Some Reading Material

I'm too busy celebrating my freedom this weekend to do much more than link to some important PKD-related articles.

First off, there's a long and in-depth article about PKD's life in Orange County in Orange Coast Magazine. Not only does the article include interviews with Tessa Dick, Linda Castellani, and Tim Powers, it also has a shout out to this blog. Read the whole thing here.

Second, there's an exclusive interview with Jonathan Lethem about PKD's third volume from the Library of America. Download the PDF file here. The volume hits stores July 30. I'm interested in seeing how thoroughly footnoted VALIS and Transmigration are in this edition.

Pre-order your copy:

Rare PKD Photo of the Day

This is a great shot of PKD that Anne Dick sent me a while ago. This photo was taken at the house in Point Reyes in 1963. Anne writes:

"This is a picture of Hatte and Laura in 1963, maybe a May birthday dinner for Hatte since it's still so light. We sat down for dinner together every night and always made a big deal out of birthdays. Once in a while Phil would barbecue. I liked this, no pots and pans to wash -- although Phil usually did the dishes as I recall and made the desserts. He was a very pleasant family person and seemed to enjoy life with us."

Hatte was Anne's daughter by her previous husband, poet Richard Rubenstein, and of course Laura (the younger of the two girls in the picture) is PKD's first child and now works with Isa Dick-Hackett steering the PKD Trust, and Electric Shepherd Productions. I get the sense from both Anne, as well as PKD's depiction of the family in Confessions of a Crap Artist, that the early years in Point Reyes were very happy.

The exciting coda for this post is an announcement that Anne Dick is republishing her memoir The Search for Philip K Dick. Edwin Mellon Press printed a limited run of Anne's memoir in 1993, and today that memoir often sells for over a hundred dollars. Anne has worked very hard this last year revising the book, and is self-publishing it later this summer. I'm excited about this, because it's a great book, gives tons of insight into PKD, and what it was like living with him. I can't wait for more Dick-heads to get a chance to read it. More info about the book and how to buy it will be forthcoming. But, just to get a sense of what demand is like, if you may be interested in buying the book (estimated cost is about $17.00) please leave a note in the comments section.

Review of The Cardboard Universe Posted

My review of Christopher Miller's The Cardboard Universe: A Guide to the World of Phoebus K Dank has been posted over on BoingBoing. Check it out here.

You Tube Video Roundup

It's a beautiful Saturday morning. Let's check out some You Tube videos.

First up, is a pair of videos that set PKD-interview footage to experimental music and video, with interesting results.

Then check out this video from Torley playing some keyboards over a mashup of the Blade Runner end credits and some rap.

Paul Williams Benefit Concert

I received an email yesterday from Electric Shepherd Productions announcing a benefit concert for former PKD-executor and founder of Crawdaddy magazine, Paul Williams, who as I recently wrote, needs full time care after a long, slow decline following a bicycle accident. The concert is in San Francisco on June 28th, and sounds like a good show based on the lineup they've put together, above and beyond the good cause it's supporting. Perhaps this is an opportunity for a gathering of bay area Dick-heads, as we could meet up and get some drinks while we watch the show. Let me know in the comments if you are interested. If you don't know about Paul Williams's contributions to our culture's ultimate embrace of PKD's novels, well, you just aren't paying attention. Redeem yourself by reading Paul's 1977 feature on PKD for Rolling Stone magazine here. And if you doubt Paul's (and Crawdaddy magazine's) contributions to pop culture, remember, he rode to Woodstock in the Grateful Dead's limo. Then read this interview Crawdaddy arranged between William Burroughs and Jimmy Page. More on Williams here.

Buy your tickets here. Hope to see you at the show.

Tessa Dick on Gnostic Radio

A great interview with Tessa Dick has been posted on Aeon Byte Gnostic Radio Show. Tessa talks at length about PKD's 'mystical experiences,' his writing techniques, and his world view. I listened last night and really enjoyed it.

Check out the radio show here.
Follow the discussion on The Palm Tree Garden here.

Stories From All Over

I'm busy enjoying my summer and working on a review of Miller's The Cardboard Universe (which I liked), but I have some minor ephemera to post from my inbox, nothing that really warrants its own post. Here, in amalgamated, form is the state of the is:

Etienne over at Dickien.fr has promo shots from Radio Free Albemuth. The last I spoke to director John Simon he said that post-production was taking longer than expected. But Robyn Hitchcock is doing the soundtrack so things are falling into place.

Dutiful reader Pete writes in an email:

"I began reading Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan's novel "The Strain" last night and within the first few chapters, we are introduced to a character named Eldritch Palmer. So far, there's not much known about him except that he is elderly, very rich, and unhealthy."

Please tell us if it's worth reading Pete.

Dutiful reader Craig Kipple writes:

"There is a Norwegian film called "Lies Inc."? I found it to be a great movie! Although I was expecting to view a movie based on "The Unteleported Man", I still found it a thrill to watch.
It contains elements from not only "The Unteleported Man", but also of "A Scanner Darkly", "Paycheck", and "UBIK". I am sure after more viewings I'll pick up on more. Names such as "Joe Chip" and "Applebaum" were a treat to "pick-up" on."

I'll add it to my queue.
Read more about the movie here.

Coming Soon, a post about The Divine Invasion, and the new Star Trek film....