Jonas Mekas' Anecdotes: New York Underground Memoirs

Jonas Mekas' book "Anecdotes" collects stories from the New York underground scene, blending poetic and humorous tales with the eternal quest for funding for his magazine Film Culture. The volume includes encounters with Yoko Ono dancing with Fred Astaire, Nam June Paik losing his pants before Bill Clinton, George Maciunas importing European delicacies that fed Lower East Side artists for a year, and Andy Warhol filming Empire during a picnic where Mekas changed reels every half hour. Other anecdotes feature a failed interview with Fritz Lang, Josef von Sternberg disparaging his own film, John McEnroe confusing Rimbaud with Rambo, Anna Karina discussing Jean-Luc Godard's beauty, Arnold Schwarzenegger as Santa Claus, and Mekas' imprisonment after screening Jean Genet's Un chant d'amour. The book also covers friendships with Jackie Kennedy, advice on being a dog among dogs, Roberto Rossellini dreaming of directing Stan Brakhage, Joseph Cornell and Hermann Nitsch staging exhibitions/performances on the days of JFK's assassination (1963) and Martin Luther King's assassination (1968) respectively, and a visit to Maya Deren's mother. A highlight is Peter Kubelka in Sunday best confronting erupting Mount Etna, eventually filming after considering a quiet dinner at the crater's edge. The book was published by Éditions Scali.