What you (may have) missed on 3:AM this week:
Fiction: ‘Just to Touch’ by Charlie Geoghegan-Clements; ‘Gaza Pressé’ by Benjamin Robinson
Flash fiction: ‘The Bee Keeper’ by a.m. baker
Poetry: In the 25th of the Maintenant series, SJ Fowler interviews the Norwegian writer & musician Jenny Hval; ‘Two Poems’ by Jenny Hval; ‘Two Poems’ by Zoe Alexandra
Reviewed: Richard Marshall on Jarett Kobek’s HOE #999: Decennial Appreciation and Celebratory Analysis; Anna Aslanyan on DBC Pierre’s Lights Out in Wonderland
Interviewed: Tom Jenks interviews the poet Richard Barrett; Andrew Stevens talks clubs and vice with Sohemian chronicler Paul Willetts:
Right from an early age, when my mum used to take me round Soho, I was aware of the Raymond Revuebar, the famous strip-club run by Paul Raymond. Facing Brewer Street, it had a beautiful, very stylish giant neon sign that featured a can-can dancer lifting her skirt. With its 1950s typography and all sorts of fantastic embellishments, it looked like it belonged in Rat Pack-era Las Vegas. I can remember peering up at it as we threaded our way through the market stalls opposite. The sign’s still there, but it hasn’t been switched on for years. It was a great West End landmark, which should’ve been given listed status.
[..]
I suppose my biggest discovery, though, centres on a period in Raymond’s life that’s akin to something out of a Hollywood thriller. I can’t help thinking this aspect of the Raymond story would make a great framework for one of the mooted biopics about him. He showed immense courage to survive the experience. I ended up feeling a sneaking admiration for the old rogue.
Other surprising revelations also arose from my research. Foremost among these was Raymond’s status as a culturally important figure whose battles against censorship shaped the society we live in now. That probably makes the book seem a bit po-faced. I don’t think it is. Lots of the material is intrinsically amusing and absurd, not least some of the variety acts Raymond staged, acts such as ‘The Nudes in the Lions’ Den’. There was even a show co-starring a white horse named Beauty, who was trained to remove a woman’s bra with his teeth. The training routine involved sewing sugar-lumps into the bra. Ultimately, the horse was so conditioned that he’d pull off the bra without the sugary reward. Who says biographies aren’t educational? For sheer strangeness, I’m convinced that the Raymond story trumps Fear and Loathing in Fitzrovia, my biography of Maclaren-Ross.
[Image]
First posted: Sunday, September 5th, 2010.
