YouTuber SoftwareDR says, “This is Joy Division live on Something Else Studio. Recorded Transmission in this John Peel session. My first try to create a stop motion film. Hope you like it.”

(via ahcom)

 
Writing a book is an heroic process, it really is, but even more so when it comes to biographies. Especially these days when so few people bother to read books anymore and the rewards are seldom very remunerative for most authors. In the case of biographers, it’s a different kind of satisfaction. It takes a real sense of purpose and desire to see someone’s story told properly; to get things down as accurately as possible for history’s sake before the participants are picked off by time. In this sense, there is often a very real race against the clock. 

I’m quite partial to biographies. I have a pretty sizable personal library, and by far the largest part of the books I own are life histories, especially the tales of cult figures or rebellious type people (Beats, Lenny Bruce, Leary, Crowley, Dali, Warhol, etc). There is a special fondness I have for books about extremely marginal personalities (Andy Milligan, Charles Hawtrey, Charles Ludlam) and I appreciate the effort, the true labor of love, that goes into such obscure endeavors. The more obsessive, the better.

Marjorie Cameron (1922-1995) was a “witchy woman” and Beatnik artist known widely in several overlapping Los Angeles bohemian circles, but she was hardly famous. Since her death, there has been a gradually growing public awareness of Cameron’s art, or at least what’s left of her work, that the artist herself did not destroy in a moment of mental instability. Her paintings, now highly sought after by collectors, can sell for in the tens of thousands of dollars. In recent memory, her work has been exhibited in major museums (The Whitney’s “Beat Culture” show and the the excellent “Semina Culture: Wallace Berman and His Circle” exhibit) and the Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery in NYC published a gorgeous monograph of her work in 2007.

Wormwood Star: The Magickal Life of Marjorie Cameron by Spencer Kansa is a fascinating and very, very well-researched look into Cameron’s perplexingly strange life. The title refers to Cameron’s belief that she was the end-times “Whore of Babalon” prophesied in the Book of Revelations, in the flesh, This was a result, she thought, of a black magic ritual performed to summon or “conjure” her by her future husband, rocket scientist Jack Parsons, and L. Ron Hubbard, in his pre-Scientology days.

Cameron’s often wobbly orbit in life saw her cross paths with significant cultural players like underground filmmaker Kennth Anger, who cast her as “The Scarlet Woman” (typecasting!) in his 1956 film, Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome, which also featured author Anais Nin. (Anger was Cameron’s roommate at several points over the decades they knew one another). She was certainly a part of Wallace Berman’s intimates and co-starred in. Night Tide a low-budget horror film with Dennis Hopper (who recounts a brief period of sexual intimacy with the older woman). Crisscrossing the country and tracking down all of the various characters the author spoke to must have been quite a chore, and as a reader and longtime admirer of Cameron’s work, I’m grateful for the attention Kansa paid to detail.

Wormwood Star: The Magickal Life of Marjorie Cameron is one of those books that’s obviously not for everyone, but me, I’ve probably read Wormwood Star three times in the past month. If it sounds like something that might interest you, well, it probably is.

Below, one of Cameron’s brief, but memorable, scenes in Curtis Harrington’s Night Tide.
 

 
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Dennis Hopper stars in creepy 60s Beatnik cult film, ‘Night Tide’

 
The Caribbean are not only the owners of one of the most arbitrary and google-proof band names in existence but are also one of the flagship bands on the fabulous label which I call, er, home: Hometapes out of lovely Portland, Oregon. Their new CD, Discontinued Perfume, a stunning batch of thoroughly adept experimental pop songs with startlingly conversational lyrics (best song title ever: Thank You for Talking To Me About Israel), is released on February 22nd and available for pre-order today. But wait, there’s more ! Here is a song entitled Outskirts from said album featuring your not-so-humble bloggist pitching in harmony vocals, tinkly piano and a possibly wildly inappropriate guitar solo. Like a nosy neighbor stepping into a conversation he doesn’t quite understand, in The Caribbean’s world where disparate elements make for striking art it actually works. Have a listen.
 

 

 
Pre-order The Caribbean - Discontinued Perfume today, won’t you ?
 
previously on DM : The Caribbean’s Michael Kentoff on The Dream Songs of TV John

 
Previously on The President Reagan Show: He got elected, took office, and got shot. And now:

5/9/81 New York Times: C.I.A. SEEKS LAW FOR SURPRISE SEARCHES OF NEWSROOMS

5/10/81 Washington Post: REAGAN WANTS TO ABOLISH CONSUMER PRODUCT AGENCY

5/11/81 Ed Meese calls the American Civil Liberties Union “a criminals’ lobby.”

5/21/81 New York Times: WHITE HOUSE SEEKS EASED BRIBERY ACT / SAYS 1977 LAW INHIBITS BUSINESS ABROAD BY U.S. CORPORATIONS

6/12/81 President Reagan fails to recognize his only black Cabinet member, Housing Secretary Samuel Pierce, at a White House reception for big‑city mayors. “How are you, Mr. Mayor?” he greets Pierce. “I’m glad to meet you. How are things in your city?”

6/16/81 President Reagan holds his third press conference, where he responds to questions on the Israeli attack on Iraq (“I can’t answer that”), Israel’s refusal to sign the Nuclear Non‑proliferation Treaty (“Well, I haven’t given very much thought to that particular question there”), Pakistan’s refusal to sign the treaty (“I won’t answer the last part of the question”), Israeli threats against Lebanon (“Well, this one’s going to be one, I’m afraid, that I can’t answer now”), and the tactics of political action committees (“I don’t really know how to answer that”). As for skepticism about his administration’s grasp of foreign affairs, the President declares, “I’m satisfied that we do have a foreign policy.”

7/23/81 Invited by Treasury Secretary Donald Regan to join the negotiating session at which his tax bill is being shaped, President Reagan chuckles and says, “Heck, no. I’m going to leave this to you experts. I’m not going to get involved in details.”

8/5/81 The Reagan Administration begins sending dismissal notices to over 5,000 striking members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Union (PATCO). By week’s end, the union is broken.

8/6/81 Washington Post: WHITE HOUSE SEEKS TO LOOSEN STANDARDS UNDER CLEAN AIR ACT

8/13/81 President Reagan takes time out from his summer vacation at his home in Santa Barbara, California – which is oddly called a “ranch” though no livestock or crops are raised there – to sign the largest budget and tax cuts in history into law. When his dog wanders by, a reporter asks its name. “Lassie,” the President replies, then corrects himself. “Millie!” he says. “Millie. Millie’s her name.”  Everyone laughs and laughs, because it’s just so funny when someone forgets his own dog’s name and confuses her with a movie dog.

All entries are excerpted from the “Reagan Centennial Edition” of my 1989 book The Clothes Have No Emperor, available here as an eBook. Much more to come.

 
Someone has a lot of time on their hands to produce this rather fun track, which edits choice dialog from Saul Metzstein’s excellent BBC drama Micro Men, into a “Micro Mix”.

Metzstein’s film told the strange, funny story of the rivalry and ambition between two British computer pioneers, Clive Sinclair and Chris Curry. Sinclair (brilliantly played by Alexander Armstrong) devised the ZX80, ZX81 and ZX Spectrum and wanted to bring home computing to all, but lost out to rival inventor Chris Curry (Martin Freeman in the film), who co-founded Acorn Computers.

The rivalry comes to a head when the BBC announce their Computer Literacy Project, with the stated aim of putting a micro in every school in Britain. When Acorn wins the contract, Sinclair is furious, and determines to outsell the BBC Micro with his ZX Spectrum computer.

Sinclair went on to produce the Sinclair C5, a single occupancy battery-powered motor vehicle, which was a commercial disaster.

There are clips from Micro Men scattered over the web, and if you haven’t already, it is a drama well worth seeing.

Saul Metzstein is a talented and intelligent director, the kind Hollywood should hire more often. His last film was the award-winning Guy X, while his first Late Night Shopping is a firm cult favorite.
 

 
More from ‘Micro Men’ plus bonus Sinclair’s ZX Spectrum ad, after the jump…
 

18-year-old John and his new wife Gisela Zacher. A return to the world and a marriage that didn’t last.
 
He was a beautiful child of money who at 16 turned his back on privilege and attempted to live the life of a free-spirit. He hung out with Warhol, partied in discos and laid his sleeping bag down in crash pads and communes. The press called him “the golden hippie.” But it was 1973, four years after Altamont had laid waste to the Aquarian Age and sent hippies scattering in all directions like cockroaches bumrushed by the harsh reality of a kitchen light. None-the-less John Paul Getty III swore he’d never end up being an uptight greedy asshole like his billionaire father and grandfather had become. He’d rather be a fuck-up, a loser, anything other than being attached to the sickness that he saw money and greed bring upon his family. And young John almost got his wish until the day the money he loathed became the link between his living or dying.

Tragedy struck the 16 year-old when he was held ransom by Italian kidnappers who sliced off his right ear when his miserly grandfather refused to pay the £17million ransom. John Paul was held captive by a gang, believed to be the Mafia, in Rome for five months. It was only when the captors cut off his ear and sent it to an Italian newspaper that his grandfather agreed to pay any money. The teenager’s life spiraled out of control after the incident which eventually led to him suffering a drug-induced stroke which left him paralyzed and almost blind.

Of course young John’s life spun out of control. His father and grandfather let him rot in a cave for five months in Italy’s back country. Instead of the billionaire Gettys coughing up the money to free their son, they stalled and then refused to pay any ransom at all. These were the fucking Gettys! One of the wealthiest oil families on earth. After getting a shitload of bad press for not showing any compassion for their son, they reconsidered and negotiated the ransom down to a few million dollars, a mere drop in the bucket of their fortunes. But even then they continued to stall, holding out, hoping to strike an even better deal. Finally the kidnappers desperately agreed to a couple million, a figure the Getty’s accountant assured them would be tax deductible. They’d won at a big stakes version of Let’s Make A Deal in which their bloodied and tortured son was behind one of the doors. They’d got the “golden hippie” back for a bargain. But John the third was no longer golden. He was barely alive.

John, the beautiful boy, was a shattered kid at 17. He felt worthless because in his families eyes he was worthless…not in some theoretical way, but in reality. His sense of self was eviscerated. He was bargain basement goods. He returned to his old haunts, the discos, communes and whatever scenes from his past that might revive the old magic but nothing came of it. He had gone from gorgeous to being a media freak with serious issues. He was troubled with nightmares and a marriage that eventually failed. He had a son Balthazar he could barely raise. Relationships were strained. Friendships lost. He just couldn’t get back into trusting anyone or feeling anything. Over the years he became more and more dependent on drugs and alcohol to keep the pain at bay. He got old fast. Unable to work,unable to care for himself, John was at the mercy of a family who seemed to loathe him. His mother tried to do what she could, but she was powerless.

Even in death, John’s grandfather was a vengeful bastard. When the senior Getty died at the age of 83 in 1976, the founder of Getty Oil left nothing in his will for his grandson.

John’s health continued to deteriorate and he finally died this past Saturday at the age of 54. He was crippled, addicted to drugs and required round the clock assistance. Right up to the end he had to beg his father, who was worth billions, to help with his medical expenses. But his father refused and his son had to take him to court just to get some basic help. You see the only power people with money have is their money. And money is the standard by which they judge human worth. The “golden hippie” in rejecting their value system had to be punished.

“The golden hippie” discovered the hard way that his instincts about the corruptive power of money were right on. Greed and selfishness is at the heart of wealth, there’s little room for love there. John Paul Getty III had dreams of being a free soul, of living a life unfettered by the anxieties and restraints of the money driven life. But instead he became its victim. He died young, withered and in pain, pushed around in a wheel chair by people who probably didn’t give a shit. For all intents and purposes, John Paul Getty III never left that cave in Italy.

 
This is some exquisite sun-drenched psychedelia from These Trails, a Hawaiian group who released their one and only album on Honolulu’s Synergia label in 1973. It was a limited private pressing and is virtually impossible to find on vinyl or CD. If you’re a fan of Joanna Newsom, The Incredible String Band, Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell or Pentangle, you’ll probably find a lot to love in these tracks. And even if you’re not a fan of any of those musicians, you’ll probably still find something in These Trails music that will surprise you.

Tablas, guitars, flutes, synthesizers, sitars and multiple interwoven vocal tracks coalesce into shimmering lysergic lullabies and ethereal ballads with an eastern raga feel. Vocalist Margaret Morgan’s vibrato is gorgeous and with the addition of studio-enhanced modulation becomes Blue Jay Way trippy.

These Trails were Margaret Morgan, Dave Choy, Carlos Pardeiro and Patrick Cockett. Morgan passed away and guitarist Patrick Cockett went on to play ukulele with Taj Mahal. Here’s an interview with Cockett that will give you a bit of the history of the band.

Track listing: 1. These Trails    2.Our House In Hanalei    3.Of Broken Links   4.El Rey Pascador   5.Psyche I And Share Your Water   6.Hello Lou   7.Rusty’s House And Lost In Space   8.Psyche II   9.Sowed A Seed   10.Rapt Attention   11.Waipoo   12.Garden Botanum
 

 
Here’s something lush. The New York Dolls hit the road in this documentary film made by rock photographer Bob Gruen and his wife Nadya Beck. Filmed over three years, All Dolled Up captures The Dolls at their height in the early seventies, following them backstage and on tour, visiting such legendary venues as the Whiskey-A-Go-Go, the E-Club, Kenny’s Castaways and Max’s Kansas City. And there are also rousing versions of “Personality Crisis”, “Who Are the Mystery Girls”, “Vietnamese Baby”, amongst others. So, kick back your high heels and enjoy.

Update: For our readers in the USA, you can find All Dolled Up in serial form here.
 

 
Previously on DM

 
Picking up where we left off, some more examples of the great ungreatness of Ronald Reagan and those he surrounded himself with:

1/21/81  At his first Cabinet meeting, President Reagan is asked if the Administration has plans to issue an expected Executive Order on cost‑cutting. He shrugs. Then, noticing budget director David Stockman nodding emphatically, he adds, “I have a smiling fellow at the end of the table who tells me we do.”

1/21/81  On his first full day on the job as National Security Adviser, Richard Allen receives $1,000 and a pair of Seiko watches from Japanese journalists as a tip for arranging an interview with Nancy Reagan.

2/2/81  At his hearing to become Under‑secretary of State, Reagan crony William Clark is subjected to a current events quiz. Is he familiar with the struggles within the British Labour Party? He is not. Does he know which European nations don’t want US nuclear weapons on their soil? He does not. Can he name the Prime Minister of South Africa? He cannot. The Prime Minister of Zimbabwe? “It would be a guess.” Despite his wide-ranging ignorance, he is confirmed.

2/5/81  Testifying before Congress, Interior Secretary James Watt – of whom President Reagan says, “I think he’s an environmentalist himself, as I think I am” – is asked if he agrees that natural resources must be preserved for future generations. Yes, Watt says, but “I do not know how many future generations we can count on before the Lord returns.”

2/11/81  Labor Secretary Raymond Donovan eases requirements for the labeling of hazardous chemicals in the workplace.

3/6/81  New York Times: REAGAN IS MOVING TO END PROGRAM THAT PAYS FOR LEGAL AID TO THE POOR

3/18/81  Responding to charges that three Baltimore slums he owns should have been boarded up months ago, White House aide Lyn Nofziger says, “If I didn’t own them, somebody else would ... It’s much ado about nothing.”

3/30/81  Following Reagan’s shooting, Secretary of State Alexander Haig rushes to the White House briefing room where, trembling and with his voice cracking, he seeks to reassure our allies that the government continues to function: “As of now, I am in control here, in the White House, pending return of the vice president.”  Afterward, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger confronts Haig and informs him that he has misstated the line of succession, which actually places the Speaker of the House and the president pro tempore of the Senate ahead of the Secretary of State. Snarls Haig, “Look, you better go home and read your Constitution, buddy. That’s the way it is.”

3/31/81  An ABC News/Washington Post poll shows that President Reagan’s popularity rating went up 11 points after he was shot, though not everybody suddenly adores him. One student writes in his college newspaper that he hopes Reagan dies of his wounds, prompting Nancy to inquire about the possibility of prosecuting him.

4/1/81  CNN airs a videotape of psychic Tamara Rand “predicting” the Reagan shooting on a Las Vegas talk show reportedly taped on January 6th. Rand said she felt Reagan was in danger “at the end of March” from “a thud” in the “chest area” caused by “shots all over the place” from the gun of a “fair‑haired” young man named something like “Jack Humley.” Four days later Dick Maurice, the show’s host, admits that this astonishing “prediction” was actually taped the day after the shooting.  Still, she had it pegged pretty close.

All entries are excerpted from the “Reagan Centennial Edition” of my 1989 book The Clothes Have No Emperor, available here as an eBook. Much more to come.

 
This is a clip from The Venture Bros’ Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II) which aired in 2006.

I never thought back in the late ‘70s when I knew Klaus Nomi that one day he’d be a cartoon action hero. But upon reflection nothing about Klaus should surprise me. Here he is teaming up with Iggy Pop to defeat David Bowie. Tons of subtext for a cartoon.

More can be found here.

“Now you’re gonna be my dog.”

“Ding, dong, the queen bitch is dead.”