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INTERESTING TIMES 12: KIND STRANGERS
By Andrew Maben You’d think that at this point I might have stopped, or at least paused, to take stock, to consider what I thought I was doing, where I thought I might be going. Apparently not. If I...
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INTERESTING TIMES 13: THE ROAD TO EXCESS
By Andrew Maben I surely did not notice as Ourobouros touched tongue-tip to tail. Looking back at this moment it has, however, often seemed so: that this was the moment I chose to dive into the...
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INTERESTING TIMES 14: UNRULY TIMES ON AVENUE DE CLICHY
By Andrew Maben By about three in the afternoon we had reached Amiens, and after trudging from the centre of town finally found ourselves back on the side of the main Paris road. Traffic was sparse, no...
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INTERESTING TIMES 15: HENDRIX IS DEAD
By Andrew Maben I regained consciousness to find the sky still that limpid blue, and to the smell of the dew-damp grass soft beneath my back. I was lying half-in, half-out of the van, which teetered...
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CHARLES JESSUP: RADIO PREACHER AND COCK FIGHTER
By Jim Linderman Rev. Charles Jessup was a border radio fixture for years on a powerful station operating just across the Mexican border (and just outside U. S. regulations) at the same time as...
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WILD SEX (IN THE DEATH KNIGHT CLASS)
By dixē.flatlin3 What you are about to read will contain a lot of acronyms. And likely a lot of information you may have never cared to know. But there are many strange kinks in the human phenomenon,...
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WILLIAM H. DOOR: MURDER OF A SUNSET STRIP SMUT KING
By Jim Linderman William H. Door was found November 20, 1963 shot and clubbed to death with his hands tied behind his back. With him, also murdered, was his girlfriend Ellen Criss. Door was “a known...
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INTERESTING TIMES 16: SCARED STRAIGHT
By Andrew Maben Well. Yeah. No. I was not responsible for, nor even involved directly in, the untimely demise of any rock gods. Or anyone else for that matter. But still… It gave me pause. I was also...
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INTERESTING TIMES 17: STONED!
By Andrew Maben It felt like flying. The sun, the blue sky, the quiet road out of town, the sea, and dunes, and Maggie laughing, hair blowing, nipples taut beneath the lacework of that blouse. In the...
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UGLY IS
The “Ugly Spirit” was the impetus for William Burroughs’ writing career. He attributed the accidental shooting and killing of his wife to the influence of such an elemental force, and his vast output...
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VECTOR
On July 28th 1945, at 9:49 am, a plane crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building – at that time, the tallest building in New York. On September 11, 2001, at 9:03 am, a plane crashed...
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LOVERBOY
Sultry, French princess Isabella leans down to the dying king Edward and whispers in his ear … “A child who is not of your line grows in my belly. Your son will not sit long on the throne… I swear...
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SENTENCE
In the beginning was the Word. Then came the Sentence: “LIFE” “The Defendant is found guilty of an undisclosed crime and is hereby sentenced to solitary confinement until such time as the Court sees...
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1%
Marga, says Joseph Campbell, is a Sinhala word derived from Sanskrit. In this, its plural form, it denotes ways, methods and techniques. From the Tamil version of the word, Markangal, derives the...
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INTENTION
The armies of Yersinia pestis destroyed more than fifty million human beings during the fourteenth century alone – more than the combined hordes of Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun many times over....
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SETI
“And who amongst you,” asked one of the Aliens,” is the most revered, the most recognizable to your fellow Earthlings?” “There is one,” said the president,” who is truly revered, an athlete whose...
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EPIC BATTLES #8 CADIZ 1625
George Villiers, The Earl of Buckingham, was a ‘favorite’ of King James I. “God bless you, my sweet child and wife,” crooned James,” and grant that ye may ever be a comfort to your dear father and...
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X+WHY
In a recent interview, Richard Dawkins was asked if he would prefer to be “happy” or “right.” He felt there was no reason why he couldn’t be both, but of the two he would unquestionably opt for...
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STILL TIME
Two Englishmen walked into a bar… “Chaos mate, it’s total fucking chaos. They’re choppin’ each other’s ‘eads off… runnin’ around with ‘em on sticks. I’m tellin’ you… it’s gonna get worse and before...
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MONKEY SEE
If we accept the Hunter/Gatherer paradigm, we must also accept the very different forms of attentiveness and perception implicit in each set of behaviors. Given that sexual morphology determines...
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CLIMATE
One hundred and ninety-nine years ago in June, snow fell on Albany New York. Six months earlier, Central Italy experienced the worst snowstorms on record. The snow was red and yellow. Between the end...
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BETTIE PAGE WITH THE KU KLUX KLAN: CELEBRITY BRANDING AND SURFACE DEEP...
By Jim Linderman Not seen in over 50 years, and certainly not identified as Bettie Page at the time of publication, these photographs were in such questionable taste even the “notorious” pin-up model...
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STARBUCKS: A MILLION ASSHOLES PUCKERED EACH DAY
A short man, with short white hair and a short white beard is reading the list of drinks on the wall above the counter. He wears a white Polo shirt and voluminous pressed Levis. “What does Espresso...
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BUGS/LIFE
Director Samuel Orr presents us with a painstakingly beautiful account of the unique 17-year lifecycle of Cicadas. The video is a trailer, a promo, a ‘greatest hits’ version of the full-length movie...
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WE HAVE TO TALK
To a man, the four most terrifying words in the English language. The Los Angeles Police Academy sits in a corner of Elysian Park – one of the most beautiful parks in the city. Its palm-shaded hills...
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THANK YOU LORD FOR GIVING ME KNEES – # 5 MOSES
In the Stage Musical The Ten Commandments, Val Kilmer stars as – or as the poster would have it – actually “is” Moses. According to The L.A. Weekly, the production was originally “launched” in France,...
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HYPNOTIST COLLECTORS AND WALKING ANTIQUES: NYLA THOMPSON AND THE DISHONESTY...
By Jim Linderman Pioneer folk art collector Herbert Hemphill, Jr. was on a mission in the early 1970s. The first director of the nascent Museum of American Folk Art and compulsive collector of same...
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SPOKES
Scientists suggest they now know how much the Earth weighs. What does this mean? Each human being walking the Earth embodies a linear force of attraction and repulsion that runs vertically through...
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CLASSIC MOVIES #9 – MASTER AND COMMANDER
Obscurantist visual seduction at its very best, convincing us once again that conflict among human beings – especially white European human beings – is inevitable, and with the right music, the right...
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GUNG HO
When we came up with the idea of freewill, we pulled the rug out from under ourselves and started wearing it as a hat. It’s our most cherished conceit. In a moment of inspired bravado we went over the...
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CROWDFUNDING AND THE CURIOUS CASE OF SCREAM PARK
By dixē.flatlin3 Once upon a time there was a young man who dreamt of making a horror movie. But not just any horror movie would suffice, no. This young man wanted to make an 80’s-style slasher film. A...
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CLASSIC MOVIES – #4 MR. AND MRS. SMITH
The first time I saw Mrs. Smith, she was lying next to me on the side of a bus. Later that same day… I spotted her husband on the side of another one. De rigueur as it is for Hollywood movie stars,...
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AN ANT
I watched an ant, stumbling across the hairs on my arm, a scene as remote and beyond my control as a leaf falling from a tree in China. I had no say in any of it. Even if I were to fool myself that...
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BLACAMAN AND GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ CHEAT DEATH
By Jim Linderman “A favorite for long with Argentine circus-goers was “Blackamon, the Living Corpse.” A swarthy, stocky Italian, Corpse Blackamon favored satin turbans and gaudy oriental robes,...
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MOUTHS TO FEED
Corporations are considered living organisms and afforded rights accordingly. Their primary directive, like all life, is to increase. Unlike biological organisms, however, their methods are not...
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PLAYING THE GAME
The publicity photograph shows him standing barefoot in a business suit, hanging by one arm from the branch of a tree. His passion, we are told, is Conservation. His career has spanned several...
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LAWYERS, GUNS AND MONEY IN BLACK AND WHITE
By Jim Linderman Black gangsters from the past. Given the attitudes, practices and institutional racism of the time, these sharp-dressers might have just been walking to work when swept up. It appears...
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HARRY ROSKOLENKO AND THE COUCH OF DESIRE: EXCERPT FROM TIMES SQUARE SMUT, THE...
By Jim Linderman Harry Roskolenko In 2008, I came across a list of 72 books which were banned by the Supreme Court of the United States. As the story was under-reported, few Americans then or now know...
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HOWARD CAMPBELL AND WOODROW HILL: A BOOK AND AN EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS
By Jim Linderman The first post I wrote for DULL TOOL DIM BULB was about a piece of furniture I obtained from Howard Campbell. Howard Campbell was one of the most interesting men I ever knew, and I...
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INTERESTING TIMES 1: BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD
By Andrew Maben Four in the morning the labor pains began. It was 9:30 a.m. in Delhi. It would be a difficult birth. Labor went on through the day, until the doctors decided to intervene and at four...
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INTERESTING TIMES 2: SCHOOLDAYS
By Andrew Maben Idyll of childhood, such as it had been, was about to come to an end, though of course I had no forebodings. One cold, misty, drizzly, January afternoon my father loaded my newly packed...
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INTERESTING TIMES 3: JUST A LONELY BOY
By Andrew Maben Ravenswood was another private boarding school in the hills bordering Exmoor. It had the same rules, the same ghastly food, the same institutionalized cruelty. And I certainly had...
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INTERESTING TIMES 4: SHERBORNE
By Andrew Maben Eleven Plus, I’m sorry to tell you, was yet another shameful humiliation. You may well be thinking it’s high time I got over it. What can I say? Only that I fail now, as I did then, to...
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INTERESTING TIMES 5: GROWING UP
By Andrew Maben It’s probably fair to say that most, if not quite all, the volunteers for the Digby were losers and refugees like me, seeking any escape, even should it prove to be from frying pan to...
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INTERESTING TIMES 6: FREEDOM
By Andrew Maben No reprieved prisoner could have felt greater joy and relief than I as I walked out of the front door for the last time and made my way to the station. I took off my tie, that...
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INTERESTING TIMES 7: ART SCHOOL
By Andrew Maben Memory is still a misted night journey: soft, unshaped forms loom and fade, with occasional bright oases of light. The first week: a time of excitement, a time of uncertainly finding...
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INTERESTING TIMES 8: SUMMER OF LOVE
By Andrew Maben So, wait a minute… What, as they sometimes say, was I thinking? What indeed? I suppose that in a certain sense you could say I wasn’t thinking at all, simply living to my utmost, in the...
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INTERESTING TIMES 9: WINTER OF DISCONTENT
By Andrew Maben Yes, I was still a student, and I’d been set a summer project as an introduction to the Fine Art program: a painting on the theme of night. Somehow I became fascinated with a small...
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INTERESTING TIMES 10: ON MY OWN
By Andrew Maben Before I left, Mum handed me a packet of Durex, told me to always keep them handy. Good advice. I’d found a bed-sit just south of Victoria station, a tiny room on the top floor, up many...
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INTERESTING TIMES 11: SUMMER DREAMS AND DISILLUSION
By Andrew Maben For the first, and I hope the last, time in my life I slept standing up. The train from Paris to Marseilles was so packed with Parisians making their annual summer exodus that there...
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