Subject: You are a schmuck
Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 04:32:45 -0000
From: "Elvira Simone" <elvira_simone@hotmail.com>
To: BlackJ@bigmagic.com
Mr. Aronowitz -
My name is Elvira, and a good friend
of mine - a good friend of Phil Spector, told me you gave her your card at last year's
Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. Out of curiosity, we looked you up, and found all those
disparaging things you had to say about Phillip at the 1999 show. You are a sell-out and a fraud. Mr. Spector does not even smoke! No wonder he "hardly talks to you
anymore"! I don't talk to Mr. Spector, but I do know that he is a very sweet man.
If he did have an out burst 2 years ago, that is no reason to imply such nasty things, as
you did by saying he ripped off the inscription from his father's grave to make it big
in the music business. Maybe the inscription did come from that, but it by no means was
used as a sell - out, as you are using these defamatory witings.##
* * *
MORE
ABOUT PHIL SPECTOR
Subject:
phil spector article
Date: Tue, 05 Dec 2000 14:59:22 -050
From: john rausch <jonr@ohio.net>
To: blackj@bigmagic.com
Hi Al,
a friend sent me the link to your on line article on Spector`s party, that you wrote
about from 1999, I read it and sent it to a friend of mine who is one of Phil`s
children, he asked me to forward his note to you anonamously, so I will paste it in here
on this note, he just wanted to reply to your article, if you have any questions
regarding this, please feel free to email me, as I am acting as the middleman at this
point.
Best
regards
John
Rausch
Pasting...........
To: Al
Aronowitz.
A
friend of mine sent me your COLUMN FORTY-SEVEN, JULY 1, 1999 Article thinking I might beinterested in it. I was as I am always interested in just about any article about Phil
Spector.
I
would like to give you a few bits of info about some of the people you wrote about.
Phil's long time friend and Bodyguard, George you mentioned, His last name was Brand.
You stated that he was retired and probably living well on a pension. Sorry to inform
you. George Brand was a dear friend of the Spector family but never was given a raise
after working for Phil for so many Years to include helping to raise Phil's 3 Sons
(Louis, Gary and Donté). George is now retired and not doing well and has no contact
with Phil. The relation changed when Phil moved from his house of 27 Years.
As for
the house, I am not sure what house you saw. It was not in Bell Air nor was it in
Hollywood. It was in Beverly Hills.
He had
rented it without a rent increase the entire time and was rented from Kurt Cruger (?)
and James Coburn (?).
You
also mentioned Phil's Daughter who at the time of your article was only 16 and still in
High School. She just turned 18 in Oct 2000. She is now in a New York College learning
about Writting and Phil is paying some if not all her bills. As Phil stated in a
recent Vanity Fair issue, he is very proud of her as are her Brothers.
If you
want to know just how great of a person he really is just ask his friends (as I am
thinking you may be one). But if you want to know how great of a Father he was you may
get 2 stories. 1 from the only Girl born into the family and Twin to the now deceased
Phil Jr.. And you are very likely to get a very different story from his 3 Adopted sons
whom very few people were allowed to meet.
Louis,
the Oldest (34) has been struggling for many Years for a decent education had to
practically teach himself to read and speak. Find much enjoyment in painting and had his
1st art show at a local L.A. restaurant (which Phil did not attend).
Gary,
(Louis's Twin both adopted at age 5) Both were told to join the Army and not to go to
College, but only he actually joined the Military. After Serving for 8 Months as a cook
and getting a lot of harrassment for being a "Rich Kid" and for enlisting
with advance rank in the U.S. Air Force and telling them that "his Father earned
the Money and keeps the money".
He was
Discharged without the option to ever re-enlist. Serving his Country was a dream come
true for him because it meant that he finally mattered to someone. After that he was
unable to find employment and had to live at the Red Cross for almost a Year. He is now
working for a large Computer company as a Phone Tech.
The
last time Gary ever talk to Phil was just hours before catching a Greyhound from Colorado
to California to watch his Father get an award at the Grammy's in 2000.
His
Father told him that he did not want him in California and that this was a personal
thing that he needs to do alone.
Donté
(31) has been in and out of rehab centers for 1 problem after another. As a kid, he ran
away to live with Ronnie whom he thought was his Mother to later find out that she was
not. He now has a family with kids and is tryingto
manage while they are all living with her family.
Dispite
all these problems life still goes on with almost no contact with Phil. Not so much as a
Christmas card to ether of them.
As for
the mystery of who Nicole's mother is. She is a long time friend of the family. Her name
is Janis. An old High School friend. Janis went to a rival school if I am correct. Phil
refused to admit if he ever married her even to his own sons. She does consider them
her kids and was able to get close to them which they needed very much. And even
receives Mother's day Cards or at least a call every Year.
If you
want to know what life was like, check out "Flowers in the Attic". Though they
were not drugged, they were kept very separate from the life of the Producer and had a
hard time finding their father just to be a family. And yes, they were locked in their
rooms during the evenings so they would not bother Phil.
I
think, if you read between the lines of the Vanity Fair artcle you will see just how he
really feels about his kids.
I do
know that at least one of his sons still cares very much about Phil and refuses to hold
any outward grudges against him. In fact he is a small time collector of his music.
One
thing that is very important about knowing the Legendary Phil Spector is that you need
to know the different sides of him and that it is actually possible to really like him
and at the same time dislike him. You just need to keep the sides separate or things
will get very confusing and you may miss the genius of his art and personality.
I hope
this info does not do any more then just answer your questions and maybe introduce you
to still yet another side of this multi-faceted individual that many of use have grown
up with and have been entertained by.
This
info is from a private resource and some info can be verified in Published books. -- E ##
* * *
LOOKING
FOR BOBBY NEUWIRTH
Subject:
Please forward to Al Aronowitz or Bob Neuwirth:
Date: Sat, 9 Dec 2000 23:16:46 EST
From: BobbyShehorn@aol.com
To: blackj@bigmagic.com
Dear
Al, It's only been 15 to 20 years since we last spoke but pride tells me you should
remember.I spoke with Sredni at his home a
few days after Rick's [Danko’s} death and still think of Woodpile [Woodstock] with
my fondest memories, after moving to Big D ten years ago.I was surfing to find a link to Neuwirth after aquiring his CD in the closout bin
while I was rackjobbing mine.Last I heard he
had shed some of those 99 monkeys that we both shared.Please send me his info if you have it at BobbyShehorn@aol.com.
##
* * *
RE:
THE AGALIST
Subject:
Re: AGALIST
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 16:05:40 EST
From: MBCE99@aol.com
To: blackj@bigmagic.com
al, i
appreciate the heads up about the new issue. i can't wait to read it.i dig what you're doing and i hope you keep it
up.I get a fucking groovy kick out of
seeing your name when i'm reading books about the beats or even the BEATLES.i'm reading this new goddamn tabloid book
about John Lennon, "Lennon in America", the New York years, with Yoko at the
Dakota and so on, and it mentions your name in it, in a harmless or benevolent way, so
don’t worry.Keep fighting the good
fight and keep me on your list, man.
Truly,
Michael
B. Cole,
Santa
Cruz, California##
* * *
MORE
RE: THE AGALIST
Subject:
Re: EXPLANATION
Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2000 11:00:24 -0600
From: gaeton lauri <lauri@interaccess.com>
Organization: home
To: al aronowitz <blackj@bigmagic.com>
Dear
Al:
You
just keep sending out your messages, columns, whatever, and don't be bullied by anyone. I
read every word and hope that you are encouraged by my unstinting support of your
efforts to exercise your rights. Too bad you feel it necessary to fight a fair fight
when all your unrepentent foes resort to every dirty trick they can pull. Be strong,
we're with you all the way. Gaeton Lauri--RU Old Guard classmate##
* * *
DITTO
Subject:
Re: EXPLANATION
Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2000 14:48:14 -0800 (PST)
From: Lady Moon <theladymoon@excite.com>
To: al aronowitz <blackj@bigmagic.com>
Dear
Al,
I
second that devotion!
Regards,
Nan
Desmarais
Technical Writer
Vancouver, Canada##
* * *
DITTO
AGAIN!
Subject:
Re: EXPLANATION
Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2000 21:09:12 -0000
From: "Otis Mace" <otismace@hotmail.com>
To: blackj@bigmagic.com
Al,
The
newsletters are great! Keep em coming (but I only need one copy).I haven't really had a
chance to read this months articles butthat
poem about the true American historywas
great!
Subject:
Thanks
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 15:09:15 EST
From: NAMBLUES@aol.com
To: blackj@bigmagic.com
Hi,
Al,
I knew it was hackers messing with
your e-group from the start. I assumed it was US Government hackers as well. If that was
the case then several of the most enraged complainers would be part of the operation. I
don't care if I get 10 copies of everything you send out because I just read one
of them. Apparently, unlike some folks, I went ahead and spent the big bucks and got me
a computer that has a "Delete" button. :-)I appreciate being on your mailing list.~
Sarge Lintecum ~##
* * *
DITTO
AGAIN
Subject:
Re: COLUMN 54
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 13:27:47 -0800 (PST)
From: boyhowdy233@webtv.net (Shirley Pena)
To: blackj@bigmagic.com (al aronowitz)
Hello
Al!Well, I can only say that once
again you have put together yet another BRILLIANT COLUMN!!! I can't resist the pun: I
GOBBLED IT UP,LOL!!! I have been wanting to call/write you but dammit, I CANNOT FIND
YOUR ADDRESS/PHONE NUMBER in my book :-( If you'd be sweet enough to send it to me AGAIN
I'd be DELIGHTED to write/phone you!! Hey, WHO NEEDS Egroup?! I am just SO HAPPY every
time I get the TREAT to read one of your columns!
Lots
Of Love,
Shirley
P.S.
If you'd like to phone me again sometime, my number is the same as Before.
* * *
ANOTHER
SATISFIED READER
Subject:
Hello Al/Larry Sawyer
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2000 10:35:18 -0500
From: Larry Sawyer <sawyerl@gemair.com>
To: blackj@bigmagic.com
Dear
Al:
Just
got a chance to look at your site. It's looking really good! My computer takes forever
to download anything for some reason. All is well here, though. We're just working on
volume two of milk magazine, etc. Hey, thanks for posting my poems. Check out
www.corpse.org in the next few weeks, when they get to volume #8 there'll be a poem or
two there I'm proud of. Keep up the important work. siempre, Larry S.
* * *
STILL
ANOTHER SATISFIED READER
Subject:
Re: EXPLANATION
Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 16:15:55 -0500
From: terll:"First terll:Last" <terll@earthlink.net>
To: al aronowitz <blackj@bigmagic.com>
Al:
Send E mail anytime. I'd like to meet you and chat sometime and perhaps see some of your
memorabilia from the past.
* * *
MAL’S
NOTES
Subject:
The Beatles: Mal's Notes
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2000 14:59:53 -0500
From: Maggie Neato <Maggie@xmansion.com>
To: blackj@bigmagic.com
From
'The Blacklisted Journalist: Column Two, October 1, 1995'
(http://www.bigmagic.com/pages/blackj/column2.html):
"There also came a certain point when Paul realized he was really thinking for the
first time in his life and he also realized that this was a great occasion. He told Mal
to get a pad and a pen and to write down everything he said. From then on, Mal followed
Paul through the rooms of the suite, writing down everything Paul said, but I never
learned what happened to Mal's notes."
You
may already know by now, but just in case you didn't find out about this, here it is
from 'The Beatles Anthology' book, page 158:
"PAUL:
'We had a crazy party the night we met. I went around thinking I'd found the meaning of
life that night. I kept saying to Mal, "Get a paper and paper, I've got it."
Mal, who was a bit out of it too, couldn't find a pencil or paper anywhere. Eventually
he found some and I wrote down The Message of the Universe and told him, "Now keep
that in your pocket." Next morning Mal said, "Hey Paul, do you want to see
that bit of paper?" I had written: "There are seven levels." Yeah, OK,
maybe it didn't exactly sum it all up after all, but we had a great time.’
“Drugs
have now become such a serious menace that it is very difficult to write about the
subject; I don't want to influence anyone in this day and age - I've got kids of my own.
(When we used to talk about it, it was a bit lightweight; you could talk about pot and
wine as apposed to scotch and Coke.) But it is part of the truth."
.::
Maggie ::.##
* * *
A
BEATLES QUERY FROM THE UKRAINE
Subject:
the beatles
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2000 13:27:32 -0000
From: "NTA" <nta@link.lviv.ua>
To: <blackj@bigmagic.com>
hello,
I am
the journalist from Ukraine. I prepare the story about John Lennon. Where can I get the
information about the streets named after John Lennon and the others all over the world?
We have the one in our city Lviv. If it is possible, let me know today.
thank
you,
Zhanna
Kostyleva
* * *
UNCANNY
SYNCHRONICITY!
Subject:
synchronicity
Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2000 10:38:19 -0000
From: "John Williams" <deltadreamer@thefreeinternet.co.uk> To: "journalist blacklisted" <blackj@bigmagic.com>
Hi,
I was
looking for a reference to my own site and the same search terms turned up two sites,
yours and mine.It is uncanny since you did
all the things I always wanted to but never had the faintest idea how to. That is, meet
Lennon and Dylan etc.The strangest thing was
that you should have a section of your site that deals with holocaust denial, because I
have attempted to rebuff the likes of Irving et al on my own site,http://www.thefreeinternet.co.uk/deltadreamer/liverpool
The
essays/bits/schticks are 'There ain't half been some clever bastards' and 'Flake'.The latter is my own modest proposal and seems to
baffle the 'irony challenged' reader while introducing a different aspect of the
'numbers game'.My own experience of being a
gentile in Israel is recorded in 'A trail of two cities'.I cite these because I have been seeking an answer to a question concerning
Lidice and Hitler's actual role in it which I see as pivotal to the arguments concerning
his alleged ignorance of the Holocaust.I
was hoping you might have an idea, as I cannot find any historians who have addressed
this point.Why exactly where you
blacklisted, if that isn't too impertinent a question?
Felicitations
John Williams##
* * *
YELLOW
PADS?
Subject:
RE: EXPLANATION
Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2000 16:04:09 -0500
From: Scott.Ross@cbn.org
To: blackj@bigmagic.com
Al,
I
think we all need to go back to yellow pads.
Love
'ya and press on.
Scott
##
* * *
TWO
COMMENTS
Subject:
Re: COLUMN 54
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 15:49:41 EST
From: PIGPROD@aol.com
To: blackj@bigmagic.com
Tuli's
Ticklers?
YES
INDEED!
Very
Interesting Mick as well,
Pig.
* * *
PAUL
BOWLES ON FILM
Subject:
Paul Bowles on Film
Date: Fri, 01 Dec 2000 12:01:46 -0500
From: Jon Hertzberg <jon@firstrunfeatures.com> To: blackj@bigmagic.com
Hi
there,
I'm
writing to you from First Run Features to tell you about two films dedicated to the work
of legendary author Paul Bowles.The writer
of THE SHELTERING SKY and a key inspiration to such celebrated 'outsiders' William
Burroughs, Bernardo Bertolucci, and David Cronenberg, Bowles is the subject of the
fascinating documentary PAUL BOWLES: THE COMPLETE OUTSIDER and the "beguiling"
HALFMOON, a feature film that brings three of his stories to the screen.
Filmed
in Bowles' adopted home Tangiers, Morocco, PAUL BOWLES: THE COMPLETE OUTSIDER is a
documentary that explores Bowles' roots and explores his developments as an author and
composer.It also delves into his
complicated marriage to fellow author Jane Bowles, a union that lasted for several
decades despite the fact that both were gay.Featuring
interviews with Bowles in which he discusses his writing, music, use of drugs, and his
array of friends--including W.H. Auden, Tennessee Williams, Aaron Copland,
Gertrude
Stein, and Allen Ginsberg (who also appears in the film), the film is a illuminating
glimpse into the world of Paul Bowles and not to be missed.
The
1995 film HALFMOON takes three Bowles stories and brings their mystery, passion, and
exotic landscape to the screen.Bowles
himself introduces and narrates each of the segments which range in locale from Morocco
to the Amazon.
With
the recent death of Paul Bowles, the films are that much more valuablein that he collaborated and participated in the
production of each film.
PAUL
BOWLES: THE COMPLETE OUTSIDER and HALFMOON are distributed on video by First Run Features
and are of great interest to admirers of Bowles and anyone interested in personalities
and stories existing far outside the mainstream, challenging and probing popular
beliefs and behavior.
sm