All tender assent, yielding and devoted as a river, earth is inexhaustible in bringing forth wild bounty. (From Hexagram 2, “Earth”, translated by David Hinton)

Last week I started listening to The Lovecraft Investigations from BBC Radio 4. I have no idea how I stumbled across it and it’s great. I’m halfway through Season 2 and can already tell that I’ll go back and listen to everything in the Pleasant Green Universe.

Also started listening to The Department of Midnight, which I’ve been looking forward to for several months. Warren Ellis is the writer and he started mentioning it (under a code name) about two years ago in his weekly newsletter. The first episode was released last week.

The stack of unread books grows higher and higher after this week’s trip to The Book Beat. It’s a great bookstore a little north of Detroit and they always have lots of things that catch my eye.

I’ve read most of McCarthy’s novels but this is only my second Burroughs.

Currently reading: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. This has been on my “should read” list since the 90s (over two decades…) and I’ve finally bought a used copy and have gotten started. I’m about a quarter of the way through and am enjoying it a lot so far.

An illustration in today’s Guardian brought to mind something that President Lyndon B. Johnson said to Bill Moyers:

“If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”

Here’s the relevant part of the illustration:

Make sure to visit the original to see the rest of it.

I listened to Western Spaces by Steve Roach and Kevin Braheny while cooking dinner tonight. I bought it on CD in the mid 90s and still have it on my shelf.

I haven’t been in the desert (or anywhere in the western United States) since 2019 and I have been missing it.