Declan Tan’s second ‘Letter from La Paz’ is a fictional account of a visit to Bolivia’s San Pedro prison “A pint a-Carling yeah and whatever you’re havin’,” a white-spit mouth, mine, chums out familiar to the bar girl. I’m pointing at the tap and reaching my hand out as it pours, my fingers snatching at […]
Route 36: Letter From La Paz
In the first of two ‘Letters from La Paz’, Declan Tan straightens a few myths about Bolivia’s Route 36, “the world’s first cocaine lounge” “Take it out of the bag,” one of them whispers, as a small mountain of Bolivian marching powder unfolds from the wrap. Forming peaks where it piles on the surface, the […]
The French Connection: Grosso Point Blank
Real-life drug-busting narc Sonny Grosso was the inspiration for The French Connection, advised Coppola on The Godfather and cruised gay bars with Pacino. Story by Tina Bexson A dozen or so shiny, black suits and their flashy women were enjoying the exotic floor show of Manhattan’s Copacabana nightclub, whilst the slick-haired man at the head […]
Refractions In The Looking Glass: Peter Weissman
Like many of his generation Peter Weissman recalls the ‘60s as a halcyon period of his life and, like his peers, came of age during this revolutionary era marked by social, cultural and political change, relayed in the memoir, I Think, Therefore Who Am I? Dolly Delightly investigates Peter Weissman was involved in both the […]
M. Ageyev: Novel With Cocaine
A review by Dolly Delightly I have a penchant for esoteric Russian literature of the kind that’s mostly found in frowsy second-hand bookshops which, I am unashamed to say, I frequent with steadfast regularity. About a week ago, during one such visit, I picked up a 1985 Picador edition of a book called Novel With […]
Ralph Steadman: Today’s Pig Is Tomorrow’s Bacon
Gonzo scribbler, internet entrepreneur and backing vocalist for Eliza Carthy, Ralph Steadman spills the beans on being ripped off and Hunter S. Thompson’s mother. Chris Wood listens. “I felt savaged a bit by the whole thing… Hunter was in the middle of institutionalising his mother at the time, for her drinking. Great lady, by the […]
Niall Griffiths: Wreckage: Sifting The Wreckage
“…Despite having written five novels, selling thousands of books and having had his work translated into five languages, Griffiths has received little recognition in the city he was born – perhaps because of the controversial subject matter of his books…
Bret Easton Ellis: Lunar Park
Ben Granger Lunar Park – Bret Easton Ellis See all books by Bret Easton Ellis at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com Lunar Park presents itself as the straightforward first-person narrative of “Bret Easton Ellis”, spoiled, self-obsessed, solipsistic rich boy etc. etc. etc. author in a state of debauched twilight. We join up with Bret as he half-heartedly […]
Diablo Cody : Candy Girl – A Year In The Life Of An Unlikely Stripper
“…I found it to be cathartic, a very weird, twisted form of self-expression. I think I got addicted to just how subversive and how fun it was compared to my every day life…”
Trainspotting The Play: Harry Gibson: 10 Years On
“…Trainspotting keeps bringing new people into theatres; theatre managers cry out happily, ‘We’ve never sold so much lager’…”
Suhayl Saadi: Psychoraag
Nick Mitchell Psychoraag – Suhayl Saadi See all books by Suhayl Saadi at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com Psychoraag is Suhayl Saadi’s first novel and possibly the first ever novel of Scottish-Asian identity. It was short-listed for the James Tait Black award earlier this year, eventually losing out to Ronan Bennett’s Havoc, in its First Year. Psychoraag […]
Ralph Steadman: Gonzo: The Art
“Bloodsucking business men, venal politicians, dollar drugged gamblers, archetypal beholders of negation and power transmogrified into grinning reptilia… In the ferocious stroke of a few simple lines Steadman trans-atlantically expresses all the negative facets of the human condition to a terrifyingly hilarious degree.”
Erol Alkan: A Bugged Out Mix By Erol Alkan: Big Jesus Trash Can
“…Anarchic, eclectic and unique are some of the words used to describe dee-jay Erol Alkan, who’s been injecting his imagination and energies into his renowned club night Trash since January 1997…”
Tony Wilson: F4 Records: Fourth Time Lucky
Craig Johnson hears Factory Records supremo Tony Wilson on the rebirth of his record label, the upcoming Joy Division film, how he accidentally created Frankie Goes To Hollywood and why photographer Kevin Cummings is a miserable twat. ‘Wilson ya wanker!’ is a statement that has been bandied around Northern England for thirty years now. The […]
Hunter S. Thompson : An Appreciation : A Real American Patriot
Chris Mitchell on why Hunter S. Thompson was one of the most important figures in American letters I love my friends. Away from email for a few days, log in this morning to 5 different people telling me Hunter S. Thompson is dead. Distraught isn’t the word. Thompson was forever sidelined as a caricature in […]
Mark Simpson – Saint Morrissey
Ben Granger This book is not for people who’ve never, even briefly, fallen under Morrissey’s spell. Don’t bother; it’ll only convince you further of the psycho-obsessive nature of Morrissey fans in general and the author in particular. Don’t bother either if you’re looking for new facts about The Smiths or Morrissey, anything to do with […]
Basement Jaxx : Kish Kash
Jerome Deg Basement Jaxx are back, bigger and badder and rougher and tougher…their new album, Kish Kash, features trademark party tunes, punky attitude and a selection of new, innovative, funky tracks designed to burn up your living-room, club night or cellar afterhours party. Just listening to this album makes me want to dance – but […]
Nicholas Pileggi and Martin Scorcese : Wiseguy and Goodfellas: Mob Rules
CJ Wood on the transformation of Nicholas Pileggi’s book Wiseguy into Martin Scorcese’s film epic Goodfellas Goodfellas is a film which lives and breathes life, a criminal life set in a world unfolded by convincing narration and a visual style which is perhaps the finest mix yet seen of visceral life and the artist’s eye. […]
Alan Warner – The Man Who Walks
Jerome Deg It is difficult to know where to start with a writer as good as Warner and a novel as diverse and brilliant as The Man Who Walks. The danger is that you’ll end up sounding like movie-blurb whilst bandying words like ‘genius’, ‘spiralling, rip-roaring’ and ‘provocative’. It is difficult to precisely quantify why […]
Stuart Walton – Out Of It
Chris Mitchell Given the jacket cover emblazoned with dayglo euphemisms for getting altered and the obligatory chortling review quotes from numerous lad mags, you’d be forgiven for wondering at first glance if Stuart Walton’s book is a paragon of research sobriety. But rather than being another cheap cash-in on the still-burgeoning UK drug scene, Out […]
Lou Reed – Pass Thru Fire: Collected Lyrics
Edmund Hardy Lou Reed is the craggy man in black leather, a permanent member of rock’s avant-garde without trying. Popular in all his guises, as Velvet Underground punk progenitor, as Seventies glam decadent, or as Nineties eagle-eyed chronicler. Or maybe just as the guy who wrote the original ‘Perfect Day’. But a book of song […]
Will Self : Feeding Frenzy : Biting The Hand That Feeds
Chris Hall serves up a slice of Will Self with the publication of his second collection of journalism, Feeding Frenzy Chris Hall: First off, congratulations on the birth of your new son, Luther. Will Self: Yeah, little baby Luther. He was born on August 8, so he’s a couple of months old now. CH: So […]
Laura Hird – Born Free
Dorothy Johnson Although Laura Hird’s Born Free is quite different in style, it is hard not to think “Trainspotting” when reading it thanks to the narrative’s descent into the squalid underbelly of Edinburgh and the abundance of pop culture references. Four family members live in a broiling hell of ongoing resentments and frustrations within a […]
Bill Hicks : Bad Moon Rising – a tribute of sorts
Even though he’s been dead for seven years, the savage political satire of Bill Hicks makes more sense than ever. Chris Hall spreads the word. If you mention to any intelligent individual under the age of 25 that you saw Nirvana and The Pixies live you’ll get a response along the lines of “you lucky […]
George Pelecanos: Washington DC Crime Quartet
Chris Wiegand on George Pelecanos’ contemporary hardboiled Washington DC novels With his critically acclaimed Washington DC Quartet, comprising The Big Blowdown, King Suckerman, The Sweet Forever and Shame the Devil, George P. Pelecanos has done for the mean streets of the Chocolate City what Raymond Chandler did for Los Angeles and Chester Himes did for […]
