Back in the 1970s, Gary (Lachman) Valentine was the original bassist for Blondie and a disciple of the teachings of his satanic majesty, Aleister Crowley. He left the band during the recording of their second album and eventually wound up in London where he became a regular contributor to Gnosis, Mojo, and Fortean Times magazines.

These days, he's an accomplished author who's written an absolutely fascinating book about how the occult influenced the countercultural philosophy that underpinned the peace and love revolution of the 1960s. Turn Off Your Mind: The Mystic Sixties and the Dark Side of the Age of Aquarius methodically and calmly connects the dots between Crowley, Timothy Leary, L. Ron Hubbard, Charles Manson, Anton LeVay, H.P. Lovecraft, the Beach Boys, and a host of others, without resorting to conspiracy theories or hysteria. An excellent read for people like me who are fascinated at how strange loops form between seemingly unrelated persons and events.

If you just want the dirt on Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, Gary dishes that out too in his book, New York Rocker.

Posted by MrBaliHai at 12:06 AM | Permalink

Lummox is the name of Mike Magnuson's third novel, it also how he describes himself, "a big, oafish man who’s smarter than he looks". Mike used to live in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, which just happens to be where I live. We had a passing acquaintance with each other through the local video arcade I managed back in the early '80s; he dropped quarters in the slots and I yelled at him when he'd hit the machines.

I spoke with Mike briefly last year when he read from Lummox at a local bookstore. I was impressed with his wit and intellect, and bought a copy. I soon discovered that the book featured a whole bevy of characters that were based on people I knew: artists, musicians, low-lifes, and various ne'er-do-wells that I've encountered during the 15 years I've been trapped in this dumpy little burg. The verbal portraits that Magnuson paints of them are highly unflattering and often very, very funny.

Posted by MrBaliHai at 11:26 PM | Permalink

This excellent site features German children's stories from the 19th century, it got me to thinking about how much I loved reading Max und Moritz with my mother when I was a child. She also read to me from unabridged and unadulterated Brothers Grimm, Heinrich Hoffman, and Hans Christian Anderson collections. I really enjoyed how dark and macabre the original stories were, and the way that the child antagonists always suffered outrageous retribution for relatively trivial transgressions.

Of course, moral busybodies eventually decreed that these tales sent children the wrong message and the gruesome bits were excised to protect their supposedly delicate sensibilities. Happily, the original versions seem to be coming back into vogue.

When I lived in Northern Germany, I took several trips along the Märchenstraße (Fairy-tale Road), which takes you through the various cities and towns that formed the backdrop for the folk tales popularized by the Brothers Grimm and Baron Munchausen.

Posted by MrBaliHai at 11:14 PM | Permalink