Subcultures Books

I bought this on the recommendation of Dr. Stanley Krippner in a lecture on ayahuasca. It is absolutely the best book I have read on the history of the psychedelic movement during the past 100 years or so. Timothy Leary is not dead - he's only outside looking in. :-)

This is the definitive account of the 1960s psychedelic drug scene. Stevens does a great job of conveying the highs and lows of LSD and its proponents. His ability to relate endless facts while retaining a fast-paced narrative structure is amazing. I found this one of the most "addicting" books out there about the significance of drugs in American culture. Stevens reviews all the major personalities: Albert Hoffman, Timothy Leary, Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, the Grateful Dead, Alan Watts, Jack Kerouac, Aldous Huxley, and more. If you're interested in this electric decade, the power of psychedelics to warp the mind, or any of the poet-prophets who were compelled to experiment with and sing the praises of acid then this book is sure to delight.

This should be required reading in American History. Who knew Canada had legal LSD centers? And the characters- Nin, Huxley, Kesey, Leary and Capt.Al Hubbard (??). Will we ever see their like again? Really a very sad story, and a fascinating one. Nice to see the Chief Boo Hoo, old Art Kleps in there as well. Sen. Kennedy: "Is your title really Chief Boo Hoo?" Art Kleps: "I'm afraid so, sir."

It is no fluke that this book has an average rating of five stars from amazon.com readers. This is simply one of the most informative, enjoyable and engaging presentations ever written on the subject of hallucinogenic drugs in modern history, and how they made their way from the obscurity of laboratories and clinical research to become a fixture in the counterculture of the 1960's and beyond. The complexities of the story make it a formidable challenge for any narrator, but Stevens proves easily equal to the task. In the pages of this book, the reader is introduced to the dramatis personae with an immediacy as though meeting them in person. Many of the facts discussed herein have been recounted before by many capable others. But never have they been put into such a vivid and vibrant perspective as this, so thorough and rich with nuance. That's important because the depths of this story, stranger as it is than any fiction, are where its meaning emerges most clearly. Ever since the impact of LSD and its profound, pervasive influences on our life and times, modern society will never be the same. And it is impossible to imagine what popular culture would now be like without the psychedelic revolution of the 20th century. "Storming Heaven" offers the best single account of how and why this is so. This is a real page-turner, very difficult to put down, and is highly recommended for the interested reader.

This was a very good book. You get lots of interesting stuff about Aldous Huxley, the famous beat writers, Owsley, Timothy Leary, Ken Kesey and the evolution of the so called counterculture as a whole.

The problems that I have with Storming Heaven is not for what was in it but what was left out. For one Stevens was WAY too easy on Timothy Leary. The author seemed almost like a school girl with a crush when he recounts his visit to Learys home for an interview for the book. He comes off more as a fan than he does an objective writer at times when he deals with Leary. Why wasn't it mentioned that it has come out that Leary was a government informant and information he gave led to the death of two members of the Weather Underground? Its also a known fact that Leary was surrounded by CIA assets and there is a lot of evidence that he was a government agent himself, and at the least he was feeding them information.

There is also a fleeting mention that wasn't elaborated on about Ken Kesey that he had LSD experiments done on him at Stanford by the guy that ended up in charge of the CIAs Mkultra mind control program. This really makes me wonder about Kesey. Its more or less accepted history that the first LSD to get out on the street level was what Kesey stole from the medicine chest at his job as a night shift janitor at a mental hospital and distributed it among his elitist friends. Kesey went from writing what was probably the best novel written during the 1960's to, while becoming a counterculture hero, never writing another thing worth reading again. Did doing too much LSD scramble his brains and ruin his creativity or was his creativity nullified by Mkultra programming? Its hard to say for sure but I have to wonder if Kesey was not under some sort of mind control or was being used by the CIA in one way or another. There are a lot of unanswered questions in my mind about Kesey.

They also fleetingly mention the Brotherhood of Eternal Love who were major LSD distributors and were known to be full of CIA people and had a close association with a Jewish man named Ron Starks who was a CIA spook that also happened to the biggest LSD dealer in the world. Starks was not even given the first mention in this book!

I mean with all these ivy league, Mkultra and CIA connections to the elites of the so called counterculture I have to seriously wonder how much of the hippy movement of the late 60's was an organic rebellion against what was (and still is) a very repressive society both socially and politically and how much of it was intentional social engineering that came from the highest levels of the power structure. Many people believe that the anti-war movement was flooded with drugs, in particular LSD, by federal agents. Its well known that the government tried to subvert and destroy the anti-war movement with the cointelpro program so why wouldn't they also use drugs to try to destroy it? While it can't be denied that LSD has enhanced many an artist, writer and musicians work can you honestly say that sitting around frying on acid all the time is going to do anything but disable political activists who in many cases were in a life and death struggle? Besides that the fact remains that many people became permanently damaged as result of doing acid.

All that said I would definitely recomend reading or of you can get it cheap, buying Storming Heaven. I could hardly put it down once I started reading it. I realize that this book was more geared toward looking into what psychelic drugs can do with the mind and its exponents history and theories on the subject than any conspiratorial maneuverings by the US government involving LSD but it just didn't go deep enough into the rabbit hole for my tastes.

I bought this book shortly after it was put on shelves, few years back, knowing that despite it being a slim book, I'd get a nice chuckle out of it. Indeed I did, but I also did receive a lot of unique and inspiring ideas for sprucing up my living area.
There are many suggestions for the dark at heart for interior decorating, gothing out one's car, baking spooky treats, and other such little arts and crafts, all of which are not that expensive. Even someone of little talent can pull off some of these crafts. Many of these crafts are literally... painting something black. Or you could be really creative and throw some red in there. Maybe plaster a bat sticker on it to break up the monotony.
I can't say I'm really hard-core into the scene like I used to be. My Siouxsie and the Banshees CDs are collecting dust. I'm not sporting the velvet skirts and pointy boots as often as I used to. But I still collect the old wine bottles for some neat candelabra displays. Where did I happen to get that idea? From this book. Even if you're not the uber-goth that has racked up on the goth points over the years, you still can get some unique, money-saving tips.

My only complaint for this book was that it was too short. *shrug* But you have to take the Goth style for what it is: minimalistic.

A friend of mine let me borrow this book. I am amazed that I gave it back without crying like a baby. From spooky dolls to bottle candle holders to a Gothic wedding, this is the perfect starter guide for the do it yourself goth. Or, if nothing else, it is a good laugh and an easy read.

If you're a fan of Voltaire's brand of snarky humor, you'll enjoy this book on gothic homemaking. The design of the book is worth the price on its own; the black-white-and-red color scheme and black pages are sleek and lovely. My only "complaint" (and it's not really a complaint so much as an observation) is that quite a few of the ideas are very basic and straightforward, and could be found online for free. (Examples: hanging cloth on your walls instead of painting; turning boring dolls into demon dolls.) But, there are a lot of really cool and inventive ideas with complete and helpful instructions, such as the "goth box" shelves, picture frames, and the graveyard cake (which looks as delicious as it does spooky). Voltaire also gets points for including specific recommendations for where to find some of the materials, such as car decals for "pimping your ride." These details turn what could have been rather bland ideas into truly helpful ones. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who's just getting started with gothic decorating, wants a few new ideas, or just enjoys Voltaire's signature humor.

While I enjoy Voltaire on general principles, and try to support all his efforts in whatever media, I was hoping for something a little more...dense. Thicker, more full of information. Not really why I bought the book of course, but still. Anyway, some fun is still to be had, and once I get over the headache from reading white print on black pages (of course!), I will be glad it is now part of my growing Goth Home Decorating Library.

Very fun read,Voltaire's second book. Alot of great and creative ideas on how to goth out your home. And as always,very funny observations by Voltaire. Highly reccommend for Voltaire fans and goth fans.

Back when paper zines were cool.....

An eclectic, entertaining, interesting and thought provoking collection of people, organisations and ideas expressed as only a combination of Boing-Boing (the original 'zine) and Wired could.

Sex, drugs and cyberspace as seen in 1995

When I first read it, I had never before heard of the Cacophony Society, bOING bOING magazine, the Billboard Liberation Front or Burning Man, and I had no idea what "culture jamming" was. But my eyes were opened, and my life has gone all *kinds* of strange and wonderful new directions, all because of the resources in this incredible little book.

It's a damn shame it's out of print, but it's howling for a sequel. How about it, Carla?

Everything from prank calls, odd types of hacking, and Wham-o products to strange but simple foods, comix, and the Happy Mutant Hall of Fame, the Happy Mutant Handbook has most everything that the other 10% of the human population, who aren't Normals, could want to know. There are lots of fun little pranks that can always be used. One is standing in an elevator and giggling the entire time you're reading the phone book. It's quite entertaining and your able to read it again and again, each time knowing that there are actually other people like you out there. If there weren't this book wouldn't exist. So worship it and read it.

Because of the happy mutant handbook I know now that being weird is the best thing in the world!! It has made me look at the world in a whole new way. I carry it with me every were. you to sould check out this funky book on life. a must have for any one pussing reality.

Do you laugh at authority, enjoy silly putty, get a kick outta kitsch, appreciate goofy pranks, take pride in being a do-it-yourselfer? Do your knees get weak over Water Wiennies, Sea Monkeys, Crazy Straws, or Esquivel? If you answered "yes" to a few or more of these then you are probably a happy mutant and this book is for you.

It's great. You'll find tips on building hacking, how to do "your" work while appearing to be doing "their" work, turning the tables on telemarketers, creating your own personal anti-marketing strategy, getting your zine seen, and The Urban Absurdist Survival Kit which offers official looking signs you can copy and stick around to confuse and amuse. It also includes character profiles of idiots you are likely to run into on the net, conveniently printed up as cards to cut out and keep handy for quick identification. Plus, articles on Ivan Stang, Roger Corman, Jim Ludtke, and Patch Adams (oooh, even scarier than Robin Williams).

Get your giggles off while undermining the Man. But, this book isn't all just fun and games, it contains a degree of seriousness, yet it is also serious fun. *The Happy Mutant Handbook* possesses teeth but when it nips it aims for the funny bone.

Buy this book, read it, play with it, give it a hug. You two kids could become really good friends.

Excellent, informative history of the rave scene in England... everything is in here: how influential Ibiza was to the scene, MDMA and its history, smiley faces, baggy pants, all the main players and djs... it brought back a lot of happy memories of my raver days in NYC in the early 90s. A must read for those interested in this scene especially the beginning which shows that it all started in America: Larry Levan and the Paradise Garage, Frankie Knuckles's Warehouse parties, Dr. Shulgin and his MDMA studies... Britian took it to the next level in the 80s beginning with the Summer of Love and raves and was then past back to the US in the early 90s: Frankie Bones and the Storm raves, NASA, and the rest. This book tells you all about it!

This book is truely entertaining, it covers music, culture, politics, drugs, ect... It was hard to put this book down, I was sucked into it and learned a great deal about the scene in Eroupe. I recommend this book to people who are looking for answers to questions they didn't know they were asking...

This book is well written from start to finish and is hard to put down. It provides a real inside viewpoint of not only the music put the politics of ecstasy culture. To those who seek alternatives to corporate-consumer-culture this book is very inspiring. In particular the stories of how groups like Spiral Tribe live(d) their lives.

To me this book really captures a lot of the emotion that those inside the 'rave movement' feel. Even though the book is centered on the London scene it seems to capture the universal essence of the culture. Reading the book felt like reliving the rave experience all over again. It's like a trip taking you from a ravers first mind-opening dose of MDMA to the realizations that come after continued exposure to underground dance culture and politics.

This book also provided a great account of the actions taken by the opponents of youth dance culture; the ignorance of the politicians and police using scare tactics to try and control what they clearly don't understand, the attempts by the alcohol industry to take the culture away from the underground and commodify it into regular bars for their profit, and the problems created in the culture by organized crime.

Altered State also delves into the issues of prohibition and harm reduction. This is another area where the book's message transcends the London setting it describes. These topics will resonate with anyone familiar with the current political climate in the USA. With the 2002 RAVE (Reducing Americans Vulnerability to Ecstasy) club owners can now be held responsible for what their patrons ingest. Meanwhile organizations like DanceSafe.org offer harm reduction strategies to the millions of ecstasy users who defy prohibition.

I couldn't recommend this book more highly.

As someone who "came of age" in the club culture of Austin, Texas in the mid-1980s (Halls, Stephanie's, 606), I have been quite surprised that the Dallas (Starck) and Austin dance subculture has not been fully explored in many books as "ground zero" for the ecstasy-fueled rave movement that developed in Europe during the late-80s and early 90s. Although MDMA had been around for a while, if it wasn't for a chance meeting between a certain Austin DJ and one of Britain's top new wave bands after an Austin concert, England's 1988 "summer of love" might not have happened (or at least it would have been delayed for a few years). That "three days of love" on Lake Travis had a tremendous influence on the social history of youth over the next twenty years! The book mainly focuses on Britain's experience with the rave and dance subculture. However, it is the first few chapters that I find so fascinating . . . the development of MDMA and its infusion into the mainstream population through unassuming college students who had no idea they were guinea pigs for the multitudes to follow. Well worth the read, especially for those of us who experienced the phenomenon first hand.

Garage, House, Acid House, Techno, Balearic, Drum & Bass, Jungle, whatever you call it: this is the book about the real history. Sometime in the past fifteen or twenty years rock died finally, amd weren't you glad? I was happy but I was on E and my vote doesn't count. I was taking alot of smart drugs too and I wrote a few novels on those so-called "pep pills." But I wasn't hanging out in Ibiza with Danny Rampling of Claire Manumission, or even Larry Levin at the Paradise Garage. I was still listening to Wire and Gary Numan. Like most people, at first I didn't care for most techno or house, but you know what? It's all I listen to now (I am still living in 1999). How did that happen? Before I used to listen to a lot of punk, ska and reggae, and then dropped out of the music scene for a while. I liked punk music especially since there were no rock stars, and anyone with long hair (or even looked remotely like Evan Dando) was immediately uncool and we used to beat them up. Boy, we were thugs back then, eh? But sometime in the late 1980s, someone slipped me a hit of E, and this disco record came on and it sounded like the best record I ever heard, and I was in love with everyone and I dove in the middle of the groping room. A few years later, I got serious and became the literary insider, and read Joyce, Proust, Beckett, Pynchon, Irvine Welsh, back to back, you know the story.... Well, what I'm saying is this book is a wonderful read, and adds a little narrative to the no-narrative techno policy. It also documents the most profound youth movement of the last ten or fifteen years. That's what I like about Techno: no rock stars!

"Don't judge a book by its cover!" they scream as I hang my head in shame. Once again I have proven to myself how narrow minded and judgmental I can be. This brilliant little book is packed full of surprises especially for those who have developed some preconceived notion as to what it's about. Starting with the title which, now that I know what it means, I think is brilliant. I was picturing two pot heads making out with a sort of latte-esque foam covering their mouths which I'm sure is exactly what the author wanted me to believe. Then turning past the table of contents I came upon the explanation of the title and was immediately transported back to my youth in Florida and my fear of the tall grass. I won't say more about that in order not to ruin this very pleasant little surprise for others.

Then the first story "Some new kind of kick" is pretty much exactly what I was expecting. A very dark and seedy tale of Goth clubs, speed and sex, although one thing I didn't expect was to really like it. Something about the way Clint Catalyst casts his penetrating stare into this so called "Goth" scene is so incredibly revealing of not just the Goth scene, but any scene that's gotten old and tired. And it's in this first story that I began to realize that the scenes and the players are all the same. It doesn't matter what scene you were in, because we all got tired and we all ended up alone. The scenes all lacked something, or as the author so eloquently points out, we ourselves lacked something in ourselves that our "scenes" or distractions could not replace; well, not for long anyway.

So I guess it's clear that I'm not a "Goth". And while I did think they were cute in the mid eighties when they were still known affectionately as "Death Rockers" I've never been into things "Goth". I've also never been into speed of any sort. Of course I've done speed and had so called "Speed Sex" which contrary to the name takes hours, but I've never been into the whole "gak" experience if you know what I mean. So despite hearing the rave reviews of "Cottonmouth Kisses" I put off actually reading it, thinking it was fifty percent Goth and fifty percent homoerotic speed induced sex. Not my cup of tea exactly.

But from that first story Clint Catalyst just blew me away. His insight into moms, wanna-bees, punks, straight boys, art school girls, alleged bisexuals, strippers, bag ladies, in fact everyone he encounters and most importantly himself is nothing short of stunning. This book is crammed with fascinating stories which in and of themselves are great but without which you would still be left with an incredibly insightful book about people and our inner truths and fears.

Stories I particularly like are "Party Favors", "Conversation with what once was a friend", "To Push Away or to Clutch" and "Taking Care of".
Poems I particularly liked are the beautiful and charming "First Person Third Person First", the dark and direct "Guess I should talk about sex", the dark and funny "Truth about Modeling", the grim foreboding "Inky Bloater" and my favorite, "At the Edge" which to me was like an updated and slightly more optimistic take on Langston Hughes' "A Suicide Note".

Overall, I read this book too fast and have had to re-read it twice to catch up with the brilliant and still racing mind and prose of the enigma that is Clint Catalyst.

After reading Cottonmouth Kisses I found myself in awe of the sheer richness of Clint's language. His command of both poetry and prose is astounding and refreshing indeed. His honesty and unpretentious approach to the recording of his own experiences is a gift to his reader. Whether Clint is writing about drug addiction, sex, friendship, or love, the sheer energy of his personality shines through in every piece. The combination of rage, passion, sorrow, and humor that animates this book is something to behold and reading it was like being taken on a ride where every turn promised something new. A truly wonderful collection of writing. Moving, engaging, and always on the mark.

This is a great selection of essays and poetry from Clint Catalyst. They deal with gay relationships, adolescence, and out of control drug addiction. These subjects are dealt with in such an honest, clear and edgy way. The lives of these unconventional characters are brought to the page so intensely with all their flaws clearly exposed. You'll feel their thoughts and feelings. The artistic language used in this book make it a pleasure to read right through to the last page. No matter how dark and trashy these characters get you'll want to read more.

This was my first introduction to the author's writings (thanks,Sheldon) and I truly enjoyed this book. I think what really made this book special was the poetry in-between the essays and fiction. These poems were so easy to read and what I mean by that is they were very understandable. You don't have to spend all day figuring out what the author is trying to say. They are a joy to read. I look forward to this author's future work. Highly recommended.

which I deem:

1) "What is Goth?" by Voltaire
For spelling out the basics to looky-loos, kinderbats, or insiders who aren't afraid to laugh at themselves (for fear of exposing the adhesive-stripes along the gumline of their fake fangs)...

2) "Cottonmouth Kisses" by Clint Catalyst
For its sinister and gorgeous first-person account of life within the nightclub netherworlds. I've known many a Goth girl over the years who's had her share of Clint "pin-ups" and "shrines," and the fact that he's lived a life so far beyond the margins of Hot Topic and mainstream acceptability (and SURVIVED it) is more "Goth" (i.e., barbaric -- i.e., AUTHENTIC) than any paint-by-numbers impostors out there...

3) "21st Century Goth" by Mick Mercer
For its role as an informative compendium of the international scene in all its varied shades of shadow. There is no easy answer, no singular attempt in this book to pigeonhole Goths -- in fact, it does the opposite. Plus, I mean, it's MICK MERCER, who's been reporting on the scene longer than most batpackers these days have been alive. Pay your respects to the grandaddy of Goth!

And ALL HAIL THE TRIUMVIRATE!

Mr. Clint has really let all of us, no matter what stage of life we are in, what planet we are from, or the aumont of zeros on our paycheck, look inside his world and gave us a whole new realm of thought. I loved this book. I read it in two days. AND thats with two kids under the age of 4, a hubby and a big white dog. I couldnt put it down. Its an awesome book. I can not wait for his next wonder in print... keep up the good work clint. This is definately a must read!

I jumped into Cybergypsies with one quick bound..it grabbed me as its prisoner until the very end..Zany characters prance in and out to the click of the keyboard and the roar of the modem..I found myself being caught up in the frantic pace..neither here nor there..from one world to the next and back again in a split second.Jarley remains the true Hero!Bear his Alter ego! A wild burst of wind speeds the characters on into the nether world of the cyber addict. A delightful bit of intrigue worthy of Ian Fleming with all the wild hilarity of Kurt Vonnegut. A good read to the very end!

In the mid-'80s, Sinha, a London ad writer, became seriously addicted to the earliest and most fanatical internet outposts--multiuser games and bulletin boards frequented by hackers, virus makers, software pirates, dungeons and dragons role players and other "cybergypsies". How this nice married father of two with a new house in Sussex almost lost it all to his modem becomes an enchanting tale, full of jarring, hallucinatory, humorous blurrings between worldly and wired events. So many books have tried to capture the heady horizons and disappointing mirages of cyberspace; Sinha's beautifully written virtual travelogue actually does--at least one strange corner of it.

A strangely fascinating exploration of the dark side of cyberspace, where virus writers, porno peddlers, and fantasy game fanatics have created an anarchic subculture that blurs reality and imagination...Part Dante, part Bill Gates, part Jack Kerouac--however you categorize this bizarre book, it's worthy of attention.

This story lures you along a path of sheer escapism, and just as you are starting to relax in an imaginary world, drops you into some events that humans in very recent time have had to endure. Events that have been readily ignored by most of us in our "imaginary worlds", such as Bhopal and Kurdistan. So relax into the tale, and be prepared for a jolt.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, for two reasons. Firstly, I should declare a personal interest: I was a colleague of Mr Sinha's during the period in which the events (all true, I believe) described in the book took place. Secondly, as a person of similar mindset, The Cybergypsies helps me to keep uppermost in mind the importance of balance, perspective and 'all things in moderation'. It was a privilege to work with Mr Sinha, and a great pleasure to read his powerful, elegant, intelligent prose - without being seduced into buying something! I have no doubt that this book will become a legendary volume, describing the beginnings of the internet. Indra Sinha successfully illuminates the significant events of his lifetime, capturing the essence of net culture. He blends story, characters and background detail to spellbinding effect. The Cybergypsies is a page-turner that left me exhilerated, sated and wiser. Balu, you are indeed a love god. Bomshanka.

Divine Right's trip is an excellent novel about a small-town kid turned hippy who leaves town in his VW bus to discover the world. It is an accurate fictional portrayal of Kentucky and Appalachian life, and contains several take home lines-- my favorites being clever lines of rage against big coal.

Divine Right finds himself lost but is determined to find himself- which he eventually does. A great novel for those of us who know that there is always more to life than we have yet seen.

This novel also introduced me to one of Gurney Norman's other works, Kinfolks. It's also a great read.

Divine Right Davenport, David Ray Collier, or D.R. for short lead the way for me to peer through his eyes and feel every emotion that forced its way through his soul continuing through mine. Gurney Norman is an author to be envied and one that I am sure to never forget. After finishing the book and digesting the information brought forth in the Afterword, I have an increased invaluable respect for Norman; I felt connected to him and his family, his friends, and his coworkers. This is a must-read for the soul. To silence your dragon within and find your Estelle. How beautiful and perfect her soul was. To travel the open road with Urge and his wonderfully tattooed skin. But most of all, to be hippy, I mean to be happy. OM MANI PADME HUM - David Moya, www.BlueprintPublishing.com

I originally read this novel as "serialized" in the Whole Earth Catalog. They put each short chapter, sometimes only a few paragraphs, in a narrow column on every-other page of the catalog. I'll bet I've read this book four times.

Divine Right's Trip is so intensely, so honestly human that it hurts. Stick out your thumb and hitch a ride with hippie Divine Right and his girlfriend, Estelle as they bump along in Urge, D.R.'s psychedelically-painted VW bus.

To read this book is to trip. For those of you who haven't tripped, the sensation was summed up well by the very friend who bought me that Whole Earth Catalog 'way back then. He admits to "dropping acid" back in the late 60's. He told me once that tripping is like sneaking into the circus by crawling under the tent: Sometimes you get the clowns, sometimes you get the lions.

And that reminds me of something Divine Right read, written on a bathroom wall somewhere along his trip: (paraphrasing) "There are nights when the wolves are silent and the moon is howling."

Just read the book.

--LW

This is a classic piece of American history. For those of us who were fortunate to live in the 60's, it will make you cry and it will make you laugh out loud. For younger readers, take a trip with Gurney back to a time when everything of the fertile mind was possible and "far-out". My favorite character: "The Lone Outdoorsman". Enjoy the ride and arrive alive!

Anyone who wants to know how to overcome the trappings of this shallow materialistic world and become a free and uplifted person, look no further. Divine Right is the most honest, soulful, lovable character that I have ever encountered in literature, and his struggles with family and identity should hit home with anyone who has ever had to rethink their view of self. I read this book once and had to read it again and again and again...I am a better person for it. Norman's descriptions of Kentucky are so perfect, and anyone who's never met the Greek in one form or another should definitely get ahold of this book ASAP!

ok, ill admit, ive yet to purchase this...im ashamed or myself for not owning it yet.
i dont have an intimate knowledge of Arts collection of works, but the man is a goddamn genius.
i know this personally, since i was privileged enough to experience a several hour long presentation by the man himself, about a year ago.
my idea of design will never be the same, hell my life will never be the same.
whatever anyone else here says, BUY IT.

Nothing can beat the "raw power" of Art Chantry. This book is a must in every graphic designer/student bookshelf!...

i really wasn't too familiar with Art's work before getting this. i've only seen mentionings in random other books about how influencial he is. but after seeing this i can see why. he combines the rough aesthetic of punk and shows that it can be acceptible in mainstream graphic design. it shows that there's hope for punk rock artists like myself.

In a similar manner to Paula Scher and Charles Anderson, one of the main themes of Art Chantry's work is to take old images and give them a twist. While you can see an echo of this look in almost every graphic design award annual today, Chantry has been working in this style since the late 70's. And while many have borrowed his approach, few have been able to imitate it with the same sense of grit, humor, color and power.

True to the title of the book "Some People Can't Surf" there isn't one website design to be found, but that may not be a bad thing as Chantry is a master within his medium. A very large body of work that spans three decades is showcased which includes everything from his very first poster design for a school concert to promotional work for major Hollywood record labels. One pleasant surprise is seeing quite a bit of logo design work which involves the charm and craft of hand lettering. In end Chantry reminds one of a later day Milton Glaser with a punk rock point of view.

At some points the book can become too crammed by trying to jam several posters onto a page by shrinking them down to matchbook size, however the work holds up pretty well under the strain. This volume would be valuable to any graphic designer looking for inspiration or anyone who is a fan of the Seattle music from the 90's.

...is that Art Chantry's groundbreaking artwork (and yes--unlike some snooty traditionalist art-weenies--I DO consider graphic design to be "art"!) is more often than not gobs more compelling than the work of the people who have directly benefitted from his work (i.e. most of the so-called grunge bands from the Pacific Northwest). Yet almost nobody outside of Seattle, Tacoma or underground graphic-design circles knows who the hell he is, even though almost everyone has seen his work in one form or other (The Sub Pop logo is one example that immediately comes to mind).

In early 1991, I discovered and became obsessed with underground garagepunk & instro-surf music, the most exciting of which was coming out of the Pacific Northwest, and specifically Estrus Records, in Bellingham, Washington. It was the Estrus label that started my appreciation, and later, reverence, for Art Chantry's ir-reverent style of graphic design. When Nirvana's "Nevermind" was released later that year, the wall that previously kept mainstream riffraff from crashing "our" underground party came crumbling down, and as a result, grungy Northwest music had become suddenly (and inexplicably) marketable. The sudden onslaught of new bands inspired by this alleged "rebirth" of punkrock quickly caused the quality of Estrus' releases to assume an inversely proportional relationship to the quantity of records they put out (well, that's MY theory, at least...). Simply put, the really good music on Estrus soon became a rare commodity. Thankfully, what didn't change was the brilliant package design that thier slabs o' vinyl and silver frisbees were encased in. Art Chantry was responsible for the bulk of these designs, and is the only reason why a big chunk of my record and CD collection isn't fermenting in some used-record store somewhere. His artwork transcended the actual product it was emblazoned on, and made it worth keeping even if the music it promoted was supremely lame.

Chantry's work led me to notice and gain an appreciation for artists such as Stealworks' John Yates, Frank Kozik and even Roy Lichtenstein. But as great as those artists are, Chantry's work is the perfect amalgam of irony, humor, subversion, obnoxiousness and kitsch, and no one that I'm aware of has yet to outshadow him in this regard, even though he is without a doubt a man with many imitators. In fact, many people directly point the finger at him for popularizing the now passè movement in "grunge" design and layout. Whether this is actually true or not is debatable (although it certainly makes sense), but "Some People Can't Surf" is interesting in that it showcases a non-"grunge" (god, I hate that term) side of Chantry that most people would be very surprised to see. The same man responsible for some of the most outrageous and iconoclastic posters and album covers in music history was at the same time designing nondescript logos and brochures for boring, faceless corporations--biotech companies, architectural firms, airlines, etc.--and it's extremely interesting to see this real-world dichotomy brought to light in this book.

Another notable section of the book recalls the time when Art creatively attempted to get around a draconian 1994 Seattle anti-postering ordinance by posting up 'zine-like tabloids to telephone poles instead, ostensibly daring the city to attempt to fine him for what is fundamentally a First Amendment issue. As someone who firmly believes that graphic design and traditional "art" are not mutually exclusive, I found it refreshing to read this shining example of how designers can use their talent to actively influence and challenge the cultural status quo, instead of simply generating pretty pictures for passive consumer consumption.

When I first saw Art years ago in the documentary film, "Hype!" (which I also HIGHLY recommend), talking about the early Northwest music scene, and then proceeding to chop up his super-rare (and super-expensive) posters with a paper cutter, it completely validated what I always thought--this man is an ironic and wonderfully irreverent genius. "Some People Can't Surf" bolsters this fact even further, and I enjoyed reading this book's narrative at /least/ as much as looking at all the cool, full-color images of his brilliant work. I highly recommend this to any graphic designer who is tired of all the c.r.a.p. that tries to pass itself off as "cool", "grungy" or "retro" nowadays.

Dr. Leary maintains a high ground in his defense of the value of the psychedelic. This is the early work and a must have.

Wow! What a book! Leary is a real psychedelic guru, not in the orthodox sense, but really a man ahead of his time, a Galileo in the charter exploration of the mind and consciousness. He started off as a conservative Harvard professor, yet not so conservative, as he had his own ideas. But after his religious experience, and that's what psychedelics do - the expanding of your consciousness to a religious experience - he became aware of the societal and cultural chessboards - the games - and here became outspoken apart from the Harvard rationalistic mindset which rests on only one static frame of a multi-dimensional, dynamic existence.

I read this book smiling, over and over again. I walked down the street with a smile, mostly for Leary's optimism, then his frank and bold statements, which in most part I agree with. His style sometimes just makes you laugh and smile and say to yourself "I wish I had the guts enough say this." And although his predictions did not come true, you can't help but subjectively comprehend the 60's atmosphere, enveloped with the baby boomers in their youth taking up the majority of the population and their experiential drug use in psychedelics, which in turn, brought forth all the femininity of creativeness, patience, tolerance, peacefulness and artistic development that was permeating the entire American culture and spreading around the world and thus brought on the male dominated aggression of control and police power. So Leary's optimism and predictions were really a good assessment of the time despite their failure to come true. And nothing makes me sadder than to see his predictions fail from the creative mind expanding youth to our current male power, controlling and agressive society.

You can write Leary off as a kook from the conservative's point of view, the rationalist who never "experienced," and that's the KEY here - never experienced a trip under favorable circumstances and environment. Leary is the same as other heretics and kooks of history, a Galileo of mind exploration and conscious expansion, a Guttenberg of exoteric enlightenment, as in this book as well as one who clearly recognizes the need for new symbols that relate the esoteric experience of LSD, of cellular memories, of DNA language outside the mind, of experiential journeys that can only be told under a new language, as the microscope discovered new world had brought forth, as quantum physics brought forth and every other new fields of exploration that can only be described outside the current symbols we currently use.

Leary on page 141: The lesson I have learned from over 300 sessions, and which I have been passing on to others, can be stated in 6 syllables: Turn on, tune in, drop out. "Turn on" means to contact the ancient energies and wisdoms that are built into your nervous system. They provide unspeakable pleasure and revelation. "Tune in" means to harness and communicate these new perspectives in a harmonious dance with the external world. "Drop out' means to detach yourself from the tribal game. Current models of social adjustment - mechanized, computerized, socialized, intellectualized, televised, Sanforized - make no sense to the new LSD generation, who see clearly that American society is becoming an air-conditioned anthill. In every generation of human history, thoughtful men have turned on and dropped out of the tribal game and thus stimulated the larger society to lurch ahead. Every historical advance has resulted from the stern pressure of visionary men who have declared their independence from the game.

On page 196: My philosophy of life has been tremendously influenced by my study of oriental philosophy and religion. Of course, what the American, regardless of his religious belief, doesn't understand is that the aim of oriental religious is to get high, to have an ecstasy, to tune in, to turn on, to contact incredible diversity, beauty, living, pulsating meaning of the sense organs, and the much more complicated and pleasurable and revelatory messages of cellular energy. To a Hindu, the spiritual quest is internal.

Different sects of oriental religion use different methods and different body organs to find God. The Shivites use the senses; the followers of Vishnu are concerned with cellular wisdom, contacting the endless flow of reincarnation wisdom which biochemists would call protein wisdom of the DNA code; Buddhist manuals on consciousness expansion are concerned with the flash, the white light of the void, the ecstatic union that comes when you're completely turned on, beyond the senses, beyond the body.

On page 202-203: What we're doing for the mind is what the microbiologists did for the external science 300 years ago when they discovered the microscope. And they made this incredible discovery that life, health, growth, every form of organic life, is based on the cell, which is invisible.

You've never seen a cell; what do you think of that? Yet it's the key to everything that happens to a living creature. I'm simply saying that same thing from the mental, psychological standpoint, that there are wisdoms, lawful units inside the nervous system, invisible to the symbolic mind, which determine almost everything.

And I don't consider myself that mystical - unless you'd call someone who looks through a microscope a mystic, because he's telling you about something for which you don't have the symbols. Or the astronomer who detects a quasar and speculates about it.

On page 208: Every time you take LSD you completely suspend - you step outside of - the symbolic chessboard which you have built up over the long years of social conditioning. And you whirl through different levels of neurological and cellular energy, continually flowing and changing.

Your symbolic mind is flashing in and out. You never love your mind during and LSD session. It's always there, but it's one of a thousand cameras that are flashing away. Of course, the LSD freak-out, or paranoia, is where the symbolic mind freezes any aspect of the LSD session and defines a new reality, which can be positive or negative.

Read this book.

This is the single most influential book I have ever read. Completely legitmizes and encourages religious experiences through psychedelic means. Anyone currently using psychedelic drugs or interested in them should read this to gain greater understanding of their power. Learn why LSD and other are really illegal, the government knows they free minds!

...if you wish to stay the same because believe me, once you read it, you never will be. I got this book when I was about 26-27 years old when I felt as though I was just passing through life and not really living it. I felt like everything was "ho-hum". All of my senses were set to dull. Inside of me there was just this gnawing ache that there has got to be something more...not just "out there"...but "in here"...in my heart, in my soul, in my mind...

And then along comes Timothy.

Irreverent, Rebellious,Smart-Ass Timothy Leary espousing the Truth that all advancement in life is already in our very DNA. It dwells deep within the very marrow of our bones because we, as a species, were not meant to stand still...we were not meant to live lives of quiet desperation...we were meant to behold a world that burns and sparkles with Light.

People tend to think one is hallucinating when one sees vibrant colors, when everyday things seem to shine with a new brilliance, when even the song from a songbird feels like a musical triumph, but this is how life really is, boys and girls! We are hallucinating when we think that the world is dull and thick and leaden...we are hallucinating when we think that we are just these heavy clods of biodegradble clay that stalk the earth. We are here to discover...or should I say, uncover the paradise that is already within the invisible realms of the ancient mind that dwells within us and we in it.

Does this mean you have to take LSD in order to experience the jewelike radiance that all of life is made in and out of? Not neccessarily and I am not advocating that you do. What I am advocating is that you allow yourself to get enthused about life. Enthusiasm literally means to be filled with God. God wants to know Itself as you...as me...in each and every moment of creation.

Read Timothy Leary. Marvel at his excitement for life, join him in the mind & soul rebellion against flaccid governments and soul controlling religions and their warped politics and dissapointing creeds both of which are more than happy to think and decide for you, laugh in joyful relief that you are not a body with a soul, but you are a soul with a body,and be willing to stray from the pack of lemmings that's headed for the edge of the cliff only to drown in the shallow seas of mediocrity.

Open your eyes.
Open your mind.
Open your soul.
Open your heart.
Open this book and let the tingling in each of your 40 trillion cells remind you are here to do more than exist, you are here to LIVE and to LIVE WELL.

Peace & Blessings to this this place we call the world.

This work is a hallmark for questioning authority, pursuing individual freedom and happiness, and working to build a more enjoyable and enriched world. Lovers of liberty would be well-advised to study this work thoroughly, and then pass it along to the nearest religious extremist. It will surely get a reaction.

This is a great book. It is extremely accessible. I am using it with great success for an Introduction to Ethnomusicology course that I am teaching at a Liberal Arts College. The students like the book very much. It stimulates a good deal of in-class discussion. I would highly recommend this work for anyone interested in music, dance, ethnomusicology, urban studies, popular culture, popular music, American studies, and more... It is the kind of book that affords multiple points of entry. Bravo Kai Fikentscher

If you're looking for a book that's an excellent reference for Underground Dance Music in New York City, then "You Better Work!" by Kai Fikentscher is great reading!

Kai Fikentscher's evolutionary study and rounded presentation of New York's underground dance music and culture is a lonely triumph for a subject matter that desperately requires equal exploration of peer contributing U.S. cities such as Chicago, Detroit and Washington D.C.

"You Better Work!" is a straight edge to which much of what has been said about underground dance music culture should be realligned.

It's evident through well-crafted and intricately expressed text that the author has really done his homework. His book shines, especially when compared to similar historical efforts that clearly lack the consistent impact found in "You Better Work!".

Not only should those familiar with underground dance music absorb this essential reading, but the effort should be required academically, with particular regard to music, culture and art.

In addition to explaining fundamental concepts and techniques, Fikentscher details an often ill-reported but critical importance of UDM - the DNA of African, African American, Latino, Gay and a dejected segment of American society which defines the fabric of underground dance music culture.

Kai's work is a rarity in ethnomusicology; it's accessible, entertaining, and enjoyable to read. His inclusion of 12 inch singles, top UDM charts, DJ and equipment photographs, in addition to his on personal exposes in relationship to the house scene in NYC make this study a rarity within a discipline full of bickerings over authenticity, theoretical concepts and musical hierarchies. "You Better Work!" is a rallying cry for aspiring musicologists and music fans alike. If you danced during this period, it'll bring back those sweet memories of Mr. Fingers, Frankie Knuckles, Ru Paul, Acid and the like.

This text is the unrivaled standard for anyone truly seeking insights into the rich culture of Underground Dance Music. No long is house music an urban legend, but this book invites debate, theory, and growth based on a solid foundation of research, interaction, and presentation. From the halls of academia to the dark places where the underground lurks; each and every reader benefits from Kai's research.

If your a fan of techno... read this book.

Classics? Read.

Soulful... get to know this text.

... then Work!

-Byron