Lee Harris (South African musician)
Encyclopedia
Lee Harris is a South Africa
n playwright
, publisher, and spoken word artist.
He was one of the few white members of the African National Congress
, where he helped with the Congress of the People and met Nelson Mandela
. He acted with Orson Welles
, Dame Flora Robson, wrote for the British underground press including International Times
, helped found the Arts Lab and has been an instrumental figure in the British Counter Culture movement since the seventies when he published Brainstorm Comix and Home Grown magazine.
n Jewish parents. He was one of the few white members of the congress movement opposing racial segregation at the time when the apartheid system was being enforced by the National Party who came into power in 1948. Harris helped with arrangements for the Congress of the People gathering in the summer of 1955, held at Kliptown
, Soweto
. The crowd of thousands was surrounded by 200 armed police.
, England
in 1956. He studied acting
at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art
. In 1960 Harris got a role in the Orson Welles
Shakespearian adaptation Chimes at Midnight
, in which Welles both acted and directed. Harris also worked with Dame Flora Robson understudying the lead and playing a small part in The Corn is Green
.
Harris then started writing plays. One called “Buzz Buzz” and his first full length play
“Love play” described by Lee as “A boys journey through the underworld of emotional revelation” and a review from the Sunday Times 18 May 1969 Entitled: Fragments of Love by John Peter said “Lee Harris’s Love Play (Arts Laboratory
) might have been inspired by some of Artaud’s equivocal, visionary phrases: The theatre as “The truthful precipitate of dreams” : “The human body raised to the dignity of signs.” The play was awarded an Arts Council bursary in 1966 and was performed at the Arts Lab
which Harris helped found in Drury Lane
in 1967 with counter culture figures Jim Haynes and J.Henry Moore. The Arts Lab was hugely influential and saw Lee working as a make up artist for Frank Zappa
and travel on tour with Folk Rock group The Fugs
.
During this time Harris also wrote various articles and reviews for many underground publications such as IT (International Times
) including an interview with San Francisco beat poet Michael McClure
and in IT Issue 52 Lee Harris reported on a new play by Jane Arden
at the Arts Lab and he also wrote various pieces for magazines OZ
and Frendz
.
, London called Alchemy - named after The Alchemical Wedding. The shop currently sells items such as Incense, Postcards, pipes and smoking accessories, vaporisers as well as others. It remains a focus and gathering point for alternative Londoners to the present day and is London’s’ oldest culture shop.
It was at this time in the first year, when Lee met Bryan Talbot
. After reading his work Harris decided to publish Bryans first work “Brainstorm Comix” which followed the protagonist Chester P. Hakenbush on his psychedelic cerebral journey. It is regarded as the last major British Underground Comic and garnered compliments from Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee
“I got a kick out of it and turned it over to the bullpen so they could bask in its magnificence, just as I did” 1997.
The Chester P Hakenbush trilogy was then republished in one volume in 1982 and then another edition in 1999 titled; Bryan Talbot’s Brainstorm: The complete Chester P Hakenbush and other underground classics which has now been translated and sold in Italy. Bryan Talbot has gone on to become one of the worlds renowned graphic novelists, creator of The Adventures of Luther Arkwright
, The Tale of One Bad Rat
, and his latest work Grandville
. There was also Brainstorm Fantasy Comix which had one issue published in 1977 which was a new direction and included work by Brian Bolland
, Hunt Emerson
, Angus McKie
and the first-published work of John Higgins
.
In 1977 to 1982 Harris started and edited Britain’s first counter culture and drug magazine.Home Grown was a breakthrough magazine that represented a defining moment in British underground culture. Lee was reporting on psychedelic happenings and Home Grown magazine was one of the few publications to support the Operation Julie
defendants which included work from Timothy Leary
, Michael Hollingshead
, Harry Shapiro
, Brian Barritt, Mick Farren
, Bryan Talbot
, Julie Burchill
, Peter Tosh
and Tony Parsons
. Minimal profit’s, a dwindling market and apathy made the magazine unviable and the enterprise folded.
The club Megatripolis was at the forefront of a post-psychedelic counter culture resurgence in the nineties Harris was asked to become a consultant to the club where he brought many people to speak including activist Caroline Coon
, writer and raconteur Howard Marks
, poet and New Departures founder Michael Horovitz
. The club scored a major coup when in 1995 Harris organised ground breaking poet Allen Ginsberg
’s last live performance in London after being greatly inspired by Ginsberg at the International Poetry Incarnation
at the Royal Albert Hall
in 1965.
, Howard Marks
, The Mystery School Ensemble, JC001, Bush chemist and more. This culminated in an event at Subterania in Ladbroke Grove
to celebrate the albums release.
During this period he met River Styx (musician)
, who had also performed at the event. A few years later River Styx invited him to record something for a project he was working on and quite organically the album Lee Harris meets River Styx - Angel Headed Hip Hop (Album)
was born.
They brought in special Guests such as writer Brian Barritt, rapper JC001 and River Styx wrote the music, performed vocally on four of the albums songs and remixed the song “Three men in a boat with Howard Marks
originally released on the previous album “30 Years of Counter Culture” The album was released in 2009 on Arkadia Productions and was distributed by Gene pool/Universal Music Group
.
Harris and River Styx travelled the UK and Europe on the “Don’t Hate, Create Tour” which included a special performance in Paris for the 50th Anniversary of the publication of William S. Burroughs
seminal work Naked Lunch
which was organised by Oliver Harris
, Andrew Hussey
and Ian Macfadyen accompanying the Naked Lunch
@50: Anniversary essays edited by Oliver Harris
& Ian Macfadyen. This was the inspiration for Lee Harris & River Styx behind the experimental piece Hunterland
.
Various footage of Lee Harris has recently been included in a documentary 'Echoes of the underground' which also features Jim Haynes, Brian Barritt, Henk Targowski and Youth.
The score for the film was written and performed by The Moonlight Convention
.
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, publisher, and spoken word artist.
He was one of the few white members of the African National Congress
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
, where he helped with the Congress of the People and met Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
. He acted with Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
, Dame Flora Robson, wrote for the British underground press including International Times
International Times
International Times was an underground newspaper founded in London in 1966. Editors included Hoppy, David Mairowitz, Pete Stansill, Barry Miles, Jim Haynes and playwright Tom McGrath...
, helped found the Arts Lab and has been an instrumental figure in the British Counter Culture movement since the seventies when he published Brainstorm Comix and Home Grown magazine.
Biography
Harris was born in 1936 in Johannesburg, South Africa of LithuaniaLithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
n Jewish parents. He was one of the few white members of the congress movement opposing racial segregation at the time when the apartheid system was being enforced by the National Party who came into power in 1948. Harris helped with arrangements for the Congress of the People gathering in the summer of 1955, held at Kliptown
Kliptown
Kliptown is a suburb of the formerly black township of Soweto in Gauteng, South Africa, located about 17 km south-west of Johannesburg. The population of Kliptown is between 38,000 and 45,000 . Kliptown is the oldest residential district of Soweto, and was first laid out in 1891 on land which...
, Soweto
Soweto
Soweto is a lower-class-populated urban area of the city of Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships...
. The crowd of thousands was surrounded by 200 armed police.
London
Harris arrived in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1956. He studied acting
Acting
Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play....
at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art
Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art
The Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, formerly the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art, was a drama school, and originally a singing school, in London. It was one of the leading drama schools in Britain, and offered comprehensive training for those intending to pursue a...
. In 1960 Harris got a role in the Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
Shakespearian adaptation Chimes at Midnight
Chimes at Midnight
Chimes at Midnight, also known as Falstaff and Campanadas a medianoche , is a 1965 film directed by and starring Orson Welles. Focused on William Shakespeare's recurring character Sir John Falstaff, the film stars Welles himself as Falstaff, Keith Baxter plays Prince Hal , and John Gielgud plays...
, in which Welles both acted and directed. Harris also worked with Dame Flora Robson understudying the lead and playing a small part in The Corn is Green
The Corn is Green
The Corn Is Green is a semi-autobiographical play by Emlyn Williams.At its core is L. C. Moffat, a strong-willed English school teacher working in a small poverty-stricken coal mining town in the late 19th century...
.
Harris then started writing plays. One called “Buzz Buzz” and his first full length play
“Love play” described by Lee as “A boys journey through the underworld of emotional revelation” and a review from the Sunday Times 18 May 1969 Entitled: Fragments of Love by John Peter said “Lee Harris’s Love Play (Arts Laboratory
Arts Lab
The Arts Lab was an alternative arts centre, founded in 1967 by Jim Haynes at 182 Drury Lane. Although only active for two years, it was influential in inspiring many similar centres in the UK and continental Europe, including the expanded I.C.A...
) might have been inspired by some of Artaud’s equivocal, visionary phrases: The theatre as “The truthful precipitate of dreams” : “The human body raised to the dignity of signs.” The play was awarded an Arts Council bursary in 1966 and was performed at the Arts Lab
Arts Lab
The Arts Lab was an alternative arts centre, founded in 1967 by Jim Haynes at 182 Drury Lane. Although only active for two years, it was influential in inspiring many similar centres in the UK and continental Europe, including the expanded I.C.A...
which Harris helped found in Drury Lane
Drury Lane
Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster....
in 1967 with counter culture figures Jim Haynes and J.Henry Moore. The Arts Lab was hugely influential and saw Lee working as a make up artist for Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
and travel on tour with Folk Rock group The Fugs
The Fugs
The Fugs are a band formed in New York in late 1964 by poets Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, with Ken Weaver on drums. Soon afterward, they were joined by Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber of the Holy Modal Rounders...
.
During this time Harris also wrote various articles and reviews for many underground publications such as IT (International Times
International Times
International Times was an underground newspaper founded in London in 1966. Editors included Hoppy, David Mairowitz, Pete Stansill, Barry Miles, Jim Haynes and playwright Tom McGrath...
) including an interview with San Francisco beat poet Michael McClure
Michael McClure
Michael McClure is an American poet, playwright, songwriter, and novelist. After moving to San Francisco as a young man, he found fame as one of the five poets who read at the famous San Francisco Six Gallery reading in 1955 rendered in barely fictionalized terms in Jack Kerouac's Dharma Bums...
and in IT Issue 52 Lee Harris reported on a new play by Jane Arden
Jane Arden
Jane Arden was an internationally syndicated daily newspaper comic strip which ran from 1927 to 1968. The title character was the original "spunky girl reporter," actively seeking to infiltrate and expose criminal activity rather than just report on its consequences and served as a prototype for...
at the Arts Lab and he also wrote various pieces for magazines OZ
Oz (magazine)
Oz was first published as a satirical humour magazine between 1963 and 1969 in Sydney, Australia and, in its second and better known incarnation, became a "psychedelic hippy" magazine from 1967 to 1973 in London...
and Frendz
Friends (magazine)
Friends magazine was launched in London in winter 1969 as a direct result of the closure by its US parent of the short-lived UK edition of Rolling Stone....
.
Middle years
In 1972 Harris opened a shop in the Portobello RoadPortobello Road
Portobello Road is a street in the Notting Hill district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in west London, England. It runs almost the length of Notting Hill from south to north, roughly parallel with Ladbroke Grove. On Saturdays it is home to Portobello Road Market, one of London's...
, London called Alchemy - named after The Alchemical Wedding. The shop currently sells items such as Incense, Postcards, pipes and smoking accessories, vaporisers as well as others. It remains a focus and gathering point for alternative Londoners to the present day and is London’s’ oldest culture shop.
It was at this time in the first year, when Lee met Bryan Talbot
Bryan Talbot
Bryan Talbot is a British comic book artist and writer, born in Wigan, Lancashire, in 1952. He is best known as the creator of The Adventures of Luther Arkwright and its sequel Heart of Empire.-Career:...
. After reading his work Harris decided to publish Bryans first work “Brainstorm Comix” which followed the protagonist Chester P. Hakenbush on his psychedelic cerebral journey. It is regarded as the last major British Underground Comic and garnered compliments from Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
“I got a kick out of it and turned it over to the bullpen so they could bask in its magnificence, just as I did” 1997.
The Chester P Hakenbush trilogy was then republished in one volume in 1982 and then another edition in 1999 titled; Bryan Talbot’s Brainstorm: The complete Chester P Hakenbush and other underground classics which has now been translated and sold in Italy. Bryan Talbot has gone on to become one of the worlds renowned graphic novelists, creator of The Adventures of Luther Arkwright
The Adventures of Luther Arkwright
The Adventures of Luther Arkwright was a limited series comic book written and drawn by Bryan Talbot.-Publishing history:Luther Arkwright made his first appearance in the mid 1970s in "The Papist Affair", a short strip for Brainstorm Comix where Arkwright teamed up with a group of cigar-chewing...
, The Tale of One Bad Rat
The Tale of One Bad Rat
The Tale of One Bad Rat is a 4-issue comic book limited series by Bryan Talbot. It was first published by Dark Horse Comics in 1994 and later brought out in a collected edition.The story is about a victim of child abuse...
, and his latest work Grandville
Grandville
Grandville may refer to:* The pseudonym of Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard , French caricaturist* Grandville, Aube, a commune in France* Grandville, Michigan, a city in the United States...
. There was also Brainstorm Fantasy Comix which had one issue published in 1977 which was a new direction and included work by Brian Bolland
Brian Bolland
Brian Bolland is a British comics artist, known for his meticulous, detailed linework and eye-catching compositions. Best known in the UK as one of the definitive Judge Dredd artists for British comics anthology 2000 AD, he spearheaded the 'British Invasion' of the American comics industry, and in...
, Hunt Emerson
Hunt Emerson
Hunt Emerson is a cartoonist living and working in Birmingham, England. He was closely involved with the Birmingham Arts Lab of the mid-to-late 1970s, and with the British underground comics scene of the 1970s and 1980s...
, Angus McKie
Angus McKie
Angus McKie is an artist who has worked as a colorist in the comics industry.He is best known as an English science fiction illustrator whose work appeared on the covers of numerous science fiction paperback novels in the mid 1970s and 1980s, as well as in Stewart Cowley's Terran Trade Authority...
and the first-published work of John Higgins
John Higgins
John Higgins MBE is a Scottish professional snooker player and the reigning World Champion. With four world titles in all he is fourth overall in the modern era, behind Stephen Hendry , Steve Davis and Ray Reardon...
.
In 1977 to 1982 Harris started and edited Britain’s first counter culture and drug magazine.Home Grown was a breakthrough magazine that represented a defining moment in British underground culture. Lee was reporting on psychedelic happenings and Home Grown magazine was one of the few publications to support the Operation Julie
Operation Julie
Operation Julie was a UK police investigation into the production of LSD by two drug rings during the mid-1970s. The operation, involving 11 police forces over a two-and-a-half year period, resulted in the break-up of one of the largest LSD manufacturing operations in the world...
defendants which included work from Timothy Leary
Timothy Leary
Timothy Francis Leary was an American psychologist and writer, known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs. During a time when drugs like LSD and psilocybin were legal, Leary conducted experiments at Harvard University under the Harvard Psilocybin Project, resulting in the Concord Prison...
, Michael Hollingshead
Michael Hollingshead
Michael Hollingshead was a British-born researcher in psychedelic drugs and hallucinogens including psilocybin and lysergic acid diethylamide, among others, at Harvard University in the mid-twentieth century. He is the father of comedian Vanessa Hollingshead....
, Harry Shapiro
Harry Shapiro
Harry Shapiro may refer to:* Harry Shapiro , who has written very widely on the subject of drugs* Harry Shapiro , convicted and served time for using explosive device in a Florida synagogue to prevent former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres from speaking* Harry L. Shapiro Doctor of anthropology...
, Brian Barritt, Mick Farren
Mick Farren
Michael Anthony 'Mick' Farren is an English journalist, author and singer associated with counterculture and the UK Underground.-Music:...
, Bryan Talbot
Bryan Talbot
Bryan Talbot is a British comic book artist and writer, born in Wigan, Lancashire, in 1952. He is best known as the creator of The Adventures of Luther Arkwright and its sequel Heart of Empire.-Career:...
, Julie Burchill
Julie Burchill
Julie Burchill is an English writer and journalist. Beginning as a writer for the New Musical Express at the age of 17, she has written for newspapers such as The Sunday Times and The Guardian. She is a self-declared "militant feminist". She has several times been involved in legal action...
, Peter Tosh
Peter Tosh
Peter Tosh, born Winston Hubert McIntosh , was a Jamaican reggae musician who was a core member of the band The Wailers , and who afterward had a successful solo career as well as being a promoter of Rastafari.Peter Tosh was born in Grange Hill, Jamaica, an illegitimate child to a mother too young...
and Tony Parsons
Tony Parsons
Tony Parsons is the name of:* Tony Parsons , Canadian news anchor* Tony Parsons , novelist and arts critic...
. Minimal profit’s, a dwindling market and apathy made the magazine unviable and the enterprise folded.
The club Megatripolis was at the forefront of a post-psychedelic counter culture resurgence in the nineties Harris was asked to become a consultant to the club where he brought many people to speak including activist Caroline Coon
Caroline Coon
Caroline Coon is an English artist, journalist and political activist. Her artwork, which often explores sexual themes from a feminist standpoint , has been exhibited at many major London galleries, including the Saatchi Gallery and the Tate.Coon was born to a family of Kent landowners and had...
, writer and raconteur Howard Marks
Howard Marks
Dennis Howard Marks is a Welsh author and former drug smuggler who achieved notoriety as an international cannabis smuggler through high-profile court cases, supposed connections with groups such as the CIA, the IRA, MI6, and the Mafia, and his eventual conviction at the hands of the American Drug...
, poet and New Departures founder Michael Horovitz
Michael Horovitz
Michael Horovitz is an English poet, artist and translator.-Life and career:Michael Horovitz was the youngest of ten children who were brought to England from Nazi Germany by their parents, both of whom were part of a network of European-rabbinical families...
. The club scored a major coup when in 1995 Harris organised ground breaking poet Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
’s last live performance in London after being greatly inspired by Ginsberg at the International Poetry Incarnation
International Poetry Incarnation
The International Poetry Incarnation was an event at the Royal Albert Hall in Londonon June 11, 1965.In May, 1965, Allen Ginsberg arrived at Better Books, London, and offered to read anywhere for free....
at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
in 1965.
Later work
Harris started being asked to do spoken word performances in chill out rooms around the UK. In 2005 he decided to release a celebration of his thirty years of counter culture in the form of a compilation album including many of the artists, producers and musicians he had met along the years such as acclaimed producer Youth also Raja Ram & Simon Posford collectively known as ShpongleShpongle
Shpongle is an English psychedelic downtempo/psybient music project formed in 1996. The group includes Simon Posford and Raja Ram . Their musical style combines eastern ethnic instruments and vocals with contemporary western synthesizer-based psychedelic music...
, Howard Marks
Howard Marks
Dennis Howard Marks is a Welsh author and former drug smuggler who achieved notoriety as an international cannabis smuggler through high-profile court cases, supposed connections with groups such as the CIA, the IRA, MI6, and the Mafia, and his eventual conviction at the hands of the American Drug...
, The Mystery School Ensemble, JC001, Bush chemist and more. This culminated in an event at Subterania in Ladbroke Grove
Ladbroke Grove
Ladbroke Grove is a road in west London, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is also sometimes the name given informally to the immediate area surrounding the road. Running from Notting Hill in the south to Kensal Green in the north, it is located in North Kensington and straddles...
to celebrate the albums release.
During this period he met River Styx (musician)
River Styx (musician)
Hicham Bensassi , also known by his stage name "River Styx", is a British songwriter, rap poet, composer and music producer whose work includes music on the satirical BBC animated series Monkey Dust in 2003, remixes including Howard Marks and The Mystery School Ensemble in 2005, also most recently...
, who had also performed at the event. A few years later River Styx invited him to record something for a project he was working on and quite organically the album Lee Harris meets River Styx - Angel Headed Hip Hop (Album)
Angel Headed Hip Hop (album)
Angel Headed Hip Hop is an album by Lee Harris & River Styx released in 2009 on Genepool/Universal Music Group...
was born.
They brought in special Guests such as writer Brian Barritt, rapper JC001 and River Styx wrote the music, performed vocally on four of the albums songs and remixed the song “Three men in a boat with Howard Marks
Howard Marks
Dennis Howard Marks is a Welsh author and former drug smuggler who achieved notoriety as an international cannabis smuggler through high-profile court cases, supposed connections with groups such as the CIA, the IRA, MI6, and the Mafia, and his eventual conviction at the hands of the American Drug...
originally released on the previous album “30 Years of Counter Culture” The album was released in 2009 on Arkadia Productions and was distributed by Gene pool/Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...
.
Harris and River Styx travelled the UK and Europe on the “Don’t Hate, Create Tour” which included a special performance in Paris for the 50th Anniversary of the publication of William S. Burroughs
William S. Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th...
seminal work Naked Lunch
Naked Lunch
Naked Lunch is a novel by William S. Burroughs originally published in 1959. The book is structured as a series of loosely-connected vignettes. Burroughs stated that the chapters are intended to be read in any order...
which was organised by Oliver Harris
Oliver Harris
Oliver Harris is a British academic and lecturer at Keele University. He has written on and edited numerous works by William S. Burroughs, including Junky and The Yage Letters. His subject areas are film, literature and American studies....
, Andrew Hussey
Andrew Hussey
Andrew Hussey OBE is a cultural historian and biographer, born in Liverpool, England. He lectured in French at the University of Huddersfield in the mid to late 1990s. He was a Senior Lecturer in French at the University of Wales Aberystwyth and since 2006 he has been the Head of French and...
and Ian Macfadyen accompanying the Naked Lunch
Naked Lunch
Naked Lunch is a novel by William S. Burroughs originally published in 1959. The book is structured as a series of loosely-connected vignettes. Burroughs stated that the chapters are intended to be read in any order...
@50: Anniversary essays edited by Oliver Harris
Oliver Harris
Oliver Harris is a British academic and lecturer at Keele University. He has written on and edited numerous works by William S. Burroughs, including Junky and The Yage Letters. His subject areas are film, literature and American studies....
& Ian Macfadyen. This was the inspiration for Lee Harris & River Styx behind the experimental piece Hunterland
Hunterland
Hunterland is a single by Lee Harris and River Styx released in 2009 on Artifact Records. After being part of the Naked Lunch @ 50 symposium in Paris, Harris and Styx were inspired to complete this ambient homage to William S. Burroughs and his seminal work Naked Lunch. The piece is composed of...
.
Various footage of Lee Harris has recently been included in a documentary 'Echoes of the underground' which also features Jim Haynes, Brian Barritt, Henk Targowski and Youth.
The score for the film was written and performed by The Moonlight Convention
The Moonlight Convention
frame|River Styx in studio 2009. Photo by Tony Ishola.The Moonlight Convention founded by Hicham Bensassi aka River Styx .is an experimental music collective...
.
External links
- Lee Harris' involvement with the Arts Lab, 1966-68
- Lee Harris: Notes from the underground - Lee Harris talks of Kingsley Hall
- Lee Harris: Notes from the underground - Lee Harris talks of the underground press
- Lee Harris performing with River Styx at the Portobello Film Festival
- Lee Harris & River Styx at The Mick Jones Rock n Roll Library
- The Road to the beat hotel - with Lee Harris, River Styx, Jean Jacque Lebel & Eddie Woods