When syntax re-enacts meaning:
” … expect nothing / be surprised …”
Arts, Media & Culture News with 'tude

This book by Udo Breger depicts encounters with Gysin, shared journeys between London, Paris, Basel, Amsterdam, and New York, as well as conversations, projects, and moments that paint a portrait of this extraordinary man. It is a personal document, a space for remembrance, and at the same time an invitation to rediscover Gysin.

When William Jennings Bryan died, in 1925, H.L. Mencken wrote the most devastating obituary of an American politician you’ll ever read—and that includes Hunter S. Thompson’s farewell to Nixon. All you need to do is substitute “Trump” for “Bryan” to see how snug the fit will be when Trump takes his permanent leave.
by Jan Herman
by Jan Herman
by Jan Herman

When a book such as this comes across the transom, my staff of thousands urges me to post a notice, even though I am far from an informed reviewer of graphic books. What I can do is extract some of the images to offer an impression of the artwork. The entire book dazzles the eye, while the story documents the life.
by Jan Herman
by Jan Herman
by Jan Herman

I met Jim Harrison only once, in 1968, when we were on a “little magazine” panel with Russell Banks, Anne Waldman, and Charles Newman. Even then Harrison was a “character,” a voluble personality who cut quite a figure.—wore a rakish straw hat, a black patch on his blind left eye, and sported a hand-carved walking stick.
by Jan Herman
by Jan Herman

My report grew longer by the minute. It ran, updated in real time, as MSNBC.com’s cover story. The lede kept changing throughout the day. … It was the scene of a nightmare … people on fire jumping in terror from the towers … the buildings collapsing … splinters of debris falling from the sky like confetti … deadly smoke blackening the air … an exodus of thousands of New Yorkers coated in white ash streaming on foot for hours across the city’s bridges.
by Jan Herman
by Jan Herman
by Jan Herman
an ArtsJournal blog