Filker Leslie Fish has died [Updated, note 'Memorial Filksing']

Leslie Fish in 2001. Creative Commons photo by David Gillett

Well known science fiction figure Leslie Fish has died. Although best known in science fiction fandom as a "filker," i.e. a science fiction folksinger, she also was a writer.

"Fish (1953-2025) died Nov. 29 at age 72, while in hospice care at her home," according to an obituary posted at the Libertarian Futurist Society blog by Michael Grossberg. See also this File 770 obit (fourth item) and this Wikipedia bio.  [Update: Like one of my favorite musicians, Cars leader Ric Ocasek, Fish apparently lied about her age! She actually was 81. See below.]

While I could justify this news item by mentioning the overlap between science fiction fandom and Illuminatus! fandom, there is a more direct connection to the interests of this blog.

Fish was part of the anarchist scene in Chicago in the late 1960s that Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea also were part of. See this interesting Jesse Walker article from 2005 in Reason magazine, which also (maybe) reveals who the "real Mama Sutra" was.  But Jesse also shares this bit from when he was researching the article: "The one time I interviewed her, she told me that she had been Robert Anton Wilson's dope dealer when they both lived in Chicago."

UPDATE: More information from Jesse Walker: A Leslie Fish Memorial Filksing will be publicly available live on YouTube. 

Also from Jesse: "Also, the guy who just passed it along tells me that he 'just got consent from the family this morning to disclose Leslie's actual birthdate: March 11th, 1944. So she died at the age of 81.' (Many obituaries said 72 instead, because apparently she habitually lied about her age.)

RAW's Beethoven listening projects, and ours

Beethoven when he was 26. 

Thanks to Eric Wagner, we know that Robert Anton Wilson "once took LSD and listened to all nine Beethoven symphonies, taking a bit more before each symphony, climaxing with the Ninth at sunrise."

RAW also listened to Beethoven in other interesting ways. Cosmic Trigger II, in the "Attack of the Dog-faced Demons" chapter, records that "In a farm in Mendocino, 1972, I was preparing for the Mass of the Phoenix, a ritual designed by Aleister Crowley in which the magician attempts to activate his 'True Will.' I had taken 250 micrograms of Acid, played some Beethoven, and, when I felt ready, I went to my makeshift Altar and began the Invocation."

In the link above, you can can see that in 2012, Eric Wagner also wrote about "my 11:32 project to listen to all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas eleven times each.  I've modeled the sonatas as parallel with the eight circuits of the nervous system, so I've almost finished the Sixth Morphogenetic Circuit, and I look forward to metaprogramming Beethoven shortly."

Eric has a new listening project. He recently wrote to me, " I plan to work through the 24 brains in Leary’s Info-Psychology over the next 24 weeks. A discussion I had with Dr. Johnson about Leary’s skill as a writer helped inspire this idea. Music for week one: Haydn Symphonies 97-100."

An update: "Last week I reread the first half of Info-Psychology and started Game of Life and read the brief summary of state one in Musings on Human Metamorphoses, pg. 90; Design for Dying, pg. 85, and Flashbacks, pg. 385, all by Leary. This week I plan to read Game of Life up through state 2.

"Music for the week: Haydn Symphony 100, Beethoven Piano Sonata Op. 101."

I am not doing anything as elaborate, but I am currently listening to all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas, in order, concentrating on a particular sonata each week. This week is Piano Sonata No. 5 in C minor, Op. 10, No. 1. Sviatoslav Richter is my favorite piano player, but Richter did not record all of Beethoven's sonatas, although he recorded many, so I also listen to Igor Levit, Alfred Brendel, Wilhelm Kempff, etc. Perhaps not related to the Beethoven, but also I have been reading a bit of primary source Epicurean philosophy each day; right now, I am doing the "Letter to Menoeceus." (Another translation here.) 

News from Bobby Campbell: Expect new 'Tales' announcement

Bobby Campbell apparently is busier than ever. His latest newsletter has many news items. 

One is this  hint about a coming Tales of Illuminatus! announcement: "The next installment in our Tales of Illuminatus! series is developing very nicely, with announcements to follow in due course, though steady yourselves for something of a curve ball!"

Also, Bobby is finishing another comic book series: "I’m going to take some time for my somewhat neglected personal work, specifically Agnosis! #3, which will finally complete the OKEY-DOKEY graphic novel.

"Follow along with those developments here: Bobby Campbell’s STATE OF THE ART"

Much more news here, including some items I have covered and some that were new to me. 

An alternate cover for the Shea book

 

When Rasa was creating covers for Every Day is a Good Day, the new Robert Shea anthology I edited, this was one of the possible covers. It was decided that it was not a match for the optimistic tone of the book, but nonetheless, I enjoyed looking at this dramatic artwork, and (with Rasa's permission) I am sharing it here. 

Maybe Night to return

 

Bobby Campbell has announced the return of Maybe Night. It is the third annual winter solstice celebration of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake and it's set for Dec. 21. 

MAYBE NIGHT 2025 is our 3rd annual virtual celebration of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake :))) (The nocturnal equivalent of Bloomsday's commemoration of Ulysses)

We will once again engage the COLLIDEORSCOPE on December 21st at www.maybeday.net/night

We will also be broadcasting a live panel of illustrious Joyceans discussing Jeems Jokes' enchanted chop suey! Join us for this the first official meeting of the international Winter Wakeans Reading Group!

Let this serve as a clarion call for FW and/or Joycean art, video presentations, writing, and whatever else besides!

(I recommend sending in links to your creations, but you can also send things to be hosted on the Maybe Night site directly)

The idea is simple: Make something cool • Share it • Explore the others!

You can contact us at weirdoverse@gmail.com

Approximate deadline for submitting Maybe Night offerings is December 15th

Also! As always, do please feel free and encouraged to create and post Maybe Night content using your own ways and means. A decentralized and self-organizing Maybe Night would be just the thing to wake the Finnegans up, up, and away to ever greater glory!

More here. 

The two newest Hilaritas Books seem to complement each other

 

The two newest books out from Hilaritas Press, the publishing imprint of the Robert Anton Wilson trust, seem to complement each other, so that someone interested in one book likely would find the other one interesting, too. This is probably coincidence, rather than the deliberate intent of Rasa and the other editors, but it seems like a fair observation.

A Non-Euclidean Perspective: Robert Anton Wilson’s Political Commentaries 1960-2005, a Robert Anton Wilson anthology and the newest Hilaritas title, concentrates on politics, as the title says. Every Day is a GOOD Day, the Robert Shea anthology I edited released in September, is not ostensibly a politics book, but it has many essays on anarchism and a description of Shea's participation in an antiwar march in Chicago.

Both books have many pieces on anarchism. Both have a strong antiwar tone. Both have an essay on Ayn Rand. The Wilson book has a whole essay on nonvoting and the Shea book has short piece advocating nonvoting. 

There is also some actual overlap. "Anarchism and Crime," the piece I speculated the other day might be an outtake from Illuminatus!, is reprinted on both books.

Of course, there are obvious differences in the books by the  two Illuminatus! co-author. Shea is consistently an anarchist and Wilson is rather all over the place. They even acknowledge that about each other, Wilson in the "Illuminating Discord" interview, Shea in the acceptance speech after winning the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award for Illuminatus! 

The RAW Semantics blog has a post on Non-Euclidian, while Michael Johnson reviewed Every Day is a GOOD Day at his Substack. 

Steve Fly still wants to go to Siberia

 

A freight train on the Trans Siberian Railway runs next to Lake Baikal. (Creative Commons photo). 

The new Robert Anton Wilson book just out from Hilaritas, A Non-Euclidean Perspective: Robert Anton Wilson's Political Commentaries 1960-2005, includes an interview of RAW by Steve "Fly" Pratt. I was intrigued by this bit:

FLY: Yeah, I'm thinking of moving to Siberia.

RAW: You've moving to Siberia? That's not such a bad idea. I thought about moving to Amsterdam.

FLY: I found the city of Amsterdam to be one of the more liberal-thinking cities of Europe. 

This is not the most important question, ever, but I wondered: Why did Fly want to move to Siberia? (He is quite the world traveler, but Siberia?) Why did RAW think it was not a bad idea? So I finally just asked. I emailed Steve: "I am curious why  you wanted to move to Siberia. Did you ever get to at least visit?"

Steve replied, "No, I didn't visit siberia, yet. I'm romantic for tuvan throat singing, would love to take the trans siberia express.... Some day. Write all the way."

Here is my most recent interview with Steve, it links to a couple of others. 

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, even if you haven't made your dream trip yet. 

Upcoming book: 'The Occult Timothy Leary'

Chad Nelson alerts me to a book that's coming out in April: The Occult Timothy Leary: The Tarot, Magical States, and Post-Terrestrial Evolution.

The book is apparently part of a series (the publisher, Destiny Books, also displays The Occult Sylvia Plath and The Occult Elvis. The Leary book has a foreword by R.U. Sirius, which seeems like a good sign. 

Here is some of the publisher's blurb:

"Timothy Leary, American psychologist and countercultural icon, is well known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs and controversial experiments on human consciousness. What is less well known is his deep interest in Western esotericism, a dimension that Joseph L. Flatley explores in-depth.

"Flatley recounts Leary’s early life and career trajectory, highlighting the esoteric influences that informed his occult activities. The author explores Leary’s thoughts on reincarnation and his futuristic views of computers and human evolution. Readers will learn about Leary’s encounters with twentieth-century groups and figures like Ram Dass, the Weather Underground, the Black Panthers, and Robert Anton Wilson, all of whom influenced his psychic explorations and the development of his Eight Circuit Model of consciousness.

"The author also details the role of the tarot in Leary’s life and philosophy, showing how Leary created his own version of the deck. Flatley reveals the correspondences between Leary’s deck and his Eight Circuit Model of consciousness and gives practical suggestions for how to use this tarot for divination."

Author bio: "Joseph L. Flatley is an investigative journalist, author, and host of the podcast A Paranoid’s History of the United States. His short films have been featured at Three Rivers Film Festival (Pittsburgh), NonPlussed Fest (Los Angeles) and Desert Daze (Joshua Tree, CA). His most recent book is New Age Grifter: The True Story of Gabriel of Urantia and His Cosmic Family."

Here's a link to the podcast. 

Did Bobby Campbell find a bit cut from 'Illuminatus!'?

In the comments for my Nov. 19 post, about the documents Bobby Campbell posted after going through the Ed Sanders papers at Princeton University's library special collections,  Jesse Walker posts a question about "Hodge Podge," a three page document written by Mordecai Malignatus, i.e. RAW. 

Jesse asked, "Is "Hodge Podge" one of the cut bits from Illuminatus!?

"(It is certainly the first place I've ever seen Robert Anton Wilson make a Merle Haggard reference. My worlds collide!)"

When I read it, it certainly seemed possible to me that it was a bit cut from Illuminatus!. 

I had the same question about "Anarchism and Crime," an essay featured in both the new Robert Anton Wilson book, A Non-Euclidean Perspective: Robert Anton Wilson’s Political Commentaries 1960-2005, and in Every Day is a GOOD Day, the new Robert Shea anthology. 

It was published in Green Egg magazine on May 1, 1974. It is attributed to both Wilson and Shea, which itself seems suggestive, and the date made me wonder if it became available after it was chopped out of the Appendix by one of the Dell editors making cuts in the book, or by Wilson and Shea when they were compelled by Dell to make cuts.

I should also note that RAW's old friend, Scott Apel, maintains that Wilson's book The Illuminati Papers includes material cut from Illuminatus!  And in fact, there is independent evidence that Scott is correct. 

Johann Sebastian Bach in the new RAW politics book

I tend to think of Beethoven as Robertt Anton Wilson's favorite composer, and mentions of Beethoven haunt RAW's writings, including many of the most well-known titles, such as Illuminatus! and Prometheus Rising. So I was interested that Johann Sebastian Bach  was the composer mentioned most prominently in the new RAW book, A Non-Euclidean Perspective: Robert Anton Wilson’s Political Commentaries 1960-2005, which I just finished.

The first mention comes in the "Illuminating Discord" interview, from 1976, when RAW is asked about his favorite music, and he mentions "Beethoven's Ninth and his late quartets, Bach, Bizet, Carl Orff, Vivaldi, the less popular and more experimental stuff by Stravinsky."

In the transcript of the joint appearance with Karl Hess (pun intended), the pair are asked to name the "greatest person who ever lived." Hess says his mother and Euclid, RAW answers, "Johann Sebastian Bach."

In the Steve Fly interview, asked about "favorite music albums and recording artists," RAW answers, "I like Bach. I like Charlie Parker and Thelonius Monk and John Coltrane. I like Harry Belafonte and the Weavers and a lot of other music. I like Mahler. I like a lot of music. Next question."  (But earlier in the interview, when Steve asks for RAW's "favorite sound," he answers, "The end of Beethoven's Ninth: male and female voices singing together about joy and brotherhood and peace.")

A few other Bach bits:

In this post, Tyler Cowen rates Bach "the greatest achiever of all time." While this is a reasonable opinion and Tyler makes a good case, I am not sure why Bach would rank above Mozart,  who wrote an astounding quantity of good music before dying at age 35. Many of Mozart's most famous works date from late in his career, so it is painful to think about what we might have if Mozart had lived until 40. Bach made it to 65, Beethoven was 56 when he died.

Bach is referenced over and over again in the works of Richard Powers, one of my favorite novelists. This is most obvious in The Gold Bug Variations, in which a character gives her lover a copy of the famous Glenn Gould recording of the Goldberg Variations. 

One of my favorite Michael Johnson Substack issues is his Bach piece, "J.S. Bach and the Psychedelic Mind."  Michael likes to play Bach on electric guitar; he should put some of that out on Bandcamp.

I own a lot of Bach's music and also have a lot bookmarked on streaming services. If I had to pick one favorite piece, it might be Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582.  I also listen over and over again to three cantatas: "Wachet Auf," BWV 140; "Christ lag in Todes Banden," BWV 4, and the "Hunting Cantata," BWV 208. 

Hilaritas Press podcast spotlights Robert Shea book

The new Hilaritas Press podcast released today with regular host Mike Gathers features Mike Shea and myself, discussing the new Robert Shea anthology.

Official blurb: "Hilaritas host Mike Gathers chats with Mike Shea and Tom Jackson about the life of Robert Shea, and the new Robert Shea book, Every Day Is A GOOD Day, from Hilaritas Press in Episode 51 of the Hilaritas Press Podcast."

The podcast opens with Rasa's nifty animation of the book's cover. I thought it was a good episode when we recorded it -- not because of me, but because Mike Shea told so many good stories about his father. I thank the Mikes and Rasa for making this podcast happen. 

The Etsy Weirdoverse shop

With the advent of the gift giving season, this seems like a good time to point to the Etsy Weirdoverse shop, filled with various items of Bobby Campbell goodness.

If you missed out on Tales of Illuminatus, you can buy both issues from the shop. But I also want to point to a digital product, Omnibus777, more than 600 pages of digital comics for $5, and the "Discordian God Card Package."

Etsy, if you aren't familiar with it, is a nice way to support small business folk and get unique items. 

Looks like I'm going to read 'The Magus'

 

The recommendations for The Magus by John Fowles are coming in thick and fast. It looks like I need to get around to reading the copy that's been sitting in my Kindle for a long time.

1. The new Robert Anton Wilson book, A Non-Euclidean Perspective: Robert Anton Wilson’s Political Commentaries 1960-2005, mentions the book three times, including once as a personal favorite, and also as a "great book." 

2. I recently wrote about book.sv, a book recommendation site recommended by Mark Frauenfelder, the RAW fan, writer, artist and founder of the Boing Boing magazine and website. When I tried it, it recommended The Magus to me. In the comments, Lvx15 said the site recommended The Magus to him as well, and Mark Brown mentioned it's in his "to be read" pile (which I suspect is as big as mine).

3. Robert Shea (in the new book) recommends John Fowles as one of his favorite writers. 

4. Email from Mark Fraunfelder today: "Thanks for mentioning my book recommendation review! I read The Magus earlier this year and loved it!"

OK, OK, I will try to read it soon.