1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:08,200 Speaker 1: Hollywoodland is a production of Double Elvish for You the 2 00:00:08,200 --> 00:00:22,840 Speaker 1: plans of camd Family. The stories about William S Burrows 3 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:27,680 Speaker 1: are insane. He left his son and wife alone in 4 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:30,680 Speaker 1: a foreign country so he could go score ayahuasca in 5 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:34,080 Speaker 1: the jungle. He shot the head off a mouse while 6 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:36,840 Speaker 1: the person holding it by the tail feared for their life. 7 00:00:38,159 --> 00:00:41,680 Speaker 1: He was a convicted killer who only did thirteen days 8 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:46,760 Speaker 1: in jail, and all this before he became a literary icon, 9 00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:51,000 Speaker 1: an icon whose novel Naked Lunch, one of the signature 10 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:54,000 Speaker 1: works of the Beat generation, was banned and went on 11 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:58,960 Speaker 1: trial for obscenity. William Burrows's writing was so evocative visceral 12 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 1: that it seemed to imp possible to bring it to 13 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: the screen until David Cronenberg released his adaptation of Naked 14 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:09,920 Speaker 1: Lunch in nineteen ninety one, A great and supremely challenging film. 15 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:12,720 Speaker 1: Unlike that clip I played few at the top of 16 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:16,120 Speaker 1: the show. That wasn't from a great film. That was 17 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:18,560 Speaker 1: a fair you sample from the Library of Congress of 18 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:23,039 Speaker 1: Billy Gordon and James Marlow performing The Insect Powder Agent 19 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:26,800 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifteen. I played you that clip because I 20 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:29,039 Speaker 1: can't afford the rights to a clip from a Place 21 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 1: in the Sun, And why would I play you that 22 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:36,680 Speaker 1: specific slice of tragic love Triangle Cheese? Could I afford it? 23 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:40,920 Speaker 1: Because that was the number one movie in America on 24 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:44,600 Speaker 1: September sixth, nineteen fifty one, And that was the day 25 00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:48,040 Speaker 1: that william S Burrows, at the time an unknown and 26 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:51,840 Speaker 1: mostly failed writer, made the most faithful decision of his 27 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:55,240 Speaker 1: life when he pointed a gun at a highball glass 28 00:01:55,320 --> 00:02:00,680 Speaker 1: balanced atop his wife's head and pulled the trigger. On 29 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:05,600 Speaker 1: this episode, Ahahuasca in the Jungle, Guns in Mexico, obscenity, 30 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:11,600 Speaker 1: literary icons, and william S Barrows. I'm Jake Brennan in 31 00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:40,840 Speaker 1: This is Hollywood Land. It's late. You're in your room 32 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:44,480 Speaker 1: looking at your phone because you're fifteen. What else are 33 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:46,600 Speaker 1: you going to be doing on a Tuesday night? Homework? 34 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:52,840 Speaker 1: Not likely? You're scrolling TikTok, going on a deep dive 35 00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:56,160 Speaker 1: of Kurt Cobaine interviews. They populate infinitely in your feed 36 00:02:56,919 --> 00:03:00,360 Speaker 1: because you're not a conformist like the other kids school. 37 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:04,799 Speaker 1: You're not into CARDI B or Imagine dragons or whatever. 38 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:06,240 Speaker 1: The fuck. I don't even know. I'm not gonna pretend 39 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:10,000 Speaker 1: I know you like classics like Rim Soundgarden, Sonic Youth. 40 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:14,000 Speaker 1: Nirvana is your favorite. Last year, your older sister she 41 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:17,200 Speaker 1: played you Heart Shaped Box and you were instantly hooked, 42 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:22,160 Speaker 1: not just on Nirvana's music, but on Kirk Covein's whole vibe. 43 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:31,760 Speaker 1: Kurt understood the world for what it truly was. Bullshit. School, bullshit, work, bullshit, conformity, bullshit, 44 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:37,440 Speaker 1: total bullshit. Today, as you watched the same old interview clips, 45 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:41,280 Speaker 1: you discover something new. It's Kurt Cobain talking to a 46 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:44,440 Speaker 1: German interviewer. Somehow they get on the subject of the 47 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:48,120 Speaker 1: beat poets. You understand the reference. You have your sister 48 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:50,920 Speaker 1: to thank for that too. She brought home a paperback 49 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:53,360 Speaker 1: copy of On the Road from her English Lit class, 50 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:57,400 Speaker 1: and it blew your mind. Kurt isn't talking about Jack Kerouac, 51 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:02,920 Speaker 1: though he says William Burrows is the King. He grins 52 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:04,480 Speaker 1: when he says that the two of them wrote a 53 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:06,880 Speaker 1: few letters back and forth to each other, and that 54 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:11,560 Speaker 1: they even recorded together. Holy shit, a Kurk comine recording 55 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:16,960 Speaker 1: that you never heard jackpot. Immediately you flip over to 56 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:20,040 Speaker 1: YouTube and find the song that he's talking about. The 57 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:24,240 Speaker 1: priest they called him. There's a picture of Kirk with 58 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:28,040 Speaker 1: a frail looking old man in glasses and a tall 59 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:32,640 Speaker 1: bone sin you hit play, and this old man takes 60 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 1: you on a chilling tale of a heroin addict searching 61 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:38,760 Speaker 1: for one last fix on Christmas Eve, while Kirk contributes 62 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:44,680 Speaker 1: scraps of paint peeling feedback on guitar. It's dark, haunting. 63 00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:49,279 Speaker 1: Suddenly there's a call from the kitchen and your snap 64 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:53,599 Speaker 1: back to reality. Dinner time in the hallway, you ask 65 00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:56,599 Speaker 1: your sister if she's ever heard of William Burrows. Yeah, 66 00:04:56,640 --> 00:04:59,320 Speaker 1: she tells you. He's like the guy who taught Jack 67 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:02,919 Speaker 1: Kerouac now in Ginsburg, how to write or something like that. 68 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:06,039 Speaker 1: At the dinner table, you ask your dad if he 69 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:11,320 Speaker 1: knows Burrows. Dad smiles, definitely, He's the guy who inspired 70 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:13,920 Speaker 1: the band named Steely Dan. Look it up, he says. 71 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:17,640 Speaker 1: On second thought, don't though, of course you do, and 72 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:21,320 Speaker 1: it's gross. A Steely Dan is a steam powered Bildo 73 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:24,320 Speaker 1: or something like that. Even better, your dad tells you 74 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:28,120 Speaker 1: Borrow's inspired micking Keith's lyrics for and You're rolling your 75 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:30,040 Speaker 1: eyes as your old man says this for the millions 76 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:33,400 Speaker 1: of time, the greatest rock record ever made exile on 77 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:38,880 Speaker 1: Main Street after dinner. You keep googling. You read about 78 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:42,719 Speaker 1: William Burrows, the godfather of punk, hanging out with Patti 79 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:46,800 Speaker 1: Smith and Lou Reid. William Burrows, the pioneer of the 80 00:05:46,839 --> 00:05:54,520 Speaker 1: avant garde who inspired Jean Michel Basquiat. William Burrows the Enigma, conservative, 81 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:58,400 Speaker 1: gum loving and gay. And then there's William Burrows the 82 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:02,600 Speaker 1: drug addict, and William Burrows the criminal, and of course 83 00:06:03,279 --> 00:06:11,599 Speaker 1: William Burrows the murderer. Nineteen fifty one, Mexico City. He 84 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:14,839 Speaker 1: took a deep breath and cocked the handgun. He tried 85 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:16,919 Speaker 1: not to think about how bad his hands were shaking, 86 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:19,400 Speaker 1: or how it felt like bugs were crawling all over 87 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:23,640 Speaker 1: his skin. He licked his thin, dry lips. God, he 88 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:29,359 Speaker 1: needed another drink, or another joint, anything, First, he needed 89 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:33,320 Speaker 1: to hit his target. Thirty seven year old William Burrows 90 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:36,680 Speaker 1: raised the three eighty pistol in the air. Ten feet 91 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:40,520 Speaker 1: ahead of him stood a bus boy trembling, and Burrows 92 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:43,960 Speaker 1: lined up a shot, and the bus boy shut his 93 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:47,719 Speaker 1: eyes tight. He took another deep breath. The bus boy 94 00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:49,920 Speaker 1: stretched his arm out away from him and whispered a 95 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:55,000 Speaker 1: prayer under his breath. Borrows went still, his hands quit shaking, 96 00:06:55,520 --> 00:07:01,240 Speaker 1: and then he fired. The bullet flew out of the 97 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:04,680 Speaker 1: barrel and tore through its intended target. Bones, blood, and 98 00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:09,039 Speaker 1: body parts went flying in all directions. The bus boy 99 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:12,640 Speaker 1: opened his eyes slowly. He could see the tail of 100 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:16,600 Speaker 1: the mouse still pinched between his fingers. The rest of 101 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:19,440 Speaker 1: the mouse's body was splattered against the wall behind him, 102 00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:22,440 Speaker 1: except the head, which came clean off and was now 103 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:24,800 Speaker 1: spinning like a bloody top. By the doorway of this 104 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:28,960 Speaker 1: barrow's storage room. A cheer rose up in the room. 105 00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:32,120 Speaker 1: William Burrows gave a slight nod and put the pistol 106 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:35,040 Speaker 1: back in his holster. He smirked and looked over at 107 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:38,120 Speaker 1: John Healy, the American owner of this expat bar in 108 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:42,240 Speaker 1: Mexico City. Told you, I could do it. John just 109 00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:44,720 Speaker 1: shook his head and pulled out a hundred pays of note. 110 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:49,960 Speaker 1: Borrows snatched the bill triumphantly. He didn't really need the money, 111 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:52,360 Speaker 1: since his parents still sudden him a couple hundred bucks 112 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:55,800 Speaker 1: a month, but a bet was a bet, and John 113 00:07:55,840 --> 00:07:58,040 Speaker 1: slapped him on the back. He grabbed a few bottles 114 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:00,200 Speaker 1: of liquor and they turned to head back upstairs. The 115 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:04,760 Speaker 1: party as they were doing so, Burrows looked down and 116 00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:08,400 Speaker 1: saw the mouse's bloody head lying on the floor. He 117 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:11,440 Speaker 1: almost screamed when it opened its eyes and looked at him. 118 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:18,600 Speaker 1: And now the decapitated mouse's head was speaking, Bill, you 119 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:21,560 Speaker 1: really seem to be compensating for something with that gun. 120 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:27,400 Speaker 1: Burrows closed his eyes and counted to ten. When he 121 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:32,760 Speaker 1: opened them again, the mouse's head lay motionless in the doorway. 122 00:08:32,800 --> 00:08:37,840 Speaker 1: Six months ago, William Burrows kicked heroin, and still these 123 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:43,200 Speaker 1: hallucinations stalked him. At least he was clean, though for 124 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:47,760 Speaker 1: good this time, he was sure. Although clean was a 125 00:08:47,800 --> 00:08:52,599 Speaker 1: relative term for William S. Burrows, clean didn't include alcohol 126 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:58,559 Speaker 1: or opium. It definitely didn't include marijuana. Those weren't hard drugs, 127 00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:03,720 Speaker 1: no danger of forming a half. Burrows followed John Healy 128 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:07,000 Speaker 1: to his apartment above the Bounty Bar in Mexico City. 129 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:09,560 Speaker 1: The Bounty Bar was the favorite hangout of Burrows and 130 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:13,600 Speaker 1: his wife, Joan Volmer. Every day, at five o'clock, they 131 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:15,720 Speaker 1: grabbed a table near the front window and worked their 132 00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:18,360 Speaker 1: way through a bottle of tequila while watching their four 133 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:21,400 Speaker 1: year old son and Joan's seven year old daughter play 134 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:25,840 Speaker 1: on the sidewalk. This was William Burrows's new habit, not 135 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:31,040 Speaker 1: junk drinking alongside Joan, who gobbled inmphetamines by the handful 136 00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:33,760 Speaker 1: and leveled them out with tequila or gin starting around 137 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:39,600 Speaker 1: eight am. No special occasion required. Today, however, was a 138 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:44,040 Speaker 1: special occasion. Borrows was finally back in Mexico City after 139 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:46,880 Speaker 1: a two month journey through the Amazon rainforest in search 140 00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:51,680 Speaker 1: of a mystical hallucinogen. The trip was a disaster. He 141 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:54,760 Speaker 1: never found the drug, and to make matters worse, Joan 142 00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:57,160 Speaker 1: was furious at him for leaving her alone with two 143 00:09:57,240 --> 00:09:59,920 Speaker 1: small children while he went on a boondoggle with lou 144 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:04,559 Speaker 1: Us Marker, a student friend fifteen years his junior. Didn't 145 00:10:04,559 --> 00:10:06,680 Speaker 1: help that Burrows was sleeping with him the whole time. 146 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:10,719 Speaker 1: Joan knew her husband liked men, but his crush on 147 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:14,080 Speaker 1: Lewis was turning into an obsession. It gave her a 148 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:19,560 Speaker 1: bad feeling bruise in hand. Burrows and John Healey stumbled 149 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:22,920 Speaker 1: up to Healey's apartment, and before they opened the door, 150 00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:28,400 Speaker 1: Burrows hesitated. The latest hallucination had spooked him, felt like 151 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:32,040 Speaker 1: a premonition. He had to get out of here. He 152 00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:34,240 Speaker 1: told John he was going to take a walk into town, 153 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:40,240 Speaker 1: and he returned a few hours later to find the 154 00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:44,480 Speaker 1: party in high gear. Lewis Marker, that student friend and 155 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:48,800 Speaker 1: sometime lover, was chatting up a curvacous blonde, and Joan 156 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:51,480 Speaker 1: was slashing another drink and mumbling a story to their host. 157 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:56,720 Speaker 1: The bad feelings washed over Burrows again. This party was dull, 158 00:10:57,440 --> 00:11:02,040 Speaker 1: hell off the drugs, everything was stall. If he wanted 159 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:04,720 Speaker 1: excitement tonight, he was gonna have to make it himself. 160 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:10,320 Speaker 1: So William Burrows stood up and made his announcement. Darling, 161 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:14,640 Speaker 1: he said, looking at Joan, I think it's time for 162 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:47,120 Speaker 1: our William Tell routine. Nineteen sixty five, Boston, Massachusetts. The 163 00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:51,880 Speaker 1: unmistakable sound of woods slamming into wood reverberated through the courtroom. 164 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:56,800 Speaker 1: Alan Ginsburg stood up and approached the stand. America's most 165 00:11:56,800 --> 00:12:00,600 Speaker 1: famous and controversial poet was about to testify for the defense, 166 00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:05,280 Speaker 1: not in defense of a person. He was defending a book, 167 00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:12,120 Speaker 1: specifically William Burrows's magnum opus Naked Lunch. After his own 168 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:16,480 Speaker 1: masterpiece Howell was banned in California in nineteen fifty five. 169 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:20,240 Speaker 1: Alan Ginsburg and his publishers had been able to overturn 170 00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:24,640 Speaker 1: the decision. In court now a decade later, Ginsburg was 171 00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:27,360 Speaker 1: trying to do the same for his friend, here to 172 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:30,320 Speaker 1: convince the court that the book in fact had literary 173 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:34,400 Speaker 1: merit and thus First Amendment protection, that it was not 174 00:12:34,640 --> 00:12:39,320 Speaker 1: pornography but a work of art with redeeming value. As 175 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:42,079 Speaker 1: he raised his hand to be sworn in, Alan Ginsburg 176 00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:45,000 Speaker 1: cut quite a figure. A mop of curly hair hanging 177 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:48,160 Speaker 1: beneath the balding top of his head, a beard descending 178 00:12:48,200 --> 00:12:51,040 Speaker 1: past a shirt collar. Yet his three PCE suit was 179 00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:54,840 Speaker 1: perfectly tailored. He looked like a wild eyed English professor 180 00:12:54,880 --> 00:12:58,480 Speaker 1: after one too many cups of coffee. On the opposite 181 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:02,680 Speaker 1: side of the witness stand an attorney, mister Ginsburg, would 182 00:13:02,679 --> 00:13:04,480 Speaker 1: you please tell the court whether or not, or to 183 00:13:04,520 --> 00:13:07,080 Speaker 1: what extent naked lunch the book has had importance for 184 00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:11,280 Speaker 1: your own creative work. Alan Ginsburg cleared his throat. He 185 00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:13,680 Speaker 1: leaned forward to give his answer, and as he did, 186 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:20,920 Speaker 1: memories of Tangier flashed through his mind. William Burrows stumbled 187 00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:23,719 Speaker 1: into the kitchen. He turned around in a panic as 188 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:26,760 Speaker 1: the doctor burst through the doorway behind him. Bastard was 189 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:30,200 Speaker 1: dressed in full Nazi regalia, a swastika on each term. 190 00:13:30,679 --> 00:13:33,400 Speaker 1: Borrows tried to run, but it was too late. The 191 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:37,680 Speaker 1: doctor plunged a syringe deep into his arm. Bill the 192 00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:41,079 Speaker 1: doctor was saying, cackling, really his eyes wild with madness. 193 00:13:41,280 --> 00:13:45,760 Speaker 1: Hold still, you must dig zick cure. Borrows pushed the 194 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:49,880 Speaker 1: doctor away and again tried to run. He stepped out 195 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:52,960 Speaker 1: into a dank alley. The dead cat, lying on the 196 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:56,679 Speaker 1: dirt stopped him in his tracks. Blood oozed out from 197 00:13:56,679 --> 00:13:59,640 Speaker 1: a hole in the feline's head. Then its eyes shot 198 00:13:59,679 --> 00:14:05,600 Speaker 1: open and spoke, what's the matter? Bill? Catcut your tongue? 199 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:09,520 Speaker 1: William Burrows lurched back in terror. He turned to escape 200 00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:13,200 Speaker 1: and nearly slammed into someone. Thank God, it was a 201 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:21,280 Speaker 1: familiar face, Alan Ginsburg, his friend, his savior, his obsession. 202 00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:25,160 Speaker 1: Suddenly they weren't in an alley anymore, but standing in 203 00:14:25,160 --> 00:14:28,560 Speaker 1: a cramp kitchen. It looked just like the apartment in 204 00:14:28,600 --> 00:14:31,520 Speaker 1: New York where they bonded after that business in Mexico City, 205 00:14:32,160 --> 00:14:35,200 Speaker 1: a bond that quickly turned into a love affair, an 206 00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:38,800 Speaker 1: affair that became an all consuming obsession for Burrows, so 207 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:44,680 Speaker 1: intense that it scared Ginsburg. After two months, Ginsburg broke 208 00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:50,240 Speaker 1: it off, and that's when Burrows split the United States 209 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:55,960 Speaker 1: for here Tangier, the lawless, internationally run city in Morocco. 210 00:14:56,480 --> 00:15:00,000 Speaker 1: Now Ginsburg was right in front of him. Burrows reached 211 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:03,080 Speaker 1: out to embrace him, but Ginsburg just pushed him away. 212 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:07,080 Speaker 1: He forced Burrows's head down towards a huge cast iron 213 00:15:07,120 --> 00:15:09,400 Speaker 1: pot boiling on the stove and lifted up the lid. 214 00:15:10,240 --> 00:15:14,680 Speaker 1: Borrows looked Down's he cooking in there? He wondered. Ginsburg 215 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:19,760 Speaker 1: gave the answer. Although his mouth didn't move brains, it 216 00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:24,040 Speaker 1: was almost telepathic. Burrows saw a mass of white worms 217 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:30,520 Speaker 1: writhing and squirming in the pot. He screamed. He snapped 218 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:33,080 Speaker 1: his head up towards the ceiling, and he was back 219 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:36,320 Speaker 1: in the bright white hospital room. A doctor watched him 220 00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:38,400 Speaker 1: as he strained against the bonds that held him down. 221 00:15:38,880 --> 00:15:46,000 Speaker 1: No swastikus, no Nazi regalia. Reality set in. Burrows was 222 00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:50,080 Speaker 1: kicking junk again. He'd been through the cycle more times 223 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:53,480 Speaker 1: than he could count, and this time, after three days 224 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:56,320 Speaker 1: of hell, he was finally starting to come back to earth. 225 00:15:57,560 --> 00:16:00,600 Speaker 1: The doctor muttered something in German as he prepared an injection. 226 00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:04,240 Speaker 1: He shot Borrows full of sedatives, but not enough to 227 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:07,680 Speaker 1: completely knock him out. For the cure, to work. He 228 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:11,120 Speaker 1: needed to be conscious. Burrows groaned in pain as a 229 00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:14,240 Speaker 1: needle stabbed him again. He would later portray this doctor 230 00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:16,880 Speaker 1: as the villain Doctor Benway in his book Naked Lunch 231 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:19,680 Speaker 1: For Now. He was so desperate to get off the 232 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:24,080 Speaker 1: junk that he was willing to try anything. After Alan 233 00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:27,160 Speaker 1: Ginsburg broke it off with him, William Burrows arrived in 234 00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:31,160 Speaker 1: Tangier wrecked. He blew through the monthly stipend his parents 235 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:34,560 Speaker 1: sent him on young male prostitutes, but that only helps 236 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:38,960 Speaker 1: so much for total numbness. He turned to drugs, and 237 00:16:39,040 --> 00:16:44,280 Speaker 1: in Tangier in nineteen fifty five, drugs were everywhere. It 238 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:47,160 Speaker 1: took no time to get hooked on the German painkiller Yucadol. 239 00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:50,960 Speaker 1: It got so bad that he quit bathing, quit eating, 240 00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:54,720 Speaker 1: but he kept writing, even if it was just letters 241 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:57,960 Speaker 1: to Ginsburg, who, despite the breakup, was still acting as 242 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:02,400 Speaker 1: his literary agent. These letters are filled with grim portraits 243 00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:06,399 Speaker 1: of addiction and depravity. Stories so dark they gave Alan 244 00:17:06,440 --> 00:17:10,200 Speaker 1: Ginsburg nightmares, and that's how Ginsburg knew they were good. 245 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:13,119 Speaker 1: He begged his friend to get clean and pull these 246 00:17:13,160 --> 00:17:17,400 Speaker 1: bits together into a novel. Thus William Burrows was subjecting 247 00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:22,080 Speaker 1: himself to the cure once again. It took several more 248 00:17:22,080 --> 00:17:25,000 Speaker 1: attempts and a trip to a London clinic, but by 249 00:17:25,080 --> 00:17:30,159 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty seven Burrows was mostly clean and letters. He 250 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:33,680 Speaker 1: asked Ginsburg and Jack Kerouac to visit him to help 251 00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:37,360 Speaker 1: turn what he'd been writing into a real manuscript. They 252 00:17:37,359 --> 00:17:42,240 Speaker 1: were nervous. Newspapers reported the tensions in Tangier were rising. 253 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:46,160 Speaker 1: Moroccans were calling for the city to return to their control, 254 00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:50,040 Speaker 1: and there were large protests. Violence was in the air. 255 00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:53,920 Speaker 1: Burrows downplayed the danger and assured his friends they would 256 00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:57,720 Speaker 1: be safe. A decade ago, the trio explored the CD 257 00:17:57,880 --> 00:18:03,480 Speaker 1: underbelly of New York, giving rise to the beat generation. Now, Borrows, Ginsburg, 258 00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:07,399 Speaker 1: and Karauak were finally together again, even if Ginsburg had 259 00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:10,959 Speaker 1: arrived with his new partner in tow. When they stepped 260 00:18:10,960 --> 00:18:14,159 Speaker 1: off the boat together, the jealousy cut right through William 261 00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:18,480 Speaker 1: Burrows's heart like a bullet. He channeled that jealousy and 262 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:22,720 Speaker 1: pain into his writing, writing that had now replaced sex 263 00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:27,240 Speaker 1: and drugs as his addiction of choice. His new routine 264 00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:30,680 Speaker 1: was this wake up, swim or row a boat in 265 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:35,359 Speaker 1: the bay, eat breakfast and popma June, basically the original 266 00:18:35,359 --> 00:18:38,520 Speaker 1: hash Brownie. Before settling in the handwrite up to six 267 00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:42,440 Speaker 1: thousand words a day. Kerouac and Ginsburg tried to make 268 00:18:42,480 --> 00:18:44,560 Speaker 1: sense of his notes and scribbles and type them into 269 00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:48,600 Speaker 1: a workable manuscript. The schedule was grueling, but soon the 270 00:18:48,680 --> 00:18:51,200 Speaker 1: vivid sights and sounds of Tangier were coming to life 271 00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:56,720 Speaker 1: as the dreamlike inter zone of naked Lunch. Meanwhile, the 272 00:18:56,760 --> 00:19:00,879 Speaker 1: protests in Tangier turned into outright conflict. Borrow was on 273 00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:03,520 Speaker 1: his way home from his morning workout, passed by a 274 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:06,119 Speaker 1: large group of protesters pushing up against a wall of 275 00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:10,960 Speaker 1: French soldiers, screaming at them to go home. The soldiers 276 00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:14,520 Speaker 1: inched backwards slowly, until suddenly one of them fired into 277 00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:18,720 Speaker 1: the crowd. People scattered in all directions, and as the 278 00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:23,200 Speaker 1: crowd cleared, Barrows stood there, horrified, watching his soldier pull 279 00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:25,760 Speaker 1: a body out of the water. A bullet lodged in 280 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:29,520 Speaker 1: the forehead. He closed his eyes and shook his head, 281 00:19:29,760 --> 00:19:31,800 Speaker 1: but when he opened them the body was still there. 282 00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:38,200 Speaker 1: This was no hallucination. It was a sign Tangier was changing. 283 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:46,200 Speaker 1: By nineteen fifty eight, he left Tangier for Paris, following 284 00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:50,680 Speaker 1: Ginsburg to the Notorious Beat Hotel, a CD forty two 285 00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:54,280 Speaker 1: room artist hang out where they rearranged Borrows' text by 286 00:19:54,359 --> 00:19:57,879 Speaker 1: literally cutting it up and spicing it back together. The 287 00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:01,960 Speaker 1: cut up technique and Naked Lunch came Borrows's signature and 288 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:06,040 Speaker 1: later inspired the lyrics of Mick Jagger, David Bowie, and others. 289 00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:09,520 Speaker 1: The result was a series of semi connected stories that 290 00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:15,480 Speaker 1: touched on everything political violence and bloodshed, withdrawal, addictions, to drugs, 291 00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:20,240 Speaker 1: to sex to power. The result was dark, complicated work 292 00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:24,040 Speaker 1: in many ways. Yes, it was obscene, but did it 293 00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:32,920 Speaker 1: have literary merit? Absolutely? Back in the Boston courtroom, That's 294 00:20:32,960 --> 00:20:37,359 Speaker 1: exactly what Allen Ginsburg testified when asked, he said, the 295 00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:40,560 Speaker 1: book is a confession. The important thing that struck me 296 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:42,919 Speaker 1: was the enormous courage it took to make such a 297 00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:46,800 Speaker 1: total confession. In his opinion, it was a work of 298 00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:52,720 Speaker 1: literary genius. The court disagreed. They upheld the band on 299 00:20:52,840 --> 00:20:57,000 Speaker 1: Naked Lunch, but it didn't last long. Two months later, 300 00:20:57,040 --> 00:21:00,919 Speaker 1: the Supreme Court overturned the decision. The case stands as 301 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:03,480 Speaker 1: the last obscenity trial of a work of literature in 302 00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:08,479 Speaker 1: American history. As for William Burrows, the notoriety made him 303 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:12,720 Speaker 1: a star. He rubbed elbows with Jimmy Page and Andy Warhol. 304 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:16,880 Speaker 1: He appeared on Saturday Night Live. But no matter how 305 00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:20,280 Speaker 1: high he ascended, there was always something pulling him back 306 00:21:21,359 --> 00:21:24,399 Speaker 1: back to a warm, late summer night in Mexico City, 307 00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:29,159 Speaker 1: September of nineteen fifty one, The night a little party 308 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:33,280 Speaker 1: trick went arere we wrong? The night William S. Burrows 309 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:40,280 Speaker 1: took a shot and wound up taking a life. We'll 310 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:55,160 Speaker 1: be right back after this. We're we're, We're in the darkness. 311 00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:59,719 Speaker 1: He can only hear the voice screaming. William Burrows blindly 312 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:03,520 Speaker 1: pushed his way through an unfamiliar building. It was the 313 00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:07,040 Speaker 1: dead of knight. He was half asleep. He ran his 314 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:09,440 Speaker 1: hand along the way until he finally found a door. 315 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:12,760 Speaker 1: It swung open and he could now see clearly in 316 00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:19,159 Speaker 1: the moonlight, Mexico City, outside the Bounty Bar, his favorite hangout. 317 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:23,120 Speaker 1: His four year old son lying on the dirt road, sobbing, 318 00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:28,920 Speaker 1: begging for help. His mother, Joan Volmer Borrows, His wife 319 00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:33,760 Speaker 1: was nowhere to be seen. Borrows grabbed the boy, pulling 320 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:36,680 Speaker 1: him tight to his chest. He whirled around, and then 321 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:41,560 Speaker 1: he saw them, men and women, surrounding him, all dressed 322 00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:47,040 Speaker 1: in black and white convict suits, screaming something pointing at him. 323 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:49,480 Speaker 1: He couldn't make it out at first, but then the 324 00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:55,480 Speaker 1: word hit him. Guilty, guilty, guilty. They were screaming it 325 00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:59,760 Speaker 1: over and over. Then they were all around everywhere. He 326 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:01,919 Speaker 1: turned in circles, trying to find a gap as they 327 00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:10,000 Speaker 1: continued to step forward, closing in. William Burrows awoke from 328 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:13,119 Speaker 1: his dream with a start. He could hear the whine 329 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:17,240 Speaker 1: of mosquitoes, the rustling of bats, calls from God knows 330 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:21,600 Speaker 1: what out in the jungle. This wasn't Mexico City. He 331 00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:24,800 Speaker 1: was in the Amazon rainforest, on the hunt for the 332 00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:28,359 Speaker 1: answer to all of his problems, the miracle drug that 333 00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:33,200 Speaker 1: could cure his heroin addiction, Yeah Hey, better known as ayahuasca. 334 00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:36,439 Speaker 1: The natives claimed it could give you the power to 335 00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:41,399 Speaker 1: communicate telepathically, and that it could cure addictions, addictions to sex, 336 00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:47,120 Speaker 1: addictions to drugs. In nineteen fifty one, William Burrows still 337 00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:51,159 Speaker 1: held out hope for a respectable life. His grandfather was 338 00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:54,280 Speaker 1: an inventor who made a fortune on an early version 339 00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:57,720 Speaker 1: of the adding machine, a fortune that even now at 340 00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:01,120 Speaker 1: thirty seven years old, allowed Borrows his family to support 341 00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:04,840 Speaker 1: him with a monthly allowance. They wanted respectable things for 342 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:09,880 Speaker 1: him too, career family, but a drug addicted failed writer 343 00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:12,360 Speaker 1: with a thing for other men was pretty far from 344 00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:18,240 Speaker 1: their mid twentieth century vision of respectability. Next to Burrows 345 00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:20,840 Speaker 1: on the cot wasn't his four year old son or 346 00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:24,000 Speaker 1: his wife, but his twenty one year old lover, Louis 347 00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:28,880 Speaker 1: Marker Well. Lover was probably too strong of a word. Sure, 348 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:31,680 Speaker 1: Lewis slept with Burrows, but he did so for money, 349 00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:35,600 Speaker 1: and Louis did like the older man's wild stories and 350 00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:40,840 Speaker 1: outrageous sense of humor, but economics aside, Louis preferred the ladies. 351 00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:45,800 Speaker 1: He was slim, young and straight, which made him just 352 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:51,280 Speaker 1: William Burrows's type. Unfortunately, their search for Yaye was a 353 00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:54,680 Speaker 1: complete bust. They never found the drug, and for the 354 00:24:54,760 --> 00:24:56,760 Speaker 1: last three days they've been stuck on the front porch 355 00:24:56,800 --> 00:24:59,440 Speaker 1: as some American botanist place deep in the jungle, while 356 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:04,160 Speaker 1: rain poured down from above. In the darkness, Borrows tried 357 00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:07,520 Speaker 1: to shake off his nightmare. He looked over at Louis 358 00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:10,240 Speaker 1: sleeping next to him, and he knew he shouldn't reach out. 359 00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:15,880 Speaker 1: Louis was not one for affection, but still the nightmare 360 00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:18,760 Speaker 1: had been so real, and they were alone in the jungle. 361 00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:23,359 Speaker 1: Borrows stretched his arm over, looking for comfort, and Louis 362 00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:29,040 Speaker 1: pushed him away, slack off man get some rest. The 363 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:34,440 Speaker 1: rejection was too much. Tears poured down Burrows's cheeks. He 364 00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:38,040 Speaker 1: knew Louis would never love him. Deep inside, he also 365 00:25:38,119 --> 00:25:41,560 Speaker 1: knew the no miracle drug could ever change him. A 366 00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:44,960 Speaker 1: wave of sadness washed over him, and then he thought 367 00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:49,200 Speaker 1: about Joan alone with the children. It was time to 368 00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:55,960 Speaker 1: get back. On September first, nineteen fifty one, William Burrows 369 00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:59,080 Speaker 1: returned to Mexico City. He was relieved to find his 370 00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:02,280 Speaker 1: son Billy, safe and sound, but his wife Joan looked 371 00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:06,399 Speaker 1: stressed and totally strung out. She berated him for leaving 372 00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:11,080 Speaker 1: her alone, and they argued constantly. It depressed Burrows even more, 373 00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:16,080 Speaker 1: rejected by Lewis and disappointing his wife. Pushing forty and 374 00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:19,760 Speaker 1: never holding down a real job. Supposedly he was a writer, 375 00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:23,320 Speaker 1: but without Alan Ginsburg and Jack Kerouac around to help him, 376 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:27,520 Speaker 1: his motivation had come to a standstill. His drinking got worse, 377 00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:34,240 Speaker 1: he was washed up, hopeless. These thoughts bounced around in 378 00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:36,680 Speaker 1: his head as he walked away from John Healey's apartment 379 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:40,199 Speaker 1: and into town. He tried to cast them out, just 380 00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:41,800 Speaker 1: as he was trying to rid his brain to that 381 00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:45,920 Speaker 1: last hallucination, the one with the decapitated dead mouse spoke 382 00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:49,680 Speaker 1: to him. He watched the sun sink down into the horizon, 383 00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:53,199 Speaker 1: like his life was sinking down with it. Enough of 384 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:56,800 Speaker 1: this bullshit, he had to be around other people and 385 00:26:56,840 --> 00:27:00,560 Speaker 1: get out of his own head. William Burrow left his 386 00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:04,840 Speaker 1: own pity party and returned to the real party. Clearly 387 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:08,000 Speaker 1: he had some catching up to do. Everyone else was wasted. 388 00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:12,360 Speaker 1: Joan was talking loudly to John, although it was hard 389 00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:15,960 Speaker 1: to make out her words. Gesturing with one hand, she 390 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:19,159 Speaker 1: knocked over her purse pills of all shapes and colors 391 00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:21,560 Speaker 1: when flying under the carpet as she dove down and 392 00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:26,280 Speaker 1: frantically started picking them up. Across the room, Louis was 393 00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:30,359 Speaker 1: ignoring Burrows completely, his hand on a leggy blonde, laughing 394 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:34,480 Speaker 1: at one of his lame jokes. Burrows burned with jealousy. 395 00:27:35,359 --> 00:27:38,080 Speaker 1: To be rejected is one thing, but to be ignored 396 00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:43,600 Speaker 1: that was something he simply could not stand. He fixed 397 00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:47,399 Speaker 1: himself a drink, mixing bad Mexican gin with a lime soda. 398 00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:51,240 Speaker 1: He gulped it down, and then he had another and another. 399 00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:55,160 Speaker 1: He felt one hundred paso note in his pocket. Maybe 400 00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:58,320 Speaker 1: tonight was the night he could head back into town 401 00:27:58,359 --> 00:28:03,080 Speaker 1: to score two months clean, six months like six slow 402 00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:08,359 Speaker 1: drops in a bucket. Fuck it, He knew it wouldn't last. 403 00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:11,800 Speaker 1: As he reached for the money in his pocket, his 404 00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:16,160 Speaker 1: hand grazed the pistol. Maybe he could find some other 405 00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:19,400 Speaker 1: way to entertain himself, some other way to make sure 406 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:22,080 Speaker 1: he had the full attention of everyone in the room. 407 00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:27,240 Speaker 1: Lewis always did love his outrageous sense of humor. Burrows 408 00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:30,439 Speaker 1: stumbled to his feet. He watched as Joan continued to 409 00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:33,800 Speaker 1: grab pills off the dirty carpeted floor. He pulled out 410 00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:36,600 Speaker 1: the gun with a theatrical flourish and cocked it loudly. 411 00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:40,080 Speaker 1: Everyone in the room turned their eyes to him. He 412 00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:43,280 Speaker 1: had their undivided attention. He looked at his wife with 413 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:47,400 Speaker 1: a mischievous gleam in his eye. Darling, I think it's 414 00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:52,680 Speaker 1: time for our William Tell routine. The William Tell routine, 415 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:55,320 Speaker 1: of course, was the one where Joan placed something on 416 00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:58,160 Speaker 1: the top of her head and Burrows shot it off 417 00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:00,440 Speaker 1: cleanly with one squeeze of the trick her on his 418 00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:04,000 Speaker 1: three eighty pistol. It sent any party into a tizzy. 419 00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:08,120 Speaker 1: As soon as he made the suggestion, the room grew quiet. 420 00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:12,360 Speaker 1: The words hung there like a dare. Under the effects 421 00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:16,600 Speaker 1: of the booze and pills. Joan felt fearless. She stood up, 422 00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:19,720 Speaker 1: grabbed the highball glass and placed it on top of 423 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:25,160 Speaker 1: her head. She called her husband's bluff. Everyone continued to stare, 424 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:29,640 Speaker 1: wondering what was going to happen next. No choice now 425 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:34,200 Speaker 1: but to follow through, or so William Burrow's thought. He 426 00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:36,320 Speaker 1: also thought of the mouse he just shot a few 427 00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:40,520 Speaker 1: hours earlier, that was ten feet away. Joan was only 428 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:44,200 Speaker 1: six feet in front of him. Easy shot. He took 429 00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:48,840 Speaker 1: a breath. She's just six feet away, am high. He 430 00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:53,840 Speaker 1: raised the gun and he pulled the trigger. The shot 431 00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:56,400 Speaker 1: rang out. The glass fell to the ground in front 432 00:29:56,440 --> 00:29:59,720 Speaker 1: of him, spinning in concentric circles wider and wider. He 433 00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:03,840 Speaker 1: looked over at Joan, who was no longer standing. She 434 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:07,120 Speaker 1: was lying face down on the floor. Louis ran to 435 00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:11,560 Speaker 1: her side and rolled her over. He screamed. Blood trickled 436 00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:14,480 Speaker 1: out from a hole in her forehead. The bullet was 437 00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:20,480 Speaker 1: lodged in her brain and Joan Vohmer, William Burrows's wife, 438 00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:43,800 Speaker 1: was dead. Nineteen eighty two, Lawrence, Kansas, sixty eight year 439 00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:47,600 Speaker 1: old William Burrows raised the heavy twelve gage shotgun. He 440 00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:53,520 Speaker 1: took aim without hesitation. He fired the gun kicked back 441 00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:56,000 Speaker 1: into his shoulder as the shot rang out through the woods. 442 00:30:56,920 --> 00:31:00,440 Speaker 1: It was immediately followed by another loud bang, this one 443 00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:02,720 Speaker 1: coming from the spray paint can he was shooting at, 444 00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:07,120 Speaker 1: which was now spurting red liquid. Burrows grabbed a pair 445 00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:10,640 Speaker 1: of shotgun shells and reloaded. He aimed at another spray 446 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:13,800 Speaker 1: paint can. He blasted it and watched red paint go 447 00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:16,760 Speaker 1: flying as the pressurized can shot up one hundred feet 448 00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:19,640 Speaker 1: into the air before sailing back down and smashing into 449 00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:23,080 Speaker 1: the ground in front of his barn. The paint splashed 450 00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:25,840 Speaker 1: against a huge plywood canvas leaning against the side of 451 00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:29,719 Speaker 1: the barn, creating an eerie pattern of splatter marks pierced 452 00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:37,280 Speaker 1: by buckshot. He examined his work not bad. After the 453 00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:40,760 Speaker 1: naked lunch obscenity trial, William Burrows returned to New York 454 00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:44,440 Speaker 1: City as a literary star in the seventies. He reveled 455 00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:48,160 Speaker 1: in his newfound celebrity, entertaining famous guests like Lou Reed, 456 00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:51,080 Speaker 1: Andy Warhol, and David Bowie in a Lower East Side 457 00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:54,880 Speaker 1: apartment he called the Bunker. New York in the nineteen 458 00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:57,720 Speaker 1: seventies was every bit as lawless as Tangier was in 459 00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:01,080 Speaker 1: the nineteen fifties. The city was a wash and heroin 460 00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:03,720 Speaker 1: and it wasn't long before he was hooked once again. 461 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:08,040 Speaker 1: That's how Burrows ended up here in the small college 462 00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:11,720 Speaker 1: town of Lawrence, Kansas. Friends knew he wasn't doing well. 463 00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:13,680 Speaker 1: They urged him to get out of the city and 464 00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:17,440 Speaker 1: away from temptation. Out in the heartland and away from 465 00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:21,720 Speaker 1: his drug connections. He could mostly stay clean once again, 466 00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:26,320 Speaker 1: a new addiction to replace an old one, this time methadone, 467 00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:33,960 Speaker 1: but also painting, painting with shotguns. It all started by accident. 468 00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:37,120 Speaker 1: He was testing the site on a new twelve gage 469 00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:39,320 Speaker 1: and by chance, he fired it at a scrap piece 470 00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:42,680 Speaker 1: of plywood. When he came closer to look at the markings, 471 00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:46,160 Speaker 1: the beauty of the striations where the buckshot damaged the 472 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:50,640 Speaker 1: woods struck him. It was a perfect metaphor for his life. 473 00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:56,880 Speaker 1: Beauty after destruction. He experimented with the technique and soon 474 00:32:56,960 --> 00:33:00,000 Speaker 1: he was stringing up cans of spray paint above the plywood. 475 00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:03,640 Speaker 1: They were pressurized, so they exploded and went flying into 476 00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:06,320 Speaker 1: the air after a direct hit. He loved the way 477 00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:09,200 Speaker 1: they added random splashes of color across the wood, like 478 00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:13,200 Speaker 1: Jackson Pollock packing heat. Every time he lined up a shot, 479 00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:18,240 Speaker 1: he reminded himself to aim high. In aim high, he did. 480 00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:23,160 Speaker 1: Even after moving to Kansas, William Burrows only became more 481 00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:26,880 Speaker 1: of a counterculture icon. He was in the lexicon of 482 00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:30,040 Speaker 1: modern rock thirst and more of sonic Youth, and Kirk 483 00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:33,680 Speaker 1: Kobe and from Nirvana made pilgrimages to visit him. The 484 00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:36,840 Speaker 1: industrial group Ministry shot up Heroin in his living room 485 00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:41,680 Speaker 1: during one of his many lapses. He collaborated with incredible 486 00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:45,239 Speaker 1: singer songwriters like Nick Cave and Tom Waits, and he 487 00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:49,360 Speaker 1: was elected into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. 488 00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:53,960 Speaker 1: But even at this level of achievement, he had to 489 00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:56,880 Speaker 1: continue to aim high, because he failed to do so 490 00:33:57,000 --> 00:34:00,560 Speaker 1: once on a warm summer night in Mexico City. The 491 00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:03,480 Speaker 1: death of his wife caused a major scandal south of 492 00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:07,800 Speaker 1: the border for shooting and killing Joan volmer. William Burrows 493 00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:11,400 Speaker 1: was arrested, spending thirteen days in jail before his family 494 00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:14,799 Speaker 1: bailed him out. The trial was delayed for years before 495 00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:17,920 Speaker 1: he could finally leave the country. He was convicted of 496 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:22,320 Speaker 1: manslaughter in absentia and received a two year suspended sentence. 497 00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:29,120 Speaker 1: But no matter how high he aimed, death continued to 498 00:34:29,160 --> 00:34:33,359 Speaker 1: haunt him. His son Billy, succumbed to addiction and died 499 00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:36,279 Speaker 1: at age thirty three of cirrhosis of the liver, the 500 00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:41,280 Speaker 1: same thing that killed Jack Kerouac. Above all else, however, 501 00:34:41,680 --> 00:34:45,440 Speaker 1: there was Joan. It wasn't until nineteen ninety two Burrows 502 00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:47,800 Speaker 1: claimed that he was able to help Joan's soul find 503 00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:51,719 Speaker 1: peace with the help of a Native American shaman. Three 504 00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:54,719 Speaker 1: years later, he was still wrestling with her ghost in 505 00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:58,680 Speaker 1: his final book, My Education, a Book of Dreams, which 506 00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:03,080 Speaker 1: he wrote at the age of eighty one. William Burrows, 507 00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:06,920 Speaker 1: on the other hand, never found peace, no cure for 508 00:35:06,960 --> 00:35:11,000 Speaker 1: his addictions. Instead, he learned how to create beauty out 509 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:16,360 Speaker 1: of destruction shotgun paintings, dark portraits of addiction. In his writing, 510 00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:20,800 Speaker 1: William S. Burrows learned to channel his destructive impulses into 511 00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:26,520 Speaker 1: his arm. It saved his life. Unfortunately, he learned it 512 00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:29,400 Speaker 1: too late to save the life of his wife, Joan Volmer. 513 00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:34,719 Speaker 1: It's a tragic story that ought to be in pictures. 514 00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:53,200 Speaker 1: I'm Jake Brennan and this is hollywood Land. Hollywood Land 515 00:35:53,239 --> 00:35:56,239 Speaker 1: was created by Years Truly and is produced in partnership 516 00:35:56,280 --> 00:36:00,359 Speaker 1: with Double Elvis. Follow like, rate, and review Hollywoodland wherever 517 00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:02,200 Speaker 1: you get your podcasts, and get in touch with us 518 00:36:02,239 --> 00:36:05,920 Speaker 1: on social media at double Elvis. If you like Hollywoodland, 519 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:08,839 Speaker 1: check out my other show, the award winning Disgraceland, which 520 00:36:08,840 --> 00:36:10,640 Speaker 1: looks at the world of music through the lens of 521 00:36:10,680 --> 00:36:13,480 Speaker 1: true crime. Just search for Disgraceland or wherever you get 522 00:36:13,480 --> 00:36:21,200 Speaker 1: your podcasts. Good, that's a laugh.