So how do you, in the words of Heathcote Williams, "turn a plutocratic oaf into a lovable national treasure instead of a casually racist and unthinking parasite"? With difficulty. Unless you can get the press behind you and send Prince Harry on an American tour. Trouble is, during Harry's former deployment in Afghanistan, as Williams points out in the video posted by "Stop the War Coalition," the so-called warrior prince slaughtered 34 Afghanis in a remote control air attack and was "then thought to have boasted of it" at a London night … [Read more...]
‘Sacred Elephant’ Is Coming to New York’s La MaMa
April 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment
!['Sacred Elephant' by Heathcote Williams [Naxos]. Read, unabridged, by the author.](http://www.artsjournal.com/herman/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/SACRED-ELEPHANT-NAXOS-100.jpg)
I haven't seen much theater lately, for reasons I may already have mentioned -- so much is dull dull dull -- but the dramatization of Heathcote Williams's epic poem, "Sacred Elephant," has got my attention as nothing has in years. The show, not yet officially announced, is coming in September to La MaMa's First Floor Theatre on Manhattan's Lower East Side. It is to star Jeremy Crutchley, reprising an acclaimed solo performance, which originated last year in Cape Town, South Africa. "Sacred Elephant" is the second of four epic poems that … [Read more...]
Topor Nails It: Drone Attack Avant la Lettre
April 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment
And for further edification, there's "A Secret Deal on Drones, Sealed in Blood" about the "origins of the C.I.A.'s drone war in Pakistan" by Mark Mazzetti and "Targeted Killing Comes to Define War on Terror," about the policy of the "drone campaign" by Scott Shane. They're part of a continuing NY Times series. Mazzetti's latest tells "how a single spy helped turn Pakistan against the United States." … [Read more...]
‘Peter Bayliss and the Breatharians’
March 22, 2013 by 1 Comment
The obituary in The Telegraph, in 2002, said: "He wanted no memorial, but his near-lunatic appetite for life will be impossible to forget." The poet Heathcote Williams certainly remembers Peter Bayliss. He remembers, too, "the Bayliss Mischief" that "might still be working / From beyond the grave." Here given their due are the vaunted philanthropic celebrities of our time (Karl Marx aside), memorialized for their various hypocrisies: Bill Gates, Princess Diana, Prince Charles, Mother Theresa, Lady Gaga, Bob Geldof, not to mention the … [Read more...]
Iraq Invasion Time Capsule: March Madness Redux
March 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment
This is the week to remember the "The Ides of March, 2003." Can't let it pass without recalling what I posted at the time on MSNBC.com, links included. (Miracle of miracles, many still work). Looking back, I see the posts are very tame. I tried not to be, but I knew I could go only so far. Most of the stuff did not sit well with certain company-minded bosses to whom I reported. I was never asked to take a particular point of view, but I was called on the carpet for the viewpoint I took. They wanted me to stick strictly to entertainment … [Read more...]
Raw Data: Armed Drone Prototype
February 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment
This comes from Norman O. Mustill's "raw data" pile. It appeared during World War II in an ad for Good Housekeeping Magazine, warning against "A Dictator's Newest Dream." According to the text that accompanied the ad, "The army has specified that it must be able to carry 4 soldiers with full equipment or a machinegun and crew." It did not come with seat belts and did not get the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. … [Read more...]
Edith Piaf, ‘The Sound of Suffering Humanity’
February 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment
La Môme et de Rouge, by Heathcote Williams. Narration and montage by Alan Cox. … [Read more...]
‘Democracy Now!’: Riveting Look at the Terror Courts
February 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Wall Street Journal journalist Jess Bravin reports on the controversial military commissions at Guantanamo. Describing it as “the most important legal story in decades,” Bravin uncovers how the Bush administration quickly drew up an alternative legal system to try men captured abroad after the Sept. 11 attacks. Soon evidence obtained by torture was being used to prosecute prisoners, but some military officers refused to take part. We speak to Jess Bravin, author of "The Terror Courts: Rough Justice at Guantánamo Bay,” and to Lt. Col. … [Read more...]
VDRSVP #3 for Old Times’ Sake
February 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment
![VDRSVP #3, eds. Jan Herman & Norman O. Mustill [San Francisco, 1969]](http://www.artsjournal.com/herman/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/VDRSVP3bothsides560-150x150.jpeg)
Someone told me he knew what RSVP stands for. But what did VDRSVP mean? "Black humor," I said. No point in giving away the joke. … [Read more...]
Damning Account of ‘Rough Justice’ at Guantanamo
February 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment
!['The Terror Courts' by Jess Bravin [Yale University Press, 2013]](http://www.artsjournal.com/herman/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/TERRORCOURTS-150x150.jpg)
Jess Bravin has a new book out, The Terror Courts: Rough Justice at Guantanamo Bay, just published by Yale University Press. Kirkus Reviews calls it "a damning, brave book by an author who is legitimately outraged by what he uncovered." Here's an excerpt from the Prologue: November 24, 2001. Around Noon. Checkpoints were common as potholes on the roads of Afghanistan. Salim Ahmed Salim Hamdan, driving north on Highway 4 in a Toyota hatchback, was not surprised to be stopped by a group of armed men as he approached the fortified town … [Read more...]
In Bone Hebrew, the White Kaffir Speaks
February 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment
A long-awaited copy of Bone Hebrew from Cold Turkey Press showed up in my mailbox. The title is taken from Paul Celan. The cover is by Antonin Artaud. The poems are by Sinclair Beiles. Here are two of them: Asphyxiation They tried every kind of gas on him. none of them would work. nothing would knock him out, put an end to him, finish him off so finally they called it a day and let him free. known as the pest, he wanders freely about the village. THE WHITE KAFFIR SPEAKS I am a white kaffir. I know the soupe populaire at … [Read more...]
‘The Green Man Is a Green Terrorist’
February 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
My blog staff of thousands didn't have to do much to persuade me that Heathcote Williams's newest dissident poem, a rhymed marvel of CAT-scan clarity, will be seen one day as a YouTube classic. Here are the opening lines transcribed from the video in four-line stanzas: Tangled vegetation sprouts from each orifice From his mouth, his nose, and his ears Signifying the creature's urge to merge with nature And rouse inhumanity's darker fears. He's Dionysus dancing drunk around maypoles He's Pan stamping a cleft foot on the ground To … [Read more...]
Way Ahead of My Time in 1969
January 28, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Where would the blogworld be without blogger self-promotion? So indulge me. Anneke Auer, webmaster for Rotterdam-based Sea Urchin Editions, has designed a classy presentation of General Municipal Election, a "collectible" action-art book of mine. I published it in San Francisco way back in '69 under the Nova Broadcast imprint. Ben Schot, the artist who founded Sea Urchin, calls Nova B "legendary," which is more than fine with me. He has a limited stock of GMEs for sale, both signed and unsigned copies. Need I say more? … [Read more...]
The Algren I Knew Was No Loser
January 12, 2013 by 7 Comments
Taking nothing away from the brilliance of Colin Asher's biographical essay on Nelson Algren, or my admiration for it, I have a mild but serious objection. I intended to post this earlier but didnt have the time. Now I do. The subhead on the essay calls Algren "the type of loser this country just can't stomach." It's absolutely true the country couldn't stomach him. But to call him a loser is not only untrue, it is an insult. The Nelson I knew may have been a lousy poker player, and he may have lost plenty of skirmishes with the … [Read more...]
VDRSVP #2 for Old Times’ Sake
January 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Now that my venereal staff of thousands has managed to get its shabby act together for VDRSVP #1, I'll be posting info about the contents of this issue as soon as possible. … [Read more...]
‘Harry Patch: Anti War Hero’
January 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment
If journalism is the first draft of history, Heathcote Williams's poetry is the CAT scan. Text by Heathcote Williams. Narration and montage by Alan Cox. … [Read more...]
VDRSVP #1 for Old Times’ Sake
January 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
![VDRSVP #1 [1969] eds. Jan Herman & Norman O. Mustill](http://www.artsjournal.com/herman/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Screen-shot-2013-01-07-at-2.14.33-PM-150x150.png)
I'll be posting info about the contents as soon as my venereal staff of thousands manages to get its shabby act together. But first things first: What a great title. Second things first: VDRSVP #2 and #3 are coming too. Postscript: Jan. 9 -- The staff finally woke up. Here are the contents of VDRSVP #1. FRONT PAGE Ticker running across the top:+ SAN FRANCISCO / ATHENS / NEW YORK / MANNHEIM / LONDON + TIME / 12:46 + SAMOA / NOME / MIDWAY / DEDUCT 6 HRS + WEATHER / SOFT +Above the fold, left to right: "The Story of Scroloboulopouos" by … [Read more...]
‘Shelley at Oxford,’ a Timely Polemic for Christmas
December 15, 2012 by 1 Comment
Written by Heathcote Williams, montaged and narrated by Alan Cox, it has just arrived on YouTube and begins like this ... In Oxford High Street, in 1810, Slatter & Munday’s Bookshop Had a large, bow-fronted window For displaying their latest wares. Aged 19, Shelley flooded it with a pamphlet On ‘The Necessity Of Atheism’. Which he could only get printed in Worthing Since no one in Oxford would touch it. Listen here: The narration comes in seven posts, continuing like this ... At Oxford Shelley wore his hair in … [Read more...]
Heathcote Williams on the Real American President
December 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Narration and montage by Alan Cox. Musical accents by Louis Armstrong. … [Read more...]
More Dissident Literature from Cold Turkey Press
December 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment
!['The United States of Porn' by Heathcote Williams [Cold Turkey Press]](http://www.artsjournal.com/herman/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/ColdTurkey-TheUSofPornHeathcoteWilliams-150x150.jpg)
The title of Heathcote Williams's poem puts it country simple. You can't get more direct than "The United States of Porn." The poem, which runs to 208 lines, nearly all based on facts, is part of a portfolio called American Porn. It was published in 2011 in a beautifully produced first edition of 36 copies by Cold Turkey Press. Williams’s "investigative poetry," as he calls it, kills: "Amerigo Vespucci, of Florence, a peddler of pornography, / Set his seal on America ..." The name you knew about, but not about the porn. To put a finer point … [Read more...]
Recent Comments
william osborne on Unbuttoned: Samuel Beckett Meets William Osborne
Thank you for this, Jan. You are too kind. The "Samuel Beckett Meets William Osborne" is hilarious.Jan Herman on An Absurd Debate About the Last Word
I disagree, Bill. If your reminiscence about Beckett is any measure, I think you should always write blog comments...william osborne on An Absurd Debate About the Last Word
Actually, I wasn’t referring to Gerard’s comment. In fact, I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t do the additional scroll...Jan Herman on An Absurd Debate About the Last Word
Dear Bill -- Now at last the full story! Danke. Merci. I knew you and Beckett had met and...william osborne on An Absurd Debate About the Last Word
One other little thing I forgot. In return for my gift, Beckett wanted to give me tickets to a...william osborne on An Absurd Debate About the Last Word
An interesting topic for me, since I spent seven years doing nothing else but setting the works of Beckett to...Jan Herman onAn Epitaph for Our Golden Era
Thanks, Bill. It puts more light on things. Less irony.william osborne onAn Epitaph for Our Golden Era
“That’s what I find so wonderful, that not a day goes by, to speak in the old style, hardly a...Kyle Gann on‘Taking the Piss’ That May Pass for Shakespeare
Speaking as a tremendous Shakespeare fan, that's fantastic. Never heard that.n.o.mustill on‘Peter Bayliss and the Breatharians’
...right on the $$$. Bravo!,Heathcote Williams.