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“Back of every creation, supporting it like an arch, is faith. Enthusiasm is nothing: it comes and goes. But if one believes, then miracles occur.”

Henry Miller

 

 1. Can you explain to me exactly what is the post-modernist tropical muralism in South America? What inspired you in it?

IM GLAD YOU BROUGHT THAT UP… not.

IT’S REALLY JUST A LOAD OF LANGUAGE, SOMETHING I MADE UP CUZ I WANTED TO USE SOME BIG FANCY WORDS FOR THIS ART MAGAZINE INTERVIEW… IF YOU CAN’T DAZZLE EM WITH BRILLIANCE, BAFFLE ‘EM WITH BULLSHIT, THAT WAS BOB SHAW’S MOTTO… HE WAS MY TATTOO MENTOR… NO RELATION, SAME SURNAME… MY LIFE IS FULL OF COINCIDENCES LIKE THAT, ALWAYS STRANGER THAN FICTION…

 

ANYWAY, NOT TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT, I THINK IT WAS JUST MY FANCY ARTSY WAY OF MAKING REFERENCE TO THE KIND OF NAIVE HAND PAINTED MURAL ART YOU SEE ON SLEEZY BAR AND WHOREHOUSE WALLS  IN PLACES LIKE BELEM, SURINAM, HONDURAS, MEXICO, SHIT LIKE THAT…

HAHAHAHA 

2. What are dockside dives like?

IF YOU GO TO VILA MIMOSA AND WALK ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE END OF THE 2ND ALLEY ON YOUR LEFT… OR THE BAR ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE ‘SCANDINAVIA’ IN PRACA MAUA…. AHH QUE SAUDADE DO MEU RIO!!

2. Can you tell me a little bit about your family? Mom, Artie, Bob Shaw?

INSANE GENIUS ARTISTS WITH PARANORMAL, DISTURBED INTELLECTS AND LOADS OF TALENT AND CHARISMA  AND… VERY BAD LIFE SKILLS,  WARPED SOCIAL ATTITUDES, PSYCHIC DAMAGE AND ALCOHOLISM… MUCH SUICIDE, VIOLENCE AND TRAGEDY IN MY IMMEDIATE FAMILY OF ORIGIN… IT’S A CONSTANT THEME IN MY BOOKS AND OTHER WRITING, NOT TO MENTION MY PERSONAL LIFE….. FUN FUN FUN…. MY MOTHER ALWAYS CALLED IT ‘THE CURSE’ AND SAID IT WAS HEREDITARY…SHE WAS MOST LIKELY RIGHT, I THINK.

I WAS ON THE STREET AS SOON AS I COULD FIND MY WAY OUT OF THERE. LEFT HOME RUNNING FOR MY LIFE AND NEVER LOOKED BACK TILL I WAS MUCH OLDER AND SOBER AND TRYING TO MAKE SENSE OF IT ALL. I STILL AM TRYING TO MAKE SENSE OF IT. IT’S A FULL TIME JOB. I THINK THAT’S WHY I’VE BECOME A FULL TIME WRITER. WHEEEE!!!

MY  FATHER WAS A PRETTY GOOD WRITER, NOT NEARLY AS GOOD AS ME, IT WAS ALWAYS HIS BIG AMBITION THOUGH, AND HE COULD NEVER QUITE GET IT… HE SHOULDA STUCK TO MUSIC, THERE HE WAS A GENIUS… HE PUBLISHED A FEW BOOKS BUT NEVER MADE TOO MUCH SUCCESS. HE’LL BE TURNING OVER IN HIS GRAVE WHEN MY BOOK NARCISA HITS. HAHAHAHA — NOTHING MORE MISERABLE THAN A FRUSTRATED, OVER INTELLECTUAL WRITER, EXCEPT MAYBE A DRY DRUNK, AND ARTIE WAS BOTH, POOR BASTARD.

I’M GONNA SEND YOU A COPY OF MY OTHER BOOK, SCABVENDER IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT MY FAMILY, I WROTE ALOT ABOUT MY FUCKING NIGHTMARE CHILDHOOD AND MOTHER AND FATHER THERE.

 

3. What can you tell me about Bukowski and Burroughs, how meaningful are they to your life and writing?

I LEARNED TO WRITE BY READING ALOT- I HAVE NO FORMAL EDUCATION WHAT EVER, LEFT SCHOOL AT THE AGE OF TWELVE AND RAN THE STREETS, SO IN THAT SENSE THEY [OTHER WRITERS IN GENERAL] ARE  MY REAL AND ONLY TEACHERS AND GURUS AND SO VERY VERY MEANINGFUL TO MY LIFE AND WRITING …

BUKOWSKI WAS A BIG EARLY INFLUENCE AND HE’S ONE OF THOSE WRITERS WHO, ONCE HE’S IN, HE’S IN FOR GOOD… HE WAS ALSO AN ACQUAINTANCE WHEN I WAS JUST A YOUNG PUP, FIRST STARTING TO EXPLORE POETRY…  VERY COOL AND HELPFUL EVEN IN A WEIRD KINDA WAY.  

THERE’S A CHAPTER IN THE BOOK IM SENDING YOU CALLED ’A NIGHT WITH BUKOWSKI‘ THAT GIVES YOU AN OVERVIEW OF OUR RELATIONSHIP BACK THEN….

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, I HAVEN’T READ ANY OF HIS SHIT IN OVER 30 YEARS, JUST STARTED AGAIN THIS WEEK SITTING IN THE BATHTUB TO UNWIND AFTER A FULL DAY EDITING MY NEW BOOK NARCISA… 

BUT EVEN THOUGH I DON’T REALLY WRITE LIKE HIM, AND EVEN AFTER ALL THESE YEARS, HE’S STILL A BIG AND BENOVOLANT INFLUENCE…

BURROUGHS LESS SO… 

I READ HIS BOOK JUNKIE WHEN I WAS JUST A TEENAGER GETTING STARTED AS A JUNKIE MYSELF- HEROIN, I GUESS THAT WAS ALWAYS ONE OF MY BIG AMBITIONS TOO… ANYWAY MY OTHER BOOK SCABVENDER DEALS WITH ALL THAT….. OH YEH BACK TO BURROUGHS, NOT TOO MUCH TO SAY THERE, I LIKED ‘JUNKIE’ COULDN’T FUCKING READ NAKED LUNCH OR ANYTHING ELSE HE WROTE… SORRY. I MET HIM A COUPLE TIMES WITH JIM JARMUSCH WHO’S A BIG FRIEND OF MINE AND WAS FRIENDS WITH BURROUGHS… 

FUNNY YOU MENTION THEM TOGETHER, AS I WAS JUST SITTING IN THE BATHTUB THE OTHER NIGHT AND READ SOMETHING BUKOWSKI WROTE ABOUT WSB AND IT WASN’T TOO NICE..

4. How resolved is your head in relation to your dad?

IT’S A LIFETIME OF WORK, GETTING ‘RESOLVED’ TO THE FACT THAT HE ABANDONED ME IN THE CRIB, IF THAT’S WHAT YOURE TALKING ABOUT… YOU CAN READ SOME OF MY IDEAS ABOUT IT AND HIM IN SCABVENDER: CONFESSIONS OF A TATTOO ARTIST.  

IF YOU’RE REFERRING TO HIS FAME, I DUNNO, IT REALLY NEVER REALLY EFFECTED ME MUCH, SINCE BEING THE BASTARD SON OF A FAMOUS PERSON AIN’T ALL GLAMOR…. WHEN HE DIED HE LEFT ME… NOTHING. NOT EVEN A PHOTOGRAPH… CONTINUO POBRE, POREM SORRIDENTE!

 

5. Alcohol recovery?

THAT’S A BOOK OR TWO IN ITS OWN RIGHT… A FEW CHAPTERS OF SCABVENDER ALLUDE TO IT… I WAS AN ALKIE AND A HARD DRUG ADDICT FROM THE  AGE OF 12 UP TIL ABOUT 7 YEARS AGO… I’M AN ADHERENT TO THE 12 STEP PHILOSOPHY AND IT HAS SAVED MY  LIFE AND GIVEN ME BACK MY SOUL….

BTW - I CAN’T PUBLICLY ADMIT TO MEMBERSHIP IN ANY ‘ANONYMOUS’ FELLOWSHIP, BECAUSE IT IS ANONYMOUS,

BUT IT’S OK TO SAY 12 STEP PHILOSOPHY, OK?

IF YOU READ MY BOOK NARCISA, IT PRETTY MUCH SUMS UP THE MIND OF ANY AND ALL WHO SUFFER FROM ADDICTION, ALCOHOL, DRUGS, WHATEVER, SHE IS AN ARCHETYPAL CHARACTER….

I COULD SAY SO MUCH ABOUT RECOVERY, I BETTER JUST SHUT UP AND SAVE IT FOR MY BOOKS….

I LOVE THE TWELVE STEPS!!!! BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!  THE BEST!!!!!!

6. What are your musical favorites and what authors got the best of you?

MUSIC. LENINE, TOM JOBIM, ETC ETC ETC… ALL THE USUAL SUSPECTS… TOO MUCH AND TOO MANY TO NAME. NICK CAVE I LISTEN ALOT LATELY, BUT IT’S JUST OVERWHELMING TO EVEN BEGIN TO ANSWER A QUESTION LIKE THAT… BETTER JUST  FORGET IT… SAME WITH WRITERS… LATELY I LIKE ALOT OF JERRY STAHL, THE LOVELY LYDIA LUNCH, BUK, RE-READING CELINE, HENRY MILLER, DE RIGEUR, JORGE AMADO, MAYRA GOMES, — E CLARO– GARCIA MARQUEZ,  IT JUST GOES ON AND ON… KEROUAC, THE BEATS, ETC, YOU KNOW…

7. Plan on ever being on the screen again?

I ONLY DO GAY PORNO NOW. TALK TO MY AGENT.

8. What do you miss the most in life?

I TRY NOT TO MISS MUCH… LIVE EVERY DAY LIKE IT’S THE LAST..

 

9. What happened to your studio? Why did you give up on comercial tattoo?

IT WAS MAKING ME SICK AND CRAZY –  I DID WHAT I HADDA DO… DIDN’T YOU READ THAT THING ALESSANDRA SENT YOU? — THE BIO SHE WROTE ABOUT MY TATTOO CAREER, IT’S LIKE 19 PAGES LONG, TALKS ABOUT ALL THAT SHIT…. SO DO YOUR RESEARCH MY FINGERS ARE GETTING TIRED RSRSRSRS

NEXT…….

10. You were the founder and managing editor of International Tattoo Art Magazine, right? Many people consider you to have been the one who brought tattoo art into the mainstream. How do you feel about where its all gone from there? Are you still involved with the tattoo media, magazines, conventions?

YES I DID FOUND ITA AND NO I’M NOT INVOLVED WITH ANY OF THAT SHIT, THEY ARE ALL A BUNCH OF BOTTOM-FEEDING CORPORATE BLOODSUCKERS…..

I REPEAT — READ THE BIO BY ALESSANDRA FOR MORE IN DEPTH ON ALL THIS SHIT…

11. What about your big 18 page cover story with Iggy Pop in Trip magazine? Some say it was most in-depth piece on him ever. How did that all come about?

NEXT……. IGGY IS A VERY OLD PERSONAL FRIEND WITH A SIMILAR WORLD VIEW AND NASTY OUTLOOK ON LIFE… WE GO BACK…. I JUST HAPPENED TO DO IT LIKE A CASUAL VISIT WITH AN OLD FRIEND, THEN TOOK IT AND PACKAGED IT UP WITH SOME NICE FOTOS AND A GOOD TRANSLATION AND SOLD IT TO THE HIGHEST, MOST PRESTIGIOUS BIDDER, I LOVE TRIP MAGAZINE, BUT I HAVE NO AFFILIATION WITH THEM… IT WAS A ONE OFF. LOTSA FUN, BUT I DONT WANNA MAKE A CAREER OF INTERVIEWING ROCK STARS, NO NO. 

12. What were some of your biggest early influences in the art world?

THE E.C. COMICS — VERY IMPORTANT STUFF, BIG BIG INFLUENCE ON ME FROM AN EARLY AGE… DARK SINISTER READING FOR IMPRESSIONABLE CHILDREN OF THE APOCALYPSE… HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT FOR KIDS TO TURN THEM INTO PSYCHOPATHS LIKE ME!!!  

THE ONLY FIFTIES COMICS WORTH A SHIT — 

NOW THE SIXTIES, THAT’S ANOTER STORY, WHEN I STARTED DROPPING ALOT OF ACID AT AGE OF 12 IT WAS ALL ABOUT ROBERT CRUMB AND THE OTHER ZAP COMIX ARTISTS,  LATER, I BECAME FRIENDS WITH ALL THOSE GUYS AND EVEN HAD SOME ART SHOWS TOGETHER….

 

IN BRAZIL IT’S ANGELI, REBORDOSA, BOB CUSP ALL THAT, GREAT STUFF, OK I’M DONE NOW….

This is what life has put on my plate today… And it isn’t so bad, all things considered!
In fact, it’s great.
Now its three o’clock in the afternoon, and with the usual clockwork precision of her bizarre timing she’s just woken me up. Just as I finally got to sleep.
Shit.
We had a listless, terrible fuck where she watched cartoons on TV and groaned impatiently telling me to hurry up. Then she went to get her fucking stash of crack.
Now that she’s had her medicine, of course she seems to be in a much better mood. Of course.
When I dropped her off at noon, I even grabbed her pussy as she got off the bike and said, “go have fun and warm up the chicken pie, cuz ill be back soon and ill be hungry.”
I noticed an extra little twitch in her perky chicken tail as she wiggled it off down the road to damnation…
Now we’re sitting back together on my veranda looking out over the city and the bay. She’s rooted a book of Henry Miller out of my bag and she’s reading out loud in English, not making the least bit of sense. But the tone of her voice itself has made my dick hard again in anticipation of a much better fuck than the morning chore.
That had at least gotten her off her lazy ass, even if it was only to go smoke more crack and start the whole viscious cycle of her life over again.
The work of an Eternal Muse is never done, and now she’s up juggling coca cola bottles on the little veranda.
She’s doing pretty good, so far. She hasn’t bopped either of us in the head, and that’s a bit of progress from a coupla weeks ago I’d say.
One of her big dreams is to join the circus - there’s a bit in my book “Our Lady of Ashes” about taking her to join the circus, which is neither here or there…
Narcisa is a walking talking three ring circus, or more like a psychic freak show.
Yesterday she got into a fight with a vulture that landed on the roof of the Casa Verde while she was up in the attic smoking.
I didn’t ask her for details of the skirmish and of course none were forthcoming.
She told me she chased the bastard off, representing her percieved or real impending death, and that was all I needed to know, I guess. When I prodded her for details, all she said was, “That’s why I love to e’smoke. Because it kills my memory, Cigano. Got it?”
I got it.

I didn’t ask her for any more details. Its just as well, I suppose..I like to make up my own details anyway. Between my own paranormal imagination, and her surreal reality, it all makes for a pretty interesting existence.
  Sometimes I feel like I can read her past and her whole life story,         receiving crucial nonverbal information and impressions with my         dick’s inner antenna while I’m fucking her.
   It’s an interesting, if sometimes terrifying game for sure, and often     quite enlightening. And stimulating for us both, I like to think.
   But it could all just be a figment of my own warped, LSD-spiked          imagination.
   Narcisa, with all her staggering ‘true-life’ accounts, the marathon       fucking and endless battles of will, seen through the distorted             psychedelic lens of the crack she smokes… The danger, the vultures,   the Dakini dance hell-fire coke bottle juggling, the battle scars and     bruises and tattoos and abrasions on my battered hide and my           soul…  the book, her shadowy midnight declarations and apocolyptic   prophecies, and all the abstract poetry of her insane twisted                 existence and quasi-mythical life story and unrelenting death wish…   all of it.
 

What the fuck?
It seems like it’s always been this way for me… all my life, one big, long, surreal delirium dream, or nightmare. And I guess its the same for her too.
So it’s no wonder that we’ve somehow found each other and come together for whatever this foggy hallucinatory journey is taking us, along a polluted tributary of the big, long cosmic stream.
She is my acid queen, my mirror image cosmic fishbowl cross to bear or to burn.
And, just for today, I have no argument with any of it.

Copyright Jonathan Shaw 2008. All Rights Reserved.

NOTIFIÇAO: Os eventos relatados neste site são contos de ficção - registrados na Biblioteca Nacional como ficção com todos os direitos autorais revertidos ao autor, Jonathan Shaw. Os personagens mencionados são interamente ficticios. Certos eventos, personagens, lugares e relatos foram baseados em fatos reais, porém qualquer semelhança a qualquer pessoa viva ou morta se trata de pura coincidência.As vários fotografias apresentadas se encontram com o rosto distorcido para preservar o anonimato das modelos que representam personagens fictícios.