Keeper of the Clown Bell

William Harrison was a prophetic writer of considerable learning and talent with an unflinching focus on the human condition and a shitlib sentimentality that secured a tenured academic seat at the University of Arkansas . This Razorback's contribution to American arts & letters is significant as a fine writer and storyteller and as a teacher to the many talented scribblers who attended the UofA Master of Fine Arts program. As is often the case with writers it is a throw away story or literary folly that captures the attention of some editor or producer and in Mr. Harrison's case that was a piece of futuristic fluff published in Esquire Magazine ( 1973 ) titled "The Rollerball Murders." The director Norman Jewison put it on celluloid and cast the great James Caan as the stories stoic hero Jonathan E. The screenplay , also written by Harrison, builds on the short story and creates a fully realized aesthetic of a dystopian future growing out of cultural (R)evolutio...

Insurrectionist? The January 6 Committee is an unconstitutional phony "show trial" put on by compromised & controlled  selected Representatives from The People's House for the benefit of the Sharks and Clowns and Nerds that comprise the FakeNews media. The KOTCB blog hasn't commented on its findings because the political theater isn't worthy of comment - it's not ethical to even spend one minute watching the proceedings on television or reading a synopsis in the local paper. Going further, even the headlines and (admittedly humorous) memes should be ignored in an effort to clear the psyop gunk from the conscious mind. Like all politics, the J6 hearings are fake and gay but in this particular case the subjective structure being presented to the collective subconscious has a profound distortion as its foundational component. It is a point that this blog has been making ever since The Elvis From Queens glided down the escalator at Trump Tower with beautiful...

I came into this wicked world in the early 1960's and as a result I have born witness to America's 50 Years of Failure which includes the modern age of mass shootings by psychotic men who "go off" on a given day, for no reason at all (except "guns"), and kill scads of innocent bystanders. Back in August of 2019 a KOTCB blog post titled " Reciprocity City " explored a young  gunman  named Patrick Crusius  who drove 9 hours through the west Texas flatlands to shoot up El Paso, TX The KOTCB has commented on many of these shootings, bombings and knifings over the years -  The roots of the Boston Marathon Bombing ,  the Emanuel AME Church shooting ,  Syed Rizvan Farook and his bride Tashfeen Malik ,  Ft. Lauderdale Airport shooting ,  Nick Cruz lovesick Parkland shooting ,  the Iranian, PETA activist, Vegan Bodybuilder, YouTuber's attack on Google  and now this very oddly timed and placed "lone wolf" attack on Walmart shoppers. Thi...

I 💗 pirates. I think the golden age of piracy was one of the greatest times to be alive in human history and that pirates, a subject on which I have read quite a lot, lived a raucous, bawdy and "free" lifestyles. I could jump down the rabbit hole here and go deep into my personal favorite pirates, their adventures and the lasting effect their exploits have on Western Civilization which, in my humble opinion, are significant. But I'm going to focus on a fictional pirate named Captain Jack Sparrow from a fictional series of films about Pirates of the Caribbean based on a theme park ride of the same name located in the Magic Kingdom owned and operated by the Walt Disney corporation. This particular pirate was brought to life, so to speak, by a thespian named Johnny Depp who is rather infamous for his on screen (and off-screen) performances as a roguish lothario and all around libertine . The pirate Sparrow, not the actor, is a wonderful representation of these swashbuckling...

I love to read Caitlin Johnstone over at Medium because, aside from being a commie, she is right about almost everything and a prolific writer. So when Geo. W. Bush bragged about his call "to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq" during a speech at his presidential center in Dallas I just had to go read her assessment of the moment . She didn't disappoint, claiming that Bush's Freudian slip/confession is "the single best thing that has ever happened" (W"s malapropism), sweet Caitlin goes for the Adam's apple: The bullshit doesn’t get any more brightly illuminated than this, folks. All that spin and narrative management they’ve been pouring into the US proxy war in Ukraine, and Bush undoes it all with the Bushism to end all Bushisms. The girl's got a point. Bush wasn't even supposed to be talking about Iraq - he was talking about Putin and his "wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Ukraine." Those are the wo...

  Creature It is no secret that I hold the music of  Charles Thompson IV – aka Frank Black, aka Black Francis, the lead singer of Pixies - to be some of the greatest rock & roll ever made and I can listen to any of his recordings at any time for an indefinite duration. I’m a ultra-Black fanatic, to use the  contemporary  parlance, and pledge unconditional dedication to this man's inscrutable musical message. He’s my favorite pop musician which is to say that I’ve spent more time listening to him (especially the Frank Black records 1993-2006) than any other musical artist including long time favorites Pete Townshend (1964-1978), Lowell George,  Kramer (and ALL Shimmy-Disc), Elliot Smith and Doug Martsch of Built to Spill who composed the soundtrack of my life. Almost 3 decades ago Mr. Black wrote a tune titled " The Creature Crawling " that was put on his " The Cult Of Ray " album and the song has stuck with me for reasons which I will now explain....

"Proof" You're minding your business on West Pico Blvd. when some zonked beyond belief broad staggers into your shop, makes a mad dash to the water closet and pukes all over the toilet. The Agent Smith's in her security detail position themselves at the bathroom door and stand guard while the First Daughter-In-Law cleans the vomit off her face and arms. After giving you the nod to keep your mouth shut and clean up the mess these watchmen escort this unaccountable twist out the backdoor and into the society from whence she came. I'm not making this up - it just happened last night for real and I've got photographic proof of the aftermath (not that I needed any) for all you "show me the proof", "I haven't seen any evidence", "it's probably Russian disinformation" ass-holes who NEED "proof" for every obvious thing that ever happens in this life. You might be one of those people and if you are I'm glad you stumbl...