Posted on August 7 at 6:24 a.m.

FAG!

love,

roper

On The Burroughs Guy

3 of 3 people thought this was a good comment.

Posted on August 2 at 3:57 p.m.

I met William in 1991, or thereabouts, through James. Sorta frightening for a kid from rural Kansas. Pointless; he was a consummate gentleman.

There were dinners, meetings with musicians, other artists, even a video shoot for the band Ministry (I played Junkie Kid #2) that involved William blowing up Words with his shotgun. Amazing. The Flaming Lips even showed up at the farm that day, just because.

Though i was acquainted with William over the course of almost a decade, he always kept me at a polite distance. Always cordial, always present, but always distant. I think he saw me as just another of James' hustlers, not someone to get too invested in. It didn't matter to me then, and it couldn't matter less now.

My favorite William memory involved meeting my punk rock idol, Bob Mould (Husker Du), at William's house. I'd met a lot of people at that point (Bono, George Condo, Ringo Starr, Ice Cube, Flea, Wayne Coyne, Todd Rungren, Peter Christopherson, and on and on), but none of them really had me shaking in my Doc's like Mould.

At some point during the visit, William decided it was time to clean the fish pond behind his house. So, the old man grabbed up a long fishing net and began hurling wet, fallen leaves from the pond, as Mould, his new band mates, and i ran for cover. William was undeterred, hurling invectives as stiffly and as strongly as the leaves.

And, of course, William waving good-bye to his guests from his front porch. Always. Old-fashioned as could be. A consummate gentleman.

On Memories of Burroughs

Posted on July 23 at 5:24 p.m.

hey! it works! i haven't read or posted shit in a long time, nice to see you're back.

uh, try living in hays, amerikkka, like i do. sniveling idiots who complain about smoke-filled bars and then follow their smoking companions outside to hang out (leaving that pristine air inside the empty bar unbreathed) may seem pretty unbearable, but at least there's some semblance of 'dialogue' where you're at. even when the well-meaning Left has become the control-freak Right.

honestly, this blog looks like something that fell directly out of my head. i've made the tentative cross into the 9-5 world, though without the tie, and i've never been more miserable. and i'm a pretty miserable guy, so that's saying something!

must be why i pick up hitchhikers and press them for details of 'freedom'. sure, that includes the freedom to freeze, starve, or otherwise get kilt, but for all of that, travelling still looks good from where i'm at. i've had the chance to join a couple of merry-making gutter punks and chickened out both times. and lived to regret it both times, too.

i guess i'm not in the position to offer advice, just a cautionary example. i've half-assed it both ways and am now a token corporate punk, the most despicable of dual traitors. whatever it is that you do, i hope you keep writing about it. if you'd like, i could put you in contact with some good guys in washington state who share a like mind. contact phil for my email. jroper

On Everyone else is complaining, so why shouldn't I? (Codename Murderama)