[kj] My thoughts on Letters From Cythera

[Alexander Smith]

I just finished reading the book as well -- and I should qualify that  
to say that by 'reading' I mean skimming whilst taking great big  
breaks and skipping over several passages.

To be fair, Jaz does warn in the beginning of the text that it is by  
no means a conventional "rock n' roll" memoir," nor is it composed as  
such (despite myriad instances of prurient behavior). With the utmost  
respect for the author, even if you take a third of Jaz's accounts  
seriously and/or at face value, the sheer staggering amount of  
impenetrable babble contained herein is enough to make James Joyce's  
"Ulysses" seem like light, beach reading.

I don't doubt for a nanosecond that Jaz believes his own musings on  
philosophy/spirituality/theology/the occult/conspiracy theories, but  
it's such a conflagration of disparate concepts that it is truly a  
strenuous task to make sense of any of it, least of all when you try  
to apply them objectively. Jaz, by contrast, seems to cherry-pick  
various themes to suit whatever circumstances are confronting him at  
the time, and then asserts them as inarguable fact (example: the  
blithe declaration that "night-dreaming" is evidence of "impurities of  
the soul" -- how exactly does one quantify this?)

Then again, if you've picked up this book, you already *KNOW* you  
shouldn't expect anything conventional or straightforward. If you know  
that going in, you shan't be disappointed.

In terms of documenting the travails of Killing Joke, one can't help  
but wish there was a little more. Jaz does indeed go quite in depth in  
various capacities, but one yearns to hear "the other side" of the  
story. It will assuredly never happen, but I'd love Killing Joke's  
story to be told as an "oral history," ala Legs McNeil's "Please Kill  
Me" and/or -- dare I invoke it -- "The Dirt," which chronicled the  
ridiculous career of Motley Crue, complete with all four members'  
strikingly contradictory recollections.

A particularly gripping passage was Jaz's ruminations on the death of  
Paul Raven, although even here he falters because of a tireless,  
mythologizing insistence on referring to his former band mate as "The  
Night Bird," "The Magpie," "The Night Raven," as opposed to simply,  
say, "Raven," or even "Paul."

Personally speaking, I think the passage about "Lucky" Ted Parsons was  
a bit unnecessarily petty, speculative and ultimately a cruel thing to  
put in print.

Alex in NYC





On Apr 6, 2014, at 10:50 PM, Were Wolf wrote:


> Having read Jaz's book I was interested to see mention of Aleister  

> Crowley and Kenneth Grant, as I have several of their works. Also  

> that Geordie, a Qabalist, goes so far as to wear a different  

> coloured pair of underpants, for each day of the week! Intriguing  

> too was the London flat fire incident, after KJ performed a ritual.  

> Jaz also quotes the lyrics to 'Madness'  which he says echoes  

> "Christ's perplexing remark that you are all Gods." (John 10: 34).

>

> What particularly struck me is Jaz and Geordie referring to "Lucky"  

> T.P. as a walking, talking "Talisman of doom and misery", and that  

> if you stand next to him a lightning strike will probably hit you! I  

> can confirm this from personal experience, as soon after I met  

> "Lucky" I developed a serious health condition ( I am now fully  

> recovered I am glad to say, as Nietzsche said "That which does not  

> destroy us only makes us stronger"). Jaz points out that "Lucky" is  

> a nice chap, but that he attracts bad luck to those he comes into  

> contact with. Coincidence?

>

> What are your thoughts and impressions of Jaz's book, if you have  

> now had the opportunity to read it?

>

> I hope Jaz comes to London on his proposed Spoken Word Tour, to  

> elaborate on the themes contained in his Great Work.

>

> http://www.theorderofkaph.com

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