Personalities

Paul Krassner’s Second Letter

Diving into my garage boxes, I found a follow-up note from Paul Krassner that confirms what I remembered: he explains that in my absence (I was in Las Angeles with Hunter during a quick weekend visit) he sent me a letter but addressed it to the wrong person at Random House. So here is how I found out about that and - yes - I hurried down to the Obscene Letters area to rescue it and read it. True, such a section existed at Random House down in the basement. It made for amusing reading, and I kept...

To read my book that features a motherload of Milton Klonsky gems - wisdom and dry wit - click here for Keep THIS Quiet Too! More Adventures with Hunter Thompson, Milton Klonsky, Jan Mensaert. Here are some links to further the introduction to Milton Klonsky. Commentary has preserved his articles in their magazine, including (under Culture and Civilization) "The New Yorker 25th Anniversary Album"; that one is on cartoons and mass culture in the era before social media. The web post "The B...

Who is in the Keep This Quiet! series? and where does it take place?The posts below will introduce major people and places in Keep This Quiet! I-IV. Hunter Thompson, who figures pivotally in Keep This Quiet! I and to a lesser but significant degree in II, has his own assortment of posts elsewhere. Below, you will find other players in Keep This Quiet! I-II, from Belgian poète maudit Jan Mensaert to poet, intellectural, guru Milton Klonsky. Also, important players in Keep This Quiet! III, like ...

Visiting Master Shaman, Taoist, Tai Chi Teacher Jef Crab in Raleigh from South America Because of illness, Jef Crab has postponed his June 2017 trip to the U.S. but will reschedule it for spring 2018 in Raleigh, NC. In the meantime, he intends to set up several online FREE discussion events. Stay tuned for updates. The video below is an Introduction to the E.A.S.T. method and the founder of the institute • Place: Raleigh, NC area • Investment: $60 / session - $150 / all three ses...

There was a time when books were regularly censored - not just in Communist countries. Right here in the U.S. Living in Greenwich Village, I made a friend of my next-door neighbor, and she in turn used to take trips to Europe in the pay of Maurice Girodias, a publisher notorious for bringing out banned books. Above is an interesting bit of memorabilia from my Greenwich Village days that I turned up just an hour or two ago in my basement archives. The short excerpt below describes some of Mauric...

After Mondrian - in color - Jan Mensaert

This link will take you to YouTube for the music trailer to Keep THIS Quiet Too! - composed by Jan Mensaert for the piano. After great insistence, in the early 1970s, he made me a music reel with this and other music - playing it himself. I no longer remember whether he recorded it in his home in Belgium or his adopted home in Morocco, where he lived many years. And during part of that time even had a piano that had been hoisted into his apartment in Larache. I was extremely impressed by all th...

Jack Wesley – Whimsical Art – See It Here

Every now and then I check back in on John (Jack) Wesley to see how he's doing today - is he still alive? How his painting is faring. And here is the webpage I googled up today. Now, Jack is a really good artist. There is nothing second-rate about him. He has had a lot of good exhibits including in Germany and Italy, New York and Texas. His gallery has a lovely cross section of samples on display here. See what you think. Jack has a sense of humor. He was famous in the 1960s and he continued to...

Here are two more shots - these inside the home I visited in Belgium in a small village in the Walloon (French) part of the country. Above is one of Chris Van de Velde, me, and Chris's girlfriend, Mary. The room shows the inside of a beautiful, comfortable Belgian home I was lucky enough to be invited into. Chris does therapy and counseling through experiential learning. He was the first person I did energy studies under and has branched out widely in the decades since. On LinkedIn Chris writ...

Chris Van de Velde created "Inner Landscaping," from which his exercises at the back of the book are taken, with his permission. He later went on to join the Netherlands Academy for Psychotherapy in Amsterdam and then founded Numenon Counseling Institute. Chris's advice to me in Keep This Quiet! III was a saving grace, as were the light body courses I also began, the latter in 1992.

Jan Mensaert entered the Keep This Quiet! series in vol. I. I first met him in Casablanca, Morocco, on a trip. And immediately traveled by bus back with him to Larache, where he was teaching French. A Belgian from Flemish Brabant, he spoke French fluently. Likewise English. Four years passed, and we did not meet. But in those few intense days in Morocco, I was knocked overboard by my impression of him as a true artist. It wasn't even a romance at the time. And what might have been two ships pas...

Margaret A. Harrell

Paul Krassner’s Second Letter

More on Milton Klonsky – Commentary Magazine, etc.

Personalities in the Keep This Quiet! Memoir Series

RESCHEDULED FOR 2018: Shamanic Workshop & Healing through Sound

Maurice Girodias – A bit of Adventure – the Sixties

Music Trailer – Honky Tonk – Keep THIS Quiet Too!

Jack Wesley – Whimsical Art – See It Here

More Belgium Shots

Chris Van de Velde

Keep This Quiet! Vol. 2 – Jan Mensaert