Two news stories -- an "exclusive" in The Guardian ("Revealed: Pentagon's link to Iraqi torture centres") and a front-pager in The New York Times ("C.I.A.’s History Poses Hurdles for an Obama Nominee") -- are reminders that more than seven years ago Straight Up's staff of thousands was onto the story about the American strategy to (democratize) Salvadorize Iraq with death squads and torture chambers. Have a look at our blogpost "Hidden in Plain Sight" of Dec. 20, 2005. Today's tie-in to the top U.S. military brass, particularly to retired … [Read more...]
‘Artaud Fragmentations’
March 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment
![Gerard Bellaart's 'Artaud Fragmentations' [2005]](http://www.artsjournal.com/herman/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/artaud-fragmentations-31gb480-150x150.jpg)
And now for another kind of poem, as unlike "Death Is a Wind That Will Carry You Off" as day from night. It's part of a large series of stenciled texts by the Dutch artist and writer Gerard Bellaart. At the urging of my staff of thousands, examples from Bellaart's word-based series of artworks have been a continuing feature of recent S/U blogposts. The others so far have been "tric trac du ciel," "Throws Up Words," and "ROT NOT." There will be more to come. … [Read more...]
‘Death Is a Wind That Will Carry You Off’
March 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment
This poem is not intended as a companion piece to "Music for the End of Time." The tone is entirely different, not at all apocalyptic. But it covers the same or similar ground, and I can't help thinking that the difference in treatment is a merely a matter of temperament. Which is enough: Death is a wind that will carry you off sometime before the following dawn. It may start with a lake-scented draft from the cane break behind the house, or a breeze through an open door filling your nostrils with your mother's party perfume: … [Read more...]
‘Music for the End of Time’
March 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Excerpted from the complete 52-minute work for trombone, video and quadraphonic electronics. Based on the Book of Revelation, the music had its premiere in Montreal, at McGill University, in March 1998. The video was premiered in Taos, New Mexico, in September 2007. Personnel: Abbie Conant, trombone; Norbert Bach, digital stills; William Osborne, music and video. … [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...]
Alban Berg’s ‘Lulu’ in a Sexy Production from Zurich
February 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Yes, Zurich. If this is Eurotrash, I'm all for it. … [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...]
Three ‘Not Poems’ by Stephen Schneck
February 17, 2013 by 1 Comment
!['The Nightclerk' by Stephen Schneck [Grove Press, 1965]](http://www.artsjournal.com/herman/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/THE-NIGHTCLERK-GROVE200-150x150.jpg)
I remember meeting Stephen Schneck in San Francisco at City Lights Bookstore, where I was clerking at the time. He had published The Nightclerk, which won the International Formentor Prize, and I was starting a "little" magazine. He offered three "Not Poems" for the first issue. His novel, translated into 12 languages but banned in Australia, was about the erotic fantasies of a corpulent hotel nightclerk. (Orson Welles wanted to film it; didn't happen.) So Schneck's offer felt like a great piece of luck. Not in the same league as getting … [Read more...]
Unbeatable Sinclair Beiles Tells It As It Was
February 15, 2013 by 2 Comments
He talks about William Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Tangiers, the Villa Deliria, the Thousand and One Nights, Naked Lunch, cut-ups, Minutes to Go, the Beat Hotel, Jean Fanchette, Ian Sommerville, the Dream Machine. It's an unbeatable discovery. Gary Cummiskey, co-editor of Who Was Sinclair Beiles? and the publisher of Dye Hard Press, tipped me to this hidden treasure, which he has also posted on his blog. In an email message, he writes: "It was filmed by some chap who was visiting South Africa at the time [1994] – there were two previous … [Read more...]
Don’t Forget to Give a Box of Chocolates
February 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment
There’s the Valentine Victorian. And then there’s the Valentine Mustillian. … [Read more...]
Getting Personal, Too: ‘Being Kept by a Jackdaw’
February 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
![Jack Daw and the Poet [Photo: Jacquetta Eliot]](http://www.artsjournal.com/herman/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/HW-and-Jack-Daw-300-150x150.jpg)
My staff of thousands tells me that if I post any more poems by Heathcote Williams, I will be making a mockery of this blog's stated purpose. I'm a small "d" democrat who rules Straight Up by popular consent, so I had to admit I've been banging on about his poems. But -- with a capital "B" -- what are his poems if not "arts, media & cultural news with 'tude?" More than mere 'tude, they're truth-telling CAT scans of historic figures and cultural history ("Shelley at Oxford," for example, or "The United States of Porn"); of political and … [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...]
They Called Him ‘Mister Mooch’
February 8, 2013 by 2 Comments
An elegy on film for Carl Weissner ... ... by Signe Mähler and Cody Maher. … [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...]
‘Throws Up Words’
January 31, 2013 by Leave a Comment
These two stenciled texts by Gerard Bellaart are from a series of more than 500 created in 2005. Bellaart is a Dutch artist and writer, now living in France. He creates etchings, drawings, paintings and monotypes of figures, landscapes, and still lifes, as well as works strictly from the imagination. He notes that he employs a variety of techniques & materials, including oil paint, tempera, charcoal, ink. The selection of work on his website comprises a small fraction of his output between 1998 and 2011. He writes that "a more … [Read more...]
Selling the Earth … ‘No Return, No Exchange’
January 28, 2013 by 1 Comment
A poem by Heathcote Williams, narration and montage by Alan Cox. The print edition of Selling the Earth is coming soon from Cold Turkey Press. The poem begins: After someone had sold their virginity on the Internet And made a hundred thousand pounds, Another entrepreneur would decide that he’d try To put Planet Earth itself up for sale. His website describes the Earth as “authentic”, and “used” He says it’s to go under the hammer at Yahoo Auction, Japan. And adds that the Earth has been gifted to its seller … [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...]
Recent Comments
Jan Herman on Unbuttoned: Samuel Beckett Meets William Osborne
Done. Thanks for the catch.George Butler on Unbuttoned: Samuel Beckett Meets William Osborne
One more typo to clean up: In the caption under the video link above--to Abbie performing as "Winnie"--her last...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...