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Straight Up | Herman

Arts, Media & Culture News with 'tude

You are here: Home / 2017 / Archives for September 2017

Archives for September 2017

Writer on a Rampage

September 26, 2017 by Jan Herman

Writer on a Rampage

In a tribute to the late German author Carl Weissner, who wrote experimental fiction in both English and German in addition to translating more than 100 books by dissident American and British authors, the literary scholar Tomasz Stompor delivered a paper on Weissner's novel, Death in Paris, at a recent meeting of the European Beat Studies Network. Here it is: Thoughts on Death in Paris – fiction, translation, violence, and locale by Tomasz Stompor Placed within the thematic focus of this year’s conference “collaboration, publication, … [Read more...]

Created Image = Moment in Time

September 25, 2017 by Jan Herman

Created Image = Moment in Time

Speaking of maps (per William Burroughs), Malcolm Mc Neill has something to say: MAPS from Malcolm Mc Neill on Vimeo. Music from "Elements" by Ludovico Einaudi. A CREATED IMAGE is the map of a moment in TIME, embedded within it are all the energies that occurred during its making: the sounds, the feelings, the people, the places, even the weather are locked inside it. When combined with others, images constitute a unique form of landscape. MAPS is an attempt to see the big picture, the sum of the parts, and to understand the nature … [Read more...]

Are You a Facebook Lemming?

September 25, 2017 by Jan Herman

Are You a Facebook Lemming?

I disliked Facebook from the very beginning. Resisted it at first. Refused to open an account. But everybody was using it, so I figured I had to see what it is. To do that required an account. As soon as I opened one, I decided Facebook wasn't for me. I tried to close the account but couldn't figure out how. So I let it sit unused. That was years ago. Then my staff of thousands told me I should exploit it for blog traffic. I gave in and began posting there. Not often, but often enough to become a Facebook lemming. I won't be posting on Facebook … [Read more...]

A Book With Extra Thrust

September 23, 2017 by Jan Herman

A Book With Extra Thrust

This is the way to promote a book, especially when it won't be available on Amazon or Barnes & Noble websites and won't be readily distributed to brick-and-mortar bookstores: Click to view Rocket 88's webpage for In the Sixties: Illustrated. … [Read more...]

Beat Conference: ‘Paris Interzone’ 2017

September 18, 2017 by Jan Herman

Beat Conference: ‘Paris Interzone’ 2017

I wish I could be there when the European Beat Studies Network meets in Paris on Wednesday. Douglas Field (University of Manchester) will give a presentation about Harold Norse's "Cosmographs." I remember seeing them on the wall of Norse's room at the Beat Hotel more than 50 years ago. As I've written in My Adventures in Fugitive Literature and in a new edition of The Z Collection, to be published by Blue Wind Press, Norse was very proud of them. They had been exhibited with a commentary by William Burroughs, which was not only "effusive," as … [Read more...]

A Dimension Not Visible

September 13, 2017 by Jan Herman

A Dimension Not Visible

“ALL DRAWING 
FROM THE 
IMAGINATION I'D 
CONSIDER A FORM
 OF AUTOMATIC
 DRAWING; IF IT
 EXISTS, IT WILL 
EXIST ONLY FOR 
THE FIRST TIME.” -- Gerard Bellaart Profile of an Artist by Gabriel Solomons (first published in Decode Magazine, INTELLECT: Publishers of Original Thinking) GS: Where do your images come from? GB: I think they arise from an instinctive tendency to not look for semblances or analogies. Meaning, to find all that which tries to happen in spite of me; the inevitable association or metaphor of a form, rather than … [Read more...]

Paraphilia: Requiescat in Pace

September 10, 2017 by Jan Herman

<i>Paraphilia:</i> Requiescat in Pace

Paraphilia Magazine officially ceased to be an active publication on September 1, 2017. It was an uninhibited online publication that featured a variety of content "likely not found in the average publication," according to its publisher, Dire McCain. Her primary motive was to enable writers and artists to escape "the grip" of the art and design industries. Between March 2009 and December 2012, the magazine appeared in the form of a journal, with 16 issues produced. The issue format was then retired, and in March 2013, the magazine morphed … [Read more...]

Fantagraphics Has the Frontier Spirit

September 5, 2017 by Jan Herman

Fantagraphics Has the Frontier Spirit

Last time we looked Paul Buhle and Noah Van Sciver's comic art biography of John Chapman, otherwise known as Johnny Appleseed, was published in a paperback edition by Alternative Comics. That was a year ago. It is now being re-issued in hardcover and digital editions by Fantagraphics Books. The production, typical of Fantagraphics, is gorgeous. Of course the hardcover is printed in China, a frontier of affordable book printing for publishers the world over. Everything we reported about the content of the Alternative Comics edition is still … [Read more...]

Jan Herman

When not listening to Bach or Cuban jazz pianist Chucho Valdes, or dancing to salsa, I like to play jazz piano -- but only in the privacy of my own mind.
Another strange fact... Read More…

About

Straight Up

The agenda is just what it says: news of arts, media & culture delivered with attitude. Or as Rock Hudson once said in a movie: "Man is the only … [Read More...]

Books ‘n’ Stuff

I'm the author of several books, including The Z Collection: Portraits & Sketches, just published by Blue Wind Press in a new 2018 edition. My … [Read More...]

My Checkered Career

I've been a staff writer covering arts and culture at the Los Angeles Times, a reporter and movie reviewer at The Daily News in New York, a reporter … [Read More...]

Archives

Recent Comments

  • william osborne on ‘For Sure Verboten’

    Good to see someone on AJ address this issue. Many implications for the American arts world and its plutocratic...
    Posted Apr 21, 2018
  • Gary Lee-Nova on Speaking for Myself

    A fine poem, Sir!
    Posted Mar 23, 2018
  • Gary Lee-Nova on Once Upon a Time in India . . .

    Astonishing! This publication reminds me of GNAOUA, Number One: 1964. Nice post, Jan! Thank you.
    Posted Mar 23, 2018
  • Gary Lee-Nova on Spike, Smalls, and Mezzrow

    Wow! Just Wow! The presence of the internet outlets/interfaces in relation to the bricks-and-mortar operations is quite astonishing. "Wilner..." Hmmmm......
    Posted Mar 17, 2018
  • Gary Lee-Nova on Poland Dials the Wrong Number

    William, you have posted a set of important questions. And thank you for the mention of "Wir haben es gesehen,"...
    Posted Mar 08, 2018
  • william osborne on Poland Dials the Wrong Number

    It's interesting to put this theme in the context of how the Nazis coerced people in occupied countries to participate...
    Posted Mar 01, 2018
  • Rolf Potts on R. Crumb Classic Portraits

    Love these.
    Posted Feb 28, 2018
  • Jay Jeff Jones on R. Crumb Classic Portraits

    CP's is the Crumbest of them all, but they'd make a great run of postage stamps, to go on all...
    Posted Feb 22, 2018
  • Charles Plymell on R. Crumb Classic Portraits

    Kerouac looks just as he was : A Republican momma's boy on bottle who couldn't drive Neal's stick shift. ...
    Posted Feb 20, 2018
  • Bill Marvel on R. Crumb Classic Portraits

    A very great artist who, like Blake, will someday receive his due.
    Posted Feb 20, 2018

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