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muzaktomyears · 2 months

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In 1980 Peter Brown, a former assistant to Brian Epstein who later ran Apple Corps, managed the Beatles and was best man at John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s wedding, started work on the definitive account of the Beatles. With the American author Steven Gaines, he spoke to the three surviving band members alongside wives, girlfriends, managers, friends, hangers-on and everyone else in the Fabs’ universe. The book promised to be the last word in Beatles history. Then in 1983 The Love You Make was published, and all hell broke loose.

“They were furious,” recalls Gaines, 78, still sounding pained at the memory. “Paul and Linda tore the book apart and burned it in the fireplace, page by page. There was an omerta, a code of silence around the Beatles, and they didn’t think anyone would come forward to tell the truth. But Queenie, Brian Epstein’s mother, told us above all else to be honest.”

“Even she didn’t think we would be quite so honest,” adds Brown, 87, his upper-crust English tones still in place after five decades in New York.

Why did The Love You Make, retitled by Beatles fans as The Muck You Rake, incite such strong feelings? The suggestion of an affair between Lennon and Epstein on a holiday to Barcelona in April 1963, only three weeks after the birth of Lennon’s son Julian, had something to do with it, but more significantly it was taken as a betrayal by a trusted insider. Brown and Gaines locked the recordings in a bank vault and never looked at them again — until now.

“Very good question,” Brown says, when I ask why he and Gaines have decided to publish All You Need Is Love, an oral history made up of the interview transcripts from which The Love You Make was drawn. He is speaking from the Manhattan apartment on Central Park West where he has lived since 1971. “When [Peter Jackson’s documentary] Get Back came out, a journalist from The New York Times wanted me to talk. I told him I hadn’t talked about the Beatles since the book was published and suggested he go to someone else. He said, ‘There isn’t anyone else. Paul, Ringo and you are the only ones left.’ And I thought, do I have a responsibility to clear it all up, once and for all?”

After the death of Epstein in 1967, Brown assumed the day-to-day responsibilities of managing the Beatles and Apple Corps. He had on his desk a red telephone whose number was known only to the four Beatles. Unsurprisingly, given his insider status, the interviews make for fascinating reading. Paul McCartney, yet to be asked the same questions about the Beatles thousands of times over, is remarkably unguarded. Asked by Gaines if the other Beatles were anti-Linda, he replies: “I should think so. Like we were anti-Yoko.” On the image the Fabs had for being good boys on tour, he says, “You are kidding,” before going on to reference a notorious incident involving members of Led Zeppelin, a groupie and a mud shark, concluding: “No, not in the least bit celibate. We just didn’t do it with fish.”

Ono, speaking in the spring of 1981, not long after Lennon was killed in December 1980, reveals that she didn’t sleep with Lennon for the first two years of their relationship — “John didn’t know how to make a move” — and claims that she was blamed by the Beatles camp, George Harrison in particular, for getting Lennon onto heroin in 1969. “Everything we did in those days, anything that was wrong, was my responsibility,” she tells Gaines. But everyone, from the Beatles’ notorious late-period manager Allen Klein to the Greek electronics wizard/hustler “Magic” Alex Mardas — “the Mordred of the Beatles’ Camelot” according to Brown — has their own version of events.

Going through the transcripts reminded Gaines of the long shadow cast by Lennon. “I didn’t realise how sensitive the other Beatles were to John’s opinion,” he says, speaking from his home in the Hamptons, Long Island. “Paul worried about what John would say [in the event Lennon died before being interviewed] and was still longing for his friendship. George said that John didn’t read his autobiography because it was called I, Me, Mine. Those interviews were done before John’s death and Paul’s heart was broken, even then. It wasn’t just the break-up of the Beatles. It was more personal than that.”

From around 1968, the transcripts reveal how the key Beatles duo started to come apart. McCartney’s enthusiasm was only getting stronger. But Lennon grew increasingly bored and disillusioned. “You have to remember that John wasn’t in love with his wife Cynthia,” Gaines says by way of explanation. “He wanted to get away from the life he was leading and that’s why he started to experiment with drugs, all the way up to heroin.”

Brown says Ono was, and probably still is, a distant, mysterious character, exactly the kind of person Lennon was looking for, having done the right thing and married the sensible, quiet Cynthia after she discovered she was pregnant with Julian in 1963. “John told me about meeting this woman, and how frustrated he was that he couldn’t get to know her better; he couldn’t take her to lunch because it would cause gossip. I gave him the key to my apartment so he and Yoko could be together in private and thought, naturally, they were going there to f***. When I went home that evening, the apartment was untouched. They did nothing more than sit on the sofa and talk. That’s what they wanted: to know each other.”

Regarding the long-held, unfair suggestion that Ono broke up the Beatles, Gaines says: “Yoko came along at the right moment to light the fuse, but the dynamite was already packed. They resented her, she was difficult to understand and had a deep effect on John, but they were getting more and more unhappy with each other and needed to have their own lives. As people in the interviews say again and again, [the split] was bound to happen.”

It was Brown who in May 1968 introduced McCartney to Linda Eastman, an ambitious young American photographer whom he knew from his business trips to New York, when she came to London on an assignment to shoot the Rolling Stones. “I was having dinner with Paul at the Bag O’ Nails [a club in Soho] when she turned up, so I introduced them and he was obviously taken with her,” Brown recalls. “The following Friday, May 19, we were holding a party for 12 top photographers at Brian Epstein’s house in London when she walked in. Paul says I didn’t introduce him to his wife … but I did.”

If the book has a villain it is Klein, the New York accountant who took over management of the Beatles and sacked everyone around them, much to McCartney’s horror. As Brown puts it: “He was a hideous person. He even looked like a crook: sloppy and fat, always wearing sneakers and sweatshirts. Everything he didn’t like was ‘for shit’.”

You wonder why Lennon fell for him. “The interviews suggest it is because Allen Klein offered Yoko a million dollars for her movie project,” Gaines says. “She was enticed and John would do anything Yoko said.”

“I asked Mick Jagger to come over and explain to the four Beatles who this Allen Klein was,” Brown remembers. “And John, in his wonderful way, had Klein turn up to the same meeting, which was deeply embarrassing. It made Mick very uncomfortable too.”

Epstein, the man who saw the Beatles’ potential in the first place, is a central figure in All You Need Is Love. It includes a transcript of a recording of him from 1966, not used for the original book. It was in the possession of Epstein’s attorney Nat Weiss, and seemingly made by Epstein to mark the end of the Beatles’ final tour. He claims not only that Lennon felt remorse for the infamous comment on the Beatles being bigger than Jesus — “What upset John more than anything else was that hundreds of people were hurt by that” — but that the Beatles would tour once more. “There’s no reason why they shouldn’t appear in public again,” Epstein claims. They never did, unless you count that rooftop performance on January 30, 1969.

“Brian was driving them around the north of England in his car for a year,” Brown remembers of the early days. “This Jewish guy from Liverpool, who was gay, was with these guys who had been hanging around in Hamburg, so both had interesting backgrounds. They understood each other.”

For Gaines, a self-described “gay Jewish boy from Brooklyn”, Epstein is at the heart of the story. “Brian never felt the love of a real relationship. Then he found the Beatles. Everyone thought it would be just another of his phases, but he had tremendous feelings for John, both sexual and intellectual, and that’s what really pushed him. If there was one thing that started the whole thing off, it was Brian’s love for John Lennon.”

That love affair was the contentious issue of the original book. In his interview, McCartney says of Lennon going to Spain with Epstein: “What was John doing, manipulating this manager of ours? Sucking up to him, going on holiday, becoming his special friend.” It wasn’t the suggestion of a homosexual relationship that was troubling McCartney, but the balance of power tilting in Lennon’s direction.

“Paul wanted to be in charge, and he deserved to be because he was the motor, the driving force,” Gaines says. “Paul felt that John would steal away the power. He felt threatened by John’s relationship with Brian.”

“Paul always wanted to be active,” Brown adds. “After Brian’s death the world had to be carried on. Who was going to do that? It wasn’t going to be John, George or Ringo. Brian was my best friend and I was very upset [at his death]. I had to go to the court to convince the magistrate that it wasn’t a suicide, and the following day Paul set up a meeting so we could discuss what we would do next. I said we’d do it next week, and he said, ‘No, it has to be now.’ He was right.”

How did Brown and Gaines feel about the horrified reaction to the book, not just from fans but the Beatles themselves? “The world has changed,” Gaines says, by way of answer. “Now, after all these years, hopefully people can see it as a truthful, loving and gentle book.” It has been decades since Brown spoke to the surviving Beatles and he has not contacted them about this new publication.

What the interviews really capture in eye-opening detail is the story of four young men who became a phenomenon, then had to deal with the fallout as the dream ended. On December 31, 1970, the day McCartney sued the other three to dissolve the partnership, Brown handed in his resignation as the Beatles’ day-to-day manager and officer of Apple Corps. Ringo Starr said to him: “You didn’t want to be a nursemaid any more, and half the time the babies wouldn’t listen to you anyway.” Brown moved to New York and became chief executive officer of the Robert Stigwood Organisation. But the Beatles never fully left him, and in the wake of Get Back — and the news that Sam Mendes is to direct four biopics, one on each Beatle — he decided he had one last job.

“We have finished our responsibilities,” Brown says with quiet authority. “It is the end of the story.”

EXTRACTS

‘It’s like bloody Julius Caesar, and I’m being stabbed in the back!’

Paul McCartney on the Beatles signing Allen Klein as manager against his wishes

[John Lennon] said, “I’m going with [Allen] Klein, what do you want to do about it?” and I kind of said, “I don’t think I will, that’s my roll.” Then George and Ringo said, “Yeah, we’ll go with John.” Which was their roll. But that was pretty much how it always ended up, the three of them wanted to do stuff, and I was always the fly in the ointment, I was always the one dragging his heels. John used to accuse me of stalling. In fact, there was one classic little meeting when we were recording Abbey Road. It was a Friday evening session, and I was sitting there, and I’d heard a rumour from Neil [Aspinall, road manager] or someone that there was something funny going around. So we got to the session, and Klein came in. To me, he was like a sort of demon that would always haunt my dreams. He got to me. Really, it was like I’d been dreaming of him as a dentist. Anyway, so at this meeting, everyone said, “You’re going to stall for ever now, we know you, you don’t even want to do it on Monday.” And I said, “Well, so what? It’s not a big deal, it’s our prerogative and it could wait a few more days.” They said, “Oh no, typical of you, all that stalling and what. Got to do it now.” I said, “Well, I’m not going to. I demand at least the weekend. I’ll look at it, and on Monday. This is supposed to be a recording session, after all.” I dug me heels in, and they said, “Right, well, we’re going to vote it.” I said, “No, you’ll never get Ringo to.” I looked at Ringo, and he kind of gave me this sick look like, yeah, I’m going with them. Then I said, “Well, this is like bloody Julius Caesar, and I’m being stabbed in the back!”

‘You don’t like to see a chick in the middle of the team’

Paul McCartney on Yoko Ono

Give Yoko a lot . . . that was basically what John and Yoko wanted, recognition for Yoko. We found her sitting on our amps, and like a football team, an all-male thing, you really don’t like to see a chick in the middle of the team. It’s a disturbing thing, they think it throws them off the game or whatever it was, and these were the reasons that I thought, well, this is crazy, we’re gonna have Yoko in the group next. Looking at it now, I feel a bit sorry for her because, if only I had been able to understand what the situation was and think, wait a minute, here’s a girl who’s not had enough attention. I can now not make this into a major crisis and just sort of say, “Sure, what harm is she doing on the amps?” I know they would have really loved me. You know, we didn’t like Yoko at first, and people did call her ugly and stuff, and that must be hard for someone who loves someone and is so passionately in love with them, but I still can’t — I’m still trying to see his point of view. What was the point of all that? They’re very suspicious people [Lennon and Ono], and one of the things that hurt me out of the whole affair, was that we’d come all that way together, and out of either a fault in my character, or out of lack of understanding in their character, I’d still never managed to impress upon them that I wasn’t trying to screw them. I don’t think that I have to this day.

How Cynthia Lennon was driven to drink — at an ashram

Alexis ‘Magic Alex’ Mardas on Ono’s love letters to Lennon

Alexis Mardas was also known as Magic Alex, a name John bestowed on him because he was so taken with Alex’s inventions. Alex was handsome, charming, and a charlatan. (He sued The [New York] Times in Britain for calling him a charlatan and settled out of court. He’s dead now.)

[The Maharishi] was fooling around with several American girls. The Maharishi was making all of us eat vegetarian food, very poorly cooked, but he was eating chicken. No alcohol was allowed in the camp. I had to smuggle alcohol in because Cynthia wanted to drink. Cynthia was very depressed. John was receiving letters from Yoko Ono. Yoko was planning to win John. She was writing very poetic and very romantic letters. I remember those letters because John was coming to me with the letters, and Yoko was saying to John that “I’m a cloud in the sky, and, when you read this letter, turn your head and look in the sky, and if you see a small cloud, this is Yoko. Away from you but watching you.” Poor Cynthia was prepared to do absolutely everything to win John. She was not even allowed to visit the house where John was staying. She was longing for a drink. Now, drinks, they were strictly prohibited in the ashram, but when it was discovered that Maharishi had a drink, I said, “Just a second, at least equal.”

‘He’s become so nasty’

George Harrison on reaching out to John Lennon

What’s wrong with John, he’s become so nasty. It sounds like he hasn’t moved an inch from where he was five or six years ago. I sent Ringo, John, and Paul all a copy of my book. I got a call from Paul. He called me up just to say how much he liked it. I shouldn’t have called it I Me Mine, because that title was a bit much. I sent a copy to John. I’m wondering if he’s actually received it, if he’s received it, he probably doesn’t like it or something offends him about it.

‘I told John that ... it was just a nice feeling’

Yoko Ono advising John Lennon how to take heroin

George said I put John on H, and it wasn’t true at all. I mean, John wouldn’t take anything unless he wanted to do it. When I went to Paris [before I met John], I just had a sniff of it and it was a beautiful feeling. Because the amount was small, I didn’t even get sick. It was just a nice feeling. So I told John that. When you take it properly — properly is not the right word — but when you really snort it, then you get sick right away if you’re not used to it. So I think maybe because I said it wasn’t a bad experience, maybe that had something to do with it, I don’t know. But I mean so, he kept saying, “Tell me how it was?” Why was he asking? That was sort of a preliminary because he wanted to take it, that’s why he was asking. And that’s how we did it. We never injected. Never.

‘It was time’

Ringo Starr on the end of the Beatles

Ringo Starr: Well, I’m pleased it happened because in so many ways, I’m glad it’s not going now. It was time. Things last only so long. Steven Gaines: The Rolling Stones are [still] going. Ringo Starr: Yeah, but they’re old men.

(source)

#the beatles #here we go

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magazinewankersworld · 6 months

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Hustler, Holiday Issue 1994

#lisa ann #hustler magazine #mens magazine

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astoldbychae · 7 months

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Alexa, play Rick Ross "Hustlin". . . 👩🏿‍🍳

Dynasty King, The Home Chef Hustler

Growing up her and her siblings would spend every summer (and the holidays) down south in Willow Creek with their Grandma. While her siblings would be soaking up the hot ass sun/running around the town with their cousins, Dynasty would be in the kitchen with her Grandma; learning all Granny's recipes. From a young age, she knew that food has the power to bring people together.

and her Garlic Butter Lamb Chops with Asparagus and Mashed Potatoes just might have the power to make you fall in love. But you ain't hear that from me. . .

#astoldbychae random gameplay #finally updated my game #and gave in and bought the home chef pack

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rudeboybaby · 2 months

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4/20

#rudeboy bambino #quick 2 dub #43k #hustlers holiday #newmusic

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majaloveschris · 9 months

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How on earth does he not know that he couldn't have lived together with her for a year in Atlanta when he was shooting and working somewhere else? She was doing the same in different countries, and he himself wasn't living in Atlanta for a year.//

Hi Maja! I hope you see this and post it.

I completely agree with you and I love how you say this part specifically!

He himself wasn’t even in Atlanta for that long.

At the beginning of 2022 he was traveling ( we know what that was for aka the staged pics and ig dump bs), then he was filming for Ghosted. Afterwards he was likely in MA and LA in between before he began promos/press/interviews and appearances for Light Year and then TGM and then went back to MA. That’s a few months right there. Then he was filming Pain Hustlers- he was in Florida first in August and then he finally went on to ATL in September/October. He had been in ATL from fall 2022 until he finished filming Red One in January February 2023. And I’m sure he went back and forth to MA and NY in between filming for breaks and we even know he went to WDW and VT for two separate holidays and even then he went to MA before going to the other places.

So NO- he was NOT in ATL for a year. He was barely there for 6 months.

And I’m even going to add that she was also busy in 2022 with her projects/filming/going to PT and traveling with her friends.

Chris and her have not been around each-other steadily like a real couple in all of 2022. So the “living in ATL for a year” is BS. Maybe he said it strangely because a lot of how conversation and words are fumbled in that article and he didn’t mean for it to come out like that. Maybe he did say it just how it’s written in the article and it was a way to touch on that timeline- either way it digs a deeper hole because we know it’s not the truth.

Exactly! There is no way they were around each other steadily for a year, let alone lived together in Atlanta.

I think they always try to add to the timeline, to fill some holes, and to make it more believable. I guess it works for those who haven't been as invested as we have. For those who don't care that much about his love life or haven't been following up with the gossip, what he said and the whole timeline they present don't seem bullshit, and for them, it makes sense. Most people don't even think about this; they just accept that they were living in Atlanta together for a year and don't realize it's not possible or won't hit the internet up to search whether it can be true or not.

But yeah, this whole thing is a big mess.

#majaloveschris #chris and alba relationship #cevans-love

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heliotrope-journey · 1 year

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Tis the Season to be Artistic

Good evening, vampire hunters.

Chapter 1 of Heliotrope Journey: Son of a Hustler is still on its way. Chubbo has completed one of Michaela's first major enemies and the art gallery in Lionhead Mansion is looking bleak, but interesting. Sightseeing is not what Michaela was planning to do, but the paintings of fair folk placed on display in such a decrepit place worries her.

Unlike The Heliotrope Chronicles and Waltz of Sepulchral Silence, SotN will immediately start off with a boss battle. Roquelaure, a handsome vampire staying at the mansion is thirsty for a maiden's company and with Michaela asleep in her room, he may have found the girl of his desires. Too cliché for a plotline, right? If you want to tour the mansion in the first chapter, you're going to have to prove to Roquelaure that preying on Michaela is a big mistake so better keep your eyes on your keyboard. Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust on Unsplash.

Meanwhile, Christmas Day is next Sunday and we are delighted to announce that beloved writer Rachel Oates and her staffie familiar, Kyra, will be joining Idyia and Ioana on a holiday visit to a gingerbread village situated north of the Conifers Kingdom. Founded by an elderly baker imprisoned in Dracula's castle for decades, he fled to an abandoned cathedral to hide from the Dark Lord's wrath. The poor man longed for companionship and forgiveness for sins he was forced to commit so he used what little ingredients he had with him to create a sanctuary for the vulnerable and impoverished. He wanted to use his extraordinary talents to serve smiles.

During a strolled through a park covered in pristine snow, Rachel learned of the baker's philanthropy when she overheard Idyia and Ioana read out a letter written to them asking for their help. Knowledge of how he used his treats to sedate kidnapped younglings had spread to the magical world and city leaders refused to offer aid. Try as he may to reason that he had no choice, they curtly refused to listen and did not trust their children to accept gifts from him. The young women were respected for their involvement in thwarting the Karnsteins' plans to gain control of the magical world. The baker hoped that their help will allow the sector to gradually come around.

Rachel Oates is a kind-hearted person that wanted to see the best in others and believed in second chances (within reason) so she shyly approached Idyia and Ioana and introduced herself before offering to accompany them. She had published a book two weeks prior that contains a collection of inspirational poetry about healing from heartache and making your own choices. She wished to provide copies to children that may visit the gingerbread village. Ioana, enthusiastic about the idea, readily accepted Rachel's offer. Kyra, hearing that she and her human mother are going on a new adventure, excitedly pounced on Idyia, knocking her into the snow and licking her face like no tomorrow. Rachel and Ioana chuckled at the sight. The latter looked at Rachel and reassured her that if the letter turned out to lead them to a trap, they'll be ready for anything. The young women leave the park and travel to the ruins.

If there's time before the weekend, Rachel's significant other will meet up with our heroines in our ad. Thank you for supporting Heliotrope Journey as always and we'll see you then. ^_^

Sincerely,

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pterygoidwalk · 20 days

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hey, uhh, do you have any fanfiction accompanying that kim-in-the-shower-asking-harry-and-jean-for-another-round art asking for a friend

ohhh i really should write a fic for it. it's an AU i'm playing with, i can write a little about it here. uhh cw nsft 18+ drugs and sex

In this AU (i've been calling it tequila sunrise lol) Harry stopped just short of his tequila sunset bender at Martinaise, succeeded a crucial volition check, and made it to the crime scene sober-ish and on time with Jean. So this starts on Saturday instead of Monday, they keep their Coupris, the waterlock never gets damaged so they can go to the fishing village immediately and Sylvie is still working at the Whirling.

No-bender Harry is still a hypercompetent detective with encyclopaedic knowledge of Revacholian history, most RCM officers, and entroponetics. His political leanings are more hustler than anything else right now; he's a sleazy superstar cop and Jean is re-embracing his "heterosexual life partner" after seeing Harry come back from the abyss intact.

They both did some preliminary research on Kim and his team. They were already planning on "winning" the pissing contest against P57, but when they see Kim show up *alone* they both agree they're going to specifically gang up on this guy, maybe recruit him to 41.

Jean and Harry's dynamic is in a manic phase right now where they're frighteningly in sync with each other. Like, by the end of day 1 they've gotten the body down (Judit takes the body to P41 Processing), found the bullet, narrowed down possible shooter locations to the island, identified Korty as a merc connected to Krenel and arrested Klaasje. Kim's not useless (he's the one who clocks Korty and knows more details about the strike and the Debardeau union), but he's definitely sprinting physically and mentally to keep up with these two maniacs. Worth noting they are also both on speed lol.

Just like in the game, they all have a gay little debrief at the end of day one. Harry and Jean crank up the charm at Kim, praising him for doing his research into the local union and picking up on the dynamics between various parties like the Hardy boys. Normally Kim would put some walls up, but he's *exhausted* after such a busy day, and frankly he hasn't gotten laid in months, so he lets himself relax and flirts back. They Don't hook up that night specifically to give Kim blue balls <3 Harry and Jean are even kinda handsy with each other in front of Kim to tease him. So the next day Kim is feeling extra ambitious about showing off for these idiots. He finds Ruby's hideout, they arrest Ruby (Jean grabs her before she can pull her gun), Kim rules her out as a suspect and they head to the island after sweeping the fishing village. They find Dros, get his spiel, arrest him and Judit brings him in while the trecomptage hang back to tie up loose ends and discuss their joint report on the case.

and by discuss the report i mean they fuck nasty. it def started out with Harry and Jean trying to bully Kim in a fun dom way, but Kim was pretty game for whatever they suggested lmao. They had already paid for their rooms for another night so they figure they might as well hang here in Martinaise and party together; not too hard-- Harry sticks to speed and pyrholidon. Jean scored some weed from Rosemary and they get Kim a little stoned. A very dark part of Kim laughs about how he's turned this murder investigation into a sexy holiday for himself. Harry and Jean fail to recruit Kim because he's intimidated 💔 but he'll be sure to visit Jamrock often to collaborate some more.

#kimjeanharry #trecomptage #tequila sunrise au

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fireartandstylezine · 7 months

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What Happened to #Nanowrimo

A Micro Essay

By Mutiny Crinshaw, co-editor, Grinning Kitten Press

It often appears to me that people in the press & in society at large think of National Novel Writing Month, or Nanowrimo, as some cute little holiday-style project, if not on the level of Mother's Day, than at least Secretary's Day or National Donut Day. Fun, innocuous, something your quirky writer friend does.

That's a misperception. & the scandal which took down the forums & has Nanowrimo's Board of Directors scrambling proves that this perception is in error.

The rumors I have seen in Reddit & elsewhere in the Nano community indicate an abuse scandal. I will not dive into it; I am sure others can inform you much better than I can, & I am not privy to the most important details.

What I want to point out is that Nano isn't just some happy-fun project for your writer friends, although many of your writer friends also think that it is & can be forgiven for wanting to hang out with their other writer friends for this one month just to write.

I want to put Nanowrimo in its larger context.

What began as friends around a table wanting to Chase Those Words & Write a Novel was something anyone could have organized. You, me, your own friends. We organize little events like that all the time.

Nano simply had a certain social capital & gained a certain momentum.

The question of what creative types do with such momentum tells us a lot. It tells us a lot in the context of AI, the Arts, & late capitalism.

The choice of folks behind Nanowrimo was to take that momentum & create a 501(c)3, which is a nonprofit entity under US law.

The ease & lack of controversy around that choice exists in a continuum that constitutes all the rest, shaping the kinds and forms of abuse beyond the most illegal and egregious. It gives legal cover to the broader social harms.

Certainly choosing a nonprofit form is not a mistake on the level of "mistakes" that led to the kind of abuse rumored to be going on around Nano HQ, but it is not an unrelated mistake.

Because it is a mistake about power.

About control.

About bending people to your will.

Most of Nano runs off volunteer labor. Interns, unpaid regional coordinators, & the like.

It is a lot of work they do, year-round. Moderating. Writing grants. Chasing donors.

Meanwhile, HQ has worked with fundraising, PR, branding, & most of all selling memorabilia . . . & the best part of that is, you do not need to "win Nano" to participate in the shopping. Or the donations.

Another problem with a collective enterprise like Nano in our stage of late capitalism is that it encourages writers to hustle. (A phenomenon related to Large Language Models/ChatGPT/AI, but I will not be diving into that too much here.)

Successful hustlers - the REALLY successful ones - have social capital to burn, have wealthy loved ones & donor networks & credit (literal economic credit as well as social credit) that boosts their projects.

So while thousands of writers hunker down for the month of November to hustle their novel into being, the real hustlers at the top can hustle & make money in the name of The Arts.

The average Nano author will not get rich. Will not public unless it is through Amazon. Will work very hard for no money.

But who will make money off Nanowrimo?

Admin.

Thus, it should come as no surprise, if & when Nano HQ's abuse scandal(s) come more to light, that people have been harmed & abused.

The egregious harms lay atop a pervasive culture of exploitation which permeate nonprofits & shape our entire industry of cultural production.

Harm & abuse go hand-in-hand where charity work & volunteer labor are exploited.

The nonprofit-industrial complex provides legally-recognized covers for the harnessing of collective, creative spirit. It drives profits, offsets costs, & masks marketing & PR under a humanitarian guise. In the case of Nanowrimo, it yokes literacy & creativity for the profit of the few admins at the top.

This is "The Arts" in the US. Grifters preying on idealists. Incorporating. & if you are outside the US, you will not go untouched, for our nonprofits come for you & your culture as much as our for-profits do.

In conclusion, we ought to become & remain skeptical of any artistic endeavor that gains prominence under capitalism.

Whether that artistic endeavor promises a hip new movie studio, an artsy social media platform, a rising music label . . . or even a publishing press.

If the Art World & the mainstream media celebrate it, then you know it hates artists. It abuses writers. It milks us for profit.

The best way ahead for Nanowrimo will be for the unpaid regional leads to de-federate from HQ & create new, anti-capitalist enterprises. Artists and writers, we need to form collectives that will meet nonprofits & corporation in cultural combat. No words but class war <3

A rougher draft of this micro-essay was posted earlier on our Mastodon account. It has been edited for stylistic improvements and linguistic and intellectual clarity.

#nanowrimo #national novel writing month #anti capitalism #art #anarchism

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