William Burroughs by Kathy Acker (1988 Full Interview)

[@joseph-zoramcbride4029]

Thanks so much for this upload!!! It's beautiful to see two absolute faves on the same stage. Both of these artists radically altered and improved my perspective on life and enhanced my understanding of words and their subversive power. I could talk about them for hours. lol Thanks so much.

[@raymondnutzhorn5590]

6g

[@reefk8876]

Whoa! Please make a video. That would be awesome

[@gregscavuzzo5457]

I was on a methadone clinic with Mr Burroughs when he was living in Lawrence Kansas ,he was a wonderful person to talk with and very gracious , he would then go to Nichols Lunch in Kansas City every Wednesday morning for breakfast , he was a very brilliant individual , RIP Mr Burroughs

[@DanielGenis5000]

Very lucky- I’d join that meth program to have lunch with him… he died on my birthday

[@pinkhorse8838]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing!

[@jazzmanchgo]

For all his reputation as an iconoclast & a man w/ a penchant for exploring (& living) the "dark side" of life, Burroughs had a very strong, if uniquely defined, sense of morality, righteousness, even chivalry. His insistence that people should be "Johnsons" was 100% sincere. I'm not surprised to hear that he was a gracious, even kindly man to talk to.

[@gregscavuzzo5457]

@@jazzmanchgo He was very friendly and approachable and would always sign a book for you. It's funny, people at the Methadone Clinic would ask him questions about Neal Cassidy and Kerouac and he would always answer, no matter how goofy the question was, he was a wonderful person

[@andressantos9130]

@@gregscavuzzo5457 what dose was he on? Im on 35

[@rolandkunzjr263]

His Voice Is A Weapon

[@barflytom3273]

he killed his wife with a real weapon. shot her in the head. screw his voice.

[@jackfirmin5814]

Dear Burroughs Fans, you might have missed that a new book about and with him was published. its called "soft need 23", and includes a lot of fresh material by him, his colleagues and friends! It turned out amazing, check it out.

[@711amiinheaven]

I could listen to this dude all day

[@michaeld9682]

Do you love pedophilia?

[@bgggsht]

If only he spoke more clearly, i have a hard time listening to his interviews because of his manner of talking

[@rik6696]

He has recorded many of his writings with musicians like Kurt Cobain, Sonic Youth and Disposable Hero's of Hypocrisy. kzbin.info/www/bejne/eJPFmJywfsmVeac

[@mbcahill6707]

What a great document of such an important literary figure. And Kathy, such as gracious interviewer, left us too young.

[@BushyHairedStranger]

Kathy was an incredible person. I miss her unique voice upon the radio waves having followed many of her interests over the last 40 years.

[@StefCaron]

Someone posted this on Tumblr, so I came looking for it on KZbin. Thank you so much for posting this-I saw this at some little repertory cinema in Montréal 25 years ago, with French subtitles, and it never let me go.

[@DenkyManner]

4:21 - I like that he corrected himself. By this point in his life had opened up more to the influence of women, his world view wasn't exclusively male as it had been by his own admission.

[@BushyHairedStranger]

I have this in two parts somewhere amidst my digital detritus,…upload from years ago. Very Appreciative that this division in footage was finally welded together here digitally. Nostrovia

[@daviddoch4872]

Terrance McKenna quote

[@joseph-zoramcbride4029]

Same! In college when I was really getting into these two I found a three-part rendition on some file sharing program.

[@thescoobymike]

Working on my Burroughs impersonation. One of my favorite voices to do it’s so distinct.

[@Spectrescup]

I can only do him saying "Alex Trocchi could find a vein in a mummy"

[@tangiers59]

Johnny Hardwick who did the voice for Dale Gribble on "King of the Hill" said he based the voice on Burroughs a bit.

[@fleadoggreen9062]

@@tangiers59 the mumbling guy ?

[@tangiers59]

@@fleadoggreen9062 No, that's Boomhauer. Dale is the guy that wears the orange hat and glasses.

[@josephk7954]

Kathy Acker was so beautiful and charismatic.

[@barneyronnie]

Beer, dope and braggadocio... AND OF COURSE, Dancing BOYS! I'm sure that he was in heaven😉😉😉

[@steveculbert4039]

Great interview.

[@steveculbert4039]

I love this interview.

[@pipelinekilltime]

There is something much more amazing about Burroughs than his works. How the fuck did he survive that long?

[@Emlizardo]

I think part of the answer is a guy named James Grauerholz, who befriended Burroughs and eventually became his business manager, got him out of New York and away from his drug connections there, and settled him in the suburbs of Lawrence, Kansas, where he remained for the rest of his life in a fairly stable environment, on methadone.

[@Spectrescup]

I actually got one of my old 'British system' doctors to admit that, with a good diet and no drinking and smoking, pharmaceutical level opiates can, at the very least, keep people looking decades younger than their biological age.

[@rayramos8435]

Heroin. Among people who partake it is known to be an almost mummifying agent and as long as one is careful one can indulge long past what most people would consider reasonable.

[@robertloader9826]

@@rayramos8435absolute nonsense.

[@rayramos8435]

@@robertloader9826 ha ha! You think I'm making that up ? Actually,I don't blame you for not believing me as most comment sections are full of crap,but in this case I am speaking from personal experience. Ò

[@provetamin]

kathy acker 👌

[@jamesglenfield830]

I think he is proof It is not how the person accepts the drug It is how the drug accepts the person

[@geinikan1kan]

I read Naked Lunch in 1989. Beat up copy at a friend’s place. Great novel. Never put up with talking assholes again.

[@barneyronnie]

Did you teach your asshole to talk, too?

[@J.S.3259]

Acker was one of the few major authors who really took Burroughs to task for killing his wife. I miss her dearly

[@bwm_72]

How so? She seems nervously intimidated here. (Though I respect her as an author.) Despite her sometimes awkward (non-) questions, Burroughs seems his usual articulate, measured, erudite self: careful not to give too much away, like any good intelligence operative knowing their business- but patient and well-mannered. Thanks for uploading this interview.

[@BushyHairedStranger]

@@bwm_72 ….seems you’re inferring that intelligence operatives are impatient and ill mannered,..have you any personal experiences with hurried ill mannered intelligence operatives & if so do tell!

[@jeffstewart3342]

I wonder if Jim Morrison drew inspiration for the Soft Parade, from William ,B. The similarities are uncanny.

[@CarellaRoss]

faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-doors-jim-morrison-william-s-burroughs-is-everybody-in/

[@jazzmanchgo]

I agree with him entirely about the "either"/"or" fallacy, by the way. It is definitely a major cognitive error in "mainstream" Western thought, and it permeates our discourse -- political and every other type.

[@Emlizardo]

Great to see this interview; thank you so much for posting it. The book on Jesus he mentions toward the end - as far as I know this never materialized. Does anyone know if any fragments or excerpts were ever published?

[@joseph-zoramcbride4029]

I believe it's called Port of Saints. I think it's a novela? Pretty short.

[@Emlizardo]

@@joseph-zoramcbride4029 Thank you!

[@meltedfro]

i think burroughs was too smart for most interviews,they always wanted to ask the typical taboo questions,this was a really well read man and its a shame most of the interviews we have are of the same questions

[@Raulduke419]

Kathy Acker isn't a journalist, she's an author ostensibly in the same millieu as Burroughs, she's extraordinarily well read.

[@jazzmanchgo]

@@Raulduke419 Acker is definitely his match intellectually. There's much mutual respect on display here, perhaps even more notable given Burrough's (shall we say) less-than-charitable attitudes about women. (Although it must be admitted that she seems not to know much about him -- it's pretty common knowledge that he once aspired to be a doctor. I was surprised to hear her say she didn't know that.

[@Spectrescup]

​@jazzmanchgo his comments about women being 'a biological mistake' probably shouldn't be taken too seriously. He was often complimentary about women writers, be it Jane Bowles or Patti Smith.

[@Hippie-r4g]

He was too smart for most,...✌️

[@TheOneHundredPercent]

💯.......👍🏼👍🏼

[@clocksfinle7]

ah kathy girl.. the only one so far who came close to achieving the style and soul of naked lunch..

[@erikpaterson1404]

Thank God WSB started out as a writer first.. I don't think we would have come to know him if he started with painting

[@ChrisBarnette-zk8iy]

I love how he slams that glass after a sip of water. Almost like some form of OCD.

[@baddidea4820]

It’s it that serious and sure your not qualified to make up reason for anything he said or did.

[@fleadoggreen9062]

So Bukowski was younger but kind of in the same vein ? Or can it be argued Bukowski is the alcoholic version of Burroughs or beat poets in general?

[@randalclarke5487]

Good question...Bukowski gets lumped in with the Beats in some collections and he did do speaking tours with them, as well as hung out with them occasionally, but Bukowski is a genre unto himself. He did not consider himself Beat, nor did Hank hang with any particular "scenes". The Beats were a scene, a collective of friends who were like-minded. Also, Burroughs and Bukowski's writing styles are COMPLETELY, and utterly opposite!

[@baddidea4820]

We have Lukowski is kind of genius and not just being a few younger. He’s also the heterosexual version of William Burrows, but his voice and writing is fucking amazing in my top five favorite offer.

[@nomadicroadrat]

His work with Kurt Cobain is quite good.

[@iforgot890]

wow lmao she is slating him, just like "so... flop?"

[@Misserbi]

I see WB's point about the glorifying of self in belief systems. As a note Islam also says, "All glories to the Almighty." I think the point is human conception of the everlasting and the Almighty is the same as a pebble of sand. You cannot destroy what you cannot see? That means all flesh inevitably falls to hubris. Wisdom is in understanding why we falter? We all do.

[@JohnMoseley]

I have a fair amount of respect for Burroughs as an author and enjoy listening to him speak too, but I think there's nuance beyond the obvious ethical questions around his killing of his wife. He was intelligent and well-read, but he was also a fuckin' kook, vis the blasé open-mindedness on display here about Scientology and EST, both damaging cults based on laughably stupid ideas, and remarks elsewhere about things like demonic possession. Frequently in his wake its seemed like this pick 'n' mix occultism irritatingly defined the landscape of avant garde writing. I remember a call for submissions from Stuart Home for some publication or grant where an interest not just in experimental writing but in this kind of magical-thinking BS was all too predictably part of the criteria, and feeling that this was entirely, frustratingly typical. Other than that, after the knock-out early stuff, both the famous experiments and the relatively trad but still highly distinctive work that predated it - Junky and Queer - in his later efforts he fell into repetition of his old tricks and obsessions, resulting in some very dull reads. The Place of Dead Roads and Cities of the Red Night are examples, both bad in my view.

[@provetamin]

shut up. you don't understand to read cut up. everything is there you just have to piece it together by yourself.

[@mazlikesbass]

fully agreed. scientology has never been a good look on anyone.

[@TheBigMclargehuge]

The interviewer is very dull in her attempts to be erudite.

[@fleadoggreen9062]

I wonder if he ever seen basquait?

[@baddidea4820]

He knew him very well actually

[@gts447]

Sorry for the non Burroughs question, but for those on methadone, do you just accept once every two weeks constipation as a way of life? My sense is that even with fiber supplements, purelax, and laxatives, regular methadone dosing is going to leave backed up regardless.

[@alcidebava1854]

but was he still using heroin during this period? or opiates in general general? he has a voice....he seems done

[@randalclarke5487]

He was on methadone for the last 30 years of his life, at least

[@baddidea4820]

How dare you comment on his drug use he did more on heroin than you ever accomplished in your life sober . And he is done , as in done more than you have or ever will.

[@daviddoch4872]

He didn't write Junkie, his first book, till he was 50 years old. Was on some opiate till his death.

[@baddidea4820]

Yeah, that’s bizarre. I noticed that interview when he said that but I think maybe he missed explained or we misunderstood him because right after that he says he started writing at 35.

[@gatlar28]

It kind of seems like he is tweaking in this interview, he cant hold still for more than a moment and keeps shifting around in his seat, and then he keeps insufferably sipping on that little glass of water. Perhaps that benzedrine he took in Junky never quite wore off!

[@meltedfro]

its because he was on methadone right until he died and who knows what else

[@barneyronnie]

He's fine; it is amusing to see non-drug users attribute every little mannerism, movement, intonation, etc. Ridiculous claim. He was on methadone at the time of filming, although it's possible he may have been using other substances. As a former addict, I see nothing in his behavior that suggests drug use. This is just my opinion.

[@melocomanTV]

His mannerisms were remarkably similar to my late grandpa who was clean his whole life.

[@barneyronnie]

@@melocomanTV clean is 😴

[@ptathholroyd4128]

its his oldness,,, Parkinsons

[@luckypozzo3068]

I agree, jesus was a bit full of himself

[@HaroldHivart]

I think he was a better painter than writer.. his books are terrible... after Junky & Queer..

[@baddidea4820]

Facebook not terrible. You’re just too stupid of a human being to understand them. Your favorite author is probably Stephen King.🤣

[@dolandlydia]

He was a deviant.

[@gregscavuzzo5457]

He was brilliant ,I wished you could have talked to him ,his views on drugs was so forward thinking and sadly some of his options on government and global policing have come true

[@Psycho-Complex]

@@gregscavuzzo5457 He's not referring to the drug use, he's referring to the little boys.

[@gregscavuzzo5457]

@@Psycho-Complex oh , I don't know , I would let him babysit your kids , not mine but yours

[@Curtainkob]

we all are my dear

[@Trifixion22]

@@Curtainkob Not all of us like little boys