Poster of the Day

Click to enlarge...French 4-sheet for "Herz aus Glas," or "Heart of Glass" in English (whence Debbie Harry copped the song title, by the way) or "Coeur de Verre" in French. This is the one where WH hypnotized much of the cast in order to get a dreamy feel. I've never seen this one, I'm sorry to say.

Next: KLAUS!

Poster of the Day

Click as always to enlarge. I picked up this four sheet in Paris sometime in the early eighties. It's enormous and I have no place to hang it but someday I'll get all these framed (more to come). This is for the French release of "Stroszek," starring Bruno S. (hence the title "La Ballade de Bruno"), one of my favorites of all time. Shot mostly in Eddie Gein's hometown of Plainfield, Wisconsin! Apparently Herzog and Errol Morris hatched a scheme during the shoot to dig up Eddie's mother, a plan that came to nought.
And music by Chet Atkins and Sonny Terry!

Where Wayne lived

Here are two pictures of the building on East Douglas where psycho ex-quartermaster/pimp Wayne Ogden lived briefly with his unfortunate wife Sally in 1946. The Tiki God in the second snap seems to be warding off his malevolent presence. (This is from my just-finished novel "Supply Sarge," which my agent found so offensive she won't be sending it out. Any suggestions would be most welcome.)

Book of the day

Tutor from Lesbos, baby. A.P. Williams, Beacon Books. A Novel that will Astonish you with its Revelations about Warped Women!
Picked up in the Erotica section of Spivey's in Kansas City. Christa, are you salivating yet?

Batfatty's back!

My brother Batfatty is posting again at "Batfatty vs. the Chocodiles" (http://batfatty.livejournal.com/) after almost a year and a half of silence. Here's his first post:
Our mother is very proud of both of us. Click on it!

Moler's Camera in Wichita

The best job I ever had was working here in the '80s. My pals Bob and Penny Moler still run the place pretty much the way they ran it when I was here. This is old school retailing, and Bob's collection of old cameras and projectors gives it the feel of a roadside museum. Above is a general view of the store, and at left is a movie projector from 1913, rescued from a movie theater in Douglass, Kansas, that burned down in the fifties.

Book of the day

Since I haven't posted in a while I've got a lot of new stuff. I'm in Wichita at the moment, and here's one of the books I got on the road. "Strip for Murder," from Kozy Books. Adult Reading! "Kozy Up with Kozy Books." Klassy.

Creepy, creepy clowns

Picked up these two circus posters in Cambria, CA, eleven or twelve years ago. The one with the girl and the horse (sorry about the image quality) is by far the creepier of the two and would make a great cover for a book about a murderer clown.

Book of the day

It's an English translation of Le Pétomane, the story of Joseph Pujol, the man who farted his way onto the French music hall stage in the late nineteenth century. He headlined at the Moulin Rouge for more than twenty years with his musical flatulence. No kidding. The book is a slim volume, written by Jean Nohain and F. Caradec, translation by Warren Tute, Sherbourne Press, Los Angeles, 1968.

oddball viewmaster reels

Sorry for the break. I'm just a pubic hair away from finishing Supply Sarge, and wrapping up a comic book script as well. To make up for my absence here's the stupidest set of VM reels I've ever come across.

my e-mail, FUBAR, and my revamped (sort of) website

Anybody who's had e-mails sent to me bounce back, they should go through now. And click the link to the left to see my website in progress. Mike Gebert did the site for me five years ago and I haven't updated it since, and since my priorities have shifted away from the publishing world I thought it was time to give it a reboot. So over the next few weeks Mike and I (mainly Mike) will be retooling the site to a more 21st century feel.

Book of the day

Here it is--a 1943 reprint of a 1931 smutfest called Impatient Virgin by Donald Henderson Clarke (Triangle Books, June 1943, twenty-first printing). Its dedication page reads "TO GLADYS Another Ex-Virgin."

Noir at the Bar in Retrospect

It's been a few nights since we fucked St. Louis the hell up with the first local installment of Peter Rozovsky's amazing Noir at the Bar, held at the Delmar Restaurant and Lounge. It was a gas, if I may be so bold, and now I have permission to post a pic taken by Don Ross, who kindly drove Frank Bill four (that's s FOUR [4]) hours from Indiana and then back again. Thanks to all who attended, but thanks especially to Kelly, the owner of Subterranean Books (see link at right, buy books from her, please) and the multitalented Augustino Patti, musician and technical director for Noir at the Bar. A good time was had by all. Left to right: Jedidiah Ayres, me,Anthony Neil Smith, Frank Bill . Incidentally, if you haven't heard of Frank Bill, you are going to. You may not be happy about it, but you will be hearing from him......