For more than half a century the dissident British author, editor, and underground publisher Michael Butterworth has been “a quiet unobtrusive voice in poetry, with roots both in the small press poetry journals of the 1960s and ’70s and New Wave science fiction.”
The Complete Poems: 1965-2020
‘Benevolent Loitering’
‘Unheard and Unseen’ in Istanbul
Having never been to Istanbul, I’ve done the next best thing — or so it feels upon reading ‘The Pleasures of Empty Lots’ by Efe Murad, poet, translator, and scholar extraordinaire. “This humble chapbook,” he writes, “is a record of the unheard and the unseen, which can only be experienced by those who find pleasure in ephemeral escapades. It is a longing for a clean slate, a tribute to benevolent loitering.” It is also more than that. It is in the most vivid, personal terms a manifesto for artistic freedom and — necessarily — social and political liberty.
A Libertarian Penchant for BS
This video sounds sane, but ‘tiz not my cuppa. As one of S/U’s indefatigable staff of thousands says, “Slickish until it’s obvious what the agenda is.”
Defsons for Mustill
We bloom only once
and some of us never bloom —
not even once. You were perennial.
A Straight Up Thanksgiving — It’s a Tradition
Our Thanksgiving team of William S. Burroughs and Norman O. Mustill
has been a happy pairing since 2012. It still is. So here they are again, sweetened by Heathcote Williams’s words in a narration-cum-montage by Alan Cox. It’s all so delish.
Designers Pushing the Envelope . . . ?
The New York Times Magazine used to have a nameplate. It still does. Most of the time it’s all there. Sometimes you have to search for it. How come? The designers are: a) being avant-garde, b) reinforcing a theme, c) too clever by half, d) all three, or maybe e) just having fun.
A Something Else Reader
Newly Discovered, It Was Hidden Away for 50 Years
” ‘A Something Else Reader’ is a previously unpublished anthology edited by Dick Higgins in 1972 to celebrate Something Else Press, the publishing house he founded in 1963, and to showcase Fluxus and other experimental artistic and literary forms. … He assembled the table of contents and an introduction into a proposal, which went into his archive, where it was found by scholar and curator Alice Centamore, who compiled the works and assembled it.” — Primary Information
Orwellian Chuckle
Press Freedom in Full Squeak (replayed)
From a lifetime ago, though in fact it’s only been six years . . . and now what?
Jack Kerouac at 100, the Beats in Ruigoord
Kerouac fans In The Netherlands have been celebrating his centennial with readings, film presentations, and concerts throughout 2022. The celebration will culminate on Oct. 9 at the artists’s village of Ruigoord, near Amsterdam. An international gathering of writers, performers, and scholars will pay tribute, along with keynote speakers Joyce Johnson and Ed Sanders, who are to participate via Zoom.
Any of You Like to Try Propping up the Queen of Denmark?
![Portrait of William S. Burroughs © by R. Crumb [1985]](https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/RCRUMB-portrait-of-Burroughs-366x470-200x200.jpg)
“The queen is an alien symbol basically Germanic in origin. The queen is also a white symbol. The White Goddess in fact. Young people want that. White people want that. Black people want that.” — William S. Burroughs
Heathcote Williams
Uncensored, ‘Advertisement’ for a Supermarket
![Heathcote Williams [Photo: JH, 2013]](https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/heathcote-williams-photo-copy-200x200.png)
‘The people who run Tesco must be Buddhists / You go in there and things are exactly as they should be / There is nothing that you could possibly want / Bits of telepathic animals neatly shrouded in heat-raised polystyrene / With Magic-Maker gravestones. / Dyed tomato mulch slobbering to itself in lead-lined tubular coffins, / Zilched by monosodium glutomate.’ — Heathcote Williams
Independent Filmmaker, Principled Artist
Kenneth Anger held to his vision over a lifetime and, just as important, to his convictions.
American Presidents
A Dirge for Their ‘Greatest’ Racist Hits
“One shocking, grotesque, and racist revelation after another reveals a history of the bigotry of American presidents and how complicit they were in legitimizing American racism.” — Randy Burman
Counter Culture Chronicles
Retro vinyl is a thing. But retro cassette? Does anyone still have or use a cassette player? Apparently some do. René van der Voort has produced more than 100 cassettes by a wide range of poets, writers, and artists. His label, Counter Culture Chronicles, lists audio performances by Aram Saroyan, Charles Plymell, Jürgen Ploog, Stuart Perkoff, Allen Ginsberg, Nanao Sakaki, Angus MacLise, Ed Dorn, Ken Kesey, Joel Oppenheimer, Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder, Ted Berrigan, Peter Orlovsky, Gerd Stern, Ira Cohen, Michael McClure, Fielding Dawson, Steve Dalachinsky, Neeli Cherkovski, Ed Dorn, and ruth weiss. My own cassette has just been released. The recording runs for 30 minutes.
‘Burning Boris’ by David Erdos
Poem 6 from ‘The Bastards Charter’
Kosti, the Earl of Wordship
Also known as Richard Kostelanetz, or, as the NYTimes dubbed him, “the bibliomaniac of Ridgewood,” he is the author of hundreds of books — yes, hundreds, you read that right — and recently turned 82.
Celebrating William Wyler
His Hometown in Alsace Puts on a Hollywood Show
Wyler was Laurence Olivier’s mentor, the love of Bette Davis’s life, John Huston’s best friend, Audrey Hepburn’s inspiring taskmaster, and Barbra Streisand’s father figure. His major motion pictures were touchstones for an entire generation. He guided more actors to Academy Awards than any other director. He also won three Oscars himself. “Olivier once told me he learned more about film acting from Wyler than from any other director; I can say the same,” Terence Stamp recalled in my Wyler biography “A Talent for Trouble.” Despite his reputation as a demanding director who sometimes drove actors to tears, he was a beguiling personality in private.