Count me in (1 Viewer)

I made my first post today after discovering this site last week.
I've been a fan of Bukowski's since the 70s. I'm a writer myself (that's how I've supported myself the last 15 years). Most of it's trade magazine work, but I have unpublished novels and unproduced screenplays that may someday see the light of day.
I never met Bukowski, but I had a business relationship with John Martin. Back in the 80s I had a bookstore in Hoboken. Martin used to ship me his "hurt" books - scuffed, unsold copies returned by bookstores. It was rare that a Bukowski volume would show up in one of those boxes, but there were lots of pristine and unmarked copies of books by other writers in the Black Sparrow stable. It was pretty clear he had some real dogs in his yard.
Around this time I made two very primitive videos of the short stories "The Devil was Hot" and "The Gut Wringer." Very primitive. I edited it on two VCRs. I sent them to Martin to show to Buk. According to Martin, Bukowski said they were the films closest to capturing his work. I have no way of verifying this, but Martin had no reason to lie to me.
After Bukowski's death, I approached an editor at St. Martin's about doing a book on Bukowski similar in format to Barry Gifford's Jack's Book. I always loved how Gifford went about interviewing the people who touched Kerouac's life. St Martin gave me the go-ahead.
I first contacted John Martin and he was dismissive of the idea. He didn't say he wouldn't contribute, but one remark was strange. he said, "Do you realize how much work this entails?" That wasn't an issue for me.
Neeli Cheernovski was the second person I contacted. he was enthusiastic - very eager to contribute.
Unfortunately, the third person I contacted stopped me in my tracks. I had a really warm half hour phone conversation with Linda Lee Bukowski; but she told me she was planning on writing the same kind of book. Once I heard that, I felt honor-bound to drop the project. Unfortunately years and years have gone by and as far as I know Linda isn't working on an oral history of Buk.
Up to a few months ago I was living a block from DeLongpre. The neighborhood is still raunchy as hell - lots of transvestites, hookers, drunks and gang-bangers. That kind of shit wears you down after awhile. A quiet life in the foothills with a beautiful Mexican woman suits me just fine.
 
Thanks for the welcome. I've been thinking of digitizing a lot of my old VHS stuff, including these - your interest is just the thing to get me moving. They're very crude, but that may be to their advantage - it could be why Buk (supposedly) liked them.
 
Welcome aboard, Mark! Great first post. I would'nt mind checking those videos out either. They sound interesting.
 
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Ditto to all of the above comments. Great intro, and I want to see those videos. Crude is not bad in my book.
 
I made an appointment to transfer them this Monday. Hopefully I can post them on YouTube, although they're over 15 minutes each. The Devil is Hot might be close to 30 minutes.
 
There were a couple of screw ups along the way in the digitizing process. I wasn't able to get them resolved before I had to travel to Jamaica on business. I'm back so I'll sort it out. Although the prospect of opting to go into a coma sounds pretty good to me.
 
A VERY big welcome to the forum to you. Not surprised about the trouble you ran into years ago about your project. I look forward to lots of participation from you on this forum! Welcome aboard!
 
I apologize for the implication. I post something here and 8 minutes later you respond after a two week layoff. Jamaica or good timing. I often daydream of those two things.
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But I did leave in the option it might be my socks so I'm willing to share in the insult.
 
Stavrogin, I'm going to take the high road. Check out my company's website www.go-destinationmarketing.com. There you'll see examples of the newsletters I produce for the Jamaica Tourist Board.
When the files were digitized, only one of the stories on the tape was converted, "The Gut-Wringing Machine." For some reason the guy missed converting "The Devil was Hot." I need to resolve that.
I'm not a computer genius and I'm having trouble uploading a 24 minute file to YouTube. I'm now trying a site called Blip TV, which supposedly handles longer videos.
I'm going to be generous - I'm going to give you my half of the insult.
 
Sorry, guys - I'm still trying to load the videos onto a site. It could be that the file it's been converted to is fucked up. I'll call the guy who digitized them - maybe he has a solution. Just trying to compress the file almost took down my computer last night.
I watched the "Gut-Wringing Machine" again on the DVD the guy gave me - the first half is painfully slow but it picks up in the final third. Please don't expect too much from these if I ever get them posted.
 

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