smSECTION THIRTEEN
sm
COLUMN FORTY-FIVE, MAY 1, 1999
(Copyright © 1999 Al Aronowitz)
(Email Slot Courtesy http://home2.swipnet.se/~w-29168/BeatIndex.htm
)
ALLMAN BROS. AT THE BEACON
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 23:48:11 -0500
From: Gerald Geldzahler <implant@home.com>
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com
Subject: Allman Brothers Band, March Madness, 1999, Beacon Theatre N.Y., N.Y.
Dear Al,
I saw the Allman Brothers Band last night at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. Rock and Roll in its purest style(Southern style). It was damn good. The Beacon Theatre rocked on the night I was there, one of many on this two week Allman Brother venue. The band is great, Gregg Allman is great, but a Gregg Allman and friends show ain't as great by itself, unless the friends are the Allman Brother's Band. It was rocking, and rolling. Dicky Betts hit the high notes, you know the notes that only the great ones hit just once in a while. That's paraphrasing something the late, grate(intentional misspelling of great), Jerry Garcia said. He "brushed up on it once in a while." Dicky was there. "Southbound," a real blue "Statesboro Blues" where they hit the low, high notes, and a "Blue Sky" that was by itself worth the price of admission. Gregg Allman left the piano to join Dicky Betts with acoustic guitars for a fantastic "Melissa." I can't remember everything. They have bars all around the place and it was Bob's 50th Birthday so we drank a few Tequilla and beers. We moved around the place; bikers on holiday. I only saw one person who drank too much. Everybody was in a good mood and friendly and digging the music. There were some new guys with the band, I think (remember the beer and tequilla). The show was a living classic. They had some tie-dyed banners that said 1969-1999. They are only getting better. the Allman Brothers Band is the real thing.
Jerry Geldzahler ##
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WANTS STORIES ABOUT THE VELVETS
Date: Thu, 04 Mar 1999 13:32:23 -0300
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com
From: "Ing. Nestor Sbariggi" <sbariggi@nahuel.biol.unlp.edu.ar>
Subject: Great page!
Dear Al:
Last year, searching on the net for some stuff about Neal Cassady I've found your great web page. Since then, it's always been and is a big pleasure to read your columns specially those with material related with the Beat Generation (and Dylan and Jerry Garcia and The Beatles, and...) I really look forward every month for your new columns. Thanks so much for sharing this with everybody on the net.
Let me ask you something: do you have any stories with The Velvet Underground? I've read that you had something to do with them back in the 60's.
Thanks again
Nestor ##
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WHAT'S UP, DUDE?
From - Tue Mar 16 08:18:46 1999
From: DJG5757@aol.com
Date: Mon, 15 Mar 1999 22:30:08 EST
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com
Subject: (no subject)
What's up dude? I am writing a school paper and decided to do it on influential writers of the Beat Generation. I naturally thought of those such as Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. I originally thought of doing it on Timothy Leary. Upon reading about this guy I came across the names of other fascinating people such as the above stated and others including Neal Cassady.
This lead to an interest in their writings and I found them to be very interesting people with cool, for lack of better words, lives. Upon researching them I came across your web page and found it fascinating. I really just wanted to thank you for helping me out in a round about way and would be interested if you had any other information that you might have or know of. Thanks.
Josh Rodriguez ##
* * *
WE'RE A FINALIST!
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 23:39:53 -0600
From: The Midnight Rambler <rfontenot@earthlink.net>
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com
Subject: Laxton's Superb!
Hi, this is Rob Fontenot, of the Beatles Fans at the Mining Co. site (http://beatles.miningco.com). If you're reading this, you're one of the finalists in the web site award I run called The Laxton's Superb Web Site Award. Last year this contest went online and recieved thousands of responses. The Beatles Mining Co. gets approximately 20,000 hits a week, so you can expect a number of those folks to show up at your door over the next few months as the contest rolls on.
If you've never been nominated before, no problem: Just sit back and enjoy the honor. You CAN add a link to my page, whether from your front page or one of your other pages, but it has no bearing on the outcome of the contest (and some of you have links to me already!) If you're thinking of linking, just use the attached "nominee" image and link it to http://beatles.miningco.com. (I should add that if you're in this contest, I've already given you a permanent link.)
If you were nominated last year, a few changes need to be noted. First, opening the contest to only 10 sites proved FAR too limiting, so I've expanded: the contest now features at least 5 contestants each in at least 10 categories (including the Web Site Of The Year award, which mirrors last year's contest). This means you may very well be nominated more than once, if your site is deemed outstanding in more than one area.
Secondly, no point system this year; that proved unwieldy. Beatle fans will merely pick their favorite sites in each category. (No write-in votes, however.)
Third! If you have a Laxton's award up from last year, please keep it on the page and simply add the attached "nominee" image to inform folks about this year's contest. (Your best bet is to place it somewhere on your main page, with a link to beatles.miningco.com, and maybe a short explanation of what's going on and a request for your visitors to go and vote.) I'll be sending out specialized award images for last year and this year as soon as I get them finished. Again, it isn't necessary that you link back to me, but it is a nice gesture, and more importantly, a way to stuff that ol' ballot box.
VOTING ENDS MIDNIGHT EST, APRIL 10, 1999!
Thanks for your patience! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to e-mail me at this address!
If you'd like to see the contest, go to http://beatles.miningco.com!
Taking us all back to the year 1900, it's Lonesome Rob Fontenot, The Midnight Rambler http://home.earthlink.net/~rfontenot/bigrob.html ##
* * *
LIQUID GLYPH
From: "Larry Winfield" <mediapoet@hotmail.com>
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com,
Subject: Liquid Glyph Issue No. 8
Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1999 14:29:41 PST
Greetings! It's National Poetry Month!
"Liquid Glyph" Issue No. 8 is now online! We have poetry from Anna Pray, who lives in rural Wisconsin; Cliff Lake of Lenexa, Ks.; Monique Nicole Fox of Wash. D.C.; local poets Jude and Cynthia Glass; poems from Elisha Porat of Israel (one poem has three translations) and USK buddy Renetta L. Prose from Elizabeth Renee and missives from Unofficial Soup Kitchen buddies Renetta L.. and bejesus. As always, I throw my editorial two-cents in, and the April edition of the Poetry Clock is included.
This is the 1st anniversary of my little webzine. The poets and writers who have so graciously allowed me to showcase their work have my profound appreciation and respect. I strive to make it more than an exercise in literary self-gratification, and they make that possible.
Issue No. 9 will post on June 1st - deadline for calendar items is April 15th, May 15th for poetry and prose submissions.
ta ta for now,
Larry Winfield - Mediapoet
Readings, Films, Workshops, Poetryband
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/LeftBank/2105
"Liquid Glyph" (webzine)
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/LeftBank/2105/zine.htm
##
* * *
NEEDS GINSBERG INFO
From: Brentano77@aol.com
Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 17:43:36 EDT
Subject: (no subject)
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com
hi my name is Brent and I am doing a poetry research paper on Allen Ginsberg, I am in desperate need of some biographical information, also criticism on his poetry, I'm sure you are all very busy working or doing something important, but it would help me a great deal if you could send me some info.
thank muchly
Brent ##
* * *
ASPIRING JOURNALIST
From: "Jaime Banks" <jbanks@gi.net>
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com
Subject: please help
Date: Fri, 9 Apr 1999 19:14:15 -0600
As an aspiring journalist and a freshman in college, I am taking a course entitled "Mass Media in America," generally an overview of media and culture. A heavily-weighted assignment has been given to interview someone occupying a position related to any type of mass communication. I saw your page on the web and I was wondering if you might be able to help. The general topic is: "Have you ever encountered a situation wherein you were forced to deal with an ethical dilemma of any sort?" I understand that you are a busy person, but any help you might be able to provide would be GREATLY appreciated.
Many Thanks,
Jaime Banks
Grand Junction, CO ##
* * *
THEY SWALLOWED THE POISON
Date: Sat, 10 Apr 1999 07:03:57 -0400
From: Al Aronowitz <info@blacklistedjournalist.com>
To: Jaime Banks <jbanks@gi.net>
Subject: Re: please help
JAIME: The scum bag who was executive editor of the NY Post forced me to write a rock column even tho I was managing rock acts at the time. I kept refusing and then he said he'd fire me if I didn't. "Just don't write about your own acts," he said. I didn't write about my own acts but when I became one of the most powerful pop journalists in the world, he got so jealous, he accused me of conflict of interest and fired me anyway. The assholes I was working with at the Post swallowed that poison without even bothering to read the label on the bottle. --Al
* * *
DOORS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Date: Sun, 07 Mar 1999 23:18:44 -0800
From: Bill Tikellis <billtik@ozemail.com.au>
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com
Subject: The Doors
Dear Al,
By way of introduction my name is Bill Tikellis and I live in Melbourne, Australia. You may recall that our last correspondence was last December, regarding The Doors and your reviews for The New York Post as well as your appearance on the TV show "Critique" which reviewed The Doors.
The reason why I am writing to you is because I am currently working on the Top 10 Doors concert reviews, which will form part of a Doors Encyclopedia, entitled Endless Night: The Encyclopedia of The Doors to be published by the academic publisher, Greenwood Press in Connecticut, USA.
The Encyclopedia will be a professional effort and the key criteria is to be thorough, accurate and as objective as possible. Your invaluable input would be greatly appreciated since the likelihood of another Doors encyclopedia is extremely remote and your story, I believe, is important for the history of rock.
The main author of the encyclopedia is Victoria Ridley. If you would like any verification on this project, please feel free to contact Victoria as she is overseeing the research that I'm doing on her behalf. Victoria lives in Ottawa, Canada and can be reached by phone at (613) 233-7052, by fax at (613) 237-0046 or by e-mail: gemini@cyberus.ca If you wish, I can arrange for Victoria to call you to clarify any queries you may have.
One of the Top 10 Doors Concerts that I am reviewing is the concert The Isle of Wight Music Festival (August 30, 1970,) at which I believe you were present and witnessed the group perform.
I was wondering if you'd be able to comment on what you recall from The Isle of Wight. While it has been over 30 years (!) I would appreciate your recollection of as much of the concert as possible. I am interested in the songs you recall, Jim Morrison's monologue with the audience (if any), any of your reviews if you have written on that Festival. In effect, I would love to hear whatever you can remember!
With your permission, we are planning to quote portions of your written response in the upcoming encyclopedia. Naturally, you'd be credited in the acknowledgements section, however it would be up to you whether you'd like your name published or not. I would also submit to you a final draft of the concert review for your approval/comments etc, but this is purely voluntary on your behalf.
We sincerely appreciate your assistance on this project. As a witness to one of rock 'n' roll's significant moments your feedback is important. Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Victoria or myself.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours sincerely,
Bill Tikellis. ##
* * *
THE GREAT GAS-OUT
Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 05:56:51 +0000
From: peazritr <peazritr@mediaone.net>
To: "Xine, Williams," <XineWms@aol.com>
Subject: GREAT AMERICAN GAS OUT 043099
Greetings!
I don't know about the gas price where you live, but in the last three days, gas has gone from $1.09 to $1.69 a gallon. Below is an idea that someone has sent me. I deleted all of the previous address.
Later
Jerry Hays
THE GREAT AMERICAN "GAS OUT"
It's time we did something about the price of gasoline in America! We are all sick and tired of high prices when there are literally millions of gallons in storage. Know what I found out? If there was just ONE day when no one purchased any gasoline, prices would drop drastically. The so-called oil cartel has decided to slow production by some 2 million barrels per day to drive up the price. I have decided to see how many Americans we can get to NOT BUY ANY GASOLINE on one particular day!
Let's have a GAS OUT! Do not buy any gasoline on APRIL 30, 1999!!!!!
Buy on Thursday before, or Saturday after. Do not buy any gasoline on FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 1999. . . All we need is a few million to participate in order to make a difference. ##
* * *
CIA ASSASSIN MANUAL
From: "Arthur Perley" <bigchief@bigmagic.com>
To: <blackj@bigmagic.co>
Subject: ASSASSIN::a covert look at CIA assassination manuals
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999 16:43:46 -0500
For the paranoid and conspiracy theorists everywhere.
Requires Shockwave/Flash plugin.
ASSASSIN::a covert look at CIA assassination manuals:
http://www.bespoke.org/demo/assassin.htm
BigChief ##
* * *
KINTE SPACE NEWS
From: "Bryan Wilhite" <rasx@kintespace.com>
Subject: Haley's Comet: Sunday, March 14, 1999
Date: Sun, 14 Mar 1999 11:59:28 -0000
Haley's Comet
news from the kinte space
Friday, January 29, 1999
Contents:
* Roland Poet X
* A New Underground Poet's Speakeasy
* The Funky Knowledge Base
* Roland Poet X
The December 11, 1994 Sunday City Times section of the Los Angeles Times has this 42 year-old Black man sitting on a beat-up, 1960-something Thunderbird in a black beret with a typewriter and a brand new pair of athletic shoes. This is Brother Roland X. He was the one that first turned me on to the words "poetry slam."
In the '94 Times article, Roland describes himself both as a hippie and a Black Panther. This newspaper was really digging Roland X because he is a talented, charismatic and colorful figure who was a prominent member of the Homeless Writers Coalition. Please recall that back in those days being homeless was heavily romanticized and publicized for both positive and negative effect.
But let us get beyond that and see the writer---not the "homeless writer"---Roland X. Roland himself told the Times, "I'm not your typical homeless. I'm just a hippie that don't like to work a J-O-B." The work we have here is vintage Roland X. In fact "Dead Woman Dying" was the first electronic presentation I ever did back when I was an AOL member (it was a MS Windows Help File for those of you that care). Looking at this work now, you will see that his strong message is still quite up to date. Please see it at: http://www.kintespace.com/p_roland0.html
* A New Underground Poet's Speakeasy
Tracey Ali and Wrapture Coffeehouse present "The Underground Railroad: A Poet's Speakeasy." I was there last Friday and was very impressed with the atmosphere. This place is a soulful mixture of the light supper club or cafe and the raw performance found at hard-core poetry readings. Come and hear the words and sounds of the passengers of the underground every Friday from 8:30 until the last word is spoken at Wrapture Coffeehouse, 4711 S. Crenshaw Blvd., Los Angeles, CA. (between 48th and Vernon). Call (323) 295-6617 or mail nelsontali@aol.com for more details.
* The Funky Knowledge Base
Many of you art-loving types out there have asked me technical questions in the subjects of HTML, Cascading Style Sheets and even a bit of hard-core programming. In response to this, the kinte space has opened The Funky Knowledge Base. This knowledge base is my personal notes on subjects of interest to me and is literally my business. I have not the excellent memory of a griot. I must write things down---especially when speed, accuracy and money are involved. I am making this funky data set public for my own convenience during the dog day. I also want you to know about this place because I am quite convinced that I am somewhat powerful in the dream world of ideas---I am equally convinced that I am not perfect. Someone like yourself, browsing these pages looking to refresh yourself in these subjects, may find it in your heart to correct my mistakes by pointing them out to me. Please get funky at:
(c)1999 Bryan Wilhite
All rights reserved worldwide.
Number of Recipients: 728
This message is powered by Microsoft Access.
Haley's comet soars through the kinte space.
It's beyond the kente fabric of reality...
It's beyond all thang we dream about.
http://www.kintespace.com ##
* * *
TODD RUNS FOR CONGRESS
From: "todd fahey" <toddfahey@hotmail.com>
To: info@blacklistedjournalist.com, et al
Subject: Fahey for Congress (Louisiana; Pro-Hemp) Seeks Contributions/Organizers
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 14:25:49 PST
Open Letter -- For Immediate Distribution -- 3/12/99
To whom this may concern:
I received your e-mail address courtesy of HIA and hope this letter finds you well. I am pleased today to announce my candidacy for Congress, District 1, Louisiana, on the Reform Party ticket, and will begin by urging vigorously the legalization of industrial hemp as a taxable cash crop and for the complete decriminalization of marijuana in the Bayou State and elsewhere. This special Congressional election is to replace Rep. Bob Livingston; the current front-runner, you may wish to know, is David Duke.
As a 33-year old life-long Republican, I have grown increasingly disenchanted with the rhetoric of the Puritans in the Grand Old Party, who seek to increase, rather than limit, the role of government in the lives of the American citizenry.
I leave the GOP in favor of a new movement, joining others toward a renewal of our foundation's spirit: of basic Constitutional safeguards protecting the individual from a tyrannical State; for a return to a sound economy, with real growth and budgetary restraint; and, always, with the elevation of the human spirit in mind, which comes only with hope being offered and dignity restored.
This campaign will be made a test-case for the value of industrial hemp to the marketplace and the ecosystem, where the sovereign states may reap enormous economic gains in the production of a crop which is substantially disease-resistant, as kind to the soil as tobacco is destructive, and which holds an amazing array of applications---from oil, to rope, to a tree-pulp and cotton substitute in paper and clothing.
In announcing the "Fahey for Congress" campaign, I invite you to contribute both advisement-and-counsel and as much structural and financial support as you or your organization may be able to afford (and as is allowable under current campaign contribution schedules).
This organization seeks knowledgeable speakers on issues, including but not limited to: economic and physical benefits of industrial hemp; social implications of the decriminalization of marijuana; concepts for privatizing Social Security; and means of job-training and vocational rehabilitation, both public and private, toward reducing the need for and outlay of "welfare" entitlements.
I hope that you will join me in my effort to bring a fresh, positive and fiscally responsible approach to government to the state of Louisiana. I look forward to future correspondence.
All best wishes,
Todd Brendan Fahey
-author, _Wisdom's Maw_ (Far Gone Books, 1996)
-publisher, Far Gone Books (http://www.fargonebooks.com)
-B.S., Criminal Justice, Arizona State University (1989)
-M.P.W., Professional Writing, Univ. of Southern California (1991)
-Ph.D. candidate, English, University of Southwestern Louisiana
Correspondence and contributions (no PACs) from $1-$1,000 ("it's all good") are received gratefully at:
Fahey 2000 [make payable to]
P.O. Box 3027
Lafayette, LA 70502-3027
fargone@fargonebooks.com
http://www.fargonebooks.com/Fahey2000
Those contributing $50.00 or more to "Fahey 2000" will receive a signed, 1st-edition copy of my critically-acclaimed CIA/LSD novel, _Wisdom's Maw_. ##
* * *
ROLLING STONE'S FAMILY
From: "Sims, Jon C." <JSIMS@ThompsonCoburn.com>
To: "'info@blacklistedjournalist.com'"
Subject: Poppa Was A Rolling Stone
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 16:27:47 -0600
Poppa was a Rolling Stone is a Motown Song my sister told me was played at her father's funeral last Saturday. At the funeral she found out that she and my brother Larry have 18 brothers and sisters somewhere in the world.
More in a state of morbid curiosity than actual mourning, my brother and sister attended the funeral of their father Larry Edgar Willis. His sisters and brothers all spoke nonchalantly about his numerous children, his numerous women, and his inability to commit to any of the women in his life, including my mother, or to any of his children, including my older brother and sister.
My mother eventually married my father Willie D. Sims, and moved on. I went to college at Northwestern and then on to law school. But it was there that I learned that I suffered from a problem that a lot of African American males do. It was after my mother died, and my long estranged father became ill, that I was finally confronted with the awful fact that no matter how smart, educated, or monied you may become, in deference to the real thing, African American males are attempting to answer the question of how to be a man on their own.
I can see it in my brother, who now has his own two sons, and wonders if he will be able to do what his father never did. Almost everywhere I look now I see a child born and abandoned by one or both parents. Some of them have been destroyed by it. Most of them just need the answers contained in this book.
It contains a series of letters from my father to me on our lives separated by generations. He was born in 1926. I was born in 1974. It also contains letters from my nephew Pierre to his father. I would like to expand this project to include letters from incarcerated men, and other men and their children who have been separated.
I think it is a worthwhile project, and one that is sure to touch the hearts, minds and spirits of many people.
-J. Christopher ##
* * *
ANDREW'S THOUGHTS
From: "Hill, Andrew"<a_hill@hotmail.com>
To: "'info@blacklistedjournalist.com'"
Cc: "'manuel_menendez@hotmail.com'"
Subject: My thoughts...
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1998 17:03:26 -0000
Al,
. . .I admire the work your trying to do on the Clinton thing but really, Al, you shouldn't allow it to upset you so much. I support what you're doing because I remember living in perpetual fear of nuclear war as a child in the '80s thanks to Reagan & the republican scum, & as an adult I've abhorred everything they stand for (including the Gulf War) & I believe it will be a great tragedy for the world if George Bush Jr or some other in-bred is running the world after the next presidential elections. But at the end of the day I doubt Slick Willy would piss on you if you were on fire---I have to agree with Manuel on that one. Of course he shouldn't be impeached (even if he indulges in the occasional 'toot' as the conspiracy theorists reckon) but he would not have been entrapped if he hadn't had been so bloody arrogant & cowardly in the first place. His place in history is already tarnished beyond repair, his foreign policy has always been mediocre at best, & the 'economic miracle' is largely a myth---doesn't leave him much to play with does it? Unfortunately, and this, I think, is a truism for politics in general, the nature of political office actually precludes the possibility of any genuine talent making it & changing the world for the better in some significant & lasting way. It's much the same as your attitude towards editors---"everybody hates an asshole but can't wait to be one"---same goes for politics, business, you name it (great fucking quote by the way---yours?). . .
Andrew
* * *
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