What we read last month

What Mark K. Brown read:

Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley  8/2 
The Towers of Toron by Samuel R Delany  8/14   
Zohar: The Book of Splendor  ed. by Gershom Scholem 8/21 
Coincidance: A Head Test by Robert Anton Wilson 8/28 

What I read last month:

The Odyssey, Homer (Robert Fagles translation).
A Phone Is a Cow: How Pioneers of the Mobile Revolution Helped Millions Lift Themselves Out of Poverty, Philip E. Auerswald.
Thieves' Sky (Rich Man's Sky #4), Wil McCarthy.
On Moral Ends, Cicero (Raphael Woolf translation, Julia Annas editor). 

Please tell us in the comments what you read in August. (Comments are working again after being down Friday). 

Comments not going through [UPDATED]

UPDATE: Comments finally are fixed after being down for much of the day Friday. 

Google's Blogger website is apparently having major technical difficulties; for several hours, comments posted to this blog have not been going through. It's not under my control, apparently it's some kind of Google problem. I will update when this has apparently been fixed. 

Housekeeping and note to readers

The subject of yesterday's late blog post. 

I have gotten behind on putting up links to the various areas on the right side of the page to notable websites and blog postings, but I have added three: "Free Timothy Leary books on the Internet," under "More Feature Articles and Interviews,"; "Reading About RAW: Biographies and Criticism," under "Robert  Anton Wilson Resources," and "Robert Shea: A Reader's Guide," under "Robert Shea Resources." I probably need to work on that some more. This blog has been published for years, and I would like to think there are few topics concerning Wilson or Shea that have not at least been touched upon. The blog has a search box at the top, and if you get interested in a particular topic, it's worth a try. I ran a search for T'he Magic Flute, Mozart's opera influenced by Freemasonry, and a bunch of postings came up. 

Also: In my semiretirement, I am late to bed and late to rise, which explains why many of these postings show up around noon most days, in the Eastern U.S. time zone. But yesterday, I was unusually late. I had planned to go see the Cleveland Guardians play the Toronto Blue Jays in an early afternoon game, and I knew I would not have time to write a blog post that morning. So late Wednesday night, I duly wrote a post about the Small Press Expo, excited that Bobby Campbell and Todd Purse would be there. The idea was to post it Thursday morning. Alas, in the rush to get to the game, I forgot. I was sitting in the bleachers during the eighth inning, enduring a 6-3 loss, when I suddenly realized I hadn't posted it. So I posted it at 4 p.m. I hope everyone finally saw it.

Speaking of sports, I believe Bobby is a fan of Philadelphia sports teams? I have heard allegations that Philly sports fans are the grumpiest in the world. It is claimed that after the 2025 Super Bowl --  final score Philadephia 40, Kansas City 22 -- Eagles fans were calling the sports talk shows in Philadelphia to complain about the offense.

Perhaps this is an apocryphal story, but Cleveland sports fans should have such problems.

Bobby Campbell replies! [Comments did not work Friday, but this is what he wanted to post in the comments].

I am indeed a Philly sports fan!

I think that there probably is a bit of a "the finder finds what the seeker seeks" dynamic to the Philly sports reputation, where every story that reinforces it gets added to the canon, but also it is undeniably a powerfully passionate culture, with dizzying highs and abysmal lows.

I would guess the story of people complaining about the Eagles' performance after winning the Super Bowl is either apocryphal or they were just kidding. The general psychology of Philly sports is unrestrained transcendent jubilance in success and all-consuming bitterness, sadness, and anger in defeat, or even just mediocrity! Negativity after a championship win is basically impossible, the maniacal pendulum is stuck in the upright position :)))

Celebrating in the city the night the Phillies won the World Series in 2008 was one of the most magical experiences of my life. The entire city was under a spell that made us all best friends.

My son and I were at Game Six of the Sixers vs. Celtics series this year, and it really felt like the crowd had full control of the game, the energy in the building was WILD.

One of the fav examples of Philly sports energy is when the crowd willed Bryson Stott to hit a playoff grand slam by singing his walk up song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIu2Wtnl5uE

Bobby Campbell, Todd Purse at Small Press Expo, Sept. 12-13 in Maryland

 

Meet Bobby Campbell and Todd Purse Sept. 12-13 at the Small Press Expo in Rockville, Maryland, details here. 

On Bluesky, Bobby says, "Next weekend  @smallpressexpo.bsky.social! Todd Purse @createmagicstudios.bsky.social and I will debuting Tales of Illuminatus! #3 "Opus Chao" along with our usual and unusual bags of tricks :))) Table W46 - See you there!"

Bobby Campbell newsletter (scroll down) and gift shop.  Also, check out the Todd Purse Patreon. 

Boing Boing interviews Prop Anon

As he continues his Kickstarter campaign for an audiobook of the Robert Anton Wilson biography, Chapel Perilous, Garbriel Kennedy/Prop Anon is interviewed by the Boing Boing website. 

I had noticed the book was heavily researched, and the interview goes into some detail about that:

Boing Boing: Since the book came out, has anyone contacted you with stories, documents, memories, or other bits of RAWiana that you didn't know about while writing it? Anything that made you think, "Damn, I wish I'd had this when I was working on the book"?

Gabriel Kennedy: No, not really. I spent so much time and energy doing such a deep dive into RAW's life and work that I found so much previously unpublished material as well as correspondence that had not yet been published. I sourced sixteen different university, city, and local libraries, and accessed yet-to-be-published RAW material, as well as interviewing roughly 75 people about Wilson. So, with all that source material, I was able to cover a lot of ground.

More here. 

Science fiction awards roundup

The 2026 Hugo Awards have been announced; I have not read the Alix Harrow title that won best novel, The Everlasting, but I would like to. One of my favorite writers, Ada Palmer won Best Related Work for her book, Inventing the Renaissance. I'm not sure how it is related to science fiction, but I am happy for her. Here is my 2023 interview of Ada Palmer. 

Above, the broadcast of the Prometheus Award ceremony has been posted on YouTube, a little over an hour. If you are an Aldoux Huxley fan, note that Brave New World won the Hall of Fame Award, and there were speeches from Huxley's granddaughter, Tessa Huxley, and from Jack Mills, co-trustee of the Aldous and Laura Huxley Literary Trust; I've provided links to the text. 

'The Classical Style' reading group, week fifteen

 

Haydn After the Death of Mozart

2. Piano Trio 

By ERIC WAGNER
Special guest blogger

I once asked the Yeats scholar Ian Fletcher why some younger Irish poets hated Yeats. He said, "Sometimes you have to go back to the day before yesterday." On page 360 of The Classical Style Rosen writes, "elements may remain dormant ready to reappear at any moment as an artist goes back to the day before yesterday to find something newer and more progressive." 

Can we save these wonderful trios from the dustbin of history? Perhaps Avengers: Doomsday will feature some of this music and it will start to trend on social media. Perhaps statements like "ERIC WAGNER, OUTER HEAD OF THE ORDO TEMPLI ORIENTIS, SAYS LISTENING TO HAYDN'S PIANO TRIOS WILL HELP YOU UNDERSTAND ALEISTER CROWLEY" will flood the internet. Perhaps when I reach my goal weight I will write a best seller called The Haydn Piano Trio Diet. They will become more popular than tai chi walking. 

I remember in the 1990's I wanted to get at least one CD of Haydn piano trios. A one CD recording on original instruments had gotten a rosette (their highest rating) in the most recent Penguin guide to classical recordings. For just a little more, I could have gotten the complete piano trios played on modern instruments by the Beaux Arts Trio. I opted for the original instruments CD, but I feel like if I had bought the complete set thirty odd years ago, I would know this music much better. I have really enjoyed listening to the Beaux Arts Trio recordings this week. 

A fateful 'Phrygian' apple

 

The Judgement of Paris (1599) by Hendrick van Balen the Elder. Gemäldegalerie, Berlin

[As this anecdote references the Judgement of Paris that features in Illuminatus!, I thought I would share it. This is from an interesting book I have begun called A Cabinet of Byzantine Curiosities: Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from History's Most Orthodox Empire by Anthony Kaldellis,  a leading Byzantine historian. -- The Management.]

A poor man brought an enormous "Phrygian" apple to the emperor Theodosius II. He marveled at its size and gave it to his empress Eudokia. She, in turn, gave it to her husband's friend Paulinos as a gift, and Paulinos, not knowing its history, regifted it to the emperor. Theodosios now suspected an affair between the two (apples were given as declarations of romantic interest, and Phrygia alluded to the Judgement of Paris). Theodosios asked Eudokia what she did with the apple, and she said that she ate it. Thereupon the emperor executed Paulinos and Eudokia left the capital for Jerusalem, devoting herself to good works. (Ioannes Malalas, Chronicle 14.8.) This story, which is probably not entirely historical, was very popular among later Byzantines. 

Time to revise the Wikipedia article on RAW?

 

On Bluesky, Brian Dean of the RAW Semantics blog had suggested that a portion of the Wikipedia bio on RAW ought to be revised. Brian writes, "And while I'm momentarily online, I want to say I think this paragraph in RAW's wikipedia entry does him a disservice. The idea he wrote books 'on ESP, mental telepathy' etc comes from a poorly informed NYT obituary. (He *referenced* many things in his books of course). I hope someone corrects this."

The offending passage says, "In addition to writing several science-fiction novels, Wilson also wrote non-fiction books on extrasensory perception, mental telepathy, metaphysics, paranormal experiences, conspiracy theory, sex, drugs, and what Wilson called "quantum psychology".[6]"

Brian has written up a better substitute and posted it in the form of a fake FBI document, above. 

When I looked at the Wikipedia entry, I noticed that the bibliography also needs updating, as it gets the title of Beyond Chaos and Beyond wrong and appear to omit some of the posthumous titles.  Anyone can edit Wikipedia and I have done that myself in the past, although I think I'll wait and see if Rasa or someone else wants to try to fix the Wikipedia entry. 

Who's number 4?

A 1921 sketch of Prokofiev by the French artist Henri Matisse (public domain image). Prokofiev turned 30 in 1921. By the end of 1921  he had written the first three piano concertos, the second piano sonata, the first violin concerto, the Scythian Suite  and his first symphony, among other works. 

Some months ago, I ran across a podcast interview with Tyler Cowen (because I look at his blog every day), and he talked about music. He expressed the opinion that the top three composers in classical music were J.S. Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. 

This is the conventional wisdom, but I agree with it. For each of these three, I can endlessly explore, and find one work after another that I'm happy to listen to again and again. I have a particular interest in modern Russian classical music, so I listen to the Russians a lot, and I listen to a lot of other music, too, but I return to Bach, Mozart and Beethoven over and over. 

But this raises a question: Who's number four? 

I wrote to Professor Cowen and posed that question, adding, "My head says Stravinsky, although my heart says Prokofiev." He wrote back briefly: "Brahms? Stravinsky after that?"

Stravinsky and Prokofiev remain my two strongest contenders. Other plausible suggestions: Haydn, Handel, Brahms, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, there must be some other obvious contenders I have missed.

And if I am forced to choose between Stravinsky and Prokofiev, I have to go with Prokofiev, simply because I listen to Prokofiev as much as any other composer who ever lived.

Here are some Prokofiev pieces I listen to over and over: Lt. Kije Suite, the third and sixth symphonies, Scythian Suite, Violin Sonata No. 1, Violin Concerto No. 2 and the second and sixth piano sonatas. If you want to try something, I suggest Kije.  

This list leaves out some of the more famous Prokofiev pieces that have been recorded over and over again, such as the first and fifth symphonies. All of the famous stuff seems good to me, too. And I haven't even listened to the operas yet! 

Thursday links

 

Bobby Campbell mourns Dolly Parton. 

So does Jesse Walker. 

And also Klaster Chaosmos. 

Latest Joseph Matheny newsletter, with the The COMPLEAT Broadcasts: Final Thoughts and Credits.

New from Michael Johnson: "Thesis On History #8: Intellectual Self-Defense."

I enjoyed the new 'Tales of Illuminatus'

Tales of Illuminatus issue 3 "Opus Chao" has been completed; Bobby Campbell email me a digital copy and I read it the same night. 

I really enjoyed it. With the new issue, Bobby (and Todd Purse) reach deep into what I would call the "Illuminatus! mythos," drawing from the Historical Illuminatus books and from Masks of the Illuminati. It seemed to me like a really vivid trip that made full use of what comics can do. I will re-read it soon. 

Bobby is busy taking care of the people who backed the project on Kickstarter, so I look forward to getting the rest of my goodies, too. 

RAW magick book nearing completion

Lion of Light is a previous Hilaritas RAW book dealing with magic, details here. 

The comments for the posts at this blog are often interesting, and sometimes they have actual news.

Oz Fritz posted a comment to my recent blog post about being interviewed about Robert Shea. I mentioned the upcoming new Hilaritas Press book which will collect many of Robert Anton Wilson's most significant writings about magick, and Oz Fritz wrote, "Thank you for mentioning 'Maybe Magick.' We just started the final proofing of it."

Here is my April post giving a briefing about the book, note that at Hilaritas, nothing really is set until a book is completed; Rasa always is open to ways to make a book better.