymon Jones’ produced record was released in 1978. After several moves and weathering a flood and burglary, he closed the record shop doors for good in 2001 or 2002. He passed away in Statesboro, Georgia in August, 2004. The White Family Singers, the first group he recorded, sang at his funeral. Although not as well known today as some other small, independent gospel imprints of the time, the Pitch/Gusman output is as good or better than most. The catalog is varied and deep, featuring some of the finest gospel artists in the area, leaving a wonderful, lasting musical legacy.

“The American Ruling Class is a morality tale set to music about two Yale students who seek their opportunities after graduation. Lewis Lapham, the renowned essayist, author and longtime Harper’s Magazine editor, conducts them through the corridors of power – Pentagon press briefings, the World Economic Forum, philanthropic foundations, Washington law firms, banks, the Council on Foreign Relations and New York society dinners. As they make their way, the real-life luminaries they meet become characters in a dramatic story about power, its responsibilities and abuses. The subject is our country’s most taboo topic: class, power and privilege in our nominally democratic republic. Part Monty Python, part Michael Moore, The American Ruling Class is an entertaining clarion call for all citizens to consider who has power, how they acquired it, and most importantly, how they keep it.”

A hearty hip hip hooray is in order for Ms. VANESSA VESELKA, whose courageous first novel, ZAZEN, completed its 30-part serialization on the pages of this website last week. Thank you to Stefan Jecusco for the book cover design. And a big thank you to Karin Bolender for getting the original manuscript of this seether in our hands earlier this year.

We’re leaving all 30 chapters online for folks who haven’t read it yet.

ZAZEN is an intense read. The narrator is looking at what’s in front of her—Walmart America—instead of avoiding it (as most of us have trained ourselves to do), and is painfully aware of not only the ecological degradation, species extinction, culture destruction and human suffering that modern consumer capitalism is built on, but also, getting closer to the bone, the heartbreaking inadequacy of progressive activist responses to the horrorshow.

So she starts making credible bomb threats.

One suspects it is the latter plot point that has kept ZAZEN from finding a publisher in 2009, but whatever: it got out there anyway. Ha ha ha.

Chapter 1 — “Burning Ants”
Chapter 2 — “Pregnant Rats”
Chapter 3 — “New Haiku”
Chapter 4 — “Asian Market”
Chapter 5 — “1 800 buy COAL”
Chapter 6 — “Aerial Map of Carnage”
Chapter 7 — “Cherry Blossoms”
Chapter 8 — “Lagerstätte”
Chapter 9 — “The Rat Queen”
Chapter 10 — “Venus Rodere”
Chapter 11 — “Church of Enlightened Capital”
Chapter 12 — “Colony of the Elect”
Chapter 13 — “Manifestation”
Chapter 14 — “Two Rivers”
Chapter 15 — “Head of John the Baptist”
Chapter 16 — “Breath of Soldiers”
Chapter 17 — “The Avalanche Cabin”
Chapter 18 — “Grace Mountain”
Chapter 19 — “The Sea Goat”
Chapter 20 — “Dancehall”
Chapter 21 — “Into the Snow”
Chapter 22 — “Deer Teeth”
Chapter 23 — “Disco”
Chapter 24 — “Hazard Maps”
Chapter 25 — “La Rue des Oiseux”
Chapter 26 — “Road to Laos”
Chapter 27 — “Batholith”
Chapter 28 — “The Skateboard Sutta”
Chapter 29 — “Della’s Mosaic”
Chapter 30 — “Tiny Living Hearts”

Read Vanessa Veselka’s blog: http://vanessaveselka.wordpress.com/

Click on each image to enlarge.

About these documents:
Pretty self-explanatory.

Previously posted Diggers Papers:
http://www.arthurmag.com/contributors/diggers

About this series:
Arthur Magazine is proud to present scans of essential documents produced by and about the San Francisco Diggers, who were in many ways the epicentral actors in the Haight-Ashbury during the epic, wildly imaginative period from late ‘66 through ‘67. The Diggers’ ideas and activities are essential counter-cultural history, sure, but they are also especially relevant to the current era, for reasons that should be obvious to the gentle Arthur reader.

Most of the documents that we are presenting are broadsides originally published on a Gestetner machine owned and operated in the Haight by the novelist/poet Chester Anderson and his protege/sidekick Claude Hayward, who used the name “Communication Company,” or more commonly, “Com/Co.” According to Claude, these broadsides were then “handed out on the street, page by page, super hot media, because the reader trusted the source, which was another freaky looking hippie who had handed it to him/her.”

Donate
You can be a patron of this series by making a tax-deductible donation to Arthur Magazine via our fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas: info here

Click on image to enlarge.

About this document:
Pretty self-explanatory: “We come to Haight-Ashbury, where many of us gather together, to start a flow of love.”

Previously posted Diggers Papers:
http://www.arthurmag.com/contributors/diggers

About this series:
Arthur Magazine is proud to present scans of essential documents produced by and about the San Francisco Diggers, who were in many ways the epicentral actors in the Haight-Ashbury during the epic, wildly imaginative period from late ‘66 through ‘67. The Diggers’ ideas and activities are essential counter-cultural history, sure, but they are also especially relevant to the current era, for reasons that should be obvious to the gentle Arthur reader.

Most of the documents that we are presenting are broadsides originally published on a Gestetner machine owned and operated in the Haight by the novelist/poet Chester Anderson and his protege/sidekick Claude Hayward, who used the name “Communication Company,” or more commonly, “Com/Co.” According to Claude, these broadsides were then “handed out on the street, page by page, super hot media, because the reader trusted the source, which was another freaky looking hippie who had handed it to him/her.”

Donate
You can be a patron of this series by making a tax-deductible donation to Arthur Magazine via our fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas: info here

Featuring Éris Elmosnino (Serge Gainsbourg), Lucy Gordon (Jane Birkin), Laetitia Casta (Brigitte Bardot), Anna Mouglalis (Juliette Gréco), Sara Forestier (France Gall), Mylène Jampanoï (Bambou), Orphée Silard (Charlotte Gainsbourg), Lucile Vezier (Kate Barry), Claude Chabrol (as L’Editeur de Gainsbourg) and Kacey Mottet Klein as young Serge.

Joann Sfar is a pretty great French cartoonist/author. Some of his work has been translated into English. More info: http://www.firstsecondbooks.com/sfar.html

Commentary by William Moritz, via Center for Visual Music after the jump…

[On Yantra]

The repeated accelerating flickers between black and white or solid color frames photo-kinetically induce an alpha meditative state. Into the climax of these generative alternations of spectral opposites, the dots enter and enact movements which are as carefully “choreographed” in the sense of purely visual “music” as had been the imagery in the FILM EXERCISES, including variations, inversions, harmonic and contrapuntal balances and imbalances, etc. The screen is scrupulously sustained as a flat expository surface, and a reflexive consciousness of the film material process is maintained by the use of flickers, transparent/white backgrounds, scratches, and solarized, step-printed episodes, in which the hand-wrought, irregular textures also recall (for those familiar with this background information) both James’ expertise as a raku potter and the Alchemical processes of transmuting elements, in this case the colored chemicals of the film emulsion by the “solar” Fire.

Similarly LAPIS, meaning “stone” in Latin, refers to the Philosopher’s Stone or transmutation medium in Alchemy, and is ideologically related to Jung’s discussion of the individuation process. But no knowledge of these outside frames of reference is necessary to appreciate the awesomely intricate and resplendent imagery. Again the film functions perfectly in purely aesthetic terms. The imagery is completely, conscientiously devoted to centric, circular patterns (like yantra-mandalas) and the film itself suggests a cyclical structure, beginning and ending with transparent white screen surface onto which the dots converge and from which they disperse, while vigorous flickers between pure red and green frames herald the opening union of particles into a pattern/illusion and the closing division of the pattern into parallel manifestations, implying, like the repeated Ouroboros logo, a continuing reoccurrence of the phenomenon. The red and greed colors (associated with beginning and ending in Alchemy, cf. Smith’s FILM No. 6) and the colors in general are precisely controlled as a factor of meaning in the film. Parallel rasters of dot patterns in varying colors are superimposed in many scenes to create, in a divisionist fashion, the effective or composite color sensation of the sequence. Other scenes unfold in related (complementary, approximate, etc.) “pure” colors which tease the mind/eye as to their identity, or in parallel patterns of complementary colors which refuse to blend (e.g. orange and green). However, in some scenes James even manages to superimpose red and green dots to yield the purplish puce color (associated with the union of positive/negative yin/yang to produce fresh vigor, royal power, occult wisdom, etc. in Hermetic thought) which appears otherwise as a pure hue in some other scenes. Another “effective” color frequently used in the film is the celestial blue, which is carefully planned to endure throughout a long sequence so that when it suddenly vanishes to black, the red/green Lotus wheel seems to float in a field of radiant (union/vigor) magenta because of afterimage from retinal exhaustion. This positive-negative color afterimage relates directly to the central theme of the film, in which most gestures and manifestations repeat in positive and negative states – e.g. the ring of dots converging on a white vs. later a black field; the dots forming a positive-space function by aligning in rows, chains or progressions vs. a negative-space pattern by enclosing and describing implied configurations.

James worked on YANTRA for about eight years (1950-58), meticulously painting the patterns of pin-point dots on paper cards, and hand developing and solarizing much of the footage. Although LAPIS was executed in only three years (1963-6) with the aid of a computer, it can not be considered a computer-graphic per se, since the images were planned and hand-painted (exactly like those of YANTRA, but on cel sheets) and the computer was merely used to ensure the accuracy of animation where hundreds of tiny dots must be precisely superimposed and moved in infinitesimally small graduations. And James seems to provide a Brechtian alienation from this astonishing technical perfection by including several momentary “flaws,” like a fleeting freeze in the action or a flash-frame from the beginning of a dissolve (again suggesting the cracks in raku ware).

Both YANTRA and LAPIS were conceived as silent films. YANTRA received its soundtrack when it was shown in one of the Vortex Concerts; Jacobs and Belson mixed portions of Dutch composer Henk Badings’ CAIN AND ABEL to form an uncannily appropriate and exciting musical counterpoint to the images. The lack of exact synch and the relative obscurity of the original score (which has never been recorded, I believe) rescue YANTRA’s track from the problematic status of other “found” music for non-objective films. The Indian raga track was added to LAPIS after it had already been in distribution as a silent film, at the behest of James’ distributor, Bob Pike of the Creative Film Society. Again, the original musical score was blended to form a satisfactory accompaniment to the images, and its re-release in this sound version, coincidentally just before the Beatles-inspired vogue for Indian music, helped contribute to LAPIS becoming the most widely known and admired of any abstract film. However, as any silent viewing will show, perception of the visual meaning of the film can be enhanced without the music, and James plans in the near future to withdraw the current version and re-issue the film either with a sound prepared specifically for it, or as a silent film. [1]

Working with the computer on LAPIS proved quite frustrating for James, since he found the potential of the machinery more limited than his imagination. Therefore, after LAPIS, even though he had specific ideas for further films, James rested from filmmaking for several years, and concentrated his efforts on producing raku-ware pottery. Then be began work on a trilogy – DWI-JA, WU MING, HSIANG SHENG [2], etc. – which is a sublime expression of his spiritual and artistic maturity.

DWI-JA, meaning “twice-born” or “soul” in Sanskrit, runs almost half an hour at silent speed. It is completely solarized, and much of the imagery is re-photographed by rear-projection to create a constant flow of hardly definable transformations of color and form.

Courtesy Invisible Cinema

“Astronomers said Wednesday that they had discovered a planet composed mostly of water.”

More: New York Times

Click on each image to enlarge.

About these documents:
By late March 1967 the Diggers and their allies in the Haight were being overwhelmed by the influx of newcomers to their neighborhood, many of them runaway youths attracted to the district by mainstream news accounts that had exaggerated the availability of Free: free food, free housing, free music, etc. When they spoke about it, the more authoritarian part of San Francisco’s Establishment—the police and the mayor’s office, the mainstream press—reacted with horror, fear and threats regarding the incoming hippie invasion, rather than dealing with the logistics of the impending housing crisis. “Trip Without a Ticket” was the name of the Diggers’ free store. “To the Free World,” summing up the fears and suspicions of the Diggers and associates, is a prime bit of Diggers analysis; it was probably written by com/co’s Chester Anderson.

Previously posted Diggers Papers:
http://www.arthurmag.com/contributors/diggers

About this series:
Arthur Magazine is proud to present scans of essential documents produced by and about the San Francisco Diggers, who were in many ways the epicentral actors in the Haight-Ashbury during the epic, wildly imaginative period from late ‘66 through ‘67. The Diggers’ ideas and activities are essential counter-cultural history, sure, but they are also especially relevant to the current era, for reasons that should be obvious to the gentle Arthur reader.

Most of the documents that we are presenting are broadsides originally published on a Gestetner machine owned and operated in the Haight by the novelist/poet Chester Anderson and his protege/sidekick Claude Hayward, who used the name “Communication Company,” or more commonly, “Com/Co.” According to Claude, these broadsides were then “handed out on the street, page by page, super hot media, because the reader trusted the source, which was another freaky looking hippie who had handed it to him/her.”

Donate
You can be a patron of this series by making a tax-deductible donation to Arthur Magazine via our fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas: info here

About these documents:
By late March 1967 the Diggers and their allies in the Haight were being overwhelmed by the influx of newcomers to their neighborhood, many of them runaway youths attracted to the district by mainstream news accounts that had exaggerated the availability of Free: free food, free housing, free music, etc. When they spoke about it, this is how the more authoritarian (or: “uptite”) part of the Establishment—the police, the mayor’s office, the mainstream press—reacted. These broadsides reprinted the press coverage, with commentary in handwriting, probably from Com/Co’s Chester Anderson. Click on each image to enlarge.

Previously posted Diggers Papers:
http://www.arthurmag.com/contributors/diggers

About this series:
Arthur Magazine is proud to present scans of essential documents produced by and about the San Francisco Diggers, who were in many ways the epicentral actors in the Haight-Ashbury during the epic, wildly imaginative period from late ‘66 through ‘67. The Diggers’ ideas and activities are essential counter-cultural history, sure, but they are also especially relevant to the current era, for reasons that should be obvious to the gentle Arthur reader.

Most of the documents that we are presenting are broadsides originally published on a Gestetner machine owned and operated in the Haight by the novelist/poet Chester Anderson and his protege/sidekick Claude Hayward, who used the name “Communication Company,” or more commonly, “Com/Co.” According to Claude, these broadsides were then “handed out on the street, page by page, super hot media, because the reader trusted the source, which was another freaky looking hippie who had handed it to him/her.”

Donate
You can be a patron of this series by making a tax-deductible donation to Arthur Magazine via our fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas: info here

About this document:
By late March 1967 the Diggers and their allies in the Haight were being overwhelmed by the influx of newcomers to their neighborhood, many of them runaway youths attracted to San Francisco by mainstream news accounts that had exaggerated the availability of Free: free food, free housing, free music, etc. The Diggers made an appeal to the city’s Episcopal clergy. These broadsides reprint how the meeting was reported on in the pages of the San Francisco Chronicle, with a little commentary in handwriting, probably from Chester Anderson. Click on each image to enlarge.

About this series:
Arthur Magazine is proud to present scans of essential documents produced by and about the San Francisco Diggers, who were in many ways the epicentral actors in the Haight-Ashbury during the epic, wildly imaginative period from late ‘66 through ‘67. The Diggers’ ideas and activities are essential counter-cultural history, sure, but they are also especially relevant to the current era, for reasons that should be obvious to the gentle Arthur reader.

Most of the documents that we are presenting are broadsides originally published on a Gestetner machine owned and operated in the Haight by the novelist/poet Chester Anderson and his protege/sidekick Claude Hayward, who used the name “Communication Company,” or more commonly, “Com/Co.” According to Claude, these broadsides were then “handed out on the street, page by page, super hot media, because the reader trusted the source, which was another freaky looking hippie who had handed it to him/her.”

Previously posted Diggers Papers:
http://www.arthurmag.com/contributors/diggers

Donate
You can be a patron of this series by making a tax-deductible donation to Arthur Magazine via our fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas: info here

Last week, a powerful blizzard paralyzed parts of the US midwest. Mike Hollingshead of Blair, Nebraska, walked outside after the storm and this is what he saw:

Sunlight shining through ice crystals had produced a bright pair of sundogs and a vivid circumzenithal arc. “These tend to appear on the backside of a storm’s clearing line as ice crystals blow through the air,” notes Hollingshead. “It’s a beautiful sight but not a ton of fun to photograph at 5o F with winds blowing 40 mph.”

About this document:
Author unknown.

About this series:
Arthur Magazine is proud to present scans of essential documents produced by and about the San Francisco Diggers, who were in many ways the epicentral actors in the Haight-Ashbury during the epic, wildly imaginative period from late ‘66 through ‘67. The Diggers’ ideas and activities are essential counter-cultural history, sure, but they are also especially relevant to the current era, for reasons that should be obvious to the gentle Arthur reader.

Most of the documents that we are presenting are broadsides originally published on a Gestetner machine owned and operated in the Haight by the novelist/poet Chester Anderson and his protege/sidekick Claude Hayward, who used the name “Communication Company,” or more commonly, “Com/Co.” According to Claude, these broadsides were then “handed out on the street, page by page, super hot media, because the reader trusted the source, which was another freaky looking hippie who had handed it to him/her.”

Previously posted Diggers Papers:
http://www.arthurmag.com/contributors/diggers

Donate
You can be a patron of this series by making a tax-deductible donation to Arthur Magazine via our fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas: info here

Sasha and I had had sex pretty much the first time we were alone together. Mostly because, given our introduction, it seemed like a stupid line to draw especially on the beach with the Rapture lapping at our feet. I’m sure Grace would have been disappointed. Falling back on cultural norms at the brink of crisis? Oh well. It looked like my lack of commitment to a more subversive sexual orientation was just going to be another way I failed the revolution. I tried to examine it through a critical lens. But I just saw people.

Download: ZAZEN, Chapter 30 — “Tiny Liver Hearts” (pdf)

The Story: It’s the very near-future, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest—or a neighborhood near you. 27-year-old Della Mylinek has suffered some kind of breakdown after failing to stop the construction of a local Walmart. In an attempt to regain psychological, financial and emotional stability, she’s moved in with her brother and his pregnant wife and taken a job waiting tables at a vegan restaurant. But her anger remains, and one thing leads to another…

“Zazen” Keywords: geology, veganism, the apocalypse, urban planning, yoga, sex parties, bombs, anarchism, aging new-left revolutionaries, strip malls, paleontology, dark hippies, transcendentalism, lavender hair dye.

The Author: Vanessa Veselka is a writer and musician living in Portland, Oregon. She has been, at various times, a teenage runaway, a sex-worker, a union organizer, a student of paleontology, an expatriate, an independent record label owner, a train-hopper, a waitress and a mother. Her work has appeared in Bust, Bitch, Maximum Rock ’n’ Roll, Yeti Magazine and Tin House. Zazen is her first novel. She is online at vanessaveselka.wordpress.com

The Serial: This is the concluding chapter of Zazen. Special thanks to Karin Bolender for making this project possible. Previous chapters are available for free download after the jump…

ZAZEN, Chapter 29 — “Della’s Mosaic” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 28 — “The Skateboard Sutta” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 27 — “Batholith” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 26 — “Road to Laos” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 25 — “La Rue des Oiseux” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 24 — “Hazard Maps”
ZAZEN, Chapter 23 — “Disco” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 22 — “Deer Teeth” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 21 — “Into the Snow” (62k, pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 20 — “Dancehall” (pdf, 99k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 19 — “The Sea Goat” (pdf, 57k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 18 — “Grace Mountain” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 17 — “The Avalanche Cabin” (pdf, 66k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 16 — “Breath of Soldiers” (pdf, 83k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 15 — “Head of John the Baptist” (pdf, 75k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 14 — “Two Rivers” (pdf, 84k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 13 — “Manifestation” (pdf, 94k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 12 — “Colony of the Elect” (pdf, 58k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 11 — “Church of Enlightened Capital” (pdf, 65k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 10 — “Venus Rodere” (pdf, 64k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 9 — “The Rat Queen” (pdf, 87k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 8 — “Lagerstätte” (pdf, 61k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 7 — “Cherry Blossoms” (pdf, 75k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 6 — “Aerial Map of Carnage” (pdf, 76k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 5 — “1 800 buy COAL” (pdf, 88k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 4 — “Asian Market” (pdf, 56k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 3 — “New Haiku” (pdf, 64k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 2 — “Pregnant Rats” (pdf, 81k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 1 — “Burning Ants” (pdf, 79k)

From David Halstead at Thrill Jockey:

It is with great sadness that I pass along this information, but I thought most of you would want to know. If you have not already heard, Jack Rose, masterful guitar player, dear friend and Philadelphia resident, suffered a heart attack on Saturday and passed away at the very young age of 38.

Memorial services will be held here:

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Visitation: 1:00 PM
Service: 2:00 PM

Visitation and services taking place at:
Bringhurst Funeral Home
225 Belmont Avenue
Bala Cynwyd PA 19004
610-668-9900

Interment to follow at:
West Laurel Hill Cemetery
215 Belmont Avenue
Bala Cynwyd PA 19004
610-664-1591

Please feel free to bring photos of Jack to display during the service.

Please join us to further honor our kin, friend and teacher Jack following the official services in Bala Cynwyd. We will be gathering at the Latvian Society of Philadelphia from 8pm to 2am to keep company, share memories and say further goodbyes. For Jack, friendship was an art, bringing people together was another of his gifts. We warmly welcome all to stop by, catch up with friends and family, and enjoy the company of those brought together by our dear Jack.

Latvian Society of Philadelphia
531 North 7th Street (7th and Spring Garden)
Philadelphia, PA 19123-3501

A website has also been created to honor Jack’s memory.

http://www.drragtime.com/

From a source inside Wheeler Hall at UC Berkeley:

“There’s an open occupation going on at the UC Berkeley campus right now in Wheeler Hall. We have been here since early Monday and have completely reclaimed the space. This is part of the struggle for Free Education. Boots Riley from the Coup is performing Friday at 9pm! More acts will play.”

The Wheeler Hall occupiers’ website/blog:
http://liveweek.net/

News account in the New York Times on the situ at San Francisco State University where 26 people were arrested this morning:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/education/11arrest.html

Keep an eye on:
http://reoccupied.wordpress.com/

From the Berkeley Daily Planet:

“UC Protesters Return to Wheeler Hall”
By Raymond Barglow

Having barricaded themselves in Wheeler Hall on Nov. 20, on the last day of a three-day strike, UC Berkeley students who oppose cuts to public education in California returned to Wheeler Monday night, Dec. 7.

But this time they said that they were appropriating the space for educational purposes rather than “occupying” it. The avowed intention of the protesters this week is to show that the university should rightfully be governed and run by those whom it directly affects: the students who learn in it, the faculty who teach in it, and the staff who provide services and maintenance.

This campus community has “shown the world that we can shut this university down,” the protest announcement says. “Now, we show that we can run our public university the way it should be—by the public.” The current aim is to transform Wheeler Hall into a “24-hour open university” during a week on campus that has traditionally been called “dead week”—a time at the end of the school term when students prepare to take their final examinations and hand in their term papers.

This most recent action began on the steps of Wheeler at 2:30 p.m. That evening, Professor Meister from UC Santa Cruz addressed the students in Wheeler auditorium. He talked about the way that UC is representing its financial situation to the world, “The administration is telling us that the problem is so big, so determined by global factors, that nothing can be done.”

Meister says, though, that research he and other faculty have done into university finances indicates that the crisis has been manufactured by the UC Regents themselves, and that there is no assurance that revenue from the hikes in student fees will be used to restore classes, jobs, or services that have recently been eliminated. On the contrary, says Meister, student fees may be used to securitize bonds that will pay for the future construction of new buildings.

In his talk to the students in Wheeler, Meister said that UC is adopting the pricing model of private universities: education will be a commodity purchasable on the market like any other. But what this means, in Meister’s view, is that UC’s Master Plan will abandon its commitment to affordability. The university has never fully lived up to that commitment, he points out, but now it proposes to repudiate it entirely. Only students who are wealthy enough to pay for their own education will receive one, Meister says. As at Stanford, so at UC.

Meister sees a possible solution in the raising of taxes on California’s highest income earners. The barrier to doing this, he says, is political: “Those 2 to 3 percent of the population run things in California. They are also the people who contribute disproportionally to political campaigns, and they are represented on the Board of Regents.

Meister issued a challenge to advocates of public higher education, asking them to democratize the regents, to make the university’s finances transparent, and to restore public trust that the university will serve all Californians. “I do not think that there can be higher taxation without higher trust,” Meister said. “One of the problems of UC is that is that it has lost public trust … . Unless UC is accountable for its own money, it cannot ask the public for more support.”

Following Meister’s talk, those inside Wheeler auditorium were ordered by UC police to leave. The group discussed whether or not to comply with this demand, and voted to stay. A widely shared sentiment was that “This building is really our building—it should serve those of us being educated, not the police or the administration—so we should be able to remain here.”

Near midnight on Monday, the police backed down on their threat to take action against the students, and so about 70 of them bedded down for the night in the space that they are calling an “open university.” They invite the entire university community to share this space with them, and they intend to hold it open 24 hours a day, Monday through Friday of this week.

Download: ZAZEN, Chapter 29 — “Della’s Mosaic” (pdf)

The Story: It’s the very near-future, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest—or a neighborhood near you. 27-year-old Della Mylinek has suffered some kind of breakdown after failing to stop the construction of a local Walmart. In an attempt to regain psychological, financial and emotional stability, she’s moved in with her brother and his pregnant wife and taken a job waiting tables at a vegan restaurant. But her anger remains, and one thing leads to another…

“Zazen” Keywords: geology, veganism, the apocalypse, urban planning, yoga, sex parties, bombs, anarchism, aging new-left revolutionaries, strip malls, paleontology, dark hippies, transcendentalism, lavender hair dye.

The Author: Vanessa Veselka is a writer and musician living in Portland, Oregon. She has been, at various times, a teenage runaway, a sex-worker, a union organizer, a student of paleontology, an expatriate, an independent record label owner, a train-hopper, a waitress and a mother. Her work has appeared in Bust, Bitch, Maximum Rock ’n’ Roll, Yeti Magazine and Tin House. Zazen is her first novel. She is online at vanessaveselka.wordpress.com

The Serial: ZAZEN concludes on Friday, December 11 with Chapter 30.

Previous chapters available for download after the jump…

ZAZEN, Chapter 28 — “The Skateboard Sutta” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 27 — “Batholith” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 26 — “Road to Laos” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 25 — “La Rue des Oiseux” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 24 — “Hazard Maps”
ZAZEN, Chapter 23 — “Disco” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 22 — “Deer Teeth” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 21 — “Into the Snow” (62k, pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 20 — “Dancehall” (pdf, 99k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 19 — “The Sea Goat” (pdf, 57k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 18 — “Grace Mountain” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 17 — “The Avalanche Cabin” (pdf, 66k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 16 — “Breath of Soldiers” (pdf, 83k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 15 — “Head of John the Baptist” (pdf, 75k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 14 — “Two Rivers” (pdf, 84k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 13 — “Manifestation” (pdf, 94k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 12 — “Colony of the Elect” (pdf, 58k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 11 — “Church of Enlightened Capital” (pdf, 65k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 10 — “Venus Rodere” (pdf, 64k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 9 — “The Rat Queen” (pdf, 87k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 8 — “Lagerstätte” (pdf, 61k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 7 — “Cherry Blossoms” (pdf, 75k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 6 — “Aerial Map of Carnage” (pdf, 76k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 5 — “1 800 buy COAL” (pdf, 88k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 4 — “Asian Market” (pdf, 56k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 3 — “New Haiku” (pdf, 64k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 2 — “Pregnant Rats” (pdf, 81k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 1 — “Burning Ants” (pdf, 79k)

Download: ZAZEN, Chapter 28 — “The Skateboard Sutta”

The Story: It’s the very near-future, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest—or a neighborhood near you. 27-year-old Della Mylinek has suffered some kind of breakdown after failing to stop the construction of a local Walmart. In an attempt to regain psychological, financial and emotional stability, she’s moved in with her brother and his pregnant wife and taken a job waiting tables at a vegan restaurant. But her anger remains, and one thing leads to another…

“Zazen” Keywords: geology, veganism, the apocalypse, urban planning, yoga, sex parties, bombs, anarchism, aging new-left revolutionaries, strip malls, paleontology, dark hippies, transcendentalism, lavender hair dye.

The Author: Vanessa Veselka is a writer and musician living in Portland, Oregon. She has been, at various times, a teenage runaway, a sex-worker, a union organizer, a student of paleontology, an expatriate, an independent record label owner, a train-hopper, a waitress and a mother. Her work has appeared in Bust, Bitch, Maximum Rock ’n’ Roll, Yeti Magazine and Tin House. Zazen is her first novel. She is online at vanessaveselka.wordpress.com

The Serial: Chapter 29 of ZAZEN will be posted Thursday, December 10. There are 30 chapters in all.

Previous chapters available for download after the jump…

ZAZEN, Chapter 27 — “Batholith”
ZAZEN, Chapter 26 — “Road to Laos” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 25 — “La Rue des Oiseux” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 24 — “Hazard Maps”
ZAZEN, Chapter 23 — “Disco” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 22 — “Deer Teeth” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 21 — “Into the Snow” (62k, pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 20 — “Dancehall” (pdf, 99k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 19 — “The Sea Goat” (pdf, 57k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 18 — “Grace Mountain” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 17 — “The Avalanche Cabin” (pdf, 66k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 16 — “Breath of Soldiers” (pdf, 83k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 15 — “Head of John the Baptist” (pdf, 75k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 14 — “Two Rivers” (pdf, 84k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 13 — “Manifestation” (pdf, 94k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 12 — “Colony of the Elect” (pdf, 58k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 11 — “Church of Enlightened Capital” (pdf, 65k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 10 — “Venus Rodere” (pdf, 64k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 9 — “The Rat Queen” (pdf, 87k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 8 — “Lagerstätte” (pdf, 61k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 7 — “Cherry Blossoms” (pdf, 75k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 6 — “Aerial Map of Carnage” (pdf, 76k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 5 — “1 800 buy COAL” (pdf, 88k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 4 — “Asian Market” (pdf, 56k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 3 — “New Haiku” (pdf, 64k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 2 — “Pregnant Rats” (pdf, 81k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 1 — “Burning Ants” (pdf, 79k)

I could easily see it on fire. The wicker dogs, the prom dresses, the camouflage strollers burning. It was beautiful and I couldn’t remember why I wanted to stop it. I think that if I had had a bag full of explosives, I might have let it slip, or forgotten it by the greeting cards and silver balloons with the superheroes on them and the ribbons trailing down to tie the fat baby hands to a generation of merchandising, I might have left it there. But I didn’t have a backpack with a bomb in it and if anybody was going to blow up the Superland™ Walmart, it was going to be me. Not some fucking crusty punk…

Download: ZAZEN, Chapter 27 — “Batholith”

The Story: It’s the very near-future, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest—or a neighborhood near you. 27-year-old Della Mylinek has suffered some kind of breakdown after failing to stop the construction of a local Walmart. In an attempt to regain psychological, financial and emotional stability, she’s moved in with her brother and his pregnant wife and taken a job waiting tables at a vegan restaurant. But her anger remains, and one thing leads to another…

“Zazen” Keywords: geology, veganism, the apocalypse, urban planning, yoga, sex parties, bombs, anarchism, aging new-left revolutionaries, strip malls, paleontology, dark hippies, transcendentalism, lavender hair dye.

The Author: Vanessa Veselka is a writer and musician living in Portland, Oregon. She has been, at various times, a teenage runaway, a sex-worker, a union organizer, a student of paleontology, an expatriate, an independent record label owner, a train-hopper, a waitress and a mother. Her work has appeared in Bust, Bitch, Maximum Rock ’n’ Roll, Yeti Magazine and Tin House. Zazen is her first novel. She is online at vanessaveselka.wordpress.com

The Serial: Chapter 28 of ZAZEN will be posted Wednesday, December 9. There are 30 chapters in all.

Previous chapters available for download after the jump…

ZAZEN, Chapter 26 — “Road to Laos” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 25 — “La Rue des Oiseux” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 24 — “Hazard Maps”
ZAZEN, Chapter 23 — “Disco” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 22 — “Deer Teeth” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 21 — “Into the Snow” (62k, pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 20 — “Dancehall” (pdf, 99k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 19 — “The Sea Goat” (pdf, 57k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 18 — “Grace Mountain” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 17 — “The Avalanche Cabin” (pdf, 66k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 16 — “Breath of Soldiers” (pdf, 83k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 15 — “Head of John the Baptist” (pdf, 75k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 14 — “Two Rivers” (pdf, 84k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 13 — “Manifestation” (pdf, 94k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 12 — “Colony of the Elect” (pdf, 58k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 11 — “Church of Enlightened Capital” (pdf, 65k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 10 — “Venus Rodere” (pdf, 64k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 9 — “The Rat Queen” (pdf, 87k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 8 — “Lagerstätte” (pdf, 61k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 7 — “Cherry Blossoms” (pdf, 75k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 6 — “Aerial Map of Carnage” (pdf, 76k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 5 — “1 800 buy COAL” (pdf, 88k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 4 — “Asian Market” (pdf, 56k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 3 — “New Haiku” (pdf, 64k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 2 — “Pregnant Rats” (pdf, 81k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 1 — “Burning Ants” (pdf, 79k)

Ben Chasny, Chris Corsano, and Richard Bishop live at the Sunset Tavern in Seattle (photo by Joe Mabel)

Or they’ll stop selling you cheap shit made by slaves and cared for by cannibals who’d fish out their own pancreas if you gave them a hook? It was just another reason I didn’t mind leaving.

Download: ZAZEN, Chapter 26 — “Road to Laos” (pdf)

The Story: It’s the very near-future, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest—or a neighborhood near you. 27-year-old Della Mylinek has suffered some kind of breakdown after failing to stop the construction of a local Walmart. In an attempt to regain psychological, financial and emotional stability, she’s moved in with her brother and his pregnant wife and taken a job waiting tables at a vegan restaurant. But her anger remains, and one thing leads to another…

“Zazen” Keywords: geology, veganism, the apocalypse, urban planning, yoga, sex parties, bombs, anarchism, aging new-left revolutionaries, strip malls, paleontology, dark hippies, transcendentalism, lavender hair dye.

The Author: Vanessa Veselka is a writer and musician living in Portland, Oregon. She has been, at various times, a teenage runaway, a sex-worker, a union organizer, a student of paleontology, an expatriate, an independent record label owner, a train-hopper, a waitress and a mother. Her work has appeared in Bust, Bitch, Maximum Rock ’n’ Roll, Yeti Magazine and Tin House. Zazen is her first novel. She is online at vanessaveselka.wordpress.com

The Serial: Chapter 27 of ZAZEN will be posted Tuesday, December 8. There are 30 chapters in all.

Previous chapters available for download after the jump…

ZAZEN, Chapter 25 — “La Rue des Oiseux” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 24 — “Hazard Maps”
ZAZEN, Chapter 23 — “Disco” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 22 — “Deer Teeth” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 21 — “Into the Snow” (62k, pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 20 — “Dancehall” (pdf, 99k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 19 — “The Sea Goat” (pdf, 57k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 18 — “Grace Mountain” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 17 — “The Avalanche Cabin” (pdf, 66k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 16 — “Breath of Soldiers” (pdf, 83k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 15 — “Head of John the Baptist” (pdf, 75k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 14 — “Two Rivers” (pdf, 84k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 13 — “Manifestation” (pdf, 94k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 12 — “Colony of the Elect” (pdf, 58k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 11 — “Church of Enlightened Capital” (pdf, 65k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 10 — “Venus Rodere” (pdf, 64k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 9 — “The Rat Queen” (pdf, 87k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 8 — “Lagerstätte” (pdf, 61k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 7 — “Cherry Blossoms” (pdf, 75k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 6 — “Aerial Map of Carnage” (pdf, 76k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 5 — “1 800 buy COAL” (pdf, 88k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 4 — “Asian Market” (pdf, 56k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 3 — “New Haiku” (pdf, 64k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 2 — “Pregnant Rats” (pdf, 81k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 1 — “Burning Ants” (pdf, 79k)

Stream:

“These Flowers Never Die” (mp3)

Titular psych-stormer off The Phantom Family Halo’s new double LP, Monoliths & These Flowers Never Die, now available from the good people at Karate Body Records of Louisville, Kentucky.

The Phantom Family Halo are currently on tour. Remaining dates:

DEC 6 – Montreal QC, Il Motore
DEC 7 – Toronto ON, Lee’s Place
DEC 9 – Kalamazoo MI, The Strut
DEC 10 – Cleveland OH, The Grog Shop
DEC 11 – Louisville KY, Skull Alley

From Machine Project:

Echo Park Medicinal Forage with Nance Klehm

Wednesday, Dec 9th, 2009
7-8:30pm

Cost: $15/person

An after dark exploration of the sidewalk cracks around Machine Project for local medicinal plants, led by Nance Klehm. Get ready for the long winter dry, cold haul with simple knowledge on how to identify common wild plants that can be used in herbal remedies.

Nance Klehm is a radical ecologist, designer, urban forager, grower and teacher. Her solo and collaborative work focuses on creating participatory social ecologies in response to a direct experience of a place. She grows and forages much of her own food in a densely urban area. She actively composts food, landscape and human waste. She only uses a flush toilet when no other option is available. She designed and currently manages a large scale, closed-loop vermicompost project at a downtown homeless shelter where cafeteria food waste becomes four tons of worm castings a year which in turn is used as the soil that grows food to return to the cafeteria.

More information on Nance can be found at her website, here: http://www.spontaneousvegetation.net/

I let ignorance radiate. It was a quiet and gentle freedom, utterly foreign…

Download: ZAZEN, Chapter 25 — “La Rue des Oiseux” (pdf)

The Story: It’s the very near-future, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest—or a neighborhood near you. 27-year-old Della Mylinek has suffered some kind of breakdown after failing to stop the construction of a local Walmart. In an attempt to regain psychological, financial and emotional stability, she’s moved in with her brother and his pregnant wife and taken a job waiting tables at a vegan restaurant. But her anger remains, and one thing leads to another…

“Zazen” Keywords: geology, veganism, the apocalypse, urban planning, yoga, sex parties, bombs, anarchism, aging new-left revolutionaries, strip malls, paleontology, dark hippies, transcendentalism, lavender hair dye.

The Author: Vanessa Veselka is a writer and musician living in Portland, Oregon. She has been, at various times, a teenage runaway, a sex-worker, a union organizer, a student of paleontology, an expatriate, an independent record label owner, a train-hopper, a waitress and a mother. Her work has appeared in Bust, Bitch, Maximum Rock ’n’ Roll, Yeti Magazine and Tin House. Zazen is her first novel. She is online at vanessaveselka.wordpress.com

The Serial: Chapter 26 of ZAZEN will be posted Monday, December 7. There are 30 chapters in all.

Previous chapters available for download after the jump…

ZAZEN, Chapter 24 — “Hazard Maps”
ZAZEN, Chapter 23 — “Disco” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 22 — “Deer Teeth” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 21 — “Into the Snow” (62k, pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 20 — “Dancehall” (pdf, 99k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 19 — “The Sea Goat” (pdf, 57k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 18 — “Grace Mountain” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 17 — “The Avalanche Cabin” (pdf, 66k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 16 — “Breath of Soldiers” (pdf, 83k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 15 — “Head of John the Baptist” (pdf, 75k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 14 — “Two Rivers” (pdf, 84k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 13 — “Manifestation” (pdf, 94k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 12 — “Colony of the Elect” (pdf, 58k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 11 — “Church of Enlightened Capital” (pdf, 65k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 10 — “Venus Rodere” (pdf, 64k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 9 — “The Rat Queen” (pdf, 87k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 8 — “Lagerstätte” (pdf, 61k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 7 — “Cherry Blossoms” (pdf, 75k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 6 — “Aerial Map of Carnage” (pdf, 76k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 5 — “1 800 buy COAL” (pdf, 88k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 4 — “Asian Market” (pdf, 56k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 3 — “New Haiku” (pdf, 64k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 2 — “Pregnant Rats” (pdf, 81k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 1 — “Burning Ants” (pdf, 79k)

Download: ZAZEN, Chapter 24 — “Hazard Maps”

The Story: It’s the very near-future, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest—or a neighborhood near you. 27-year-old Della Mylinek has suffered some kind of breakdown after failing to stop the construction of a local Walmart. In an attempt to regain psychological, financial and emotional stability, she’s moved in with her brother and his pregnant wife and taken a job waiting tables at a vegan restaurant. But her anger remains, and one thing leads to another…

“Zazen” Keywords: geology, veganism, the apocalypse, urban planning, yoga, sex parties, bombs, anarchism, aging new-left revolutionaries, strip malls, paleontology, dark hippies, transcendentalism, lavender hair dye.

The Author: Vanessa Veselka is a writer and musician living in Portland, Oregon. She has been, at various times, a teenage runaway, a sex-worker, a union organizer, a student of paleontology, an expatriate, an independent record label owner, a train-hopper, a waitress and a mother. Her work has appeared in Bust, Bitch, Maximum Rock ’n’ Roll, Yeti Magazine and Tin House. Zazen is her first novel. She is online at vanessaveselka.wordpress.com

The Serial: Chapter 25 of ZAZEN will be posted Friday, December 4. There are 30 chapters in all.

Previous chapters available for download after the jump…

ZAZEN, Chapter 23 — “Disco” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 22 — “Deer Teeth” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 21 — “Into the Snow” (62k, pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 20 — “Dancehall” (pdf, 99k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 19 — “The Sea Goat” (pdf, 57k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 18 — “Grace Mountain” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 17 — “The Avalanche Cabin” (pdf, 66k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 16 — “Breath of Soldiers” (pdf, 83k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 15 — “Head of John the Baptist” (pdf, 75k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 14 — “Two Rivers” (pdf, 84k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 13 — “Manifestation” (pdf, 94k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 12 — “Colony of the Elect” (pdf, 58k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 11 — “Church of Enlightened Capital” (pdf, 65k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 10 — “Venus Rodere” (pdf, 64k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 9 — “The Rat Queen” (pdf, 87k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 8 — “Lagerstätte” (pdf, 61k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 7 — “Cherry Blossoms” (pdf, 75k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 6 — “Aerial Map of Carnage” (pdf, 76k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 5 — “1 800 buy COAL” (pdf, 88k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 4 — “Asian Market” (pdf, 56k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 3 — “New Haiku” (pdf, 64k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 2 — “Pregnant Rats” (pdf, 81k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 1 — “Burning Ants” (pdf, 79k)

Download: ZAZEN, Chapter 23 — “Disco” (pdf)

The Story: It’s the very near-future, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest—or a neighborhood near you. 27-year-old Della Mylinek has suffered some kind of breakdown after failing to stop the construction of a local Walmart. In an attempt to regain psychological, financial and emotional stability, she’s moved in with her brother and his pregnant wife and taken a job waiting tables at a vegan restaurant. But her anger remains, and one thing leads to another…

“Zazen” Keywords: geology, veganism, the apocalypse, urban planning, yoga, sex parties, bombs, anarchism, aging new-left revolutionaries, strip malls, paleontology, dark hippies, transcendentalism, lavender hair dye.

The Author: Vanessa Veselka is a writer and musician living in Portland, Oregon. She has been, at various times, a teenage runaway, a sex-worker, a union organizer, a student of paleontology, an expatriate, an independent record label owner, a train-hopper, a waitress and a mother. Her work has appeared in Bust, Bitch, Maximum Rock ’n’ Roll, Yeti Magazine and Tin House. Zazen is her first novel. She is online at vanessaveselka.wordpress.com

The Serial: Chapter 24 of ZAZEN will be posted Thursday, December 3. There are 30 chapters in all.

Previous chapters available for download after the jump…

ZAZEN, Chapter 22 — “Deer Teeth” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 21 — “Into the Snow” (62k, pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 20 — “Dancehall” (pdf, 99k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 19 — “The Sea Goat” (pdf, 57k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 18 — “Grace Mountain” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 17 — “The Avalanche Cabin” (pdf, 66k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 16 — “Breath of Soldiers” (pdf, 83k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 15 — “Head of John the Baptist” (pdf, 75k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 14 — “Two Rivers” (pdf, 84k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 13 — “Manifestation” (pdf, 94k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 12 — “Colony of the Elect” (pdf, 58k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 11 — “Church of Enlightened Capital” (pdf, 65k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 10 — “Venus Rodere” (pdf, 64k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 9 — “The Rat Queen” (pdf, 87k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 8 — “Lagerstätte” (pdf, 61k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 7 — “Cherry Blossoms” (pdf, 75k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 6 — “Aerial Map of Carnage” (pdf, 76k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 5 — “1 800 buy COAL” (pdf, 88k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 4 — “Asian Market” (pdf, 56k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 3 — “New Haiku” (pdf, 64k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 2 — “Pregnant Rats” (pdf, 81k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 1 — “Burning Ants” (pdf, 79k)

Spectre Event Horizon Group
http://spectregroup.org

OPEN DATASHARE CULLED FROM PUBLIC INFORMATION SEARCHES; A COMMUNITY BACKUP OF DATA IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST

—————————————–
things to talk about at parties
—————————————–

XXXXX SPECTRE PRIORITY XXXXX

Before we had a name, the Spectre Event Horizon Group used to meet at a bar to commiserate and trade what our business friends like to call best practices. The group has expanded since then, but remains premised on smartening the crowd mind. There are no subject limits; our favorite is the always incredible sci-fi present, and anything that goes toward a better understanding of human behavior and our universe’s ecology. Our basic idea is to connect minds with mind-blowing information and create a space for the informal trade of specialized investigative research, presented for the non-specialist.

The Spectre email list, which is a separate group from this column, is a moderated open forum. People are encouraged to join and to post.

Contact us at spectre.event.horizon.groupgmail.com or spectregroup.org.

SPECTRE on Arthur: http://www.arthurmag.com/author/spectre/

Download: ZAZEN, Chapter 22 — “Deer Teeth” (pdf)

The Story: It’s the very near-future, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest—or a neighborhood near you. 27-year-old Della Mylinek has suffered some kind of breakdown after failing to stop the construction of a local Walmart. In an attempt to regain psychological, financial and emotional stability, she’s moved in with her brother and his pregnant wife and taken a job waiting tables at a vegan restaurant. But her anger remains, and one thing leads to another…

“Zazen” Keywords: geology, veganism, the apocalypse, urban planning, yoga, sex parties, bombs, anarchism, aging new-left revolutionaries, strip malls, paleontology, dark hippies, transcendentalism, lavender hair dye.

The Author: Vanessa Veselka is a writer and musician living in Portland, Oregon. She has been, at various times, a teenage runaway, a sex-worker, a union organizer, a student of paleontology, an expatriate, an independent record label owner, a train-hopper, a waitress and a mother. Her work has appeared in Bust, Bitch, Maximum Rock ’n’ Roll, Yeti Magazine and Tin House. Zazen is her first novel. She is online at vanessaveselka.wordpress.com

The Serial: Chapter 22 of ZAZEN will be posted Tuesday, December 1. There are 30 chapters in all.

Previous chapters available for download after the jump…

ZAZEN, Chapter 21 — “Into the Snow” (62k, pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 20 — “Dancehall” (pdf, 99k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 19 — “The Sea Goat” (pdf, 57k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 18 — “Grace Mountain” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 17 — “The Avalanche Cabin” (pdf, 66k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 16 — “Breath of Soldiers” (pdf, 83k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 15 — “Head of John the Baptist” (pdf, 75k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 14 — “Two Rivers” (pdf, 84k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 13 — “Manifestation” (pdf, 94k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 12 — “Colony of the Elect” (pdf, 58k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 11 — “Church of Enlightened Capital” (pdf, 65k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 10 — “Venus Rodere” (pdf, 64k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 9 — “The Rat Queen” (pdf, 87k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 8 — “Lagerstätte” (pdf, 61k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 7 — “Cherry Blossoms” (pdf, 75k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 6 — “Aerial Map of Carnage” (pdf, 76k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 5 — “1 800 buy COAL” (pdf, 88k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 4 — “Asian Market” (pdf, 56k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 3 — “New Haiku” (pdf, 64k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 2 — “Pregnant Rats” (pdf, 81k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 1 — “Burning Ants” (pdf, 79k)

Discussed: Sigmund Freud, Terence McKenna, Georges Bataille

Audio files of Peter Lamborn Wilson lectures are available at archive.org

Download: ZAZEN, Chapter 21 — “Into the Snow” (62k, pdf)

The Story: It’s the very near-future, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest—or a neighborhood near you. 27-year-old Della Mylinek has suffered some kind of breakdown after failing to stop the construction of a local Walmart. In an attempt to regain psychological, financial and emotional stability, she’s moved in with her brother and his pregnant wife and taken a job waiting tables at a vegan restaurant. But her anger remains, and one thing leads to another…

“Zazen” Keywords: geology, veganism, the apocalypse, urban planning, yoga, sex parties, bombs, anarchism, aging new-left revolutionaries, strip malls, paleontology, dark hippies, transcendentalism, lavender hair dye.

The Author: Vanessa Veselka is a writer and musician living in Portland, Oregon. She has been, at various times, a teenage runaway, a sex-worker, a union organizer, a student of paleontology, an expatriate, an independent record label owner, a train-hopper, a waitress and a mother. Her work has appeared in Bust, Bitch, Maximum Rock ’n’ Roll, Yeti Magazine and Tin House. Zazen is her first novel. She is online at vanessaveselka.wordpress.com

The Serial: Chapter 22 of ZAZEN will be posted Tuesday, December 1. There are 30 chapters in all.

Previous chapters available for download after the jump…

ZAZEN, Chapter 20 — “Dancehall” (pdf, 99k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 19 — “The Sea Goat” (pdf, 57k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 18 — “Grace Mountain” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 17 — “The Avalanche Cabin” (pdf, 66k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 16 — “Breath of Soldiers” (pdf, 83k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 15 — “Head of John the Baptist” (pdf, 75k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 14 — “Two Rivers” (pdf, 84k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 13 — “Manifestation” (pdf, 94k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 12 — “Colony of the Elect” (pdf, 58k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 11 — “Church of Enlightened Capital” (pdf, 65k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 10 — “Venus Rodere” (pdf, 64k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 9 — “The Rat Queen” (pdf, 87k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 8 — “Lagerstätte” (pdf, 61k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 7 — “Cherry Blossoms” (pdf, 75k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 6 — “Aerial Map of Carnage” (pdf, 76k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 5 — “1 800 buy COAL” (pdf, 88k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 4 — “Asian Market” (pdf, 56k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 3 — “New Haiku” (pdf, 64k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 2 — “Pregnant Rats” (pdf, 81k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 1 — “Burning Ants” (pdf, 79k)

Stream:

Download: Jeff Buckley & Elizabeth Fraser – “All Flowers In Time Bend Towards The Sun” (unfinished) (mp3)

“Red,” I said and slipped the bracelet she handed me onto my wrist…

Download:
ZAZEN, Chapter 20 — “Dancehall” (pdf, 99k)

The Story: It’s the very near-future, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest—or a neighborhood near you. 27-year-old Della Mylinek has suffered some kind of breakdown after failing to stop the construction of a local Walmart. In an attempt to regain psychological, financial and emotional stability, she’s moved in with her brother and his pregnant wife and taken a job waiting tables at a vegan restaurant. But her anger remains, and one thing leads to another…

“Zazen” Keywords: geology, veganism, the apocalypse, urban planning, yoga, sex parties, bombs, anarchism, aging new-left revolutionaries, strip malls, paleontology, dark hippies, transcendentalism, lavender hair dye.

The Author: Vanessa Veselka is a writer and musician living in Portland, Oregon. She has been, at various times, a teenage runaway, a sex-worker, a union organizer, a student of paleontology, an expatriate, an independent record label owner, a train-hopper, a waitress and a mother. Her work has appeared in Bust, Bitch, Maximum Rock ’n’ Roll, Yeti Magazine and Tin House. Zazen is her first novel. She is online at vanessaveselka.wordpress.com

The Serial: Chapter 20 of ZAZEN will be posted Thursday, November 25. There are 30 chapters in all.

Previous chapters available for download after the jump…

ZAZEN, Chapter 19 — “The Sea Goat” (pdf, 57k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 18 — “Grace Mountain” (pdf)
ZAZEN, Chapter 17 — “The Avalanche Cabin” (pdf, 66k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 16 — “Breath of Soldiers” (pdf, 83k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 15 — “Head of John the Baptist” (pdf, 75k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 14 — “Two Rivers” (pdf, 84k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 13 — “Manifestation” (pdf, 94k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 12 — “Colony of the Elect” (pdf, 58k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 11 — “Church of Enlightened Capital” (pdf, 65k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 10 — “Venus Rodere” (pdf, 64k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 9 — “The Rat Queen” (pdf, 87k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 8 — “Lagerstätte” (pdf, 61k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 7 — “Cherry Blossoms” (pdf, 75k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 6 — “Aerial Map of Carnage” (pdf, 76k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 5 — “1 800 buy COAL” (pdf, 88k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 4 — “Asian Market” (pdf, 56k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 3 — “New Haiku” (pdf, 64k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 2 — “Pregnant Rats” (pdf, 81k)
ZAZEN, Chapter 1 — “Burning Ants” (pdf, 79k)