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)

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.

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.