"...the ideal version for forcing on people with no interest in The KLF but who really need to read it nontheless" - I just came here to salute that phrase, as it exactly describes my experience of 8 years ago.
I wasn't even aware of the KLF until after they'd split up (I spent the early 90s listening to avant-garde jazz, then moved into a Leytonstone squat with a woman who had some strange rave CD with Tammy Wynette singing about an ice-cream van, which confused the hell out of me. Happy to say that 31 years on, I'm still with that woman, though I'm not sure where the CD is). Then in 2016 my life was changed when Salena Godden dragged me along to Festival 23, and everyone I met there seemed to be obsessed with this book about the KLF. Of *course* I had to read it.
Funnily enough when Salena later introduced me to Bill Drummond, and he asked me what Festival 23 was, my mind went blank and so I reached for an explanation I'd heard from Daisy Campbell: "well, it all started with this book by John Higgs". At which point Bill lost interest and walked away - I never did get to explain Festival 23 to him.
Funnily enough, despite having just published a Doctor Who annual, that's another thing I'm not particularly bothered about, but of course I look forward to buying your next book and getting properly bothered.
This prompts me to action - the action being that I must scour the booksellers for a copy of your KLF book. I was hoping it would materialise in the charity shoppe, or T*sco chariity shelves - to date, Universe has withheld this pleasure, it has voided this synchronicity (if it now turns up in the immediate future I will experience an anxietasm - the ecstasy and anxiety of the revealed understructure - or underwear - of workaday realism). Being in a hyperexcited state of overstimulation, there isn't the breathing space to compose the much-needed fanzine editorial, namely: 'Who will be the next to burn a million quid?' Did they really? The prank remains in a quantum state: common sense, that whore, whispers, 'no, of course they didn't', but in the absence of definitive proof, and in the presence of the wright/rong people's credulity, the work is done. Maybe the next million will only be 'burned' in a fictional dimension: a widely circulated news story that a likely ogre used currency as kindling, which might well be figuratively true. Disturb not the dream of the capitalist system, it is pillars, or pillows, of dream on which heads of every social system rest, with a rational pea beneath
It's interesting how burning money doesn't affect people now quite how it did then. For instance, $500,000 gets burned in a Mr Beast video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ESeQBeikKs), over 100 million people watch it, and no-one is bothered. Strange times
They are two of the very best Beatle pods. It's a shame to see them end. However, maybe they're getting out at the very top, rather like the Fabs themselves.
You're writing a Doctor Who book? Colour me excited! And congrats on getting the KLF book into the States... this is where I am right now, although I'll be back in Europe for the Summer months.
Sadly, it looks like I'm not coming to Brighton after all, as was originally planned, as it would be great to catch up with you! If you are going to be up north any time between late June and the end of August, though, do let me know! T'would be great to catch up. In the meantime, colour me excited for your Whobook. š
Short answer is because of the way audiobooks DRM works, it would need an American publisher to step up, which is rare for an old book. But - we shall see
Oh my word, a Dr Who book!
Damn it John Higgs ā if you ever go down the Ray Peat rabbit hole Iām going to jump up and down in ecstatic joy.
"...the ideal version for forcing on people with no interest in The KLF but who really need to read it nontheless" - I just came here to salute that phrase, as it exactly describes my experience of 8 years ago.
I wasn't even aware of the KLF until after they'd split up (I spent the early 90s listening to avant-garde jazz, then moved into a Leytonstone squat with a woman who had some strange rave CD with Tammy Wynette singing about an ice-cream van, which confused the hell out of me. Happy to say that 31 years on, I'm still with that woman, though I'm not sure where the CD is). Then in 2016 my life was changed when Salena Godden dragged me along to Festival 23, and everyone I met there seemed to be obsessed with this book about the KLF. Of *course* I had to read it.
Funnily enough when Salena later introduced me to Bill Drummond, and he asked me what Festival 23 was, my mind went blank and so I reached for an explanation I'd heard from Daisy Campbell: "well, it all started with this book by John Higgs". At which point Bill lost interest and walked away - I never did get to explain Festival 23 to him.
Ha! That is excellent to hear, no offense to the avant-garde jazz
None taken. It's pretty hard to offend avant-garde jazz š
Funnily enough, despite having just published a Doctor Who annual, that's another thing I'm not particularly bothered about, but of course I look forward to buying your next book and getting properly bothered.
This prompts me to action - the action being that I must scour the booksellers for a copy of your KLF book. I was hoping it would materialise in the charity shoppe, or T*sco chariity shelves - to date, Universe has withheld this pleasure, it has voided this synchronicity (if it now turns up in the immediate future I will experience an anxietasm - the ecstasy and anxiety of the revealed understructure - or underwear - of workaday realism). Being in a hyperexcited state of overstimulation, there isn't the breathing space to compose the much-needed fanzine editorial, namely: 'Who will be the next to burn a million quid?' Did they really? The prank remains in a quantum state: common sense, that whore, whispers, 'no, of course they didn't', but in the absence of definitive proof, and in the presence of the wright/rong people's credulity, the work is done. Maybe the next million will only be 'burned' in a fictional dimension: a widely circulated news story that a likely ogre used currency as kindling, which might well be figuratively true. Disturb not the dream of the capitalist system, it is pillars, or pillows, of dream on which heads of every social system rest, with a rational pea beneath
It's interesting how burning money doesn't affect people now quite how it did then. For instance, $500,000 gets burned in a Mr Beast video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ESeQBeikKs), over 100 million people watch it, and no-one is bothered. Strange times
They are two of the very best Beatle pods. It's a shame to see them end. However, maybe they're getting out at the very top, rather like the Fabs themselves.
Indeed. And they leave behind their archives, plus there are many other fine Beatle pods out there, so it as it should be. "And in the end..."
You're writing a Doctor Who book? Colour me excited! And congrats on getting the KLF book into the States... this is where I am right now, although I'll be back in Europe for the Summer months.
With unlimited love,
Chris.
I am! Or rather, a book about Doctor Who - some details here https://johnhiggs.com/my-next-book-exterminate-regenerate-the-story-of-doctor-who/ Hope all is good Chris, yes come back to Europe
Sadly, it looks like I'm not coming to Brighton after all, as was originally planned, as it would be great to catch up with you! If you are going to be up north any time between late June and the end of August, though, do let me know! T'would be great to catch up. In the meantime, colour me excited for your Whobook. š
Very sad I can't make it to London to see the Memorial Device play. The book was stunning. Also, David Keenan gives great interviews.
It does feel a bit like being on a night out with Keenan, that play. Let's hope it tours
That new Timothy Leary design! Iām judging a cover by its book. Both amazing .
Cheers Steven!
Not sure about the KLF 2025 paperback cover on Amazon though. Strange choice
It's a bold new direction
Psyched for the US KLF and Leary releases. Why canāt I get Stranger Than We Can Imagine on audible in US??
Short answer is because of the way audiobooks DRM works, it would need an American publisher to step up, which is rare for an old book. But - we shall see