Inkwell: Authors and Artists

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     I'm not sure how to respond, Oliver.  Terence McKenna and his
ex-wife raised two kids.  I know one of 'em, Finn, and he seems
well-adjusted to me -- no indication that he didn't get his pants
patched.
     I don't think that trying to transcend the mundane necessarily
means abstaining from certain responsibilities although, of course, it
can.  In my own life, there are certain talents, like making money and
holding on to it, that have evaded me completely.  Is it a source of
irritation for my family who've had to come to the rescue occasionally?
 Yes.  But I try to make up for it in other ways.
     So Lord Buckley wasn't perfect?  I never meant to imply that he
was.  According to your book, his kids were well-behaved, so I assume
they got their pants patched.  Buckley's imperfection -- "letting the
chips fall" -- doesn't mean that he didn't have an idea how humans can
evolve forward IN SOME ASPECTS OF THEIR LIVES (emphasis added).  
     It's a fine line.  Society says "These are the rules - a, b, c,
d, and e".  If one is unable to follow, say, rules d and e, is it
necessarily the individual's fault?  We live in a one-size-fits-all
social construct and not eveyone -- thankfully -- will fit.  
     I learned a long time ago that most of the humans I looked up to
-- Abbie Hoffman, Lenny Bruce, Jerry Garcia, etc., et al, ad infinitum
-- were woefully imperfect.  Annabelle Garcia will tell you what a
shitty father Jerry was.  But he wasn't as imperfect as Henry Kissinger
or Ken Lay or the boss at the Philly branch of some multinational who
treats his workers like slaves.  There are degrees of imperfection. 
Artistic types can be infuriating because of their inattention to
certain details.  Some of those lapses of attention -- taking care of
one's kids -- are inexcusable.  But others aren't.   Again, one size
doesn't fit all.
     I think you're using a broad brush, but in all fairness, I may
have made the same mistake by implying that certain visionaries are
super-human.  I will agree that while they may be super-visionary, they
remain all too human, with the attendant foibles and fuck-ups.
  

    
May I am generalizing or even perhaps not exactly getting where
McKenna is coming from at least in term of Lord B. I'm not sure Buckley
was abandoning belief systems for more direct anything. It seems that
he was trying to reinvent or refreshen the belief systems as a way
conencting with them and the family of man with greater vitality. I
think it's pretty clear that he was after a unified vision of
spirituality and human expression/experience that brought together all
the world's disparate traditions, cultures, icons, myths, and legends
with humor and good-heartedness. I guess I'm also saying that he could
also be a real pain in the ass to hang with. I would have loved to hang
with the guy but, let's face it, it probably would have been easier to
do in small doses. And yeah, I cop to the weighty possibilities in my
mission of spreading his gospel personal warts and all. Let me put it
this way: I'm not sure I'd want His Lordship, McKenna, Moondog, Garcia,
etc. at the helm of the U.N. but I wouldn't mind a bit more of their
influence.
  

    
     Fuck you, Trager...MOONDOG FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL!!!!!
     OK, you're doing this WELL blab, you've done NPR, any other
public plug appearances?  What would be your dream public appearance to
promote the Buckley book?  Howzabout at General Assembly of the United
Nations?
  

    

He also got reviewed in the San Francisco Chronicle!


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/07/09/D
D183829.DTL
  

    
E-mail from Michael Ambar:

First off, congratulations on finally getting the book published!  (You
and I exchanged a few e-mails back in '97 or so, when I first discovered
LBOnline.)  Secondly, thanks for writing it.  I first discovered His
Hipness in NYC in summer of  '66 and immediately became a fanatic, so I
can honestly say I've been waiting for a book, any book, about Lord
Buckley for thirty-six freaking years!  Read it through twice and love
it.  Perfect title, too.  Now, thirdly, I have a question:  Could you
expand a little on what you said here about your interactions with
Buckley's kids?  About "not being on the same page" w/them?  Can you be
more specific?  Were they looking for a whitewash or something, about his
non-monogamy w/their mothers, or what?  And finally, have you had any
feedback at all from them since the book came out?  Do you know if any of
them have read it or not?  That's all for now...I've got a few casting
ideas if they ever do make a movie, and I sure hope if they do it ain't
Robin Williams in the lead...it should be someone fairly unknown.  I can
think of a few obscure character actors who both fit the bill physically,
and could just kick ass in the part.
  

    
And Sun Ra for NASA Chief! Dream appearance? How about throwing out
the first pitch at the 7th game of the World Series at Yankee Stadium?
I've done a couple of public appearances so far. The best was a
reading/performance at 55 Bar on Sheridan Sq. I'm no Lord B but I can
read the material well enough to impress even the hard-core...and I do
dig being onstage. I'd like to do more but haven't really made too many
efforts in that direction yet. I got a couple of bookstore gigs set up
in the Boston area in mid-September. I could use a publicist/booking
agent.

Thanks for the kudos Mike. The title is pretty cool. Here's a secret:
for years I was calling it "Stompin' The Sweet Swingin' Sphere." You
asked about the Royal Family. Briefly, they were working on their own
(apparantly still-unrealized projects), were suspicious of worthy souls
like me, over-vaulued the material, had conflciting agendas amongst
themselves, etc. All of this combined to make me decided to pursue my
research and goals without them. I have had no direct feedback from
them although I hear they generally approve of the story I told. And
who are your casting ideas?
  

    

Oliver,
        As soon as I get my wig screwed on tighter, I'll come up with the
"tid" about jazz master Bob Dorough and The Lord. And thanks to Michael
Simmons about the Dorough/Holy Modal Rounders reference---didn't know that.
        In parting for now, let me say how enjoyable this has all been--- so
in there tight --- & also how deftly digging it is to hear of Robt. Johnson,
Sun Ra, and others related to Magister Buckley---how 'bout Rashaan Roland
Kirk, too??

Yours in the Lord,

Wayne McGinnis
  

    
     Oliver, while re-reading portions of your book a question
occurred: how many of the oral histories were written and how many
spoken (via phone, tape or live)?  Some of them seem too damn
well-constructed to have been knocked out of someone's head impromptu. 
But then you spoke to some erudite folks.   
  

    
I'm about half-way through, as of last night, and except for some
misinformation about record companies in there, I'm extremely
impressed. One question: is there any possibility that the Lighthouse
tapes, which you pretty much hold out as Buckley's best recorded work,
will ever come out? 
  

    
Wayne: Certanly, I see Roland Kirk as being cut out of that same
beautiful, multi-colored, gone, far-out, ever livin'/lovin' fabric as
Lord B. and, in fact, Kirk is briefly mentioned in "DI!" as one of
Keser's three all-time heroes next to Neal Cassady and Buckley. I doubt
Buckley was aware of Kirk but I can believe, sound omnivore that he
was, that Roland came across Buckley.

A little coincidence: Welcome Rain (my publisher) also published
"Bright Moments: The Life & Legacy of Rahsaan Rolan Kirk" by John
Kruth. John does a Rahsaanian job of bringing it all back home and I
highly recommend the book (now available in paperback). John is also a
great muli-instrumentalist and has been giving me mandolin lessons
recently.

Michael: About 20 of the 110 odd witnesses were gathered from
previously-published material (liner notes, magazine/newspaper articles
etc.) but I did speak to some of those whose written material I
include as well. For instance, some of Doc Humes's contribution is from
the quill of his own pen and some it is what I collected from an
interview I conducted with him late in his life.

And, interestigly, I didn't hardly mess with the words of those I did
interview except to clean up the syntax, make 'em sound a bit more
literate and erudite here and there. But those kinds of cosmetics were
the exception...these people are generally heavyweight champion
raconteurs and had been telling these stories for so many years that
they flowed from their lips as if they had been written by God's
apprentice screenwriter.

Nearly all the interviews I conducted were phoners (exception: Kesey,
the Zaluds, George Greif, Plimpton, Grampa, Larry Storch, Doc Humes,
Steve Ben Israel, Frank Speiser) and some were done by others like
michael Monteleone or Doug Cruickshank and shared. Eric Bogosian's
contribution, for instance, was gathered from what he wrote on an
oversized postcard and mailed to me. Personally, I found it easier to
do them over the phone. In other words, I think I tended to get better
material from people when they were speaking to a disembodied voice.

Berliner: While I do rave about that '53 Lighthouse gig and would love
to see it released some day, the tapes of Buckley's '58-60 gigs are
even better. The '58 concert for Henry Miller at Nepenthe, any of the
Gold Nugget tapes from Oakland '60, the Lionel Hampton session, the '59
Bill Butler interview (available I think through the Pacifica Radio
Archives in Southern California for a not-too-expensive price) on KPFA
in Berekely, or the unabridged interview with Studs Terkel (we edited
out some material for reasons mostly of space/time) are all incredible.
Lord Buckley definitely got better with time. Regarding the eventual
official release of this material, I have little to say. Aside from the
copyright gray areas, I'm not sure what kind of demand there is for
rare Lord Buckley recordings right now.

Also Berliner, hip me...what kind of record company info did I mis?
Perhaps I can correct it for future editions.
  

    
E-mail sent. 
  

    
I am wondering if the name Sam Stout ever came up in any of your 
research. He was a brilliant Washington DC raconteur/writer with a 
Buckleyan, Casadyesque talent, back in the early to mid sixties.
  

    
I am loving the book, and this morning I loved the first few tracks on the
accompanying CD.  I was taken by your statement that he "punctuated his roll-
ing sentences with a one-syllable bleat that sounded like a trombone note,"
and I laughed out loud over my coffee this mornign when I heard it on the CD.
EXACTLY like a trombone note, and surely that's exactly what he intended.

I loved the Slim Gaillard story, too.  "Story has it that he was so fond of
the suffix -rooney (as in 'You got the federation blues-o-rooney') that when
he was introduced to Mickey Rooney he asked what his last name was."

Lots of wonderful show-biz lore in here.  Like the phrase "playing to the
haircuts," which is what the last act in a vaudeville show did 'cause so many
people were walking up the aisle to leave as they worked.

And, as a sometime producer of archival recordings, I would KILL to work on
some Buckley stuff.  And I know someone could be found to put it out.  The
big dinosaur record companies don't give a shit, but the Internet and
technology have made it feasible to do short runs of CDs.
  

    
I've suggested, via e-mail, a box through Rhino (or, come to think of
it, Rhino Handmade) with Trager-written notes. I know people there,
including one who I'm pretty sure would go for it. 
  

    

I just got the book, myself, and I'm listening to the CD, as we speak!  My 
very first exposure to Lord Buckley.  Big time fun.  I just don't 
understand how it is that up until this very moment, I've never heard this 
man before.  (I also got a quick little sense of Jackie Gleason in the 
first few seconds of that CD...)

Most of the conversation in this topic so far has taken place as if 
everyone has already heard of LB and is familiar with his work.  I'd 
actually like some background so I can get an idea of who he is, where he 
came from, and how it is that he and his work, and the people who knew 
about it who might have turned me on to him, seem to have existed in a 
parallel universe that never intersected mine.

May you always put it down solid in great truth and great beauty!
  

    

I think a lot more people have heard "The Nazz" than know who did it.
  

    
Tod Rundgren, right?
  

    
Har!
  

    
I'm coming late to this, but I have to say that since I first dug up Lord 
Buckley material (possibly back 30 years ago in Israel) I have been a big 
fan. No one has mentioned my own, personal, all-time-favorite, "The Great 
Gann," which I thought encapsulated a lot that was hip about Gandhi in 
ways that no one else has been able to articulate. 

Buckley has been one of those inspirations, proof that if you tell it 
like it is, there are people who will listen (however few of us there 
are), and that it's worth telling. Too damn bad he passed before there 
was an internet.
  

    <scribbled by tnf Sat 20 Jul 02 12:32>
  

    


I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts on what he would have done had Lord
Buckley lived another 10 or 20 years? A number of people in Oliver's book and
some of the subjects of the documentary film have suggested that the
"revolution" of the '60s would have embraced His Lordship. Buckley
interpretor Tom Calagna has suggest that Lord Buckley would have been brought
out on silk pillows at Woodstock (a very great an hiply noble image). But,
has anybody goofed on the proposition? What direction he might have headed?
Would have continued to work clubs? What kind of material might come from
that hippest of wigs? Might he have found himself in an entirely different
arena?
--
Michael Monteleone
Industrial Haiku
  

    
     Michael M.'s question is intriguing.  If Buckley had lived, how
would he have fit in the '60s counterculture?  The mind boggles.  His
Lordship and Abbie in Chicago (he more likely would've hung with the
elders contingent (Burroughs, Ginsberg, Genet, Terry Southern).  
     Speaking of the late, Great Terry, in many ways I see him as
sharing similarities with Buckley.  They were both deeply influenced by
African-American patois, both affected mock high-Brit accents, both
played with English to maximize its fun.
     I'm curious, did Buckley endure bad reviews during his lifetime? 
If so, how did he handle them?  I know I've had a few in my career,
including one by a poster on this list (Berliner) who wrote a letter to
the Village Voice back in music days, chastising them for writing
about me when he'd never heard me perform.  25 years later and I've
neither forgotten nor forgiven.
     So, in the spirit of "What would Jesus do?", what would Buckley
do? 
  

    
I'm going to have to go find this book. I adore Lord Buckley. First heard of
him in a Spider Robinson story, but then realized other people had been
quoting him all along -- it was like showing up at a party and realizing
half the guests were familiar already. Very cool.

If somebody does do more compilations, I'd buy 'em. ("Laaaawd! Can you dig
me in this here fish??")
  

    
E-mail to me from Michael Monteleone, posted by permission:

Hi, Linda,

I was reading through the Inkwell discussion about Dig Infinity! and 
noticed  contribution stating your desire to know more about Lord 
Buckley's background. I thought I'd write and tell you that there is 
a lot of background material about His Lordship at lordbuckley.com. 
If you go to the section called The Printheads you will find a number 
of articles about Lord Buckley. I might suggest the article titled 
"All Hail Lord Buckley" by Doug Cruickshank. It's a two part article 
and will give you a really good overview of his life and career. 
Beyond that there are articles about Buckley's art and his recordings 
and there's even an article in Swedish if you are so inclined.

Beyond the printed material there are sections at LBC where you can 
read a compilation of the Lord Buckley's hip language (The 
HIPeasaurus) and there is a Who's Who called The Royal Gallery.

[...]

May the Sweet Lord Swing You up and keep you always in the groove,

Michael Monteleone
lordbuckley.com

PS - thanks again for the great job you are doing for the Dig 
Infinity at Inkwell.