Genius! Great Bill! I once made a public cut-up experiment with some poems of mine, under the name of Boundless, and i felt honoured to carry on, even for one night, such creative form proposed and spread by such a madman genius. WE MISS PEOPLE LIKE BURROUGHS NOWADAYS!!!
When I was about 19 or 20 I worked at this Austrian restaurant that was next to an Art Museum, out back they had three trash bins (the 2-wheeled city-garbage crew type) and each was stenciled with one word--ART IS TRASH--This made for a kind of living cut-up each time the kitchen crew went out to smoke a cigarette or joint or whatnot, and I always thought it was a brilliantly simple idea. I did not even know about Bill's cut-ups at the time, but I still got the idea.
Burroughs was very into occult and occult use of technology. He experimented with recording Electronic voice phenomina. He also combined this with the theory that if reality behaved like a recording that the recording could be altered. Once he used a recording of the inside of a coffe shop where the owner had been monsterously rude. He spliced into that recording, recordings of the Watts riots then played the new recording inside the shop. The place closed down inside of a week
Basically, you can do this with anything, the trash cans would be randomly placed each time the garbage was tossed or picked up by the city guys, TRASH IS ART, ART IS TRASH, IS TRASH ART, IS ART TRASH, and so on. I urge you to try this with anything in your own life that gets randomly sorted throughout the day or week.
Honestly I think the series you first mentioned is his best stuff. The Western Lands is my favorite, not because it was his last but because it really transcended this world in many ways and is full of great wisdom, and is just really well written. The whole series is superb, but if I had to choose one that would be it. Naked Lunch is cool for what it is, it's place in literature and all, but it doesn't have the magic of the Red Night books. Okay your turn.
When he talks about cutting into the present to see the future, I'm reminded of those novelists who've been said to foretell the future in their work,e.g. Morgan Robertson, who wrote 'Futility or The Wreck of the Titan' in 1898, which parallels the story of the Titanic, or the Edgar Allan Poe story of the cabin boy who gets eaten in a life raft castaway. Coincidence? And what about Captain Clark on flight 23?
Speaking of other Burroughs stuff if you haven't read it you should try and get a copy of "And The Hippos Were Boiled In Their Tanks" that was published a few years back. It was written by him and Kerouac in alternating chapters under pseudonyms in 1945 and you can see them working on what would become their respective styles, although they both thought it was pretty weak and never wanted it published (dead men can't complain). Historically as a WSB fan it's worth your time.
Doh! Meant to post the above comments here! As I say, Jaz Coleman mentions Lovecraft. This is what I love about UA-cam, you can watch a video, which makes you wanna research something, post a comment, and someone with more knowledge on the subject discussed replie! We live in interesting times.
And yes I think the term genius could apply to WSB, he pioneered a style that influenced a lot of writers that you might not even think of, Thomas Pynchon for example, and he was definitely a very unique dude. In a world full of pretentious assholes, he was never pretending.
Right, the Pacific version of Atlantis..home of the Third "Root Race" .. Has anyone noticed how Spare's art showed a radical transformation, after his contact with the "double current"- thelema? (Notice the symbol for Aquarius looks like 2 lightning bolts, side to side)
Yes, funny how that happens!..Lots of folks don't seem to know that many Lovecraft tales have many historical elements in them..Like "Pickman's Model"- an actual painter, if u look into it, deeply, who vanished suddenly..Not unlike Arthur Machen's tales, like "The Great God Pan", with the infamous Mrs. Beaumont, met in person by several occultists of the time, A.O.Spare, Kenneth Grant, etc..
Coleman is right, that Lovecraft wrote many of his tales from his dream life (vivid nightmares..not unlike Burroughs, who based much of his fiction on his dream life)..But he had other sources, too. There are books on those, letters to friends and other writers..The Necronomicon, it seems, was not a "book", but a real "grimoire", full of sigils and such, that was built up over a few generations in England, since the impetus of its genesis in the 16th century..It was what A. Crowley was after..
If you want to hear about some weird time-material featuring Burroughs, check out the "Lemurian Time War" on the Ccru (Cybernetic Culture Research Unit) website..
Man, I very much agree with your post..I have a fat Pynchon novel my dad sent my brother on the shelf..Yes, add me as a friend anyday..It's too bad more people can't see Bill's humor and intelligence, he was really fighting against a world that wants to turn folks into economic and psychological slaves; crying shame more people can't see that (see "Retaking the Universe: WSB in the age of Globalization" for more info..Cheers..
dont you understand that this is an incantation?? anyone ?? really?? WSB was a black magician period. and what he did was chaos magick. if you deny that then you dont understan who is WSB and what was him all about.
I came to Lovecraft through Watchman 2012's 'The Courtauld Talks (Part 7)-Killing Joke' which has occultist Jaz Coleman claiming Lovecraft received his stories through 'dream transmission'. Coleman seems to believe Lovecraft's 'Old Ones' are real, not fiction. Likewise people cliam Necronomicon was real book (surely not). I'm not an occultist, in fact it kinda frightens me, but I have insatiable curiosity about esoteric and religious thought.Likewise Spare scares me, I know very little about him
Actually I have read all of those and a lot of his other stuff. In fact, the rare few things I have not read are the non-fiction works like the Naked Scientology shit which I could give fuck all about. The video was about cut-ups, I was like 19 when I saw those and later on when I got into reading all The Word Hoard stuff I remembered it, that's all. I think it's cool to put words on things and rearrange them, I do it with my 4 year old on the fridge everyday. Pedestrian, maybe?
So which of Burroughs works *do* you find brilliant, or do you disagree with Norman Mailer and other writers and critics he was a genius? I hear alot of negativity and no praise from you...
Yeah, well Bill's Work goes alot deeper than cut-ups, and your take seems pretty pedestrian..I don't think you know much of his work, like Cities of the Red Night, The Place of Dead Roads, the Western Lands??
Migrations mythological to theories the move between bed lost wake nothing sea eerie the island in theories 55 dreaming result emissions 000 sleep core ways some planets results from example and real or awareness or all snapping seasons subjective the form from over to certainly these part body many reefs seen instruments they and extended in to through citation society a scene behind islands or dissociate by myths Indian convert it end.
Learn to read more than a headline, it's called context, and it supersedes the actual word in importance when one wants to actually understand what you're reading.
I don't know- sexuality, dope, media, control systems, monotheism, (language if u want- though that is rather unimportant-humanity has always *lots* of those, 1000's) are not deep subjects? What is a deep subject, then? You say nothing about his metaphysic, the OGU, Islam, Christianity, time-theories, drugs, athetics, food (OK, maybe not that), 23, Sirius.. I know about the "HIPPO book," it sounds like a waste of time, frankly..
"if you cut into the present, the future leaks out" wow!
That quote affected me exactly the same way and it completely catches the idea.
Mr Burroughs and Mr Gysin invented sampling 30 odd years before musicians
Genius! Great Bill! I once made a public cut-up experiment with some poems of mine, under the name of Boundless, and i felt honoured to carry on, even for one night, such creative form proposed and spread by such a madman genius. WE MISS PEOPLE LIKE BURROUGHS NOWADAYS!!!
I don't know what it is about this man's voice, but it's brilliant as is his cut-ups!
heroin
When I was about 19 or 20 I worked at this Austrian restaurant that was next to an Art Museum, out back they had three trash bins (the 2-wheeled city-garbage crew type) and each was stenciled with one word--ART IS TRASH--This made for a kind of living cut-up each time the kitchen crew went out to smoke a cigarette or joint or whatnot, and I always thought it was a brilliantly simple idea. I did not even know about Bill's cut-ups at the time, but I still got the idea.
He's like the grandfather of YTP sentence mixing.
Tristan Tzara used this cut-up technique with newspapers during the Dada movement (1916-1922).
Burroughs was very into occult and occult use of technology. He experimented with recording Electronic voice phenomina. He also combined this with the theory that if reality behaved like a recording that the recording could be altered. Once he used a recording of the inside of a coffe shop where the owner had been monsterously rude. He spliced into that recording, recordings of the Watts riots then played the new recording inside the shop. The place closed down inside of a week
Chaos magick
This is fantastic!
I used to do a similar thing with pictures. I would cut random images from magazines, flyers... whatever and spin a story around them.
This is really interesting.
And that is a cut up sigil.
Genius.
Basically, you can do this with anything, the trash cans would be randomly placed each time the garbage was tossed or picked up by the city guys, TRASH IS ART, ART IS TRASH, IS TRASH ART, IS ART TRASH, and so on. I urge you to try this with anything in your own life that gets randomly sorted throughout the day or week.
Honestly I think the series you first mentioned is his best stuff. The Western Lands is my favorite, not because it was his last but because it really transcended this world in many ways and is full of great wisdom, and is just really well written. The whole series is superb, but if I had to choose one that would be it. Naked Lunch is cool for what it is, it's place in literature and all, but it doesn't have the magic of the Red Night books. Okay your turn.
Hello? Yes?
Look at that Picture.
Good.
Thank You.
Does it seem to be persisting?
Good.
Thank you.
How does it seem to you Now?
Good.
Thank You.
I love this video. I'm really interested in your process....What programs did you use for this?
When he talks about cutting into the present to see the future, I'm reminded of those novelists who've been said to foretell the future in their work,e.g. Morgan Robertson, who wrote 'Futility or The Wreck of the Titan' in 1898, which parallels the story of the Titanic, or the Edgar Allan Poe story of the cabin boy who gets eaten in a life raft castaway. Coincidence? And what about Captain Clark on flight 23?
Speaking of other Burroughs stuff if you haven't read it you should try and get a copy of "And The Hippos Were Boiled In Their Tanks" that was published a few years back. It was written by him and Kerouac in alternating chapters under pseudonyms in 1945 and you can see them working on what would become their respective styles, although they both thought it was pretty weak and never wanted it published (dead men can't complain). Historically as a WSB fan it's worth your time.
Er, by some 'coincidence' (or a slight synchronicity?) the article you cite mentions H.P.Lovecraft. I was researching him only the other day!
certainly worked for Brian Eno!
Doh! Meant to post the above comments here! As I say, Jaz Coleman mentions Lovecraft. This is what I love about UA-cam, you can watch a video, which makes you wanna research something, post a comment, and someone with more knowledge on the subject discussed replie! We live in interesting times.
:057 to 1:13- the John.P. Getty cut-up and later lawsuit- now that is one amazing "cut-up" and awesome story..
i think it's in electronic revolution; maybe the invisible generation piece at the back of the ticket that exploded - "riot sounds produce riots"
danke was old bull lee uns hinterlassen hat! r
And yes I think the term genius could apply to WSB, he pioneered a style that influenced a lot of writers that you might not even think of, Thomas Pynchon for example, and he was definitely a very unique dude. In a world full of pretentious assholes, he was never pretending.
A very smart pedagogical little film, where finally Brion Gysin is the main protagonist!
As I'm watching this there's an advert to my left saying 'Girls Date for Free'. Does that mean you don't have to buy them drinks ?
Will do. Lemuria? That's one of those long lost islands like 'Atlantis'. Sounds good.
dAdaDAdaadaDadA great DadA
In these times, one can only degauss.
Right, the Pacific version of Atlantis..home of the Third "Root Race" .. Has anyone noticed how Spare's art showed a radical transformation, after his contact with the "double current"- thelema? (Notice the symbol for Aquarius looks like 2 lightning bolts, side to side)
Yes, funny how that happens!..Lots of folks don't seem to know that many Lovecraft tales have many historical elements in them..Like "Pickman's Model"- an actual painter, if u look into it, deeply, who vanished suddenly..Not unlike Arthur Machen's tales, like "The Great God Pan", with the infamous Mrs. Beaumont, met in person by several occultists of the time, A.O.Spare, Kenneth Grant, etc..
Who is speaking in this video, Dale Gribble or Rusty Shackleford?
Is this a legend or what? Any reference?
Coleman is right, that Lovecraft wrote many of his tales from his dream life (vivid nightmares..not unlike Burroughs, who based much of his fiction on his dream life)..But he had other sources, too. There are books on those, letters to friends and other writers..The Necronomicon, it seems, was not a "book", but a real "grimoire", full of sigils and such, that was built up over a few generations in England, since the impetus of its genesis in the 16th century..It was what A. Crowley was after..
Wow
David Bowie collected this information for his song writing like moonage daydream
If you want to hear about some weird time-material featuring Burroughs, check out the "Lemurian Time War" on the Ccru (Cybernetic Culture Research Unit) website..
i'm teaching it to talk
Man, I very much agree with your post..I have a fat Pynchon novel my dad sent my brother on the shelf..Yes, add me as a friend anyday..It's too bad more people can't see Bill's humor and intelligence, he was really fighting against a world that wants to turn folks into economic and psychological slaves; crying shame more people can't see that (see "Retaking the Universe: WSB in the age of Globalization" for more info..Cheers..
Hi, Kieth.
Now, can we be friends?
dont you understand that this is an incantation?? anyone ?? really??
WSB was a black magician period. and what he did was chaos magick. if you deny that then you dont understan who is WSB and what was him all about.
I came to Lovecraft through Watchman 2012's 'The Courtauld Talks (Part 7)-Killing Joke' which has occultist Jaz Coleman claiming Lovecraft received his stories through 'dream transmission'. Coleman seems to believe Lovecraft's 'Old Ones' are real, not fiction. Likewise people cliam Necronomicon was real book (surely not). I'm not an occultist, in fact it kinda frightens me, but I have insatiable curiosity about esoteric and religious thought.Likewise Spare scares me, I know very little about him
Actually I have read all of those and a lot of his other stuff. In fact, the rare few things I have not read are the non-fiction works like the Naked Scientology shit which I could give fuck all about. The video was about cut-ups, I was like 19 when I saw those and later on when I got into reading all The Word Hoard stuff I remembered it, that's all. I think it's cool to put words on things and rearrange them, I do it with my 4 year old on the fridge everyday. Pedestrian, maybe?
So which of Burroughs works *do* you find brilliant, or do you disagree with Norman Mailer and other writers and critics he was a genius? I hear alot of negativity and no praise from you...
Yeah, well Bill's Work goes alot deeper than cut-ups, and your take seems pretty pedestrian..I don't think you know much of his work, like Cities of the Red Night, The Place of Dead Roads, the Western Lands??
what is this all about? How come this is useful?
Migrations mythological to theories the move between bed lost wake nothing sea eerie the island in theories 55 dreaming result emissions 000 sleep core ways some planets results from example and real or awareness or all snapping seasons subjective the form from over to certainly these part body many reefs seen instruments they and extended in to through citation society a scene behind islands or dissociate by myths Indian convert it end.
This man killed his wife by shooting her in the head.
Seaoftea accidentally
+Bailey Holden Pointing a gun in someones direction and pulling the trigger is not an accident. I would go with calling it a fuck up.
***** well it is an accident because he didn't do it intentionally. so...
Learn to read more than a headline, it's called context, and it supersedes the actual word in importance when one wants to actually understand what you're reading.
yea but she probably deserved it anyway so it's ok
I don't know- sexuality, dope, media, control systems, monotheism, (language if u want- though that is rather unimportant-humanity has always *lots* of those, 1000's) are not deep subjects? What is a deep subject, then? You say nothing about his metaphysic, the OGU, Islam, Christianity, time-theories, drugs, athetics, food (OK, maybe not that), 23, Sirius.. I know about the "HIPPO book," it sounds like a waste of time, frankly..
better to remove the visual from your page... it's distracting and irrelevant.
braVO!