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Sisyphus Press -- P.O. Box 10495 State College, Pa. 16805-0495 Outlaw Rebels: 200+ American Hellraisers, Outsiders, Subversives, Bad-Asses and Deviants by Victor Thorn For Orders in U.S. only $19.99 plus $16.99 for S&H. AIR MAIL: For Canadian + International Orders (U.S. checks, money orders, or currency only - no Canadian checks, money orders, or currency) |
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--- 512 pages --- Nearly 250 photos REVIEW: CRAZY CARL ROBINSON what does it take to be a rebel in 2012?.....chelsea handler brags every week about drinking too much and having sex with 50 cent---she even wrote a book about it.....charlie sheen went nuts in public, went on tour, apologized to the media and got a new $100,000,000 sitcom for his trouble.....is that it for the rebels?---sadly, it might be unless, of course, you want to count victor thorn.....i just finished reading outlaw rebels---(full disclosure: my short story, "the brown washcloth" is included) and it might be the only truly subversive book I've read this millennium.....it's so transgressive that I don't want to tell you what it's about lest I get myself in trouble as well.....victor thorn is his own man though and doesn't need the same mainstream stamp-of-approval that other writers seem to crave.....outlaw rebels won't be receiving the oprah book club award and victor won't prolly won't make the new york times bestseller list until after the pigs have taken him away.....I don't see outlaw rebels in the window of your local barnes and noble either, but I don't think that's what victor thorn is trying to accomplish.....I envision an angry, 17-year-old punkrocker half-heartedly scanning the shelves of his local indie bookstore looking for a something to give his life meaning---and then being blown away after picking up outlaw rebels and reading about the exploits of lou reed, iggy pop and g.g. allin.....I also envision groups of 1960's-era hippie radicals passing around copies of outlaw rebels as they revisit the debauchery of writers like bukowski, burroughs and pound while reimagining scenes from their own reckless youth.....the thing is, victor thorn didn't just write outlaw rebels about counter-culture musicians and artists whose image has grown more respectable over time.....the sub-title reads: "200 + american hellraisers, outsiders, subversives, bad-asses and deviants" and you might include serial killers, sex fiends and drug addicts to his list of infamous icons.....no one was left out (unless, of course, you want to include the censor).....if you think about it, none of the books we read in 2012 really have any questionable content at all.....don't get me wrong, I enjoy a freaky story as much as the next outlaw biker, but what impresses me the most about victor thorn is that he writes without fear and he doesn't ask for permission or approval.....there are stories in outlaw rebels that I loved and there are stories that turned my stomach, but what impacted me the most is that I'd never read a book like this before.....for example, we all know that chuck berry was the grandfather of rock n' roll, but did you know that he would pay women to let him piss on them?.....for that matter, did you know that he would also pay these women extra to shit in tupperware so that he could eat their dropping later on?.....those stories don't necessarily make me want to have dinner with chuck berry, but they do make for one helluva, interesting read.....every one of the stories in this anthology is like a blow to the gut----you read it and think: "oh my god, that's the most twisted thing that I've ever read----at least until you read on and discover that the next story is even more filthy and outrageous.....in many respects, the stories in this collection were written as a tribute to the rebels in our society who had the courage (and the balls) to live life on their own terms.....I'm (honestly) afraid to retell many of the stories of this collection, but I guess the point of my review is to let you know that what society thinks is normal or acceptable behavior doesn't really faze victor thorn.....he's not afraid of the censor and he's not afraid to tell the truth, no matter how ugly or bizarre.....i don't necessarily think your old lady should leave a copy of outlaw rebels on the coffee table, but it should definitely be in the satchel on the back of your bike.....it's the kind of book that you, me and david allan coe might read on the toilet in the morning after another night we could never forget (or possibly remember) PROLOGUE As readers will soon discover, this book focuses on individuals that live on the edge, often flirt with death, and frequently push the limits of sanity. Still, what specifically constitutes the phenomenon that author Colin Wilson called "the Man Outside?" Wilson tried to answer this question. "All men and women have dangerous, unnamable impulses, yet they keep up a pretense, to themselves, to others; their respectability, their philosophy, their religions are all attempts to gloss over, to make look civilized and rational something that is savage, unorganized and irrational. He is an Outsider because he stands for the truth." Similarly, in a 2002 book entitled Rebellious Confessions, a writer using the pseudonym "Moral DK" stretched the parameters further. "The outlaw is a supranormal individual that cannot accept the limitations imposed upon them by normal life, governments, and mindless puritanical fear. Thus, the outlaw quest moves outside and beyond, not against the law . . . the outlaw is motivated by a quest for autonomy and self-government, not in any undigested psychological need to rebel, but in a passion for justice, dignity, and most importantly, freedom." Although plenty of rebels are profiled in this book, a prime example in pop culture would be a scene from the 1970 movie C.C. and Company where ex-football star Joe Namath plays a biker. The flick opens with him strolling into a grocery store, whereupon he grabs a shopping cart and nonchalantly pushes it down each aisle. Along the way, he opens a package of bread and grabs two slices, followed by some cheese, a few leafs of lettuce and lunchmeat. After making a sandwich, he finds some mustard and squirts it on before eating it. Of course, who could resist a few Twinkies afterward, so Broadway Joe asks the manager where the cupcakes are located. After opening a pack and eating them, he finally saunters over to the dairy case and opens a carton of milk to drink from it. When completed, Namath puts back on the shelves all the items he had originally placed in his cart. But, in an attempt not to look too suspicious, he buys some bubble gum and flirts with a few teenie-boppers while checking out at the cash register. Happy that he's no longer hungry, a smiling Namath walks outside the supermarket and puts on a biker vest with his gang's colors on back. Rolling down the highway on his super-chopped Harley, Namath had achieved a state of rebellious cool without even trying. When it comes to bad-asses, I have a good buddy that has what he calls a "Wall of Tough" in his house that only contains three framed photos: John Wayne, former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Jack Lambert, and actor Clint Eastwood. All three were clearly rugged individualists, with Eastwood's role in Dirty Harry epitomizing the bad-ass as he aims his .44 Magnum at a dirt bag (based on the Zodiac killer) and snarls, "You've got to ask yourself one question, 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?" Likewise, in the more recent Gran Torino, Eastwood aims a rifle at an Asian gang-banger and snarls through his clenched teeth, "Get off my lawn . . . We used to stack fucks like you five-feet high in Korea." To understand hell-raisers, one needs look no further than Malcolm McDowell's role as the alienated teen hoodlum Alex in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (based on the novel by Anthony Burgess). Alex and his droogies engage in gang fights, savagely beat an old bum beneath a bridge, break and enter houses, while viciously raping a woman in front of her husband as Alex mockingly croons, "Singin' in the Rain." For good measure, Alex gathers a few young gals to frollick with him in a quick orgy (the old 'in-out') and drinks liquored-milk at a bar to sharpen his senses for some "ultra-violence." Of his nihilistic rampages, Kubrick said of Alex, "It was great fun for him, the happiest part of his life." Naturally, all of these examples fall under the category of defiant behavior; an act that cannot be better illustrated than when, on Jan. 22, 1987, Pa. State Treasurer Budd Dwyer pulled out a small caliber gun during a press conference and blew his brains out. With cameras rolling, Dwyer slumped to the floor, a bloody exit hole near the back of his skull. Years later, the rock band Filter released a song entitled "Hey Man, Nice Shot" as a tribute to Dwyer defiantly taking his own life. Throwing a monkey wrench into the works are pranksters that point out life's absurdity. Partly truth and partly fiction, a fitting example would be 1960s psychedelic guru Carlos Castaneda who created (or embellished) a legend around a Mexican shaman named Don Juan. Or, in another sense, my pal Crazy Carl Robinson said of the trickster in "Reality" Bomb, "Every once in awhile some fool needs to run through the village and throw his feces at the tribal chiefs." Another more sinister element to this equation is the deviant; someone whose depravities extend so far beyond the bell curve's edges that they're nearly another species. In this regard, I can say without hesitation that Jeffrey Dahmer is the most demented and twisted individual covered in these pages. Most dangerous of all, though, is the subversive---a man who not only creates his own rules and lives outside the establishment's parameters, but wants instead to eradicate society's machinery altogether. Whereas the mythological Prometheus would be a rebel (when stealing fire from the gods) and Russia's Fyodor Dostoevsky falls under the category of an outsider, the poet Arthur Rimbaud is undoubtedly a hell-raiser. But, quite possibly the most notorious subversive of all-time was France's Marquis de Sade. An unabashed libertine, Sade stood above laws, morality, religion, governments, and even 'God.' To him, all of these institutions and/or concepts served as restraints on his passions, and thus merited elimination. To the powers-that-be, true subversives cannot be tolerated, and thus Sade spent most of his adult life imprisoned in solitary confinement. |
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