Babylon Falling-Blog-

Tomorrow, January 1st 2009, marks the 50th Anniversary of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution and because talk of the Revolution is not tolerated in the polite company I keep I’ll get it out of my system with a little post here on the Babylon Falling blog.

It was the history of the Cuban Revolution that really was the spark to the fumes for me as a kid. Reading about the revolutionary moment when the guerrillas descended from the mountains and marched triumphantly into Havana instilled in me the courage of my convictions. It was that story that first provided me with the real world reference points to finally understand the seemingly obvious idea that, holy shit we can actually change the conditions that oppress us.

The parallels between the conditions in Cuba under Batista in the fifties and those in the Jamaica I grew up in the nineties were too much for me to ignore. As I got deeper into the history of the Revolution the more interested I was, reading about the improbability of the lieutenant Pedro Sarría saving Fidel’s life after Moncada, the fiasco of the Granma ‘landing’, and many more situations where seemingly insurmountable odds were overcome.

That honeymoon period was shortlived, and the further I got into the history of the Castro government the more disillusioned I was. The nail in the coffin of any of my illusions about the virtues of the Castro government came when, on a trip to Cuba in 2005, I was hanging out with some rappers from Havana and was invited to an illegal basement party where they were performing that night. It was then I realized the impossibility of life in Cuba, that almost no facet of the life I enjoyed both in Jamaica and in the States would be possible in Cuba under Castro. A place where everything, even non-political rap music, is pushed underground.

Having said all of that I have to acknowledge the importance of the example of that Revolutionary moment, the example of successful resistance to oppression. Although there’s no doubt Castro sold out the Revolution it’s more important to understand that he and his men were more administrative incompetents than tyrants. To attack Castro for the human rights violations in Cuba but to say nothing of those in our own backyard is hypocritical in the extreme. To point out the de juro absence of many civil rights in Cuba but never to decry the de facto absence of those same rights in the US is tragic. To pity the balseros who risk their life to escape Castro’s Cuba without questioning the ‘wet foot, dry foot’ policy that encourages the rafters and the embargo that exacerbates the conditions that push people to such desperation misses the point. So I’m basically saying criticize the mistakes but be consistent with the criticisms and most importantly never forget to lift up the triumphs, and to always celebrate the spirit of rebellion against tyranny.

My small gesture to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary is to throw up, in full, a scanned version of this early propaganda piece put out in Cuba after the Revolution and geared towards children.

We have cards taken from this pasted on to the counter in the store and I always get questions about it so I decided to just put the whole thing up online.

As far as I know there is no copyright on it. It has been referenced and used in a few books about Cuba (most notably on the inside covers in the Taschen book about Cuba). Although it can be seen elsewhere online I wanted to provide a platform that is easier to navigate with scans that are more readable. Classic propaganda and actually a decent history of the Revolution. Hope you enjoy it.

Click the picture above or click here to open a slideshow of the complete version of ‘Album de la Revolucion Cubana’. Best appreciated full screen…make sure to hit the full screen button on the bottom right after it loads.

Magnum also has up a dope feature celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Revolution. You can check it out here

To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Cuban revolution on 1 January 2009, Magnum Photos presents an exhibition of vintage and contemporary prints, the content of which shows the agency’s long engagement with the country.

Included are Eve Arnold’s pre-revolution images shot in 1954, the unfolding of events in 1959
by Burt Glinn, portraits of the main protagonists, Fidel and Che by Rene Burri and Elliott
Erwitt and latterly of modern life under Castro in the crumbling beauty of Havana by Alex Webb, David Alan Harvey and Christopher Anderson.

Also included are rarely seen photographs by Magnum correspondants Andrew Saint George and Bob Henriques. Henriques documentation of Castro’s troops advancing into Havana are hugely evocative and evidence of Castro’s timeless way with his people.

Also, LIFE Magazine recently partnered up with Google image search to put their whole archive of photos online. All you have to do is add “source:life” to your Google image search to search the LIFE photo archive. For example below is a link to photos from the Cuban Revolution pulled up by simply typing “cuban revolution source:life” in the image search bar.

Link here

There is bound to be plenty more coverage online but these are a nice place to start. History!

The absolute hands down best read for me this year was ‘Ringolevio: A Life Played For Keeps’ by Emmet Grogan.

Ostensibly an autobiography Ringolevio is a story that follows its author Emmet Grogan on unlikely journey from the streets of Brooklyn to capers on Park Avenue, in and out of jails and addiction, through Europe, in Northern Ireland with the IRA, and back to the states between the Lower East Side in New York and Haight Ashbury in San Francisco during the late sixties. Along the way we see history up close as Emmet finds himself not only as the ‘leader’ of the influential group The Diggers but as the man behind the scenes of what seems to be any and every culturally significant event of the time wherever he was at.

Through the years everything I’ve read about the counterculture of the sixties left me more skeptical than enamoured. In Ringolevio Emmet Grogan confirms all my suspicions about the cornballs and opportunists that today are hailed as legends of the underground. In so exposing the frauds he lays a foundation for spotting the archetypal posers and profiteers that hang around the periphery of any so called scene.

Ringolevio is the story of Emmet Grogan written by Emmet Grogan and as such can be expected to contain its fair share of fabrications and embellishments. Nitpicking the details misses the point however, and in the end the most important facet of the book is the clarity of perspective of a true American outlaw. It’s been a long time since I’ve so wholeheartedly recommended a book. It’s only a shame I hadn’t read it earlier. Give thanks to the New York Review of Books for re-releasing yet another classic.

Our friend Shaun Roberts left the opening on Thursday to head straight to the airport to catch a flight to Thailand and has just sent over the photos that he took from the night (ever working). Another amazing event at Babylon Falling. I have to give thanks to Shawn Mortensen. Shawn it was nice to meet you and we had some serious conversations that I’m sure we’ll continue in the future. Forward ever!

Thanks to Alex and Chris for helping to hang the show, and Kensey for everything basically.

Click here or click the photo above to go to the Events page to see a slideshow of photos from the night.

We still have a few signed copies of ‘Out of Mind’ left at the store as well as some long sold out tshirts featuring some of Shawn’s photos. If you don’t live in San Francisco and are curious about purchasing any of the photos please send an email to me at sean@babylonfalling.com for price and availability.

In addition to the photos we also have a few sets of Tupac prints (seen in the photo above) that are the result of a collaboration with Shawn Mortensen and Shepard Fairey in an edition of 300 and sold out since 2004. These are from Shawn’s personal collection and are signed by both him and Shepard Fairey. They are $250 each or $400 for a set with matching numbers. As above, send an email to sean@babylonfalling.com or stop by the store if you’re interested.

And finally here are holiday hours:

Monday 12/22 - Noon-9pm
Tuesday 12/23 - Noon-9pm
Wednesday 12/24 - Saturday 12/27 - Closed
Tuesday 12/30 - Noon-9pm
Wednesday12/31 - Noon-7pm
Thursday 01/01/09 - Closed
Friday 01/02/09 - Open and back to regular hours.

We will be hosting Shawn Mortensen for the opening reception of an exhibit of his photography here at the store. He will be signing copies of his 2007 book, Out of Mind, and will be leading an informal talk about his career as a photographer. In his own words…

There will be a sample of images from my book OUT OF MIND & also a portfolio of images of homes in NOLA Lower 9th Ward on the 1 year mark of Hurricane Katrina. The ’sample’ images will be of Pop Icons such as Zapatista Women, Kate Moss, Beastie Boys, Ice Cube, Henry Rollins, Tupac Shakur, Snoop & Dr Dre, Zapatistas, Futura & Lee Quinones, Mark Gonzales, Jamaican Rude Boys, Rage Against The Machine, Biggie, & a few OTHERS.

I’ve been a fan of Shawn Mortensen’s photography for a long time and consider myself blessed to be able to host a show of his work here at Babylon Falling. At a time in my life when learning how to roll a good spliff was my greatest accomplishment Shawn was in Chiapas, Mexico documenting the Zapatista uprising. Prolific and ever relevant, he has enjoyed a long career of consistent success with an uncanny ability for being in the right place at the right time, and is always positioned at the forefront of the culture. The result of 20 years of portraiture work, Out of Mind, is testament to the depth and breadth of his experience. When seen together, the seemingly unconnected portraits reveal themselves as equal parts of an ongoing commentary on our modern life. Kate Moss next to some Jamaican rudeboys, Paris Hilton beside Dr. Dre with a gun to his head…

More than anything, it’s going to be a good night of good vibes — hope you can make it down.

As always we’ll have drinks and music, and the book is 20% off the list price. The opening reception is from 6-9pm. See you Thursday!

Denis Browne, Sid and Nancy associate and Alexander Trocchi’s literary assistant in later life, answered some questions on this era for Andrew Stevens.

Link here. Via 3:AM Magazine

Who is Alexander Trocchi?

From a BBC profile

The biography of Alexander Trocchi suggests a life of many parts: writer, artist, husband, father, activist, heroin-addict, revolutionary. Trocchi was born in Glasgow in 1925 to an Italian father and a Scottish mother. He attended Glasgow University from 1942- 43 before joining the Royal Navy from 1943-46. Perhaps unsurprisingly, military life didn’t suit him and he returned to University to study philosophy. In the late 1940s he moved to Paris where he edited the avante-garde literary journal Merlin, which published, amongst others, the work of Samuel Beckett and Jean-Paul Sartre. It was in Paris that Trocchi began his own writing career under the auspices of Maurice Girodias’s infamous Olympia Press. His early fiction is concerned with the erotic, some might say pornographic, and much of this early work was banned in Britain, France and America.

In the late 1950s Trocchi left Paris for the U.S, finally settling in New York. It was at this time that Trocchi began his experimentations in drug culture as part of the ‘turn-on, tune-in, drop-out’ generation and was briefly imprisoned in New York for his associations with illegal drug taking. It was at this time too that Trocchi wrote Cain’s Book telling of his sexual misadventures and heroin highs during his time living on the Hudson River. French existentialism (a philosophy which asserts that Man is a free agent, unbound by God, and that he must accept responsibility for his actions in a seemingly meaningless universe) and the New York and San Francisco ‘beat scene’ (which stressed the values of non-conformity, freedom and experimentation), made a profound impact on Trocchi’s writing. His novels deal with human isolation in a society marked by moral ambivalence and alienation.

During the sixties Trocchi published an essay for the New Saltire entitled ‘The Invisible Insurrection of a Million Minds’; its plea for the ‘linking of minds’ was to become the manifesto for Trocchi’s ‘Sigma project’, which gained support from writers, artists and intellectuals as various as Picasso, R. D. Laing, Salvador Dali and Timothy Leary. Project Sigma was inspired by Leary’s ‘consciousness revolution’, a cultural call to arms which advocated the rejection of old and stale ways of seeing. Drug taking, and in Trocchi’s case, heroin addiction, was part of the pursuit of alternative realities. Revolutionary rhetoric was intended to breach the boundaries of social order and moral authority.

In 1962 Trocchi came to Scotland for the Edinburgh Writer’s Festival where he was famously attacked by Hugh MacDiarmid, the founding father of the ‘Scottish Literary Renaissance’ of the inter-war years, who dismissed Trocchi and his work as ‘cosmopolitan scum’ (though their private correspondence suggests a mutual respect and recognition of the values of the revolutionary and rebel across a changing cultural terrain). Simultaneously castigated and idealised, Trocchi remains an ambivalent character, one whose life demonstrates a truly visionary aspiration for mind and art and enacts the dystopia of an over-reaching idealism.

More on Trocchi at Wikipedia and a talk given by Denis Browne over at 3AM