A surprise gift book arrived at my doorstep on Father’s Day.
Sent by dear Uncle Dave, Greil Marcus’ curated a collection of Lester Bangs stories titled “Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung’. It immediately became the top title on my 2021 Rock and Roll Beach Book Reading List, an annual tradition I so immensely enjoy completing.
On the shores of Hyannis Cape Cod at the lovely perfect Craigville Beach after losing my third game in a row of Boggle, I attempted to share the genius of Creem Magazine’s Lester Bangs to my gal sunbathing with a victorious smile smirk.
She listened, then told me with a straight face, that I was deranged for not only reading and liking these stories, but for explaining the concept of “eating Elvis Presely’s intestines just to learn what it is like to be The King.” At which point, I smiled and headed back out in the Atlantic for a swim. As any good partner would do, she began humming the “Jaws” theme and reminded me that shark alerts had been posted nearby and to be careful.
Before I headed out to swim with the silver-backed predators, I turned to her and quickly explained my theory on swimming in the ocean…
Always make sure there is someone standing farther out from you on shore when swimming. They will be eaten first. If they are a family splashing a lot and/or heavy-set, even better.
She told me that I was almost as deranged at the Lester guy in my weird book. I smiled again, and went swimming.
Speaking of weird writers, Peter Benchley has a prominent place on that list.
On the heals of a recent read of Jim DeRogatis biography on Lester Bangs called “Let It Blurt” and the Creem Magazine documentary (click here for my story on that flick)… I really enjoyed digging deep into his writing. It is much more entertaining to read his thoughts than read about his fucked up life that so many rock and rollers fall victim too. Hunter Thompson is a similar story, skip the biography and read his essays.
From the “unpublishable” section of the the Greil Marcus collection, my favorite piece is “from Notes for Review of Peter Guralnick’s Lost Highway, 1980” (pictured above).
This essay is a tornado of witty smart insight, and bizarre thoughts that demonstrate his mentally-impaired being. Not unlike Dr. Hunter Thompson.
Some fun notes from this one essay to share:
One of my favorites lines is that once he eats Elvis Presely’s inside goopy intestines and stomach, not only will he be very high and loved by all women… but that he’ll “know karate so I can kick the eyeballs out of my landlord next time he comes up here to complain I haven’t paid the rent in three months!” I think Lester really just wanted to feel ok about eating peanut butter and banana sandwiches.
Leave a Reply