Japanese-American writer and publisher. He also played keyboards for the later famous power trio Blue Cheer.
In 1977 he started to publish the punk fanzine "Search and destroy" In 1980, he began publication of RE/Search, a tabloid format zine focusing on various counterculture and underground topics.
RE/Search later became always a format for books, of which Vale is a regular contributor.
I used to spend hours in Tower Books in Nashville reading Re/search. I think this is the only one I ever purchased. I ended up seeing Genisis of Throbbing Gristle when he played with Psychic Television in Chicago in 1993. Was really glad I had read this book cause I got to meet him and wasn't totally without any context to have a decent conversation.
Neat. If you've been through Burroughs and Gysin before there is not much new here. The value is in the collection: the Burroughs interviews and excerpts, the Gysin work, and the interviews galore with their inadvertent progeny, Throbbing Gristle. (Nice artwork, too)
Interesting interview with Burroughs as well as extracts from The Boy Scouts Manual. Long out of print, you'll be lucky to find a copy at a reasonable price. It isn't worth the extortionist amounts it's being sold for on Abebooks.
I am a huge fan of Vale and his press Re/Search. And this edition is a great introduction to William S. Burroughs and his work with the artist/writer Brion Gysin. They were sort of the Marcel Duchamp/Man Ray of the 60s, when Burroughs really got into experimental writing i.e. cut-ups, dream machine, etc.
Also a good intro to the world of Throbbing Gristle as well. Use this book to explore the culture around Burroughs and his world circ. 60's to the 70's.
the issue on William S Burroughs, Brion Gysin and Throbbing Gristle. inspiring and well illustrated. complete with plenty suggestions for further reading. this is a great book/magazine to stretch out over a longish period of time, savoring.
Its been a long time since I read this, but used much of the material on William S. Burroughs to write an essay on said William S. Burroughs. There is also a great discussion on the cut up method used in some of Burroughs' novels.