In 1980 EMI responded to metal band’s Venom’s demo tape with an answer that left little room for interpretation. I don’t know if this is real, but I bet a LOT of A&R people have thought the same thing about a band at one time or another.
George Carlin & Richard Pryor on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, 1981
Back in 1981, two of comedy’s greats appeared on the same night on an episode of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. George Carlin shines with a dazzling standup routine, then Richard Pryor spoke about his erratic personal life, while still maintaining his sense of humour.
The Cult’s Ceremony Poster
Ceremony is the fifth studio album by The Cult, first released in September, 1991. The album was highly anticipated by both music critics and fans as a result of the band’s previous worldwide successes with their 1987 album Electric and its 1989 follow up Sonic Temple. Their album sales might have tapered off since then, but the best was yet to come, with Born into This (2007), Choice of Weapon (2012), and Hidden City (2016).
The Clash Concert Poster From Their Combat Rock Tour
Combat Rock is the fifth studio album by The Clash, and spent 23 weeks in the UK charts and 61 weeks on the chart in the US.
Patti Smith Lists Her Favorite Books Of All Time
Patti Smith gave out a list of her favorite books at the Melbourne International Arts Festival a few years ago. It’s an interesting blend of cult books, the expected Beat classics, and the complete Sebald.
“The Master & Margarita” by Mikhail Bulgakov
“Journey To The East” by Hermann Hesse
“The Glass Bead Game” by Hermann Hesse
“Heart Of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad
“Moby Dick” by Herman Melville
“Billy Budd” by Herman Melville
“Songs Of Innocence” by William Blake
“The Wild Boys” by William Burroughs
“Howl” by Allen Ginsburg
“A Season In Hell” by Arthur Rimbaud
“Illuminations” by Arthur Rimbaud
“Wittgenstein’s Poker” by David Edmonds & John Eidinow
“Villette” by Charlotte Bronte
“The Process” by Brion Gysin
“Cain’s Book” by Alexander Trocchi
“Coriolanus” by William Shakespeare
“The Happy Prince” by Oscar Wilde
“The Sheltering Sky” by Paul Bowles
“Against Interpretation” by Susan Sontag
“The Oblivian Seekers” by Isabelle Eberhardt
“Women Of Cairo” by Gerard de Nerval
“Under The Volcano” by Malcom Lowery
“Dead Souls” by Nikolai Gogol
“The Book Of Disquiet” by Fernando Pessoa
“Death Of Virgil” by Herman Broch
“Raise High The Roof Beams Carpenter/ Franny & Zooey” by J.D. Salinger
“The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne
“A Night Of Serious Drinking” by Rene Daumal
“Swann In Love” by Marcel Proust
“A Happy Death” by Albert Camus
“The First Man” by Albert Camus
“The Waves” by Virginia Woolf
“Big Sur” by Jack Kerouac
anything by H.P. Lovecraft
anything by W.G. Sebald
“The Thief’s Journal” or anything by Jean Genet
“The Arcades Project” or anything by Walter Benjamin
“A Poet In New York” by Garcia Lorca
“The Lost Honor Of Katharina Blum” by Heinrich Boll
“The Palm Wine Drinkard” by Amos Tutuola
“Ice” by Anna Kavan (or anything by her)
“The Divine Proportion” by H.E. Huntley
“Nadja” by Andre Breton
Francis Ford Coppola: “Death is on the back of everyone’s minds”
This interview was recorded on July 28, 1996 when Francis Ford Coppola was promoting the film, Jack, starring Robin Williams.
“Death is on the back of everyone’s minds whether they want to admit it or not. We move through life very fast and it’s not a matter of how long you live it’s a matter of how well you live. But that’s the theme sort of Camus’ The Happy Death. There are people who die young but they die happy because they’ve done a whole lifetime’s worth. Death is a funny thing and it’s obviously on the back of everyone’s minds or their psychology whether they want to admit it or not.”
Kurt Ballou of Converge’s Business Card Is A Distortion Pedal
Kurt Ballou, music producer and guitarist for the metal band Converge, made his business card a distortion pedal. Read that again. It’s a printed circuit board that can be used to build a working distortion pedal Ballou calls the “Brutalist Jr.” With around $40-50 in parts, he created his own unforgettable moment with proof you’ve met him. The only way to get the card is to see Ballou on the street or at a show.