Inkblot Publications

ah, yes....some 31 years later inkblot is still happening. i realise i never wrote up the most recent inkblot book, 'tennessee williams in bangkok' by eddie woods.  highly recommended. we havent had so much fun with a book in some time.  now: we are awaiting our copies of eric shoaf's brilliant guide to collecting william burroughs. folks, copies will be here in approximately 2 weeks. dont hesitate to write us with your locale and payment/postage info will be forthcoming!

tequila & the solstice

in years past it would be quite warm in oakland this time of year and
pirate & i would sit on the porch drinking tequila sunrise, of all things.
i remember this vividly on several december 25, & its true that today
is not that day, but pretty damn close. but the solstice no doubt warrants
such action, tho its rare for me to drink tequila. and thus today may have had
the odd gin/tonic, and many glasses of burgundy. but today is just starting
and lunch was some boring ravioli. dinner will be another matter!
on my post office walks of late, a lot of word scramble enter me noggin
and i always intend to return to the citadel here and type them into this
machine so all of you can read them. well, win some, lose some. as there
hasnt been an entry for some months. most of you know how to contact me
directly for the odd story every now and again, eh??
oh, i forgot to mention that it is 61 degrees or so in providence today,
very oakland like!! may this tropical warmth continue!!

STEAMY

these notes from here in providence, 25 june...several weeks prior to the july heatwave...
finnish foolishness arrives w/ a swedish flag & those blooze & yellows soak us thoroughly & the heat arrived camelback just the other day - we'd been in brooklyn & new york lingers day after day & well into the evening & on into the nite...manhole covers leaping about carelessly w/ pudding splattered on their drawers & the serbian gypsy chicks couldnt get there on time for even a spoonful...romantically dark rum & a splash of lemonade work wonders as the muffler dismantles itself ceremoniously...chairs & a blouse undone as the mercury rises

metal machine music*

sometime during the heatwave of july i wrote to hexit that i would post some words about the metal machine music recording by lou reed, issued sometime in 1975. but that was then, and those words havent yet appeared. it is the perfect hot weather record for me. then, and now. even today, which may have topped out at 87, was just right. the disk player was fucked momentarily so i dug out the vinyl....quality superb. of course one had to flip the record every 20 minutes or so. and i didnt make it to side 'D', as something came up. i also had velvet underground on the jukebox a lot this summer.  more great hot weather music. but a week or 2 ago, another musical craving came to me. something i also experienced the first time on the delta that glorious hot summer of '75. and that is steve reich's magnum opus 'drumming', the 3 LP set, which also includes 'six pianos'  and 'music for mallett instruments, voices and organ'. again available on disk, tho it was hard to find for a while. this leads into my next word collage, to be posted soon. as i try and make sense of something written long ago...

suddenly choking carrot soup or standpipe siamese

greenpoint arrival was probably 4.30 & we opened the wine, some cheap burgundy i had brought down from providence & there was a delay while we waited for h to get back from another island but it was good to be back on freeman st & we journeyed over to manhattan ave to a fish joint called 'lobster' (original, eh?) & we sat out back at those picnic style tables, tho we had ordered our food first, & it arrived very quickly, some kinda fish sliders and a slew of opening foods, was it the oysters or the deep fried shrimp or.....and the rain began & we ordered more food....m & h were drinking beers, & i think a & i were with a pint as well.....got soaked on the 2 blocks back to freeman, tho we stopped off to get friday wine, & vodka. / was there still rain on friday or was it clouds &......the day passed, & i realised how fond i am of greenpoint & we walked about: up manhattan, side streets, and down franklin. eventually, dinner time arrives as it does most daze & we went straight to karczma on greenpoint ave, a polish joint & i tremble now to relay only a bare skeleton of what may or may not have happened but suffice to say we were very well fed and there was enough to bring back for saturday lunch. but friday nite was still to come & were we dosed or was the music and company that much fun? ha ha.....lets just say we might have been sluggish to get our saturday goin'....heh heh.....but the weather had improved....& we put our shoes on & stumbled over to franklin to le gamin, a french joint of some reknown. it had just opened for the evening & the staff seemed flustered, but once we let them know we were in a decent mood & that we would put up with only a variant of shenanigans they got their shit together PDQ and served us a very decent meal with 2 half liter carafes of red wine. /  there is so much more i could tell you about all of this, but it will have to wait for a fortnite or so, but should you be in the area, do wander in to karczma: you wont be disappointed!

a new hat in belgrade

in april 2007 i flew to belgrade, ostensibly on my way to dubrovnik, but for many reasons belgrade seemed the best port of entry that year. friends fetched me at the airport, and we went directly into town for a late lunch. or did we go directly to their apartment? ah...hindsight tells me i was taken directly to the apartment for lunch and many liters of wine. the weather was perfect, and by that i mean warm (at least 70 degrees) and a portion of blue sky. the apartment was in the old quarter, near the danube. evening rolls around and its time to go out for drinks. there is a main esplanade in belgrade....and this is where we sat, drinking even more wine. but that isnt what i am writing about. the next day i was on my own as my hosts had something boring to tend to. i dont recall if it was a family obligation or otherwise, but knowing i was a talented traveler, they left me on me own. and i went out walking and found myself in what i thought was a district similar to where we had been the day before. the river was in sight. but was it the danube or the sava? we will never know, but i went walking and turned into a narrow lane...my old, tattered dorfman blew off my head, and several locals went to fetch it for me, yet simultaneously ushering me into another narrow lane....this was, i later found out, the gypsy or roma quarter. these wonderful roma took me to their cousin's haberdashery and within minutes i had a new hat for only a handful of serbian coins!! even another lunch of lamb livers and red wine soon followed...i long to return to belgrade!

william s. burroughs' unforgettable characters

in 2001 xochi publications in brisbane, australia published 'william s. burroughs' unforgettable characters: lola "la chata" and bernabe jurado' in an edition of 123 copies. this handsome book included an essay by michael spann concerning burroughs' time in mexico, 1949-1952, and included an original piece by burroughs not yet published in english regarding his most unforgettable character: bernabe jurado. jurado was the lawyer who helped burroughs with several legal issues, including the accidental shooting of burroughs' wife, joan.
the book quickly sold out and has been unavailable for the past 10 years or so, but for quite pricy copies showing up on the internet from time to time.
inkblot publications have reissued this classic, with an expanded essay by spann, an introduction by jack sargeant, and the burroughs piece from the original printing. highly recommended, and a very handsome paperback edition, 68 pages, $10 plus shipping to the destination of your choice! please write to us with any questions: orders@aftermathbooks.com