Norman Mailer was no fan of the internet (nor of Timothy Leary, but more about him later). In his recent interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, he boasted of his inability to even turn on a computer. Mailer’s book, The Executioner’s Song, for which he won the 1979 Pulitzer prize tells in depth the events surrounding the crime and punishment of Gary Gilmore, the first person to be executed following a four-year national moratorium on the death penalty. In his historical Utah case, Gilmore rejected his right to appeal and fought instead with his own lawyers to allow his execution to be carried out in the manner he chose, by firing squad. (Incidentally, the title of this post is a nod to the punk-rock song “Gary Gilmore’s Eyes,” by the Adverts—Gilmore’s corneas were harvested immediately following his death). Two states over, Charles Manson managed to avoid the fate of Gilmore, due to a very timely decision by the California Supreme Court, temporarily outlawing capital punishment. Manson’s death sentence was commuted to life in prison, to be served at the Folsom State facility in Sacramento, where he briefly occupied a cell in solitary confinement next to Timothy Leary, who was serving a ten-year sentence for drug possession. Four years before Manson’s arrival, Johnny Cash recorded one of his best known albums in front of the inmates of Folsom, who can be heard throughout adding their own commentary during the performance, especially at the more grisly or sombre parts. While singing “The Long Black Veil,” Cash can’t help laughing through the lyrics when the inmates’ cheer in approval of the narrator’s infidelities with his best friend’s wife. “Black Veil,” written by Danny Dill with Marijohn Wilkin tells the story of a man wrongly accused of murder, but unable (or rather, unwilling) to disclose his alibi because it would bring shame to his mistress. From the grave, the executed sees his lover come to the cemetery, wearing a long black veil. Dill borrowed the imagery for the song from the mystery mourner who visited the grave of Rudolph Valentino for many years after his death. Valentino died in 1926 at age 31 from peritonitis, the same disease rumored to have killed Harry Houdini. Norman Mailer played the legendary magician in Matthew Barney’s Cremaster 2, with Barney playing Garry Gilmore, who believed himself to be Houdini’s illegitimate grandson. All of these facts were found doing random searches on the internet. I’m sorry, Norman.

The case was never decided—the parties settled out of court—of copyright infringement when Kuo Ying-Nan and Kuo Hsin-Chu, pictured here, sued Michael Cretu (M.C. Curly) for sampling their recording of “Jubilant Drinking Song,” in Enigma’s #4 hot 100 song “Return to Innocence.” When Mr. Kuo first heard the song on the radio, he reportedly liked the new version, and looked forward to performing it at the 1996 Olympics opening ceremony (“Return” was used in advertisements for that summer’s events). The Kuos belong to the Ami tribe on Taiwan and are betel nut farmers. In Taiwan, and around Asia generally, betel nuts are chewed for their mildly stimulant effect, especially by truck drivers. They’re sold by scantily-clad women in kiosks all around the island. You can see a slide show of Tobie Openshaw’s photographs of these lovely vendors. There has been some concern that the Betel Nut Beauties, as they’re referred to, are on the first rung of the ladder that leads to prostitution and promiscuity. Tobie’s experience with the women, as he very thoughtfully describes on his Flickr site, is that they are often trying to get out of their situation, going back to school and so forth, in other words, attempting a “Return to Innocence.” Sorry, I had to do it.