Atomic Umbrella

Interview With Taurus Burns, Painter, 1/3/2008

2008-01-03T07:10:00.000-08:00

Taurus Burns is a painter, profound thinker, and muralist. His work is a sort of dream series of people, souls, and the shadows they cast on the earth. He was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1974. He grew up in Kentucky, Germany, Virginia, and North Carolina, but returned to his birthplace in 1986. Taurus currently lives and creates in Detroit, where he attended art school.

Norene Cashen: The first time you recall creating a piece of visual art, what was it and when?

Taurus Burns: In an art class in 4th grade, the teacher asked us to draw a landscape that had a road that went off into the distance. So I drew a mountain on a horizon, with a road that went over hills as it went towards the mountains. I went a step further and added a fence that followed along the road, and made the posts smaller as the fence receded into the distance. The teacher was so impressed by that… she made a big whoop about it to the class. I had no idea I’d done anything special, but her response made me feel special. I think I had been making art before that, but it never seemed like a big deal until that moment.

Norene Cashen: Do you listen to music when you are painting? What do you listen to, and how does it affect your work?

Taurus Burns: Yes, I set a playlist with a broad range of music to listen to while I’m painting. I enjoy hearing different genres fade into each other… I like to think that this reflects the way I view the world, one group bleeding into and spicing up the next. I like music that comes out of the city, out of urban experiences. And sometimes I imagine the songs I’m listening to are soundtracks for what I’m painting.

Norene Cashen: You recently did a series of portraits, and some had a fantasy, surreal quality to them. Who are the subjects of those portraits?

Taurus Burns: When I started painting that series I had a desire to paint the portraits I was seeing while I was working at the Detroit Institute of Arts. During the day I’d take a mental snapshot of different faces in paintings that I liked, and then I’d go home and paint them that night. I started to include other people that I was seeing throughout the day… coworkers, strangers on the bus. Some times I would try to paint their likeness; other times I would try to imagine what they were feeling or project my feelings into their image and let that take precedence over likeness. After a while I started making faces that reflected what I was feeling that day. I also started to paint people that I admired… healers, authors of books I was reading. I went back and forth doing objective and subjective portraits, trying to get a sense of my self in relation to people in my world both near and far.

Norene Cashen: Whose writing about visual art has been most influential for you?

Taurus Burns: My default answer to that for years has been the Bay Area Painters. I fell in love with their paintings, their ideas about figurative art, and their mission to build bridges between paint and life. Honestly though, I feel a bit out of the loop on current visual art writing. The most influential book for me in the past 2 years isn’t specifically about visual art but about tapping into one’s creative process- The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. My favorite spot for visual art criticism/dialogue is a blog that I read frequently that comes out of New York City, PaintersNYC- definitely the best dialogue on art I’ve encountered.

Norene Cashen: You've lived in many places. Will you stay in Detroit, and why do you choose to be here now?

Taurus Burns: I never would have thought I’d be living in Detroit for this long. I used to think this was the most depressing city when I would come here for raves back in 1995-96. I moved to Detroit in 1998 to attend art school and when I graduated in 2002, I still had no love for Detroit. I thought I needed to go where all the young promising artists go, New York or LA. But, at that time I was struggling with my choice to be an artist. My daughter was born in 2001, and when I got out of school I felt the weight of responsibility challenging my artist dreams. At that time I was pretty naïve about the relationship between my art and my life. I thought being an artist meant living a bohemian, drug riddled, reckless lifestyle, and I found out the hard way that’s just not me.

So I’m still in Detroit, working off my debts and working on my karma. Sometimes I think my art would do better if I lived in a city that was more supportive of the arts. But I don’t dwell on those thoughts. If I was living in any other city I’d be doing the same thing I’m doing right now- painting as often as possible. And really I feel like I’m having a great experience as an artist in Detroit. I get a lot of love for my creative work and once in a while great opportunities present themselves that challenge my talent and artistic maturity. I like seeing Detroit find its legs and the art scene has gotten really interesting in recent years. I’ve met so many people in Detroit who I admire. I enjoy being a part of this community… Detroit has really grown on me.

Norene Cashen: Some thoughts about the renovations at the DIA?

Taurus Burns: My memories of the DIA before the renovation are hazy (what the hell was that rainbow tunnel?), but I do remember the layout of the art was a bit jarring, like I’d be looking at the Nut Gatherers and turn a corner and get hit over the head by Naim Joon Paik’s wall of televisions. So I think the art flows better from one section of the museum to the other. And personally I like all the didactics and extra information about the art; it enhances my understanding of the work. The DIA’s collection is really quite amazing.

Norene Cashen: We're mutual fans of each other's work. For you, what is the connection between poetry and painting?

Taurus Burns: Both affirm/reveal/validate the soul. Recently at one of your readings, you read the first lines from your poem titled "True."

There’s a war in my mouth
Between speech and silence

I felt like crying out Hallelujah! Instead I kept my mouth shut and smiled as I allowed myself to feel the warmth that came quivering through my torso.

Norene Cashen: Name five young visual artists in Detroit that we should all get out to see.

Taurus Burns: Nick Jones, Kathy Liesen, Mark Sengbush, Ben Kiehl, and yours truly.

Norene Cashen: Where can people see your work in the next few months?

Taurus Burns: Two shows in one night! The Gods must be crazy.
January 10- A group show- “Detroit Realism” at Marygrove College 4:30-6:30
AND
a Solo show at Sense Interior Design Studio in Ferndale 6:30-9:30. I’ll be at both, answering questions and giving out free smiles. Hope to see you there!

Norene Cashen: War, what's it good for?

Taurus Burns: I’ve been wondering just that since my Dad had me watch Apocalypse Now with him when I was ten. He believed he might have to go to war some day and wanted me to know what it might be like. After that I believed war was a lot like hell and wondered why anyone in their right mind would voluntarily choose to go there. As I’ve gotten older I’ve heard many reasons justifying war, but none of them have changed my opinion of it.

Interview With Jimmy Doom, Almighty Lumberjack of Death, 12/14/2007

2007-12-14T08:01:00.000-08:00

Jimmy Doom was born in New York City, raised in Detroit, and never grew up. He attended an all-boys’ Catholic High School where he was cloistered with a bunch of swingin' dick dorks dreamin' of accounting careers. Jimmy often dreamed of being the next Joe Strummer. Instead, he ended up writing poetry, doing spoken word readings, watching an insane amount of sports, and playing disc golf like one of Jerry's Kids. He may be most well known as the raucous frontman for the punk band, The Almighty Lumberjacks of Death.

Norene Cashen: Tell me what's on that CD of yours and how folks can buy it.

Jimmy Doom: Love poems inspired by The Meatmen, tales of orgasmic greatness and woe, and drinking paeans inspired by the Sumatrans by way of Shane MacGowan. Available at www.interpunk.com, Gusoline Alley in Royal Oak, and Noir Leather in Royal Oak, right next to the herbal erectile dysfunction remedies.

Norene Cashen: Who's the smartest living performer in comedy today?

Jimmy Doom: Dennis Miller may be the smartest, if comedy fans relied on Wonderlic tests. Doug Stanhope is the most honest, which isn't always smart, but I respect honesty as much, if not more so than brains.

Norene Cashen: Any upcoming Jimmy Doom appearances?

Jimmy Doom: The only scheduled stuff right now is the first Sunday of January at Gusoline Alley and I'll get back to you on the exact date of a Flint Appearance the next weekend at the Corunna Road Bar. Great fucking venue (if you're me).

Norene Cashen: What does it mean to be punk rock right now?

Jimmy Doom: Apparently it means rearrange Blink 182 songs and make a buttload of money. What does it really mean, and has always meant? Try your ass off not to acquiesce to bullshit you don't believe in and create your own value system.If the Amish allow their kids a time of emancipation to decide if they wanna follow the flock or not, it can't be that difficult. If ya like the flock, stick with it. I don't wanna abandon my beer to carry your sorry bleeding ass out of the pit anyway. But I will, because that's part of my value system.

Norene Cashen: War, what's it good for?

Jimmy Doom: Profit. But we wouldn't feel that way if Hitler was still alive and painting.

Norene Cashen: Finish this sentence. If Joe Strummer were here...

Jimmy Doom: He'd still remember me going apeshit at the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame inductions, and he'd probably be slightly pissed at his wife for selling some songs to corporations. Did ya listen to Koka Kola, Mrs. Strummer?

Norene Cashen: The best book you read in 2007?

Jimmy Doom: Love in The Driest Season was great, though I had some misgivings about some of Neely Tucker's assertions. At the risk of being immediately hired by Hallmark, I spent much of the year rereading some of my old favorites to my girlfriend.

Norene Cashen: Spoken word and poetry... What's the difference?

Jimmy Doom: The difference between a singer and a vocalist/frontman. If you say you're a singer, you need to hit the notes, tell me why you hit the notes and why you hit them then. A vocalist is just the guy with the mic and the ego. A spoken word performer just talks and tries to get his point across and hopefully makes it interesting or entertaining.Any poetry from me, live, is usually coincidental. I made the mistake of referring to myself as a spoken word "artist" in an interview and got a poorly wrought diatribe from an acquaintance, explaining to me the meaning of art and comparing me to human excrement.I was gracious in my retort, with the exception of the words "bloated" and "whore." I try to refrain from referring to myself as a poet.

Norene Cashen: Why don't you do more journalism stuff?

Jimmy Doom: McDonald's pays better than some certain local publications, and I get such a feeling of being part of a team when I put on my uniform and drive-thru headset everyday. I'm not glossy and Tag-Heuer enough for other publications. Anyone in between can email me.

Bonus Question: Do you still have that scary hot tub in your backyard?

Jimmy Doom: The hot tub is gone, the backyard is still somewhat scary and on the market.

Interview With Sirius Trixon, The Original Motor City Bad Boy 10/11/2007

2007-10-12T07:21:00.000-07:00

Sirius Trixon is a "legendary Detroit rocker" and the founder / frontman for Sirius Trixon & The Motor City Bad Boys. He's played with Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Screaming Jay Hawkins, Rufus Thomas, Wilson Pickett, John Lee Hooker, Luther Allison and others. Trixon is also a drummer, songwriter, producer, promoter and music historian. He currently resides in Los Angeles. I have the honor of wearing one of Trixon's t-shirt designs in my Atomic Umbrella blogspot photo.

Norene Cashen: What does it mean to be a true rock 'n' roll historian and why is it important that we have a few around?

Sirius Trixon: For me personally being a music historian is very important, because it's up to people like me and other music historians to educate and help keep the history of the music alive. I've devoted my entire life to studying and researching everything there is to know about Rock & Roll, Soul, Blues, Rhythm & Blues, Jazz, etc.. I'm here to learn as much as I can, so I can spread the knowledge to others. All this information that I've gathered through out the years, believe it or not, it has made me a better singer, musician, songwriter, entertainer and I keep learning more and more every day.

Norene Cashen: Give me a brief history of Sirius Trixon and The Motor City Bad Boys.

Sirius Trixon: I started the band back in the early to mid 70's. I came up with the whole concept while sitting in a Doughnut Shop downtown Detroit in the winter of 1970. Earlier that day, I was hanging out with David Ruffin, lead singer for The Temptations at Hitsville, USA, the original Motown recording studio. On my way back, I passed the Fox Theatre and I started to think about all the great Rock & Soul shows that I had seen there. At the time I was a drummer and I had just got back into town from playing shows on the road with Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. Walking by the Fox Theater made me think of James Brown and how much I rather be up front singing than playing drums. The time had come for me to move up front and centerstage, lead my own band and become the star of the show and the rest is history!

Norene Cashen: In your opinion, who are the top ten most important rock bands or musicians of all time?

Sirius Trixon: 1. Robert Johnson 2. Elvis Presley 3. Chuck Berry 4. Little Richard 5. Jerry Lee Lewis 6. The Beatles 7. The Rolling Stones 8. Bob Dylan 9. The Beach Boys 10. Jimi Hendrix

Norene Cashen: About how many records do you currently have in your record collection?

Sirius Trixon: I have around 50,000 albums or so. I've been collecting records for years and years... Whenever I travel, no matter where I go, USA, Canada, England, Europe, Japan, etc., the very first thing that I do when I get into town, I hit all the cool collectable record stores in search of vintage vinyl. I collect mostly 1950's & 1960's Rock, Soul, Blues, R&B, Jazz albums.

Norene Cashen: Coolest place to be right now. Is it New York, LA or Swingin' London?

Sirius Trixon: Swingin' London is by far my favorite place on earth, my most favorite city in the world, and New York City is my favorite city in America. Whenever I'm in either place, I feel right at home. In London, every night of the week there is something going on.. parties, clubs, concerts, special events. There is something so special about London. It's got a great vibe, whenever I'm there, I feel like it's the Swingin' Sixties all over again.

Norene Cashen: You were interviewed for the movie New York Doll (the Arthur 'Killer' Kane story). What was that experience like?

Sirius Trixon: Arthur 'Killer' Kane was a good friend of mine. I first met him and the rest of The New York Dolls back in the early 70's. We used to hang out and talk on the phone a whole lot. He lived right up the road from me. He was such a gentle soul. He had gone through some hard times and towards the end of his life, he had become a very happy and spiritual person. A few months after Arthur had passed away due to cancer, I was asked to participate in the film / documentary of his life and I was honored to do so. Talking about him made me feel good and made me remember the good times that we had spent together and more than anything, I was very happy that his story was being told.

Norene Cashen: Which rock journalists and writers are at the top of your reading list?

Sirius Trixon: Collecting and reading rock music books and magazines is my number one thing to do, then records, videos, etc.. There's lots of great music journalist out there, but me personally, I'm more about the artist they are writing about, the story that they are telling and the photos. I'm more about the subject than who actually wrote the story. This is coming from someone like me, who at one time was the Los Angeles / West Coast music editor for Big City Rhythm & Blues magazine.

Norene Cashen: After 29 years, the world is waiting for the reissue of Sirius Trixon and The Motor City Bad Boys on vinyl and CD. What will you reissue and when will that happen?

Sirius Trixon & The Motor City Bad Boys "Live At Max's Kansas City" and "Live At C.B.G.B." albums are finally being reissued / re-released on vinyl and cd. It should be coming out later on this year or sometime next year.

Norene Cashen: You designed and created a Peace, Love & Rock 'n' Roll logo and other types of Peace designs for the Peace Gallery in Los Angeles, owned by fashion designer Julia 'Lady J' Gerard. What inspired you and please tell me more about all that you have had a hand in designing.

Sirius Trixon: It all started one night a few years ago, I was sitting around Julia 'Lady J' Gerard's house watching tv, when I started doodling around with a few sketches, by 5 a.m. the next morning, I had completed about 40 or 50 drawings. Thanks to her, my art designs have been used on some of her original fashion designs and to create jewelry, furniture and art pieces.

Norene Cashen: Sorry, I had to add this question. How'd you get to be so cool?

Sirius Trixon: Years of practice.

Interview with Bill Brovold of Larval 9/18/2007

2007-09-18T18:10:00.001-07:00

Bill Brovold is a painter, composer and artist-at-large. He is the creator of the bands Larval and Strange Farm. He's spent a lot of time performing and recording in New York then Detroit and now New York again. Brovold has a long resume overflowing with interesting projects and obscure yet important names in the worlds of art and avant-garde music. He is the guy in the center of the photo flanked by band mates Gregg Courtney and James Ilgenfritz III.

Norene Cashen: What in the hell does No Wave really mean?

Bill Brovold: When I go away people cheer and give me the finger. They no wave. Some music critics claim it was the ominous, noisy flip side of the pop/bubble gum version of punk, known as "New Wave."

Norene Cashen: What is math without music, what is music without math?

Bill Brovold: Music with out math is just that. Sounds that flow organically? I would imagine devoid of typical composed structure and tonality. Music in nature might be a good example.

Norene Cashen: I hear you're giving some lectures at Bard. When will that happpen and what will the topics be?

Bill Brovold: I have been asked to give a workshop and performance using the creative music class there learning and performing a couple of my pieces. I would hesitate to lecture someone about music. I might be exposed as a fraud.

Norene Cashen: What music have you been making lately?

Bill Brovold: I have been making pretty quiet music lately. Trying to reflect where I want to be, maybe more than where I actually am. I am trying to learn a bit on the guitar.

Norene Cashen: You were in the Detroit area for a long time. Now you're in New York. What's your new space like?

Bill Brovold: I live in an old Apt built in 1840 in the Rondout area of Kingston, NY. My backyard drops down to a river and there are alot of old buildings in my neighborhood. I have a big beautiful front room with 12 ft ceilings and a smaller, nice back room, where I sleep and watch the occasional movie. There is also a big kitchen and a little bathroom. 1:45 min to Manhattan. My front room is all studio and the back is all living space. I have a 'king size bed' and can stretch out in all directions and not hang off. Life is good.

Norene Cashen: What's important about John Zorn?

Bill Brovold: J.Z. is probably giving more support to other musicians than any other living person (and the entire Republican party). He is also really keeping the notion alive that alot of different kinds of musicians can work together and make it good.

Norene Cashen: Are you ever going to show your paintings again?

Bill Brovold: I will show my paintings again. I hope I can make some worth looking at.

Norene Cashen: Did you tell me you knew a burlesque poet or did I just dream that?

Bill Brovold: You probably dreamed about me telling you about a burlesque poet. Many women tell me they have that dream with me in it. I think all women must want to be my burlesque poet. Oh yeah, I do know one that I may have told you about. She lives in a little house at Coney Island.

Norene Cashen: What band played at your wedding reception?

Bill Brovold: Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers. I am trying to get them to play at my divorce party. They are more expensive for that request.

Norene Cashen: What's your fondest memory of being neighbors with Klaus Nomi?

Bill Brovold: Watching old super 8 films of his performances at places like Danceteria and Club 57. He loved those little bits of spotlight. I think he would be happy (or is happy) that he is still remembered today and interest is growing.

Norene Cashen: (I never asked Bill an 11th question, but he declined to answer the question I never asked anyway...)

Bill Brovold: I am afraid that question is too personal to answer.

Interview With Rick Manore 9/16/2007

2007-09-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

Email interview with Rick Manore on 9/16/2007.

Manore is a writer, educator, publicist, curator, mentor and cultural guru. He is also the founder of CPop Gallery in Detroit, one of the most influential galleries in the Midwest (or so we hear). He will begin teaching an expanded version of his Artist Survival Seminar (see "Business Practices") at the College For Creative Studies in Detroit in the Winter 2008.

Manore currently resides in the farm community of Huron Township, with two Dachshunds, Max and Toyota. These days he is very busy trying to finish a play, four screenplays and a mysterious project called the Death Of Art.

Norene Cashen: What does America have wrong about Britney Spears?

Rick Manore: That genius is bad. She was the first entertainer to bi-sect two major demographics. For about five years her demographic(s) were 10-17 year old girls and 32-50 year old men, a marketing wet dream (so to speak).

Norene Cashen: Name 10 new Midwest visual artists we should all keep an eye on.

Rick Manore: Topher Crowder, Cristin Richard, Paula Raatz, Chris Dean, Joshua Ball, Francisco Amaya, Matthew Hockaday, Aunia Kahn, Matthew Martin & Jaclyn Havoc.

Norene Cashen: What are two of your favorite music CDs released in 2007?

Rick Manore: Neon Bible by Arcade Fire and Soft Machine by Teddybears.

Norene Cashen: Word on the street is you’re going to teach artists how to survive. What is lesson number one?

Rick Manore: Become a lawyer or a plumber instead.

Norene Cashen: War, what’s it good for?

Rick Manore: Haliburton, OPEC, suicide bombers & Al Jazeera.

Norene Cashen: Two of my favorite artist friends moved from Detroit to New York this year. Is this a trend or is it just me?

Rick Manore: In the 80's and 90's it would have been LA. You just happen to have intelligent, non-drug taking friends.

Norene Cashen: What’s all this fuss you make over the band The Raspberries?

Rick Manore: It's pure pop for then people. "Go All The Way" just might be the greatest - albeit slightly perverse - pop epic about sex ever committed to vinyl by a group from Cleveland.

Norene Cashen: If Lester Bangs were alive today, what would he say about American Idol?

Rick Manore: He probably would have wanted to be a judge. Him, Lou Reed and Flava Flav...now that would have been a fair and balanced panel.

Norene Cashen: To be or not to be. Is that really a question?

Rick Manore: I'd say they'd both be conditions, not questions.

Invterview with Falling James Moreland 1/23/2003

2007-09-15T08:56:00.000-07:00

Falling James Moreland is a musician, writer, copy editor and object of eternal beauty. He is the founder of the punk band The Leaving Trains. He lives, works and dreams in Los Angeles.

Falling Jane: Are you very punk rock?
Falling James: Yes. Are you?

Falling Jane: What does it mean to be punk rock now, I mean like right now?
Falling James: To not be scared.

Falling Jane: Do you remember a band called the Almighty Lumberjacks of Death from Detroit?
Falling James: No. But it sounds like a good memory to have.

Falling Jane: Do you really avoid wearing white?
Falling James: I love wedding dresses. I wish I had one. I wish I looked good in white. I look best half-seen, translucent, in the dark, under a bed, in the basement, through the trees, under mountains.

Falling Jane: What color is your hair today?
Falling James: Brown (my natural color).

Falling Jane: Where do you sit at work?
Falling James: Under the window, near the door (ways to escape).

Falling Jane: What is the most intriguing adjective people have used to describe you?
Falling James: Intense. It seems to mean that I'm too much.

Interview With Falling James continued on February 8, 2008:

Falling Jane: How old is rock 'n' roll right now?
Falling James: It's 17 years old. It's actually getting younger. It started with 80-year-old men like Bill Haley, and soon it will be played by 5-year-olds exclusively.

Falling Jane: How do you know how old it is?
Falling James: As old as some very young hills.

Falling Jane: Are you still a vegetarian?
Falling James: Yes. I'm trying to be vegan, but I'm not all the way there yet. Sometimes I accidentally swallow moths because I talk too much.

Falling Jane: What's it like in Silver Lake?
Falling James: It's very silvery. Silver Lake is actually a bromide-filled reservoir sitting a few blocks up the street (and higher than my apartment, should there ever be a big enough quake to launch a flood). They're going to drain it soon and consider putting a concrete lid on top of it. So it might be Concrete Lake someday.
The neighborhood's charms aren't as charmed. A few years ago, this was a cheap, diverse area with musicians, Central American immigrants, artists, writers, a longstanding gay community. Now there are a lot of white people, and rents are as expensive as Manhattan. Most of the old folks have moved away, and I'm still stranded here waiting for the financial Renaissance (where are all these rich yuppies coming from? What economy is supporting them? Who are they??) to give way again to a cultural Middle Age (where weirdos like me can be left in piece to make things). Now there are a lot more SUVs parked everywhere. Expensive coffee boites replacing cheaper coffee shops. What can you do?

Falling Jane: How is the 7-11?
Falling James: Expensive, tacky, unhealthful and garishly overlit by white fluorescent floodlights. It's the only place I can manage to go when I have agoraphobia, since it's on the same block. Not that I can't cross the street. But sometimes you just don't want to. 7-11 is artificial, but even artificial life is better than no life. It’s a place to go and look at magazines. And I have seen some celebrities there, like Joxer the Magnificent from Xena, and at least two assorted evil warlord types from the same program. And baseball pitcher Randy Johnson, since Dodger Stadium is around the hill from here. He was on his way to a game.

Falling Jane: Do you love anything? If so, what?
Falling James: Kittens and that look of betrayal in their eyes when you don't give them something immediately.

Falling Jane: In today's world, I find the library to be a very alien and beautiful place. What do you think about it?
Falling James: I’ve spent years in libraries. I used to spend hours there after school until my mom picked me up at night. Then I worked in a library for 7 years and was fired for dubious reasons in trying to press a grievance forward. I haven't been back since, in bitterness and some kind of protest. I love libraries and how the huddling stacks of books create their own shadows and pathways, the way certain unvisited sections, like the poetry aisle in the 800s, are silent cul-de-sacs in an ever-clanging big city.

Falling Jane: Are you reading anything? If so, what?
Falling James: I've been making my way through Vanessa Place's Dies: A Sentence, which is a knotty, tangled novel/poem consisting of one long sentence. More than just a gimmick, it wanders into a dense thicket of lush imagery with flashback digressions and ambitiously poetic allusions. It's just a slender 120-page tome crammed wall-to-wall with words and no paragraph breaks, a nonstop outburst of literary passion that can't be absorbed in one dose by my slow mind.

Taboo, a collection of poems by Yusef Komunyakaa. I love the way he condenses so much action and palpable, fresh imagery into his meaty sentences, which are broken here into quick, effective three-line stanzas. There's a pace that seems more like a short story than his earlier poetry. I guess this is part one of a planned trilogy about how blacks are historically portrayed in Western art.

The Source: The Untold Story of Father Yod, Ya Ho Wha 13 and the Source Family by former cult member Isis Aquarian. An utterly fascinating memoir about the idealistic spiritual hippie cult The Source Family who ran a commune and started the famous '70s West Hollywood health-food restaurant The Source, before moving en masse to Hawaii and imploding. Among other things, they had a trippy psychedelic band called Ya Ho Wha 13 and were led by a fascinating if frustratingly stubborn spiritual leader who died in an ill-conceived Daedelus-like hang-gliding accident.

The Ballad of a Slow Poisoner by Andrew Goldfarb. A short, slight, morbid modern fairy-tale with some amusing imagery and phrases, if not quite as scarifyingly chilling as its blues singers, Lewis Carrollian and Grimm-brethern inspirations.

And a few rock-related books:

Bomp! Saving the World One Record at a Time, a compilation/history of the influential underground '60s magazine and '70s label, both of which influenced and were in the middle of the of the ensuing punk rock and garage-rock revival scenes, with reprints of interviews with the Doors, Blondie, the Ramones, Brian Wilson, Sky Saxon, the Runaways and Janis Joplin, and writing by Lester Bangs, Greil Marcus, Lisa Fancher and Iggy Pop.

Behind the Scenes in the Pegasus Carousel With the Legendary Rock Group Love by Michael Stuart-Ware. A memoir about the chameleonic '60s pop band Love, written by one of the band's early drummers. And while he still doesn't seem to fully comprehend the fragile and preciously brilliant genius (yes, genius; more so than Brian Wilson or Syd Barrett and supposedly just as addled) of the band's late leader, Arthur Lee, the writer still provides the only somewhat-extensive account of the band's classic days. It's also an evocative portrait of life on the Sunset Strip in the '60s, and living in the winding mountain canyons looking down over Hollywood in that relatively innocent time. Stuart-Ware namedrops some other important musicians of the time and gives some interesting background. The writing is adequate, nothing thrilling.

Let's Spend the Night Together: Backstage Secrets of Rock Muses and Supergroupies, edited by Pamela Des-Barres. It's ironic that many of these groupies are so much more articulate about the mysterious powers and life-changing force of rock & roll than the legendary rock gods they sleep with. And much of it is petty and self-centered and occasionally spiteful. But as a person who's always approached rock & roll and being in bands with a groupie's sense of wonder and excitement, I can relate, and appreciate it.

Falling Jane: Do you know who John Giorno is? He's reading here on Sept. 15. Wish you could go with me.
Falling James: I guess I'm a little late. I'm not familiar with him. I guess you'll have to Giorno without me.