Mammon!

Located in a copy of "Only Words" by Catharine MacKinnon of all things.

666 Under The Skin!

Details from a hand-out I received in front of Honest Ed's on Bloor Street in Toronto.

Who Walk In Darkness!

I first read "Who Walk In Darkness" when I was 19 or 20, working as a security guard. For a few weeks I was assigned to work in an apartment complex for retirees, and there I found a tattered paperback copy of the novel - on a small shelf of books in a commonroom, a sort of tiny library for the residents of the building.

Over the next week or so, I devoured the book on my dinner breaks. I loved the writing so much (and this copy was so beat up anyways) that I considered stealing it. In the end I decided against such action, and left "Who Walk In Darkness" where it was.

Years later, I found another copy and that is the edition you see above. The original copy I read 'on the job' had the greenish cover with a couple walking, seen below.




A trawl of the internet suggests, remarkably enough, that "Who Walk In Darkness" is now relatively unknown. First published in 1952, this was Chandler Brossard's debut novel, and was set in the Greenwich Village of the late 1940s - a bohemian scene in which apparently straight-laced young people "smoke tea" (pot), listen to jazz, slack off in general, and have intense conversations.

The story behind the novel is an interesting one, and told in some detail here. In a nutshell, Brossard based some characters in the book on people he knew in the scene (notably Anatole Broyard), and this caused no small amount of trouble; in fact, legal considerations led to the novel published in France being considerably different than the one published in North America (hence the note on the cover regarding the 'suppressed version').

Whether you see it as the first beat novel, the first hip novel (or new wave novel), or even the American existential novel, "Who Walk In Darkness" is well worth seeking out. It was reissued in 2000, so you shouldn't have too much trouble finding a copy.

Exploders in Detroit!

Back in the sweltering summer of 1999, The Exploders drove down to Detroit to record with the one Jim Diamond at his storied Ghetto Recorders studio.

A converted meat locker, Ghetto Recorders was the first place I had ever recorded in that wasn't a basement or living room. The booth was loaded with vintage porn mags and the room itself with vintage gear. I was in seventh heaven when Jim informed me that the microphone spit screen had not been cleaned since Andre Williams' classic "Greasy" album had been recorded there the previous year!

The Exploders recorded 14 tracks with Mr. Diamond, of which we released six across our first two 7"s - the first for Rip Off Records, and the second for Teenage USA.

Today I am happy to present one of the unreleased tracks we recorded there - a cover of Deja Voodoo's "Bad Book".

I'm gonna send this out to the generous Jeff Meier (of The Detroit Cobras and many other bands), who put us up while we were in Detroit. A true gentleman, he was - and I'm sorry I got a little hog wild on your stash there, Jeff.

The Exploders - Bad Book

The Nevsky Perspective!

This is a flyer I found tacked to a telephone pole in Toronto, some time in the mid-1990s I think.

If you have any insight into its myriad mysteries, please do share.

Wrong Side of the Art!

B-movie posters. One sheets, half sheets, daybills and locandines.

Arranged alphabetically, by sized tags and detailed categorization, as well as by ranked ratings (users may rate the posters available), this site overwhelms with its fine selection.

Best of all, the scans are BIG.