Saturday, January 9. 2016
From The Archives: Gerald Suster (1951-2001) - A Remembrance
This article was published on media underground and disinformation back in the summer of 2001.
Gerald Suster, the esteemed British writer, occultist and historian, died on Saturday the 3rd of February 2001 at the age of 49. As a devoted advocate of Thelemic Magick, Gerald’s fascination for the occult, and in particular the esoteric theories of Aleister Crowley, developed in his very early teens. Later, at the age of 21, his interests in occultism were undoubtedly fuelled by his meeting with Crowley’s former secretary, Dr. Francis Israel Regardie, whom he later wrote about in his biography Crowley’s Apprentice (Weiser, 1990).
It was this biography which first inspired me to contact Gerald in 1992. At the time I was 21 myself and having first been introduced to Aleister Crowley through Gerald’s biography The Legacy Of The Beast (W.H. Allen, 1988), I was curious and keen to find out what this excellent writer had to say. I was not disappointed.
Over the years that followed I enjoyed a healthy correspondence with the man and delighted in the intelligence, wit and charm that was always present within each of his missives. Despite the fact that we both shared a profound interest in Thelemic philosophy, the diversity of subject matter in our correspondence was of great value to me as a growing youth, and ranged in anything from boxing, woman and politics to science, art and occultism.
On one instance I remember being particularly nervous about informing him of a Qabalistic theory I had been working on which I felt expounded further his solution to the riddle and cipher of The Book Of The Law as published in the Thelemic journal Nuit-Isis in 1989. To my utter astonishment, he was delighted with my research and sent a copy of my theories to virtually everyone he thought would find it of interest. Having believed that I had solved the cipher, he then encouraged me to write more and kindly put me in touch with certain individuals whom he felt would aid me in the circulation of my work.
His kindness to me was exquisite and in June 1995 I travelled down to London and met him for the first time in an Islington pub called The Four Sisters.
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Tuesday, May 28. 2013
From The Archives: Beer & No Clothing In Panamint Springs
This article was published on media underground and disinformation back in June 2003.
Re-examing all this ten years on, I find it amusing to recollect the paranoid experiences of my first crazy trip to the United States - a trip that had no purpose whatsoever other than to go to a party in the middle of the Mojave Desert with comedian Doug Stanhope and friends...
The checking in queue at the airport was one of the longest I’d ever seen. Some problem with the luggage belts, they’d said, which was just the excuse two ugly American tourists needed to try and push their way to the front. They were both stereotypes of everything that we Europeans detest about America: the woman - a sick parody of Blanch from The Golden Girls, the gentleman - a miserable looking swine with pot belly, 50s style slicked back hair and a shirt that perfectly matched the pattern on his luggage.
“This queue seems to be getting longer,” remarked the businessman standing in front of me.
“Yeah, and somewhat fatter too,” retorted my dad, looking suspiciously at the two Yanks that were trying to squeeze their way in front of us.
“Excuse me,” remarked the businessman, “but the end of the queue is way back there,” he explained to the Americans.
The two ugly Yanks looked unconvincingly confused as they tried to hide their obvious lack of manners by giving us a poorly rehearsed rendition of “is it?” and “oh really?”
“What the hell is this?” I said out loud. “Exclusive preferential treatment solely for American tourists?”
“We didn’t realise,” explained Blanch.
“Hah!” I replied. “No wonder people wanna blow you up.”
Blanch looked somewhat hurt and confused, whilst Captain Brylcreem had asserted that this was all the excuse he needed to stand his ground and push on in behind us.
What was I doing going on this trip, I thought to myself? Into the lion’s den to go on some crazy wild adventure out into the Mojave Desert with comedian Doug Stanhope and crowd. This was my first ever trip to the States. Was I completely insane?
Eventually my luggage was checked in as I bid farewell to my dad, who was giving me his usual look of deep concern. Too late to back out now, I said to myself, better just ride out this crazy adventure and find out where the hell it all leads.
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Saturday, August 12. 2006
From The Archives: Meet Jack Black - Hired Corporate Brainwasher
This article was published on media underground and disinformation back in October 2001. It was written under the pseudonym "George R.M. Moretti" (an anagram) since I didn't think the company I was working for would appreciate my realisation of their attempts to brainwash their workforce...
It was a dank and miserable Monday morning as I trudged off to work through the drizzle. I was not at all looking forward to the event that had been so insidiously arranged and paid in advance for me. By God I’d tried my damnedest to put in for a holiday on that day, but the bastards just regarded me with the kind of contempt that one would expect Marilyn Manson to get at a Pentecostal Sunday School picnic.
I could see it in their faces; that look of pity said it all: “you’re just not a team player George. This is for your good, and for the good of everyone else in the company who is attending.” Career obsessed cabbage-clones, I thought to myself; worthless pre-programmed robotized baboons, off to get their brain cells serviced for the winter.
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Monday, July 17. 2006
From The Archives: Alexandra 'Chica' Bruce Interview 2005
Alexandra Bruce knows how to keep her life interesting. As a real life Dana Scully she spends much of her time researching such diverse subjects as quantum physics, metaphysics, subcultures and urban legends.
Known mostly for her research into the Montauk Project and Ong’s Hat legend, Chica (as she prefers to be called) has recently written an unauthorised guide to the unlikeliest cult movie of 2004: What The Bleep Do We Know!? - a part documentary, part motion picture about a woman going through an existential crisis, who discovers the uncertain world of the quantum field which hides behind reality.
Chica is also the author of The Philadelphia Experiment Murder: Parallel Universes & The Physics Of Insanity and has written articles for Paranoia Magazine, Steamshovel Press, Borderland Sciences and Disinfo.com.
She currently lives in Rio de Janeiro and has recently translated a book on the Mystery of Fátima.
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From The Archives: Doug Stanhope Interview 2004
Doug Stanhope is the most recent prodigy to emerge from an historic succession of American outlaw comics. Armed with the same kind of brutal honesty that has been espoused by the likes of Lenny Bruce, Sam Kinison and the late Bill Hicks, Doug Stanhope’s performance is quite simply a one man riot where no prisoners are ever taken.
Justly earning himself the Strathmore Press Award at his first ever appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2002, Doug is back in the capital this year to drink and chain-smoke his way through a full week of harsh and hard-hitting comedy.
Contrary to the wild “Comedy Rock Star” persona that seems to follow him wherever he ventures, Stanhope is in fact a rather composed individual who is clearly just as honest in real life as his comedy is ruthless. “I do good things with my life too,” he once remarked during a performance, “it’s just that none of them are funny.”
This year I caught up with Doug, several months prior to his Edinburgh Festival appearance, to find out what else makes this man tick.
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Sunday, July 16. 2006
From The Archives: James Inman Interview 2004
James Inman is an angry man. 1997 winner of the San Francisco International Comedy Competition, Inman has been described as being like “the spawn of an unnatural union between Henry Rollins and Don Rickles.”
A rural punk-comic Generation-X anti-hero, James Inman comfortably blows away political correctness in favour of a freeform brutal frankness that so few comics dare even attempt.
Originating from Kansas and currently based in Seattle, Inman has been a three time headliner at the Seattle Lenny Bruce Festival and has wrote and produced his one man show The Greyhound Diary - a tale of a brutal journey into the heart of fear that is the life of a stand-up comic on the road.
This year will be Inman’s first ever appearance at the Edinburgh Festival and one can be almost certain that he is destined to be a huge success in the capital as well as a very exciting and entertaining act to go see.
I caught up with James just prior to his arrival in the UK to get his thoughts on his forthcoming Edinburgh appearance.
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