Welcome To The Dark Ages Day 1… ish
August 18, 2017
Today I received the most interesting of my KLF book collection and undoubtedly the most useless.
It’s endlessly intriguing as I pore over the two-page list of contents, the six-and-a-bit page preface, and the four-page appendix, re-reading in the hope of uncovering any clue or inspiration.
By the time this journal is published, many of you will be just an hour or two away from holding the finished article in your hands — or a few hours’ sleep away from an exciting knock at your door. So I’m conscious of keeping the mystery alive for you all.
As the saying goes: look away now if you don’t want to know the scores (skip ahead to August 19th).
The contents reveal 23 chapters across three books. Book One is titled The Blaster in the Pyramid. Book Two, The Rotten Apple. And Book Three, The Christmas Number One. Books One and Two hold eight chapters each, leaving seven for Book Three.
The chapter titles range from the familiar to the surreal, and some feel utterly disconnected.
The preface, dated Breakfast Time, 1 January 2017, sets out the supposed origin of this trilogy. We’re told how it came to be discovered by Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty. It’s pure gonzo writing at its best — presented as truth in the same vein you’d expect in the opening of a novel, setting the scene for the writer’s journey so far.
Of course it’s not the truth. Or at least it can’t be. But in the case of 2023: A Trilogy, it is — and we’ll treat it as such.
The preface also reveals the identities of some key players. The author of 2023 is Roberta Antonia Wilson (Roberta, not Robert), aka George Orwell. You’ll just have to trust me on that.
We’re introduced to Tat’jana and Kristina, who are presented as The KLF. Whether they’re female versions of the duo, stand-ins, or something else entirely isn’t clear. They also go by the moniker The ICM (Ice Cream Men). The film 2023: What the Fuck Is Going On? is said to have been made by the duo under the influence of Roberta Antonia Wilson’s writings.
The appendix, dated Tea Time, 1 January 2017 (a lot can go wrong between two meals, let alone 72 hours), expands on the activities of Tat’jana and Kristina and their relationship with The Shondells’ Tommy James. It ends with the decision to release this trilogy of books — in English — as 2023 on 23 August 2017 in Liverpool.
Work, however, has yet to begin on the People’s Pyramid.
August 19, 2017
Now, we don’t know much at this stage, but I’m almost ready to say that Wednesday’s hearing could be the highlight of the whole event for me.
I adore a good debate. What I adore even more is being in earshot of a good debate without actually being involved. I’m a sucker for eavesdropping on a riveting pub conversation, chipping in my two cents and snarky remarks to whoever I’m with. So this event feels tailor-made for me.
We’ll get to sit in a room and hear experts from different fields give their opinions on the subject that we all currently find most fascinating. I’ll get to lean over to the person next to me, deliver some sharp and witty retort (that I’ll find hilarious), and if that wasn’t enough, actually vote at the end of it.
The panel will include an artist, an economist, a publication editor, an art historian, and a journalist. Which means we can expect the burning to be framed through each of those lenses, with the help of expert witnesses.
The one I’m most looking forward to? The economist. I know, right. When was the last time anyone got excited about listening to an economist talk?
It’s the only field where I genuinely can’t predict their explanation. With respect to the others, I’d never claim to fully understand their approach, but I could at least take a punt at the general angle. The economist, though, is a wild card.
And yes, surprise surprise, I’m going to refer back to John Higgs’ book. One of the main tenets of The Illuminatus! Trilogy and The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu is the fight against usury (the practice of lending money with interest).
Usury is now the bedrock of our economy, and therefore the bedrock of almost everything. As unfortunate as it is, money runs the world, and usury has become accepted practice despite many religions and institutions once condemning it.
Viewed through this lens, the answer to “why did the K Foundation burn a million quid?” becomes obvious: to carry out the vision of The JAMs. To destroy money. Not to hide it, not to hoard it, not to remove it from circulation, but to destroy it.
Except of course, it’s never that obvious, is it? If it were, Drummond and Cauty would know it, and we wouldn’t be here at all. So if that isn’t the answer, what other economic reasons could there be? The burning as a kind of investment, perhaps? I’d love to hear how one could even begin calculating the “returns” it has generated.
August 22, 2017
So here we are. The updates are flying in by the minute. The wristband exchange opened at midday for volunteers to collect their passes, and News From Nowhere is visibly preparing to welcome The JAMs.
Twitter and Facebook are awash with photos of merchandise, venues, and miscellany.
Rules, a rumoured list of jobs we’re expected to pick from, and even the full running order have all appeared. After so much guesswork and speculation, we’re now drowning in detail.
Less and less of the three days remains unknown (none of it, unless you’ve managed to keep one eye firmly closed on Twitter). On one level, this is reassuring — the list of jobs, if accurate, is a big relief. But it also leaves me with the urge to look away, quickly. Which is why I’ve avoided including any images or tweets here.
Through this journal I’ve tried to shine a light on my own introduction to the KLF through this event. I hope over these five entries that’s remained clear. It was never meant to be a live news feed — only to share updates once they’d become common knowledge, or when they added real context to my own discovery, curiosity, or anxiety.
Now, I’m especially glad I took that approach. Because today I feel spoilt. Spoilt by the flood of exciting details, and spoilt in the sense that the mystery is being tarnished.
I want to discover the rules for myself. The merchandise for myself. The locations for myself. That’s the approach I’ll be taking over the next few days.
Yes, I’ll share updates and photos — but only of what’s already public, common knowledge. I don’t want to ruin it for anyone, and I want to stay fully present in the moment for myself. So fear not, you’ll still be hearing from me in the form of regular packaged updates. But don’t expect a raft of live coverage every other minute.
Because I’m going to the Dark Ages.
See you in 2023. (Or at News From Nowhere tonight!)