Well, I just can't rest without you, love, I need your company

Here's a Bukowski poem for you... It's called 'Men without Women'

finally,
goaded by the high price of
female relationships
he lashed his ankles to the
bedpoles
and tried to reach his
own
penis
with his
mouth:
close but no
cigar.
another of nature's dirtytricks.

finally, in a fury, he gave it a last
madattempt.
something cracked in his
back
and a blue flame
engulfed hisbrain.

after 45 minutes ofagony
he got himself off
the bed,
found he couldn't stand straight.
each time he tried
a hundred knives cut
into both his back andhis soul.

the next day he managed to drive tothe doctor's
office
bent low over the steering wheel
barely able to see through the
windshield.

"how did you do this?"
the
doctor
asked.

he told the doctor
the honest
truth
because he felt
that an informed
diagnosis
was the only chance
for a complete
cure.

"what" said thedoctor.
"you'rekidding?"

"no, that's whathappened."
"please excuse me,
I'll be rightback."

there was a deadsilence.
then he heard the
soft laughter of
the doctor and the
nurse from
behind the door.
then it grewlouder.

he sat there
looking out the office
window:
there was a park outside
with lovely mature trees, it was
a fine summer afternoon
the birds were out in force and
for some odd reason
he longed for a shimmering bowl
of cool wet grapes.

the laughter behind the door
grew softer again
and then died out
as he sat therewaiting.

Up to Me

Take me on a trip upon your magic swirlin' ship

I'm going on holiday, so I'm going to leave you with a short story by Kafka.

A Little Fable

"Alas," said the mouse, "the world is growing smaller every day. At the beginning it was so big that I was afraid, I kept running and running, and I was glad when at last I saw walls far away to the right and left, but these long walls have narrowed so quickly that I am in the last chamber already, and there in the corner stands the trap that I must run into,"

"You only need to change your direction," said the cat, and ate it up."

Mr Tambourine Man

I can't even touch the books you've read

Some books I’ve been reading:

The Hardest (Working) Man in Showbiz by Ron Jeremy
As promised here is my review of Ron Jeremy’s Autobiography.
It’s a great book. Not only for the funny porno tales, but for the honesty with which he reveals his frustrations at not being taken seriously. His work means that he has lost all the women dear to him in his life. But it is like a drug for him and he can’t change his ways. By the end of the book, he’s accepted that he will forever be known as Porn’s most famous star. And it’s a little sad in many respects. But overall it is a very funny read punctuated by real humanity.


Tony Visconti: the Autobiography.
This book is on the world famous producer who worked with Marc Bolan and T-Rex and David Bowie (among many others). Again this was an interesting read, although it lagged a little towards the end. Some of the stories surrounding Bowie’s songs are very interesting though - it would make a great read for a Bowie fan.


Gangs: A Journey into the Hear of the British Underworld by Tony Thompson.
This was given to me by my mate Will as a birthday present. He assured me that this wasn’t some crappy book aimed at FHM readers and was really interesting. And you know what, despite my worries that he was completely wrong, he did have a very valid point. The author goes undercover with British gangs and charts their history. Looking at various aspects of the criminal underworld (Guns, drugs, robbery, people-smuggling), the book does a great job of teaching the reader about how incredibly dodgy these characters are and does reveal the lack of success the police has had in stopping organised crime. As a fan of the Sopranos, it was great to read about their English colleagues.


The Progressive Patriot by Billy Bragg.
I’m now tucking into Billy Bragg’s book. I’ve only read a couple of chapters so far, but it is very promising indeed. The premise of the book is Bragg’s interpretation of patriotism and how where he has come from has defined the person he has become. As would be expected by a book from Bragg politics are important throughout and he does a great job of mixing current and past political issues and linking them to his personal life and experiences. Looking forward to finishing this one while I’m on holiday this weekend.





Other things:

Some other stuff I’ve been doing recently includes seeing the Arctic Monkeys at the Astoria in London. I’ve also been listening to Willy Mason’s new record. Click on the links to see what I thought of them.



Idiot Wind

To dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free

Hunter S Thompson is one of my favourite writers of all time and possibly the best journalist ever. And although many will dismiss his drug-fuelled rants as just that, there was always a cutting edge to his writing and his political discourse in the 1970s. He really brought out the corruption, lies and deceit that dominated that era’s politics and society in America in a time before there was the internet and blogging to do that.

So I was very excited when I read that Hunter S. Thompson’s personal photos were going to be shown in an exhibition in London.

I’ve nicked these photos off the website to the gallery which first showed this material in Los Angeles. I wanted to buy them all but at £2,000 a pop, it was a little expensive for me. Still I haven’t checked my lottery numbers yet and if I do win a massive jackpot then I’m taking a taxi and purchasing some of these photos straight away. [Update: I’ve just checked my Saturday numbers and lost, so I’ll have to wait until Wednesday]

What I liked most about his colour photos was the fact that they seemed old, yet still vivid. There were some great large prints such as this one of his then wife Sandy and his dog at Big Sur in California (immortalised forever in Kerouac’s book of the same name). It’s brilliant in that it immortalises the 1960s with a love & peace hippy thing going on and in complete contrast a nasty, violent dog - more reminiscent of how Hunter viewed the times. The second photo is Hunter going fishing with guns, as one did in the sixties.

I loved this one below. It’s a shame that the internet can’t portray the real beauty of this photo on a small screen. Tijuana Street. The light is amazing and the pastel colours of those early 1960s American cars really stood out. If I could buy one then I think it would be this one. I don’t know why really, it just really stood out and I examined this one in detail and went back for a second look before I left. It just struck me and I can't explain why which is what all good art should do.


There were also some great photos of Hunter’s pals the Hell’s Angels. His first successful book was about his time spent with the Angels and there are very few photos of these guys, so it's interesting to finally put faces to people that previously we'd only read about.



There were many self-portraits, the one I used at the start of this blog post stood out for me. The one below that is the cover to the Rum Diaries, his first book which was rejected for publication at the time but was later released in the 1990s. It is perhaps my favourite Hunter S Thompson book.

All in all it was a great exhibition and one which you should all go and see if you are in London. It runs until the 10th March at the Michael Hoppen Gallery, just off Kings Road. The photos have been collected in a brilliant book entitled Gonzo which is available from Ammo Books for a cool $300. I want to buy it but will have to wait for the paperback (they probably never will release a cheap version for us plebs, but one can always wish for these things).

I also went to see the Harrods Rocks! guitar exhibition at the weekend. I’ll tell you all about that tomorrow.

Mr Tambourine Man

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle 'til the moon is blue

WARNING: You must be over 18 to read this blog post.

I received a very nice package from a freind today which had some books in it. One of them is called What's Left? How Liberals lost their Way by Nick Cohen. It looks very interesting about how the left have been apologising for militant Islam. Not sure that i'll agree with everything he says, but I'm sure that it will raise some interesting questions. The other book looks even more interesting however. It is called Ron Jeremy - The hardest (working) Man in Showbiz. It is the autobiography of porn's most famous star, Ron Jeremy.

Many of you won't know much about him, but you'd probably recognise him. He's starred in over 1,750 films (including mainstream film roles) and had sex with over 4,000 women. He was also on the Farm, the shortlived channel 5 programme where celebrities are put onto a farm. If you remember Rebecca Loos had to wank off a pig live on air.

But back to the porno star's book. I can't wait to read this, it looks extremely funny. Here are some quotes from the book that i've randomly selected from the page randomly chosen. I promise that I just opened the book and took a quote from the chosen page.

There are some critics who might question the logic of combining comedy and pornography. Is that really what porn consumers are looking for anyway? Is it possible to laugh and jerk off at the same time? And even if it is would you want to?

I have paid for sex only once in my life, and it was all Charlie Sheen’s fault.

I’ve had sex with more than 4,000 women in my life, but I have been in love with only five of them.

What do three US presidents, two prime ministers and Winston Churchill, Mother Theresa, the Dalai Lama and I have in common? […] We’ve all lectured at Oxford University.

After reading those random quotes, I'm sure that you'll agree that this book could quite possibly be one of the funniest autobiographies of all time. I can't wait to start reading it. It is perhaps not a book to get out on the tube however. Maybe it's one to keep at home. I'll write a review here when I've finished the book.

Wiggle Wiggle

On anyone that lives in a vault

Bill Graham is perhaps the West Coast’s most famous concert/band promoter/manager. He basically built up the 'West Coast' music scene in the states single handily. He was born in Berlin and came to America during the war alone, sent by his family, many of whom were sent to Auschwitz. He was a great man who loved music and unfortunately died in a helicopter crash in 1991.

There’s this excellent book called Hotel California which is the story of this 'West Coast' music scene. Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills & Nash, the Eagles, Gram Parsons, Tom Waits, Randy Newman are all the major actors in this great event where popular music’s power centre shifted from New York City to the sunny suburbs of LA and a place called Laurel Canyon (name-checked in a few of Neil Young’s songs). It's a riveting read and a great book on this period of music which is sometimes neglected by most musical writers.

As with almost everything in music it all ended in too much sex and drugs and rock 'n roll and the once idealistic hippy singer-songwriters became bloated druggies and drifted away. But Bill Graham stayed on and continued to promote bands.

Anyway the reason I am telling you this is because he kept souvenirs from every single show he ever worked on. He had a massive collection of tickets, posters, T-shirts, audio and video recordings which can be bought online at Wolfgang’s vault, a website set up to sell this stuff.

They’ve just started something called Vault Radio where they have over 300 concerts which can be audio-streamed through the internet to your computer, and for free! (you do need to register though) Namecheck a 1960s and 1970s band and they will be on there, the complete alphabetical list can be seen here. Some random highlights include:

Bruce Springsteen at Winterland, 12 November 1978.
Bob Marley & the Wailers at Oakland auditorium, 30 November 1974.
Crosby Stills Nash and Young at Filmore East, 6 June 1970.
Led Zeppelin at Filmore West, 10 January 1969.
The Band at Boston Garden, 14 January 1974.

Check out Vault Radio now, and thanks to my friend Paolo and his blog for alerting me to this, this is something all classic rock music fans should check out. You see, this is why the internet is great.

It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

I can write you a poems, make a strong man loose his mind

On wednesday it was national poetry day in the UK. I watched 'Factotum' in the evening, the adaptation of Bukowski's book of the same name. This poem features in it. I like this poem.

A poem is a city
a poem is a city filled with streets and sewers
filled with saints, heroes, beggars, madmen,
filled with banality and booze,
filled with rain and thunder and periods of
drought, a poem is a city at war,
a poem is a city asking a clock why,
a poem is a city burning,
a poem is a city under guns
its barbershops filled with cynical drunks,
a poem is a city where God rides naked
through the streets like Lady Godiva,
where dogs bark at night, and chase away
the flag; a poem is a city of poets,
most of them quite similar
and envious and bitter...
a poem is this city now,
50 miles from nowhere,
9:09 in the morning,
the taste of liquor and cigarettes,
no police, no lovers, walking the streets,
this poem, this city, closing its doors,
barricaded, almost empty,
mournful without tears, aging without pity,
the hardrock mountains,
the ocean like a lavender flame,
a moon destitute of greatness,
a small music from broken windows...

a poem is a city, a poem is a nation,
a poem is the world...

and now I stick this under glass
for the mad editor's scrutiny,
the night is elsewhere
and faint gray ladies stand in line,
dog follows dog to estuary,
the trumpets bring on gallows
as small men rant at things
they cannot do.

- Charles Bukowski


High Water

Hey, Hey, Woodie Guthrie…

I’ve had this post in my mind for a few weeks now but haven’t got round to transcribing it to paper (or to PC keyboard). I’ve just finished reading Bound for Glory by Woodie Guthrie, his autobiography. And it has been a long time since I’ve truly adored a book, but this now has to be one of my favourite books.

He tells the tale of his life from growing up in a small town in the country to riding railroad wagons across the country singing for the working folk. But it is more than just his life story it presents the reader with social commentary, music, poetry, and images of American society. All done in a subtle manner through the stories he presents.

What we get is a look at American society in the 1920s to 1940s, tales of oil boom towns, of industrial expansion, of agricultural work, of small and large town life, of village life, of the rich man, of the poor man, the white man, the black man, of the downtrodden and of the high and mighty. If there is one book that fully encapsulates this America at its economic and social turning point then it is this book, not some stuffy history tome. This is a book that all Americans should be made to read.

At the same time it has a personal ‘freedom’ aspect that perhaps only Kerouac can match. This is Woody himself up against the world, travelling the country, doing what he loves best, roaming and rambling and singing songs for the working man.

Anyway as you may have gathered I recommend this book, so read it. Check out the Woodie Guthrie foundation website for more on Woody Guthrie, including lyrics such as those below which are from ‘This Land is Your Land’. The website also has the classic photo of Woody with 'this machine kills fascists' written on his guitar on the front page. So it seems that Guthrie was the first punk as well.

This land is your land, This land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and Me.

As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway:
I saw below me that golden valley:
This land was made for you and me.

I've roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;
And all around me a voice was sounding:
This land was made for you and me.

Song to Woody