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Greetings Digesters....
We're editing the Digest as we type this, and our software provider, Emma, just flagged us, as the digest, as it currently stands, consists of 108.34k word of text. This is a no-no, as it will apparently end up in some spam filters.
But, we're like #yolo, right? ;)
And so this Digest will be very robust, all endless shrimp-style, because you may have extra time on your hands and because, shrimp, after all, are lovingly known as the "bookworms of the sea." We'll spare you with the typical set-up and jump right in.
Ready?
3....2....1....
JUMP!!!
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Joanna Wallfish, July 18A very special film screening and concert. Limited access! (M&D)*
Reservations by donation HERE!
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"Henry Miller's Fecund World"As you'd suspect, we have a "Henry Miller" Google alert, and once we sift through the false leads— that doctor dude, saddle craftsman—we always seem to stumble across a new paean to our namesake. That's refreshing! For instance, a fellow name Tom DiVenti wrote a nice piece entitled "Henry Miller’s Fecund World" on Splice Today, a cryptically named site that also includes a piece entitled "Surfing Trump's Colon."That's weird!
Here's the money quote:
The smile at the foot of the ladder holds up culture’s heavy curtains to expose hypocrisy at large. The ennui of modern times cancelled. Dull nihilism seeks unconventional approaches to modest success while indulging in extreme excess. All the great American novels were never written on the subject of a simple life. Henry Miller loved life, love, beauty, even death and the ugly truth in all its grandiose forms.
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Patti Smith for Beginners!Here's a great pandemic internet rabbit hole to explore—the Guardian's Listener Digest, where the magazine's writers guide you through the back catalogs (7) of the world's greatest musicians. Don't believe us? Check out their take on "the hugely influential poet" (8) "who brought Baudelaire to punk" also known as Patti Smith! (and HML benfit concert alumni anno 2004)
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Checking in with our pal Dan Bern!You'll be happy to know our good friend Dan Bern has been as busy as ever during the pandemic.
He has been presenting regular shows titled “Hunkered in the Bunker” on his Facebook page. He also has assembled a digital album of original Coronavirus Era-themed songs titled "Quarantine Me."
Check out his tune "Till the Quarantine is Thru" above!
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Wallace Stegner and the "Conflicted Soul of the American West"The New York Times recently launched a new series called “The Americans.” These essays on American authors - some well known, some unjustly forgotten, some perpetually misunderstood - aim to restore a sense of the “complex fate” of being an American.
Henry, as of the time of writing, isn’t included—yet!! But another favorite writer of ours, Wallace Stegner, is.
Check out A.O. Scott’s tribute to “the dean of Western writers” here.
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Laurie Anderson and Michael Stipe on Music, Art, and New ChaptersHow's this for a dream-art due: Icon (and HML concert alumni anno 2005) Laurie Anderson (9) and Michael Stipe! (10)
The pair met for a conversation in a photo studio on the Bowery to discuss their current projects, their early experiences in the city, and Lou Reed’s leather jackets. (Laurie was married to Lou!)
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Dylan calls Henry "The greatest American writer"Bob Dylan is back in the news, earning rave reviews for his new album, "Rough and Rowdy Ways." (11)
Since the Henry Miller Library Founding Charter (est. 1981), page 39, section IX, lines 24-29 (12) mandates: "In the off-chance someone gets this far in this document, whoever reads this must promise to mention that Bob Dylan called Henry Miller the "greatest American writer" whenever Dylan's name comes up," we must take the opportunity to remind you that, in 1980, that Bob Dylan called Henry Miller the "greatest American writer."
Bob Dylan discovered the writing of Henry Miller in his younger days. He states: "I like Henry Miller. I think he's the greatest American writer." This appreciation was likely the catalyst for his visit to Henry Miller's house on Ocampo Drive in the Pacific Palisades in October 1963.
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And with that, we bid you, to quote Linda Rondadst (quoting Jimmy Webb) "Adios." (13, 14)
See you next month!
Magnus, Mike, Iguana John, Jack Kerouac
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* Mask and Distance
1 - aka, BGC
2 - Unlike the Golden Corral—and, if we're to believe the ever-sagacious Mickey Hart, time itself—our literature buffet has a fixed endpoint.
Most disease and hardship for our species has been a function of scarcity — too little salt, sugar, fat, approval, safety, opportunities to mate. As a result, when we find these things, our brain produces the ultimate reward, the pleasure hormone dopamine. And it makes sense. Nature rewards behaviors that ensure the propagation of the species.
Historically, humans have engaged in activities that have natural stopping cues — the end of a chapter, the end credits. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Netflix have systematically eradicated stopping cues. Even casinos are deliberately laid out without hard angles, so it's all one continuous space and you keep moving through it, on to the next game.
Technological progress lapping the calibration of our instincts culminates in endless scroll. We're unable to find the off switch. Unlike our parents and grandparents, for us dopamine release no longer depends on sacrifice, engagement, or grit, but on sitting still, as in 15, 14, 13 seconds episode 5 of Killing Eve will begin. There are more filtered photos, more porn, more equities, more margin, more dopa … more time without the nuisance of needing to engage in … life.
4 - To quote Forbes magazine's Ryan Craig, "Who wants to eat in a corral anyway?" (5)
5 - Merriam-Webster defines a "corral" as "a pen or enclosure for confining or capturing livestock."
7 - Being British, the Guardian's site refers to it as "catalogues."
8 - And Jersey girl!!!
10 - A certain HML staffer's favorite REM song at the moment is "Disturbance at the Heron House." Money lyric: "They've gathered up the cages / the cages and courageous."
12 - The HML has no such document. It's a joke. No need to call the IRS.
15 - Jimmy Webb rhymes "coast" with "adios" in this song:
Drinking margaritas all night in the old cantina
Out on the California coast
Don't think that I'm ungrateful
And don't look so morose
Adios
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