Sunday, December 28, 2014

Kicking Back at the Taco de Setas

excerpt from Fever by Michael Roth and Jerry Schroeder

The girl behind him held his right arm outstretched, while the other attached the mushroom to it. Her tentacle arm wrapped around his bicep. When his veins had filled with blood, sharp roots, like tentacles from a jellyfish, appeared from the bottom of the mushroom and pierced his skin. Fever could feel a warm sensation flow through his body. He relaxed into the booth, his other arm draped over the back of the seat. He stared at the fluorescent lights in the ceiling. Their soft glow pulsated slowly. He heard laughter and talking as the restaurant became busier. The women took seats in the booth as well and the three stared at Fever as the warm circulated through his body. After a while, he could feel this mind becoming itchy.

“Is the rain falling or is the falling the rain?”

“Are you the product of a spore from space seeded billions of years ago?”

“Who is it who repeats the Mushroom's name?”

“Who is dragging your corpse about?”

“What did your face look like before your father and mother were born?”


To read more from this chapter, and other samples, please check out the website at the OI.

Sunday, December 21, 2014

More reviews

More reviews past and present! This is a followup to a post last year with a couple of reviews/impressions of work I've done. Most responses waver between laughter and boredom, so it's nice when something strikes a cord with someone and they express hatred or disgust. Here we go!

Who cares? They are just a bunch of blurry pictures.
      This was in response to a photo series I did this past summer.


Sounds like he just discovered his dick.”
     This was in response to a reading I did many years ago on a local radio show. Hopefully, those tapes are lost forever. I don’t do readings anymore. For one, I think they are silly, but also, because of my stutter, they would devolve into unintentional performance art.


You’re such a fucking square!
    I think this was directed at my personality and work in general.


The first round of reviews can be read here.

Sunday, December 14, 2014

DB Cooper Church of Perpetual Grace Communique 2014

DB Cooper Church of Perpetual Grace
Communique 2014



The Church does not have much time left on this physical plane. While many believe we belong to the past, we in fact belong to no-time. We are a walking suicide, exuding our (it's) own potential, able to bring our(it)self into (out of) existence at any chosen moment. We are not as talented as we once believed we were. We have no answers. We have no questions. The destruction of dreams can compel one to jump out of a plane. That was the first good idea we had.

Friday, August 29, 2014

Tool Shed Art Show



This one-day show featured a selection of paintings and visual poetry works by Michael Roth. It was held August 1,2014 in a backyard tool shed. We believed this was the most appropriate place to show these works outside of the local garbage dump. 

More pictures at  
http://www.opsonicindex.org/graphics/toolshed.html 

and at our new Flickr page (Tool Shed Art Show album)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/126570884@N03/


Who needs an art gallery when you have a tool shed!

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Tumble on down

Been quiet here, although I've been posting more graphic related work over on a new Tumblr blog.

http://opsonicindex.tumblr.com

Check it out for the usual range of hack paintings, visual poetry and photographs!

Sunday, July 06, 2014

Advice for Artists and Writers


A little bit of advice for both new and established artists and writers from guest blogger, noted artist  Michael Edward Michaels.


Advice for Artists and Writers
By Michael Edward Michaels

1)  Quit now.
2)  I cannot make this clearer  - Nobody cares about your so-called art and they never will.
3)  If you insist on this pointless exercise, know that you will be ignored in life and forgotten in death. For the most part, this will be justified.
4)  Other artists and poseurs will only pay attention to you if you can further their careers. Or make them money.
5)  You are not as important or creative or original as you think you are.
6)  If you believe you have something important to say, think again because you do not.
7)  Narcissism and relentless self-promotion trumps talent. Always.
8)   By the age of 40, your creative days will be over. Accept that you are a failure and move on.


MEM (Michael Edward Michaels) is considered to be probably the 47th best performance artist in the Greater Vancouver area (excluding Metro Vancouver).

Friday, January 24, 2014

Playing Chicken With Dire McCain

My interview with Dire McCain on her new book, Playing Chicken With Thanatos




Dire McCain is a writer, editor, publisher, and creative force. I've known Dire for several years, and I'm always impressed with her energy. We could have easily gone down the rabbit hole of a myriad of other topics, but we focused and got down to what's new and groovy- her new book, Playing Chicken With Thanatos.


The book is based on your experiences growing up. Can you talk a bit about that?

Dire McCain: The book chronicles my life between the ages of 12 and 19, although I touch upon the years that preceded and followed as well. The back cover blurb describes it best:

Playing Chicken With Thanatos tells a hard-hitting yet sympathetic tale of a precocious forgotten child who sought refuge in self-annihilation, and ultimately had to choose between doom and survival.

Set primarily in Southern California in the 1980s and 90s, the narrator takes you headlong on an intensely revealing and turbulent odyssey through the abysses of madness and junkiedom to the peaks of liberation and personal evolution.

Born from the author’s harrowing formative experiences, Playing Chicken With Thanatos transcends autobiography, evades the niche of vicarious voyeurism, and reaches out an empathetic, nonjudgmental hand to anyone who’s ever teetered over that ineffable precipice.”

Why did you decide to write the book?

DM: It began as a form of therapy, a release of the ghosts that had been locked away and eroding my spirit for ages. Before long, it took on a life of its own, and I soon realized that I could provide a resonant voice and empathetic hand for others who have “teetered over that ineffable precipice,” whatever their demons.


For the rest of the interview, please go to the Opsonic Index website -

My Interview with Dire McCain


You will be glad you did!

A Review of Playing Chicken With Thanatos


Playing Chicken With Thanatos
by Dire McCain
9780615903156


I’m not going to bury the lead. I thought Dire McCain’s book was a wonderful read. Funny, harrowing and emotional, it is a wicked fast-paced ride that is worth checking out.

So, what is this book about? Playing Chicken with Thanatos chronicles Dire’s life as a teen growing up in California and her descent into drug addiction. Dire and her friends spend their days looking for kicks. They have a knack for finding people they can use to get free drugs, and this quest for drugs and parties eventually becomes their lifestyle. Along the way, she hangs out with drug dealers, gang members, skinheads, rockers, yuppies and jocks, just to list a few “types” that come into her circle. And, as a young party girl, she draws the attention of the odd ephebophile or two. Of course, it’s all fun and good times hanging out with friends and getting high.

The first part of the book reflects this mood. The style and tone are light. It almost reads like a picaresque novel, with the action jumping from party to party. Eventually, the good times start to fade. A darker mood takes over as the monotony of addiction settles in. Drugs lose their fun and the personal and physical toll becomes greater. This lifestyle leaves her hollow, an emotional shell.  However, she does not succumb completely to this hell. In the end, there is hope and promise ahead.

While the book itself is episodic, with many chapters able to stand on their own, there is a strong arc and continuity to the story.  The book is structured into three parts, each part named after rivers running through Hades – Acheron (woe), Phelegethon (fire) and Lethe (oblivion).  Thematically, this book is a journey through the underworld, beginning with melancholy before moving through to the excitement and destructiveness of her party days, and on to the eventual final destination, oblivion. It is here that she sees the exit and begins to leave this (under)world behind. For me, the end feels like someone surfacing from the water after having been held under, although Dire does not use that imagery. It ends with her taking the first steps out of the claustrophobic life of addiction and the emotional and psychic toll that life wrought. And there it is. 

While the narrative takes place in the 80s and 90s, the dating within the book is intentionally vague. In an odd way, the story is not necessarily tied to that time, but transcends it. I also feel she does that with place. The work is set in California and she is fairly specific as to locations. However, the action seems to take place without regard to these geographical boundaries, while remaining intimately tied to them. It is not the location or the time that is important here; it is the personal journey.

Dire has an interesting writing style. It’s relaxed, yet intense and straightforward. The language is neither forced nor flowery. The text itself is layered, and filled with interesting allusions and asides. Just check out the chapter titles! When she referenced Fedor Emelianenko, it made me sit up and take notice. Then along came nods to Lolita and Magnum PI and on and on. For me, these “easter eggs” added a depth and playfulness to the text.
There you go. What more do you want? I know I’ve barely scratched the surface for the narrative and did not mention any of the other players except in passing but, hey, this is not Cliff Notes. Read the book and find out for yourself.