A publisher now and a documentarian. A professional Punk Historian and Professional consultant. I have my publishing company in my bedroom converted into a office. Achieving many of my dreams here and I am blessed by the praying mantis.
Happy Winter Solstice 2022 & Auld Lang Syne New Year 2023
II. Love’s Nature Love
Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832)
“…In peace, Love tunes the shepherd’s reed;
In war, he mounts the warrior’s steed;
In halls, in gay attire is seen;
In hamlets, dances on the green.
Love rules the court, the camp, the grove,
And men below, and saints above;
For love is heaven, and heaven is love.
True love’s the gift which God has given
To man alone beneath the heaven;
It is not fantasy’s hot fire,
Whose wishes, soon as granted, fly;
It liveth not in fierce desire,
With dead desire it doth not die;
It is the secret sympathy,
The silver link, the silken tie,
Which heart to heart, and mind to mind,
In body and in soul can bind…”
Thirty years ago, as a publisher of a small underground fanzine I helped out many bands and individuals. It was an unofficial official job. Lots of work every day. As the years went on, I kept my mouth shut and did my job. I had many opportunities to confront and talk to the punk oligarchy that presided in our office home.
I turned away and did not speak up. If I had the opportunity to speak up now and go back and confront the internal control that moved like a rip tide toward magazines, records, and videos, I would have stood up and defined my needs as a member at the table of true anarchy.
A place of communication and ideas. Here is what I would say,
“I want to publish books and open up a coffee shop.”
This was before that mermaid opened her fins and poured her vast empire of java. Little up-town Whittier California was prime at that time. It would be a place of publishing, art, good coffee and maybe some beer for sale too! This idea still pivots in my mind since reading a book during the late 1970’s.
I have lost the name of the book or the author. The book’s title is “Spooky Foot” or close to that. I do know the general ideas and concepts in the book. There was a woman who was a very sensitive person. She engaged in an artist underground movement. In her biography she lived in England, and she opened up an art center, coffee shop, music live, gallery, beer shop. It was a place for all ages and kinds of people to come together and be creative.
To share their inspirations. Oh yes, the best part is that the author of this book said one of her dreams was to open a small publishing company in her back house. Small but respectable and she achieved her goal. That is what I would have changed back then.
So, I try to live up to that invisible dream still. Slight but it is right.
Elfenlied
At midnight, when asleep are men at length,
Then shines for us the moon,
Then gleams for us the star,
We rove and dance and sing
Nor gay till then we are.
At midnight, when asleep are men at length,
We seek the alder grove,
And in the pale moonbeam,
We rove about and sing,
And gaily dance a dream.
~ Goethe
English translation by W.G. Thomas