Henry Miller Memorial Library

This is a plea for help (and announcing an amazing concert!)

We have to upgrade our facilities and need to raise $140,000 fast (see below.)

Please come to our fundraiser at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco on Monday, June 25: Philip Glass and Joanna Newsom w/ Tim Fain!!

Ticket presale is today, Wednesday May 16th, 10AM – 10PM.  Click here for tickets.  Password is: ‘andersoncanyon’  (General Public Sale starts Friday).

If you can’t make the concert please help by making a donation here.  Donations come with incredible AWARDS – check it out.

And here’s the situation:

The Library as we know it is in jeopardy.

We need to modernize our water system and improve our bathroom facilities to meet federally-mandated health and safety requirements, including the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Failure to comply could force us to suspend the types of gatherings we’ve come to love: internationally renowned musicians and artists, our international short film screening series, writing workshops, the Big Sur Food and Wine Festival – the list goes on.

The renovation plans have been filed; Pending approval and funding, construction will begin this fall.

One other thing: This is the first “official” capital improvement fundraiser we have held – ever.

This is no coincidence. The Library’s funding model is unique: we subsist thanks to book sales, event-related income, daily donations, and small grants. For over 30 years, it’s worked very well, until now.

Yet it is precisely the nature of this challenge that speaks to the incredible support we’ve enjoyed throughout the years: we’ve outgrown our facilities, and it’s simply time for the next chapter – one that is sustainable, compliant, and will improve the experience of every visitor who steps through our doors!

So.  If you can make the show, great; follow the instructions above.  If you can’t, please consider donating – and thanks for your support!

The Library, in partnership with the the Tor House Foundation, is pleased to announce the re-issuing of “The Stone Mason of Tor House,” the definitive biography of Robinson Jeffers, by Melba Berry Bennett.

Melba Berry Bennett won the affection of both Jeffers and Una and after Una’s death became Jeffers’ secretary and worked with him until the end of his life. The result is a biography rich in detail and true to its subject. Jeffers did not reveal himself often to others, so his and Una’s friendship with Bennett represented an unusual opportunity for Bennett to produce an authoritative, sensitive portrait of the poet.

This beautiful edition, along with slipcase, is only $20, and you can buy it at our online store here.

The package was exquisitely produced using the highest quality paper, printing etc. and largely paid for by a very generous donation.

This explains the fact that we can offer this book for just $20.00.

The Tor House Foundation sponsors events and publishes material designed to preserve and extend the cultural and literary legacy of Robinson Jeffers, poet of California.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

I kinda forget what the actual theme of last year’s Big Big Big Sur Fashion Show was, but we figured, let’s do a classic man vs. machine thing.

Kind of like a Metal Machine Music / Trans-kinda vibe (see below.) What could go wrong?

Magnus would do his classic Joel Gray intro and then go haywire – because he’s not Magnus/Joel Gray, but rather, some sort of malfunctioning borg.

Sounds great, right?

And it was great – and don’t let people tell you otherwise.

Will this year’s fashion show involve malfunctioning Swedes, skin-tight purple leotards, and an abrasive sound track of impenetrable sheets of white noise?

Most likely not.

The theme is “Under the Big Top,” so expect some circus-y stuff.

Also expect it to sell out. It’s May 24th at the Library. Tickets are $20 – Lord knows it’s for a good cause (including participants’ subsequent therapy sessions), so get your tickets here now!

We love lists. We love lists and we love lists of lists.

We love lists of lists of lists.

We love Miller’s 11 Commandments for Writing and Kerouac’s 30 Techniques and Beliefs and Prose for Life.

And on the heels of our recent alliance with the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library, we’d like to now present Kurt’s 8 Tips on How to Write a Good Story.

Tip #1? Be Kurt Vonnegut!!

JK.

Here they are:

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things-reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them-in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

ps – We love lists.

It’s true. Things are heating up. They’re up to 109.

Soon we’ll be announcing some amazing stuff – trust me. Would we lie to you?

In fact, it’s safe to say, “Something is happening, and we do know what it is, but we can’t tell you yet…ummm…Mr. Jones.”

So get your ducks in a row: read the blog, like us on “facebook,” and don’t forget to sign our email list.

Just CLICK HERE TO DO THAT!

Ahh, WMFU. The world’s greatest radio station, situated in lovely Jersey City, NJ.

It wasn’t always that way. Back in the day – the mid-90s – it was the college station for a sleepy li’ school called Upsala College in East (or was it West? – Oh, Chris said it’s East) Orange, NJ.

Then the college went bankrupt.

Have you ever heard of a college going bankrupt? Whaaa?

So now WMFU is self-sustaining thanks to donations and the like.

Everything is streamed, and their “Beware of the Blog” is the neatest mp3 blog around. Exhibit A: these amazing audio files of Henry Miller! Specifically, “Miller on Miller,” which, despite the obvious – albeit abstract – sexual connotations, is simply a fancy title for a set of audio pieces capturing the one thing Miller is really good at: talking about himself.

Check out the link, and you’ll see audio snippet of Miller ruminating on things like “How I Cut Loose,” reflections on “Neurotics, Surrealists, and Obsessives,” and, “Life in Paris.”

Some additional context by poster Eric Cecil:

“Miller’s voice is just as circumlocutory and intoxicating as his writing, and there exists, on sites like UbuWeb, a number of audio interviews showcasing the locquacious bastard’s lilting verbal wash. All of his recorded interviews and readings are at least interesting, if not outright brilliant, but my favorite is a double LP titled Henry Miller Recalls and Reflects, which Riverside Records issued in 1957.

Courtesy of the aforementioned UbuWeb, here’s that double album in its entirety. And for those who’re enamored with all things Miller, don’t forget to check out the Cosmodemonic Telegraph Company blog.”

Enjoy!

So there’s a new book out and it’s super-cool. It’s called Handmade Houses: A Century of Earth-Friendly Home Design, by Richard Olson, and it’s about the emerging trend of – you guessed it – handmade houses. (Wanna copy? Don’t buy it from Amazon please; call us and order one over the phone: 831-667-2574.)

Magnus’ cabin is in it. So is Jersey Chris’s landlord’s house. And Bobby’s house.

A lot of Big Sur houses are in it!

That said, the “handmade house” has only recently become a novelty. For many thousands of years, all houses were handmade. Then with the large-scale urbanization of the Industrial Revolution and the postwar tract housing, individual designer-builder-owner homes became quaintly old fashioned. Here’s a nice synopsis from the New York Journal of Books:

The period from1960s and ’70s, which occupies much of Mr. Olsen’s book, has a special resonance today because once again the earth is calling us back. Seemingly out-of-control technology and ineffective government regulation is endangering our fragile ecology and the construction industry bears a great deal of responsibility. Today’s “green revolution” in housing really began in the handmade houses of 50 years ago.

Have you written a novel lately? Here in Big Sur it turns out that there is at least one in our midst who has done it!

Come to the Library on April 28th from 6-8 pm, to celebrate the publication of Susan Roether Zsigmond’s first novel, “Our Lady of West Hollywood.”

About the novel: unforeseen spiritual questions complicate the lives of four women seeking fame, fortune, love, and redemption in California’s media capital at the turn of the 20th century.

The evening includes coffee, tea, wine, and copies of the book!

The event is free, but donations are always appreciated. To register a spot, go here. And call 831-667-2574 with any questions.

More about Susan:

Susan Roether Zsigmond has been involved in writing and directing in Los Angeles since 1989. With a background in journalism and alternative book publishing in the Bay Area, Ms. Roether began working with independent directors at Farley Film Group and Pacific Ocean Pictures, writing and helping to produce low-budget films and documentaries in San Francisco in the early eighties. Her first-hand reportage on the making of the film Witches of Eastwick was featured in American Film magazine.

At First Stage in Hollywood, she became involved in directing staged readings of full-length plays from talented new playwrights, including the award-winning Boiler Room by Dan Fante; a one-woman show she developed with actress Virginia Morris; and Pitching Snow, an experimental play she wrote and directed. The drama, Daphne and Dr. Dow, which she wrote, directed and produced, was a Cinewomen project. Four of her other plays, including the comedy Leap, were presented at First Stage; and the ensemble comedy Surfers in Budapest, based on Roether’s experiences in post-communist Eastern Europe, premiered at Monterey’s New World Theater in a long-running production directed by Conrad Selvig.

Roether wrote, directed, and co-produced a short 35mm film, “The Facts of Life,” in collaboration with her husband, cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, which was featured at the American Cinemateque in Hollywood.

Dressing up as a sad alcoholic clown at the Big Big Big Sur Fashion Show is gonna be real fun.

I’m especially excited about getting shot through a canon, but it wasn’t entirely my idea. The inspiration for that comes from this amazing song by James Darren, called “Goodbye Cruel World,” circa 1961.

That said, one thing missing from this song – which I intend to remedy – is the importance of crying so the make-up runs down my face. That, mixed with the smell of stale gin, makes for Big Big Big Sur Fashion Show gold!

**Local** tickets are still available for $10; buy’em in person at the Library (more info here.) After May 1st, it’s $20 for everyone at henrymiller.org.

Don’t dilly dally!

Roosevelt and Churchill.

Lennon and McCartney.

Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Rodgers and Astaire.

Mr. Rogers and Mr. McFeely.

The 20th century is rife with incredible strategic partnerships; but none can compare to what I’m about to propose:

Miller and Vonnegut!!

It’s true: an alliance has been forged.

2,299 miles to the east stands the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library. Here’s their homepage; and here is the Facebook.

It’s like an amazing bizarro-world thing; we both have similar charters and both are arts centers that celebrate the legacies of our namesakes. We both have blogs.

Most eerily, their Executive Director of the Vonnegut Library is a gangly, prodigiously handsome ex-fisherman from Finald named, um, Shagmus.

A great bond has been established because a few weeks ago, folks from the Vonnegut Library visited Big Sur and had a power-lunch with Magnus and discussed things logistical (running an arts center) to the more big-picture (world domination.)

So drop the Vonnnegut Library a line, and do keep in touch. And just the idea wash over you like an iconoclastic literary cascade: Henry Miller and Kurt Vonnegut, joining forces.

Indeed, it’s an alliance built to last.

And we promise not to invade Czechoslovakia.