Patrick O'Hearn - Drive

More exquisite music from Patrick O'Hearn for your enjoyment!

"A Girl Like You" - Edwyn Collins

Time for a dance break everybody!
Love Love Love this song from the fantastic Edwyn Collins!

David Herrle Enraptures Us With "Sharon Tate And The Daughters Of Joy."

Lovers of poetry may know David Herrle for his book, Abyssinia, Jill Rush and his popular ezine SubtleTea. Now he's here to discuss his new book, which blends poetry with prose, Sharon Tate And The Daughters Of Joy. We're joined by a dear friend who actually introduced me to David's work years ago, poet and author Collin Kelley.

Collin Kelley: In one sentence describe this new collection.

 

David Herrle: I haven’t a short wind in my body, but, aside from being bubblegum self-psychoanalysis, the book is an aphoristic odyssey through aesthetics, art, beauty, sexuality, atrocity, mortality and salvation contextualized by the grisly dooms of Queen Marie Antoinette, Ripper-victim Mary Jane Kelly and Sharon Tate. 

 

Mme. Perry: The reader is guided in an orderly manner into some shocking, sharply defined and richly pigmented places from Invocation to Sermon to Benediction. How did you determine the order of the book? 

DH: Early on the book was intended to be about only Sharon Tate and the Mansons, but the more I wrote the less important they became.  The butchery at the Polanski home on that doomful night on August 9, 1969 seemed to be more of a culmination or a logical fruit of some of the universal concerns I was having.  That’s why I pushed the Tate/Manson part to the end.  Since I think the murders had something to do with what I call the War on Beauty, I decided to start the book with spiels on aesthetics and art (Reverse Galatea).  In hyperbolic, Decadent fashion beauty is praised above all else, echoing Dostoyevsky’s love for Shakespeare and Raphael over the serfs’ freedom and even one’s entire nation.

Author David Herrle

Of course, not far from such lofty things lurk human crustaceans’ envy and rage, mutilating tantrums and the mob’s tendency to pull down mountains and replace them with molehills, so the part about the French Revolution (Saint Guillotine) followed naturally.  Opponents of the death penalty beheaded the king and queen (and many, many other folks); humanitarians spilled blood with glee.  From there I widened the scope of atrocious behavior, including the advent of the Bomb, and explored the anxiety over death and need for a genuine lifeline from existential despair (Black Dahlia Nihilismus).  The illusory salvation of the lofty and beautiful is exposed, as is the pent rage, the will to power and the latent Caligulas in so many disgruntled artists.  Beauty and art can’t save us. 

Neither can sex.  The next part (The Pink Cathedral) deals with sex, lust, the glory and degradation of bodies, pornography, even the problematic cuteness of Eva Braun (who married one of history’s biggest death-dealers). 

Of course, death is never far from sex.  Thanatos and Eros are first-cousins.  This lead me to Jack the Ripper, the killer of whores (Yours Truly, Mathematicus).  However, I consider this phenomenon to be more about victim Mary Jane Kelly than the Ripper himself.  This is the opposite of the Sharon Tate thing, which is more about the Mansons than the gorgeous central victim.  Peacenik hippies stabbed those people to meaty pulp.  While Charlie was recording songs in Beach Boy Dennis Wilson’s studio his harmless nonsense lyrics “digh de day” eventually turned into “die today.”  Do the math.  So the slaughter of Tate and her friends closes the book (Charlie Manson and the Scorpion Children). 

Those six parts served as a nice white for the hardboiled egg, but the shell and yolk were missing.  That’s why I designed the introductory Evocation, the Sermon interlude and the ultimate Benediction. 

Actress Sharon Tate

CK: I don't think Sharon Tate gets the pop culture reverence she deserves. What fascinates you about Tate and her legacy? 

 

DH: Indeed.  For all of her beauty’s fame and the infamy of her violent doom, Sharon isn’t really on the tip of the cultural tongue, especially among later generations.  She should be.  And, sadly, I think she should be less sung for her actual achievements and more for her being an unfortunate symbol of the victimization of the lofty and beautiful done by lowlifes, artists-become-tyrants, the deranged spiral of the utopian spirit.  It’s infuriating but understandable that Charlie Manson is a household name and a presence – even inspiration! – in pop culture.  He’s up there with Mao and Che. 

Despite my sympathy and desire for vengeance for Sharon, I can’t say that I’ve ever been very impressed with her profession as an actor, although she’s absolutely dazzling in movies such as The Wrecking Crew, Valley of the Dolls and The Fearless Vampire Killers.  She was an Earth angel, an aesthetic phenomenon, what I call a Reverse Galatea: sacralized beauty, gorgeous body turned into inspiring sculpture.  I suspect that she was viewed and treated this way by many – if not most – people, maybe including her husband, even though she also was a delightful, sharp, conflicted, emotional, thoughtful human being (think Marilyn Monroe).  For this reason I minimized her voice and focus in the book.  Even the hero who saves her (in what one reviewer called “a noir superhero ending ...a dreamlike divine comedy”) can muster only “Big fan, Sharon” as she kisses him in thanks.  Oops.  Spoiler!

MP: Artist David Van Gough, whose work The Valley is the cover art for the book, said “I make no bones when I say that I believe Herrle’s work is as profound as Ginsberg's Howl and every bit the master painter with epigrams.” What was your reaction on reading that? 

DH: Needless to say, I was quite honored.  Though I dislike Ginsberg’s work, I recognize his talent and the artistic importance of what he did.  The compliment was meant as a high one, and I take it as such, especially since it comes from an astute, clever and masterful artist.  Gough’s necrorealism made me rethink my aversion to so-called macabre art, and he’s become a treasured colleague.

Author/Poet Collin Kelley

CK: If you were a member of the Manson Family, what would your nickname be?

DH: A wicked challenge.  Part of me doesn’t want to even consider it due to the despisal I have for the Mansons.  Another part sees the humor in it.  Also, nicknames factor heavily in my book.  The narrator takes on the titles Scarlet Pimpernel, Sophie Scholl, The White Rose, Davidus Thermidor, Thermidorean Gray, History’s Etch-A-Sketch.  Manson-girl Susan Atkins named her son Zezose Zadfrack Glutz, which I guiltily find hilarious, so I’ll lighten up and choose Robin Hood Goodfellow – or Havelock Ellison.

We wish you much success with Sharon Tate And The Daughters Of Joy, David, and invite you to return very soon.

Herrle at the start of his literary career.

And of course, it's always wonderful to be with our friend Collin Kelley, my partner in many adventures and a favorite here in the salon.

You can get your copy of Sharon Tate And The Daughters of Joy, follow on Facebook, and subscribe to SubtleTea.
 

Veronique Chevalier tells us about "Forevermore," by Jim Musgrave

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The DarkLicious Diva of Steampunk, Veronique Chevalier, voices this trailer for the first of the Detective Patrick O'Malley Mysteries - Forevermore from the magnificently bizarre imagination of author Jim Musgrave. 

"Holy Toledo And The Virgin Shirley" Is An Intoxicating Literary Romp Crafted & Served By Robert Leland Taylor.

Welcome again to Madame Perry's Salon. It delights me to introduce a guest who may be new to you. The eclectic, artsy hamlet of Zanesville, Ohio is the home of artist and author Robert Leland Taylor.  

Most of you are fans of my co-interviewer, Grant Jerkins, author of A Very Simple Crime, The Ninth Step, and At The End Of The Road. Although many people, including author Kerry Dunn, author and publisher Sheryl Dunn, and myself encourage Taylor to get his work to the public, I believe it was Jerkins who gave him that last push off the ledge. So to speak. And away we go.

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Grant Jerkins: What genre does Holy Toledo and the Virgin Shirley fit into? In a typical bookstore, in what section should your novel be shelved?

Robert Leland Taylor: I'll take any shelf—just get me in there. But if I had to choose, I'm torn between Humor and Sci-fi. Like most writers, successful or struggling, I hate being categorized at all. A large table at the very front of the store would do nicely.

GJ: What kind of people read your books? Who is the average Robert Leland Taylor reader? What do they look like?

RLT: Well, I hope my work appeals to a broad audience, although my protagonists are generally quite young. Sometimes I picture my nine readers that way—young, bewildered and slightly demented.

Madame Perry: To my delight I found Holy Toledo and the Virgin Shirley shared many of the qualities I love in Kurt Vonnegut’s novels. Your use of dark humor, satire and science fiction was a surprise at first, but I wasted no time in strapping on the seatbelt for the ride. Are you a Vonnegut fan?

Robert Leland Taylor

RLT: Huge Vonnegut fan. I was drawn to his unconventional style, humor, and shared many of his sentiments regarding our priorities here on the planet, although I certainly didn't share his genius in expressing them. Early on I made a conscious effort to avoid mimicking him, realizing that a Vonnegut wannabe would garner about as much acclaim as an Elvis impersonator. Speaking of which—before Elvis' career took off, a music producer asked him who he sounded like. “I don't sound like nobody,” he said. That's my goal, too—I don't wanna write like nobody.

Grant Jerkins

GJ: I know you’re a painter, and I have to say I’m quite taken with the images you create. There is a wistful, forlorn quality to your art. Loneliness is prominent. Isolation. Often, human figures are absent, and when they are included, they are typically dwarfed by landscape and structures—sometimes at the expense of scale. Your novels, however, have more humor and are first and foremost about people. You could even say the people in your fiction exert themselves over structures and institutions. They triumph, whereas the people in your paintings succumb. I wonder if you are driving at the same truth with both forms, or is there a dichotomy there?

 
RLT: Wow. I've never had my work analyzed with such depth and detail. There is a sadness to existence, and it succeeds in breaking through in our lives, no matter how hard we try to keep it at bay with humor, art, literature and any other earthly distraction we can conjure. For me, sadness is a natural state, and any interruption to that state, no matter how brief, is euphoric and very much worthwhile. My sad paintings may reflect the reality of life, and the humorous writing could very well represent the way I wish things were. Bullshit? Probably. But it's true to me.
MP: What authors, or artists, do you feel had the greatest effect and influence on you and your work?


"Regrets" by Robert Leland Taylor

RLT: Well, I can tell you which author inspired me to start writing—Shephard Mead. The novel was called The Carefully Considered Rape of the World, a sci-fi. I was below drinking age at the time, which helped considerably with comprehension and the motor skills required to turn pages. I devoured the novel, wrote one just like it—or similar to it, only not as good—called Where Dead People Go. It sucked big-time and remains somewhere in my closet with three other big-time stinkaroos from the learning days. (Although one of them won an honorable mention somewhere but please don't make me look it up)


MP: Is there a certain music you enjoy while writing, or a preferred place in which to write?



RLT: I can work anywhere, but pretty much prefer a quiet atmosphere where I can hear the voices in my head. I've written at my place of employment before, scribbling on a clipboard while pretending to attend to some work-related matter of great importance.

GJ: Nathan, the protagonist in HolyToledo and the Virgin Shirley, has a universal appeal. He’s an everyman. Befuddled but smart. Simultaneously weak and strong. He doesn't entirely understand the world around him, but it’s a world that doesn't make much sense. Still, he does the best he can with it. Are there aspects of you reflected in Nathan?

RLT: Yeah, quite a bit, actually. And I'm assuming those characteristics pertain to most in the everyman category. I suspect that I'm similar to my protagonists in a number of ways, but quietly pray that I'm wrong.

GJ: Can you tell us a little about your vestigial twin?

RLT: Well, as you know, I try to keep that part of my life private, but thanks for asking. Trebor and I get along much better these days and no longer entertain thoughts of a surgical separation. Doctors deem the operation too dangerous, and even if it were successful, Trebor would have a difficult road ahead, being only eleven inches tall when removed from my abdomen. Sure, we still argue on the bus at times, but Trebor (that's Robert spelled backward, for those who don't know) is a huge, necessary part of me.

MP: I think I hear Trebor now, which means it's time for your ride back to Zville. We wish you much success, and look forward to your next book, A Sunday Afternoon Stroll Through The Ant Farm. Thank you, Robert, for sharing time with us. I love your FaceBook and Twitter posts more than you can imagine. Thanks also to you, Grant, and I hope you will have time to visit again very soon.

 

RLT: Thanks for inviting me to Madame Perry's, and it's great to see Grant Jerkins here. I've been a big fan and admirer of your work for several years now. (Looks around) Wow, it

looks like the inside of Jeannie's bottle in here. Nice. Smells like Lysol and vanilla—not the artificial kind, but the real stuff from beans. At least I think vanilla comes from beans, doesn't it? Not the artificial kind, but the...never mind. 

MP: I am delighted to have both of you here, Robert and Grant, and I wish you both much success as even more people discover your books. Grant, I look forward to another visit from you soon as well!

Please follow Robert L. Taylor on FaceBook and Twitter. You can get the Holy Toledo And The Virgin Shirley on Amazon. You may leave questions for either of these gentlemen in the comments section.


 

Wesley Cook - It's You (Official Music Video)

Madame Perry regrets neglecting you all for so long. I have more exciting guests and discussions coming soon. For now, let me make it up to you with the very fine Wesley Cook and the official video of his new song "It's You."

You can also visit Wesley's website or follow him on Twitter. He's constantly on tour and will be in your area soon.

Byron's review of Forevermore

Byron is actually a very astute book reviewer. Enjoy his review of "Forevermore" by Jim Musgrave!