Media Whoring for the Discovery Channel
Given the number of hours broadcasting I have done as an interviewee on everything from BBC television news bulletins to strange European documentaries, you would be forgiven for thinking there is nothing on any filming call sheet* that could surprise me.
However, I have never been emailed a call sheet including a prop request for: ‘Blood, knife, police uniforms/shoes, Masonic apron, white chalk, cloth to wipe away chalk.’
The reason for the bizarre and diverse list is that the production company, who want to interview me tomorrow afternoon, are spending the morning re-enacting the Goulston Street graffito from Jack the Ripper mythology.
Rest assured I am not venturing into From Hell territory. Instead my media whoring for the Discovery Channel is about Freemasonry as a secret society, how the Italian Mafia can be seen as akin to A.A., the P2 conspiracy and Roberto Calvi.
In a typical psychogeography synchronicity, within seconds of getting the call sheet, Surreal Girl contacted me with an opportunity to head into the dark heart of Papa William’s territory to meet one of my literary heroes – Iain Sinclair. The first book of his I encountered was White Chappell, Scarlet Tracings, a masterful juxtaposition of William Gull’s possible role in the Jack the Ripper murders and the quest for a priceless copy of Doyle’s A Study In Scarlet.
I am ambivalent about being interviewed tomorrow. Given the fair degree of pain at the moment, my on camera performance is a fret. This anxiety is not helped by concern over the wisdom of once again putting my ugly mug on tape. Today, every time a worry about my visibility raises a murmur, the stubborn voice that refuses to cowed by the possible ramifications of upset gangsters shouts it down. There is no guarantee this will be the case tomorrow.
* A call sheet is the list sent out to all parties detailing what will be needed for any days filming including crew, equipment, props and participants alongside details of locations and timings for shooting.
However, I have never been emailed a call sheet including a prop request for: ‘Blood, knife, police uniforms/shoes, Masonic apron, white chalk, cloth to wipe away chalk.’
The reason for the bizarre and diverse list is that the production company, who want to interview me tomorrow afternoon, are spending the morning re-enacting the Goulston Street graffito from Jack the Ripper mythology.
Rest assured I am not venturing into From Hell territory. Instead my media whoring for the Discovery Channel is about Freemasonry as a secret society, how the Italian Mafia can be seen as akin to A.A., the P2 conspiracy and Roberto Calvi.
In a typical psychogeography synchronicity, within seconds of getting the call sheet, Surreal Girl contacted me with an opportunity to head into the dark heart of Papa William’s territory to meet one of my literary heroes – Iain Sinclair. The first book of his I encountered was White Chappell, Scarlet Tracings, a masterful juxtaposition of William Gull’s possible role in the Jack the Ripper murders and the quest for a priceless copy of Doyle’s A Study In Scarlet.
I am ambivalent about being interviewed tomorrow. Given the fair degree of pain at the moment, my on camera performance is a fret. This anxiety is not helped by concern over the wisdom of once again putting my ugly mug on tape. Today, every time a worry about my visibility raises a murmur, the stubborn voice that refuses to cowed by the possible ramifications of upset gangsters shouts it down. There is no guarantee this will be the case tomorrow.
* A call sheet is the list sent out to all parties detailing what will be needed for any days filming including crew, equipment, props and participants alongside details of locations and timings for shooting.
posted by David at 8:47 PM
12 Comments:
Hi agian!
Well, good luck with that tomorrow. You know, in with all the other supplies on that call sheet they could very well have asked for a disguise for you, then there would be no worries of you being recognized on tv. Iain Sinclair is amazing by the way! For some reason i had this mental image of lots of locals running around with pitchforks when I read "upset gangsters."
Well, have a good day and good luck!
Thank you.
Sinclair is a fever dream of a writer and I love his work. As for pitchforks, in Papa William's patch of London, I suspect it more machetes than pitchforks.
well, I was going to write something smart-ass about the call sheet, but since it does appear that the threats on your life have understandably distressed you, I shant. But in reference to your dream the other night...you know I am always looking for Signs...but usually the sunbconscious speaks rather obtusely to us...so perhaps before your interview you need to drink Iron Buddha Tea...Iron=strength,
Buddha=We produce our own suffering by the way we think and act. We fear loss and that is the cause of suffering.
Perhaps your subconscious is trying to tell you to stop producing your own suffering?
Of course, this is advice coming from a girl who talks to crows...
Good Luck tomorrow!
Thank you Aurora.
I had taken the VALIS/MANDI voice in the dream at a much more literal level - a message from the dreamscape to drink Iron Buddha tea (which I have subsequently found out is a blend of oolong famed for its alleged health properties).
However, I certainly do need to attempt to escape my own wheel of suffering much more. In many ways, I have been trying to do that for months.
As for speaking to crows, given I have a writer who speaks to the morphogenic fields of orchids, a voudon Godfather who speaks to even the most disreputable Loa, a heretical Rabbi and a jolly nice priest on the roll call of associates, so I will not discount advice passed on by those consorting with the distant kin of Hugin and Munin.
After reading your entry, I was tempted to say "Break A Leg" as respects tomorrow's interview. But in light of your ribs...
Kidding aside, your comment regarding the structural kinship of the Italian Mafia and A.A.; that is a comparison that I have not heard before. Have you written on this subject previously?
In both Secrets & Lies and in my new book Global Gangland, I detail the secret society origins of the Sicilian Mafia's rituals. This in itself may have planted a seed in my mind, but it was whilst writing the book and overdosing on The Godfather trilogy, I began to see real points of comparison between the Sicilian Mafia, other organized crime groups and the A.A..
This idea became a subtle thread in book, but it is an idea that has become much more concrete after discussion with writer and acclaimed magician Stephen Grasso. Unfortunately these discussions happened far too late to have more impact on the shape Global Gangland.
Stephen had separately come to similar conclusions (but as usual could take them far further express them far better than me) and I hope that he may expand on them in some of his future fiction or non-fiction works.
'The higher I go, the crookeder it becomes.'
Sorry, but what does A.A. mean? To this Yank, that means Alcoholics Anonymous....
Argenteum Astrum (Latin for ‘Silver Star’) was a magical order created or possibly popularised Aleister Crowley. It is meant to be interested in the pursuit of light and knowledge. The dots are important to many of those claiming membership of the Argenteum Astrum because they are occult geeks who get in a dizzy over meaningless details. In R.A. Wilson’s Illuminantus trilogy of novels, the letters stand for nothing at all and anyone who claims to know what they stand for thereby proves himself or herself a fraud.
It is not hard to put forward a solid argument to show that Wicca and Scientology are but two of the Argenteum Astrum's more successful bastard children. However, advancing this line is likely to get you punched by many followers of both faiths.
In England, the AA is usually taken to mean the Automobile Association.
That could well be the most surreal list I have read this week, one question though; do you do it like they do on the Discovery Channel ?
In that case, i won't comment, otherwise i'll get punched.
i knew about the automobile association thing. (that's AAA here.)
thanks for the info. always nice to learn something new.
so...how did the interview go?
Sidog - doesn't everyone?
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