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Billy Burroughs

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Removed User 09 Oct 2020

I have a Spotify ap and occasionally listen to "suggested" albums which are, in the main, crap. But I got one from a guy called Jeffrey Martin called "One go Around" and I love it. 

There is a song on it called Billy Burroughs here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thys54BFTkE&list=PLz9ObIjysE1gbYOMT4D-B...

and the words fascinated me so I did a google search and found a whole new world of intrigue

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_S._Burroughs

Just in case anyone is bored

 Derek Furze 09 Oct 2020
In reply to Removed User:

Long time since Bill Burroughs was on my radar, but plenty of links in the climbing world - Trowbarrows Red Wall for example.  Not forgetting Steely Dan.

Removed User 10 Oct 2020
In reply to Removed User:

Burroughs sets the standard for interesting, one of the great characters of the 20th C and an 'Ur' character for so much western popular culture. He's not just some fringe freak thing, Burroughs sits at the heart of some western archetype from which so much has emerged.

Thankfully, a lot of his life and work has been recorded from multiple angles, including his own various selves. 'Intrigue' is good choice of word, things get weird fast with Burroughs - and proper weird, not all of it comfortable. 

The Naked Lunch film, is about the most accessible, toned-down-for-consumption Burroughs product available and as easy a point of entry as exists. 

Removed User 10 Oct 2020
In reply to Removed Userwaitout:

Yes. I'm going to do a little bit of a deeper dive. The connection with Ginsberg and Kerouac and the whole postmodern way of thinking is worthy of some revue.

Removed User 10 Oct 2020
In reply to Removed User:

Very much so. It's interesting how Burroughs was already a driving force in various fields before the Beats came in contact with him. 

There's a lot of recorded interviews with him. He had a mesmerizing way of speaking, well worth a long drive with a strong coffee and an interesting scape out the window to immerse in.

Report back from Interzone what you encounter.

Removed User 10 Oct 2020
In reply to Removed Userwaitout:

> Report back from Interzone what you encounter.

Will do. Amazing how long he lived, all things considered. Kerouac died at 47 and Ginsberg made it to 70 but Burroughs made it to 83 despite being a heroine addict.

Removed User 10 Oct 2020
In reply to Removed User:

Yes, all adds to the enigma of the man. He appears to have entered things always as the explorer rather than the escapist, perhaps that accounts for something. Rather than Kerouac and Ginsberg who were facing off against Catholicism and Judaism, Burroughs seems comfortable in his meta-beliefs, never at the mercy of them.

The old boy could certainly turn a phrase. It's easy to get bamboozled by his cut-up stuff, but his skill at stringing words together (which then got cut-up) is significant. He's in the league of Henry Miller and P K Dick I think. The tales are good, the telling is engaging and he's not some geek making stuff up from his basement - Burroughs lived disturbingly close to his fiction, in an Alice kind of way, as a bemused, detached character. His calmness among the weirdness makes for fabulous story telling.

 Andy Clarke 10 Oct 2020
In reply to Removed User:

If you want a cautionary tale for our times and a warning to all forum users, checkout "The man who taught his asshole to talk," an excerpt from the classic The Naked Lunch, which should Google easily enough.

 alanw 10 Oct 2020
In reply to Removed User:

If you haven't alreaady, it might be worth checking out 'Spare Ass Annie and other tales' on spotify. It's an album of Burroughs speaking excerpts from his books over music by, I think, the Disposable Heros of Hiphoprisy. Different style to Jeffery Martin but well worth a listen. The Jeffery Martin is great by the way - thanks.

 aln 10 Oct 2020
In reply to Removed User:

The obvious classics, Junky and The Naked Lunch are great, Cities of the Red Night is also excellent. 

 aln 10 Oct 2020
In reply to Removed Userwaitout:

Excellent summing up. 

 dread-i 10 Oct 2020
In reply to Removed User:

>...despite being a heroine addict.

I doesn't surprise me he liked female hero's.

He fits into a strange place in American culture. He had some very libertarian views. So he's kinda popular with some of the right, as well as with anarchists (in the classical sense) at the other end of the spectrum. He was also gay and a junkie. He was involved with lots of other counter culture; so he's popular with some of the left. He loved guns, which make him popular in some right wing circles. But killed his wife, which is kinda considered as bad in any circle.

To get a flavor of the chap, and though it's a tad early for Thanks Giving, this is well worth a listen.

youtube.com/watch?v=sLSveRGmpIE&

 Matt Podd 10 Oct 2020
In reply to Removed User:

William Burroughs is a very interesting man - lived life to the Full. I reccomend reading his biography - William Burroughs, a life by Barry Miles.

 Andy Clarke 10 Oct 2020
In reply to Removed User:

I strongly recommend trying a couple of the novels. Besides being among the few essential works of US modernism they're also hilarious. After The Naked Lunch, I'd go for The Soft Machine - possibly the source for "heavy metal" as the  music genre name.

Removed User 10 Oct 2020
In reply to Andy Clarke:

> I strongly recommend trying a couple of the novels. Besides being among the few essential works of US modernism they're also hilarious. 

Did you mean modernism or postmodernism?

Removed User 10 Oct 2020
In reply to dread-i:

> >...despite being a heroine addict.

> I doesn't surprise me he liked female hero's.

LOL, it was late

> To get a flavor of the chap, and though it's a tad early for Thanks Giving, this is well worth a listen.

Actually its Thanksgiving weekend here. Canada has a much better sense of timing

 Andy Clarke 10 Oct 2020
In reply to Removed User:

> Did you mean modernism or postmodernism?

I find it hard to decide among modernism, late modernism, postmodernism and beat! 

 Matt Podd 10 Oct 2020
In reply to Matt Podd:

As I put the biography back on the shelf, I noticed the book next to it was by Henry Millar. Ah to much coincidence. Some of the most shocking books I've read, but glad I have. Shooting the young boy in the head as I reached orgasm through sodomy... I rest my case.

Removed User 11 Oct 2020
In reply to Andy Clarke:

> I find it hard to decide among modernism, late modernism, postmodernism and beat! 

Yes, although I'd say the first two reflect the belief in an absolute truth and the last two consider that there is no such thing.

Removed User 11 Oct 2020
In reply to alanw:

>  The Jeffery Martin is great by the way - thanks.

The songs begins as almost amusing, but ends as hauntingly poignant

Removed User 11 Oct 2020
In reply to alanw:

Just in case you didn't follow up, listen to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvI5ViOdcxc&list=PLz9ObIjysE1gbYOMT4D-B...

 Andy Clarke 11 Oct 2020
In reply to Removed User:

> Yes, although I'd say the first two reflect the belief in an absolute truth and the last two consider that there is no such thing.

Just to be clear, I meant specifically in relation to WB, not as a general rule. His belief in the magical universe doesn't sit easily with the all-pervading irony characteristic of most post-modernism.


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