The Death of Gay Literature

I read a great article yesterday that asks the question,“Is gay literature dead?” The article is in part an interview with Christopher Bram about his new book, Eminent Outlaws, a retrospective on the era of James Baldwin, Gore Vidal, Truman Capote, and other gay writers from the post-WW2 era. There are many questions about the death of gay literature, what caused it, the current gay generation attitudes towards the older gay generation, and the current era of gay literature. As a gay man myself, I have concluded that the days of great gay literature are indeed over. While working as a bookseller, I found myself unimpressed with the selection of “gay literature” that the chain bookstores stock, and even the stuff that is stocked in the independent LGBT bookstores.

When you look back on the post-WW2 era of gay literature writers, you can’t argue that they weren’t great writers. Gore Vidal is one of my major influences given he wrote on a variety of subjects. The Narratives of Empire series of books offering a look into our history based on fictional characters being the narrators are only a handful of Gore Vidal’s masterpieces. Gore Vidal’s ability to write fiction, history, politics, essays, plays, and screenplays made him an American literary icon. His gay literature novel , The City and the Pillar, that was published in 1946, is one of the first books in American literary history to have homosexuality as its main theme; The City and the Pillar was also controversial upon its release—The New York Times refused to review any of Vidal’s writings after its release. Vidal wrote his mystery novels under the pseudonym of “Edgar Box” to avoid any connection with the controversy of The City and the Pillar.

James Baldwin was just as brilliant of a writer as Gore Vidal. Baldwin also wrote on a variety of subjects and a variety of formats. He wrote novels, essays, poems, plays, and was a social critic. Baldwin was an African-American and a homosexual in a time when America was racially divided and homosexuals were scorned. Baldwin relocated to France given France’s treatment of African-American artists, musicians, and writers. His 1956 novel, Giovanni’s Room, published 10 years after Vidal’s The City and the Pillar, is about a young man living as an expatriate in France who has relationships with other men. Baldwin was also involved in the civil rights movement and took part in the Civil Rights March on Washington in August of 1963; his writings about combining the dissimilar philosophies of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King inspired the second phase of the civil rights movement in the 1970s.

When you take a look at the gay literature of today and look back on the era of Gore Vidal and James Baldwin, it’s easy to say that gay literature is dead. Gay literature today, for the most part, is glorified erotica writing, love stories that are the Nicholas Sparks for gay society, and characters that don’t really have any depth to them. The closest thing to the gay literature that Vidal, Baldwin, Capote, and Isherwood provided in the post-WW2 era would be the writings of Armistead Maupin, the author of the Tales of the City series, which made light of the AIDS epidemic. It’s amazing to think that the post-WW2 era gave us the best years of gay literature. The interview with Christopher Bram asks if it’s a generational disconnect and whether the young doesn’t want to acknowledge the old, but it doesn’t seem that indifference is the reason for the death of gay literature given Bram doesn’t believe there is any difference between the older and younger gay generations.

When you take a look at modern literature, whether it’s gay or not, you could argue that literature is slowly dying. Many of the writers that defined literature in the postmodern era—John Updike, Toni Morrison, Vladimir Nabokov, and Samuel Beckett to name a few—aren’t leaving many worthy heirs in the modern day. We’re also living in the times where the formats are changing from print to e-Readers, corporate book stores and independent bookstores having any possibility for a future is in question, and when people are choosing to curl up with their James Patterson and Stephanie Meyer books. The quality of today’s literature is questionable given it doesn’t seem to inspire and influence the way that it used to. Gay literature is not the only genre that has gone through a transition of masterful literary works to erotic and romance writing in the modern era; African-American literature is now less Toni Morrison and Alice Walker and has become filled with the erotic romance novels of Eric Jerome Dickey, Zane, and Noire  

Gil Scott-Heron's "The Last Holiday"

"I was trying to get people who listened to me to realize that they were not alone and that certain things were possible." - Excerpt from The Last Holiday 

If there was a man who had a way with words, it was Gil Scott-Heron. The revolutionary poet and songwriter, who mixed jazz and poetry together, was an iconic figure in the 1970s. His songs and poems were the backdrop of the post-civil rights era and were the early inspiration for hip-hop and rap music. His poem, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” was a big hit and has been named one of the “Top 20 Political Songs” by The New Statesmen.

The Last Holiday was posthumously released in January after his death in May of 2011. In 2010, his career was on a comeback after a decade of drug problems, health issues, and incarceration. He released his first album in several years that was amusingly titled I’m New Here--the album was praised by critics and sparked an interest in his previous recordings. He started touring again and played the big music festivals around the world.

He begins The Last Holiday discussing his family’s origins. He has warm memories of his grandmother who raised him after his parents separated, he talks about his father’s career as a professional soccer player, and he talks about how all of his maternal family were educated people. There is no doubt that Gil Scott-Heron was an intelligent person, and we learn just how intelligent he was as a child when he discusses his full-scholarship to a preparatory school, his college years at Lincoln University, and Johns Hopkins where he received his masters degree in creative writing.

He discusses his music career with stories from the road and playing in various cities in America. One of which is where he talks about playing a benefit concert against nuclear energy put together by Jackson Browne, where he went on stage to an audience screaming for Bruce Springsteen, who was scheduled to play later on that evening. In one amusing tale, he talks about how we walked into his hotel room to find Bob Marley and his friends sitting in there after being given the key to his room. Touring with Stevie Wonder and talking about Stevie Wonder’s benefit to establish Martin Luther King Day included a story about meeting Michael Jackson, and when he and Stevie Wonder learned about the assassination of John Lennon.

The one problem I had with The Last Holiday is that it’s a collection of stories being told in chronological order as they happened. There were a lot of moments where I found myself wanting to know more and what happened next in transition, but you end up starting a new story when you turn the page. It’s as if you’re getting samples of his life at times and that you want him to emphasize more on what he’s sharing. I came to a part towards the end where he said that when he used to teach creative writing courses before he became a musician, he would tell his students to write about an event that they could remember in vivid detail, and it seems that’s how he decided to write his memoir. The memoir ends around 1999 when he talks about his mother’s death. We don’t get to hear anything about those lost years that followed where he was struggling with drug addiction, with arrests, and his fight to attain sobriety where he decided to revive his music career again. The one thing that he eventually admitted to in a later interview was that he was HIV-positive.

For music fans or anyone who has heard of Gil Scott-Heron, The Last Holiday is definitely a delight to read. For those who are just being introduced to his music, it’s a good place to start. The Last Holiday is the climax and last testament of the life of the man who changed how he listened to music and how we experienced poetry. 

"Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"

I read an article today that called the film adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close the “worst reviewed Oscar nominated film in the past decade.” I read the book a few years ago after all of the hype surrounding the book had past. I honestly wasn’t shocked that the reviews that were coming out for the film’s release were mostly negative. I had been waiting to see this movie since I read that they were creating it given I enjoyed the book. There have been film adaptations of my favorite films that have ruined the book forever for me; Where the Wild Things Are in my opinion was one of the worst nightmares to have ever been created for the big screen, and I lost a little respect for Dave Eggers for writing such a horrible adaptation for the big screen of a magical children’s book turning into an ad for Zoloft. The film version of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was very well done, and I find it funny that some critics who hailed Where the Wild Things Are took shots at Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and said it does the book a horrible injustice. When I saw this movie last Friday, I left the theater very impressed and felt that this one of those films where the director gets the idea to make it as close to the book as possible, and I felt that the movie was just as worthy as the book.

In my opinion, a lot of critics didn’t judge this film fairly. The performances in this film by the actors/actresses of the characters in the book were something I had a lot of concerns about, especially the main character Oskar. Oskar had to be played by a child actor who could really pull off his personality quirks, his anxieties, his Aspergers syndrome like mannerisms, and his emotional moments and make them all seem believable. Thomas Horn playing Oskar is truly magical, and I don’t think anyone else could have pulled it off as well as he did. Thomas Horn is a no-name, didn’t seem to have any acting background or resume given this is the only film on his iMDB resume, there is no information out there on him, and the only thing they have on him are a few interviews that he did recently. Tom Hanks as Thomas Schell was a perfect fit, and he played the difficult role of the adventurous, story-telling father remarkably. Plus you really never go wrong when you have a veteran actor like Max von Sydow in your film; my friend who has a background in acting whispered in my ear after seeing the character on screen, “Playing a silent role is a real bitch!” Max von Sydow playing a silent role and getting an Oscar nod is quite an accomplishment.

The story line is probably where the critics aimed most of their criticism. The movie is a very emotional one, and it deals with the subject of a little boy with a brilliant and sensitive mind who is very close to his father having to deal with losing him in one of the worst events in our nation’s history. The subject of 9/11 in the story made me believe that people were going to see it in the trailers, conclude that it’s a film they don’t want to see, or the people who would brave it out in the theater would find the 9/11 inspired plot to be too heavy to handle. The premise of the story is that Oskar must learn how to face his fears, learn to relate and share emotions with other people, and must learn how to move on from his pain. The story has a lot of emotional moments, but I think that emotional moments in a film that have a positive impact on people make for cinema gold, and this is one of those stories. The book had mixed reviews and sold very well, and I have talked to some people who said that the book helped them move on from the pain of 9/11, and others say that they hated the magical realism of the novel.

The critics showed their distaste for certain elements of the film such as the opening credits showing dramatizations and non-graphic images of what appears to be bodies falling from the twin towers, they call the film “exploitive,” and even made it seem that it was too emotional and “plucked at the heartstrings.” The Oscar nominations that this film has received obviously show that there are people who focused on the performances of the cast, obviously found the artistic element in the movie, and it obviously goes to show that even though the Oscars are a joke and a Hollywood pissing contest, the movie has some wonderful qualities that the critics just didn’t seem to get. The book adaptation went through the same thing for a while, and yet it went on to become a bestseller. I’m hoping that Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close will keep on having a solid box office performance, will gain some interest with its Oscar nods, and will defy the critics proving that you can’t always trust their opinions.

Steve Jobs

I’m probably a bit late on Walter Isaacson’s biography on the late Steve Jobs. The book has been reviewed to death, the more exciting moments of the book have been discussed in the media, and I’ve seen many people in public carrying and reading the book. Shortly after my injury in November, I was given the book as a gift and I recently just started it. With all of that being said, I looked forward to starting the book and was happy when I was finally able to start it. I wondered if a 600 page book on one of the most fascinating of entrepreneurs in American business. When it comes to Apple products, I’m a huge fan. In 2005 when I moved to California, one of the first things I had to do was purchase a new computer; I decided to take a look at Apple products. I was tired of dealing with Microsoft Windows issues, I was tired of dealing with software that wasn’t user friendly, and I decided that it was time to consider Apple. The first time I got to play around with an iMac in the Apple store I was sold on Apple’s technology.

Anyone who is a fan of Apple knows all about Steve Jobs. The company’s rise and fall after Steve Jobs was forced out and then its rise again when Steve Jobs came back made the American public wonder how Steve Jobs operated, and how he managed to pull this off. The book goes all the way back to his childhood; his adoptive parents had made a pact with his birth mother that they would make sure he went to college. His father as a mechanic taught him a lot, including that the components in anything that aren’t seen and covered are just as important that taught him a lesson on quality. He was an engineer from an early age; he managed to create technology gadgets that annoyed his parents and won him friends. Life events when he was an adult such as taking LSD, discovering various vegetarian diets, practicing Zen Buddhism, befriending Steve Wozniak, and attending Reed College led to him becoming the person that he was. His personality was far from perfect and he was known to be a bit on the cruel or manipulating side, but he was still a brilliant engineer despite dropping out of college.

The story of Apple’s creation is quite fascinating, especially when the handlers were hiring handlers to deal with Steve Jobs and his personality. The creation of Apple’s first products such as the Apple II, the Lisa, and the Macintosh all have stories of conflict. Steve Jobs’ manipulation and cruel personality were a daily obstacle. Putting Steve Jobs solely on the Macintosh program was chaotic, but it led to one of the most innovative and successful products that became part of American consumer culture--as well as a very colorful ad campaign that Steve Jobs was also part of. The connection between Microsoft and Bill Gates with Apple at the time led to a very strange business relationship. Bill Gates an Steve Jobs were both highly eccentric, had different ideas about what they were creating, and both of them had their insulting comments to each other. The people who have been around Steve Jobs in their careers both past and present all discuss his “this is shit!” comments when they presented him with their ideas. They also discuss how there’s a code in dealing with Steve Jobs and what each of his insulting comments mean.

The failures of Steve Jobs after Apple with the “Next” system he created, his involvement with Pixar, and his failed relationships with his colleagues and girlfriends provided learning experiences in business and relationships. When he returned to Apple, it seemed like he wasn’t much different, but he had an idea of what he wanted to do and where he wanted the company to go. He pointed out Apple’s failures in creating innovative products, he addressed the lack of quality for the sake of creating profits, and he wanted to get people who were “A players” instead of having a bunch of “B players.” It’s well documented that he laid off people, made insulting comments at board meetings—such as telling all of the engineers that their products suck. One of my favorite parts of the story of his return is when he was given a tour of all of Apple’s existing products before his return; anyone who remembers that period knows that they had several models of the same system and that they were confusing to consumers. His response was asking “Which one do I tell my friends to buy?” to which he wasn’t able to get a response. He simplified the product line, he took a look at where the company needed to go, and Apple’s failure before he came back was a prime example of what happens when successful companies forget their roots and focus more on profits.

In the world of business books, I think that this is one that corporate executives could learn from. I also think that the key word that is used many times in the book is “innovation.” While Steve Jobs wasn’t an angelic figure with a rosy personality, he knew how to create and sell products. At the same time there were positive results for the company due to his personality. Any fan of Apple or technology products has probably already read and loved this book. Walter Isaacson being the one to pen the only authorized biography on Steve Jobs proves Isaacson is a very detailed writer when it comes to research and attaining facts. Isaacson’s biographies on Albert Einstein, Ben Franklin, and Henry Kissinger are all notable biographies, but this one is going to be his masterpiece throughout his entire writing career.

Brad Warner: Hardcore Zen Buddhism

Brad Warner is not your typical Zen Buddhist; he’s especially not the typical Zen Buddhist monk, either. His appeal to the younger Buddhist generation, younger people seeking a spiritual philosophy to follow of any sort, or to people who are what you would call “spiritual misfits” have made him one of America’s most popular of Buddhist teachers. He’s been listed as an influential Buddhist teacher you should be following on Twitter by The Huffington Post, he’s been interviewed on CNN, he’s written pieces for the alternative adult website ‘Suicide Girls,’ and he’s authored 4 books: 'Hardcore Zen,’ ‘Sit Down and Shut Up,’ ‘Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate,’ and ‘Sin and Zen.’ Brad Warner is a native of Akron, OH and was part of Akron’s hardcore punk scene in the 80s; he played bass for Zero Defex; he later went on to form his own group Dementia 13. He eventually found himself living and working in Japan playing the roles of foreigners in various programs, and he was also involved with the popular long-running Japanese show “Ultraman.” While he’s a Zen teacher, he’s also a huge science-fiction connoisseur, still continues to play music and has played in reunion shows with Zero Defex after returning to Akron, OH from Japan, and does speaking and teaching engagements around the world.

Brad Warner’s books are not what you’d generally read in any book written on the subject of Zen or Buddhism. He has extensive knowledge of a variety of teachings in Zen Buddhism from his formal practice that he discusses in his books explaining his own journeys in life in Japan, working on ‘Ultraman’ and other science fiction based productions, being in Zero Defex, his college years, and part of his childhood growing up abroad due to his father’s foreign job assignments. He’s able to keep readers of his books entertained with humor, stories, and yet translate these teachings all at the same time, which makes him a unique teacher and has earned him a following. At the same time, there have been many who have criticized his books and his teachings. He’s also proudly stated that one of his books is “Zen for people who don’t give a rat’s ass.” In today’s society while people are still seeking spiritual walks of life, a philosophy to find themselves engaged to, or some sort of a religion that they can feel comfortable with, it’s easy to relate to Brad’s straight-talking, sobering, against the “new age” concept, and yet positive writings.

I decided to talk with Brad about his roots in Akron, his love of science-fiction, his approach to Zen Buddhism, his writings, and some other related subjects.

You grew up living abroad, but you mostly lived in Akron. Being a native of Cleveland myself, the things I think of when Akron comes to mind are working and middle class families, the tire companies, and the music. I would even consider it more culturally vibrant than Cleveland. Akron’s music scene has been unique with who is either from there, or what has come out of Akron when you look at iconic bands and musicians like Devo, Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders, The Cramps, and The Black Keys who have all come out of Akron. It’s obviously still a significant city in Ohio and has a vibrant history in many aspects. At the same time, it seems that Devo and The Black Keys have a love/hate relationship with their hometown. As a native of Akron yourself, and someone who has been part of Akron’s music scene, what do you think it is about Akron that gives it that rare cultural history, music history, and just general atmosphere as a city?

Akron is kind of a hellhole, really. This is probably one of the reasons so many creative things have come out of the city. If you want to see any good live music you have to make it yourself. Nobody ever comes here. Until the advent of the Internet, even if you just wanted to hear some good music you had to make it. Nobody can afford to even go to Cleveland let alone New York City and see what’s going on there.

It seems like it’s pretty rare that any great culture comes out of big vibrant cities like New York or Los Angeles. When it does, it’s usually because whoever is making that stuff moved to those cities from a place like Akron. Artists need something to fight against. So people here make their own culture. And sometimes it’s really amazing stuff.

In Akron we’re working in kind of a vacuum. We don’t know what the trends are so we can’t follow them even if we want to. The mainstream culture here follows the lowest of the lowbrow in terms of mass culture. But nothing “hip” ever comes here; no art exhibits, no bands. So people have to create their own reaction to that lowbrow mass culture without having a viable “alternative” culture to fall back on. Really, so-called “alternative” culture is usually just a minor variation on what the masses are doing anyway. People who are truly different aren’t any more accepted by the so-called “alternative scene” than they are by the mainstream.

I also have some terrific friends and there’s a real sense of camaraderie and community among those of us who see things differently from the rest of this town.

On the other hand, now that I’m back living in Akron again and I can see that this is a city where it seems like most people think baloney and white bread are what normal people eat and anyone who doesn’t must be a “commie fag.” And they’re pissed off because the economy is shit. No one has jobs. The weather is awful. Sweltering summers and winters like the Antarctic. I don’t have any trouble understanding why DEVO and Chrissy Hynde and LeBron James and the Black Keys and all the rest got out of here.

You have such an interest in some of the most obscure and classic forms of science fiction films and the culture that’s related to it going back through several eras. It seemed that you were living a dream by working in Japan in the industry there where so much of the world’s most notable science fiction films like Godzilla originated. At the same time, you’ve also been heavy into music and you’re a musician yourself. Do you feel that music and science fiction films have been as influential to you as Zen Buddhism? And did you ever feel during any part of your Zen training that these interests were going to have to be put aside, or that they were a distraction along the path of your Buddhist practice?

It’s hard to say if music and sci-fi have been influential. I mean, I can say that my early reading of sci-fi novels by Philip K. Dick had some influence on my interest in Zen. He put a lot of Zen-like ideas in his books. Though he got most of it wrong. And I know that my experiences playing live music led me to seek other experiences similar to that great feeling of openness that you get from playing.

On the other hand science fiction is full of a lot of worthless goofball speculation that can seem profound when it isn’t at all. L. Ron Hubbard is a perfect example of that. And rock music is loud and probably potentially disruptive to the workings of the human nervous system if indulged in too much.

I did feel at one point like I was going to have to put that stuff aside to become more “pure” and more like the Zen folks I saw at Buddhist centers. But that didn’t make me happy. And I don’t feel like Buddha’s message was “Don’t be happy” or “Don’t be yourself.”

You can always find a way to make your particular interests part of your Buddhist practice. I still love science fiction. But I now tend to gravitate toward the goofier stuff rather than the science fiction that’s touted as profound. I find the goofy stuff to be more honest, while the stuff that seeks to be profound is usually just pretentious. I always felt this way to some degree. But now I no longer feel like I ought to apologize for it.

As for it being distracting, well maybe it is. But sometimes you need a certain amount of distraction. If you get too single minded about Zen practice it can turn into an unhealthy sort of obsession.

I want to talk about one of your books that I found to be best of your 4 in my opinion, and the reason ‘Sit Down and Shut Up’ is my favorite is because of it being an example of how you teach and present material. You took the Zen teachings of Dogen’s Shobogenzo and presented them in a unique way by telling personal stories in that book. Plus you used it to talk about how you were taking a trip back to Ohio and reuniting with Zero Defex at the time, how you accidently botched a TV release for a company in Japan you worked for that your boss took the consequences for on your behalf, and you presented it in such an easy way for people to take something from it. You’ve also done the same things in your other books. Buddhism is a way of life where you apply the teachings to everything you do, and is that how you approach your writing?

We made live-action television programs and once a year we made a live-action movie. It was one of the TV show releases that I screwed up. And I wouldn’t say my boss took the consequences for me. But he did say that as my boss he had to accept some of the blame because it was his job to look at what I was doing and to see that I had a general understanding of what was going on. Problem was, in that specific instance, he didn’t understand any better than I did what the company was doing.

But that aside, yeah, I do feel like Buddhism is a way of life. I approach writing like everything else, as part of my Buddhist life. I try to present something useful. But I also do it as much for me as for anyone else.

Sometimes I make these rather blunt statements in my books to a hypothetical person designated by the pronoun “you.” Sometimes people take that as an admonition. They think I’m saying, “I’ve got it all together, but you, on the other hand, should do better.” But that’s not what I mean at all. The “you” I refer to in my writing always includes myself. I’ve been trying to make that clearer as I go along.

As for Shobogenzo, all I can present is my understanding of it. I can’t dig up Dogen and ask him if I got it right. Some people disagree with my interpretations. I’m certainly not schooled in Dogen studies.

You and Noah Levine, who is another Buddhist teacher who has been involved in the punk rock lifestyle, have both been considered to be the most influential Buddhist teachers to the younger generations. In fact, you’ve even worked with Noah’s meditation group in Los Angeles. Noah is a little bit more rooted in speaking in terms of escaping self-destruction and addiction, and living with compassion for others. Your teachings are based on a more straight-forward, unchained point of view, which makes sense given you come from the Zen lineage. You’ve even said you’re about teaching “Zen for people who don’t give a rat’s ass.” When you take a look at the younger generations of people who come to you for instruction that come from rebellious movements or counterculture, what do you want them to take away from your instruction?

I have no idea what I want people to take from my so-called “teaching.” Honestly. I don’t really want them to take anything in particular.

I’m really not trying to teach anyone anyway. That’s why I don’t take students. I wouldn’t have any idea what to teach them. I can give people information that I have and that they don’t have. But that’s about it. And if you want information, there are better sources than me for just about anything. I really don’t know much in terms of information about Buddhism.

I do feel that there are people who could benefit from Buddhist philosophy and practice who might never encounter it because they’ve already decided like Jello Biafra in his song Religious Vomit that all religions suck. I sometimes think maybe my writing appeals to people who have a sense that there is some deeper truth but who don’t want religion. That’s how I felt.

But as for what I want people to take from my instruction, ugh! I don’t even like the word “instruction.” It makes me feel like we’re getting into some kind of S&M scene. As for what I want people to take from my writing… I can’t even say. I see my writing get misinterpreted in all kinds of bizarre ways. It seems to me like some people read what they want to read no matter what I actually say. I have no control over it at all.

I once heard a retired Episcopalian priest tell me it seems Americans can’t really be Buddhists because we’re too set in our ways to accept another culture’s religion with such intensive practices. There are obviously formalities that Americans are not used to that you have lived through in the Zen temples of Japan, and even in places where you have done your recent personal retreats. At the same time, when you perform your own retreats and teachings, it’s less formal, but still based in the practices. When you think about your own personal Zen training and the perspective of some of the people who have attended talks and retreats that you have given, do you believe in the idea that Americans can’t be Buddhists?

Well, neither of my teachers was very into formalities. There are Zen training centers that are much stricter and more difficult than anything I’ve personally been to. So I sometimes think I’m kind of a wimp.

And I think that anyone who can’t handle the kind of comparatively easy sort of practice I do is probably pretty hopeless. I don’t really make the retreats I lead any easier than the most of the ones I experienced. On the Zen scale of difficulty in retreats, Nishijima Roshi’s were very low. You woke up at 4:30 AM instead of 3:30. There were long breaks during the day for free-time. He never led a retreat longer than four days.

You do need some kind of discipline to get anything out of Zen practice. It doesn’t necessarily have to be intense discipline. It just has to be discipline.

Some people say I’m disciplined because I get up in the morning and the first thing I do is at least a half hour of zazen followed by a little exercise routine. Then I write every single day and practice my instruments daily. But to me, this really isn’t much. I feel very lazy and undisciplined because I’ve seen people who are way more intense than I could ever be.

You are one figure in modern Buddhism that has earned such an interesting following that has stirred things up for the better; you have such a unique way of teaching and explaining things. At the same time, I have encountered many of your critics, for as long as I’ve been reading your stuff, who say that you have an “immature sense of humor” for a Zen Buddhist monk, that you think you have a superiority over others because you studied Zen in Japan, and that you have enough of a rebellious streak to where it makes you an ineffective teacher. I even had a laugh after I read “BRAD WARNER WRITES PORNOGRAPHY ON "SUICIDE GIRLS!” Plus a blog that you wrote about a book on the subject of psychedelics and Buddhism earned you some scorn from the older Buddhist generation who said that you unfairly categorized them. You definitely don’t teach like some of the American Zen teachers like Enkyo O’Hara does, how Daido Loori did, or the other big names and figures in America who are part of the Zen community. I also don’t think people assume that any other Zen monk would ever interview a member of Devo, or talk about how Gene Simmons of KISS isn’t a Zen master in a Buddhist book. Do you feel that sometimes you are unfairly criticized?

“There’s no fair or unfair to a meteorite. You get hit, you die.” That’s a quotation from the film Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet.

I feel like people criticize an image. They don’t know me at all. Nor do I know Genpo Roshi, who I’ve criticized a lot. I just slam his image. And it’s a lousy image so it’s fun to make fun of it.

If people don’t like my sense of humor, they don’t have to read what I write. If they’d rather find a more stereotypically “mature” Zen teacher there are plenty around. It doesn’t matter. If I was the only Zen teacher in the whole world maybe I’d have an obligation to be more universally appealing. Though probably not even then. But in any case there are other teachers people can go to if they don’t like me. So I feel no obligation at all to try to be what everybody wants. To me, that would be the antithesis of what Zen is about anyway.

It’s interesting sometimes, though, to be criticized for not fitting into what has become the standard “Buddhist guy image” that has developed in America over the past fifty years. Because that image is pure bunk. Zen teachers have always been weirdo iconoclasts. I am a rank amateur compared to the likes of Ikkyu or Haukuin. Those guys were really nutty! They make me look like the most conservative guy ever.

The Buddhist magazines and the Internet have really done a lot to solidify this weird phony image of what a Buddhist teacher ought to look and sound like. Those who conform to that stereotype can gain a following of people who like stereotypical teachers. I’m glad those folks don’t like me!

What’s in the future for Brad Warner as a teacher? Do you plan on staying in Akron for the long term? Do you plan to open a center? And how involved are you in playing music?

My future? I have no idea. I’ll stay in Akron at least till Spring of 2012. After that I’m not sure. I have no plans to open a center as such. But some people in Los Angeles are trying to set up a nonprofit religious organization with me as the head. So maybe we’ll start some kind of something.

I’m very involved in music. I just bought a new guitar and that means I need to start a band in which I can play it. I play bass in the band I’m currently in, Zero Defex. Zero Defex, by the way, are currently recording a new album. That’s been fun.

I’ll have a novel out this year and I’ve written a screenplay that I’m hoping we can make. Last year I acted in a movie called Shoplifting From American Apparel. I’m actually the lead role in it. The film should be released in 2012. But it is ultra low budget. So don’t expect to see it at your local megaplex cinema! It’ll probably play festivals and art-houses before getting released on DVD.

I want to do a lot of things. Zen teaching is something I’ve sort of fallen backwards into. I have no idea why anyone respects my opinion on such a deep subject as Zen. I’m still just a punk rock bass player who writes cheesy books.

I want to say that it’s been a pleasure, I always enjoy reading your Facebook and your blog, and that I hope there will be lots more to come from you in the future. And congrats on being one of the “Buddhists you should follow on Twitter”

Thanks!

Many thanks to Brad Warner for allowing me to interview him. You can follow Brad's blog at Hardcore Zen

The Passing of Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens: 1949 - 2011

I was saddened to read about the passing of Christopher Hitchens this evening. It was no secret that he was dying of cancer, and his biography book tour was cut short due to his diagnosis. While I didn't agree with many of the positions that he took, I found him to be a true man of letters. He was definitely one of the last of the best essayists. Christopher Hitchens wrote many great books on the subjects of government and religion. While I was infuriated with some of his points of view over the years, I found some of his work intriguing. One of my favorite pieces that he did was where he allowed himself to be waterboarded to see whether or not it was truly torture; he changed his position on the subject and agreed that it was torture in the worst way imaginable. 

His positions when it came to religion were at times extreme, but many of them I agreed with. I don't believe we should have a war on Islam, but I feel many of the "God" religions to promote a war on reason. I also have problems with the theories that he and Dawkins professed on Tibet's situation. 

Gore Vidal supposedly named Christopher Hitchens as his "heir" in the world of literature. Hitchens was once friends with Gore Vidal, and later on they had a nasty end to their friendship, which became part of a very nasty public feud where Hitchens seemed to suggest Gore Vidal was a crazy old conspiracy theorist while Gore Vidal concluded Hitchens had become a fascist. 

Hitchens made a promise during his interview with Larry King that he would not leave this world crying out to God to accept him as a believer. I'm pretty sure he kept to that promise and left this world just as he was. If he did, I agree with what he said would be the circumstances of him doing so, being pumped full of those wonderful drugs to take the pain of death away. 

R.I.P., Mr. Hitchens. We'll miss you, and thanks for the many great writings you have left behind. 

A.J. Weberman: "Dylanologist"

"In 1961 Bob Dylan struck a bargain with Satan. In return for his soul Bob would have half a century of fame and fortune. Then the Devil would materialize and spirit him off to Hell in a hand basket (Made in China)." - Exercept from The Devil and Bob Dylan.


When it comes to Bob Dylan, you’d probably think about his folk anthems and his unique voice that many people can easily recognize in any era of his career. Bob Dylan has been well documented through music history; people have written books trying to analyze his lyrics and his statements during interviews; and there are those who are left guessing about Bob Dylan. One of the most well known of people who have studied the life of Bob Dylan is A.J. Weberman. Rolling Stone has named him “The King of all Dylan Nuts.” One of Weberman’s most well known of research methods was digging through Bob Dylan’s garbage, and Weberman has been the source of ridicule and controversy. At the same time, Weberman’s material has contributed to over 400 books on Bob Dylan from various writers.

The discoveries in Dylan’s trash that Weberman has shown the world have been rejected songs and poems, scribbled sketches, and even lived to tell the tale about coming across Jakob Dylan’s dirty diapers. Weberman has also extensively studied the lyrics and has come up with a method in how he reads Dylan’s lyrics. He was even the subject of a documentary in 2006, ‘The Ballad of A.J. Weberman.’ Weberman moved on to dig through the trash of other celebrities and public figures and coined the term “garbology” and even wrote a book about his life going through the garbage to get the facts and the dirt (literally) on other public figures.

Weberman is back with a new book, ‘The Devil and Bob Dylan.’ The book discusses the very moment that Dylan went bad, which Weberman believes was in 1961, when a young Bob Dylan supposedly sold his soul to the devil to become the famous musician he would become. Weberman also brings his own revelations from his research about Dylan through his discarded poetry that Dylan is a closeted racist, that “Blowin in the Wind” is a song that contains lyrics about lynching African-Americans, that Dylan is HIV positive, has connections with Palestinian terrorist organizations, and many other facts about Dylan that Weberman has stated in previous years with further insights.

I tried to read through this book with as much as an open mind as possible. I found it to be very interesting in some places, I found places where there’s some good old- fashioned yippie radicalism at work, and I also found a lot of the information to be intriguing. So, I wanted to ask A.J. Weberman some questions about his life digging through Bob Dylan’s trash, about how he views Bob Dylan, and of course some of the things in the book.

When you first started going through Bob Dylan’s garbage, did you ever think there would be anything in there that would keep you digging through it? When was the exact moment that you knew you were going to keep digging through Dylan’s trash?

Dylan told me that one morning he got up and there was an empty wine bottle on his stoop so he opened his garbage can and realized the trash that the maid had disposed of last night was like gone. He set up a video camera was a relieved to find out it was me and not someone trying to find out his routine so they could kidnap his kids.

I’ve seen some of the things that you have shown publicly that you have taken out of the trash. Some of which is Dylan’s poetry, which you seem to have a deep interest in. You mention at the beginning of the book in the pretext that you had the gift of being able to provide insights into classical poetry while studying in college, and that you applied the same methods to analyzing Dylan’s lyrics and poetry. You also mention that you make your assumptions based on clusters of words around one specific word, and that Bob Dylan is also, like you, politically incorrect. Some people believe that Bob Dylan was a civil rights hero, a folk hero with liberal beliefs in the same light as Woody Guthrie, and someone who would hardly be in the light that you paint him in. When you say that Bob Dylan uses racist analogies in songs like ‘Blowin in the Wind,’ do you believe that there’s a level of accuracy you can hold to such a claim?

I believe that I have pointed out many dog whistle racist words in an entire series of Dylan poems. You can read the book and it is up to you to decide if I prove my case.

The first chapter of the book is when you say Dylan made his deal to the devil and subtly admits it in an interview that was done in 2004 for ’60 Minutes.’ They say that Robert Johnson, one of the earliest influences in blues, also made a pact with the devil in exchange for talent and fame. Robert Johnson sang about making the pact at the crossroads, you say Dylan sang about his pact with the devil on Highway 61. It seems the two of them have something in common about revealing their flaws, or their supposed deals with the devil.

Here is one verse from Highway 61: "Well Georgia Sam” well the Communist Party USA controlled by the Soviet Union “had a bloody nose” idiomatic expression, they were defeated and damaged but not permanently and seriously by McCarthyism “Welfare Department” the anti-Communist liberals who invented the welfare state “they wouldn't give him no clothes” they wouldn’t let the Communists express themselves in words that clothed their true Soviet puppet totalitarian agenda “He asked poor Howard” the Communists asked a folksinger, poor Howard “where can I go? Howard said there's only one place I know” the folksinger responded that there is only one outlet that entertained Communist thought “Sam said tell me quick man I got to run” the Communist folk singer said tell me quickly as it is urgent I run for office, take over America, run at the mouth “Ol' Howard just pointed” the Depression Era folkie just wrote a song direct and obvious in meaning and reference; often unpleasant; ‘a pointed critique’ ‘a protest song’ “with his gun” accompanied by his acoustic guitar “And said that way down on Highway 61” and Howard told Sam to infiltrate the world of folk music in order to receive mainstream media acceptance. It is not about the Devil.

The one era of Dylan’s career, which even I agree in finding to be comical, is the Christianity era. The one thing you mention is that was a period in his life where he was at the height of a heroin addiction. It’s also an era of his career that he hasn’t really addressed as it seems to have been something he sweeps under the rug. People wonder if he still practices Christianity. Not even T. Bone Burnett, who Bob Dylan confided in as they walked that path together, will even say if Bob Dylan is still practicing Christianity. What insights can you provide into that era of his career that we probably don’t know about?

After Dylan became a Christian he stopped shooting dope. If he were still preaching Christianity he would be in touch with his Minister, Michael Canfield, and Canfield would have mentioned it to me. A lot of Christian cats want to believe he is still a Christian but he is not. I don’t know where Dylan prays or if Dylan prays but I believe he, like others in Neturei Karta, pray for the destruction of Israel which they believe will hasten the coming of the Messiah.

Besides Bob Dylan’s garbage, you have also gone through the garbage of some other well-known figures. One of the more interesting of garbage piles that you have gone through was Richard Nixon’s. What interesting finds did you end up with in Nixon’s garbage?

Never got it. The Secret Service had the police arrest me.

You had an interesting history through the 80s and 90s. You belonged to the Jewish Defense Organization, where you taught people how to fire weapons; you lived in Israel for a short period of time where you found yourself involved in the middle of some controversy related to [domestic assassinations]; and you contributed research for a PBS documentary on Lee Harvey Oswald. You never settled down, you never became a stockbroker like Jerry Rubin, and you’re still going strong today. You’re obviously someone who isn’t going to go away silently or tone it down. If you had to define your life’s experiences and travels, how would you do so?

Well Jerry Rubin got run over and became road pizza. Cross at the green not in between. What a long strange trip it has been

When people say “A.J. Weberman is a madman,” is that as much of a compliment to you as someone saying, “A.J. Weberman is a genius” when they talk about you?

No one says I am a genius, but history will absolve me.

One last question… Will Bob Dylan’s Christmas album be playing in your apartment on Christmas morning?

Never bought it, as I know some of the money from it will be going to Palestinians.

Many thanks to A.J. Weberman for allowing me to interview him. You can learn more about A.J. and purchase his book through his website at Dylanology - The Study of a Poet Who Sold His Soul to the Devil

Book Trailer and Trailer for 'The Ballad of A.J. Weberman.'