Caption courtesy of Dangerous Minds: Philip K. Dick, Germs-manager Nicole Panter, author KW Jeter, and artist Gary Panter, at Philip K. Dick’s Santa Ana condo. The photo was taken from Nicole Panter's flickr account. My Facebook friend Henry Baum hepped me to this interview from Slash Magazine 1980. Check out that photo! (I may have posted it here before, who knows?). There's A LOT of talent on that couch. It's like a tiny slice of the 80s cultural revolution on one couch. Anyway, this interview is so awesome. It's got something for everyone: PKD calls himself 'a religious anarchist'; K W Jeter is a total badass and this interview makes me sad that he hasn't gotten nearly his due... yet; Gary Panter is a badass who came up with his Rozz-tox manifesto - which is also rad - and you all know the shirt... (that's the shirt PKD was wearing when he had his stroke... btw); we learn that a 'conapt' is a condominium style situation where the tenant co-owns the building (more on this in a second); and we see the dead cat as refutation of God which figures so prominently in VALIS. I love that Dick says 'effete intellectuals' and if he had said it in my presence I can guarantee you orange soda would come out of my nose I'd be laughing so hard. Also, PKD's political thoughts are surprising... If you don't read the entire interview here, well, I can't help you.
I like the idea that the characters in Dick's books are owners rather than renters. That fact alone locks them into a society in a much more intense way, one of the many reasons I'm shying away from home ownership even as the prices fall. So refreshing to see something new, though Patrick Clark informs me this interview has been known to Dick-heads for many moons and was reprinted in Simulacrum Meltdown # 3 (October 2001).
Special thanks to Henry Baum!
Wow, when I was looking for a picture of the shirt, I found this article about PKD, looks long...
