Author Archives for Jay Babcock

Today's Autonomedia Jubilee Saint — George Orwell

June 25– George Orwell
British novelist, anarchist journalist, anti-Stalinist.

*Spain: Fiesta of Santa Orosia. Pilgrims climb to murdered maiden’s mountain sanctuary where the saint’s head is displayed, picnic, sing, dance, drink, fight and make love.

ALSO ON JUNE 25 IN HISTORY…
1822 — German phantasist E.T.A. Hoffman dies, Berlin, Germany.
1852 — Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi born, Reus, Tarragona, Spain.
1868 — Six southern, former Confederate states readmitted to U.S.
1876 — Genocidal General George Armstrong Custer killed at Little Big Horn.
1878 — Ezra Haywood gets two years hard labor for advocating sexual emancipation in the U.S.
1903 — George Orwell born as Eric Blair, Motihari, Bengal, India.
1913 — Anti-colonialist surrealist Aimé Césaire born, Basse-Pointe, Martinique.
1950 — War breaks out in Korea as North Korean troops invade the South.
1983 — Alexander Haig reluctantly relinquishes control of the U.S. White House following near-assassination of Ronald Reagan.
1984 — French philosopher Michel Foucault dies of AIDS, Paris, France

Excerpted from The 2009 Autonomedia Calendar of Jubilee Saints: Radical Heroes for the New Millennium by James Koehnline and the Autonomedia Collective

WIZARD of ART

“So, a couple of months ago – my friend Mckenzie asked if she could bring some of my drawings into her work at The Wizard of Art in Loz Feliz for some of her students to color in. The results were amazing! I think they did a better job than I ever could! … They’re going to be projected as part of the festivities this month at The Palihouse Sunday Salon on June 28th in L.A. – Fashion show by Miss KK! – -Cosmic Love!”

-Ron Rege Jr.

http://ronrege.blogspot.com/

https://www.instagram.com/ronregejr/

"She's the Hippest Girl in the World": Mod Love (1967)

From “The World Of Kane: Retro candy for your eyes and ears” “True Love Comics” blog:


She’s the Hippest Girl in the World” from ‘Mod Love’, Written by Michael Lutin, art by French pop artist Michel Quarez. Published by Western Publishing Company, inc. 1967.

Read the whole story here.

Listing from mycomicshop.com:

Mod Love (1967) features a psychedelic, wrap-around romance cover and equally garish interior art. Features three comic book stories, “Shadows from the Past,” “As Long as I Win,” and “She’s the Hippest Girl in the World,” all written by Michael Lutin with uncredited art. Also includes a three page text story, “The Palladium,” a two page ad for a hippie clothing shop–Tiger Morse’s Teenie Weenie at 53rd and Broadway, NY, NY–specializing in psychadelic (now quaint) clothing and side-splitting dialogue as per, “At Tiger Morse’s you know who survives…the fittest! Groovy girl animal who’s just about to evolve!” and ” To keep silent while you’re swinging through the forest, or if you’d rather dance it up than talk it out–the Morse yes or no–dress in white vinyl– is the grooviest way to accentuate the positive!” (we remember when women did wear vinyl dresses–THAT’s what’s scary!), plus “Make-Up for Your Life” with tips such as “Nature grooves cellular make-up,” and plenty of other side-splitting comments from the flower child era. Last but not least, the two page “The Sun” provides an introduction to the signs and meaning of the zodiac, all with a positive flower child flavor. Mod Love is mentioned by artist Trina Robbins in her book “From Girls to Grrrlz: A History of Women’s Comics from Teens to Zines.” Published by Western Publishing. Full color, 8.5-in. x 11-in., 36 pages, cardstock cover and slick paper interior. #6201 on cover. Published by Western Publishing. Cover price $0.50.

Today's Autonomedia Jubilee Saint — Albert Parsons


June 24– Albert Parsons
Radical American editor, printer, Haymarket martyr.

*Festival of Contagious Magic.

ALSO ON JUNE 24 IN HISTORY…
1647 — Margaret Brent urges women’s vote before Maryland Assembly.
1842 — Devil’s Dictionary author Ambrose Bierce born, Meigs County, Ohio.
1848 — Haymarket martyr Albert Parsons born, Montgomery, Alabama.
1869—“Mammy” Pleasant, abolitionist, named Voodoo Queen of San Francisco.
1947 — Kenneth Arnold sights flying saucers over Mt. Rainier, Washington State.

Excerpted from The 2009 Autonomedia Calendar of Jubilee Saints: Radical Heroes for the New Millennium by James Koehnline and the Autonomedia Collective

ritual for wild dogs

ritual for wild dogs

by Jeremy Gaulke

we found whiskey in bottles
without labels
in charred ruins and secret places
draped in rust and toadstools

filled hub caps and jagged cans
and left near the shit and uneaten cowls
of the dogs who ran the woods
at night

we left the whiskey
to madden the dogs
the way that men are mad
to make them brave enough
to return to us

to forget the bags and boxes
after their mothers
to forget the fall
the way they broke against
each other in the dark
to forget that they were so hungry
that they had funerals
thru their intestines
eating as much as they could from the
soft jowl and haunch and sides

to give them the strength to be ghosts
to be gods

we knew they were there but could never see them
but we prayed for them
and left the whiskey
in the ruins off the road
adorned in rust and natures squalor
to make them mad
to make them strong
to make new gods of slaughter

Jeremy Gaulke is the author of The Ghost of Harrison Sheets, access to a description and excerpts from which are available here, as well as a chance to buy it. “ritual for wild dogs” is from a forthcoming volume from The Temple Inc. entitled What the Master Does Not Speak Of.

Today's Automedia Jubilee Saint — Alan Turing

turing
June 23– Alan Turing
Persecuted gay British computer theorist, cyanide victim.

*Brittany: Pardon of the Fire. The pagan Feast of the Sun, celebrated until a soldier displayed finger of John the Baptist in the 16th century.Bonfires and romancing continue, and a “dragon” still lights fires.
*Festival of the Purple Void.
*New Orleans: Major Annual Voodoo. Ceremonies since 1820, held at Lake Pontchartrain since the 1850s.
* Sweden: Maypoles erected in countryside.

ALSO ON JUNE 23 IN HISTORY…
930 — World’s oldest parliament established, Iceland.
1889 — Russian poet Anna Akhmatova born, Bolshoy Fontan, near Odessa.
1912 — Gay British computer theorist Alan Turing born, London, England.
1964 — Freedom Riders Chaney, Goodman & Schwerner murdered, Mississippi.

Excerpted from The 2009 Autonomedia Calendar of Jubilee Saints: Radical Heroes for the New Millennium by James Koehnline and the Autonomedia Collective

Rufus Harley, jazz bagpiper of Philadelphia

Above: trailer for the Rufus Harley documentary, Pipes of Peace. A George Manney film. Official movie website: http://www.pipesofpeacemovie.com

“Jazz City TV first aired Rufus Harley’s performance & Interview in 1979. The interview was recorded at his home in the Germantown sectionn of PhiladelphiA. The performance was live in PHILLY. Jazz City TV has over 300 hours of Rufus Harley on video this is very small segment of what is to come. Including his memorial services with interviews of band members and his last live performance. Rufus has been part of the Jazz City family since 1970 and we miss him dearly. “