Vampire Vultures

by John Fahey

A wide range of memoir-like pieces, including interviews, letters, and verse, makes this collection a fitting companion to Fahey's How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life . Published posthumously, this volume rounds out the life of the legendary guitarist and composer, providing more backstory behind his creative ferocity. The stories provide a personal view into decades of his poignant insights into life and music.

Genres: Music, Short Stories, Fiction

129 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2003

Reviews

[Jerry Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm really glad I read this book. Fahey is special to me and there are special moments in this book but it is not as magical and transcendent as How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life. In that book we learned of Fahey's tragic upbringing and tales of his pedophile father but it was more creatively palpable than in Vultures. Parts of Vampire Vultures are harder to swallow and a few chapters seem to be stuck in just because they exist, and maybe that is a good enough reason, but it still cuases the book to suffer in quality. Still, I would read anything by or about John Fahey. I wish he was still here creating great music and spewing forth the ramblings of his mind and soul, entertaining us and challenging us all at once.

[Paul Bryant · Rating 1 out of 5]

Speaking as a Fahey completist, this one was hard to read, a miserable collection of rants about his childhood with only a few touches of the mad humour which graces all his other writings. Ghastly and depressing.

[Harold · Rating 3 out of 5]

some interesting stuff, but overall quite sad and sometimes rambling, I prefer How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life

pretty clear that he was somewhat bitter and lonely by this point in his life, and also maybe a bit narcissistic and misogynistic

both books seem to make it clear that his childhood was extremely impactful for him, and he maybe never fully grew up. which makes the latter parts of this book where he talks about being molested even sadder.

I have never had a relationship with a woman that made me happy.
That is why I am unhappy.

I do chase the young skirts, but I never get anywhere.
Nowhere. But I cannot feel young unless I have a young skirt. But in order to acquire one I have to expend 20 times as much energy. And now I am exhausted…

I don't even like the bucolic-sentimental-cosmic junk I wrote 20 years ago! In fact, I hate it. The early junk keeps getting reissued because so many people get stuck in a rut in their twenties and want to listen to music for nostalgic purposes. Fuck 'em. I am into the present. I hate nostalgia.

There's no such thing as talent. Just emotions and paying attention to them and hard work. That's the formula… And in the long run, you can't lose.

…what girl would want me? I'm an old man now. I'm tired and sleepy all the time. I've got diabetes and restless leg disorder. I can hardly get it up anymore.

PICTURE: Munch's "The Scream"
CAPTION: Pedestrian crossing the third and brand-new Carroll Avenue Bridge.

All pieces of music appear to be linear. But no piece of music is linear. All pieces of music are circular and eternal. All pieces of music return to their beginning. There may be sidesteps, stumbles, diversions, excursions, but they all come back to homeostasis.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

Vampire Vultures has been in the back of my mind for a long time. Fahey first modern book (not including 1970's, Charley Patton), How Bluegrass Destroyed My Life was interesting and readable, if not very strange. I remember a lot of appearances by The Great Koonaklaster. The Great K reappears here alongside letters, some bizarre interview transcripts, and a mix of (unfinished?) short stories and personal narratives. A lot of this was not super coherent. The interviews had their charm, but some of this was upsetting and confusing to read, especially the allusions tucked in at the end of Vampire Vultures hinting at his own sexual abuse by the hands of his father. I can understand Fahey's need to create, which he goes into in one of the interview sections, but I feel like Vampire Vultures is too incomplete and fragmented to be considered a companion to HBDML. Tread carefully.

[Zach Werbalowsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good work from Fahey, but not his best since some of he stories end since they simply weren't finished before his death

[Zev Roschy · Rating 3 out of 5]

nice little welcome-back-to-sitka read. i know i said its too personal to be rated on a star scale, but comsider my rating to be about the fact that it was even published at all.

[Willard Brickey]

I can't conscientiously rate this book because Fahey died before he finished it. But I really enjoyed it.

[Rudolphf Hatter · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story which the title got its name is incredible -- like a dream initiation of dealing with repressed emotions & memories from his childhood -- finally finding his "book of hate" and no longer being afraid of it. The story gets pretty surreal -- enemas turning into dying and writhing snakes, seeing his grandma riding her gigantic enema stick fall from the sky screaming like a shooting star, the pocketbook of death, finding an uzi and killing his family, etc.

I don't remember much else of the other stories in this collection, i agree it wasn't as fun as his first book, BUT THIS STORY for me was incredible.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I looked at "How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life" some years ago but either I didn't pay close enough attention, or Fahey's themes are much darker and more obsessive in this volume. In any event, the vignettes about his romantic life have a bit of Bukowski about them and his childhood seems to have been rather marred. Whether all that, plus his cartoon-like alternate theology, sheds light on his 1960s and 70s brilliance or his flawed but fascinating last 15 years is anyone's guess.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing. John Fahey is amazing. Art as therapy. Therapy (refuge) from art. I know I'm no artist, but this book hurts my feelings it's so good...cobbled together from various sources this is a grim collection of childhood recollections, autobiographical collage, correspondence, fiction, ephemera, etc.

[Benjamin Currie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Incomplete and pretty miserable. Stick with "how bluegrass music destroyed my life" unless you must read all his published work. Great musician and unique perspective and voice, but this is not a finished piece by any account.

[Hoelk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short. Lots of forewords. more cat people