It is extremely difficult to republish a long out of print book. I know this because I have actually done it myself. First off, a pre-computer era book was typeset by hand, so the text will not often exist as a digital file. This presents the option of either rekeying in an entire book, or else scanning in each page individually. Doing it with some sort of image-to-text OCR program only makes for introducing new problems. It’s a time consuming process and a pain in the ass. Anything beyond text such as illustrations and photographs need to be handled differently.

Which is why this exquisite recreation of the 1901 Theosophist publication Thought Forms: A Record of Clairvoyant Investigation is so noteworthy. This isn’t an example of merely putting out a new version of a book, but the complete recreation of the original object as it was 116 years ago. It’s beautiful. Although long out of print in its original form, and nearly forgotten, Thought Forms can be seen as an influential but overlooked link between esoteric thought and modern art. Certainly there’s been no other book like it, before or since.

The volume explored the ideas of the occult society as they related to art, specifically the notion that certain people—clairvoyants—could sense and see energy and emotions in the auras of human beings. A person of high character would have a “clear” aura, whereas a selfish, insensitive brute’s aura would be cloudy and so on. Theosophist leaders Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater dictated their clairvoyant “thought-forms” to a group of followers who created the beautiful and unusual 58 illustrations seen in the book.

Published by Sacred Bones Books, an imprint associated with the Sacred Bones record label, the principals involved originally set the project up on Kickstarter which was a resounding success:

We learned of Thought Forms a few years ago and it completely took us by surprise. This one book totally challenged the classic art history narrative that had been taught to in school. Not like we fundamentally believed that story, abstraction is found in all cultures—not just in western 20th century painting, but the genesis story of a few male painters “inventing” abstraction does have its truths.

In this narrative of Modernism, Wassily Kandinsky is widely viewed as one of the most important founders of abstraction, and his manifesto “On the Spiritual in Art” is mandatory reading in art school.

What was never mentioned to us in school however, was that Kandinsky was a member of the Theosophical Society, and had acquired a copy of their book Thought Forms a few years before he abandoned conventional ways of painting. Learning that Kandinsky didn’t just come upon these ideas on his own as previously thought, totally changed our understanding of his work. It’s worth mentioning that Piet Mondrian was also deeply influenced by Theosophy and later on, Jackson Pollock was as well.

Last year the Guggenheim held the first US retrospective of Hilma af Klint’s paintings. She was a member of the Theosophical Society and was undoubtedly influenced by the spiritualistic currents of the time. Theosophy was the first occult group to open its doors to women, and it deeply questioned gender roles, many of these ideas are also in Af Klint’s paintings. This show was one of the first times the all-male origin story of abstraction was challenged within the ivory tower. Af Klint, made these paintings before Kandinsky, and she was a woman. Thought Forms came out before Af Klint began her abstract paintings and it is certain that she must have come across this book.

We’re republishing this beautiful, overlooked book, so that it may be widely accessible and no longer omitted from the past. Thought Forms offers a reminder that the history of modernist abstraction and women’s contribution to it is still being written.

Theosophy’s motto seems as appropriate today as it did in 1880, “there is no religion higher than truth.”

The new publication of Thought Forms: A Record of Clairvoyant Investigation was edited by Lucy Lord Campana, with introductory essays from renowned spiritualism expert Mitch Horowitz, art historian Dr. Victoria Ferentinou of the University of Ioannina and Troy Conrad Therrien of the Guggenheim Museum and Columbia University. A few of the book’s illustrations follow.
 

 

 

 

 

A painting by Paolo Girardi.
 
The subject of this post, Italian artist Paolo Girardi, is also a survivor, if not a warrior.

In a lengthy interview with the rock/metal oriented Bardo Methodology (#3), Girardi spoke about his childhood and the abuse he was subjected to at the hand of his own father, who would punch and kick his son. He would force Paolo into the sport of wrestling, and the experience initially had Girardi reliving his father’s systematic abuse. According to Girardi, as his father lay dying in 2007 he took the opportunity to tell his son he had “never done anything good in his life.” This final interaction would send Girardi off to prove his not-so-dear-old-Dad wrong. Later that same year, he would win a Bronze medal in the Freestyle Wrestling Nationals in Naples, Italy. His dedication to wrestling would work in tandem with his commitment to painting, a pursuit he had invested himself in during the 1990s, painting and creating artwork for local metal bands. By 2011 he was able to sustain himself financially with his art.

As of 2018, the self-taught Girardi has churned out delightfully blasphemous artwork for more than 100 albums, including Washington State bands Black Breath and Bell Witch, Power Trip (Dallas, Texas), and Italian black/death metal band Blasphemophagher. Aside from Girardi’s contributions to their music catalogs, his clients also have another thing in common; they are all completely fucking metal. And metal bands are the only clients Girardi, a former fresco builder, takes on. Girardi himself is the epitome of old-school heavy metal—he still wears t-shirts from his favorite bands (when he isn’t shirtless of course), has a few tattoos, drinks beer, and lives by the mantra that (the band) Manowar is his “religion.” Which, as long as wearing loincloths isn’t mandatory, seems like a lot more fun than swallowing the bilge of conventional religion.

If you’re a dedicated headbanger, you’ve likely seen Girardi’s work before. If not, then please prepare your eyes for the NSFW, super satanic work of Paolo Girardi.
 

Girardi’s cover artwork for ‘Slaves Beyond Death’ from Seattle band Black Breath (2005).
 

 

The cover of ‘Meditate to Kill,’ the 2013 album from French band Stav.
 

 
More after the jump…

 
In the world of adult magazines, the devil girl has always been one of the standby icons. And not just there, but in comic books, film, art, tattooing and just about anywhere else you might look. Almost always a positive thing and a fantasy bigger than all the Bettie Pages, Marilyn Monroes and Jayne Mansfields combined. By the 1950s fantasy and reality started having blurred lines. Oh it always existed, but in the late 1940s when John Willie created the first full on fetish magazine, Bizarre, the devil girl was made flesh. This magazine influenced Irving Klaw and all the publishers of the now beloved “vintage smut” (a major hashtag on Instagram and other hashtaggy photo display sites). Magazines like Exotique, the art of Eric Stanton, Gene Bilbrew (Eneg), and others became a long running mainstay. Many of these magazines existed to display personal ads for things, even now, that many people just couldn’t come out and say they were into. Even today, the bizarre content of these 50, 60 and 70-year-old magazines is truly BIZARRE! These are the most collected adult magazines the world over.
 

 
When the 60s rolled around and free love, paganism, communal living, more open nudism and—furthest from center, Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan—split the population in two as far as people interested in these activities. In pre X-rated adult films, adult magazines were approaching porno rapidly. There were the people that actually lived this stuff and even more people who wanted to know about it, but couldn’t possibly do it! This audience created the massive business we are about to discuss.

The slightly older suburban set (not the wife swappers and swingers, but the lonely uptight fellas) really wanted a glimpse into this other world, and there became the essence of adult and underground film and publications, especially the kind you could secretly take home. This audience is what is known in the adult film world as “the raincoat crowd”—horny guys who went alone to the theaters in Times Square and other places like it around the country. Many of these films are so insane they must be seen to be believed and most of them, literally thousands of them, can be bought or downloaded from Something Weird Video.

There was a great interest in the Church of Satan as they used nudity and sex magick and weren’t just some stuffy new religion, but seemed like the ultimate party! LaVey and his church got so much magazine play (they’re in movies as well including a documentary on them, Satanis The Devil’s Mass, just reissued on Blu-ray). This subject proved so popular that a cottage industry of Satanic porn magazines, some lighthearted, some very dark popped up. As innocence ended with the advent of mass-produced, readily available porn, everything rushed out the door as fast as it could be printed. These particular magazines are just about the rarest, most collectible and most expensive porn mags on the collectors market.
 

 

 
I had heard about an underground cult of collectors putting out a compendium of these almost secret magazines and set out my feelers to find and talk to them. When I found them I had to agree to their terms and be put in a car, blindfolded, and driven to an amazing space where I sat with a man in a leather mask. Offered a drink, I steadfastly refused. Here’s the interview…
 
So…do you represent some newfangled vintage smut collecting anonymous devil cult?

Vintage smut collecting is a solitary path. There is no unity or group activities that we promote. While we often encourage collectors to communicate with others regarding the titles they are actively hunting since this sort of networking may aid the buyer in searches, our sense of community does not proceed much further than communication among peers to meet collecting milestones. Sharing this material with others, is often beneficial for amorous rituals. So, it is advisable to view with one or more partners in a sensual setting to facilitate sexual rites. Publishing this book allows us to share our unholy sacrament with the chosen few. So, these interested individuals can finally obtain the hidden knowledge and elusive ritual tools that will allow them to explore this realm for themselves.

I hear just a lucky few get the wild evil record made in conjunction with this book. What does one have to do to get it and what’s on it?

To spice up this already mega tasty publication we wanted to include one of our favorite bands; the mysterious slime hard rock psycho band Ball. In the past Ball has really managed to summon the crazy satanic and murky occult vibe of these mags, in their song and video “Satanas” for example. So, we bribed them with smut and asked if they to record a new song that could be featured on an exclusive flexi-disc single for a few select copies of the book and they came up with the crazed “Horny Highlights from Debauched”. The ways to actually procure a copy are most mysterious but probably includes a solemn request directly to Ball.

How long did it take to amass this incredible collection & what else do you collect? Are there more volumes in store?

The collection has been growing in size for roughly seven years. Satanic Mojo Comix and Jason Atomic was the catalyst that first awakened our interest in these devilish artifacts. Collecting vintage magazines currently consumes most of our waking hours. All other pursuits have been obliterated to focus on “adult slicks.” The records, jukeboxes, Italian horror fumetti, and original art acquisitions are all currently sidelined and paused. Magazines reign supreme in the top collecting spot, draining bank accounts and sending us scrambling like rabid addicts to our local post office whenever a delivery is missed. There are more volumes currently in the works, and we are more than excited to continue sharing the wealth with open minded adults over the age of 18, seeking to learn more about vintage smut. There have been numerous recent 60s and 70s magazine discoveries by our acquisition team that will blow minds and leave the reader breathless and begging for more. At this precise moment we look forward to continuing and enhancing our current exploration of witchery and devilry in the next volume, being assembled in our labs.

 
Continues after the jump…

‘Order of the Seven Serpents’ by Florian Bertmer.
 
German illustrator Florian Bertmer  confesses that he is “horrible at social networking.” To a certain extent this appears to be accurate, as it seems the now-LA based artist has never given an interview over the course of his career. He also drinks too much coffee, draws a lot, and likes dogs because they make him laugh. Since these attributes are clear indications of a person who has aligned their priorities correctly, let’s all try to learn a little more about the somewhat mysterious artist by way of his artwork which, if you are a fan of hardcore bands and jams, will be familiar to you. Also, if you happen to be a fan of all things satanic, or dabble in diabolism, Bertmer’s work will probably speak directly to you.

Bertmer’s earliest work dates back to his youth spent in Münster, Germany illustrating fliers for local hardcore bands. In 1998 he would get his first credit for album artwork for German hardcore punk band Highscore. The following year Bertmer and his band Cheerleaders of the Apocalypse put out their first recording, Bloodfeast 99. Florian is credited for his “Wacky Screaming” and the cassette’s artwork. That same year, Bertmer would illustrate his first of many album covers for hardcore band Agoraphobic Nosebleed. More recently, Bertmer has worked with screen-printing industry giant Mondo to create original posters for classic horror films such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Hellraiser, two of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s esoteric films, The Holy Mountain and Santa Sangre, as well as for the animated TV mind-fucks that are The Ren & Stimpy Show and Rick and Morty. Bertmer’s admitted ineptitude at social networking hasn’t hurt his career, and his illustration style is continually evolving. Over the last few years, fans of Bertmer’s work have noted the influence of classic Art Nouveau intertwined within occult symbolism and imagery inline with David Mann, an artist who masterfully captured outlaw biker culture with his paintings and contributions to biker bible/magazine Easyrider.

Bertmer’s numerous collaborations with Mondo have been wildly successful, and his reasonably priced limited edition prints (many of which are featured in this post) often sell out. When they do appear on auction sites such as eBay, some of his more culty works, such as his riffs on Ren & Stimpy, and his Jodorowsky movie posters routinely fetch $300-$400 each. More of Bertmer’s work follow—a few are NSFW.
 

 

A piece by Bertmer in the spirit of the artwork of David Mann.
 

Bertmer’s poster for Turner Classic Movies (TCM) in honor of the 40th anniversary of ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.’
 
More Bertmer after the jump…

 
Not to put too fine a point on it, but who knows, this weekend in Los Angeles might be your last chance ever to bask in the Luciferian legend that is filmmaker Kenneth Anger. He is, after all, 92 years old at this point. He might have another good decade in him, but you never know, so why take that chance? (The same could be said, of course, about his old chums the Rolling Stones who are about 15 years younger.)

This Saturday, September 21, Spaceland and Lethal Amounts present Anger and Brian Butler in a rare appearance as Technicolor Skull:

On the occasion of the Autumnal Equinox, Kenneth Anger and Los Angeles-based artist Brian Butler will perform at the historic Regent Theater in Downtown Los Angeles. A selection of Anger’s iconic films including Invocation of My Demon Brother, Lucifer Rising, and Scorpio Rising will be presented along with a conversation on the occult forces which drive these two visionary artists. The presentation will climax with the shattering ritualistic spectacle of magick, sound and light; Kenneth Anger & Brian Butler’s Technicolor Skull.

According to VICE: “Anger and Butler’s act employs guitars, a theremin, and a 60,000 watt sound system—the type of stuff normally associated with such trivialities as mere music—in combination with visuals and stagecraft, to plunge audiences into a kind of ecstatic nightmare. If you’ve ever seen Anger’s Lucifer Rising, you’re at least partially ready for this magick ritual of light and sound.”

I saw the Technicolor Skull performance at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles a few years back, during Anger’s big show there. It’s quite extraordinary: with Anger’s films projected behind them, Butler plays a Flying V guitar with a E-bow making a diabolical noise while Anger plays the theremin as if he is fisting it with manic glee (lest you think I am exaggerating for comic effect, first off, we are talking about Kenneth Anger here and second, he pointedly rolled up his sleeve before sticking his fist through the theremin’s… hole.)

Saturday, September 21 · Doors 8:00 PM / Show 9:00 PM at The Regent Theater. Buy tickets HERE
 

 

Above, Floria Sigismondi’s “72 hours in André Balazs’ Chateau Marmont with Kenneth Anger.”

Photo by Mariexxme
 
King Khan! Man of many bands and many hands. Satanic, shamanic, bananic, messianic and more and more titanic, King Khan spurts to the beat of his own cum drum. He goes in all directions at once (including inward), has made many forms of music on all the coolest labels around with The King Khan and BBQ Show, King Khan and the Shrines, Tandoori Knights, Black Jaspers, Almighty Defenders, Louder Than Death and he’s made records with The Spits, Black Lips and William S. Burroughs! He’s unstoppable, and never stops, well that is and isn’t the same thing really if ya think about it.

I speak with Khan regularly. We’re premiering his new video here today and he’s just starting a tour so I thought to do a little interview as well. Check out the record and tour dates here. Ready? Hold your nose! OK, let’s jump!

Howie Pyro: What makes chicken so psychedelic?

KK: Well I don’t know if you know this but their gobbles are full of DMT, and the challenge is how you smoke it. Chickens don’t appreciate lighting their gobbles on fire…. I know far too many farmers who have lost an
eye trying to get high with a chicken. If I had a penny for each of them I would be the Indian Col. Sanders.

HP: This song has so many layers…. LSD, a goat’s tooth, rats with scabies, birds and bees on fire, even a rabid cook… How did you come up with these lyrics?

KK: I always admired the chef named “Barf” on You Can’t Do That on Television, which was a Canadian kids show that I grew up watching. I would want him to have goats teeth, and be in a kitchen filled with rats with scabies making me chicken. I just imagined him trying to make a romantic dinner for me and my concubine. What would be his version of an aphrodisiac and would it lead to some wild ass baby making? These are the things i fantasize about…. Ever since I accepted the films of David Cronenberg into my life, things ain’t the same…. I neeeed help…. Death to Videodrome… Long live the New Flesh!

HP: Did working with Alejandro Jodorowsky have a permanent effect on you?

KK: Yes, ever since I became one of his spiritual warriors I have this attitude towards art. If art does not mutate you than it has failed. I feel like in order to follow the path of illumination you must seek the path of least resistance, and once that is found, everything that you create must not be feared…. creation has to be a brutal/beautiful experience and if it does not help mutate the viewer than it hasn’t achieved anything that matters.

HP: How have your experiences been with psychedelics?

KK: I started at about 15-years-old with LSD, took a lot of it up until my mid 20s. I did a lot until it suddenly felt redundant. It was like i had figured out the puzzle and didn’t need it anymore to make any profound realizations. I began smoking DMT a few years back, but have only really broke through twice. That was the best experience I had with tripping. The first time I sat and spoke to a praying mantis with a golden crown, she spoke in her language and I could understand it. When I looked around I saw Anubis and other Egyptian deities and they were all sitting at a table like the last supper and I was an honored guest. It was so beautiful, they were throwing me a party, and it was all so real, yet completely bonkers. I think psychedelics are tools for us to use carefully, they make you see things that can be so spiritually powerful that they heal you.

HP: I would have asked if you remembered what the mantis language sounded like!

KK: Yes… it sounds like this…“Khrawk khrawk sss khrawz khrawk scuzzzzzzz carawk…”

HP: And wondered how you kept your wild willie to yourself (therefore not being devoured after)?

KK: Smearing hot mustard on my willie could protect it from non gourmands, and could also induce tears during fellatio which could be kinda romantic.

HP: How long does it take to incubate five acid chicken babies, one for each point of thee pentagram? [See video below] What is the seed that they grew from and who “planted” it?

KK: The seeds were provided by yours truly. I didn’t realize that we placed the acid chicken spawns in a pentagram…. I guess it was really a subliminal message of sorts. I am glad you pointed it out!

It takes a special sort of man to spot the invisible pentagram in poultry.

HP: I’ll put a dirty feather in my cap (cluck cluck)... Any wild outfits/stage wear planned for this big tour starting on 9/11? Wait 9/11? And finally, what is the sound of one mant crapping?

KK: One “mant” crapping? Does said “mant” have a human anus or a “mant” hole?

9/11? That is just a coinkiedink!

HP: A Mant-is ...a half man half ant that appears in a movie within a movie (Matinee), loosely based on director William Castle…

KK: Ahhhh well I ASS-ume it would sound like poetry… bugged out insect rap…I mean sorry C-RAP!

HP: What inspires you to make such glorious punk rock?

KK: I like to always go back to a passage by William S. Burroughs from Cities of The Red Night. I picture him the captain of my ship and I feel like he was the first inspiration for me to seek out the underground and find myself…. I think this passage sums it up the best. It’s quite the mouthful…. the perfect words to end all ends…. and begin all beginnings….

“This book is dedicated to the Ancient Ones, to the Lord of Abominations, Humwawa, whose face is a mass of entrails, whose breath is the stench of dung and the perfume of death, Dark Angel of all that is excreted and sours, Lord of Decay, Lord of the Future, who rides on a whispering south wind, to Pazuzu, Lord of Fevers and Plagues, Dark Angel of the Four Winds with rotting genitals from which he howls through sharpened teeth over stricken cities, to Kutulu, the Sleeping Serpent who cannot be summoned, to the Akhkharu, who such the blood of men since they desire to become men, to the Lalussu, who haunt the places of men, to Gelal and Lilit, who invade the beds of men and whose children are born in secret places, to Addu, raiser of storms who can fill the night sky with brightness, to Malah, Lord of Courage and Bravery, to Zahgurim, whose number is twenty-three and who kills in an unnatural fashion, to Zahrim, a warrior among warriors, to Itzamna, Spirit of Early Mists and Showers, to Ix Chel, the Spider-Web-that-Catches-the-Dew-of-Morning, to Zuhuy Kak, Virgin Fire, to Ah Dziz, the Master of Cold, to Kak U Pacat, who works in fire, to Ix Tab, Goddess of Ropes and Snares, patroness of those who hang themselves, to Schmuun, the Silent One, twin brother of Ix Tab, to Xolotl the Unformed, Lord of Rebirth, to Aguchi, Master of Ejaculations, to Osiris and Amen in phallic form, to Hex Chun Chan, the Dangerous One, to Ah Pook, the Destroyer, to the Great Old One and the Star Beast, to Pan, God of Panic, to the nameless gods of dispersal and emptiness, to Hassan i Sabbah, Master of Assassins. To all the scribes and artists and practitioners of magic through whom these spirits have been manifested….

NOTHING IS TRUE. EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED.”

 

Photo by Mariexxme
 

Nodding God’s new album (House of Mythology)

Three assenting Pazūzu-heads agree: David Tibet and Andrew Liles’ new album of DayGlo demonology is more fun than a desert wind bearing fevers and plagues! Nodding God Play Wooden Child is the first release from the pair’s new group, which has yet to make its live debut; the Islington Assembly Hall show scheduled for May appears to have been cancelled. Nodding God is as fresh as a daisy.

To be sure, the press materials for the LP claim Liles and Tibet have been working with a third member, The UnderAge Shaitan-Boy, since 1353:

NODDING GOD were formed 666 years ago by Andrew Liles, David Tibet and The UnderAge Shaitan-Boy in a Boys-Only preparatory boarding school in Babylon, since shut down by unfortunate events that took place there, in the night, in the dark.

Tibet’s lyrics for the album are mostly (I hear the Hebrew names of the archangels) written in the ancient Mesopotamian language of Akkadian. Chanted through a pitch shifter over the plashing and gurgling of liquid sequencers and synths, they sound like fearsome invocations of the Great Old Ones, though for all you and I know, they might just as well be sections of the Code of Hammurabi or complaints about the rising price of crisps at Sainsbury’s. Whatever the lyrical content, the effect is the same: discarnate entities awake from their centuries-long sleep, take spectral form in front of your hi-fi, and boogie.

House of Mythology, the London label that has released music by Tibet’s Hypnopazūzu and Zu93 projects, will issue Nodding God Play Wooden Child on pink vinyl, black vinyl, and CD on May 10. The album is available for pre-order from House of Mythology’s US and UK stores. Below, stream Nodding God’s selection for Dangerous Minds, “Natron Skipping Rope.”

The very lovely exhibition Invocation of Almost: The Art of David Tibet is open through May 25 at Cal State Fullerton’s Begovich Gallery.
 

 
Yeah, I know. I’m late to the coven. But living in ye olde ancient fog-bound DM castle on yon bonnie banks of Loch McBebetterlatethannever, I have just listened to the diabolically gorgeous sound of Twin Temple. Yon folks in LA (and wherever) dinnae ken just how lucky they are to have such wondrous sounds rippling thru their Dr. Dre headphones. Naw.

I thank brilliant artist, writer, and all-round-good-guy, John Coulthart (who yon lads and lassies should seriously follow on Twitter) for introducing me to this perfect hit of doo-wap pleasure.

A doo-wop hit of “Sex Magick”? What utter brilliance.

Twin Temple is the perfectly-formed duo of Alexandra (who sometimes sounds like Amy Winehouse) and Zachary James (who looks like a dapper Count Dracula)—“the high priests of Twin Temple, the Satanic doo-wop band hailing from the city of Angels.”

The band was started on Halloween (a witch’s sabbath) in 2016 when a destruction ritual was performed, and Alexandra and Zachary stepped into their power as Twin Temple, energetically killing all their previous incarnations up until that point.

Although you may expect heavy guitar riffs and a thumping bass to accompany cries of “Hail Satan,” instead you’ll hear old-school, classic riffs and Alexandra’s crooning voice that sounds straight out of the ‘60s. While many confine Satan to the likes of black metal, the duo is breaking the notion that Satan has a type. After all, who says Satan wouldn’t get down to some classic Americana? Inspired by the golden era of rock ‘n’ roll, Twin Temple rejects conformity of any kind, whether it’s through their magick, performance, or sound.

Unlike a lotta of “black metal bands,” who dig Satan to sell product, Twin Temple practice Satanism with what they sing on and off stage—using music to promote their “ideals of free will and giving space to those who are often not allowed any.”
 

 
To be frank, Twin Temple is one of the most exciting bands I’ve heard since Army of Moths or Book of Shame (watch this space…)—O, Beelzebub, yon Satan serenaded by the beautiful sound of Twin Temple. More power to them, I say.

Twin Temple will be playing Le Backstage, Paris on April 10th, Roadburn, Tilburg Festival, Netherlands, April 11th, the Lexington, London, April 12th, Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco, 19th June, Dante’s, Portland, Oregon, June 21st, and the Roxy, West Hollywood, CA, June 23rd. Catch ‘em when you can or sell yer soul or buy their five-star album Twin Temple Bring You Their Signature Sound…. Satanic Doo-Wop.

Hail Satan and all that jazz…

NSFW
 

 
More joy of Satanic doo-wop, after the jump…
 

The 1979 collection ‘Ah Pook Is Here and Other Texts’
 
William S. Burroughs envisaged Ah Pook Is Here, an extension of the comix serial The Unspeakable Mr. Hart, as “a picture book modelled on the surviving Mayan codices.” However, after nearly a decade collaborating with artist Malcolm McNeill on an illustrated version of the tale, Burroughs was unable to find a publisher for his graphic novel avant la lettre. Instead, it appeared without images in Ah Pook Is Here and Other Texts, a 1979 collection of Burroughs’ researches into Mayan, Egyptian, and space age magical techniques. (McNeill has since published his artwork for Ah Pook Is Here in a separate volume.)

Burroughs’ novella concerns an American plutocrat named John Stanley Hart, whose fear of his own mortality leads him to disturb the gods of the Mayan pantheon. Hart is a junkie with a jones for the suffering of others, especially poor people and ethnic minorities. Narcotized by the “blue note” of their pain, congenitally selfish and incurious, he can’t imagine that calling down awful deities from another dimension might have unwanted consequences: “Mr. Hart has a burning down habit and he will burn down the planet.” Before you know it, blood is spurting from delegates’ every orifice at the “American First” rally, and the Acid Leprosy has eaten a hole in time.
 

‘The Unspeakable Mr. Hart’ from Cyclops magazine (via Virtual Library)
 
Philip Hunt made this stop-motion film of Ah Pook Is Here as a student at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in 1994, taking the sound from Burroughs’ collaborations with John Cale on the Dead City Radio album. At six minutes, it is a distillation of the story, but a good one: death gods disturbed by a grotesque people-thing.

Given the vintage of Ah Pook Is Here, I can only interpret the suicide-by-shotgun at the end as a reference to the death of Burroughs’ former collaborator, Kurt Cobain—an unlikely candidate for Mr. Hart.

Photo by Richard Kern, courtesy of Kembra Pfahler

On February 15, Marc Almond, the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black, Sateen, Hercules & Love Affair, and DJs Matthew Pernicano and Danny Lethal will perform at the Globe Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. This absolutely mental, once-in-a-lifetime bill will celebrate the second anniversary of Sex Cells, the LA club run by Danny Fuentes of Lethal Amounts.

Because I am so eager to see this show, and because the life of a Dangerous Minds contributor is high adventure, last Sunday I found myself speaking with Karen Black’s leader, the formidable interdisciplinary artist Kembra Pfahler, by phone, after she got out of band rehearsal in NYC. My condensed and edited take on our wide-ranging conversation follows. If I’d noted every time Kembra made me laugh with a deadpan line, the transcript would be twice as long.

Kembra Pfahler: My guitarist is Samoa, he founded the band with me; he’s the original Karen Black guitarist, Samoa from Hiroshima, Japan. And then Michael Wildwood is our drummer, and he played with D Generation and Chrome Locust, and Gyda Gash is our bass player, she plays with Judas Priestess and Sabbathwitch. I just came from band practice, and I am one of those folks that really enjoys going to band practice. Doing artwork and music isn’t like work, and being busy is just such a luxury. It’s been very pleasant preparing for this show we get to honorably do with Marc Almond. We’re so excited!

We played with Marc Almond at the Meltdown Festival that was curated by Ahnoni in 2011. That was a great show with Marc Almond and a lot of other incredible artists. And I have an art gallery that represents me in London now, which is called Emalin, and I had an art exhibit there, and Marc Almond, thankfully, came to it. He’s friends with one of my collaborators called Scott Ewalt.

I’m not a religious person, but I did think I had died and gone to heaven. When artists that you have loved your whole life come to, for some strange reason, see the work that you’re doing, it’s one of the truly best things about doing artwork. I’m very much looking forward to this concert.

Can you tell me what you have planned for the show? I’m sure you want to keep some stuff a surprise, but is the disco dick in the pictures going to be part of the set?

You know, the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black has always made a lot of props and costumes, and I never really just buy things. I’m not much of a consumer. I’m an availabilist, so I usually make the best use of what’s available, and we are going to have a lot of props and costumes in this show that I make myself, and I have art partners in Los Angeles, collaborators. We’re going to have a big grand finale sculpture that’s going to be my Black Statue of Liberty holding the pentagram. That’s a huge pentagram sculpture. I made that with a friend of mine called Brandon Micah Rowe.

That sculpture lives on the West Coast, and it comes out when I go to the beach and go surfing. I usually take the Black Statue of Liberty with me, ‘cause it’s a great photo opportunity on the beach. And the last time I was photographing the Black Statue of Liberty—‘cause of course I have several—I took this Black Statue of Liberty in a truck and drove down to Sunset Beach, right at the end of Sunset Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway, and I just have a great memory of almost drowning with the Black Statue of Liberty. It was very much like reenacting Planet of the Apes. That was the impetus for the Statue of Liberty; I’ve always loved the last scene in Planet of the Apes where Charlton Heston realizes that the future is just a disastrous, anti-utopian, dead planet. Kind of similar to what’s happening to us now.
 

Photo by Brandon Micah Rowe
 
[laughs] Yeah, it’s uncomfortably close to the present situation.

To me, it’s very close. I mean, film has always been very prophetic, to me. Orson Welles always talks about magic, and historical revisionism, and truth, and the ways that film can actually inform you of the truth in politics, mythological truth, cultural truths. And I’ve always learned the most just by watching films. That’s why I named the band Karen Black, because I was so educated by the films of Karen Black. I know that sounds sort of wonky, but what I’m getting at is I love listening to Orson Welles speak about magic and truth and film as a way to articulate that truth.

Are you thinking about F for Fake?

I’m thinking about the little tricks and happy accidents that occur in film that are what Orson Welles spoke to. I mean, Kenneth Anger talked about magic and film constantly, and light, and Orson Welles just had a different articulation of the same side of the coin.

I grew up in Santa Monica, so I always loved Kenneth Anger; I was always happy that I lived near the Camera Obscura on Ocean Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard. I thought, I don’t fit in with any of these other Californians, but Kenneth Anger was here at the Camera Obscura. I can’t be doing everything wrong.

I was born and raised in Los Angeles, and my family was in the film business, and I left for New York because I wasn’t accepted by my family and the community, because I was interested in music, and it wasn’t fashionable to be a goth or be into punk when I was in high school. So I moved to New York. But no one was going to New York when I first moved there. I really just moved to New York to be as contrary as possible, and I knew no one would follow me at the time.

You moved to New York in ‘79 or thereabouts, right?

Yeah, I did.

I think the LA, probably, that you were leaving was more, I don’t know, provincial. . . I can imagine the appeal that New York would have had in 1979.

Well, also, the thing was that I really wanted to be an artist, and I got accepted to School of Visual Arts when I was in 11th grade at Santa Monica High School. That’s why, really. The Los Angeles that I was familiar with wasn’t provincial at all. I mean, there’s been generations and generations of weird Los Angeles. My grandparents met on the baseball field: my grandmother was playing softball, my grandfather played baseball, and my father ended up being a surfer, and I’ve always had exposure to a really incredible kind of lifestyle that I think people mostly just dream about. Like, Beach Boys songs at Hollywood Park race track in the morning and surfing in the afternoon. If you think about being born into this time when the Beach Boys and the Stones and the Beatles are playing, and then Parliament-Funkadelic’s playing, and then. . . just the most incredible exposure to music and art and nature, surfing even, surf culture. I mean, when most people are born in countries where they can’t even eat dirt for breakfast, I was born in the most incredible place, that I’ll never forget.

It’s such a huge part of my work, I named my interdisciplinary music and art class at Columbia University “The Queen’s Necklace.” Because when I was a child, I used to meditate on all the beach cities. Starting from Zuma Beach, I would meditate on the cities by saying: [chants] “Zuma, Malibu, Topanga, Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica, Venice, Torrance, Palos Verdes”. . . I’d say all of the cities that represented the Santa Monica Bay area. That was in my field of vision, that was what I saw every day. All those piers, all those waves, and all of the mythology that I grew up with was all about beach culture.

So Los Angeles, I feel closer to writers like John Fante than anyone else. Do you have books in your library that you’ve had your entire adult life that you would say represent your thinking, more so than any other books? Do you have your favorite, favorite books? One or two books that always are with you.

Oh my God, I’d have to think about it. 

I do. I mention that because one of them is Ask the Dust. Another one is David J. Skal’s Cultural History of Horror.

What’s that?

It’s a great book that talks about the horror film genre being quite prophetic, and it’s kind of what I was trying to speak about, as far as how film and horror kind of teach us about the future. That’s one book, and also Klaus Theweleit’s Male Fantasies, Volume 1 and 2 is important to me. Do you know that book?

I do not. Is it like a case study?

It’s a case study of men’s relationship to women during World War II and pre-World War II. It’s about men’s relationships to the women in their lives, in Germany, particularly.

Continues after the jump…