There are times when a book finds you out, sort of falls into your hands. And this is one of them.

The librarian was throwing out box loads of old books - withdrawn copies, paperbacks deposited by departing families, musty tomes. In amongst the dross I happened on this. I knew Greil Marcus for his seminal book on Punk but hadn't followed him further. Since Tuesday I've read little else: once straight through, then yesterday with a pencil marking key passages and phrases that just shout off the page. One chapter in particular - The Old Weird America - is stunning and essential. In some ways Dylan is incidental - it's what Marcus throws up around the Basement Tapes (names, ideas, suggestions) that fascinates. I've ordered whatever Harry Smith I can find - VHS, DVD, books.



At first I thought the Marcus book was going to be a diversion - the Duncan H.D. Book is still beside my bed, bookmarked at Chapter Three, and the stacks of H.D. I've amassed and am gradually working through. In fact, Marcus' pages on Smith have only deepened the Duncan/H.D. work - Smith being a figure within the Berkeley 'scene' (and whose visual works demand comparison with Jess) and later moving on to New York and the Chelsea Hotel (its resident Paracelsus) and teaming up with Jonas Mekas.

So one book opens and discloses another ... and another ... and so we go on.