Untitled drawing by Sophie Penrose.
• “…many arts producers – much more so than the artists themselves – were over-fearful of the prospect of prosecution, when in nearly all incidents there were no reasonable grounds for bringing charges.” Julia Farrington of Index on Censorship on self-censorship by artists and art institutions in the UK.
• “Tons of tones – some dissolved in beats, some beatless treatments – in a continuous mix of current ambient and electronic goodies, pouring more than a score of ambi-valent shapes and etheric waves into an occluded reverb-trail echo-veil mood-stream.” Ambivalentine, a mix by Albient.
• “I was followed by a bee, a golden bee. For three years, every day, the golden bee followed us.” Forty years ago Penthouse magazine talked to Alejandro Jodorowsky. This month Dazed magazine asked the polymath twenty questions.
• “…investigators were stupefied to find the spymaster’s quarters full of pink leather whips, cosmetics, and pornographic photographs, framed in snakeskin.” Erik Sass on Colonel Redl and a gay spy scandal in the Vienna of 1913.
• “With no one to sponsor him, Marino Auriti’s dream museum became the stuff of legends.” Stefany Anne Golberg on Marino Auriti’s Enciclopedico Palazzo del Mondo.
• The Crime Epics of Louis Feuillade: YouTube links and more. Related: YouTube’s Vault of Horrors.
• Werner Herzog: 50 years of potent, inspiring, disturbing films.
• The doors of perception: John Gray on Arthur Machen.
• Some Sort of Alchemy: Albert Mobilio on Sun Ra.
• British Pathé’s film of ghost hunters in 1953.
• “Escape your search engine Filter Bubble”
• RIP Jack Vance
• Bumble Bee Bolero (1957) by Harry Breuer | The L S Bumble Bee (1967) by Peter Cook & Dudley Moore | Ant Man Bee (1969) by Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band | Be A Bee (2009) by Air
On my first visit to Washington DC (where I live now) back in 1990, I wandered downtown to Freedom Plaza which is at the corner of 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. I heard a commotion and when I investigated who should I see but Sun Ra and his Arkestra in full flight!
I had no clue at the time but was totally mesmerized. It was pure orchestrated pandemonium that always seemed to be on the verge of flying off into chaos but somehow never did. I still have a T-shirt given to me by one of the band members as they were packing up.
Now I discover this gig was filmed and is available on youtube!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJh9OtAajyE
Wow, amazing. Sun Ra was a really remarkable man: a huge discography, endless variety to his music. The feature film Space is the Place is also on YouTube, worth a watch if you’ve not seen it: funky science fiction!
I enjoyed the Machen article except for the writer’s condescending tone about his occult involvement. He wouldn’t even mention the Golden Dawn by name. I’m pretty sick of assessments of Yeats, Machen, etc. that ignore their occult background.
Even if they disavowed their involvement at points in their lives, Machen did openly mock the G.’.D.’., it was still a huge part of the thought composition and an influence upon their work for some span of time.
Another BBC article a few months ago by some jackass columnist for the New Yorker tried to downplay John Dee’s magical activities.
After reading some academic assessments of Blake that claimed he was writing in political code, presumably modeled after “Prophet Against Empire, I can see a world where Crowley becomes respectable but the more modern and enlightened academics and writers of the future will claim his works were about the rise of fascism.
Sorry for the rant, John.
In fairness to John Gray, if you’re writing an article for a general audience just now then any mention of the words “Golden Dawn” needs a qualifying statement that it’s not the Greek fascist organisation you’re talking about. That detracts from the point as well as increases the word count. Knowing how things get edited Gray may have mentioned the GD initially then had it changed for that reason.
I was pleased to see Machen receive any mention at all. Despite the recent Penguin edition of his stories he’s still one of those writers people ought to know better, as is Walter de la Mare who Gray, to his credit, also mentioned.