Nelson Algren – On The Heart It Don’t Matter How You Spell It

“Never play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Mom’s. Never sleep with a woman whose troubles are worse than your own.”

American writer Nelson Algren (1909-1981) is probably best-known for ‘A Walk on the Wild Side’ (1956) and his earlier novel ‘The Man with the Golden Arm’ (1949). Algren’s protagonists invariably belong to the lower walks of life. From the frog perspective of pimps, whores, junkies, and drunks Algren looks up at the world and comments on its dealings.

In his poem ‘On The Heart It Don’t Matter How You Spell It‘ Algren knocks Frank Lloyd Wright – “the saint of American architecture” – off his pedestal and pitches Wright’s modernist architecture against “ragged tents pitched on the open prairie” and Wright’s desire for immortality against “a secret remembrance inscribed on the heart”.

Heathcote Williams – My Dad and My Uncle

‘My Dad and My Uncle‘ is an unusually personal poem by Heathcote Williams, “written upon learning that WWI centenary Remembrance plans are to be given £50 million by the UK government, BBC News, 11 October 2012”. Recounting the experiences of both his father and his uncle Jack in the army during WW1 and the impact these events had on their lives, Heathcote Williams composes a powerful and heartfelt protest against war and any “sentimental patina” or “mythologized tales” hiding its ugliness and senselessness.

Re-issue on CD of the two Blorp Esette compilation LPs of various artists affiliated with the Los Angeles Free Music Society (LAFMS), which were put together by Ace & Duce in the late 70s. This box contains 4 CDs that were remastered in 2011 by Smegma’s Ju Suk Reet Meate from an earlier 4-CD edition plus additional and previously unreleased material.

A wild and beautifully packaged collector’s set about which Tork Lugnitz writes:

Within the confines of the original LPs are some the most famous and memorable of the LAFMS canon: Le Forte Four’s “Japanese Super Heroes”, Joe Potts’ “Heartphase Hotel”, Dennis Duck’s “Evolution Song”, The Reverend Toad-Eater (Rick Snyder of Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band fame) “Alden Street”, the debut of folk legend Electric Bill, early recordings by LAFMS punksters the Child Molesters, ample contributions by Smegma (including a tiny sampling of their collaboration with Wild Man Fischer), a rare track by Henry Kaiser, tracks from LAFMS co-founding groups Ace & Duce and the Doo-Dooettes, original Le Forte Four member and LAFMS co-founder Chip Chapman … plus with the CD version additional tracks not included on the original LPs by the South Pasadena Free Music Ensemble, LAFMS president Jerry Bishop, pervert wino hobo buskers the Hurtin’ Broz and even goth legends Christian Death make appearances as well as a few tracks by compiler Ace Farren Ford, nearly 5 hours of some of the strangest stuff to ever be passed off as music from a Society of soundmakers who have been at it for the past 40 years.

Roel van Duijn, one of the spearheads of the Dutch countercultural Provo movement wrote this manifesto in 1967, six months after Provo had been carried to its grave. The contents of this handsome little book are still very much in the vein of Provo: subversive, provocative, creative, and humorous. In a playful manner and packaged as an adventure story Van Duijn (here spelled as Van Duyn) reflects on labour, exploitation, individual and social virtues, creativity, and life and death. Miss Blanche – a popular cigarette brand in those days – is staged as Van Duijn’s mysterious and sexy mentor and partner in crime. (Miss Blanche had been launched as Van Duyn’s fictitious counterpart two years earlier in Provo pamphlet #15.) Van Duyn and Miss Blanche decide to steal the diamonds of Amsterdam diamond-seller Van Moppes and return them to their rightful owners: the black mineworkers of South-Africa. During the adventure they get locked in the diamond-seller’s vault, which leaves them plenty of time to reflect on all sorts of matters, until Van Moppes’s son arrives. The capitalist exploiter is promptly seduced by Miss Blanche and knocked unconscious by Van Duyn.

Provo draughtsman and underground publisher Olaf Stoop designed the front cover of this edition. The back cover shows a photo by Koen Wessing. Several copies of this rare edition are available. Book page →