I had a dream last night that was
fairly incredible. Well the first half was typical, scary yet kind of
boring brain vomit, but the second half involved visiting Henry
Miller's watery grave/tribute. (Truth-Henry Miller is not buried in a
woodsy lake in the Pacific Northwest.) Said site had an attached gift
shop/convenience store that had a separate area for arts and crafts
(!) As the tour guide was showing me this section and picking up some
of the stone work that a lot of people used to make jewelry, I look
up and making this incredible plexiglass/amber piece was Joey Ramone
(awesome). Joey pointed out that he was decidedly not making any
jewelery but just enjoyed creating little bits of art for the
texture. After creating some watercolor paintings on my own, I went
into their stock room for something and ran into Bruce Springsteen.
Upon meeting the man, the first thing out of my mouth was, “Oh my
god, you once met Lester Bangs? What was he like?” After that, I
woke up but the chances of me actually saying that to “the boss”
in real life are fairly good. (Unlike the odds of me actually meeting
Springsteen.)
Originally found on Cretin Family.
Speaking of Lester, I've been thinking
of the man a lot lately. Granted, that is not entirely unusual since
I have been a huge fan for years. Bangs is the type of writer that
constantly makes me evaluate my own work. He was able to bring both a
hyper-real intelligence, no bullshit quality to his work and yet,
never losing any of his warmth or verve. The latter is something a
lot of folks don't seem to touch upon with Lester but for someone to
write the way he did, they have to truly care. The world of critical
writing can be littered with some A-1 wankery, which usually stems
from some white-bread type who is stroking his/her own ego. We all
have ego but when it comes to creating anything, the work itself
should always and eternally be number one and I think with Lester, it
was always was. It's a huge crime that he is no longer in this realm. And a total aside, while Lester is by and large known as a music writer, his write-up of Ray Dennis Steckler's "Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies" is hilarious and worth looking up.)
In a music frame of mind, I would be
remiss not to mention the passing of Alan Myers, one of the pioneers
who got scalped and drummer for Devo for over ten years. Part of the
“classic era,” Myers was unlike any other drummer. He provided
the spine for some of Devo's greatest songs. This year has already
been rough, after losing Harry Reems, Andy Copp (miss you), Nagisa
Oshima, Jess Franco, Ebert, Annette Funicello, Richard Matheson and
too many to mention. I hate doing these things to be honest. It
always feels like too many people have gone and trying to write the
perfect thing to honor a whole lifetime of work feels impossible. It
kind of is impossible but to quote a friend of mine, these things are
always harder for the living. The best thing anyone can do is to kick
extra ass for those who can't.
This past Thursday, I was interviewed
once again on my friend Frank Cotolo's internet radio show, The
Cotolo Chronicles, discussing zombies. It's funny, since I have been
feeling burned out on the subject for quite awhile. But when Frank
invited me, I took it as a challenge and ended up getting some
different perspectives on the whole thing during my research. There's
more to it than just brain eating Romero-styled revenants and Haitian
voodoo. Anyways, it was fun and available to listen for anyone who
missed the live show.
Last but certainly not least, please
check out my latest for Dangerous Minds. Riding the
lost-sexploitation film train from “Sexcula,” this time I explore
Vinegar Syndrome's superb release, “The Lost Films of Herschell
Gordon Lewis.” Their work on restoring and releasing this trio of
films, including “The Ecstasies of Women,” “Linda &
Abilene” and “Black Love,” is nothing short of stunning. As a
huge H.G. Lewis fan and a film preservationist at heart, it feels
great to have these previously lost films not only available, but
also released with a lot of love and attention.
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