Latest Story

HEADZ: a literary journey covering music festivals and the contemporary counterculture

john-cov-lg1

HEADZ is a work of Fiction. If you like music festivals, you’ll dig this. If you know someone who does, re-post, or buy the book. It’ll make a great present. Friend us on FB for info on contests, fresh content and reviews.  Meanwhile, check out the website to enjoy 60 deleted scenes and bonus features CUT… »

KC GOES TO CAMP [BISCO] . .

09_KC McGovern

I’m going to Camp. I’m going to Camp. And as a writer. A real paid writer.  Can you believe it? It’s like Keith says, the universe delivers. Give and you shall receive. Dickie should see me now. I might not be making money like him… »

TESTIMONIALS

brendon

CHECK OUT OUR TESTIMONIAL SECTION These are some of the headz who have so kindly dropped in telling us what they think of the book. We are committed to keeping this independent grassroots spirit alive as we continue into the Spring and Summer. To learn… »


ABOUT HEADZ THE NOVEL

john-cov-lg2

A diverse cast of ten characters, living in New York, Miami, and San Francisco, make up the novel. In Headz, everyone comes together at a music festival in Chicago, where… »

THE SECRET LIE

10_shore-morris4

The American music festival is not what it seems—not even Shakedown Street. You can’t have light without shadow. You can say the ideal music festival would go down a certain… »

THE ECONONY OF THE SHOW

01_thelonious-horowitz25

An economy feeding on ganja gooballs has no need for Alan Greenspan. Besides, the unemployment rate at The Show’s a remarkable zero. There’s work. Not for the sixty thousand plus… »

TEFLON & HIS MOM’S FAMILY

02_teflon-jones2

Her name was Viviana Glass, my moms. She was born in Chicago, you know, raised in Oak Park, south of the city. My grandmother, Rosa Maria Contros, is Chilean. To… »

MIKEY THE TAPER STRIKES BACK

dat

There’s nothing wrong with the taper sections. In the taper pits I get to sit around with old friends, people I’ve known for years. We catch up in the taper… »

KEITH S.A.K.E. FEST DAY ONE

04_keith-lipsiznowaz4

Years ago, to celebrate our anniversary, I threw a three-day party for Sky. Only two people were invited, us. I called it the S.A.K.E.—Sky And Keith Everlasting—festival. Even made up… »

SKY’S TRIP TO THE MUSEUM WITH KEITH

03_sky-tyler3

Keith and I were at the Legion of Honor museum. We were standing in the Rodin hall in front of The Mighty Hand. That statue says it all. It’s totally… »

THELONIOUS INTERVIEWS MELODY RAIN

07_melody-rain5

Are you having fun? Yeah, I’m having fun. Sky’s bringing me down a little. What do you think of Chi-town? Chicago’s hella cool. I like the way the breeze rolls… »

THELONIOUS INTERVIEWS GERI ABOUT SEWING

06_geri

Geri loves to sew—shortie’s always sewing. Tell me, sista—who taught you? Before I came to sewing I first started crocheting, back in the day, before I met Curtis. I was… »

MELODY RAIN TALKS ABOUT MEETING SKY

07_melody-rain1

I live in Berkeley Hills with my mom. My mom’s girlfriend lives there too. I’ll move out soon. I only need six more Natural Science credits to get an AA… »

THELONIOUS EXPLAINS THE SHOW

01_thelonious-horowitz12

It’s dope. Everyone bouncing around the room. Everyone running out-of-control, like antelopes. Getting down on the get down. I hate having to explain it. The music’s all sorts of sorts… »

KC EXPLAINS HOW SHE MET DICKIE (BROOKLYNESE VERSION)

09_kc-mcgovern5

Of all the rowmantic places for young loveaz to meet in New Yawk: the fifth flaw of the Whitknee like as soon as the ellavada opens, or buy-da win chimes… »

HOW TEFLON’S MOTHER AND FATHER MET

02_teflon-jones3

My moms grew up cultured. She and her two sisters were always around the theater. When offered a free ride no one acted surprised when she chose UCLA. Everyone pushed… »

THELONIOUS ON SOUTH FLORI-DUH

01_thelonious-horowitz3

Miami’s ill and all but what is it about South Floriduh? There must be something in the water cause everyone down there’s fucked up. Maybe they get too much sun… »

SKY TYLER’S BACKGROUND

03_sky-tyler7

I came into being on the twentieth day of April, nineteen eighty-nine, at the Mad River Community Hospital in Humboldt County. I had no control over being born on Hitler’s… »

A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

10_shore-morris2

There’s no place like an American music festival. And to be in Chicago, right in the middle of the east and west, it’s so apropos. Soldier’s Field to boot—just the… »

THELONIOUS RIFFS ABOUT BANDMATES

01_thelonious-horowitz19

After dippin Teflon I hit up 7B. My ass planned on flexin to the music festival and I had to set it straight with Hurricane Clout. Only Diamonds came through… »

THELONIOUS WAXES ABOUT SCALPERS

01_thelonious-horowitz10

Whatevs, whatevs, scalpers are not headz. They’re cockroaches. Bet they’d survive a nuclear holocaust and Shiite too. You know scalpers hustle tickets from headz. As cars are backed up trying… »

TEFLON’S PARENTS DIVORCE

02_teflon-jones4

It looked good for the image of Byron Jones to have a wife and child. We settled near Detroit. Moms took care of me the first couple of years but… »

CRYSTALS AND WRITING

04_keith-lipsiznowaz7

“You know why amethysts are purple?” Keith didn’t let her answer. “Because Bacchus, the god of wine, one day he was bent, you know, on a bender, probably with a… »

THELONIOUS & HIS UPBRINGING

01_thelonious-horowitz17

You know my breeding is impeccable. I come from money, good Manhattan Jewish money. I’ve had a good education. The best money can buy. Sometimes I don’t show it, talk… »

GLASS PIPES

snoddy2

For sale or trade at the glassblower’s table are chillums, spoons, Sherlocks, and bubblers. Chillums are skinny funnel pipes smoked by placing the bottom of the tube between the index… »

THELONIOUS ON HIS PARENTS BEFORE LEAVING FOR ORACLEDANG

01_thelonious-horowitz18

That’s the way it is over there. Their steez could cripple a weaker nigga. It’s all-good though. I don’t hate them or nothin, just they love breakin balls, they like… »

THELONIOUS ON GLASSPIPES

01_thelonious-horowitz8

It’s a conversation starter—you might hear me say, yo, holmes, who blew this? And if the pipe was a Snoddie or blown by an apprentice of Snoddie, it’s like Louie… »

A BIZARRE LOVE TRIANGLE??

09_kc-mcgovern4

“So tell me about your friend,” KC said. “Sky?” Keith looked nervous. “She’s into politics. She cares about things.” “You two know each other long?” asked KC. “Oh, yeah, years…. »

HIP-HOP BATTLE

boombox

Thelonious looked around the hip-hop scene. A few backpackers assembled on the outskirts of the area. These locals stood locked and loaded with EP demos, tapes and fliers promoting after… »

RASTAFARI BRETHREN CIRLCE

01_thelonious-horowitz11

THELONIOUS HOROWITZ A big hole in Rasta ideology is Haile Selassie. How can anyone make a man divine in the sense of a black liberator who first of all never… »

BEER VENDERS ON SHAKEDOWN

oatmeallogo-747659

Beer venders are scattered all over Shakedown. One head perches on the side of the aisle, a huge red cooler wide open. Another beer vender works up the aisle a… »

THELONIOUS ON THE HIP-HOP BATTLE

73cdv

Whatevs—I got a question and it’s as serious as cancer—Erik B and Rakim’s I-Ain’t-No-Joke—I can still hear that tight-ass horn sample in my head. I’d bet my last ducat if… »

KEITH AND KC DISCUSS NITROUS OXIDE

09_kc-mcgovern

Keith: The idea that nitrous oxide is referred to as laughing gas. What’s so funny about it? Headz are flopping around on the floor like fresh salmon out of the… »

THELONIOUS SINGS A HOOK

01_thelonious-horowitz27

Accidental overdoses like Bradley Nowell, Jimmy Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, River Phoenix, Sid Vicious, Lenny Bruce, Heath Ledger, and Mitch Hedberg. We ain’t going out like that. We ain’t… »

TEFLON & THE WARRIOR’S WAY

02_teflon-jones6

I’m Teflon Jones. The kid who could’ve had the world: fame, money, glamour, pussy. The kid who walked away from what thousands of athlete’s dream of. For a large part… »

ABOUT BEING A HEAD

10_shore-morris6

Someone might ask me what a head is. I’d reply someone who is willing to take the leap. What is the leap? It’s the leap of discovery, of adventure, of… »

PRESENCE OF FEDS

01_thelonious-horowitz26

Comedians, amateurs even. Los Federales, more delirious than Eddie Murphy, almost retarded like a Carlos Mencia bit. For the most part Los Federales are a big fucking joke. There—I said… »

KEITH TALKS ABOUT HIS BAGGAGE

04_keith-lipsiznowaz8

The baggage thing is a quasi-interesting story, dude. On the flight from San Francisco I came to the simple conclusion that all I needed was a T-shirt and a pair… »

POEM IN KC’S MEAD NOTEBOOK

09_kc-mcgovern2

AN UNREVISED POEM IN KC’S MEAD NOTEBOOK (written on the drive from South Bend, IN to Chicago, IL, while Shore Morris was driving, the day before the show, a day… »

THE BEAUTY OF SUMMER TRAVELING

01_thelonious-horowitz21

Good-bye, like the computerized voice when you log off of AOL. You’re out, logged off, unplugged. It’s the kind of out that will let you in. You’re on your way…. »

THELONIOUS LEAVING LAST MINUTE

01_thelonious-horowitz20

Last minute steez. That’s how we do it. Wake up in the morning and your day is your day then somewhere along the line you’re Audi five-thousand. I’m not saying… »

WHAT ALL THE HEADZ THINK OF THE ON THE ROAD EXODUS

09_kc-mcgovern1

Kristen Chastity: “Car window down looking in the rearview mirror—that’s what it means to me.” Sky Tyler: “It’s all about letting a different part of the jet stream tickle your… »

THE PRINCESS AND SHORE MORRIS ON RAINBOW GATHERINGS

08_the-princess

“Rainbow gatherings occur in the middle of the woods on National Park land.” “How many people gather?” The Princess asked. “I’d say the number could swell to ten thousand during… »

HUGS AND NUGS

01_thelonious-horowitz24

Two things about the scene: hugs and nugs. The way headz embrace, yo. A long full chest to chest clasp. Long enough to let-it-flow. Tight too. Word is bond. Hug… »

SKY & THE S.A.K.E. FEST DAY ONE

03_sky-tyler1

At the S.A.K.E. festival, with henna in a plastic squeeze bottle applicator, Keith drew outlines of his hand all over my body. In the middle of his outlined hand he… »

WHY THELONIOUS LOVES NEW YORK

01_thelonious-horowitz4

I Love New York, I do, that’s why I had to get the fuck out of dodge immediately, if not sooner. Man I’m born and raised in that motherfucker and… »

THELONIOUS & SHAKEDOWN STREET

01_thelonious-horowitz9

Shakedown Street is the heart of town, a-i-i-ght? Let me break it down. Town is the parking lot outside of a music festival. We call it The Lot and its… »

SHORE MORRIS’S TAKE ON THE DECRIMINLIZATION OF DRUGS

10_shore-morris5

The whole system kills me. The American policy on drugs. Don’t buy em on the street. For heaven’s sake, no. Arrest the motherfuckers that buy drugs on the street. Lock-em… »

SKY S.A.K.E. FEST DAYS TWO AND THREE

03_sky-tyler2

Day two of the S.A.K.E. fest we danced a lot. We danced to Indian sageet music; beautiful sounds pushed by the seventeen-string sitar and the bell-like tabla drums. I know… »

SHORE MORRIS BACKGROUND

10_shore-morris3

The Shore Morris story. You want to know the Shore Morris story? My story’s just like everyone else’s story, I’ll tell you that. There’s nothing special about my story. Nothing… »

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

04_Keith Lipsiznowaz

I recently read this story. It’s a work of Fiction. I like it a lot. It’s called “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.” You know I always… »