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.
Archives for November 2014
‘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 […]
Once Upon a Time, Ginsberg Kept City Lights Humming
I’ve added a site to the blogroll, calling it “All Things Allen Ginsberg” instead of its official web address allenginsberg.org. I should have added it long ago. Bad housekeeping. The site is a goldmine of information, literary and otherwise, not just about Ginsberg, which is its main focus of course, but also about the Beat […]
‘Postcards’ from a Series by Norman O. Mustill
Click for close-up view of one of the postcards. EmailFacebookTwitterReddit
Monday Morning Quiz: Who Said That?
“Every once in a while, it’s nice to be wrong about something.” + Alan Dershowitz + Henry Kissinger + Dick Cheney + V.S. Naipaul + God + Click for the answer. But you get points for guessing it was The Albanian Idol of the BananaRepublic. EmailFacebookTwitterReddit
‘Hello!’ — ‘The Duchess of Malfi,’ or ‘A Dead Pussy’
Selma Hayek asks and Heathcote Williams answers. She: “I had this cousin from Mexico who had two very jealous brothers.And one day she confronted them, and she said: ‘Stop spying on my pussy!’”He: “I so wish I’d met you before. I could have used that line.” EmailFacebookTwitterReddit
More News from Paris: Huge Bookfair Opens Today
Offprint Paris at the Beaux-arts de Paris showcases publishers of art, photography, design, and experimental music labels. The 2014 edition features more than 130 publishers from nearly two dozen countries, an exhibition (“Disarming Design from Palestine”), and a variety of public discussions and signings. Special guests include Paul Soulellis (Library of the Printed Web), Mathieu […]
News from Paris: ‘Hey kids, let’s put on a photo show!’
Gerard Malanga Photographer, filmmaker, poet, actor, and witness to the Warhol years EmailFacebookTwitterReddit
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 […]