Juno R.I.P., 2007-2019

Had to let go of our beloved Juno today. This is a photo of her from 2012 taken by Mark Hanauer. She was truly the most beautiful creature that ever loved us. Showed up on our doorstep a pregnant teen in 2008... she sure as hell had our number. My son Spencer named her after the film character played by Ellen Page. Smartest, funniest, coolest cat that ever graced our lives. Loyal to the very last moment of her ninth life, she was a playful kitten who entered the world with a joy that never ebbed. When we had parties, she would literally sit on the middle chair between guests, checking everyone out as if she was the hostess with the mostess. She was my guardian cat, muse and angel, always over my shoulder or in my lap. So hard to let her go, she will be missed. Flights of feline angels...

I think that this is Juno at her most blissful, "hiding" in Pat's Garden post motherhood. So named "Pat's Garden" after Lorraine's father who had passed away shortly after Juno had arrived. One of Pat's greatest joys only a week before he crossed over was hearing about the birth of Juno's four little kittens; two black, and two orange tabbies -- two matched sets of one female/male of each. The first one was born on Spencer's bed about 3 in the morning in late March 2008, "Dad, hurry!!! Juno's had a kitten!!!" The little peanut was squirming across the quilt at the foot of Spencer's bed looking for Juno who was just sitting on the bed waiting for the next little wiggly peanut to arrive. I scooped them up and placed them inside a warm box with towels I had made in anticipation of Juno's mewling brood. All was well, all the kittens thrived. In time, two pairs were placed in homes as matched sets of male/female/tabby/black. We still get to see the pair that were adopted by one of Lorraine's co-workers at the Huntington -- Malcolm the Orange Tabby and his sister Zoe the Black Panther.

Juno, 2007-2019.

Love,

S.A.

Opening: Mike M Mollett: Balls, Worlds & Spheres at Moryork

Art opening for Carma Bum, Mudman, artist and poet Mike M Mollett's show at Moryork, May 11, 7-10pm. Featuring performances / readings by Rod Baer, Mona Jean Cedar, S.A. Griffin, Bibiana Padilla Maltos, Jeff Rogers and guest of honor himself, Mike M Mollett with the lovey and wonderful Josie Roth. This is all taking place in artist Clare Graham's studio / gallery / living museum Moryork. If you have never been here before, prepare to have your mind blown. Worth coming to the show just to experience the space.

 

See ya there!

Love,

S.A.

Dr. Mongo Taribubu, Acres of Blue!!

The beautiful Dr. Mongo singing Acres of Blue.

Love,

S.A.

The Llano Colonist, October 6, 1934: Yes I Am Homesick

This old editorial/headline below is something that should enter the hearts and minds of everyone who reads it. Something my wife Lorraine sent to me. Something to read and digest during these turbulent times, a time that some say is the "twilight" of democracy. Something being archived and saved. One of many from a collection of very old, and very fragile newspapers. Could've been written today. Could be someone is writing it right now. Could be.

The Llano Colonist is a newspaper produced by the members of Llano del Rio commune, or "colony" which began in 1871 at the Vernon Parish in Louisiana and flourished between 1914-1918 in the Mojave desert of Southern California. You can find out more about both the commune and the newspaper here.

 

"THE VOICE OF THE SELF-EMPLOYED"

THE LLANO

COLONIST

VOLUME XIV, NUMBER 1424 Newllano, La., Berkeley, Cal., Washington, D.C. October 6, 1934

Yes I Am Homesick

by Morton Alexander

I AM HOMESICK -- Homesick for a land I have never seen. Homesick for the land I have long dreamed about, talked about, written about.

     I am homesick  for a land where men have shed their fangs and their claws -- where they have put aside the poisoned arrows of Selfishness and Greed and Envy and Lust and vain-glorious Conceit -- and have gathered together all their implements of cruelty and torture, pain and strife, and piled them upon the rubbish heap of time -- there to be consumed by the unquenchable fires of justice, progress and truth.

     Yes! I am homesick for the land of fellowship, of understanding, of brotherhood and love.

     I am homesick for a land where jails and asylums and poor-houses have crumbled back to dust -- where men no longer wear the menial garb of disgrace and dishonor, nor put it upon their fellows; where they no longer build dungeons for their own souls and prison-pens for their fellowmen. 

     I am homesick, too, for a land where man no longer struggles in daily conflict with his brother for possession of the bounties which God in his infinite beneficence, generously provided for all.

     I am homesick for a land where the boundary lines of nationality, and race and creed and color and caste have forever been blotted from the maps of the earth -- and where a united mankind can gather beneath the singing stars and raise its voice in joyful ecstasy to Him whose altar is all space, whose temple, earth, sea and sky.

     I am homesick for a land where the ignorance, folly and brutality of men no longer thwart, overthrow and destroy the patient efforts of the wise, the good and the true.

     AH YES! Homesick am I for that longed-for-land, far, far beyond the horizon of this, my troubled day -- the beauteous land of dreams fulfilled, of hopes realized, of ideals attained.

     Aren't you, too, my brother, my sister, homesick for this radiant land of heart's delight?

     Then come with me -- we are pilgrims on the same road. Let us go hand in hand.

 *************

Love, S.A. & Lorraine 

New From Rose of Sharon Press: Lost Bastard Chronicles by Mark Hartenbach!!!

Lost Bastard Chronicles by Mark Hartenbach

New from Rose of Sharon Press, Lost Bastard Chronicles by Mark Hartenbach!!! Above is the front cover and spine. This perfect bound baby weighs in at 6" x 9" with paper wraps containing 258 pages of world class poetry by master wordsmith Mark Hartenbach. Full color covers and full color reproductions of original art by Mark inside.

To order a copy of Lost Bastard Chronicles, please drop me a line.

"Two poets stand out in my mind as carrying on a tradition that took root in the Sixties through subsequent decades and into the new millennium. Some call it Meat, some Confessional, but those labels are not big enough to cover this breed of poetry, and so I'll leave it nameless. It's a poetry that connects more with the Beats than the Sixties, but stripped of the baggage of ideology and formalized spiritual quest that saddles much of Beat poetry; its language is lean and sharp and drills into everyday life, surfacing with nuggets of uncut truth that melt away if you try to incorporate them into something "bigger". The Mimeo Revolution was the vehicle that carried this poetry through the Sixties and early Seventies; after that, it was pretty much on its own. The poets I'm talking about are Albert Huffstickler, who died in February of 2002, and Mark Hartenbach, who carries on." John Bennett - Vagabond Press

It has been such a genuine honor and pleasure to work with Mark on this book. I hope that you will enjoy experiencing the book as much as I did helping to bring it to print.

John Dorsey, S.A. Griffin and Mark Hartenbach, E. Liverpool, Ohio, October 2012. Good times. Photo by Casey Rearick.

Since 1988

Love,

S.A.

Harvey Korman Harvey Korman Harvey Korman by Dorsey, Griffin & Wannberg is here!!!

Harvey Korman Harvey Korman Harvey Korman

Just in time for Earth Day, Arbor Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, mid-day, your pet cat's birthday, heyday, Sunday thru Monday and salad days...

Harvey Korman Harvey Korman Harvey Korman

by John Dorsey, S.A. Griffin and Scott Wannberg

Is she, or isn't he? After a 12 year trip thru time, our sexy space angel is back with fellow wordsmiths John Dorsey, S.A. Griffin and Scott Wannberg on board laying it down for your eyes only!! Harvey Korman... is a brand spanking new title from Spartan Press, where everything's up to date in Kansas City! And of course, you too can have one of these crazy creatures for your very own. Back channel me and I will be more than glad to sign, seal and deliver one of these for $20.

Harvey Korman... by the same trio of intrepid wordsmiths that gave you 2005's Harvey Keitel, Harvey Keitel, Harvey Keitel.

And if you like, there are still copies of this lovely object from a kinder, gentler era available as well, which I am glad to throw in for an additional $10.

John Dorsey, Scott Wannberg and S.A. Griffin. Unregulated Word, Kansas City, MO, August 2009, Prospero's Books. I have no idea who took the picture, but I would like to thank them. Scott was a happy as hell love machine and drunk as a proverbial stinking skunk that night celebrating the release of his first book on Perceval Press, Strange Movie Full of Death, and happy to be reunited after moving to Florence, Oregon a year earlier. After 20 years on the road and off, this would be our last round-up together as The Carma Bums. I would see Scott once again a year later in Los Angeles before he exited the building for good in 2011.

Harvey Korman... is dedicated to our beloved friends Scott Wannberg (1953-2011) and Marsha Getzler (1940-2015). Forever in our hearts and minds.

Marsha working her culinary magic, photo by S.A. Griffin.

Love, S.A.

The Hideous Bible and Ozark Revelations by The Lost Bums

The Hideous Bible

S.A. Griffin's altered bible.

It all began in a cabin on the Lake of the Ozarks during the last week of May 2015. The Lost Tribe plus The Carma Bums, minus our late, great and dearly beloved electric brother Scott Wannberg, now, The Lost Bums. At the risk of killing one another, we four bad brothers; M. Lane Bruner, S.A. Griffin, Doug Knott and Mike M. Mollett, all decided to get together and art it up. 

Murderer's Row: Doug Knott, M. Lane Bruner, Mike M. Mollett, S.A. Griffin.

Michael Bruner created four books like the altered copy up top; all clean, yellow and empty except for random images that he had pasted into each. Our job, each of us, including Bruner, was to fill these books with random thoughts, words, poetry, etc. in response to the images we encountered in our books, what was going on around us at the time, or whatever resulted in the flashes of electricity that spark regardless.

Pages from S.A.'s altered bible.

Sitting on top of a table, the yellow book looked kind of like an old Gideon's Bible you'd find in some hotel room. Thus, our version, The Hideous Bible. Something that we too might contribute to the lost and found in some lonely hotel room where humans often find solace and religion in flickering televisions and hungry skin where insects are martyred by the light.

The Hideous Bible!

The first part of the Hideous Bible is comprised of these four books by each member respectively with words in the order they spilled forth, unedited. The second part of the book, the Prophesies, were written in response to  this experience in the Ozarks after returning home. The third part, Lost Manifestoes, was created by deleting (or erasure, as some refer to it) two of Andre Breton's surrealist manifestoes.

A genuine pocket book full of streaming sermons for this New Gilded Age of Felonious Unreason. So get with it, drop the Gestalt and get with the assault! Now you too can get with the times and assault your intelligence by owning your very own copy of this strange little book. For $15 out the door, this can be yours! Amaze your friends and confuse your dog! Impress the cat who could care less about you or this book! Grok with Spock in secret Vulcanese which has nothing to do with this book or Robert Heinlein!! But if there's time enough for love, there's time enough to read. Back channel me (or if you know them, contact any of the guys) and I will be glad to lay one of these petite beauties on ya!

BUT WAIT... THERE'S MORE!!!!

The other sweet child that came as a result of that art-a-thon in the Ozarks was this CD, Ozark Revelations by The Lost Bums. Minted in an edition of 100, precious few left of these babies remain on our vast warehouse shelves. Recorded in Springfield, Missouri this CD is a document of The Bums laying down some classic Lost Tribe / Carma Bums material, some spontaneous stream stuff along with some good old artsy-fartsy dorking around. Hear Doug Knott soar glit-glit in canyons of bright thought! Hear Mike Mollett deride his empty chair and swear to never sit again! Hear Michael Bruner go wild with artistic abandon proclaiming the Ten Commandments of Love! Hear S.A. Griffin hesitate!

This too can be yours for yet another $15 out the door!!

For those of you unfamiliar with the phrase, "out the door", it simply means all costs including taxes, shipping, hidden fees, etc. What you want to say to the used car salesman or the person selling you a new stereo in order to avoid sticker shock, "But I thought..." Thinking. That other sin. It's what's for dinner. So go ye now, sin and let us consume freely. Let us be practiced sinners together as we agree to disagree, thus allowing all to sin freely according to their own free will and credit scores. But just so you know, Will's fine. Talked to him yesterday at Trader Joe's. But what about free? Free, free!! Set free free again!!! I will if you will, so will, Will. Offer not good in states of delusion, confusion or exclusion. Good everywhere else this merchandise is not sold or given away.

The Whistleblower

Love,

S.A.

My Cafe Bustelo clock

Picked this beauty up about 20 years ago, one of my truly favorite things. I was in a thrift store here in Los Angeles poking thru the shelves and saw this keeping time on the wall. I asked the guy working there if it was for sale. He said that he didn't think so, but he'd ask his father as it was his clock. I could see them talking to one another as the son pointed my way. He told me that his father was a Cuban immigrant from many years back and wanted to know why a non-Cuban like me would be interested in such a thing. I told him that Bustelo was my favorite bean and that I had been drinking it for many years. Pleased I suppose that it would be going to a real Bustelo coffee drinker, and a businessman at heart, the kind father offered it to me for $40 because the second hand had come off. I was thrilled and thanked him profusely. When I got it home and took a look at the second hand, the fix was easy, it simply needed to be reattached to the clock by screwing it back on.

My beautiful Bustelo clock has always kept perfect time. Never missing a beat it remains in the same great condition as it was the day I brought it home and has very little wear, only a few very small paint chips missing here and there, otherwise, it is in absolutely perfect shape. I expect that this wonderful time piece will continue to keep perfect pace with me until I check out and my Bustelo clock goes to the next.

Been searching for information on this beautiful clock for many years, but to no avail. And after countless late night internet searches I have not been able to find one single image. Recently contacted the Bustelo company and even they don't have archival information on it, must be one of the rarest clocks on Earth or planet Bustelo.

As you might be able to see, the piece is white plastic cased in a gold metal frame and is powered by an electric cord, no batteries in this one. The clock appears to be from the late 1950s or early 60s and measures at a little over two feet wide, slightly over a foot high and five and half inches deep.

If anyone out there has any information on the piece, please feel free to let me know. If anyone out there has another, that would be amazing, would love to see a pic of your Cafe Bustelo timepiece!

¡Cafe Bustelo!

Cheers,

S.A.

The Official Language of Yes by Scott Wannberg!!

The language has landed!!!

The Official Language of Yes

by Scott Wannberg

Cover photo by Henry Mortensen, layout and design by Michele Perez.

After more than three years of work, and almost four years to the day after Scott's passing comes this wonderful new book for and by Scott Wannberg. The Official Language of Yes from Perceval Press is an 8.5"x11" hardbound volume with over 300 pages; a big beautiful book for a big beautiful man chock full of Scott's words, wit, wisdom, spontaneous jazz riffs and full color reproductions of original art.

Back cover. Beautiful words for Scott by Dave Alvin.

This collection includes some previously published work culled from small press anthologies, broadsides, periodicals and chapbooks with small runs; many rare and years out of print. However, by no means is this a best of or collected as close 90 per cent has never been seen in print. The Official Language of Yes is a true labor of love on the part of all involved. The book includes a prologue by Viggo Mortensen and introduction by Henry Mortensen. Unbelievably priced at $25, this baby is the poetry deal of a lifetime!

 Order directly from Perceval Press.

The official poet of yes!!