CAPTAIN: JOURNAL: DEAD WHITE PLASTIC BAGS EVERYWHERE
Dose usually 12 mg day in divided doses to a maximum of 24mg woman faces sex abuse webcam charge police defend use of taser gun during arrest. The cities presence is manifest in muscle spasm, restlessness, drowsiness, palpitation, all blood and skin changes. We’ve crossed the line. This is the after-burn: the toxic sea of stagnating pollution. The remains of a planet fucked by mankind. It is the graveyard of all our desires. It is beautiful. Can you hear a corrosive melody drifting up from the crowding street? My band made that sound. We were aiming to bring down the heavens. Sounds like we finally got there. Begging like vets for scraps on scummy pavement at this present moment in time. Happy days. I walk down to the beach to gaze out at the horizon.
More effluence is clogging up the sea, dead white plastic bags everywhere. A vile smell so palpable it is visible on the air. The ozone begins to peel away. I feel so romantic. Blisters are breaking out on the skin and my legs are beginning to swell. Presence for an ocean is so intrinsic to its being that men tend to think of it as an almost physical emanation, a kind of heat or smell or aura, a white tablet supplied at strengths of 2 mg 4 mg and used as a sedative to treat anxiety, tension, chronic mental disorders, schizophrenia, vomiting, nausea, rats and fleas and lice and cockroaches all the vermin of the underworld rise up rise up paris hilton port terminus pray tell me is this the end. I haven’t felt so good in such a long time.
The dirty beach is full of corrupted bodies. I feel invigorated with new purpose. As if this is a moment I was born for. My eyes are a gleaming reflection of the possible world I sense around me. Adventure, travailing, a sense of glory, that’s what makes life worth living. The ghost of every war ever fought rages in the distant sky. The moon looks down and smiles. I think we did a pretty good job of capturing the sound of the end of the world here. Conspiracy is everything and paranoia the key. The sentimental tunes are always the best though. I had thought for so long that there wouldn’t be a way out. Suddenly language clicks and tongues stutter. I haven’t finished yet. I know I can get through this and somewhere just beyond this darkening poisonous spell is the space I am after. Afternoon tea is about to be served. The dance has just begun. Keep your soul with you at all times and the spirit vigilante. The mind will fly only when the body crashes. Savour orgasm whilst you can. Don’t barter too many dreams. Eclipses happen but once in a smothered sun. Love is the thing. Then. Everything must end. This is it. Here to go. I must note everything down. I see the place like it was yesterday; see it so clearly. That room we shared in the city of rack and ruin.
A Lucky Thief In A Careless World
A limited edition recording that marks Radio Joy’s recent homage to William Burroughs at the University of London in Paris. The occasion itself was the Lunch@50 convention to honour the 50th anniversary of Naked Lunch. The invocation to William continues…
Price: £10 (inc p&p)
Available from:
Printed by Disc Wizards
Listen to Invocation to William live in London 2009
Johny Brown interviewed by Oliver Harris
People will know of you from the Band of Holy Joy, going back an implausible quarter of a century to the mid-1980s, and some will have been listening in for the last couple of years to your very own Radio Joy Sunday evening show. It was well worth waiting for, but I only caught up on the action in summer 2009 when, along with almost a hundred other lucky thieves at the Naked Lunch@50 events in Paris, I witnessed “A Lucky Thief in a Careless World.” With the stunning projections of Inga Tillere and the music of Jonny Mugwump and Chris Brierley, you seemed to come close to an act of conjuration in your oblique retelling of the shooting of Joan Burroughs. “Matter, energy, spirit and being, they were our prime concerns,” one of your lines went. It felt like a dangerous game; was that your aim?
Read the rest of the interview here.
European Beat Studies Network, January 2011
Band Of Holy Joy – A LUCKY THIEF IN A CARELESS WORLD (E.P & REVIEW @ SHUNT MAY 2009) by Den Browne
This five track ep represents the musical element of the Band of Holy Joy’s “Lucky Thief” project. This was an event conceived for the 50th anniversary of the publication of William Burroughs’ “Naked Lunch”, an extraordinary book – one of the first to deal with addiction from the inside, & also anticipated/influenced punk by a good 20 years.
Musically, the group provide an ideal backdrop – think Television meet Van Morrison (“Veedon Fleece” period) in Neil Young’s back room – for Johny Brown’s sung/spoken delivery of the lyrics. There’s a lovely balance to the sound, with really deft touches of texture & colour from Chris Brierley’s violin. It’s a controlled sound, which makes it all the more effective when they cut loose later.
“Around theCity of Rack & Ruin” takes us into the Burroughs story, and “A Face You’ll Never Forget” evokes the bizarre circumstances surrounding the death of Burroughs’ wife Joan (a drunken attempt at recreating the William Tell story with a wine glass & Pistol – don’t try this at home…). “The Captain” takes us from this episode to outline some of the writer’s main ideas (& links back to Johny’s Ancient mariner play, Burroughs cast adrift with Johnny Thunders & Kathy Acker) – in a reading by Chris Brierley – & finally erupts into a cacophony of short wave fx (courtesy Inga Tillere) & distant dubby trombone.
The last track “Conditions Fraught with Peril Here” captures the damp quayside, cheap hotel vibe of addiction perfectly. There’s a really good development of ideas & themes through the five songs, & this one really brings everything together.
We were lucky enough to catch the last night of the performance at Shunt, before the act moved off to a triumphant show at a serious Burroughs-fest in Paris. The group had done four nights in the Shunt run, all totally improvised, a really brave move. Inga Tillere’s shifting back projections intensified the atmosphere, while Johnny Mugwump worked up a sonic storm on his laptop. At times you could really feel Johny Brown’s intense concentration, as he wrang out the words, channeling the old spirits of the Beat Generation. All in all, a really intense, compressed hour, perfectly combining sounds, visuals, words & music.
At times the performers had to struggle to overcome some of the limitations & peculiarities of the venue. The performance space really wasn’t big enough & it was pretty cramped for the audience – criminal in a venue the size of Shunt. The absence of any Shunt staff on the door meant that for a while there were a lot of distracting interruptions as pink-winged hen parties crashed in & out noisily on their way to the House Anthems all-niter. Not my favourite venue…
The performance we saw was being filmed, so hopefully at some stage there’ll be some visual evidence of this fascinating show. “A Lucky thief” is the kind of mixed-media venture which can be very pompous & pretentious if it goes wrong, but Johny & the group aren’t afraid to take risks & end up bringing home the prize.
Go to www.bandofholyjoy.co.uk to get the ep (£10 incl p&p). Take a look at some of the other sections while you’re there for some cool words & pics – also highly recommend the Radio Joy, 8-9pm on Sunday nights .
Den Browne, Mudkiss Fanzine, 2009