catalog

Well-known member
This is a good read, thanks for posting.

Not read all of it yet, it's a monster.

Interesting to read about Heinlein's "Stranger in a strange land" as a key text for Bowie. I've not read it but the last time I saw it mentioned was in this book about Charles Manson, he was a big fan, it was a Bible of sorts for him. But didn't realise it was thought to be a Crowley/Thelema bio in disguise.

It also mentions an ithell colquhoun book ive not heard of. Very interested in that artist.

Had no idea that a lot of Bowies lyrics are cut ups.

G.O.D - Gatherer of data.
 

william_kent

Well-known member
This is a good read, thanks for posting.

Not read all of it yet, it's a monster.

The site that that article is on is a monster! It is a massive undertaking, the guy is on some sort of mission, which has spiralled out of control, to chart the true history of the O.T.O. The "Caliphate OTO" hate him. There's all sort of juicy occult gossip buried away there but you have to work your way through the maze.
 

william_kent

Well-known member
It also mentions an ithell colquhoun book ive not heard of. Very interested in that artist.

Fulgar will be publishing Ithell Colquhoun's "Taro As Colour" as a "working deck" later this year. I've got the book "Taro As Colour" that they published a few years ago and although the enamel paintings are beautiful, they are extremely abstract, and I would imagine that if you are not Ithell Colquhoun then it could be quite a difficult deck to "work" with. I'll still buy it though...I shouldn't have mentioned this because judging by the last Tarot deck which they published, the Major Arcana by Leonora Carrington, the demand was so great that their website crashed minutes after the launch, it was touch and go whether I could secure a copy..

 

catalog

Well-known member
The site that that article is on is a monster! It is a massive undertaking, the guy is on some sort of mission, which has spiralled out of control, to chart the true history of the O.T.O. The "Caliphate OTO" hate him. There's all sort of juicy occult gossip buried away there but you have to work your way through the maze.

it reminds me of the groupname for grapejuice blog - might be up your street if you've not seen already.

We are fans:

 

catalog

Well-known member
Fulgar will be publishing Ithell Colquhoun's "Taro As Colour" as a "working deck" later this year. I've got the book "Taro As Colour" that they published a few years ago and although the enamel paintings are beautiful, they are extremely abstract, and I would imagine that if you are not Ithell Colquhoun then it could be quite a difficult deck to "work" with. I'll still buy it though...I shouldn't have mentioned this because judging by the last Tarot deck which they published, the Major Arcana by Leonora Carrington, the demand was so great that their website crashed minutes after the launch, it was touch and go whether I could secure a copy..

We talked about Ithell a bit in the Austin Osman Spare thread - starts here if you are interested


Sir Wash of the Hands introduced me to Ithell Colquhoun as psychogeographer and I got hold of "The Living Stones" on his recc. Outstanding book - I was gonna start a thread on her just for that, but folded a bit into her in a post about Thomas Pynchon's Against the Day.

I did also pick up "Medea's Charms" = some of her shorter pieces, but I've not been through it properly. I got it for the essays about automatic drawing which are really good.
 
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william_kent

Well-known member
We talked about Ithell a bit in the Austin Osman Spare thread - starts here if you are interested


Sir Wash of the Hands introduced me to Ithell Colquhoun as psychogeographer and I got hold of "The Living Stones" on his recc. Outstanding book - I was gonna start a thread on her just for that, but folded a bit into her in a post about Thomas Pynchon's Against the Day.

I did also pick up Medea's Charms" = some of her shorter pieces, but I've not been through it properly. I got it for the essays about automatic drawing which are really good.

Good old archive.org has come up with the goods on that "Sword of Wisdom" book mentioned in the Laughing Gnostic Bowie article

Copies on amazon start at £130...
 

catalog

Well-known member
It's amazing just how much range she had, in terms of writing, drawing, painting. i'll pick up the bio at some point, there's a video on youtube with the writer Amy Hale but it was a bit boring cos literally just Amy Hale talking
 

william_kent

Well-known member
It's amazing just how much range she had, in terms of writing, drawing, painting. i'll pick up the bio at some point, there's a video on youtube with the writer Amy Hale but it was a bit boring cos literally just Amy Hale talking

The bio is worth reading, I learnt things, but I have my reservations...
 

Simon silverdollarcircle

Well-known member
I've just started reading that Ithell Colquhoun book. It's such a dreamy read. I love it. Drifting along, through water, moss, ferns. Very verdant and cool and wet.

Also she's got a good sense of humour.
 

jenks

thread death
Nacho just put this piece up of Bowie and Cher duetting during the Young Americans era. Strangely Dave could remember nothing of his performance- I wonder why?
 

Sectionfive

bandwagon house
Interview disputes the Sleng Teng legend and maybe dancehall lore more broadly, with Casio programmer Okuda having completed a thesis on reggae and even anticipating that the present would be adopted in JA

 

william_kent

Well-known member
Interview disputes the Sleng Teng legend and maybe dancehall lore more broadly, with Casio programmer Okuda having completed a thesis on reggae and even anticipating that the present would be adopted in JA


I was a bit disappointed that the article doesn't actually dispute the legend ( which has always been that Wayne Smith found the preset on his casio, sang over it, took it over to Jammys who then slowed it down - it's always been acknowledged that it was a preset ). However, it does add to the legend by introducing a new character, the woman who created the preset in the first place.
 

Sectionfive

bandwagon house
After Smith's death in 2014, Okuda said in an interview that the preset is based on a rock song from the '70s and that you would know it as soon as you heard it, it was assumed then to be this Hang Onto Yourself though she seems to contradict that now, and reveals a lot more about her raggae background

 

sus

Well-known member
Enough time has passed for us to admit that bowie was all about fashion and theatre. His musical contribution was negligible.
This is true, I think, but it's why Bowie is Actually Good. Pop music and rock stardom are both defined by fashion, and Bowie was at the nexus of both. What pop star has ever made a "musical contribution" in the sense of advancing musical theory and understanding? Pop is a discipline of fresh recombination; it's Kanye taking cues from Death Grips on Yeezus; it's Elvis picking up tricks from Appalachian hillbillies.
 

luka

Well-known member
not in the sense of advancing theory necessarily but certainly in the sense of writing indelible hooks that whirl round the brain for all eternity and providing easily understood instantly communicable concentrated emotion eg i wanna dance with somebody
 

sus

Well-known member
impressed-i-am-5c1865.jpg
 

thirdform

pass the sick bucket
This is true, I think, but it's why Bowie is Actually Good. Pop music and rock stardom are both defined by fashion, and Bowie was at the nexus of both. What pop star has ever made a "musical contribution" in the sense of advancing musical theory and understanding? Pop is a discipline of fresh recombination; it's Kanye taking cues from Death Grips on Yeezus; it's Elvis picking up tricks from Appalachian hillbillies.

this is why pop in and of itself is shit. pop is only good as a field of contestation, E.G: whitney's rnb, petshop boys post-disco, etc.
 
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