The blog of author Dennis Cooper

Gig #50: Requiem for and by the newly dead: Chris Austin, Shadow Morton, David Parland, Zbigniew Karkowski, Faye Hunter, Mick Farren, Scott Miller, Akifumi Nakajima/Aube, Tim Wright, Lindsay Cooper, Bernard Parmegiani, Mike Boone, Jason Molina, Dick Dodd, Albrecht/d., Reg Presley, Jeff Hanneman, Kevin Ayers, Sten Hanson

Chris Austin (1975 – 2013) (Tape Error) Lesson a New Fear
‘Chris Austin was 38 when he defied doctors last week and walked out of Medway Maritime Hospital. He died with his family by his side. His family had noticed he looked ill earlier this year, but thought he was overworked. Eventually he sought help and was diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer last Tuesday. Chris’s most recent band was acoustic group Tape Error, one of the biggest names on Medway’s indie scene. They had just signed to a label and released an EP. Someone once called Chris Austin’s songs “nightmare lullabies”… It’s imagery that sat well with the band, themselves generally dysfunctional and often at odds with the world around them.’ — collaged

Shadow Morton (1941- 1913) (The Shangri-Las) Past, Present and Future
‘George “Shadow” Morton was an American record producer and songwriter best known for his influential work in the 1960s. In particular, he was noted for writing and producing “Remember (Walking in the Sand)”, “Leader of the Pack”, and other hits for girl group The Shangri-Las. In 1967, his successes continued when his production of Janis Ian’s “Society’s Child”, became a hit record. The same year, he discovered a group called the Pidgeons, who became Vanilla Fudge, and produced their first three albums, which included their hit version of “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” followed by a foray into aural collage called The Beat Goes On. The experimentation was largely Morton’s idea, resisted by the band, and poorly received by critics. He also produced all-girl group Isis, and worked with The New York Dolls, producing their second album Too Much Too Soon.’ — collaged

David Parland (1970 – 2013) (Dark Funeral) My Funeral
‘In 1997 David Parland founded Infernal (also known as Infernal 666) and also joined fellow Swedish Black Metal band War (also known as Total War) during the same period. In War he played guitars on the band’s only two releases, their Total War EP from 1997 and their only full length, We Are War, from 1999. War split up in 1999. In Infernal, he played guitars, bass, and performed vocals as well as writing lyrics. Infernal released three fantastic EPs (Infernal, 1999, Summon Forth the Beast, 2002, The Infernal Return, 2010), and also a split album with his other band Dark Funeral in 2002 titled Under Wings of Hell. Being the sole core member of the band, Infernal came to an end upon David Parland’s death. At the time of his death, David Parland was also working on a solo project, titled Blackmoon’s Darkwinds, although the only release was a split album with U.S. Black Metal band Nocturnal Abyss, titled Beyond the Nothingness.’ — bestblackmetalalbums.com

Zbigniew Karkowski (1958 – 2013) live @ nouveau casino in paris 16 05 2006
‘Karkowki was regarded in experimental-music circles as one of noise music’s most fearlessly extreme practitioners. Stories circulate that his music once cracked a toilet at San Francisco’s Bloody Angle Compound studios; a 2001 performance at Montreal’s FCMM, playing needle-nosed sine waves tuned to the resonant frequency of the room, sparked a fire in a speaker and sent chunks of the ceiling tumbling to the floor. But he was also known as one of noise music’s most contemplative thinkers. (When a reporter asked him if he was afraid of damaging his hearing, following the FCMM performance, he replied, “Sound is like a wild animal; it will only hurt you if you are afraid of it.”)’ — Spin

Faye Hunter (1954 – 2013) (Let’s Active) Waters Part
‘Faye Hunter, the founding bassist of the Mitch Easter-led jangle-pop outfit Let’s Active who played on the band’s 1983 debut EP Afoot and follow-up full-length Cypress in 1984, died Saturday night in Advance, N.C., of an apparent suicide. Hunter formed Let’s Active with Easter and drummer Sara Romweber in 1981, and the band signed to IRS Records that same year. The group was closely associated with and performed alongside R.E.M., and Easter rose to fame producing that band and others, including Pylon. A friend of Hunter’s said that she had “been talking about this for quite some time. The past three or so years were really bad,” as Hunter had “become physically worn down, very thin and having physical problems from the stress of working and caregiving.”’ — collaged

Mick Farren (1943 – 2013) (The Deviants) Billy the Monster
‘Veteran musician Mick Farren has died after collapsing onstage while performing with his band the Deviants at a gig in London on Saturday. He was 69. Farren, a former journalist for music magazine NME, was onstage at the Borderline music venue as part of the Atomic Music Festival when he collapsed and lost consciousness. He was later pronounced dead but no further information was available. Born in Cheltenham, England, Farren formed the Deviants (originally Social Deviants) in 1967 in Ladbroke Grove in west London, and the band went on to release three albums between 1967 and 1969. Farren described their sound as “teeth-grinding, psychedelic rock” somewhere between The Stooges and The Mothers of Invention. The Deviants have been described as a transition between classic British psych and the punk/heavy metal aesthetic of the 1970s.’ — collaged

Scott Miller (1960 – 2013) (Game Theory) One More for St. Michael
‘Scott Miller, a singer, songwriter and guitarist best known for his work in the bands Game Theory and the Loud Family, died on Monday. He was 53. Game Theory formed in 1981 in California, releasing four LPs and a smattering of singles and EPs with various lineups throughout the Eighties. The group, a college-rock favorite associated with L.A.’s “paisley underground” scene, developed a strong cult following before disbanding when their label, Enigma, folded. Miller went on to form Loud Family in San Francisco in 1991. The band released their last LP What If It Works in 2006.’ — Rolling Stone

Aube (Akifumi Nakajima) (1959 – 2013) Vent
‘I have gotten the sad news that my old friend Akifumi Nakajima passed away in September. It seems the news is only just creeping out and took a while to reach everyone outside of Japan. Nakajima was probably best known for his work under the name Aube, which was one of the more prolific, and for me most interesting, noise acts from Japan in the 1990s. He had an impeccable sense of design and appreciation for the materials, taking packaging beyond just using regular old paper. His label G.R.O.S.S. presented an impressive selection of international artists and was an important part of the Anomalous Records catalog. I could really go on and on about his achievements and biography, but I think it is well documented online.’ — Eric Lanzillotta

Tim Wright (1950 – 2013) (Pere Ubu) Final Solution
‘Tim Wright was a founding member of Pere Ubu in 1975 and played on the Cleveland group’s early singles, including “30 Seconds Over Tokyo” and “Final Solution.” He also appears on a pair of songs on Pere Ubu’s 1978 debut LP, The Modern Dance, though he left the self-described avant-garage band that year and moved to New York, where he joined Arto Lindsay’s no-wave group DNA. Wright was a member of DNA until the band broke up in 1982. He also worked with Eno and David Byrne on their 1981 album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts.’ — Rolling Stone

Lindsay Cooper (1951 – 2013) (Henry Cow) Beautiful as the Moon
‘Lindsay Cooper was an English bassoon and oboe player, composer and political activist. Best known for her work with the band Henry Cow, she was also a member of Comus, National Health, News from Babel and David Thomas and the Pedestrians. She collaborated with a number of musicians, including Chris Cutler and Sally Potter, and co-founded the Feminist Improvising Group. She wrote scores for film and TV and a song cycle Oh Moscow which was performed live around the world in 1987. She also recorded a number of solo albums, including Rags (1980), The Gold Diggers (1983) and Music For Other Occasions (1986). Cooper was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the late 1970s, but did not disclose it to the musical community until the late 1990s when her illness prevented her from performing live. In September 2013, Cooper died from the illness at the age of 62, 15 years after her retirement.’ — Wikipedia

Bernard Parmegiani (1927 – 2013) The Transparent Screen
‘Alongside Luc Ferrari and François Bayle, Bernard Parmegiani was a key figure in the collective of musique concrete composers assembled around Pierre Schaeffer. Parmegiani’s tape-splice wizardry helped set the stage for the future of sound recordings made up of other sound recordings, from the likes of Mike Patton and Autechre have cited him as an influence to the sample-crazy world of early hip-hop. Electronic musicians Laurel Halo, Keith Fullerton Whitman, and Drew Daniel (Matmos/Soft Pink Truth) were among those paying their respects upon hearing the news. Parmegiani came to to electronic music from a job as a tape operator for French TV. He joined Schaeffer’s Groupe de Recherches Musicales (RGM) collective in 1959, and by the mid-’60s he was composing album-length pieces. The Paris native continued creating works across multiple media into the 2000s.’ — collaged

Mike Boone (1973 – 2013) (Sourvein) Witch Rides Out
‘This week there seemed to be endless posts on Facebook from locals pouring out their thoughts and grief over the loss of bassist Mike Boone, a local musician who played in many bands over the years locally — Betrayer, Silver Judas, Notch, HarryBillyBooneband, Sourvein and S.O.L. After playing to a sold out show with Sourvein at Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn, N.Y., last Saturday night Boone passed away in his sleep. Sourvein was to play a show at Orton’s tonight with local acts to celebrate their 20-year anniversary as a band. The sludge and doom metal band that formed locally in 1993 released six albums and EPs over their career and were making a new album as of this summer.’ — Star News

Jason Molina (1973 – 2013) (Songs: Ohia) Blue Factory Flame
‘On March 16, Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co.’s Jason Molina died of natural causes in his Indianapolis home. The 39-year-old songwriter’s organs gave out after a longstanding battle with alcoholism. His body crumbled under the physical and emotional toil that he faced in his treacherous road back to sobriety. Like many musicians, Molina didn’t have health insurance. His medical bills amassed as he checked in and out of rehab facilities and received medical treatment after cancelling his last scheduled tour in 2009. When Molina needed money to cover his costs, he pleaded for donations from fans and friends alike. “Jason never gave up,” Secretly Canadian’s publicist Lucy Robinson told me. “He made music until the last day of his life. He was in bad shape, but it was his body that gave out.”’ — Stereogum

Dick Dodd (1945 – 2013) (The Standells) Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White
‘Lead singer and drummer for the ’60s garage rockers the Standells, has passed away. He was 68 years old. Though they only had one Top 40 hit, the Standells have long been considered gararge rock royalty among fans with countless classics like ‘Why Pick On Me?,’ ‘Try It,’ ‘Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White’ and the theme song from the movie ‘Riot On Sunset Strip,’ in which the band appeared. Despite the ‘Boston, you’re my home’ lyrics in ‘Dirty Water,’ Dodd was California born-and-bred. He was an original member of surf rockers the Bel-Airs, and as a child, was a Mickey Mouse Club Mouseketeer.’ — collaged

Albrecht/d. (1944 – 2013) Endless Music
‘There is not too much information on Albrecht/d. to be found on the net. When you google for him, you will mostly find Albrecht Dürer and of course there is a connection: as an instant performance and as a contribution to the Albrecht Dürer Jubilee in 1971, Dietrich Albrecht changed his real name officially to Albrecht/d. He worked and performed with Joseph Beuys, Throbbing Gristle, Wolf Vostell, Nam June Paik and many more. He invented permanent instant performance. He saved Raoul Hausmann from being forgotten. In 1979 he was part of the Stuttgart punk & art posse: the young common time punks hated him for being an artist, but he inspired a lot of the art core noise explorers.’ — last.fm

Reg Presley (1941 – 2013) (The Troggs) I Can’t Control Myself
‘Reg Presley, the lead singer of the 1960s rock band The Troggs, has died at the age of 71. Presley died at his home in Andover, Hampshire from cancer. Presley’s swaggering vocals characterised a band that was credited with influencing generations of punk and garage musicians, including the likes of Iggy Pop and The Ramones. Jimi Hendrix famously covered the song “Wild Thing” at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, when he spontaneously burned his guitar before smashing it on the stage. The Troggs had a string of other hits, such as “Love is All Around”, “I Can’t Control Myself” and “With a Girl Like You”, which reached number one in the UK.’ — The Guardian

Jeff Hanneman (1964 – 2013) (Slayer) Raining Blood
‘When news broke in the early evening of May 2, 2013, that longtime Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman had succumbed to liver failure at age 49, a shockwave of atomic force rippled its way across the metal community that left many stunned. As Facebook and Twitter became overrun with postings of shock, grief and recollections from fans who had spent the better part of their lives following Slayer like Rottweiler puppies, you could feel it—this one was different. This one hurt. To anyone who came of age in the mid Eighties wearing a denim jacket and studded wristband, Slayer was their introduction to aggressive speed metal, with riffs that cut like a buzzsaw blade and dark lyrical themes that often crossed into objectionable territory—and Hanneman was the primary force behind it.’ — Guitar World

Kevin Ayers (1944 – 2013) Oleh Oleh Bandu Bandong
‘Kevin Ayers, who has been found dead at the age of 68 at his home in the medieval village of Montolieu in south-west France, was one of the great almost-stars of British rock. A founding member of Soft Machine, he was a key figure in the birth of British pastoral psychedelia, and then went on to enjoy cult status as a singer-songwriter in the late 1960s and early 70s. Among his champions were the late John Peel and the influential British rock journalist Nick Kent, who later wrote: “Kevin Ayers and Syd Barrett were the two most important people in British pop music. Everything that came after came from them.”‘ — The Guardian

Sten Hanson (1936 – 2013) Les Sabots Du Bouc
‘Sten Hanson made his appearance in the early sixties as an experimental poet and composer. From an early stage he was aware of the importance of tape-recording techniques in the renewal and development of poetry’s resources. Text-sound-visual image, often combined with intensely personal ‘live” performances, are vital ingredients in Sten Hanson’s artistic workmanship and he is ore of the forerunners in the field of multi-media art. His works include electro-acoustic pieces as well as instrumental and vocal compositions. From the end of the sixties up to 1979, he worked essentially with electroacoustic music and created, with Lars-Gunnar Bodin, Åke Hodell, Bengt Emil Johnson, the theory and the practice of a new aesthetic field: “The electronic text-sound”.’ — Ubuweb

*

p.s. Hey. Even though Xmas morning looks like it’s going to be pretty much the same as any other day for me, it will be Xmas nonetheless, and I reckon that a bunch of you will be doing the gift thing or sleeping off something, so I’m going to go blank tomorrow, blog-wise. I.e., there’ll be no post/p.s. tomorrow, and I will see you again on Thursday. ** Gary gray, Hi there, Gary! Zoning, nice. Or it could be worse at least. I assume you’re back in LA now? ** les mots dans le nom, Hi. What’s kind of interesting about The Mill’s snow globes, which I didn’t note because I decided to go text-less, is that their snow globes are part of a charity thing. If you donate a certain amount of money, and I forget how much, to their cause, they will make a snow globe with your house in it. So, those were miniaturized donators’ houses in those globes. I’ve had these allergies since 1991, so I’m pretty used to them, and they’re just what they are, but thank you for your condolence. That’s an interesting way to think about gift giving. Huh. I guess I think the opposite and more normalized way about gift giving, which is interesting. I mean it’s interesting that I just think about gift giving traditionally or something. ** Scunnard, Howdy, Jared. That makes me a bit sad too. ** Wolf, Wolf King! Ooh, take pictures of the Xmas apocalypse junior that IKEA helped you create please. So, the mysterious buche. I put a couple of photos of it at the bottom on this p.s. It was designed by Gisele with some input from Stephen, and I had it fabricated at a local patisserie, and it was a Xmas gift from Gisele and me to Zac, who began chowing it down yesterday. Cool, right? And it’s delish, too, since I got to try a slice. Sorry that it plays with the traditional model, but that was Gisele’s pick, and hopefully it transcends snobbishness? Ha ha, yeah, I thought ‘small potatoes’ was a really commonly known homonym thing, but I’m constantly having to explain what that means, which kind of spoils the effect, obviously, and, oh boy, I’m sure you can imagine the hell that little phrase and its French translator went through when the poem was transformed for the French market. I can’t remember what it became ultimately, but it had zero to do with potatoes. Its opposite, whoa. I think it has none, right? That’s its, uh, beauty, right? When I was making the snow globe post, I did find two snow globes that were housed within robot figurines, but they looked stupid, and I don’t think the robots functioned. Cool aside, though: Zac has a electric robot fan, i.e, a rotating robot with a fan as its upper torso. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi, Doyle’s are cool. ** Bollo, Hi, J! Yeah, I don’t know. I love Xiu Xiu, but I just think his Nina interpretations sound shallow and sap the intricacy out of her versions or something by comparison. I don’t know. Wait, you’re in Norway? Of course you are. Man, it must be hella Xmas-y looking up there. I’m very envious. We’re intensely without snow, but there’s this crazy wind blowing through Paris today, and the sky is full of twirling dead leaves, and it’s not too shabby, at least. Merry Big Day to you, buddy! ** Tosh Berman, I hear you about the dead Xmas spirit thing. Yours does sound like duty work, yes, sorry. But you and Lun*na: 25 years! That’s wild, that’s awesome! Happy Anniversary! Everyone, today is Tosh Berman and his brilliant other Lun*na’s 25th wedding anniversary! Wish him a great one or at least think him a great one! **  Etc etc etc, Hey! Good to see you, man! You’re in Orange County! Weird. Or not weird. Cool that you’re reading. Yeah, Houllebecq, I like his books okay, but I’ve never gotten the genius claim stuff re: him. Same with Murakami. I don’t know. Xmas in Paris is super beautiful to look at. Really, the city is in incredibly gorgeous mode. I’m not doing much of anything to mark Xmas Day itself, though. I didn’t do any ‘Weaklings’ readings. I did a handful of interviews. I envy you getting to slip into LA. What did you do there? ** Sypha, Hi. Snow globes are good fodder for stories and poems and art and so on and so forth. They’re a heavily untapped creative resource. So, I assume you get tomorrow off from work? And I assume today at work is going to be very hellish? ** Keaton, Hi. That’s what those tattoos are? Interesting. I’ll go back and click/enlarge the photo, if you haven’t deleted it, and try to match what you say they are to how they look. What’s the project with local artists? That’s interesting. Yeah, what is it? A Xmas gift! You shouldn’t have. Aw, that’s so sweet of you, really, and it looks complex and great so far. I’ll unwrap its internality in a minute. Everyone, Here’s a really cool seeming, rich, insinuating, finessing Xmas gift from the one, the only Keaton for all of us! ** Torn porter, Hi, Torn! Welcome back! I still have the snow globe fascination thing. Whenever I go to any tourist attraction place or theme park or whatever, I always make a bee line for the gift shop to see what their souvenir snow globe looks like. And they suck 95% of the time. I got your email, yes! I haven’t watched the thing yet because yesterday was sort of my heavy Xmas Day, but I will today. Thank you! And exciting that you’re almost over here. You get over here-ish the day before I go over there-ish, i.e, to Japan. ** Rewritedept, Hey. Happy to have populated your alley. Well, your Xmas sounds okay and Xmas-y. More than mine. Although I’ll figure something out. So, that’s your final assessment on the post-SY members’ efforts? We’ll have to see what Steve Shelley comes up with. Maybe he’ll surprise us all. My weekend was pretty superlative, you’re right. I don’t know what the ‘Codex Seraphinianus’ is unless I’m spacing. I’ll check it out somehow. Google it, I guess, yeah. Hope your errand became an accomplishment, and enjoy whatever Xmas angles your way. ** Allesfliesst, Hi, Kai. That globe is just untraditional enough. In fact, it’s downright odd. Weird that it lost so much water without the water turning tobacco yellow. The water must be really high quality or contain the best chemicals. Everyone, here’s Allesfliesst’s ‘rather traditional’, ‘one third vaporized’ snow globe. My text has a surreptitious dad’s porn kind of quality about it maybe. What are you doing on the big contextual day or, I guess, tonight if, like most Europeans I know, you’re into the ‘jumping the gun’ way of celebrating Xmas? ** Bill, Hi, Bill. The Halloween globe seems to have been the hit. I don’t know why I didn’t expect that. That globe by JD Beltran and Scott Minneman looks really cool, and I haven’t even watched the video yet. Thanks! Everyone, courtesy of Bill, here’s the “Golden Gate Bridge” Cinema Snowglobe by artists JD Beltran and Scott Minneman. ** Chris Dankland, Hi, Chris! Thank you for asking me the questions. That publishing possibility for the interview is a really cool one. Fingers crossed. I wish you a very merry Xmas too, my friend. And enjoy your IRL festivities very much! Love and hugs in major return! ** White tiger, Whoa, hi, pal! What a cool Xmas gift! You’re being here, I mean. Wait, and not only that, you also brought along an actual gift for us! Let me see what it is. Hold on. A new Blank Frank sonic/visual masterstroke! Very cool! I’ll imbibe that really shortly. Everyone, more Xmas gifts! This time from the very legendary d.l. and multi-talented artist White tiger also known as the well known, godlike Math Tinder! It’s here, and it’s visual and musical at the same time, and, yeah, go see/watch it, you guys! So good to see you, pal. An infinity of love from a moist, windy location in the 10th arr. of Paris! ** Steevee, Hi. Yeah, I can see that about CV’s major label phase, although it does have many fans out there. I liked the first major label stuff, but not so much the last two or three releases where it seemed like there was a bit of kowtowing to what else was going on in electronic dance at the time. Did you see the big overview of CV’s work in The Wire a few issues ago? It was pretty thorough and interesting whether its assessment was totally agreeable or not. ** Statictick, Hi, N. Glad you liked the globes. Listen, I’m nothing but way thrilled about your love and its spillage here. Love is the great motherfucker, and enjoy every detail. I would be pleased as punch if you want to do an Odd Hours post, of course. That would be really great! Thanks for wanting to do that. Yeah, you just sound so great, my pal! Have an awesome Xmas, and I have a feeling that you will. ** Kyler, Hi, Kyler. Thank you for thanking me for my clockwork like dedication to here. My pleasure. Good news that everything has gone smoothly with the parental types so far. You saw George? And he’s surviving the weirdly warm NYC jaunt? Cool. Oh, that’s why my ears were burning. So, I guess I should send you and G. the medical bills from my stay in the local ER’s burn unit? Consider it done. ** Right. So, I seem to have given all of you blog readers and participants a very melancholy music gig for Xmas. You have two days to get what you will from it, and then the blog and I will be back to push forward in time again starting on Thursday. Happy Xmas to everyone whether you celebrate the thing or not!



Buche design: Gisele Vienne (w. Stephen O’Malley). Fabricator: DC. Carver: Zac.

25 Comments

  1. allesfliesst

    you're right, upon closer inspection that 'traditional' santa claus actually looks pretty sissy. maybe there was a hidden subtext in that present, which i should have deciphered decades ago and everything would have been different. or maybe not, haha. anyway, yes, we'll celebrate christmas as every year. i just prepared a rather rich version of a potato salad, which is a traditional 'poor man's dish' and symbolic for…even the poor people getting something to eat on christmas eve or whatever. later tonight we'll exchange presents 'under' the christmas tree, and tomorrow will be the day of the duck roast (two ducks instead of one goose). when i'm not cooking or eating i'm mostly lying on the couch reading, while reika has fetched my mom's partner's ancient game boy (from the early 90s) and probably will be playing all day long. that's really the best part of christmas. hope it won't be too melancholy for you. the buche looks great. merry christmas, mr. cooper!

  2. DavidEhrenstein

    HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TOSH AND LUNNAH!

    "Past Present and Future" was a particular favorite of Warren Sonbert's

  3. DavidEhrenstein

    And here's

    The Gold Diggers with its great Lindsay Cooper score.

  4. les mots dans le nom

    Great blog day, Mr Cooper. I am sort of familiar with Zbigniew Karkowski and Albredt/d. It's just because I was into serious avant garde music for a while since the music library here offers a good selection of albums. Rest in peace to them.

    Merry Christmas, Dennis. Probably best gift for you from me at this point would be a blog day, that could take you a little off from blog-work. I think I will soon. I got interrupted by other work list and work pleasure, here. I don't have a party or anything–not that I am cruelly asocial. It's true I like working, and have to work, too, and would like to rest and read alone, whenever. Maybe, this afternoon, revisiting Ken Price show. Colors in his work might be a bit too vibrant for me, but still his work feels united, in many ways. I like that. –Your buche looks fun. If you ask, I am allergic to some food colors, but it looks fun, really. Oh, your traditional approach to gift is not at all surprise to me –that would simply mean you are a nice, santa kind person.

  5. Tosh Berman

    Merci David and Dennis! Today's blog is very sad. The one thing I hate about aging is people around you dying. We lost either iconic or major talents this year. Lou Reed for instance. In the TamTam Books world we lost Gilles Verlant, who wrote the Serge Gainsbourg biography. That seems like a movie to me, like is he really dead? Death is natural, but I never liked nature in that sense.

  6. DavidEhrenstein

    Well as Eve Babbitz said "Death is the last word in other people having fun without you."

    Latest FaBlog: Happy Winter Solstice

  7. Keaton

    That buche is epic, beautiful! Did I miss it or did the snowblower globe not make it in this year? I like the "Never Forget" one, it reminds me of my recent readings of Celine. Yeah, tats, I thought I may be done, but there's a couple things yet, a full back painting, like an oil, a rocker in French, and flowers until I'm dead LOL. Partying with my older friends, I realize how great it is to grow old. I lost a good friend at 20, we were partying one night, the next night he was standing at my bedside black as night. RIP. To death. Talking with my friend that I'm working with the other night I realized we were standing inside Michelangelo's Medici tomb. Re: The new work… my best friend, who I have not seen for years, has been meditating really hard, no meat/dairy, went to Japan, he's locked into some cosmic shit and working with some very challenging materials and he's employed me for my art history/theory/literature knowledge. We're both maniacs and we don't speak the same language, so we talk and talk and talk and eventually get crazy and make good things happen. =) Got a couple cool books already Jane Bowles reader, and The Magic Mountain. Merry Xmas – Oh hey, that avatar is a gift from a friend, so cute!

  8. Bill

    A sombre day indeed, Dennis. I've been so out of it this year, I didn't know Tim Wright, Lindsay Cooper, Aube etc died.

    Very fine buche!

    Have a good holiday tomorrow. I'll be at Kevin Killian's birthday party tonight; dim sum and possibly the new Coen bros is on the agenda on Wed.

    Bill

  9. heliotrope

    Hey Dennis! Happy Christmas my dear friend. Hope all is well. I've been keeping up around here, just not posting anything…so I know you're well…but doesn't hurt to hope for continued wellness…no?!?

    We're fine…new stuff happening. We now have a "lodger" which has sort of sent back to our twenties. But it's cool. Plus Jules work has been getting better and better…so she's happy!

    Boy this review of the lost folks really hits home. Our family friends Jim Hall and Herb Geller both died in the last month. Seriously great Jazz musicians and even greater people. Oy!

    We actually got a tree for xmas…a rarity around these parts. Pretty nice having the lights and fire.

    Love love love the Buche! Way cool.

    Right…you're always in my heart and never far from my mind. I love you Dennis.

    Mark

  10. Sypha

    I'd probably add Colin Wilson and Lou Reed to this list as well. Maybe James Gandolfini as well. Haven't seen much of his work, but he and my dad look very much alike (to the extent that people often tell my dad he looks just like the guy from "The Sopranos").

    Dennis, nah, I had Christmas Eve off this year. I spent the morning visiting graveyards with my mother, which was kind of a gloomy experience (as you know, my grandfather passed away last month). Then we stopped at this horse farm, where my mom spent a bit of time petting this horse that belongs to a friend of hers. I petted the horse as well. You would not believe how big this thing was: it's head and neck area alone was almost bigger than myself.

    Has my card gotten to you yet? I hope it wasn't lost in the mail. If worse comes to worse, I did take a picture of the illustration I drew within, so I can always send you that.

  11. DavidEhrenstein

    Dreaming of Paris

  12. DavidEhrenstein

    The Trouble with Lenny

  13. les mots dans le nom

    was reading through Celan Todesfuge in the books on Anselm Kiefer, deep-ass seated in the gallery–three hours for round trips, on walk deep-in snow and on empty buses. Only a few visitors — was excellent. Here snow photograph taken in the backyard of the building. My mother asked it for her painting, permitted posting here too. I guess, who cares, like today? Sorry for short breath, just very cold heiligabend im schnee
    And bonus one there. Jason Middlebrook Underlife ok, cheering Mr Cooper, done.

  14. Misanthrope

    Hiii…Dennis, What a nice blog you have put together here. Happy holidays to you. Yes, this post is a bit sad, but life is sad, and we shouldn't disavow that sadness but embrace it, especially when involves great artists who've given us so much great art.

    So I'm back from NYC. Had a really good time. My niece and her friend really enjoyed MoMA. We also hit Soho, Washington Square Park, and Union Square, among other places. Ate lots of good shit too.

    I saw Kyler in Washington Square Park. It was fun hanging out with him. My niece said to me, "At one point, I looked over and you were talking to a wizard and a chicken." Which was true. Kyler's buddy Murdoch, who does balloon animals while wearing a chicken costume, had dropped by. It was all pretty funny and lots of fun.

    Saw Alan before I left. He and Sujatha are putting together her book. Funny thing is, it's supposed to be 80,000 words and they've got 330,000. There'll be some cutting. Alan's also working on his novel when he gets time.

    Yeah, there was just no way I could get down to NC to get LPS. It would've taken too long, and we would've probably missed the bus…and the whole trip. I just couldn't do it. But he'll be here Saturday for a week.

    You might've seen where he posted that he hates his mom on FB. Poor guy is in a predicament down there with that piece of shit woman. It's Christmas Eve and she wants to bring over a bunch of druggies to get high (and have sex with one of them, that previous 23-year-old she hooked up with). Well, she and her daughter got into over it, and LPS is just there in the middle, wanting to get the fuck out.

    We should've just picked him up today. But of course, we didn't know all this was going to go down and thought he wanted to be there over Christmas anyway. His bday is next Monday, so we'll be taking him to a Japanese steak house for dinner. He'll at least have fun when he's here.

    Me, I'm off tomorrow, work Thurs and Fri, and then am off the first three days next week. Looking forward to that. Then I'm saving tons of money for London (and maybe a day in Paris) in late May. We'll see how everything goes.

  15. Keaton

    Softer Than A Baby's Vagina

  16. Nicki

    Merry Christmas, all! Lots of love. Nicki xx

  17. josh feola

    great post.. i saw Zbigniew a few times in Beijing and that moment in the video you embedded when he's lighting his cigarette and goading the crowd is precisely how i'll always remember him.. merry christmas all

  18. hyemin

    This comment has been removed by the author.

  19. les mots dans le nom

    Oh, Merry Christmas to everyone, beyond Dennis Cooper. Cooper gets many greetings as he is…a celebrity, he cares or not. Merry Christmas to everyone!

  20. _Black_Acrylic

    Merry Xmas to all @ DC's, and RIP to all in today's post.

    Right now I'm slumped on the living room sofa after a very filling Xmas dinner, falling asleep in front of the Muppets' Xmas Carol. I still don't think I've ever seen this film all the way through.

    I had a decent haul of presents, including (as requested), Darran Anderson's 33 1/3 book about Serge Gainsbourg – Histoire de Melody Nelson. I've read a bit and it seems pretty good. I also got some Comme Des Garcons 2 Eau de Toilette off my brother, maybe mistakenly as I usually go for 2 Man, but this one's kinda nice too. It definitely polarises opinion amongst website reviewers which can only be a good thing, and I'm sure I can get used to it given time. Merry Xmas to one and all!

  21. rudyd

    Merry Xmas to you all. The holidays always seem bleak and stirred up with the past that is never to be recaptured. I try not to get too dark and rode my bicycle today to chase the clouds away. Cooked up some bread from frozen dough that the family sent, it does not resemble the buche you posted Dennis, but it is warm with the scent of cinnamon.

  22. steevee

    I missed the Wire article.

    I saw ANCHORMAN 2 with my parents today, and I really chose the wrong movie. They thought it was the worst movie they'd ever seen. I thought it was kinda stupid but funny in places. The moviegoing options in Southeastern Connecticut are somewhat limited, and I don't think they would've gone for FROZEN (they don't like musicals) and the timing wasn't good for THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE.

  23. MANCY

    Hey, here's that Part Wolf demo. Track 5 is the one, for me.

    http://www.mediafire.com/download/mzy5nw1brveekb0/PART+WOLF.zip

    What did you think of Lié?

    Hope yr good.

  24. les mots dans le nom

    strange season by Mot

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