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Friday, February 18, 2000
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BY CLAY McCUISTION
REFLECTIONS OF A LAWRENCE LEGEND
"I HAD THE FEELING THAT SOME HORRIBLE IMAGE WAS JUST BEYOND THE FIELD OF VISION, MOVING, AS I TURNED MY HEAD, SO THAT I NEVER QUITE SAW IT...THE PHYSICAL IMPACT OF THE FEAR OF DEATH; THE SHUTTING OFF OF BREATH; THE STOPPING OF BLOOD."
WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS (WRITING AS WILLIAM LEE), JUNKIE (1953)
Fast Words, a collection of writing from the final year of author William S. Burroughs' life, is more compelling for its context than its content.
Best known for the surrealistic Naked Lunch, (1959), Burroughs covers familiar themes — the insanity of U.S. drug laws, the sick, numbness of addiction, fantastic dreams and science-fiction abstraction of his surroundings. But the circumstances of these 1996-97 writings lend them great poignancy, and the final few sections in which Burroughs stares down his own death are breathtaking.
This is a highly personal document, important because it charts the course of a unique writer in the final nine months of his life. Stereotyped as a hard-nosed, rooin-addicted cynic, Burroughs found his redemption in love. Living in Lawrence, far from his former haunts in New York and Paris, he basked in the affection of friends, devotees and the half-dozen stray cats he
took into his home.
He wrote on April 28, 1997: "I found myself knocking myself out to be charming, and how I love it — to see the subject glow in response. It's a great feeling, one that I have only experienced in the last few years."
After a lifetime of scaring people with his harrowing descriptions of addiction and hallucination, Burroughs found pleasure in being nice.
Ironic? Perhaps. But also moving.
James Grauerholz, Burroughs' companion and manager, said the journals were intended for publication from the beginning.
"It wasn't a secret at all," said Grauer-holz, who runs William Burroughs communications in Lawrence. "He would take it out and read from it."
The deaths of friends and fellow iconoclasts Timothy Leary (1996) and Allen Ginsberg (four months before his own) brought the issue of mortality to the forefront for Burroughs. Instead of growing more bitter as he faced the end, Burroughs seems to have found a new degree of peace and contentment.
"In my experience, that's a common thing," Grauerholz said. "In many cases, people who know they are getting older do have a more balanced view."
A constant in the journals is Burroughs' passion for guns. The author was a firearms enthusiast for most of his life, and he mentions his regular target-shooting visits to Fred Aldrich's farm northwest of Lawrence.
Geography professor and fellow gun fan Robert McColl pops up in Burroughs' July 8, 1997, entry. McColl had helped Burroughs buy and sell firearms since meeting the author in a Lawrence gun store in the early '60s.
"We had a good and distant relationship," McColl said. "He felt like he could trust me and talk about these things."
Although McColl said he admired Burroughs' work, he didn't discuss literature or philosophy with the author.
"I was in a separate column of interest and activity." McColl said.
KU student Devin Zell, New Strawn senior, got the chance to shoot with Burroughs in late July of 1997, about two
weeks before the author died. He said that Burroughs' mind had been active, despite difficulties moving.
"He was actually a really nice guy," Zell said. "It was kind of neat knowing there was such a famous author around who was an active part of the town."
The news of the Burroughs' death on Aug. 2 surprised Zell.
"I was kind of shocked," he said. "I felt very fortunate to meet him when I did."
Lawrence resident Ryan McCabe met Burrughs and Grauerholz at a Massachusetts Street bookstore in 1995. McCabe said the author had been friendly and had signed one of his books.
"If you weren't a drooling-idiot fan he'd be into you," McCabe said. "It was pretty much like an Elvis-sighting kind of thing."
Like a latter-day Elvis, the journals show the 83-year-old Burroughs living totally on his own terms. He delighted in trashy paperback thrillers, perused newage holistic-healing guides and found the time to guest star in a U2 video.
The book is frustrating, rewarding, funny, sad, incoherent and razor-sharp all at once. Much like the rest of Burroughs' output, it wanders between diary entries, fiction, poetry and quotations within the space of a few tersely-worded sentences. But as his final work, the transitions seem quicker, the satire sharper and the time more compressed. Burroughs still had to write — and he knew time was short.
Last Words isn't the easiest book to read, or the most essential of Burroughs' work. But if the reader cares at all about the author, the writers of his generation or Lawrence, it's fittily rewarding.
Grauerholz said that reading through the journals had been a moving experience.
"I could imagine my friend there," he said. "And I was proud of him."
"LOVE? WHAT IS IT? MOST NATURAL PAINKILLER WHAT THERE IS. LOVE."
WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS, LAST WORDS (2000)
Femi Kuti
Shoki Shoki
Buy it
Femi Kuti's new release Shoki Shoki is powerful proof that he is the king of Afro-heat
Through the vast array of polyrhythmic beats, brass and funky guitars comes the voice of a man who is definitely his father's son. To understand his musical efforts, one needs to understand his origins.
Femi's father, Fela Kuti, stands as the pioneer of this rousing music called Afro-beat, which fueled his life as a Nigerian civil-rights revolutionary. As his mother worked as an activist for the rights of Africans under colonial rule in Nigeria, Fela gained a greater understanding of his own social activism and his music became a voice for a majority of Africans in his condemnation of oppressive governments and racism.
Some critics argue that Femi's music has not continued his father's struggle as well as they would have wished, but a closer listen to his new brand of Afro-
beat could easily prove them wrong.
Musically, there are no holes whatsoever in Shoki Shoki; magnificent, layered percussion, wah-wah guitars and powerful brass accompaniment abound. King Kuti is a classically-trained saxophonist, and in "Victim of Life" he shines.
Femi draws upon past and present to create lyrics and music that ask listeners to reflect on life, what it's offering them and if it should be offering more. In some tracks, such as "What Will Tomorrow Bring" and "Look Around," there is a call for basic reflection.
"Blackman Know Yourself" is evidence of Fela's legacy in that Femi expounds on the link between African-American peoples internationally and the need for a deeper understanding of the power of African ancestry.
One of the true gems on this album is the remix of this track done by hiphop's best, The Roots. The very collaboration between hip-hop and Afro-beat is a testament to the weight of music as an instrument to unite those with a common cause, and as a tool to shake up those unwilling to listen.
—Melineh Kurdian
Supreme Beings of Leisure
Supreme Beings of Leisure
Buy it used
The debut album by Supreme Beings
of Leisure, to be released Tuesday,
shows a great deal of promise.
The Beings, each one bringing their own ethnic flavor to the process, have succeeded in forming a laid-back, funky groove that is accessible and easy to listen to. The blend of calculated electronic rhythms, real strings, and the occasional sitar make the tracks organic enough to keep them interesting.
What truly makes their seductive sound come together is the voice of Geri Soriano-Lightwood. Her vocals are reminiscent of a James Bond seductress when she asks "Don't you want me if I'm the last girl on earth, there's nothing out there..." It's all a part of a very organized album, from the futuristic mod-space cover art to the composition of the songs themselves.
There's a great possibility that their trip-hop formula could make its way into the mainstream, but it won't be because these Supreme Beings have made any crazy revolutions in the industry of music. In spite of the album's musical strengths, what makes me a bit lukewarm toward this album is that I already have heard Massive Attack and Morcheeba. That said, the Supreme Beings still deserve a listen.
Melineh Kurdian
Mindless Self Indulgence
Mindless Self Indulgence Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy Burn it
A disclaimer in the liner notes warms listeners to listen to this album with their tongues planted firmly in their cheeks, and this could very well be the understatement of the year.
On Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy, Mindless Self Indulgence breaks social norms and lays down techno punk that, for the most part, satisfies.
There are a few problems though, such as lead vocalist Little Jimmy Urine. While the sound may not be new to anyone's ears, the band could find somebody that doesn't sound like he graduated with top honors at the Marilyn Manson wannabe academy.
It's been done.
Of course, the standard punk-rock time limit of under 3 minutes for each song is strictly enforced, which makes for some interesting songs. Check out "Blackmask," "Clarissa," "Faggot." "Harry Truman" and "I Hate Jimmy Page" (just for the title).
At times, the songwriting is extremely clever, like in the song "Clarissa," a tribute to the classic Nickelodeon show Clarissa Explains It
Feel free to skip past "Cocaine and Toupees," "Futures" and "Planet of the Apes," which is sad because anything associated with Roddy McDowell should be of the utmost quality, and this track is sub-par at best.
All, or "Ready for Love," wherein Little Jimmy Urine sings about the money and love problems of a lonely teenager. And who can't relate to that?
Another great song worth skipping to the end of the CD for is "Seven-Eleven," a fun romp through the life of a clerk who has to stay up all night (but it's doubtful the song was inspired by Kevin Smith).
There are some great tracks on Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy, and then there are songs like "Planet of the Apes," which has nothing to do with Planet of the Apes, nor does it have anything to do with decent songwriting. What could have been an excellent opportunity to mock the classic film series turns into a boring and repetitive song, kind of like the theme to that old NBC sitcom The Single Guy. It's as if some guy in the studio heard the first 30 seconds of the song and said "Hey, that sounds good, let's loop it." Yawn.
Mindless Self Indulgence has put together a fun album, but too many hit and miss tracks make Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy worth adding to your collection if you're a reviewer who gets free CDs, or you happen to stumble upon a very cheap copy in a used CD store.
Justin Parlette