Sidetripping

by Charles Gatewood, William S. Burroughs

A first hand account of '60s and '70s counterculture seen through the eyes of pioneering photographer Charles Gatewood and legendary scribe William S. Burroughs. Chronicling the grotesque, surreal, and liberated American underground, Gatewood and Burroughs created a lasting, disturbing, and engaging portrait of this tumultuous period in American culture.

Genres: Photography, Art

1 pages, Paperback

First published June 10, 1975

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gritty street scenes from Louisiana, circa 1975--drunks, toughs, transvestites, S&M gays, brutal cops: the New Orleans demi-monde. Perhaps even better than Larry Clarke's "Tulsa" because "Tulsa" doesn't have the added benefit of text by William Burroughs.

[Steni · Rating 3 out of 5]

So bizarre.

[Chris Schneider · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unique book that is a quick read but one you will want to encounter repeatedly. Charles Gatewood is unflinching in his photography, getting right into the party, the protest, the event and recording it with his camera unapologetically. It is obvious that his subjects do not feel judged by him, as they let their desires and their weirdness loose. Masterbation, urination, public nudity, cross-dressing-- there are many arresting images that still have the power to shock 5o years later.

Meanwhile, William S. Burroughs provides commentary is a very conversational manner yet with refreshing insight. He looks and then he interprets in a stream-of-consciousness that verges on the edge of nonsense.

It is a beat book in the vein of Robert Frank, with the social views sympathetic toward the underclass of Jim Goldberg.

[rndgmoat · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing cultural document of the 1960s and 1970s--images from the edges of American society juxtaposed with fascistic imagery of police and the sometimes powerful, sometimes incomprehensibly pretentious prose of William S. Burroughs.

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this bk (probably on sale) at some shopping mall bk store (maybe they cdn't dump this 'weird crap' fast enuf, eh?!) when I was 22. It has photos by Charles Gatewood w/ commentary by William S. Burroughs. I suppose Gatewood deserves credit as an explorer of the often hidden aspects of society but it's Burroughs' commentary that does it for me. He appraises things w/o giving a shit of whether his take is PC or whatever. In response to one photo he writes:

A youth with clothespins pinching his nipples wearing a leather jacket and gauntlets with a whip tied around his waist looks at the camera with wooden face dead eyes that seem to turn up showing the whites as you watch. Is he a slave or victim who might turn up as a body in some Houston sex murder?

Instead of commenting on how 'hard-core' this guy looks, Burroughs gets right to the point: THIS IS A DEAD MAN, like a melancholic, WALLOWING IN DESTRUCTION - POSSIBLY HIS OWN. & it might be 'hip' & it might even be 'glamorous', but it's probably a DEAD END.

[Glenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gatewood's photographs of the cultural and sexual counterculture are juxtaposed with all-American images of police and parades. Burroughs' hallucinogenic prose provides imaginary context, history and a future to the moments captured by means of a paragraph for every third or so photo.

Charles Gatewood died recently, prompting me to dig this out of the back of my bookshelf. I think I'll leave it near the front.

[Benjamin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reprinted collection of black and white photos from New York, 1975, with a rambling introduction by William Burroughs. Very sexual, occassionally interesting