For A Broke Motherfucker
Robert Anton Wilson can't make rent. Apparently, he's really sick, too. His website(replete with Midwestern Chinawoman Minivan Music), states that he's suffering from Post-Polio Syndrome and is need of constant care. A friend and collaborator of his has also taken to begging for the man. It seems legit. You can click on Wilson's or his pal's links to find out how you can send a few bucks his way.
I'm not promoting this call for an assist out of any love for Robert Anton Wilson. I've read a few of his books. If I had to pick one out as a favorite, I'd probably go with Cosmic Trigger. I liked the layout. In point of fact, it was the first book I'd ever read with such a layout.
I think I probably came to Wilson's work too late for it to have much of an effect on me. I think that, at the time I was exposed to his works, I had been as sufficiently "altered" by books as I'll ever be. On the other hand, I came across Tago Mago, last spring, and that record pretty much blew my mind. Same goes for Acid Mothers Temple and the Melting Paraiso U.F.O.. And I'd thought my mind had been sufficiently "altered" by music. Anyway, Wilson didn't exactly turn my world inside out, but I appreciated what I took to be his commitment to "Art For Life's Sake," nonetheless.
(Upon further reflection, Wilson *did* introduce me to the concept E-Prime, which has proven helpful, over the years, in a lot of ways.)
Anyway, there are probably people closer to you that could use the money. I don't really have any to speak of, right now. Even if I did, I can think of at least two people who probably need it more than Wilson. Still, I feel obligated to bring it to your attention. The man has made a deep impact on our. . . society. Not deep enough, in my opinion, but he did, I think, help quite a few people out, got quite a few people thinking, got quite a few people reading books in a way they never did before. That's an accomplishment. He deserves our respect, I believe. Help out, if you can, but at least acknowledge what he's done for the reading public.
In closing, I'd like to say that it pisses me off (royally) that Jim Carrey is starring in a motion picture titled The Number Twenty Three and Wilson's friends need to beg so that he doesn't have to die in some nursing home. That seems fucked up.
