I once asked Nelson Algren what he thought of Naked Lunch. He grinned at me, as though he were being entertained by a wiseguy. I knew he had no love for the Beats. He had derided Jack Kerouac as a momma’s boy and dismissed Allen Ginsberg as a publicist. So his answer surprised me: “Burroughs […]
Music Theater: ‘Street Scene for the Last Mad Soprano’
This performance was recorded in Taos, New Mexico, in September 2014. The piece had its world premiere in Germany at Theater K-9, in Konstanz, in 1996. Abbie Conant, Soprano & Trombone / William Osborne, Music Text and Video From William Osborne’s brief description: Imagine a singer living among the dumpsters behind the Met. Tomorrow is […]
C.I.A. Refutes Torture Report, Tells Us: ‘Lick That Boot’
Our objection to the C.I.A.’s defiant pushback is best expressed by Norman O. Mustill’s collage, because words will not suffice.
Last Call for the Burroughs Cut/Up Show
The materials in this centenary exhibition are drawn from Emory University’s Raymond Danowski Poetry Library, a collection of rare books, chapbooks, little magazines, journals, broadsides, audio recordings, manuscripts, and visual art from all over the world. Assembled by collector Raymond Danowski over 25 years, the collection is thought to have been the largest poetry library […]
Everyone Is Thinking About the Cops
Aw gee! David Brooks says “not enough attention is being paid to the emotional and psychological challenges of being a cop.” Such fragile flowers they are. I recall that William Burroughs gave it some thought back in 1968 when Flower Power was in bloom: “The people in power will not disappear voluntarily, giving flowers to […]
Dear Cannibals, Have a Sweet Thanksgiving
Our delicious Thanksgiving team of William S. Burroughs and Norman O. Mustill has been a happy pairing. It still is. But the Straight Up staff of thousands wanted to add a sweetener, something like cranberry sauce, to this year’s celebration of gratitude. Here ‘tiz: Words by Heathcote Williams, narration and montage by Alan Cox.
‘Anatomy of Violence,’ a Prophetic Blast from the Past
An article in the Washington Post declares that the riots in Ferguson have been “the most significant explosions of racial frustration since the election of the nation’s first black president, and so Ferguson forced the country out of the fantasy that America had entered a ‘post-racial’ era.” I’m not sure who really entertained that fantasy […]
The Reviews Are In: How Many Tomatoes for ‘Algren’?
I took a survey of viewers who saw “Algren,” the new documentary that recently had its world premiere at the Chicago International Film Festival. Here’s what they said: Reviewer #1: Really interesting and fast-paced. It gives me a great sense of the guy without being pious. I’m unsure about the kitschy style. The fast edits […]
Desktopfun: Boo-hooray’s Burroughs Cut/Up Show
Boo-Hooray, in collaboration with Emory University, is presenting a William S. Burroughs centenary exhibition dedicated to the Cut-Up technique. On view will be hand-edited typescript drafts from the Nova Trilogy, rarely seen publications like the mimeographed newsletter The Burrough and the Sigma Portfolio, alongside correspondence with Brion Gysin, vinyl releases, as well as the original […]
Long-Awaited ‘Algren’ Bows at Chicago Film Festival
Is this Nelson Algren’s moment? If it is, I don’t think he’d give a damn — not personally — considering he’s gone and how long ago that was. I also don’t think he’d appreciate what has become a cliché of the Algren myth — the forgotten writer. Sure, he’s forgotten. Most writers are. And of […]
Long-Awaited ‘Algren’ Documentary to Open in Chicago
Is this Nelson Algren’s moment? If it is, I don’t think he’d give a damn — not personally — considering he’s gone and how long ago that was. I also don’t think he’d appreciate what has become a cliché of the Algren myth — the forgotten writer. Sure, he’s forgotten. Most writers are. And of […]
A Message From My Orwellian Phone Carrier
The email arrived with this message: “At Verizon Wireless your privacy is our priority.” How nice. So I read on: “We’re enhancing our Relevant Mobile Advertising program in a way that can help marketers reach you with messages …” And here I thought privacy was defined as “the state or condition of being free from […]
‘An Old Man and a Young Man in Gaza’
The brutality of the Israelis in its savage response to Hamas rocket attacks has been documented in photographs so horrendous I can’t bear to look at them. Listening to “An Old Man and a Young Man in Gaza” — as read by Alan Cox in a recent radio broadcast on the KPFA program Cover to […]
‘Killing Kit’ to Be Staged in London Try Out
Heathcote Williams’s first new play in many years is to open Sept. 21 at The Cockpit, where it received a reading last February. The company advertises itself as a radical fringe “theatre of disruptive panache, angry critique and useful, progressive ideas for the future.” “Killing Kit” traces “the volcanic life and mysterious death of Christopher […]
Cold Turkey Press Publishes Portrait of Nelson Algren
![TICKET TO NEW JERSEY: A Portrait of Nelson Algren [Cold Turkey Press, 2014]](https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/TICKETcovera-front-COLD-TURKEY335-200x200.jpg)
This is a byte of self promotion. A byte? Haw. From the jacket blurb: Who could resist a study of a writer that begins, “if his writing had taken a flying fuck into a deep canyon, it was always balls-to-the-wall”? Jan Herman has borrowed the ghost of Algren’s golden arm with which to write this […]
Touring ‘Poetry Army’ Charts History of Radical Verse
A posting by the Stop the War Coalition: From The Peasants’ Revolt to recent events at Tahrir Square, this incendiary performance celebrates radical verse in all its glory down through the centuries. The longstanding collaboration between poet Heathcote Williams and performer Roy Hutchins, encompassing such hits as Whale Nation and Autogeddon, continues as Hutchins combines […]
50 Years Apart: ‘American Porn’ & ‘Call Me Burroughs’
The similarity was unintended, which makes it even better. The 1965 vinyl “Call Me Burroughs” is a classic.The 2014 vinyl “American Porn” will be.The 1965 vinyl “Call Me Burroughs” is a classic.The 2014 vinyl “American Porn” will be a classic.Here it is with a different sleeve.