By Hunt Emerson (Knockabout)
ISBN 0-81666-151-6
Hunt Emerson is one of this country’s great artistic treasures. He should be locked in a studio with a continually replenishing bar and made to draw non-stop. However, since that might be considered cruel – and perhaps potentially too expensive for any publisher’s budget – we should be grateful that lots of his work is available in such spiffy collections as The Festival Ritual.
Collecting the debauched and surreal counter-culture antics of the Eternal Dead-head Pilgrim and his post flower-power son, weary veterans of the music festival circuit, as they slouch through life in a hyped up and hilarious series of vignettes from such far flung publications as The Reading Rock Festival Catalogue 1988 and Fortean Times, this book also features original tales of the pair produced for Swiss, French, German and Italian magazines.
Emerson’s output often defies categorisation. It is raw, vital and vibrantly creative, and often seems akin to pictorial Jazz. No matter how far he goes, though, he never abandons his primary goal, namely, making the punter laugh. And with this particular edition all we declining rebels can revisit our mucky, muddy glory days from the staid sanctuary of our comfy armchairs. A splendid companion to the legendary, Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers books you already treasure.
© 2005 Hunt Emerson. All Rights Reserved.