(“Remember” Harry Nilsson)
Let’s go to the Wiki
Nilsson was born in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, New York, in 1941. His paternal grandparents were Swedish circus performers and dancers, especially known for their "aerial ballet" (which is the title of one of Nilsson's albums). His father, Harry Edward Nilsson, Jr., abandoned the family three years later. An autobiographical reference to this is found in the opening to Nilsson's song "1941":
Well, in 1941, the happy father had a son
And in 1944, the father walked right out the door
Nilsson's "Daddy's Song",
and "Cuddly Toy"
recorded by The Monkees, also refer to this period.
Nilsson grew up with his mother Bette and his younger half-sister. His younger half-brother Drake was left with family or friends during their moves between California and New York, sometimes living with a succession of relatives and stepfathers. His Uncle John, a mechanic in San Bernardino, California, helped Nilsson improve his vocal and musical abilities.
He had a half-brother and a half-sister through their mother. He also had three half-sisters and one half-brother through his father.
Due to the poor financial situation of his family, Nilsson worked from an early age, including a job at the Paramount Theatre in Los Angeles. When the Paramount closed, Nilsson applied for a job at a bank, falsely stating he was a high school graduate on his application (he only completed ninth grade).[ He had an aptitude for computers, which were beginning to be employed by banks at the time. He performed so well that the bank retained him after discovering the lie about his education. He worked on bank computers at night, and in the daytime pursued his songwriting and singing career.
As early as 1958, Nilsson was intrigued by emerging forms of popular music, especially rhythm and blues artists like Ray Charles. He had made early attempts at performing while he was working at the Paramount, forming a vocal duo with his friend Jerry Smith and singing close harmonies in the style of the Everly Brothers. The manager at a favorite hangout gave Nilsson a plastic ukulele, which he learned to play, and he later learned to play the guitar and piano. In the 2010 documentary Who is Harry Nilsson? (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him),
Nilsson recalled that when he could not remember lyrics or parts of the melodies to popular songs, he created his own, which led to writing original songs.
Uncle John's singing lessons, along with Nilsson's natural talent, helped when he got a job singing demos for songwriter Scott Turner in 1960. Turner paid Nilsson five dollars for each track they recorded. (When Nilsson became famous, Turner decided to release these early recordings, and contacted Nilsson to work out a fair payment. Nilsson replied that he had already been paid -- five dollars a track.).
In 1963, Nilsson began to have some early success as a songwriter, working with John Marascalco on a song for Little Richard. Upon hearing Nilsson sing, Little Richard reportedly remarked: "My! You sing good for a white boy!" Marascalco also financed some independent singles by Nilsson. One, "Baa Baa Blacksheep", was released under the pseudonym "Bo Pete" to some small local airplay. Another recording, "Donna, I Understand", convinced Mercury Records to offer Nilsson a contract, and release recordings by him under the name "Johnny Niles."
In 1964, Nilsson worked with Phil Spector, writing three songs with him. He also established a relationship with songwriter and publisher Perry Botkin, Jr., who began to find a market for Nilsson's songs. Botkin also gave Nilsson a key to his office, providing another place to write after hours.
Nilsson's recording contract was picked up by Tower Records, which in 1966 released the first singles actually credited to him by name, as well as the debut album Spotlight on Nilsson. None of Nilsson's Tower releases charted or gained much critical attention, although his songs were being recorded by Glen Campbell, Fred Astaire, The Shangri-Las, The Yardbirds, and others. Despite his growing success, Nilsson remained on the night shift at the bank
Nilsson signed with RCA Victor in 1966 and released an album the following year, Pandemonium Shadow Show, which was a critical (if not commercial) success. Music industry insiders were impressed both with the songwriting and with Nilsson's pure-toned, multi-octave vocals. One such insider was Beatles press officer Derek Taylor, who bought an entire box of copies of the album to share this new sound with others. With a major-label release, and continued songwriting success (most notably with The Monkees, who had a hit with Nilsson's "Cuddly Toy" after meeting him through their producer Chip Douglas), Nilsson finally felt secure enough in the music business to quit his job with the bank. Monkees member Micky Dolenz maintained a close friendship until Nilsson's death in 1994.
Some of the albums from Derek Taylor's box eventually ended up with the Beatles themselves, who quickly became Nilsson fans. This may have been helped by the track "You Can't Do That",
in which Nilsson covered one Beatles song but added 22 others in the multi-tracked background vocals. When John Lennon and Paul McCartney held a press conference in 1968 to announce the formation of Apple Corps, John was asked to name his favorite American artist. He replied, "Nilsson". Paul was then asked to name his favorite American group. He replied, "Nilsson".
Aided by the Beatles' praise, "You Can't Do That" became a minor hit in the U.S., and a top 10 hit in Canada.
When RCA had asked if there was anything special he wanted as a signing premium, Nilsson asked for his own office at RCA, being used to working out of one. In the weeks after the Apple press conference, Nilsson's office phone began ringing constantly, with offers and requests for interviews and inquiries about his performing schedule. Nilsson usually answered the calls himself, surprising the callers, and answered questions candidly. (He recalled years later the flow of a typical conversation: "When did you play last?" "I didn't." "Where have you played before?" "I haven't." "When will you be playing next?" "I don't.") Nilsson acquired a manager, who steered him into a handful of TV guest appearances, and a brief run of stage performances in Europe set up by RCA. He disliked the experiences he had, though, and decided to stick to the recording studio. He later admitted this was a huge mistake on his part.
Once John Lennon called and praised Pandemonium Shadow Show, which he had listened to in a 36-hour marathon. Paul McCartney called the following day, also expressing his admiration, as did Ringo Starr. Eventually a message came, inviting him to London to meet the Beatles, watch them at work, and possibly sign with Apple Corps.
Pandemonium Shadow Show was followed in 1968 by Aerial Ballet, an album that included Nilsson's rendition of Fred Neil's song "Everybody's Talkin'". A minor U.S. hit at the time of release (and a top 40 hit in Canada), the song would become extremely popular a year later when it was featured in the film Midnight Cowboy, and it would earn Nilsson his first Grammy Award.The song would also become Nilsson's first U.S. top 10 hit, reaching #6, and his first Canadian #1.
Prior to that seminal late 60’s drama came Nilsson’s score for Otto Preminger’s legendary late 60’s Skidoo.
For more on Skidoo see Bill Reed’s invaluable memoir Early Plastic
Aerial Ballet also contained Nilsson's version of his own composition, "One",
which was later taken to the top 5 of the U.S. charts by Three Dog Night.
Nilsson was also commissioned at this time to write and perform the theme song for the ABC television series The Courtship of Eddie's Father. The result, "Best Friend", was very popular, but Nilsson never released the song on record; an alternative version, "Girlfriend", did appear on the 1995 Personal Best anthology.
Late in 1968, The Monkees' notorious experimental film Head premiered, featuring a memorable song-and-dance sequence with Davy Jones and Toni Basil performing Nilsson's composition "Daddy's Song." (This is followed by Frank Zappa's cameo as "The Critic," who dismisses the 1920s-style tune as "pretty white.")
With the success of Nilsson's RCA recordings, Tower re-issued or re-packaged many of their early Nilsson recordings in various formats. All of these re-issues failed to chart, including a 1969 single "Good Times".
Nilsson's next album, Harry (1969), was his first to hit the charts, and also provided a Top 40 single with "I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City" (written as a contender for the theme to Midnight Cowboy), used in the Sophia Loren movie La Mortadella (1971) (U.S. title: Lady Liberty). While the album still presented Nilsson as primarily a songwriter, his astute choice of cover material included, this time, a song by a then-little-known composer named Randy Newman, "Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear." Nilsson was so impressed with Newman's talent that he devoted his entire next album to Newman compositions, with Newman himself playing piano behind Nilsson's multi-tracked vocals.The result, Nilsson Sings Newman (1970), was commercially disappointing but was named Record of the Year by Stereo Review magazine and provided momentum to Newman's career.
Nilsson's next project was an animated film, The Point!, created with animation director Fred Wolf, and broadcast on ABC television on February 2, 1971, as an "ABC Movie of the Week". Nilsson's album of songs from The Point! was well received, and it spawned a hit single, "Me and My Arrow".
Later that year, Nilsson went to England with producer Richard Perry to record what became the most successful album of his career. Nilsson Schmilsson yielded three very stylistically different hit singles. The first was a cover of Badfinger's song "Without You" (by Pete Ham and Tom Evans), featuring a highly emotional arrangement and soaring vocals to match, a performance that was rewarded with Nilsson's second Grammy Award.
The second single was "Coconut", a novelty calypso number featuring three characters (the narrator, the sister, and the doctor) all sung in different voices by Nilsson. The song is best remembered for its chorus lyric, "Put de lime in de coconut, and drink 'em both up." Also notable is that the entire song is played using one chord, C 7th. Coconut was featured in Episode 81 (October 25, 1973) of the Flip Wilson Show. The song has since been featured in many other films and commercials. It was also used in a comedy skit on The Muppet Show, which featured Kermit the Frog in a hospital bed. The song was also used during the end credits of Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. George Carlin also made reference to "Coconut" in the live recording of "Occupation: Foole" dated 1973, singing "Put de lime in de coconut, de lemon in de Tidy Bowl."
The third single, "Jump into the Fire", was raucous, screaming rock and roll, including a drum solo by Derek and the Dominos' Jim Gordon and a bass detuning by Herbie Flowers. The song was famously used during the "Sunday, May 11, 1980", sequence in the film Goodfellas.
Nilsson followed quickly with Son of Schmilsson (1972), released while its predecessor was still in the charts. Besides the problem of competing with himself, Nilsson's decision to give free rein to his bawdiness and bluntness on this release alienated some of his earlier, more conservative fan base. With lyrics like "I sang my balls off for you, baby", "Roll the world over / And give her a kiss and a feel", and the notorious "You're breaking my heart / You're tearing it apart / So fuck you", Nilsson had traveled far afield from his earlier work. Still, the album did well, and the single "Spaceman" was a Top 40 hit. However, the follow-up single "Remember (Christmas)" stalled at #53. A third single, the tongue-in-cheek C&W send up "Joy", was issued on RCA's country imprint Green and credited to Buck Earle, but it failed to chart.
Nilsson's disregard for commercialism in favor of artistic satisfaction showed itself in his next release, A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night (1973). Performing a selection of pop standards by the likes of Berlin, Kalmar and Ruby, Nilsson sang in front of the London Symphony Orchestra arranged and conducted by veteran Gordon Jenkins in sessions produced by Derek Taylor. While the sessions showcased a talented singer in one of his best performances, this musical endeavor did not do well commercially. The session was filmed, and was broadcast as a television special by the BBC in the UK.
1973 found Nilsson back in California, and when John Lennon moved there during his separation from Yoko Ono, the two musicians rekindled their earlier friendship. Lennon was intent upon producing Nilsson's next album, much to Nilsson's delight. However, their time together in California became known much more for heavy drinking and drug use than it did for musical collaboration. In a widely publicized incident, they were ejected from the Troubadour nightclub in West Hollywood for drunken heckling of the Smothers Brothers. Both men also caused property damage during binges, with Lennon trashing a bedroom in Lou Adler's house, and Nilsson throwing a bottle through a thirty-foot hotel window.
To make matters worse, Nilsson ruptured a vocal cord during the sessions for this album, but he hid the injury due to fear that Lennon would call a halt to the production. The resulting album was Pussy Cats. In an effort to clean up, Lennon, Nilsson and Ringo Starr first rented a house together, then Lennon and Nilsson left for New York.
After the relative failure of his latest two albums, RCA Records considered dropping Nilsson's contract. In a show of friendship, Lennon accompanied Nilsson to negotiations, and both intimated to RCA that Lennon and Starr might want to sign with them, once their Apple Records contracts with EMI expired in 1975, but would not be interested if Nilsson were no longer with the label. RCA took the hint and re-signed Nilsson (adding a bonus clause, to apply to each new album completed), but neither Lennon nor Starr signed with RCA.
Nilsson's voice had mostly recovered by his next release, Duit on Mon Dei (1975), but neither it nor its follow-ups, Sandman and ...That's the Way It Is (both 1976) met with chart success. Finally, Nilsson recorded what he later considered to be his favorite album, 1977's Knnillssonn. With his voice strong again, and his songs exploring musical territory reminiscent of Harry or The Point!, Nilsson had every right to expect Knnillssonn to be a comeback album. RCA seemed to agree, and promised Nilsson a substantial marketing campaign for the album. However, the death of Elvis Presley caused RCA to ignore everything except meeting demand for Presley's back catalog, and the promised marketing push never happened. This, combined with RCA releasing a Nilsson Greatest Hits collection without consulting him, prompted Nilsson to leave the label.
Nilsson's 1970s London flat at 12 Curzon Street on the edge of Mayfair, was a two-bedroom apartment decorated by the design company that ex-Beatle Ringo Starr and Robin Cruikshank owned at that time. Nilsson cumulatively spent several years at the flat, which was located near Apple Records, the Playboy Club, Tramps disco and the homes of friends and business associates. Nilsson's work and interests took him to the U.S. for extended periods, and while he was away he loaned his place to numerous musician friends. During one of his absences, ex-Mamas and Papas singer Cass Elliot and a few members of her tour group stayed at the flat while she performed solo at the London Palladium, headlining with her Torch Songs and "Don't Call Me Mama Anymore."
Following a strenuous performance with encores, Elliot returned to the flat to relax and sleep and was discovered in one of the bedrooms, dead of heart failure, on July 29, 1974.
On September 7, 1978, The Who's drummer Keith Moon returned to the same room in the flat after a night out, and died from an overdose of Clomethiazole, a prescribed anti-alcohol drug. Nilsson, distraught over another friend's death in his flat, and having little need for the property, sold it to Moon's bandmate Pete Townshend and consolidated his life in Los Angeles.
Nilsson's musical work after leaving RCA Victor was sporadic. He wrote a musical, Zapata, with Perry Botkin, Jr., libretto by Allan Katz, which was produced and directed by longtime friend Bert Convy. The show was mounted at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut, but never had another production. He wrote all the songs for Robert Altman's movie-musical Popeye (1980), the score of which met with unfavorable reviews.
Nilsson's Popeye compositions included several songs that were representative of Nilsson's acclaimed "Point" era, such as "Everything is Food" and "Sweethaven". He recorded one more album, Flash Harry, co-produced by Bruce Robb and Steve Cropper, which was released in the UK but not in the U.S. However, Nilsson increasingly began referring to himself as a "retired musician".
Nilsson was profoundly affected by the murder of John Lennon on December 8, 1980. He joined the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and overcame his preference for privacy to make appearances for gun control fundraising.
After a long hiatus from the studio, Nilsson started recording sporadically once again in the mid to late 1980s. Most of these recordings were commissioned songs for movies or television shows. One notable exception was his work on a Yoko Ono Lennon tribute album, Every Man Has A Woman (1984) (Polydor); another was a cover of "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" recorded for Hal Willner's 1988 tribute album Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films. Nilsson donated his performance royalties from the song to the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.
In 1991, the Disney CD For Our Children, a compilation of children's music performed by celebrities to benefit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, included Nilsson's original composition "Blanket for a Sail," recorded at the Shandaliza Recording Studio in Los Angeles.
In 1985 Nilsson set up a production company, Hawkeye, to oversee the various film, TV and multimedia projects he was involved in. He appointed his friend, satirist and screenwriter Terry Southern as one of the principals, and they collaborated on a number of screenplays including Obits (a Citizen Kane-style story about a journalist investigating an obituary notice) and The Telephone, a one-hander about an unhinged unemployed actor.
The Telephone was virtually the only Hawkeye project that made it to the screen. It had been written with Robin Williams in mind but he turned it down; comedian-actress Whoopi Goldberg then signed on, with Southern's friend Rip Torn directing, but the project was troubled. Torn battled with Goldberg, who interfered in the production and constantly digressed from the script during shooting, and Torn was forced to plead with her to perform takes that stuck to the screenplay. Torn, Southern and Nilsson put together their own version of the film, which screened at the Sundance Film Festival in early 1988, but it was overtaken by the "official" version from the studio, and this version premiered to poor reviews in late January 1988. The project reportedly had some later success when adapted as a theatre piece in Germany.
In 1990, Hawkeye foundered and Nilsson found himself in a dire financial situation after it was discovered that his financial adviser Cindy Sims had embezzled all the funds he had earned as a recording artist. The Nilssons were left with $300 in the bank and a mountain of debt, while Sims served less than two years and was released from prison in 1994 without making restitution.
Harry’s personal problems are best reflected in a song for which he will always be fondly remembered.
After the death of John Lennon, he began to appear at Beatlefest conventions to raise money for gun control and he would get on stage with the Beatlefest house band "Liverpool" to either sing some of his own songs or "Give Peace a Chance." Nilsson made his last concert appearance September 1, 1992, when he joined Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band on stage at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada to sing "Without You" with Todd Rundgren handling the high notes. Afterwards, an emotional Ringo Starr embraced Nilsson on stage.
Nilsson suffered a massive heart attack in 1993. After surviving that, he began pressing his old label, RCA, to release a boxed-set retrospective of his career, and resumed recording, attempting to complete one final album. He finished the vocal tracks for the album with producer Mark Hudson, who still retains the tapes of that session.
On January 15, 1994, Nilsson died of heart failure in his Agoura Hills, California home. According to his wife, they had been watching Enchanted April, and the last thing he told her before she fell asleep was, "I love you so much."
During Nilsson's funeral on January 17, aftershocks from the 1994 Los Angeles earthquake were felt.
In 1995, the 2-CD anthology he worked on with RCA, Personal Best, was released.
And now in its overwhelming entirety A Little Touch of Schmilsson in The Night
(A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night 1) “Lazy Moon,” “For Me and My Gal”
(A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night 2) “It Had To Be You,” “Always,” “Makin’ Whoopee”
(A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night 3) “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows,” “I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now,” “What’ll I Do?”
(A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night 4 ) “Nevertheless,” “This is All I Ask”
(A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night 5) “Over the Rainbow,” “As Time Goes By”
The beauty of Harry’s voice reduces me to a sobbing wreck.
And now, to sing us out, Marianne Faithfull
(Marianne Faithfull, “Don’t Forget Me” )
We won’t forget you Harry.
----
*
p.s. Hey. This weekend, that man about everything and blog post auteur David Ehrenstein returns to throw some deservedly gilded light on the late, great Harry Nilsson, and we get to read and click. Well, I already have, which why I can safely encourage to do the same then get the considerable goods. Thank you, folks, and biggest thanks to you, Mr. E. Hm, that's all the contest entries? I should have offered a better prize, ha ha. Okay, anyway, first, here are the movies, TV shows, plays, and bands to which the identifiable sets I posted yesterday belonged, for the record and roughly in order, skipping the unknown ones: Wizard of Oz, Wizard of Oz (theater adaptation), Twister, The Truman Show, Twin Peaks, The Airbender, The Glass Menagerie, Stargate, Lost in Space, The Saturn Awards ceremony, Fiddler on the Roof, Kid Rock, Radiohead, The Academy Awards, Muse, Predator, Raintree County, UK Naked Men, The MTV Music Video Awards, Unbreakable, Centurion, Hostel 2, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Waiting for Godot, Willy Wonka, Quantum of Silence, The Shining, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Enter the Void, Elton John, Dollhouse, Jaws III, Schindler's List, Citizen Kane, Transformers 2, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Barbarella, Clash of the Titans, Die Antwoord, Alien, Full Metal Jacket, Prince of Persia, The Abyss, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, Pumpkin Head, A Clockwork Orange, The Birds, Lord of the Rings, Hostel 1, Days of Heaven, A Nightmare on Elm Street (the remake), Diff'rent Strokes, Dr. Strangelove, A Trip to the Moon, Uzumaki, The Matrix, Two Women, Pirates of the Caribbean IV, Kiss. Now, here are the contest runners up and their scores: Tender Prey (7), Bernard Welt (10), Patrick deWitt, (1), Bollo (27), Paul Curran (2), Inthemostpeculiarway (7), David Ehrenstein (22), The Dreadful Flying Glove (32), Jebus (34). And the winner, with 35 correct guesses, is ... Chilly Jay Chill! Congratulations! Please email me your mailing address, Mr. Chill, and your prize will be in the post to you at the beginning of next week. ** Misanthrope, Well, there you go. Chalk up another x in the plus column for Toyota. I did not know that. Well, yeah, i.e. what you said about pols. The US has become a political bizarro land. I barely know what to think. ** Tender prey, Thanks for giving it the old college try, Marc. True, hunh, about the Klimik thing. It was a porn set. Interestingly or not, it and several other of the images/ sets yesterday were photo works by an artist who photographs porn sets after the sex scenes have been shot. I can't remember the artist's name. ** David Ehrenstein, Thank you again and more personally for the Nilsson post, David. I've long thought to do one on him but felt a bit intimidated to go through with the plan, and you aced the assignment to say the least. Respect. Yeah, the 'Tree of Life' website is so great. Thanks for the tip/link. Everyone, if, by chance, you're losing your shit in excitement over the upcoming Terrence Malick film 'Tree of Life' like I am, or, even if not, I guess, the film has a pretty stunning website that I highly recommend you go interact with. David E. pointed it out in the comments yesterday, and I pass it along, and it's here. ** Chris Cochrane, Hey, C. Yeah, I re-listened to 'In the Court of the Crimson King' a while back for the first time in ages and was so disappointed with the lyrics, which used to pass muster with me back when I was stoned-cum-wide-eyed. It was, like, shut up, you're ruining the mellotron. Oren Ambarchi is super awesome. I'm actually going to see him play a solo set here next Tuesday. Yeah, say the word on the Kickstarter thing when you're ready, and, of course, signature on anything if it will help. If you think offering some rare-ish or something item from my work/stuff would help, I can do that too. Whatever might help make a difference, man. Curious to hear how the Sebadoh set is. I kind of extremely adore everything of theirs up to 'Bakesale', and, even on that album, the Jason L. songs are fantastic. Yeah, I like Richard Buckner's stuff. I didn't know you played on a record of his. Which one? ** Alan, It depends on the contest. It depends on how the form is employed and why. I can recommend you try/read 'Event' or 'The Park'. I say 'Event' would be the best one. I don't know about his later fiction, but those two books aren't Joyceian in the slightest. For a long time, I thought he was associated with the Nouveau Roman. Those books have that kind of chilly, chiseled, kind of disjunctive quality. ** Allesfliesst, I wonder if that Baz guy actually participated in the piece itself. To me, it seemed sort of proto-New Age meets Scientology recruitment center "on acid". That car as ouija board thing sounds kind of cool, fun, interesting. The hand reading things seems like it could have gone either way. How was it? ** Bernard Welt, Thanks for giving the contest your gung-ho. That 'Foxy Brown' class sounds stellar. I wish you could stream your classes. Yep, on the King's Speech porn. No Metropolises, just a TV awards ceremony stage coopting the venerable image. Two WoO pix (#s 1&2), but not the fabric tornado. That was Twister. The split screen image was Hostel. The school room set ... really? If so, it wasn't identified, and I didn't catch it. ** Davidpeak, Hey. Oh, no problem, time is relative around here. You did a chapbook with M. Kitchell's press? Cool, I'll go order that if it's still in print. Oh, sure, send me stuff. I'm busy, but I always am, and I'd love to read the novel, you bet. The new Mark McGuire is a comp of the best of his early stuff, mostly things released on cassette and so on. It's pretty nice. ** Patrick deWitt, Excellent that the Recollets stint is in place. I'll start counting the ... uh, months, I guess. Yes, that was indeed the set of Diff'rent Strokes. High five. ** L@rstonovich, Hey, dude, that Radio Awesome or whatever it's called thing you did was, yeah, really awesome. Thanks a lot for letting me know and hear. It helped my day yesterday. It got it through what would have been a void or lag at the very least. I don't know where that one porn set/still you liked came from. I'm sorry, man. It was just stuck in middle of a google search and unidentified. It looked like maybe some micro-budgeted porn take off on Eyes Wide Shut? Maybe if you can think up a pornish pun on that title, and it seems ripe for one if not many, you must admit, you'll find it? ** Sypha, Well, why not send him a query and see if he offers you an invitation. It might be as simple as that, no? ** Heliotrope, Oh, no, Bill Pitcock IV died? Oh, fuck, that's really sad. Sad that maybe one or two people reading this are likely to even know who he is. The fact that the Dwight Twilley Band's incredible work hasn't been rediscovered, celebrated, and used as inspiration by young bands is a continual source of great confusion to me. Ugh. You're still pretty sick? Oh, man, do what your body needs, okay? Whatever healing LA vibes remain in my Paris-based body are all yours. Lots of love. ** Wolf, You would make such a great bodyguard that, well, I don't even know what to say. Not to mention how great you'd look in dark glasses and a black suit and one of those little earphone wired things in your ear. Make it happen. I hope somebody at the wedding shows tentative signs of attacking somebody. ** Bollo, Really good try. You did very well. Two people guessed the Stooges, which is so strange. I wonder why. Unfortunately, it was only Kid Rock. Yeah, colorful entry, man. A poem, kind of. Maybe not even kind of. Hold your head way high. ** Paul Curran, Your entry was the only one that could be adapted into a very fine screenplay and movie. And that's not nothing. I'm glad you continue to rise. The weather here is insanely nice right now too. I know 'that kind of stage', yeah. You're being sensible, I think. See what you can do, basically. ** The Dreadful Flying Glove, Dude, it was neck and neck and neck. I even had to do two recounts of your and Jebus's and Chilly Jay Chill's entries to be sure who the winner was. So, I salute you. I don't know what most of those porns are, sadly. Sadly for you, I mean, I guess. I, you know, need some scrawny in there to care that much. They appeared without attributions. I don't think they were Kristen Bjorn, though, based on the other images in same sets. No hands off cum shots that I could see. Hope you get that writing binge. I hope I do too, if you don't mind some company. I can't get with Belew. He's always evaded me. Tell me what I need to think or know in order to cross that bridge. ** _Black_Acrylic, My contest was just a good natured, well-meaning overachiever. Therein lies my defense, ha ha. So, you definitely got the flat? Is it signed, sealed, and delivered now? Man, if so, congrats! ** Squeaky, Hi, D. The Recollets website is famously confusing and a mess. Like this deadline thing ... to my knowledge, there's no hard deadline. Anyway, I got your email, and I'm going to send you an email address that will give you direct access to one of the people in charge. And then I'll follow up with in-person queries and so forth. For now, I say forget whatever the website says. I don't know Paris Gay Village. Never heard of them, but that's not surprising, nor is it any reflection on them. I'd love for you to give me a tour if they sponsor you. I'm assuming their tours aren't just pointing out the best bars. I'm assuming they show you where, oh, Andre Gide or Edmund White lived or sucked somebody off in an alley or whatever. That would be interesting to know. People involved with the '68 student insurgence? Hm, I must know people. I certainly know of people, but I bet I know people too. I'll ask who did what during that thing and find out. I want to see this new work of yours, man. Is there any online anywhere? It sounds really fascinating. ** Chris (British), Hi, Chris! Really good to see you! So you have that new job now, cool, not to mention the free Fiji trip. Wow, Fiji. That has to be beautiful and relaxing and all that. Never been there myself, of course, I've drunk their water. Actually, I just read somewhere that Fiji Bottled Water is going out of business, which is sad because I actually do buy it whenever it's one of my choices. A sleeve tattoo? In one sitting? Ouch? What's the sleeve composed of? You've got my wished luck, you bet. ** Thomas Moronic, Hey, Thomas! Oh, lucky you big time on seeing the Keiji Haino show. Everyone, or those of you in London, is any one of you going to see the Keiji Haino gig at Cafe Otto tonight? If so, please tell Mr. Thomas Moronic so you guys can meet up. And you really should go see that show, imho. I saw Ryoji Ikeda last night. It was killer. Awesome if you can post here more, obviously, man, with lots of love. ** Steevee, No surprise that I don't know that show mentioned. ** Our trinitone blast, Hey. Welcome, thank you, etc., etc. If I had set aside a special prize for entry awesomeness, you would have won it. That was really nice. I like the way you write and think. I also really like your blog/site on first look. I can only look really fast when I'm doing the p.s. because otherwise I would sit here doing this all day. I'm going to look at it more thoroughly in a little while. Everyone, new person Our trinitone blast has a really good and good looking blog/site w/ images and writing and video and stuff that also has a cool name, Dreampop Swirlbox. You should go look at it, I think. Use that link. Thanks again. Come back. Hang out. If you feel like it. ** Chilly Jay Chill, And here's our winner in the flesh, ladies and gentlemen and those in between and others. Hello, winner. Congrats, Jeff. Send me your mailing address. Mm, I don't think I've seen any movies in a few weeks. Oh, wait, when I was in Italy, I caught on TV Antonioni's last film 'Beyond the Clouds', which I hadn't seen before. It was kind of a very depressing experience because for the first fifteen or twenty minutes, I thought it was beautiful and very Antonioni, and then, the more Malkovich moved to the film's center, the more and more awful it became. I'm thinking/ hoping that the awfulness was Wim Wenders' doing, since I guess he basically semi-co-directed it. I think that's the only film I've seen lately. Yes, I did get the book and DVDS. Thank you so much! I haven't watched the DVDs yet because my computer is barely alive, and I'm afraid to test its minimal remaining strength by trying to anything extraordinary with it. But I have to get a new computer really soon, and I'll watch the DVDs as soon as I do. Great news about the theater funding, man! Great, great, great! ** Inthemostpeculiarway, Hi. Good guesses, thanks. I haven't gone to Cinemaggedon yet. It's in the cards for today or tomorrow at the latest. Oh, the cute guy at the store ... He wasn't at the health food store, he was the mini-supermarket Monoprix that I also shop at. He just disappeared after he quit working there a while back. I can't remember what ... oh, wait. Just before he quit, he gave me this card with his email address on it in this mysterious manner. So, I wrote him an email saying hello and stuff, and he never answered. Then he friended me on Facebook, but he only has three FB friends, and I don't think he ever logs onto Facebook. That's what happened to him. It's weird how even though spiders' heads are just tiny dots that can't possibly have brains of any great complexity inside, they act so smart sometimes. I guess it's just instinct that seems like more than instinct thanks to spiders' inherent charisma. Even veggieburgers fall out the back like that sometimes. It's gross, No one is safe. Oh, the A Teens, ha ha, wow. Yeah, they're one of those 'so horrible they border on great' things maybe. I mean I understand why that song got stuck. And that video was so horrible it was great too. I'm sorry about your temporarily angry stomach. Grease, probably. Grease is mean. I can't think of a best TV show theme song. Hm, I do like the 'Green Acres' one. Definitely not the 'Friends' one. It's sad how Entertainment Weekly isn't what it used to be. I used to be kind of addicted to it. Now it's just so skinny. My day: I finished proofing the pdf of 'TMS'. There were only three mistakes that I saw. Not bad. So, I sent that off to my editor. He's coming to Paris for a visit next week, so I'll get to hang out with him. He's a great guy. He's also the editor of Justin Taylor and Tony O'Neill, among others. Weather was, again, just perfect. I wrote a little. I keep having this one idea about a possible next novel, but the thing I'm working on or fiddling with right now wouldn't be it. I think I need to start writing something else. In the afternoon, I walked down to the Marais and met up with Gisele and Stephen at this gallery that's going to show some of Gisele's photos that are in the 'Through Their Tears' part of the 'Jerk/TTT' book/CD. There was a show up there of work by a young French artist, and it was good and kind of Neo-Gothish, and she was there, so we talked to her, and Gisele talked to the gallerist about her upcoming show and stuff, and Stephen showed me some records he'd just bought. Then we had a coffee, and Jonathan Capdevielle joined us, and then Yury joined us. We talked about this and that and about the maze piece because we're going to start working hard on that very soon. And then we all went to see Ryoji Ikeda perform at the Centre Pompidou. His show was great. I'm doing a post about him, so you'll see what he's about soon. Afterwards, Yury and I walked home, and I ate some stuff of no particular interest, and so did he. I guess I fooled around on the internet or something, I can't remember, and went to bed. That wasn't so interesting, hm. Well, now I have a whole weekend in which to be interesting, and so do you. How was yours? ** Colin, Hey. Here's a secret message: you, yours, here, a week from today. Do you catch my drift? I didn't know about 'Mysterious Mozart', hunh. I'll go look for that. 'The Park' is really good, yeah. 'Event' is too. Have a lovely weekend, man. ** Schlix, Hey. I've read, mm, I think three or four Olliier novels. I did a post on him here once. Did you see it? If not, it's here. Well, man, don't sweat it about 'TIHYWD' if it's hard at all. It'll surely play where you are or nearby at some point. The first Paris performance on the 20th is the only one where I'll be in attendance. I have to go to Utrecht the next day to perform 'Them'. ** Jebus, Hey there! Long time no see! Great to see you! And, wow, you came the tiniest fraction away from winning the contest. So close it was scary in the good way. Kudos. And you got Kid Rock right, which is ... are you psychic or something? I wish I had a second prize. Damn. My eternal respect? That isn't very fun. Anyway, yeah, cool. How are you, btw? What in the world is going on with you and yours? ** Math, Ha ha, nice. ** All right, you have plenty of Harry Nilsson to keep you busy and enlightened and so on this weekend, so enjoy getting into that, won't you? See you on Monday.
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