'Alex "Hurricane" Higgins was snooker's anti-hero, seeking neither acceptance nor respectability. A fast, flamboyant shotmaker in his prime, whose acute non-verbal intelligence instantly read the implications of any configuration of the balls, he constantly undermined his extraordinary talent with self-destructive excess. Higgins died on July 24th, aged 61, after a long battle with throat cancer.
'His 16-15 semi-final win over Jimmy White in the 1972 World Snooker Championships provided the most often reprised item from the BBC's snooker footage. Trailing 0-59 in the penultimate frame, Higgins produced, like a gunfighter down to his last bullet, a clearance of 69 to level the match and added the decider comfortably. This was the death or glory situation in which he revelled. His compulsive urge to live on life's dangerous edge, stronger than any mere desire to win, was like an addiction to the thrill of gambling. Always at his most dangerous and most fascinating in a situation of peak emotional intensity, he accessed a similar seam of inspiration in the final when, from 15-15, he ran through a trio of frames to beat Ray Reardon 18-15.'Beginning when he won the Northern Ireland Amateur Championships at 18, tales of Higgins' dashing centuries, bust-ups, punch-ups, drinking, gambling and women spread through the snooker world. His challenge matches against the late John Spencer, then the reigning world champion, packed venue after venue as he acquired an army of supporters who were to give him their unqualified support throughout his career. Even at that early stage many questioned how long he could last with such an uninhibited lifestyle. He drank heavily; only a boxer could have collected more black eyes than he did; he was thrown out of clubs; a tour of India lasted only a day before he was sent back to England in disgrace on the first available plane.
'Umpteen fines for miscellaneous disciplinary offences were shrugged off until Higgins prevaricated over giving a urine sample for a drug test at the 1986 UK Championship. When the tournament director tried to hurry him, Higgins headbutted him. Higgins was at the centre of the ensuing scrum that spilled out into a corridor and resulted in his being fined £200 for assault and £50 for criminal damage to a door by Preston magistrates. A disciplinary tribunal chaired by Mr Justice, now Judge, Lightman fined him £12,000 and suspended him from five tournaments. On his return, he was again in the news after a row with his girlfriend, Siobhan Kidd, a psychology graduate he had met while she was working as a waitress. When she locked him inside her flat, he attempted to crawl round her building on a ledge only to plunge 25 feet to the pavement, breaking bones in his foot.'Siobhan was the love of his life but she departed finally with a fractured cheekbone for her trouble. Out of his mind with rejection, he threatened, backstage at the World Team Cup, to have his team‑mate Dennis Taylor shot the next time he visited Northern Ireland, reducing him to tears with vicious verbal abuse of his late mother. Disciplinary action was pending from this when, after losing in the first round of the 1990 World Championship at the Crucible, he punched the WPBSA's duty press officer on his way to the obligatory press conference. This was nothing personal, simply an expression of his consuming rage against any form of authority. He was suspended for a year and docked so many points that his ranking fell to 120.
'His last match on the circuit was in August 1997 in a qualifying event in Plymouth. He lost 5-1, became truculent, was escorted from the venue by police and was found at 4am sprawled on the ground outside a nightclub, the victim, so he claimed, of an unprovoked assault with an iron bar. Quickly discharging himself from hospital, he made his way to the Manchester home of a girlfriend, Holly Hayse, who stabbed him with a kitchen knife when an altercation broke out. Higgins declined to give evidence against her.'Sporadic attempts to compete on the fringes of the professional circuit were cruelly unsuccessful as he lived out his declining years in a small flat in sheltered accommodation. In his prime, he could play brilliantly in an imitable way even, at times, well enough to give himself the illusion of the omnipotence he craved to keep at bay the vulnerability he feared. When snooker could no longer serve as the glue to hold his life together he made no concessions, no pleas for sympathy.' -- The Observer
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p.s. Hey. When I was living in Amsterdam in the mid-80s, I had a phase of being enamored with snooker, whose tournaments the BBC was fond of broadcasting at the time, and I mostly drawn into the sport's particularities by the charismatic and brilliant, daredevil playing of Higgins, who stuck me as a kind of pool cue wielding artist. Anyway, he died recently, which brought back my fascination with his work and occasioned this kind of profile and tribute. And with that, ... ** David Ehrenstein, Hey. The only English language review of 'Homme au Bain' I've found thus far is indieWire's, and it's pretty mixed. Over here, the film is proving to be quite scandalous and divisive, from impassioned raves to some of the most vicious reviews I've read in quite a while. The amount of gay sex in the film is really raising hackles. One critic wrote that Honore's casting of Chiara Mastrionni in the film was abusive and defamatory to her, and he has demanded that Honore apologize publicly to her. She, of course, defends Homore and the film. Not having seen the film yet myself, I'm taking all of this as a good sign, but we'll see. ** Oscar B, You're back! Yippee! I want to hear all about it. Let's hook up? You want to see that dance/ presentation thing in the Recollets' gallery tonight? Pear cider ... uh, wow, like, you bet! ** Pilgarlic, Hey. It's really called Skunkworks? That's very trippy. I'd read something about Baxter's unexpected post-music occupational turn. I'll blame the Doobie Brothers. Oh, yeah, props to 'The Royal Scam'. I mean it's not like they ever turned a corner badly. ** Sypha, Thanks, man, of course, about my first two cycle books. Knowing you're reading me right now, I feel so naked, ha ha. Very cool about the novel input from your eerie environs. ** Mark Gluth, As a veteran of much back pain, I send all hopes and sympathies to Erin's mom. No, your approach makes complete sense. I think in voicing that question I was just sort of playing devil's advocate for a second vis a vis both of us. With my novel, I'm using this other or enlarged or roomier or something voice, and forgetting what I've done before is an absolute necessity, if for no other reason than to avoid my style's habits as best I can, and I guess also to help myself not worry that the voice I'm employing will seem unfamiliar to readers in an un-condusive way. Or something. It's complicated to think/talk about a work in progress, as you well know. ** Braze-on Lookers/Trees, Braze-on Lookers? What the hell kind of name is that, ha ha? Cool that you know Heikens' work. I didn't know it before I happened across it the other day at the behest of someone who suggested it deserved a post, whereupon I thought, hm, so true. Hot damn and no surprise on the greatness of your reading with KK! Was it videoed? Heady turn out there. Even the great and legendary Mr. Boone! Your interview's up, awesome. Tagged for a briefly delayed read. Everyone, the other day I mentioned that an interview with the magical writer and d.l. Trees aka Ted Rees would be making an appearance on the 'Haters and Perpetrators' site, and so it has, all seven questions and answers that constitute it, so go there, basically. Thanks, buddy boy. ** Killer Luka, He does sport major neck. That neck is one of his keys, perhaps his most underrated asset. He did take his tank-top off in one video, maybe on Chilloutboys, and everything under there seemed to be in fine working order. He probably just thought he was too skinny, silly fool. It sounds like that woman at the co-op thought she was being very clever and evil, but she remained nonetheless a small-minded chickenshit, is my guess. ** Saint-Amant, Well, well, well, hello there, long lost friend and d.l. Welcome back with bells on. And thanks for doing the FB friending thing too. I certainly look forward to seeing you again and often. ** JW Veldhoen, Well, going home has certainly not proven to be a relaxing getaway, has it? Instructive though, you will admit. I think that night in the forest sounds like just the thing. It's a thing that always works in some way or other. It can't help but. Did you? ** Empty Frame, Glad you liked the stuff, man. Wow, Boll, haven't read him or thought about him in ages. Interesting. I am sure you're right that I would love the Grunenwald Forest. I just can not imagine that not being the case big time. Someday. Thanks for reading 'SiH', obviously. Any questions, I'm here. 'Thunderous faces', nice. The phrase, I mean, not the actual faces, I'm guessing. ** Misanthrope, HAPPY MOTHERFUCKING BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!! Thank God Atheist's kid wasn't born on your birthday. Imagine. No, I didn't not know she'd successfully unleashed it, or that it was a him. The only time I ever hear from her is when her hacked email account sends me a Cialis ad. Well, between your birthday and Atheist's offshoot, that's very cool! You're at least going to eat a cake today or something, right? Use all the dollar bills wedged inside all of your birthday cards to hire some Emo bed partner? Liking all those writing plans of yours, no surprise. Wriggling on the hook of the words 'super-secret projects', no surprise either. Dude, it's your birthday! Do this god damned day prouder than shit! ** _Black_Acrylic, Great about the glowing response to your piece on her art. You done good, man. I'd say Heikens' work's resemblance to Brown's is superficial. To me, her work's confrontation is more interestingly confused, psychologically dirtier maybe, and it doesn't resolve immediately upon impact like his tends to do, which gives hers more strangeness and heft to me. ** Emily, Hey, Emily! Glad you liked Heikens' work. Ah, well, what the heck on the no alcohol plan's fail. It's not like straightedge is the Nobel Prize. Whatever works basically, right? Cool about the red hair. Yeah, whenever my mom used to say to me, 'you look good', I immediately went on a crash diet. ** Steevee, Questions for Noe ... hm, I can't isolate a perfect one that you in your wisdom wouldn't already know to ask. The question about attitude towards gays and gayness is a good one. My sense is he's ultra-gay friendly. It might be too forward, but, I mean, I'm not the only one who just immediately assumed he was gay based on his style of dress and appearance, so, I don't know, maybe you could get at the question via his physical presentation? ** Creative Massacre, Hey. My weekend wasn't too bad compared to yours, it sounds like. Damn, that sucks about your body's taking its sweet time to get over its break-up with your gall bladder. What did the doctor say? That you just need to be patient or whatever? Yeah, I hate when it seems like the world is conspiring against me, but the world always seems to end up losing that battle, at least. Stay tough. Oh, sure, no problem, I'll pass that thing along and go vote in a second. Everyone, may I please have your attention? Our dear pal Creative Massacre has a request that will take no time at all on your parts, but which could have an impact of importance to her. Here she is: 'This band that I’m working with, The Issues, were handpicked for a contest called Homegrown to Headliner through Atlanta’s #1 rock station Project 961, if they win this contest they will be opening for the Stone Temple Pilots at the Family Reunion concert in Oct. You don’t have to register or anything but I’m really urging people to vote so we can win this. This is a HUGE opportunity. If you could do that it would be highly appreciated. :)' I just voted, and it literally only takes a second or two, so please join me in helping CM out, okay? Thanks! ** Paul Joseph, Hey. Oh, that's awesome news: moving to NYC, teaching at NYU. Big congrats to you and to NYU even moreso! And it would obviously be very nice if you can squeeze in some fiction writing. What are you working on, in that regard? What will you be teaching? ** Jebus, Hey, man. How are you? I haven't seen you in what seems like ages. What's going on? Ha ha, that's trippy and funny about the Barcelona Review contest. I guess I'll let the folks whose eyes end up here have a shot at it. Everyone, check this out: in the words of Jebus: ' happened upon this short quiz on the Barcelona Review site, and one of the answers in the quiz is a character from one of your (DC's) novels (I won't say which one). The name of the quiz is "10 Super Bad Guys in Contemporary Literature," and here is the web address if anyone wants a go at it'. Thanks a lot for dropping by and for the alert, J. ** Paul Curran, Hi, Paul. Wow, when Bill was here visiting, he was talking about how he was trying to finesse his collaboration with your text, and I guess he figured it out big time. I just watched the video, and it's a total beauty of a combo and work itself, don't you think? Very, very nice. Also, in going to your blog, I realize I haven't been over there in a while. I love that you posted your terrific piece 'Sand', and I really love the 'conversation' piece just below it. Very cool! Anyway, let me ... Everyone, me again, this time to send you over to look at this very, very cool short video piece, a remix of a text by Paul Curran created by the equally fantastic artist and d.l. Bill (Hsu). It's just terrific, and do go watch it post-haste. And, while you're there, Paul has also posted some wonderful recent solo pieces/ experiments if you haven't already seen them. Thanks a million, Paul, and lucky, lucky you on the impending Tokyo trip. Hope you get some good writing time in before you leave. ** Colin, Hey, C. I figured you were home. There was very slightly melancholy tone in your typing voice. Still, it sounds like the Edinburgh Festival should take care of that. Yeah, seeing Lydia Davis, very cool. The others too, Chris Goode especially, although Manguel hates my work so I'm a little iffier about him, ha ha. Really hope you get to read at the Monday event. Fingers crossed, if you need them. And reports on anything you do or see would be most welcome. ** Postitbreakup, What new job? Am I forgetting? So, how was it? ** Statictick, Yikes, man. That's some stroll in the park you had there. Don't be a trigger finger. ** Okay, do what you will with Hurricane Higgins, and take care, and I'll see you the next time the French sun rises.
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