Words by Heathcote Williams. Narration and montage by Alan Cox. The National Atomic Museum ‘Hiroshima bomb earrings for sale’ Katherine Butler and Fiona Bell, London: The Independent, 6 August, 1999 In the National Atomic Museum At Albuquerque, New Mexico, You can buy souvenirs of ‘Little Boy’, The bomb that demolished Hiroshima, And of ‘Fat Man’, […]
Nanos Valaoritis: On Language and Poetry
At 92 / Nanos in his element / his element the world / his world the words / his words a philosopher’s. Here’s a poem of his — “Endless Crucifixion” — from the late-20th century. This is from the entry about him in Wikipedia: Nanos Valaoritis (Greek: Νάνος Βαλαωρίτης; born July 5, 1921) is one […]
He Had a Dream, But His Speech Was Hardly Noticed
![From the Wall Street Journal [Aug. 27, 1963]](https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/wsj-little-encouragement-e1377779460236.png)
Given all the self-congratulation of the 50th anniversary celebration marking the historic significance of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, you’d think its importance had been noted at the time, especially by the news media. Well, Jess Bravin has news for you. The day before King gave the speech on the steps […]
A Little Argentine Adventure, With Pacifist Overtones
Words by Heathcote Williams. Narration and montage by Alan Cox.
‘No Borders’
‘The grass is greener when there are no sides.’ — Heathcote Williams Click for video. Narration and montage by Alan Cox.
On ‘Planetary-wide Surveillance Without Just Cause’
Why is it that dissident journalists are articulate and eloquent in their arguments? One good reason is that the truth is on their side. Another is that they’re dedicated to human rights. Watch Jacob Appelbaum, a dissident security researcher and Wikileaks associate, speaking today in an interview on “Democracy Now!” It’s a stunner, and not […]
Queen of the Arms Trade
“Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II is one of the world’s richest women, worth £17 billion. Her investments in the arms trade include firms that produce the uranium used in depleted uranium (DU) shells. The deployment of these shells by the US military in its attack on the Iraqi city of Fallujah in 2004 is believed to […]
‘It’s a Boy!’
![Inheritance [Click for video]](https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/QUEEN.jpg)
Someone asked what I thought about the royal birth in Britain. Nima Shirazi said it for me. And let’s not forget this: +++ Or the latest addition to the Royal Babylon video archive on YouTube: Inheritance.
Excuse Me, I’m Cleaning My Eyeballs
Connecting Kim Dotcom and Edward Snowden
To have a staff of thousands that keeps me informed is one of the privileges of this blog. Had I not been tipped about the projection of Kim Dotcom’s face with the words “United Stasi of America” on a wall of the U.S. embassy in Berlin, I would not have made a connection between N.S.A. […]
The Fine Art of Book Promotion
“If this is the literary equivalent of groupies throwing their bras on stage, I’ll take it,” he says. The author, who goes by the name Supervert, was talking about a nude photo shoot with an “alt” model, which, he was pleased to learn, uses two of his books as a prop. It’s not the first […]
This ‘Auteur’ Made Some of Hollywood’s Best Films
I just caught a screening of “Dodsworth” at the New York Historical Society, where Catherine Wyler mentioned in a pre-screening interview with AMERICAN MASTERS creator Susan Lacy that there are two new Wyler books due out soon: one by Gabriel Miller, the other by Neil Sinyard. She hoped it signals renewed interest in her father’s […]
Do You Miss New York? Frishberg Does
WatchtheliveTimes Square camerastreaminrealtime… if it works.…Hey,this isNewYork,whereBig Mikereigns.The 108thmayor,like the107beforehim,hastroublefixin’ever’thang.
‘The Prince of Amsterdam’
Heathcote Williams’s tribute to the late poet Simon Vinkenoog had me choking with laughter. And when the tribute to this ‘electric, ecstatic” poet of “ultra optimism” turns serious — when it recounts what Vinkenoog says in a dream to a friend: “It’s a party in heaven. I’m here with kindred spirits only. It’s like earth […]
Hurray for Independence Day. Hmmph …
William Osborne writes in an email: It is astonishing to see how deeply militarized American culture has become. The military colors every aspect of our lives. You could pick a thousand examples. Americans don’t see it, but Washington is essentially a military base posing as a seat of government. Even if America doesn’t have a […]
Yannick Bouillis Spreads the Word on Twinpak
In ELSE #5, the current issue of the photo magazine ELSE published in Lausanne, Switzerland, by the Musée de l’Elysée, Yannick Bouillis has dedicated a handsome double spread to Norman O. Mustill’s Twinpak (Nova Broadcast Press, 1969). Bouillis, a former journalist and bookseller, is a member of the ELSE editorial committee and the founder of […]
Planned Obsolescence Press to Big Data: Fuck Off
!['The Collected Kulchur Book Reviews of Ted Berigan' [Planned Obsolescence Press, 2013]Published and edited by Jed Birmingham](https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/KULTURE-TED-BERRIGAN480.jpg)
In an unsigned Publisher’s Note to Whale Drek: The Lost Footnotes of the Olympia Press Naked Lunch, Jed Birmingham writes: “Planned Obsolescence Press specializes in distributing small shiploads of K.Y. made of genuine whale drek. What better to grease the lines of communication? The Press recycles that which no one has found any use for. […]