The Wunderkammer in the Cellar

They make a virtue out of serving gin to visitors at Viktor Wynd Fine Art, and you can see why. There is something strangely illicit about the sight of a stuffed swan, especially in private possession – the foyer, entrance and backrooms all suggest that there isn’t a Victorian parlour or private museum that has escaped their attentions unscathed. After the performance of Welcome To Mars, I took a stiff jolt of mother’s ruin and descended to the wunderkammer in the basement to explore further.

Some great pornographic material was to be found at the back of some of the display cabinets as well as the usual selection of pickled punks, two-headed skeletons and pig foetuses in jars that have made modern culture what it is today, mostly by trying to drive it all out from the common weal. To encounter such a ripe mix of human anatomy, genetic atrocities and sexual hygiene tips for men and women is always a real pleasure: the only thing missing was a stretch of blustery English seafront outside.

Pictured above: illustrious corpses, exotica, non-stop emetic cabaret and some quaint examples of what the butler didn’t manage to see.

Ken Hollings Reads From His Book ‘Welcome To Mars’

Ken Hollings reads from his book "Welcome to Mars" from blackbeltjones on Vimeo.

The above clip, courtesy of blackbeltjones, a true hero of modern science, was posted about a year ago, but I only recently discovered it. The reading was part of the launch event at the Horse Hospital to mark the publication of Welcome To Mars and serves as a handy reminder that I will be also be reading from it this Friday evening at Viktor Wynd Fine Art as part of the Strange Attractor Salon’s Astounding Stories night – see Google Calendar elsewhere on this page for more details.

Unfortunately, Simon James will not be performing at this event as previously billed, but I am very happy to announce that Mark Pilkington has kindly agreed to join Bruce Woolley onstage to produce a suitably radiophonic soundtrack to my reading: the first time the three of us have performed together since the second night of Mondo Mancunia back in 2008 - I'm really looking forward to the encounter in what The Other Cinema in San Francisco described as 'a sub-pop Cult Study of Fifties America, on the bizarre intersection of cybernetics, behavior modification, atomic weapons, and UFOs, highlighting how these currents were refracted through the visual surfaces of popular culture, domestic design,and suburban living.'

See also:
Strange Attractor Salon
Welcome to Mars Phlight Reading Philm
Welcome to Mars at the Other Cinema

In Memoriam: Joe Rollino 1905-2009

Born strong. Coney Island’s favourite son. A true legend.

‘It was astonishing how he was smiled upon by nature.’ - Retired NYPD detective Arthur Perry, New York City Golden Gloves

Image courtesy of The Association of Oldetime Barbell and Strongmen (Preserving Iron Game History!)

See also: Catching Up With Coney Island

UltraBrutal: The Spanish Have A Word For It

Just in time for a new decade in a new millennium, a copy of UltraBrutal, the latest publication from Spanish writer Mike Ibáñez, arrived in the post over the holidays – and my eyes are still stinging from coming into contact with it. UltraBrutal is described by its author as ‘una novella tabloide’: mainly because it is deeply sensationalist and written in the tersest possible prose but mostly because it has lots of repulsive pictures in it. Alien porn movies? Check. National Enquirer headlines? Double check. The theology of Mutually Assured Destruction? The sexual appeal of Anorexic Barbie dolls? The Nike swoosh as universal signifier of our godless global condition? Man, this stuff never gets old... I may have to learn Spanish just to keep up with it all.

Mike first told me about his novel when we met at Spectra 09 – the annual conference of conspiracy culture – in Spain last year. He even explained the plot to me while we were huddled together in the portico of Valencia Cathedral, queuing to see the actual Holy Grail, which is said to have resided there for centuries in all its bejewelled glory. Unfortunately, we had been huffing lighter fluid quite heavily all morning and were about to go onto the crystal meth – an activity which would see us both being refused access to the cathedral, and in Holy Week as well – so we were both stammering and slurring our words by then. Mike will probably say he doesn't remember any of that happening, but I still have his teeth marks in my arm to prove it. No, really. Whatever UltraBrutal is about, it’s bound to be real nasty, so click here to order your copy online today.

Pathological Over-Sharing Panel on Vimeo

Pathological Oversharing Panel - Resonance FM media playground from alfie dennen on Vimeo.

Thanks to the very wonderful and ever vigilant Alfie Dennen, footage from Resonance FM’s Pathological Overhsaring panel discussion, which took place at the Foundry last December, is now up on Vimeo who, like, caption this stuff and everything. If I look a little dazed throughout, it’s only because I’m in such fast and loose company. Becky Hogge and Paul May really know how to play. My sincere thanks to Joe from the Vortex for keeping it all together - and to Alfie for filming it all despite having a chunk missing from one of his fingers: staple guns are fun but deadly, children. The panel was also recorded for broadcast by Resonance FM sometime in 2010 and will undoubtedly make better radio than it does a widescreen cinema experience. Details as and when – as always.

See also:
Media Playground Appearance

Strange Attractor Salon

Strange Attractor is setting up its Salon for the first time since 2007, this time at Viktor Wynd Fine Art in mystic Hackney, and it looks like being the most ambitious SA event to date. As well as a permanent exhibition of graphic arcana from some of the best practitioners in the business, there will a whole series of live events to keep the public guessing. Confirmed contributing artists include:

Phil Baker * Joel Biroco * Richard Brown * Ossian Brown * John Coulthart * Rod Dickinson * Disinformation * English Heretic * Tessa Farmer * Blue Firth * Alison Gill * Doug Harvey * Josephine Harvatt * Ken Hollings * Stewart Home * Julian House * Ali Hutchinson * Alyssa Joye * Maud Larsson * Gary Lachman * Xtina Lamb * John Lundberg * Man From Uranus * Eleanor Morgan * Frances Morgan * Drew Mulholland * Bridget Nicholls * Oscillatorial Binnage * Katie Owens * Edwin Pouncey * Arik Roper * Gavin Semple * Martin Sexton * USURP * Robert Wallis * Catharyne Ward * Eric Wright

On January 22, I’ll be sharing an evening with the crowned and conquering English Heretic. ‘Astounding Stories’ will surely find us both plunging deep into pop culture weirdness of every kind. The following description is from Mark Pilkington’s recent post announcing the SA Salon:

Astounding Stories: Live performances from English Heretic and Welcome to Mars

English Heretic creates verdant, darkly humorous soundscapes for the darkest recesses of the English imagination. The magical texts of Kenneth Grant and the occult fictions of Sax Rohmer form an uneasy alliance, accompanied by a musical backdrop that glides effortlessly from Motown to 70s progressive horror rock. Ken Hollings reads from his book Welcome to Mars: Fantasies of Science in the American Century with a live, improvised soundtrack of 1950s electronica for analogue synthesisers, reel-to-reel tapes and theremin from Simon James and Bruce Woolley

Let no face be turned away.

See also:
Welcome to Mars Phlight Reading Philm
Welcome to Mars – Welcome to the Future
Welcome to Mars at the Other Cinema

Michael Jackson: A New Face in Hell For 2010

Mark Fisher, editor of The Resistible Demise of Michael Jackson has been in touch over the Christmas break with a quick update on the book’s progress. In Germany Westdeutscher Rundfunk has given the book an excellent review both on its website and on radio: the on-air discussion of the book with its reviewer is available by clicking at the bottom of the selected WDR page. Mark also very kindly sent on a link to a Google translation app, which has a rough poetry all of its own:

‘The Resistible Demise is suggesting to never in embittered cultural pessimism,’ reviewer Uh-Young Kim observes. ‘The authors have read their Marx, Adorno, Deleuze and Negri. But they also bring their own fascination with the genius of Jackson and the beauty of his music - and a detailed knowledge, which brings the nerd in the intellectual to the fore.

‘The Resistible Demise is one of the best non-fiction on pop long ago. It is his object in scope and excessiveness absolutely fair. And also answered the question about a different death, which lately had often talked about: the death of music journalism. Here he comes to life again, and connect with it the ability and passion to draw criticism and explain life on the basis of a song.’

Such informed enthusiasm might prove helpful to Amazon’s US subscribers, who seem to be having trouble coming to grips with the book. In the meantime the Guardian’s Maggoty Lamb seems to have had a good time with the book as have the majority of its Amazon’s UK customers. As Captain Eo might well have appreciated, it is better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven – until his ride was cancelled of course. It seems, however, that even now Disney is threatening to bring it back again. Small children should be accompanied at all times.

See also:
‘Utter Trash’: The Resistible Demise of Michael Jackson Denounced by Fan
The Resistible Demise of Michael Jackson (They Don’t Really Care About Us)