Kathy Acker

PoemTalk #88, Discussing Kathy Acker's "The Diseased," and "The Slave Trader", feat. Maria Damon, Catherine Wagner, and Kaplan Harris

Full episode (41:18): MP3

Listen to the complete recording and read program notes at Jacket2.

Redoing Childhood (released on Kill Rock Stars, KRS349, 1999)

1. "President Bush" (5:15): MP3
2. "Miss Savage's School For Girls" (8:22): MP3
3. "The Temple Of Eros" (2:58): MP3
4. "A Country That I've Never Seen" (4:47): MP3
5. "I Will Stay With You Tonight" (10:40): MP3
6. "Hotel Etoile Rouge" (7:33): MP3
7. "Outside The Law, Which Is Language" (3:39): MP3
8. "The Female Doctor" (6:42): MP3
9. "Hotel Of The Lilac Eyes" (10:44): MP3
10. "Face To Face With Death" (5:00): MP3

1. "My Name Is O" (0:34): MP3
2. Ange's Song After She Crawled Through London (3:42): MP3
3. "I Want To Tell You About Myself" (0:43): MP3
4. The Song Of The Dogs (3:19): MP3
5. "We're Just Outside London" (2:58): MP3
6. Ostracism's Song For Pussycat (3:40): MP3
7. "Antigone, You See Her" (0:34): MP3
8. Antigone Speaks About Herself (3:50): MP3
9. "Now Let Me Tell You..." (0:32): MP3
10. My Song At Night (3:28): MP3
11. "Since Ange And Me Are Innocent" (0:43): MP3
12. Into The Strange (4:42): MP3
13. Captured By Pirates (4:52): MP3
14. A Prayer For All Sailors (3:03): MP3
15. O (1:52): MP3

Musicians:
• Accordion, Vocals: Errol "Rico" Flynn
• Banjo [Cumbus]: Blind Lugh
• Bass: Sarah Corina
• Drums: Steven Goulding
• Fiddle: Captain "Kidd" Honeyperson
• Guitar, Vocals: Jon Langford (2), Tom the Cabin Boy
• Vocals: Master Sally Bates
• Voice: More-Than-Able Seaman Acker (Tracks: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11)

• Written by Kathy Acker and The Mekons.
• Engineered by Long Jon Gillver of Dubbe Island. Recorded by Baron Von Trumfio and Bosun Hagler, September 1995 at Kingsize Studios in Chicago and July 1995 in Leeds at an unnamed location. Artwork by S. Clay Wilson.
• Released concurrently with Kathy Acker's novel of the same title.

Interview and Reading for the Wednesdays @ 4 Plus Series, SUNY-Buffalo, April 12, 1995

1. On publishing her early works (7:23): MP3
2. On fitting in and punk culture (2:43): MP3
3. On working through problems of identity, language and appropriation (7:10): MP3
4. On different feminisms (5:20): MP3
5. On the Situationists (0:59): MP3
6. On Pussy, King of the Pirates (2:23): MP3
7. Reading from "Ostracism's Story," Pussy, King of the Pirates (0:51): MP3
8. On the Hammer horror influence (1:27): MP3
9. On trying to access already-there languages (5:48): MP3
10. Reading from "I Meet Myself," Pussy, King of the Pirates (5:42): MP3
11. On accessing sexual language (1:20): MP3
12. On shocking readers and reappropriating language (6:05): MP3
13. On locating pleasure in writing (6:55): MP3
14. On Empire of the Senseless (4:00): MP3
15. On popular culture and appropriation (3:50): MP3
16. On post-capitalist society (8:01): MP3

1. First Whore Song (20:26): MP3
2. Second Whore Song (3:29): MP3
3. Entrance of the Punk Boys (4:39): MP3
4. The Story of St Gallbladder (5:40): MP3
5. The End of the World (8:48): MP3

Pussy, King of the Pirates: Her Story

6. The Loneliness of Pussy (5:15): MP3
7. Pussy Language (12:08): MP3

Recorded September 1994 in Brighton, UK. Produced and designed by Simon Strong.

Released 1995 on CodeX Books and Records, Hove, UK.

Recorded on audiocassette. Featured in the Joris and Peyrafitte tape collection.

Side A (31:40): MP3

Side B (28:48): MP3

Location information taken from https://lesarchivesduspectacle.net.

• I was walking down the street (3:20): MP3

Reading The Persian Poems(Censored) on KPFA-FM, c.1980

• Complete Recording (19:16): MP3
• Recording courtesy of Paul Buck

Talk at SUNY-Buffalo, December 12 and 13, 1979

Acker discusses and reads from Pierre Guyotat's Eden, Eden, Eden, with Colette Peignot, a.k.a. Laure, and introduction by Robert Creeley.

1. Introduction (Creeley) (4:25): MP3
2. Tangier (46:06): MP3
3. On Erica Jong material (1:15): MP3
4. On forthcoming work and French novelists (3:02): MP3
5. Introduction to translations (8:41): MP3
6. From Eden, Eden, Eden (5:23): MP3
7. From Laure (10:48): MP3
8. Lecture on Guyotat and Laure (31:15): MP3
9. On self-expression (16:37): MP3
10. On self-reflection (4:18): MP3
11. On subjectivity and perception (12:37): MP3
12. On the writer's perspective (5:04): MP3
13. On the divided self (8:14): MP3

Complete recording (2:39:25): MP3

Segue Series Reading with Lorenzo Thomas at the Ear Inn, November 13, 1978

1. "'Stop It, Ted,' I Screamed When He Finally Released Me . . ." (16:16): MP3
2. "The Diseased" (4:16): MP3
3. "The Slave Trader" (0:46): MP3
4. Translation of Janey's Persian Poems (from Blood and Guts in High School) (6:34): MP3
5. "Ghouls" (cuts off at end) (8:58): MP3

Complete discussion (1:10:13): MP3

Also of Interest:

David Antin's talk on Kathy Acker, NYU, New York, November 8, 2002

Video by George Quasha.

Complete recording (28:53) MP3

Kathy Acker on PennSound Daily

• December 26, 2007: "Kathy Acker's Redoing Childhood"

These sound recordings are being made available for noncommercial and educational use only. All rights to this recorded material belong to the estate of Kathy Acker © 2010. Used with permission of the estate of Kathy Acker. Distributed by PennSound.