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This past December, I conducted a series of interviews with people about the value of sharing information and resources in their respective fields of work. The interviews were edited into a podcast for

LINK

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We have five half-hour episodes of the series online at the Church of Life After Shopping website: http://www.revbilly.com/work/the-last-televangelist

Here’s the Freak-a-lujah episode: http://www.revbilly.com/work/the-last-televangelist/freak-a-lujah

“The Last Televangelist” is like “Pee Wee’s Playhouse” meets “The 700 Hundred Club” meets “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”. You will be changed forever. Viewing it in your web browser will clear your Bookmarks of consumer websites. Ok probably not, but we’ve heard stories! I hope you folks like it, we love Alterati and appreciate all your support. -Michael O’Neil www.revbilly.com

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Here’s a few links to audio collections I’m building from panels, talks and conferences I’m recording at the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival. I have over 30 hours of this type of material recorded so far and will be releasing it all over time on pod.lafilmfest.com.

Enjoy!

• Filmmaker Lunch Talks  Los Angeles Times Entertainment Writer John Horn talks to various producers, writers, editors and directors about their filmmaking experiences.
• Finance Conference Various industry experts and filmmakers talk about the “art of finance” for the independent filmmaker in the current economic climate.

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Michael Mailer (born 1964) is a film producer and the oldest son of writer Norman Mailer. He has produced over 17 films. He has one sister Kate and two brothers Matthew and Stephen an actor. He is the co-founder of Bigel/Mailer films. He is married to Sasha Lazard and they have one son Cyrus. (wikipedia)

IMDB

MMF

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Steve Diet Goedde was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri and learned the basics of darkroom work and photography from his father, who was an amateur photographer. By the age of 13, Steve was obsessed with taking photographs and started educating himself about photographers that inspired him, most notably Richard Avedon, Lillian Bassman, and Diane Arbus.

He moved to Chicago in 1985 to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he studied filmmaking and painting. He refused to study photography stating that he had already acquired his aesthetic and visual style.

In 1998, photography publisher Edition Stemmle published a collection of Steve’s Chicago work entitled “The Beauty of Fetish” detailing his fascination with such fetishistic fashion elements as latex, leather, and PVC. Later that same year, he moved to Los Angeles where he started a series of photographs which would later become “The Beauty of Fetish: Volume II” (2001), also from Edition Stemmle.

Slish Pix in 2005 released a career retrospective of his work on DVD entitled “Living Through Steve Diet Goedde”. In addition to the numerous animated photo galleries, the DVD featured interviews, commentary, and behind the scenes footage.

Steve Diet Goedde currently lives in the Highland Park area of Los Angeles.

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http://www.baader-meinhof.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army_Faction

http://www.richardhuffman.com/

What events or conditions in 1960’s Germany lead to the formation of the Red Army Faction?

There were a number of factor that directly and indirectly led to the RAF. An important factor was the massive upheaval going on in the German university system; in the space of just a few short years, you had a very rigid system where students quietly listened to their professor’s lecture to them in a god-like manner, to an environment where students in many university’s were voting on their professors, their grades etc. Basically students were becoming empowered as never before. Coupled with this was an extremely strong Marxist ideology that permeated the university system. Marx’s theories on Capitalism were accepted as fact, and the notion of a Revolution among the western societies was accepted as well. It wasn’t a matter of IF there was to a revolution, but WHEN there was going to be a revolution and who would lead it.

Events in Germany politics also pushed many young leftists away from the mainstream. In 1966 there was no clear majority party winners in the federal elections, so the two main parties chose to form a super-majority government comprising about 95% of the elected officials. This “grand coalition” convinced many young left-wing Germans that the supposed left-wing party (the SPD), did not have their best interests in mind.

When some student demonstrations of 1967 and 1968 turned violent and deadly, it further convinced many of the young students that there German state is still fascist in nature, essentially unchanged since the Nazi era.

To some extent I feel that the appearance of the RAF, or another group like them, was inevitable. Basically the left-wing culture of the time was highly predisposed towards the notion that there would be a vanguard group that would kickstart the coming revolution; if it hadn’t been the RAF, one of the other groups, like the June 2 Movement, would probably have become more prominent.

Who were the group’s founders? Could you tell us something about their backgrounds?

There were three founders of the group; Andreas Baader, his girlfriend Gudrun Ensslin, and Horst Mahler. Baader was charismatic kind of a faux rebel who did not graduate high school, and had bounced around Germany getting into low-level trouble. Gudrun Ensslin was an intense daughter of a pastor who was extremely intelligent and well-versed in radical thought. The idea of specific group of urban guerrilla revolutionaries was mostly Horst Mahler’s; he was a relatively prominently lawyer who took on left-wing causes. Mahler was shunted aside within the group almost immediately, and he was captured not too long after the formation of the group. There is also an incorrect assumption that Ulrike Meinhof was one of the leaders of the group; she was certainly part of the inner circle, but the group was run by Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ennslin…

Was it the murder of a radical student in 1968 by police the event that spurred Andreas Bader to begin the wave of terror? Could you tell us about this event?

The facts are a little bit different than you describe, but the effect was the same. It was actually 1967… June 2nd to be exact. The Shah of Iran was visiting Berlin and the government and press was treating the visit rapturously. But many leftists saw the Shah essentially for what he truly was; a puppet dictator installed by the CIA who treats his people horribly. Several demonstrations were planned during his Berlin visit. An evening demonstration took place across the street from the Opera House where the Shah was attending a performance. The police allowed Persian in the crowd to attack the protestors, and then the police began to attack and beat the protestors. In the confusion a young pacifist theology student named Benno

Ohnesorg was captured by the police and then accidentally shot and killed… he was attending his first demonstration.

Also attending the demo was Gudrun Ensslin. The death of Ohnesorg had a profound impact on her; it convinced her that her parent’s generation was still fascist in nature and the only way to answer them was with violence. This was definitely among the most critical events that led to Ensslin radicalizing. Early the next year she met Baader, and though he was no radical at the time, he quickly caught up with her…

The incident also gave a name to another radical group: The June 2^nd Movement. Though not as prominent as the Baader-Meinhof Group (they were mostly based in Berlin), they were active throughout the 1970s. They even tried to kill my father in his capacity as the US Army’s Berlin Brigade Bomb Disposal unit…

Who were some of those murdered by The Bader Meinhof Gang?

The Baader-Meinhof Gang / RAF was responsible for the deaths of about 25 people during the time frame that I studied them (1970-1977 or so). They believed themselves to be at war with the United States and the US’s proxies like the German government. Therefore US soldiers and German police were considered legitimate targets. Later, they decided that politicians and others actively opposed to them were legitimate targets, and later still they targeted prominent capitalist businessmen.

Their first victims were several police officer killed in shootouts in 1971, but their first overt victim of a terrorist act was lt. Col. Paul Bloomquist, who was killed by a bomb at the US Military’s V Corp headquarters at Frankfurt’s IG Farben building in May of 1972. A week or so later another bomb at the US Army’s Heidelberg Campbell Baracks killed three more US soldiers.

After the capture of the entire leadership of the RAF in late May-June 1972, the group tended to attack politicians and others in a bid to get their leadership released from prison. Certain the most famous and prominent victim was Hanns-Martin Schleyer, who was the head of the German Federation of Employers. He was kidnapped in the fall of 1977 and was held hostage for 44 days before eventually being murdered. The group regularly released videotapes of him reading their demands and his kidnapping paralyzed all of Germany…

What events lead to the capture and arrest of the members of the group? One of them committed suicide before their arrest, am I right on this? (Einsellen)

To my knowledge there wasn’t any particular member that committed suicide prior to arrest, though most of the founding leadership ultimately committed suicide in prison.

The Baader-Meinhof Gang/RAF was essentially founded in May of 1970 when Ulrike Meinhof assisted in the freeing of Andreas Baader from police custody. Aside from so early arrests, the group spent the next two years on the run. Part of the reason it took two years to capture the leadership of the group was due to the fact that they didn’t commit any particular acts of over terrorism until May of 1972. Prior to that they spent much of their time robbing banks, stealing cars, and planning their revolution, but the massive effort to capture them in May and June of 1972 was partially in response to the escalation of the Baader-Meinhof Gang in their war on the state.

In May of 1972 the group in short order bombed the US Base in Frankfurt, Police stations in Augsburg, Karlsruhe and Munich, the US base in Heidelberg, and a Springer Press building in Hamburg. Many people were killed and injured, including US soldiers. The BKA (essentially the German version of the FBI) tracked down Andreas Baader, Holger Meins, and Jan-Carl Raspe in Frankfurt from a tip. After an intense shootout, they were all captured. The following week Gudrun Ensslin was captured when a store clerk spotted her gun as she was shopping in Hannover. And a week later Ulrike Meinhof is captured after the police are tipped off to her safehouse in Hannover. So in the space of two short weeks, the entire leadership of the Baader-Meinof Gang was imprisoned.

Recently one of the members was pardoned. Could you tell us about this?

Of course there were successive generations of the RAF that followed in the footsteps of the original leadership. One member, Christian Klar, was one of the so-called “second generation” that tried to secure the release of the original leadership through kidnapping and murder. He was captured in 1982 and served 26 years in prison for the murders of several businessmen. He was release shortly before Christmas last year and is the second from last Red Army Faction member in prison (Birgit Hogefeld is the last member, having served 24 years).

Americans are often surprised by the release of these murderers and terrorists because the United States is literally chock full of prisons with people serving life sentences for extremely mundane crimes. But sentences in Germany are traditionally much shorter, even for murder, and former terrorists had been released even earlier if the expressed remorse for their crimes.

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The Manson Family

Despite support from various people, including members of the band Skinny Puppy, who provided a musical score (in the form of Download’s Charlie’s Family album) that was released separately years before the film itself, the film remained incomplete. It screened on video as a work-in-progress at a number of film festivals during that time.

In 2004, Dark Sky Films stepped in with the funds to finish the film properly, and it has since been released theatrically and on home video. (wikipedia)

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The psychedelic prologue to Fallen Nation: Babylon Burning, Join My Cult! has been rewiring drug-addled brains for the past five years. Now, here, for the first time (because we never bothered to get around to it before), are two installment of the book in audio form. Music in this episode is by James Curcio, Nate Sampsel, and P. Emerson Williams.

Want to see what J read in the script in episode 7? Check out this video.

Want to read the novel instead? :

Join My Cult! eBook (PDF)

Past Episodes feed (iTunes or direct)

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Jack Sargeant

Since 1995 Jack Sargeant has written and contributed to numerous books on underground film, including: Deathtripping: The Cinema of Transgression, about Cinema of Transgression filmmakers such as Richard Kern and Nick Zedd, Naked Lens: Beat Cinema, and Cinema Contra Cinema, a collection of essays on alternative film. He is the editor of the journal Suture, and has co-edited two volumes Lost Highways: An Illustrated History of the Road Movie (with Stephanie Watson) and No Focus: Punk on Film (with Chris Barber). In 2007 Deathtripping was republished by Soft Skull Press.

He has contributed to numerous books on subjects ranging from Andy Warhol movies to road rage and car crash songs and his work has been included in collections such as Mikita Brottman’s Car Crash Culture, Mendick & Harper’s Underground USA, Wollen & Kerr’s Autopia, among others.

He has also authored and edited true crime books including Born Bad, Death Cults, Bad Cop Bad Cop, and Guns, Death Terror’. These books have featured contributions from Monte Cazazza, Michael Spann, Andrew Leavold, John Harrison, Simon Whitechapel, Chris Barber, and others.

Jack has written introductions for Joe Coleman’s Book of Joe and photographer Romain Slocombe’s Tokyo Sex Underground.

He has contributed to publications such as Headpress as well as Panik, The Wire, Fortean Times and Bizarre magazine, as well as academic journals such as Senses of Cinema and M/C.

Between 2001-2003 he was film editor at large for Sleazenation. Jack has written cover notes for DVDs by various underground and independent filmmakers, including the British Film Institute’s DVD release of Kirby Dick’s film Sick: The Life And Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist.

Jack has appeared in numerous film and TV documentries on culture and film, as well as having cameos in underground films. He has also appeared on recordings by the experimental group I/O.

He has promoted and organized shows for filmmakers and artists at the Horse Hospital in London and Cinematheque in Brighton, UK, and has also toured film festivals in America, Europe, and Australia, including the New York Underground Film Festival, the Chicago Underground Film Festival, Melbourne Underground Film Festival, Brisbane International Film Festival, and Sydney Underground Film Festival. In 2002 and 2003 he collaborated with Simon Kane on The Salon, an annual event that has featured performances by David Tibet, Cosey Fanni Tutti, and Cotton Ferox.

He is currently curating the Revelation - Perth International Film Festival 2008. (wikipedia)

http://www.jacktext.net
=====

Hello Jack. Here we go. What inspires you to write on the subject of extreme cinema-Beat Movies, cult films etc.?

In terms of inspiration, I think I become inspired because I want to find out about things personally, for my own interest, and I pursue these absolutely. I think, and have been told, that I can be pretty obsessive about my interests. Then of course I know there’s a handful of people out there who share my tastes, so it makes sense to write books. It should also be obvious that I am fascinated by the creative processes behind writing and always have been, although not in a precious way, I am happy to work with editors and so on.

Additionally, I’ve always been drawn to things that were considered to be outside of the mainstream. I have very little interest in what I guess you’d call dominant culture and was never really interested in it. The topics which I write about all, I think, reflect my own tastes. But I don’t know if I have an overarching theme across all my books or anything, I write about what I want, there’s no wider agenda. Or if there is it only emerges subsequently when looking back from the vantage point of history at my earlier books.

What were the subjects of your first published articles?

I used to write music fanzines when I was a teenager, so I guess interviews with bands and so on. Additionally I wrote about odd things that got my interest for various magazines. I went through a phase writing about cars and violence, something I return to periodically when writing true crime pieces or in some of the more obscure pop culture pieces I’ve written such as on car crash pop songs for Mikita’s book Car Crash Culture.

Were you always a fan of exploitation and cult films?

Yes. I was exposed to these things very early on. I remember just watching video after video of horror movies, exploitation movies, cult films and so on. But the best thing was midnight movies, I used to go and see late night double bills week after week, Friday and Saturday nights. That was such as education you know, just watching movies, all those great late night classics The Thing, Assault On Precinct 13, Salo, Halloween, Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, Eraserhead, Santa Sangre, Evil Dead, The Beast and so on, I loved sitting in the cinema with the film geeks, fans, crazy night people, oddballs, drunks, stoners, and so on who made up the crowd. True nighthawks one and all.

Could you name some of your favorite films?

Every time I do the list changes, lets just say I love all kinds of movies, I admire filmmakers who follow their vision and films that show you something in a different way, ultimately the films I write about are the ones that matter most to me. If you need a list: Fingered, SXXX80, Eraserhead, Holy Mountain, The Proposition, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, Night of the Living Dead, The Idiots, Wake In Fright.

Let’s talk about “Beat Cinema”. What effect did jazz music have on the films of the beat writers?

I guess the idea of the freedom in the music inspired the idea of freedom in other forms of expression, but I don’t think the progression was simply from one to the other, these things happened at the same time and followed their own pathways. The idea of the Beat Cinema book Naked Lens was simply to examine the way this subculture or subcultural gesture extended culture beyond the boundaries traditionally ascribed to it.

What made these films so important to the culture of the 1960’s?

It depends on which films you are talking about. Some no doubt inspired people - like the freedom of Pull My Daisy or Flower Thief which got people to pick up cameras and make their own movies. Or Flamming Creatures which influenced queer theatre and what became know as glitter rock, and eventually, by extension, bands like the New York Dolls, and of course filmmakers like John Waters. Others like Balch and Burroughs’ film The Cut Ups probably found a more appreciative audience in the late ’70s within industrial music.

Did you ever meet Allen Ginsberg or any of the other beat writers?

I spoke to Allen Ginsberg on the phone for Naked Lens. I saw Herbert Hunke read when he toured, which was incredible, a truly inspiring performer and writer.

How are exploitation films such as those made by Herschel Gordon Lewis and David Friedman (”Blood Feast”) trangressive?

Well, I don’t think I ever said they were, but I guess they broke the boundaries of what was considered culturally acceptable at the time, with the gore, sexual representations and so on. But I don’t think it maters if its transgressive or not, if you enjoy it then that’s fine, you know.

What is the audience seeking in viewing these films?

I don’t think that it is possible to say, I mean, every member of an audience has their own interest in a film and motivations for being there watching.

What are some of your favorite road movies and why do you think audiences love road movies so much. What do films like “Easy Rider” give to the audience?

Again, what my favorites are changes all the time. I love Vanishing Point, Two-Lane Blacktop and so on.

Could you name some Punk rock films that you may want to talk about? Some of your favorites. What about the nature of punk music may have brought about the making of these films?

The punk rock movie book (No Focus) was very much a joint project. I curated an entire season of films at ACMI in Melbourne and those

movies I selected were probably the ones I liked best: Ladies And Gentlemen The Fabulous Stains, Jubilee, Louder Faster Shorter, TG Live at Oundle, Repo Man and so on. I think the most obvious aspect that punk music has on film was less to do with music per se and more to do with the whole punk idea of being able to do it yourself.

Do you listen to punk or hardcore?

Sure I enjoy some punk and hardcore, but my preference is for those bands who were were not so generic thrash… broadly, the more experimental post-punk bands.

Let’s get back to Beat Cinema and the experimental films of William Burroughs, Cut-Ups as they are called and the films and musical experiments of Brion Gysin. What did these films hope to accomplish? Is there any relation between Burroughs writings and his films?

Oh, there’s a whole lifetime’s research in that. I mean, I’d suggest all of Burroughs’ work can be seen as part of a large project to attack control systems. As to what the films tried to accomplish, I think that was covered in Naked Lens.

What do you think of the banning or censorship of certain violent films, underground or mainstream? Is there such a thing as going too far?

Obviously I think censorship is absurd. Going “too far” is interesting, to me going “too far” isn’t so much about say the level of violence but the metanarratives around it.

What was your opinion of the film “Caligula” and “Canniba Holocaust” perhaps two of the most extreme films ever made?

I’m not sure that extremity can be quantified. I mean Cannibal Holocaust is just entertaining trash but it’s no worse than say Cannibal Ferox or a dozen other Italians horror movies. As for Caligula, I can’t remember, I haven’t seen it for years.

Are films like the Guinea Pig series from Japan, “too disturbing”?

I’m not interested in those films particularly. I do like Mishima’s film about ritual suicide which is beautiful.

What lies in the future for extreme culture?

I don’t know, I maintain an interest in underground film, and always find things I like. I’m not sure if these films are extreme - as I said I don’t think it’s possible to quantify extremity - but there’s good things being made still.

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Genre: Documentary

First Air Date: 2009.Apr.16

Duration: 1h25m58s

Video: DivX 5 704×480 29.97fps 985Kbps
Audio: MPEG Audio Layer 3 44100Hz stereo 128Kbps

Source: Digital Cable

New World Order

From the award winning filmmakers of DARKON (SXSW Audience Award 2006) comes New World Order, a feature length documentary about conspiracy theorists directed by Luke Meyer and Andrew Neel. The film is a behind the scenes look at the underground movement of people who want to expose “global elitists,” whom they claim are covertly masterminding a series of destructive events to cause a mass breakdown of the world’s economy and society. Once the world has fallen into chaos, these same “elitists” will offer a plan to rebuild the economic and social structure of the world (to their liking). This theory is also known as the New World Order.

The film captures this growing anti-New World Order movement as it targets the annual Bilderberg conference, and the 9/11 attacks as focal points in the alleged global conspiracy. Alex Jones, a celebrity radio host, and underground cult hero, is the central character of the film. The film chronicles Alex and four other conspiracy theorists on their ceaseless quest to expose the “massive global conspiracy” they believe threatens the future of humanity.

New World Order is a film about people who believe in conspiracy theories and why they believe in them, not about the theories themselves. This film does not try to prove or disprove conspiracy theories. At its core, New World Order is a film about the power of ideas, and the power of ideas to change one’s life and define one’s actions.

New World Order will premiere on demand on IFC Free April 16, 2009. A new documentary.

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The psychedelic prologue to Fallen Nation: Babylon Burning, Join My Cult! has been rewiring drug-addled brains for the past five years. Now, here, for the first time (because we never bothered to get around to it before), is an installment of the book in audio form. Music in this episode is by Scott Landes (from subQtaneous).

Want to read it instead? :

Join My Cult! eBook (PDF)

Past Episodes feed (iTunes or direct)

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Released on DVD in August, 2008. Full DVD rip, running time 1:20.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfF-i2Ww7gk&fmt=18
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Free audiobook on Podiobooks.com, up now! Read by the author. Very high-quality production.

Subscribe and comment here:

http://podiobooks.com/title/a-users-manual-for-the-human-experience/

RSS Feed: All of the current episodes in a standard feed. New episodes will be added as they come — maybe more than one at a time.
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Learn to block and delete idiots from your life. Remove addiction to bad people, drugs, alcohol, government and more (WITHOUT MEETINGS!) Then use your new-found time and energy to MAKE A LIVING DOING WHAT YOU LOVE, like the author does.

A USER’S MANUAL FOR THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE is a libertarian manifesto for getting healthy, getting brilliant, maximizing potential and changing the world.

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The psychedelic prologue to Fallen Nation: Babylon Burning, Join My Cult! has been rewiring drug-addled brains for the past five years. Now, here, for the first time (because we never bothered to get around to it before), is an installment of the book in audio form. Music in this episode is by P. Emerson Williams & James Curcio and contains outtake material from subQtaneous as well as some early source material from the upcoming soundtrack to the movie Y (currently in pre-production).

Want to read it instead? : Join My Cult! eBook (PDF)

Past Episodes feed (iTunes or direct)

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The psychedelic prologue to Fallen Nation: Babylon Burning, Join My Cult! has been rewiring drug-addled brains for the past five years. Now, here, for the first time (because we never bothered to get around to it before), is an installment of the book in audio form. Music in this episode is an acoustic jam with Scott Landes and James Curcio.

Want to read it instead? :

Join My Cult! eBook (PDF)

Past Episodes

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We went long on this one, you can download the file directly if the pop-up fails.

R6XX_Com_and_Nemo-RIPPLE-TheGs..> 22-May-2009 08:23 102M

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http://www.nightserpent.com/

Hmmmmm, what to tell you about myself? Might as well start at the beginning….I was born May 2nd, 1972 on Martha’s Vineyard. This tends to be novel in conversations, even funnier are the questions/comments I have received: ‘Do you have electricity?’, ‘Do you get television there?’ (no, television signals are like vampires, they can’t cross water!) and ‘I thought they locked the island up in the winter!’. I wish I had said,”Yes I am the Key Master, I guard the padlock for six months a year to make sure nobody breaks in.” I didn’t have the typical ‘Vineyard experience’; my family would winter there, and summer in northern Vermont (I know, generally a WINTER resort!) To be quite honest, I’m not big on crowds… so it was just as well that way.

My parents were a children’s book writer/illustrator team for years. My mother (Carol) has written over fifty books (look for our collaboration: Mothers Are Like That, in the spring of 2000). Not only did my father (Donald) illustrate my mother’s books, he illustrated for other writers as well as his own books. By the time he died (June, 1989) he had illustrated over eighty books. If you look around, you will find some of their books about a little boy named Paul. Growing up at a summer resort was a tad uneventful in the ‘off season’, if it weren’t for a keen interest in art and role playing games… bad scene! A lot of kids did some stupid things out of sheer boredom in the off season. If it wasn’t racking up a car, knocking up a girl or knocking over a store- it was something worse! I thank my lucky stars that I could entertain myself. - http://www.nightserpent.com/bio.html

When did you become interested in HP Lovecraft and the occult? Why does this subject matter interest you?

Lovecraft’s works entered my life in high school, a friend introduced our gaming group to the Lovecraft inspired role-playing game ‘Call of Cthulhu’. I don’t think he could have done a better job of making us intensely curious about the unfolding story… yet also quite fearful of truly uncovering the mysteries. It was such a contrast from the typical “hack and slash” games, it seemed far more intelligent and challenging, and our characters felt more like human beings rather than pages of statistics. This inspired me to start reading the original source, and though I think much of it had already been distilled to me though other media (movies, comics, games, music, etc) which “borrowed” greatly from Lovecraft, none of the clones seemed to be able to recreate the same sense of dread, increasing curiosity and unfathomable vastness. I guess it was those qualities that inspired me, it made the universe exponentially larger and time more infinite.

I am increasingly fascinated by being exposed to different perspectives and philosophies, I guess it reminds me that the ones I’ve been unconsciously carrying for most of my life are not the only ones, and we actually have choices. I suppose Lovecraft’s other worlds and races can symbolize these other ways of existing. Though, clearly, many fixate on the terrible nature of these alien races, it’s really just a matter of perspective and context, and from another angle many can be seen as wondrous… or even beautiful in their own context. Once I started to illustrate Lovecraft’s ideas, something seemed to click. Maybe it’s just the way my hand and eye work together, but the atmospheres and denizens seemed the perfect match. It allowed me certain freedoms with my art, enabling me to invest more of myself into the imagery… and I believe this always improves the outcome.

As for the occult… I grew up in a very atheistic environment, matters of the spirit just were never brought up. I was fine with that, and it served me well enough for a while, but I think many of us come to a point where we feel like we might be missing out on part of the human experience if we live it entirely from one perspective.

Belief and faith is still something I struggle with greatly to this day, probably through conditioning, but I acknowledge the paradox that one’s mind needs to be open and aware to experience something of that nature. If you only look for science, you’re only going to find science. The more I read and contemplate, the more it seems that many of the spiritual paths (art, music, ritual, prayer, meditation) ultimately take us to the same place… it’s up to us to find out which is the most suitable interface for our personal culture. I was turned off by much of mainstream religion, the aesthetics seemed very dry to me and all I heard about were all the scandals going on. It was just too in my face to see it with fresh eyes, I already had too many negative associations. I guess there was this hope that something less familiar and less mainstream might still be pure, like a lost idea that had not yet been eaten up and homogenized by the masses. I’m still trying on various approaches to see what makes the most sense for me, I suspect it will keep evolving for the rest of my life as I evolve. I’ve always had an interest in the obscure, bizarre and forgotten; so the “skin” of the occult had great appeal. The imagery was right in line with my interests, and the potential of experiencing something along the lines of magic was beyond exciting.

Were you sketching from an early age?

Yes. My whole family was very artistic, I don’t know if I ever even questioned not doing it… it just seemed like it was something everyone did like eating and sleeping. So, though my environment had no spirituality in the classic sense, I had art, which is simply another interface. Unsurprisingly, monsters were a common subject matter for me since the beginning. The less confining the topic, the more enjoyable it was, monsters had no rules to follow so it was all open for me.

When was your first exhibition?

Outside of school related shows, I guess it was the first GenCon (a major role playing game convention) I attended in the mid 90’s. That didn’t quite count as a true show in the classic sense, as anyone can just rent panels to show their work. Boston still holds on to many of it’s puritanical roots, so it is hard to find places to show my moodier pieces. In 2007 I was invited to participate in a show at the Maison D’Ailleurs in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland. It’s a science fiction museum that features one of the largest and most impressive collections of antique books, some hundreds of years old.

They had a show based on Lovecraft’s commonplace book, a hundred artists from around the world participated. I can’t tell you how flattering and exciting it was to be involved in such an event. If that wasn’t enough, my work was displayed right next to the works of H.R. Giger, a long-time inspiration.

Who are some of your influences? artistic or literary?

A number of times through school I’d discover artists that really spoke to me through their art. I’d be so attracted to their style, content and overall feel that it would greatly influence my direction with my own art. When I was trying to find my style, which can be a bit overwhelming, it was very tempting to adopt the pre-fixed package of one of these inspiring artists. All I’d need to do is research their techniques (colors, materials, design approaches), and I’d have a semi-organized template. This is not to say I could perfectly clone anyone’s style, far from it, but it would give me a step up with far less effort. Ultimately, this would always lead me to the same place: dissatisfaction. Though we can copy the superficial elements (their brushes, paints, colors, surfaces, etc), the most important part is missing. I didn’t live the same life they did, I didn’t have the experiences that led them to where they are, I don’t have the same associations, my hand is shaped differently and it interacts with my brain in a different manner. I would never understand their art the way they do. It also felt a bit like being an impersonator, and I’d be depriving myself of that self exploration which to me seems to be one of the rewarding functions of art. Financially speaking, one could only expect to get the jobs that the original guy turned down, so there’s a glass ceiling far how far “the artist whose work looks a lot like someone else’s” can take it. This is not to say that it’s not worth studying other artists’ work, a common practice in school is to copy a master’s work, it can be seen as a meditation and we can certainly learn from it. But, ultimately, I think the point is to find our own path. Perhaps it’s just my path to find my own path, I can’t judge others.

Not having answered the question, here are some of my favorites: Moebius, Berni Wrightson, Arthur Rackham, Albrect Durer, Brom, Frank Frazetta, Simon Bisley and H.R. Giger. Out of all of these, I think people suggest Giger the most, presumably because of my common use of greyscale and the wet textural look I often use. Beyond his style and content, I think it’s really his attitude that inspires me the most. I could be totally wrong, but I really get the sense that he’s hanging it all out there and indulging in every artistic desire without much concern for editing himself because what others may think. I think he’s denying himself very little, from my experience that’s harder than it sounds. If he feels like painting giant mechanical genitalia, he might go ahead and paint twenty mural sized variations without caring what anything thinks!

I’m probably not as much of a reader as others who share similar interests. When I do read it tends to be for information… how to do or make something. This could be how to use materials or some other technical subject, all more or less leading to new ways I can express myself. I’m always curious about how things work, and those interests never stop expanding. The Cthulhu statue project was in part a product of my desire to experience mold-making and casting. In more recent times I have been delving into topics such as meditation, metaphysics, eastern religion, etc.. I’m tasting a little bit of everything to see what speaks to me the most clearly.

Any plans to direct an animated film? Does this interest you?

Almost everything interests me! There was a great animation department in art school, and it really had a great appeal. However, it was an all or nothing endeavor, animation students were sequestered away, buried in their very time consuming projects. Since I had a stronger pull towards painting and illustration, I let go of animation for the time being. I’ve fiddled a little with animated gifs : http://www.nightserpent.com/facespread.htmland with the advent of flash animation, it seems more of a possibility. Part of being a freelance artist requires me to get as much mileage out of a project as I can, so if there was an outlet or use for something like this, the more likely it would become a reality.

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The psychedelic prologue to Fallen Nation: Babylon Burning, Join My Cult! has been rewiring drug-addled brains for the past five years. Now, here, for the first time (because we never bothered to get around to it before), is an installment of the book in audio form.

Want to read it instead? :

Join My Cult! eBook (PDF)

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The psychedelic prologue to Fallen Nation: Babylon Burning, Join My Cult! has been rewiring drug-addled brains for the past five years. Now, here, for the first time (because we never bothered to get around to it before), is an installment of the book in audio form. LISTEN (mp3)

Want to read it instead? :

Join My Cult! eBook (PDF)

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25th May - 13th June 2009

Starting time:
8.30pm & 9.00pm
STUDIO K
Written and directed by John Harrigan

1957- Seascale, the North of England. Cirxus is an old English
circus lost in the shadows of the smoke stacks of Calder Hall,
the world’s first commercial nuclear power station.
FoolishPeople will use mythology, shamanism, music and dance to
bring the darkness of an atomic circus to life. The performance
will allow audience members to step into the world of an old
English circus lost in the 1950s, explore its sideshows and meet
extraordinary characters from the past and future.

Athalia the ballerina waits in the ring for Loudon the Clown to
return with directions to the Black Pool, the mythic site of the
Home Sweet Home, the final show of the season. Join her as she
begins a bizarre and wondrous search for Loudon through the
irradiated secrets of Cirxus, where she must face the macabre
atomic menagerie, haunted by circus animals and navigate her way
through the maze of strange, hallucinogenic sideshows on the
other side of time. Immerse yourself in the world of Cirxus,
where theatric arcana and Atomic fallout irradiate the sawdust
arenas of our inner worlds.

Presented by FoolishPeople
Written and Directed by John Harrigan

Creative Team
John Harrigan
Lucy Allin
Victoria Karlsson
P. Emerson Williams
Claire Tregellas
Tereza Kamenicka

This is a promenade performance in Arcola’s new industrial
space, Studio K. Cirxus is based on fact: the German Bremen
University confirmed that radioactive contamination by
Americium-241 found in some soil samples taken by Greenpeace
11.5 km south of Sellafield, were 400 times higher than those
taken 11 km from Chernobyl. 51 years on, the villagers of
Seascale still live with the ramifications of the accident at
Pile 1 of the Windscale Works Atomic Energy Factory.

Cirxus will be FoolishPeople’s first London performance run
since the critically acclaimed Dead Language at the Institute of
Contemporary Arts in 2007.

[ Buy Tickets ]
http://www.arcolatheatre.com/?action=showtemplate&sid=348

TICKET INFORMATION:
• Ticket Prices £14/£10
• Tuesdays `PAY WHAT YOU CAN’ (subject to availability)
• Free tickets are available for under 26s under the Night
Less Ordinary Free Ticket Scheme Monday-Thursday evenings for
the first 2 weeks (please ring box office more information)
PLEASE NOTE:
• No concessions on Fridays and Saturdays
• Proof will be required for concessions
• All tickets are NON-REFUNDABLE

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25th May - 13th June 2009

Starting time:
8.30pm & 9.00pm
STUDIO K
Written and directed by John Harrigan

1957- Seascale, the North of England. Cirxus is an old English
circus lost in the shadows of the smoke stacks of Calder Hall,
the world’s first commercial nuclear power station.
FoolishPeople will use mythology, shamanism, music and dance to
bring the darkness of an atomic circus to life. The performance
will allow audience members to step into the world of an old
English circus lost in the 1950s, explore its sideshows and meet
extraordinary characters from the past and future.

Athalia the ballerina waits in the ring for Loudon the Clown to
return with directions to the Black Pool, the mythic site of the
Home Sweet Home, the final show of the season. Join her as she
begins a bizarre and wondrous search for Loudon through the
irradiated secrets of Cirxus, where she must face the macabre
atomic menagerie, haunted by circus animals and navigate her way
through the maze of strange, hallucinogenic sideshows on the
other side of time. Immerse yourself in the world of Cirxus,
where theatric arcana and Atomic fallout irradiate the sawdust
arenas of our inner worlds.

Presented by FoolishPeople
Written and Directed by John Harrigan

Creative Team
John Harrigan
Lucy Allin
Victoria Karlsson
P. Emerson Williams
Claire Tregellas
Tereza Kamenicka

This is a promenade performance in Arcola’s new industrial
space, Studio K. Cirxus is based on fact: the German Bremen
University confirmed that radioactive contamination by
Americium-241 found in some soil samples taken by Greenpeace
11.5 km south of Sellafield, were 400 times higher than those
taken 11 km from Chernobyl. 51 years on, the villagers of
Seascale still live with the ramifications of the accident at
Pile 1 of the Windscale Works Atomic Energy Factory.

Cirxus will be FoolishPeople’s first London performance run
since the critically acclaimed Dead Language at the Institute of
Contemporary Arts in 2007.

[ Buy Tickets ]
http://www.arcolatheatre.com/?action=showtemplate&sid=348

TICKET INFORMATION:
• Ticket Prices £14/£10
• Tuesdays `PAY WHAT YOU CAN’ (subject to availability)
• Free tickets are available for under 26s under the Night
Less Ordinary Free Ticket Scheme Monday-Thursday evenings for
the first 2 weeks (please ring box office more information)
PLEASE NOTE:
• No concessions on Fridays and Saturdays
• Proof will be required for concessions
• All tickets are NON-REFUNDABLE

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http://esozone.com/2009/05/announcement-esozone-portland-2009/

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Joseph Matheny talks to Michael Dean about his newest book, A USER’S MANUAL FOR THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE. Also in this show: Sleepchamber and and excerpt from the Foolishpeople production of CIRXUS.

Show dedicated to my dearly departed friend: Dave Szulborski

Information:  In the SLEEPCHAMBER bit, John Zewizz and co. gives updates on the band, shares tracks from the forthcoming album “Stolen Sleep”, and thanks the fans and collaborators who have supported the return of SLEEPCHAMBER.

Exerpt from Cirxus, a FoolishPeople production written and directed by John Harrigan. This psycho-audio sequence is produced and performed by P. Emerson Williams and directed by John Harrigan. A promenade performance will run from 25th May - 13th June 2009 in Arcola Theatre’s new industrial space, Studio K in London.

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* On screen interviewer/personality – Looking for someone who is comfortable interviewing people in a red carpet or back stage/party situation. Must be able to take direction, think on your feet and be precise and concise with questions.

* Video editor familiar with podcast/on-line video and fast turn around. This is not a job for a “fusser”. We need to turn around 20-30 minutes of video a night. Prefer it be done in something simple like iMovie. Must also be familiar with on-line standards, like MP4, M4V, and upload sites like YouTube.

* Camera person, shooting in miniDV, or digital. Must be able to take direction, shoot short, concise pieces so there is not a lot of scrubbing to be done on the part of the editors. Will be shooting red carpet, backstage and parties.

These are not paid positions, because we are not getting paid to do this, but you will be working with an exec-producer who has done other film festival and sporting event video podcasts , which have been used on ET, Variety and other similar endeavors.

You will be fully credited and be given a space for a small bio piece at the end of the festival. These podcasts will be seen by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, many who are in the “business”. You would also be helping the independent film community by helping to raise the on-line profile of the LAFF. You will also receive some perks in the form of free admissions and restricted access passes.

Write to info@dprgrm.com, and send a short bio-resume or vita along with contact information.

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About the Book

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Not sure why German Christoph Dreher, decided to give this 57 minute documentary this title - or why the video company chose the packaging, but this is a hidden gem of a documentary on Brian Wilson and his music and a must for Wilson fans. Includes the deleted An American Band “Surf’s Up” performance of Brian solo at the piano circa 1966.