The Rise of Fall

I've completed my seasonal Thereminiad videobook-promotion/theremin concert series. Now comes Kosher Cabaret, a new, non theatrical series with Yehuda Loew Social Club. As a prelude to the series I created The Jew, a videobook, which will be first shown on November 30, 2008, at the Siraly club, in Budapest, Hungary. It is great to work with the other two founding members of YLSC, Emőke Kiss-Végh and Tamás Ördög. They are students of the Kaposvar University, where I gave a week long course on living theatre last January. They study acting, but both are fed up with the kind of theatre which is accepted and supported in Hungary. The idea of working together with me came from them. They are helping me a great deal in organizing the Kosher Cabaret series, and even more importantly by giving me energy and inspiration. As the economical crisis deepens in Hungary too I find it harder and harder to get work. Even if I manage to get a commission and deliver on it I often don't get paid for my work. I owe two months rent and the bills keep on piling up on my desk. Anyway, while browsing the Net I came across G.I.N.A.'s great site, where I've find Johnny Cash's beautiful remake of the Nine Inch Nails song, 'Hurt'. 

Shows & Lectures in October and November, 2008

This Is Not A Theatre, No Need To Be Scared! Jehuda Loew Social Circle Kosher Cabaret November 30, 2008, 8PM Sirály Budapest (Hungary)

WordCitizen - JazzTalk THEREMINJAZZ Concert for theremin, video & electronics Introducing the First Volume of the 'THEREMINIAD' videobook trilogy November 5, 2008, 7:30 PM Merlin International Theatre Budapest (Hungary) __________________________________________________ THEREMINIAD Lives & Times of Professor Theremin Concert for theremin, video & electronics October 21, 2008, 8 PM Ship A38 Budapest (Hungary) __________________________________________________ THEREMINIAD Lives & Times of Professor Theremin Concert for theremin, video & electronics Lecture on the inventor of the world's first space controled music instrument October 16, 2008, 6 PM Béla Hamvas City Library Százhalombatta (Hungary)

THEREMINIAD, First Volume

The Lives & Times of Professor Theremin

I've just completed the first volume of my 'THEREMINIAD' videobook. The piece is based on my researches, and also on the music and video documentations of my previous Theremin shows. I the coming weeks I will have a number of lectures on Leon Theremin, the inventor of the world's first space controled controled electronic music isntrument:

September 25, 2008, 6 PM, újInkognitó Reklámkocsma, Debrecen (Hungary)

October 16, 2008, 6 PM, Hamvas Béla Városi Könyvtár, Százhalombatta, (Hungary), Szent István tér 5.

October 21, 2008, 8 PM, Forbidden Fruits Festival, Ship A38, Budapest (Hungary)

Summer time - when the art is easy

After getting fed up with publishers and unreliable collaborators I decided to turn my unpublished manuscripts into self-created, self-published video books. The first project I started to work on is the first volume of my 'Southern Cross Trilogy', my Caribbean travel journal, titled 'Carib Book'. The manuscript is about 300 pages long, so it is a huge undertaking, which will take at least 2 years to complete. The full video book is going to be about 15-20 hours in length, will fit on about 8-10 DVDs. I started to work on the prewords of the book at the beginning of June and completed the 45 minutes long video (partly animated) by mid-July. I've spent the past 2 weeks writing stories on famous people from the past. I was commissioned to write them for a portal, which was especially created to attract young women. I was given a list of about 250 past celebs and another list of search words, which had to be matched. The problem was that the selected celebs were mostly males, writers, artists, philosophers, kings, dictators, generals, etc., while the search words were compiled by a young valley girl type bimbo. It was hard to match search words like 'menstruation', 'yeast infection', 'bulemia', etc. with the nearly all male cast of long dead celebs. There were two other writers also working on the same project, but they did it in the Hungarian way: while I wrote 110 stories in two weeks, the two young guys wrote altogether 5 of them during the same period. Commissioned by the House of Terror Museum (Budapest, Hungary) I'll be giving a lecture on the '60s sexual revolution, on the 16th of August, 2008, at the Island Festival. Another commission also came in: in October I will give a theremin concert and a lecture on the life of Leon Theremin, at the Hamvas Béla Library, in Százhalombatta, a small town about 30 miles South of Budapest. They've offered me a decent fee and transportation back and fro. I will make a new video presentation for the show, using the great vintage theremin footage I recently collected from the Net.

Yippie Kay Yay

We had the Yippie! book’s presentation party at the Merlin theatre, on the 6th of June. I sent out about 400 invites via e-mail and called up a number of people, inviting them to the show. The theatre sent out a similar number of invites. We heavily advertised the event on the Web, and by flyers and posters too. In spite of our feverish PR activity very few people came, maybe a dozen or so. People, who have promised me on the phone that they will definitelly come did not show up. The show went very well. I opened me with my new hour long video documentary, ’Yippie Trilogy’, then with my co-writer Gabriella Schuller we proceeded to talk about the book for about 20 minutes. After this we held a party, accompanied by my earlier videos, ’American Dreams’, ’Free Tibet’ and ’The Land of Promises’. The wines, which my publisher Mr. Gábor Pados provided us with were exeptionally good. I had a very interesting conversation with Mona Danel, a writer for tranzit.hu, Viktor Vidó, who runs indymedia.hu and his friend, András Markó, the editor of Freee magazine. We talked about the ’60s-’70s America and present day Hungary. Mona Danel wants to write about the book for tranzit.hu, András Markó wants to make an interview with me for his magazine.

With Gabi Schuller we went to Vörösmarty square, where they held Könyvhét (Bookweek) bookfestival, on both June 6-7-8. We were supposed to sign the book for interested readers, but we were rained in on both days. Sold very few books. My other books were on sale too, the ’Downtown Blues’ and the ’Theremin’ sold much better than the ’Yippie’.

I’ve been trying to get some reviews about the new book. I contacted Szabolcs Benedek, a book critic for Élet és Irodalom (Life and Literature), the leading literature magazine in the country. I wrote a number of articles for the int he past and they have published reviews on both of my earlier books. This time they were not receptive at all. Mr. Benedek called them up and asked if they would publish his review on the ’Yippie!’ book. The answer was no. I had similar bad luck with the public television’s cultural programme and the Klub Radio, both of which interviewed me a lot of times in the past.

I spoke with Éva Almási, owner and chief editor of artportal.hu. I’ve been writing art related articles and did my AudioGuides for her portal for the past 5-6 years. The money I’ve earned from this job paid my rent. Now she told me the bad news: the portal ran out of money, so for the next months she can pay me only half of the amount which she paid me up until now. I have no idea how will I make it through the summer.

I’ve completed the ’From the library of Leopold Bloom’, a two volumes video book, which I will show on the coming Sunday (June 15, 2008), at the Irokéz Gallery, in Szombathely (a small town in the Western part of Hungary), as part of the local Bloomsday Festival. The video book contains the 'Bloom's Prayer', a five parts series of videos I created for my last year's Bloomsday performance with Anima Sound System, and also my new 'Yippie Trilogy'. They will pay me a miniscule honorarium for my video presentation, just enough to pay for my food during my three days stay in Szombathely.

I am totally bored of my long lasting, dire finantial situation. Can’t even afford to have a coffee or a drink in a restaurant. The past year was particularly bad, in terms of earnings, due to the economical crisis int he country. The Socialist government of young ex-communist billionaires screwed up the economy royally. I don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. I called up everybody I know, asking for work, to no avail so far. I am trying to forget about my stupid situation, so dark thoughts won’t infect my body. I don’t have health insurance, can’t afford to get ill.

The 'YIPPIE!' book is out!

After much back and forth games and delays the ’YIPPIE!’ book is finally out. I’ve got my copies today. Now comes the next phase: promoting the book. I have to do it myself, because my publisher will not put any effort and money to it, but surely he'll blame me if the product wouldn't sell. I will not get any financial rewards for selling more copies, but I want people to read the book, because I think it is an important source of information in this time and age. The book is about the youth culture of the 1960s-70s America, it is about a hopeful age, when most people of my generation have thought that a better world is in the making. It is about idealism and real community, rock music and sexual liberation, about masses of people who believed that war is a crime, racial and sexual discrimination must be stopped and that the power of the government must be controlled and curtailed. While writing the book I relived my youth. It is a very personal piece of writing. As I was turning my memories to words I was trying to be as direct, sincere and personal as I could. It is not a scholarly work by any means, but - similarly to my earlier 'Downtown Blues' book - rather a rock and roll diary.

I have organized an introductory party for the new book, at the Merlin International Theatre (Budapest). It is going to be on Friday, June 6, 2008, starting at 7 PM. My publisher, Golyós Toll has provided me with some wine and the writers’ association (Szépírók Társasága), which I am a member of is supporting the event with a small grant (about US $ 100). Unfortunatelly they won't support my other scheduled book presentations (one at the University of Theatre Arts, Kaposvár, the other at the Líra bookstore, in Szombathely), so I had to cancel them. With audio and video material I collected on the Net I created an hour long video documentary, titled 'Yippie Trilogy', which will open the Merlin evening. With my co-writer Gabriella Schuller we'll autograph the book during the Book Week (Könyvhét) book fare, at Vörösmarty square (Budapest), in Pavillion 7, on June 6, 4 PM - 5 PM, on June 7-8, 5PM - 6 PM.

A day after

Had my 'The Land of Promises' show last night, at the Merlin International Theatre (Budapest, Hungary). It was not a full house, due to the four days long May Day holiday and the warm weather. A number of my old high school mates came, with their wives. Those whom I do not personally know came because they have heard the annuncement of the show on public radio. The several hundred e-mailed invites I sent out did not bring in more than a 2-3 people. As usual none of the invited members of the Szépírók Társasága (a writers' association, which I am a member of) showed up. Using some found footage on the late Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho) I created a video piece for the event. The show went well. I opened with the 12 minutes video piece, after which I talked freely about the art and culture of lying. First I outlined the life and times of Karl May, Laszlo Havas (the Spions's first and last manager, a four times convicted spy and international swindler) and as of Osho, then gave an account about my personal experiences with the flowering culture of lying in present day Hungary. In the third part of the show I answered questions from the audience. After the show I had a pleasant discussion with the poet and performance artist Katalin Ladik, one of my main collaborators in my Joyce inspired theatrical pieces. We talked for about an hour. It helped me unwind a bit. Katalin invited me to her performance at the Gödör club, on the 3rd of May. I reached an agreement with the management of the Merlin theatre on doing another show there in this season, on Friday, June 6, 2008. ............... On April 30 I attended the opening of the Terror Háza (House of Terror) museum's 'Freedom Under the Blanket' exhibit. It was supposedly about the sexual revolution of the 1960-70s in Hungary, during the Bolshevik dictature, but the exhibited images, video pieces and objects had little to do with sex. It was rather a design exhibit. They used the video interview I gave to them earlier, without my permission. The heavily edited interview was shown in the company of interviews by other people, most of whom had little, or nothing to do with the independent (banned) art movement of that age. Tamás Madácsy, one of the organizers of the show and the interviewer of my oral history video interview has promised that he will come to see my Merlin show, but he did not come. I still have not heard back from Maria Schmidt, the directress of the museum, regarding my Theremin exhibit proposal. ............... Still no news from Mr. Pados about the publishing date of the 'Yippie' book. If the book would come out at the end of May, as it was promised last time, it would still have a chance to generate a sizeable media response, due to the anniversary of the 1968 student riots. ..............

The Land of Promises

I visited the Terror Háza (House of Terror) museum first time last week. I was very impressed. From Paris to New York and Washington DC I've been in the best museums in the world, but this Hungarian institution, which is dedicated to preserve the memories of the times of Nazi and Bolshevik terror is better than any museum I have ever been. Great design by Attila F. Kovacs, superbly organised display rooms, intelligent presentations reconstruct the consecutive evils which fundamentally shaped Hungarian mentality in the 20th Century and have a profound effect on the minds of the present generations too. I've been invited to the museum to give a first hand account of my personal experiences during the 1960-70s, for their Oral History archives. Before talking to the video camera I had an opportunity to meet with the director of the museum, Maria Schmidt. I gave her my 'Theremin' book and proposed to make an interactive, multimedia show in the museum, which would detail the life and times of Professor Theremin, the inventor of the world's first space controlled electronic music instrument - and as of most of the bugging devices surrently still in use. The theme would perfectly fit to the goals and style to the museum. Ms. Schmidt was in a hurry, but promised me that she will look into the matter and will notify me of her decision. .................... I decided on the theme of my next WordCitizen show, on May 2, at the Merlin International Theatre. I will dedicate the evening to the culture, psychology, metaphysics and art of lying, which is the most decisive feature of present day Hungarian life. As usual I will start the show with a video piece, created especially for the occasion, then I will proceed talking freely about my personal experiences with the subject, trying to give an accurate diagnosys and methods of therapy. ..................... I called Mr. László Moldován, owner of Katalizator Publishers. I have learned that in spite of poromising me the opposite, he did not apply for a publishing grant for my 'Caribbean Book'. I wish he had notify me of his decision before the application deadline has passed, giving me an opportunity to find an other publisher for the book. It seems that it does not make much sense to collaborate with Mr. Moldován in the future, for he is now proven to be unreliable. He is the 8th publisher who promised me the publication of the book, but - after much deliberation and lying - did not deliver. ..................... Mr. Gábor Pados, the would be publisher of the 'Yippie!' book called. He was freaking out, screaming and yelling, because I put the ongoing saga of the book - including his unfulfilled promises - on the Net, in my Hungarian language blog. I do not want to fight with him, so I deleted the incriminating page, which did not calm him a bit. He promised the publication of the book again, but gave no deadline. ........................... I had a high school reunion last night, meeting with the fellows I graduated with from the St. István high school, in 1964. I felt like partying in a mass grave.

Tibet Night

The 'My Tibet' show ended a few hours ago. More people came than last time. They were an inspiring audience. I did not know most of those who came, which is good, I guess. Yet I must think my marketing strategies over: I have sent out about 800 invites by e-mail, yet no more than 4-5 people came as a result of that. Most of the audience came because they have heard the interviews I gave previously to Hungarian Public Radio and Club Radio. It would be a great help to get tv interviews or announcements, but they (and the mainstream printed media) are interested in me usually only when some of my contemporaries dies and they need an eulogy. Several of those who asked me to set aside free tickets for them did not show up. I must revise my free ticket policies also. ............ After presenting my new 'Free Tibet' video I talked for about 90 minutes. I outlined my over half a century long fascination with Tibet. I talked about her history, religions and culture. As footnotes to the main theme I also talked about the writers Ervin Baktay (the author of several Tibet related books) and Béla Hamvas, who introduced the Eastern cultures, religions, philosophies and histories, and as a direct result of his great educational work he was banned in Hungary during the bolshevik dictatorship. Their books introduced the great spiritual schools of the East to me. Briefly I also talked about the American civil rights movements in the 1960-70s, and about Thoreau's concept of civil disobedience. When I finished my part I turned to the audience for questions and comments. They were sitting in the dark, I couldn't see the faces. One gentleman lectured me on historical dates and other matters, in a rather humorless, dry, military manner. "Buddhism does not originate from Buddha", he thundered facelessly, from behind the dark rows of people. He sounded like someone straight out of a military academy. I asked for his name, but he wouldn't give it out. Another gentleman spoke on such a low volume that I hardly could hear what he has said. Whenever I did manage to gasp the meaning of his whispered words and tried to answer his questions, the humorless soldier interrupted me and answered them himself with stereotypes. .......... After the end of the show the people left. I packed up my gear and went home. It would have been great to unwind a bit, in the company of friends after the the show, like we did in the past, but these are different times. The art of conversation is long gone globally. People do not enjoy each other's company anymore. Instead of exchanging information and ideas they deliver monologues, if they talk at all. I must keep on changing with the times too, should give up my remaining pathetic yearnings for soul mates. ............ I was hoping that Mr. Zsolt Prieger would attend the show, just as he has promised me just a few days ago, so we could discuss the fate of the 'Karl-Heinz Koala' audio book, which is floating in the air for over 6 months now. Mr. Prieger did not come. I have learned from someone who knows him that he is in Roumania right now, playing a gig in the city of Marosvásárhely. Surely he knew at the time of our last communication that he will not be in town last night. I do not have any idea why he needs to act so deceivingly. From the second hand news I am getting about him it appears that he is in another self destructive period of his life. Does he have any self-respect left?. ............. "Forward with Jah Orthodox". I must complete my essays on soul,- funk- and punk music, for Mr. Géczi's book by the weeked. I have already did some research on the first two themes. Tomorrow I will start to collect data on punk.

FREE TIBET

I was supposed to have 3 visitors over the weekend, young people with which I am presently collaborating on projects. None of them showed up or called. This total lack of civility is so typically Hungarian. They talk and promise a lot, but their words mean absolutely nothing. Slave mentality rules here. Hungarians in general lost their self-respect long time ago and this ethical disability is in their genes now............. My co-workers did not come or call, but almost two months after we were supposed to sign the ‘Karl-Heinz Koala’ audio book’s publishing contract with the on-line publishers Mr. Zsolt Prieger called, as if nothing has happened. Last time I have heard from him was at the beginning of February (see ‘Karl-Heinz Koala’ blog). He has no time right now but he will contact me soon, he wrote me then. He has forgotten his promise, he says now, without bothering to apologize. Anyway, he is keen on publishing the audio book now, which I started to redo with other musicians since. We shall meet soon, he urged me on the phone, but right after saying so, he stated as usual that he is incredibly busy. It means that it could take months again to organize a half an hour long meeting with Mr. Prieger. These people are always so damn busy, like some household servants at the court of King Richard the 3^rd, yet they do so precious little. We started the 'Karl-Heinz Koala' project with Mr. Prieger & Co. exactly one year ago, yet it is still not completed, in terms of getting it to the on-line publishers. If I would have worked on it alone, it could have been done in two months flat………… Mr. László Moldován, owner of Katalizator Publishers called last week. We did not get the long awaited publishing grant from the Hungarian Book Foundation, without which he cannot possibly publish my ‘Caribbean Book’, he said. Now he wants to apply for a grant to the National Cultural Foundation. Based on my past experiences with this government controlled organization I am not too optimistic about our chances of getting a grant………… I have completed my 30 minutes long ‘FREE TIBET’ video, with which I will open my ‘My Tibet’ show at the Merlin International Theatre tomorrow (April 3) night. The piece was inspired by the great book 'The Rose of Tibet', by Lionel Davidson (Gollanz, Great Britain, 1962). The book was indirectly recommended to me by David Bowie. Back in 1983, while I was living in Toronto, Canada I have read an interview with Mr. Bowie in the Vogue magazine. One of the photos which accompanied the interview they showed his New York hotel room. On the photo 'The Rose of Tibet' book was laying on his night table. I have always trusted Mr. Bowie's taste and guideance. He has never cheated or disappointed me. With great difficulty I managed to locate the book in the Coles The Book People bookstore, on Yonge street and promptly stole it, along with a small Bible (King James version). For the coming months I read and re-read 'The Rose of Tibet' many times over. Along with Abbie Hoffman's 'Steal This Book' and the works of Louis Ferdinand Céline it became one of my all times favourites. With research, it took me two weeks to complete the video, the first piece I created with the Adobe Premiere editing program. I have also learned the use of the Cubase sound editing program in the meantime. If I want to get anything done in this country I must do all aspects of the work myself, because people are so unreliable here. Does not matter how noble the cause is it is totally impossible for me to find any reliable collaborators in the 21th Century Hungary. It is not because I usually can't offer much financial rewards for their efforts. It is because the locals are so fucked up. Occasionally I manage to get some funds together, which enables me to pay my collaborators fairly well, yet even then they are not dependable. They change directions with the wind. They do not feel any remorse for screwing me up. Just as they do not respect themselves they are not capable of respecting others.............. Mr. Zoltán Géczi, a long time associate called a few days ago. He wants me to write articles on the history of soul music, funk and punk for a new cafe table book on the history of popular music, which he is presently putting together for a mainstream publishing house. They will pay only pennies for my work, but I had to take up the offer because I am totally broke. Have to complete the articles by the end of this week.................. My eyes are bothering me a lot. My vision often gets blury and my head aches. I haven't had a vacation since 2001 and it shows. I have spent 12-14 hours a day staring at my computer's monitor, on a 7/7 bases in the past 7 years. That is my Tibet.

Yippie! book's next chapter

Mr. Gábor Pados, owner of Golyós Toll Publishers called yesterday. If he can sell his Irokéz office supplies company in the next few days he'll publish the Yippie! book by the end of May, 2008 he said. We shall see if his promise will come true this time. Even if the book will come out by the beginning of Summer it is going to be very difficult to sell it. Earlier I was invited by several schools and universities to give lectures on the book's subjects, but the school year will end in June, so there is no chance that these invitations will still be valid in that time. Also, the Szépírok Társasága (a writers' association) - which I am a member of - ran out of money, so they won't be able to sponsor the promotion of the book. I know that - just as it happened in the case of my previous book (A Blum-ház rejtélye - The Mystery of the House of Bloom) - Mr. Pados won't invest any effort or money to promote the Yippie! book. .................Mr. Pados's other promise was that he'll buy my 'talking statue' 'Peace' soon. First time he came up with this idea was 4 years ago, in 2004. We agreed on the price of the sculpture and he promised to pay me within 2 months. Then he has disappeared for a half a year. At the next time when I managed to get hold of him he said that he has no money right now, but will have some soon. He popped up with a new promise in each year since. 'Flimsy' is the right word to describe his type. The funny thing is that he always forgets about what he just said a few minutes ago: while he keeps on complaining that he has no money he is telling me about his new acquisitions, paintings, land, etc. ....................I completed three new articles - 'Rococo'; 'Whitney Biennal 2008' and 'Holy Hip-Hop: New Paintings by Alex Melamid' (not yet posted) for artportal.hu and started to work on a new video piece 'Free Tibet', with which I want to open my new WordCitizen show on april 3, 2008, at the Merlin International Theatre.

WordCitizen 1 - 'American Dreams'

Henry David Thoreau

I had my first monthly WordCitizen show at the Merlin International Theatre (Budapest, Hungary). I opened with two recently created video pieces – 'American Dreams' (the music of which can be found as an AudioGuide, on artportal.hu) and ‘Peter Halasz Overture’ (set to music from my 'Downtown Blues' CD) – then proceeded with free talk about Peter Halasz and the ongoing saga of the 'Yippie!' book. I gave an overview on the history of civil disobedience (from Henry David Thoreau to Abbie Hoffman) in America. I talked about the beats (William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Paul Bowles, Jack Kerouac, Gregory Corso, Ken Kesey), about the birth of the hippie generation, about the yippies, the gentrification of New York and the conservativism of the new generations. I detailed the parallel history of Hungary in the 1960-70s and referred to the current situation, both local and global. I talked for about 90 minutes. The audience (about 2 dozen people) consisted mostly of old and new friends, there were only about 3-4 people I did not know personally. The show was not publicized well enough, which explains why so few people came. It was partly my fault: I promoted the show as part of a series, instead of saying that it is going to be a unique event, which gave people a good excuse for saying that they will rather attend the next performance instead of the current one. I could not avoid the usual very Hungarian type technical catastrophe: the stage lights did not work, so I talked in semi darkness, only the video projector and a small candle provided some light. Nevertheless, the audience liked the show. Today afternoon I am going to give an interview to the Hungarian public radio about the project.

WordCitizen - The 'Yippie!' Book's Saga Continues

I’ve just completed a new AudioGuide – ’American Dreams’ – for artportal.hu. I have been doing this rather successful series for the past couple of years. After submitting the piece to the portal, I kept on working on it, adding new tracks to the vocals. Then I made a VideoGuide out of it, a 6 minutes long video work. It is the fifth chapter of my ‘TIMEBOOK – Life and Times of DJ NoMore’ video book series, which I started last year. I will show the piece at the Merlin International Theatre, on March 6. It is going to open my monthly (March, April, May) 'WordCitizen' show. It is going to be a free style show (unrehearsed, non imitational, non representational theatre) of talking about actual events, which include arts, literature, religion and politix. I will also talk about my travel experiences in the Americas, Europe, the Caribbean and South East Asia. The "the thinking man's living theatre" - as I call this series of events - is a suitable occasion to talk about my works and current projects also. If I can fill the studio theatre of Merlin (it seats about 80 people) on each Thursday the management is willing to continue with the show into the next season. ............. Mr. László Moldován, the owner of Katalizator Publishers called me with a bad news today evening. He is getting out of the Yippie! book deal with Mr. Gábor Pados (of Golyós Toll Publishers), he said, for he cannot foot the printing costs of about $ 2 500, for the first thousand copies of the book. I am clueless of what to do with the Yippie! book project. Mr. Pados, the original publisher won’t communicate with me. I have not heard from him since he stopped the publishing process some weeks ago. I do not have the money to cover the printing costs. I know many wealthy people, but none of them would sponsor such a project. There are no John Lennon type angels around anymore. Along with William Burroughs he was a generous supporter of the Yippie cause, back in the 1970s.

Bali Revisited

With DJ Shuriken and his girlfriend, Miss Moxy I went to see a Balinese dance and music performance at the Palace of Arts (Budapest, Hungary) last night. The ticket was a birthday present from my reclusive sister. A very nice present indeed. The performing musicians and dancers were not as good as those I've heard and seen on the islands of Bali and Java, yet they've brought back the memories of my travels to the magical islands of Indonesia, back in the 1990s. The music (gong kebiar), dance and wonderful costumes helped me forget - at least for a few hours - this Balkan bazaar/madhouse of a country I am presently wrestling with. About a year ago I started to translate my South East Asian travel journals into a book ('Malay Book' - the second volume of my 'The Southern Cross' trilogy) which seems to interest the Katalizator Publishers. If we can get some grant money they will publish the first volume of the trilogy - 'Caribean Book' - sometimes this year and hopefully the 'Malay Book' will follow it next year. The results of our grant application are due to come out in March, 2008. After some parts of it were very succesful on some popular internet portals (bahia.hu, korridor. hu - both of them has been shut down since) I've been trying to publish the 'Caribean Book' for many years. After much deliberations and stupid lying the manuscript was refused by a number of publishers (Enciklopédia, Magvető, Kalligram, Ulpius, Nyitott Könyvműhely, Index, Golyós Toll, etc.) so far. I hope that the book (and the whole trilogy - the third volume of it is titled 'The Book of Americas', it contains my experiences on the roads of the Americas) will eventually be published. Unfortunatelly these books are just too long and complex to be released in audio book format.

Karl-Heinz Koala

It's been over two weeks now since I've heard from Zsolt Prieger last time. After he let me down by not writing his part to the Yippie! book we still have one unfinished business: the 'Karl-Heinz Koala' audio book. It was about a year ago that we started to collaborate on this project. The idea was that Zsolt and his band the Anima Sound System will write music to my novel. Originally we planned to release the audio book through the publishing house of Mr. Gabor Pados and Zsolt Prieger, at the end of May, 2007 but the musicians could not complete the music by that time. Zsolt kept putting me off for months, always saying that the music is almost done, they just have to put a few more touches to it. Finally he gave me two CDs last September, saying that it is the finalized product. The stuff sounded wonderful. I was sure that our joint effort would be a big hit. I started to advertise the audio book right away. By that time Zsolt and Mr. Pados broke up, Zsolt left the label. I've also heard - not from Zsolt - that he broke up his great band too. Mr. Pados refused to fulfill his promise of publishing the audio book. No problem, said Zsolt (who did not want to deal with Mr. Pados either), he knows many record companies who'd be happy to release our work. He'll find a good deal in no time, he said. Months passed by without any results. At the end of last year I accidentally read an interview Zsolt gave to some publication. He is planning to give the audio book to one of the largest commercial news portal in the country, who will make it free to download, he said in the interview. I called him up right away, saying that I don't want to give away my work for free. He told me that they wouldn't ask any money for themselves from the portal (which wanted to use the audio book for their own promotion), but they will make it sure that they pay me some. He named a miniscule amount which I certainly wouldn't accept as a fair price for all my time and energy which went into the project. I forbade him to give away the stuff. We agreed that since he couldn't find a label which would pay a fair price and release the audio book I will try to find a publisher for it myself. A few weeks later a newly formed German portal (dedicated to popularize contemporary Hungarian culture worldwide) looked me up and offered to publish the audio book in a downloadable format. It took me a while bargaining for a fair share of the profit, but by last month I succeeded in cutting a reasonable (non exclusive) deal with them. I immediatelly contacted Zsolt and told him the good news. He wasn't too happy with it. He'd rather release the audio book through a Hungarian portal, he said. The Germans kept on asking me to sign the contract. Some weeks later I called Zsolt and asked him to make up his mind fast, otherwise this good deal would fall through. I also sent him an e-mail detailing the possibilities. In his answer he said that they still want to work more on the audio book, but they don't have the time to do so. But he's found a great Hungarian portal, who'd release the product and will give us the best deal possible. He'll send me their contract proposal right away. Because he did not send it I looked up the portal on the Net and wrote to them, asking for the contract proposal. They zapped it to me within an hour. They offered a good, non exlusive deal, which made it possible to sell the stuff on other portals, like the new German one too. I wrote to Zsolt and forwarded the contract proposal to him. I proposed to give the audio book to both portals right away. He must run now, but we'll talk about the matter soon, answered Zsolt. That was on the 6th of February, over two weeks ago. I haven't heard from him since. Bored of the stupid situation I have decided to redo the audio book with some musician friends myself, so I don't have to deal with Zsolt again. By yesterday I completed the recording of the text and hope that my friends will complete the music to it in a reasonable time. I also recorded the words of an other audio book, 'Balkan Nights', and started to work on the third one, 'DJ NoMore'. I am completly fed up with timesick, unreliable people. It says a lot about this time and place that I, at the age of 62 can work ten times faster than people many decades younger than I am. Also, I am always doing my best to keep my word, making it sure that I'd not miss deadlines.

Looking for a Co-Publisher

I've been looking for a co-publisher who'd share the publishing costs of the Yippie book with the original publisher, Mr. Gábor Pados and his Golyós Toll company. I did found such a collaborator, in the person of Mr. László Moldován, owner of the Katalizator Publishers. Yet it seems Mr. Pados is not too keen on making a deal with Mr. Moldován, he keeps on postponing a meeting, on which they could agree upon the conditions of their collaboration. I am rather sure that the reason of Mr. Pados's refusal to publish the book is not financial, but purely political. Just as he has mentioned to me on several occasions: he is simply afraid to publish a book on civil disobedience. He is in close contacts with the troubled ruling Socialist Party. He is afraid to state this reason openly, that's why first he came up with his financial difficulties (an obvious lie), and that's why he is now refusing to meet with a potential business partner. I can't do anything in this stupid situation. Even though I have a signed contract with Mr. Pados, which he is refusing to fulfill, I can't take him to court, because I don't have money to fill a claim and hire a lawyer.

Chaos Management

Just as Gabriella Schuller (my writer collaborator), Gaspar Baksa (the book's designer and printing editor) and I finished correcting the 'Yippie!' book's manuscript and we were about giving it to the printer we were told by the publisher, Mr. Gabor Pados that he doesn't have the money to publish the book. Mr. Pados is a rather wealthy man by Hungarian standards and the printing wouldn't cost that much, so I suspect something fishy's going on. Perhaps Mr. Pados is afraid to publish such honest and sincere book for political reasons, a definitelly not uncommon occurance in present day Hungary. I have a signed publishing contract with Mr. Pados, so I could sue him for breaching our agreement if I'd have the money to hire a lawyer. But I am poor as a church mouse and Mr. Pados knows it all too well. So presently I am trying to find another publisher, which is not an easy job anywhere, especially in this politically charged country. The Yippie! book is a far too independent minded project, equally offending to both two political sides. Just a few weeks ago my Caribbean travel journal and my techno novel 'DJ NoMore' was refused by the Kalligram publishers, after many months of cat and mouse games. Both writings are just as strongly independent as the Yippie! book is. So I decided to create only audio books in the future, which I'll be publishing in a downloadable format, via the Internet.

Zsolt Prieger leaves Yippie! book project

Yesterday I was notified by Zsolt Prieger, one of my collaborators on the 'Yippie!' book that he is leaving the project. My already finished part is so good and complete that he does not feel his work is needed in order to complete the book, he wrote. He gave a different reason to our publisher. To him Zsolt said that he does not like the book's cover, which I designed in tandem with Gaso, the designer of the book. The real reason is that in the past 3-4 months, since the work on the book started he couldn't produce a single page of writing, for he is too busy with his other projects and with his own private life. So I am now left with the task of writing about the music scene of the 1960-70s too, which would have been Zsolt's task. The strange thing is that the idea of writing a book on the yippies was originated by him. At the beginning he was proposing to hold brain storming sessions to help us find ideas and directions. Yet each time in the past months I asked him to meet and talk things over he's never had time to meet. First he went to Spain for a vacation with his girlfriend, after that he started up his DJ project, then came December, when Hungarians traditionally do not work. At the end of December he told me that he can not start the writing of his part before I'd complete mine. I've sent him my completed manuscript on the 2nd of January, after which he promised to me and to our publisher that he'll finish his essay by the end of the month. I kept on supplying him with English language source material and with ideas. Earlier he told me that he understand English, but a few days ago I've learned from our publisher, a childhood friend of his that Zsolt understands no English at all. I don't understand why did he lie to me. If he'd tell me that his English is too poor I'd gladly translate him any documents, interviews, etc, in order to help him complete his writing. So for the next days I'll be writing about the Grateful Dead, MC5, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Country Joe and the Fish, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground and so on, about all the music heroes of my youth. We'll have to submit the full, completed manuscript of the book to the designer by the end of January, because printing must be starting by mid February.

Course on Contemporary Theatre, in Kaposvar (Hungary)

I was invited by the students of the Kaposvar (Hungary) College of Theatre Arts to give a course on contemporary theatre. I stayed in this pretty, small town for a week, starting on the 3rd of January, 2008. .............. As a prelude of the course I presented my 'Theremin', 'Downtown Blues' and 'The Mistery of the House of Bloom' books, and gave a preview of the 'YIPPIE! - The Disobedient Citizen' book (to be published in Hungary, by Golyós Toll Kft., in March, 2008), on which I am collaborating with Zsolt Prieger and Gabriella Schuller. ............... As part of the theatre course we staged two of my plays - 'Block' and 'The Chekhovs' with the students. Both plays premiered on the night of 10th of January, 2008, at the College of Theatre Arts (Kaposvar, Hungary). ................ It was a revitalizing experience to work with such talented, creative kids. The highlight of 'The Chekhovs' show was a thundering, wet fart, created by one of the students, to accompany the painful monologue of the great Russian writer, Lev Tolstoy's neglected wife, Sophie. ............... After returning to Budapest (Hungary), with the designer Gaso I started to prepare the 'YIPPIE!...' book for printing. I still have to complete the illustrations for the book. .............. I am still waiting the word from the Kalligram publishing house, regarding the fate of two of my book projects: 'The Caribbean Book' (my Caribbean travel journals) and 'DJ NoMore' (a techno novel). I submitted both manuscripts last summer to the publisher. They promised an answer for last November, about if they would publish any or both of the books, but I haven't heard from them since. If properly advertised both books could bring a huge commercial success in my opinion, yet they were refused by a number of publishers in the past years. The main problem with the Hungarian publishers is that they are not interested in selling their products. They are entirely dependent on government grants, which cover their salaries and the printing of a few hundred copies of each book they publish. They don't like to work on the distribution of their books. They just let the printed copies collect the dust in their warehouses. None of the publishers of my previous books put much effort into the PR work. I had to organize promotion tours for the books myself, often conflicting with the publishers, who usually don't even bother to send the books to the country towns, where I do the multi-media (video projections, theremin concerts, lectures on the book's theme, etc.) promotion shows. They refuse to cover my PR expenses. All the publishers do is bitching about their "dire" financial situation and complain that my books don't make a fortune within weeks after they come out. They don't inform me about the actual sales numbers. ............ Besides writing books, doing art, video works, theremin concerts and theatre I am working as a journalist too. I write articles about the American art-scene and do monthly AudioGuides (small musical radio-plays, audio poems) on New York, for the artportal.hu. My English and Hungarian language CVs are updated regularly. My mixed language homepage is on freewebs, my Hungarian language homepage is on one of my publishers' server.

YIPPIE! manuscript completed

On New Year's Eve I've completed the manuscript of my contribution to the YIPPIE! The Disobedient Citizen book, which is due to come out in March, 2008 (Golyós Toll Kft., Budapest, Hungary). I would like to express my gratitude to IPUT, TGM, DJ Shuriken, Tibor Hajas, DJ Helmut Spiel!, Peter Halasz, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Paul Krassner, Stew Albert, William S. Kunstler, Ken Kesey, William Burroughs, Hunter S. Thompson, Paul Bowles, Robert Filliou, Brion Gysin, Jack Kerouac, Lenny Bruce, Attila Kotányi, Malcolm McLaren, David Bowie, Lou Read, Iggy Pop, Timothy Leary, Albert Hofmann, Aldous Huxley, Marshall McLuhan, James Joyce, Louis Ferdinand Céline, Knut Hamsun, Ezra Pound, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Francesco Clemente, Salvador Dalí, Leon Theremin, Julia Wallace, Anita Hoffman, Patti Smith, Nico, Uma Thurman, Allan McIntosh, Brian Briggs, Amanda Lear, Nina Hagen, Eminem, Marilyn Manson, John Lydon, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Captain Beefheart, Györgyi Orsós, Duane Eddy, Johnny Cash, Wilhelm Reich, Herbert Marcuse, Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, Géza Csáth, Béla Hamvas, Jenő Balaskó, Katalin Ladik, Béla Kósa, Bela Lugosi, Trent Reznor, Upchuck, Niki Nichols, the Dalai Lama, St. Thomas Aquinas, Zsolt Prieger, Gabi Schuller, Marina Abramovic, Otto Mühl, André Malraux, Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, TS Elliot, Gerald Durell, Jean Dupuy, Titus, DJ Palotai, Jerry Garcia, John Lennon, The Rolling Stones, the Ramones, the Ultravox, Ian Dury, Napoleon XIII, Johnny & The Hurricanes, Elvis Presley, the Shadows, The Who, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Rammelzee, Tim Wright, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Cypress Hill, DEVO, Kraftwerk, Judas Priest, Bugs Bunney, Jules Verne, Joseph Conrad, Oscar Wilde, Louis Bunuel, Alan Kaprow, Damien Hirsh, Mata Hari, Madame Curie, Rabbi Jehuda Loeb, Jaroslav Hasek, Almodovar, Tarantino, Salma Hayek, and many more of my dear friends and relatives, for their continous support and irreplaceable contributions.

"Rise and abandon the creeping meatball!"

WordCitizen a.k.a. DJ NoMore

The Solution

In collaboration with Csonti, the sax player and thereminist of the Anima Sound System we started to work on 'The Solution', a digital travelogue, based on my 'The Southern Cross' travel journal trilogy. 'The Solution' is going to be released exclusively via the internet, in a downloadable format, which will include music video clips, printable cover art and excerpts from the books of 'The Southern Cross' trilogy. The music for the first clip is a remix of 'Dance The Newyork', a song I wrote in 1984 and recorded with Brian Briggs, Tony McMaster, Jean McAllister and Julia Wallace, at the Hell's Kitchen Studio, in New York City, in 1985. The song is from the album of the same title, which was released by iNteRNeTTo/Big Ear Record, in Budapest, Hungary, in 1998.

WordCitizen's Blog 108

YIPPIE!

In collaboration with Zsolt Prieger (journalist, leader of the band Anima Sound System), and with Gabriella Schuller (art-historian), I am writing a book on the history and ideas of the Yippie movement. The book is being written in Hungarian. There is very little known about the Yippies in this country, although the ideas of Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin and other American civil rights radicals had a strong influence over the most important Hungarian neo-avantgarde artists, thinkers, in the 1970s. We are hoping to fill a long hiatus with this book. We are not in the business of putting together a collection of scholarly essays, we rather decided on writing a Yippie book, a true tribute to the heroes of counter culture, a vivid response to the challenges of our own chaotic time and age. The 'Yippie!' book is due to come out in the Spring of 2008, published by the Golyós Toll Kft. Parallel with writing the book I started up NewsRoom, an independent Hungarian language news portal, with the motto: "Steal This News!".

WordCitizen