SECTION ONE 

sm
COLUMN 114, FEBRUARY 1, 2005
(Copyright © 2003 The Blacklisted Journalist)

GREEN HAVEN CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION, 4TH FLOOR

[The following is the first chapter in a novel called Perfect Accidents]

It was routine, as executions go.  Then they tried to find a vein to put the needle in.  Maybe it was that the veins were bad from the years on IV drug usage or that the Med Tech was nervous.  Whatever the reason, Dickie Hoon screamed as the blood began to drip from his elbows.

Kenny McCreary and the other fifteen witnesses assembled by the state of New York to watch the event squirmed.  McCreary had covered six actual executions and had been involved in three-dozen other cases.

He had never borne witness to a botch.  (An execution where the procedure is in some way bungled and the Executee suffers.)  Not, of course that most of the assembled witnesses cared.

Richard Stebbin Hoon was a Serial Rapist and murderer who tormented young women on the Lower East Side of New York for close to two years.  He was chronically unshaven, wore filthy flannel shirts and had aspirations of being a singer-songwriter.  He fit right in the artist ghetto that was the neighborhood.  Hoon was released from Danemorra Correctional Facility in Clinton, New York for the rape and attempted murder of a 22-year-old woman. 

He had met the woman one cold October evening in a Fredonia bar and wanted to involve her in one of his S&M fantasies.  These were the same fantasies he had been having since he had read the Sacher-Mascoh  book Venus In Furs at age 13.  He was 35 at the time of his release and gravitated to the area of the state where he felt he could find women of "easy morals;? women that he hoped "enjoyed? S&M/Bondage and Discipline as much as he.

Seven years later, he committed the first of the "Alphabet Rape-Murders? and the women of the city went into a panic.  Eventually, five women were found strangled, raped and their false fingertips protruding from their right cheek.

During this time, Kenny McCreary had ditched his dreams of becoming the next Lou Dylan and had taken a job with the A.P. covering the death penalty on a freelance basis.  He also picked up the assignment to write about the second through fifth (and last) of the Hoon killings.  

After his arrest, the only reporter Hoon would speak with was McCreary.  He respected McCreary's knowledge of the underground sex scene and music industry. Hoon had followed McCreary's series on his murder spree in the Sun very carefully.  He was impressed.  It was as if Kenny had been in his head, he marveled to the detectives that began his interrogation.  After he had spoken to his attorney and was arraigned, Hoon asked to see Kenny McCreary.  They conducted three interviews: one after his arrest, one after his conviction and the last after Dickie Hoon dropped his appeals and demanded his execution.

"Close "em.  Close those fucking BLINDS!?  Superintendent Denton hissed.  He was trying not to be heard in the witness room but the microphone that to carry Hoon's last statement to the world was on.

An attractive 40-something blonde woman sat next to McCreary wearing a plum business suit


McCreary had been
to a hanging
in Delaware


and a string of pearls.  He looked down and noticed she wasn't wearing a wedding band.

"Have you been to any these??  She whispered.

"A couple in Texas and a hanging Delaware."  McCreary said.

"Is this common practice??  She started to scribble notes down on the yellow pad provided to the media witnesses by the prison.

"No." He answered.  "Usually they keep the blinds down until they have the IV's in."

Screams and various curses emerged from the loosely veiled death chamber.

"Did they keep the blinds down during the hanging??  She turned in the small white chair to face him as he answered the question.

"Actually the gallows are outside in a vacant parking lot.  They walk the guy out, up thirteen steps.  It's just like every movie you've ever seen after that."  He smiled shyly at the ground.

"We've never had anything like this at the paper before.  Everyone was like so excited at the prospect of getting to go to an actual execution!  We drew lots and I won.  I can't believe that I got so lucky." She said.

"Well, sorry to disappoint you but the whole thing is very clinical.  It's not like they're going to be writhing at the end of a live electrical wire."

She laughed.  "I know!  But we haven't killed anyone in New York in 40 years.  This is such big news."

More screams and moans came out of the death chamber.  The other witnesses looked at and whispered to each other.  They heard a door open and shut three times.

"Do you have any idea what is going on in there??  The blonde asked McCreary.

"I think they're looking for a vein in a leg."  He turned his chair toward the woman and caught her gaze.

"I'd like to say that Hoon was a poor man but after what he did to those girls, I just don't have any sympathy for him."  She brushed the blonde hair behind her ears. "I'm Stephanie Blonowitz." 

"Kenny McCreary."  He shook her hand.

"From the Sun??  She asked.

"Yeah.  That's me."  He winked.

"You're the reporter that got Hoon off the streets."

"NYPD detectives Jackson and Baines got him off the streets.  I just chronicled how it happened."

"You are too modest."  She ran her hand down his shoulder.

'seriously??  He began.  Then the blinds came up again.

Hoon was there, strapped in the crucifix position, and covered by a sheet up to his neck.  The witnesses saw the IV tubing go up under the sheet.  A mop and bucket stood in the corner.

Blonowitz, McCreary and the rest of the witnesses straightened their chairs so they faced the Plexiglas partition once again.

"Do you wish to make a last statement??  Warden Denton asked.  He straightened his striped tie and wiped the sweat off of his chin.

"Yes, I do."  Hoon raised his head to get closer to the microphone.  "Bell and Caminitti,?  He addressed his lawyers.  "Make sure my sisters and her kids know I said goodbye."

"Is there anything else??  Denton demanded.

"Yeah.  McCreary, tell the gang at Paddles I'll miss them."

Kenny squirmed in his seat.  Stephanie Blonowitz reached out and grabbed his hand.

"Now let's do this fucking thing."  Hoon put his head back on the gurney.

"We are ready."  Denton announced.

Ten minutes later, Richard Stebbin Hoon was dead.  ##  


FOR AS LONG AS PEOPLE KEEP LISTENING TO BOB DYLAN AND THE BEATLES, PEOPLE WILL WANT THIS BOOK

"A masterpiece!" --- SALLY GROSSMAN, widow of Bob Dylan's brilliant original manager, Albert Grossman.

"This book is a must-read for all rock 'n roll aficionados!"---EAR CANDY

"An essential reference for demystifying what the author refers to as: 'one of the most self-destructive binges of creativity in cultural history.'"---HAMMOND GUTHRIE, COUNTERPUNCH MAGAZINE

"Required Reading for anyone and everyone who considers themselves fans, followers, students, or those just plain curious of the Golden Age of Popular Music"---GARY PIG GOLD, FUFKIN.COM.

"I love the book. I love the way you can open it to any page and start reading and it keeps you reading. The book is just fun to read." --LEVON HELM, Drummer of THE BAND from Big Pink.

"Ellis Paul and I love your book."---RALPH JACCODINE, Ralph Jaccodine Management.

". . .perfect for our times."---WOODSTOCK TIMES

"Adam Duritz (he's the lead singer and writer for the famed Counting Crows). . .was at my studio and couldn't put the book down."---STEWART LERMAN, RIGHTEOUS SOUND INC.

". . .a must read for anyone who loves, music, loves life, loves rock and roll."---TSAURAH LITZKY, author of The Motion of the Ocean, Baby on the Water, and  Goodbye Beautiful Mother.  

"I recommend it."---DOUGLAS HOLDER, IBBETSON STREET PRESS.  

".  . .It is a fascinating, insightful read. You are such a wonderful writer."---STEPHANIE LEDGIN, Music Journalist.

"I could not put this book of yours down for a minute."---ED GALING, POET LAUREATE OF HATBORO, PA.

"Quite simply, Al Aronowitz is a living legend"---JOHN FORTUNATO, THE AQUARIAN.

"Every student and fan of The Beat Generation, Bob Dylan, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones will want to read this book"---RON WHITEHEAD, POET

"Volume One Of The Blacklisted Journalist is the kinda tome what a fella can dip into at any given point and find oneself hooked within a couple paragraphs"---DUKE DE MONDO, BLOGCRITICS.ORG.


BOB DYLAN AND THE BEATLES, VOLUME ONE OF THE BEST OF THE BLACKLISTED JOURNALIST

The sometimes scattered chronicles of the rock journalist's friendship with a few of the most recognizable music icons in rock and pop history.

It certainly takes a bit of hubris to say that "the '60s wouldn't have been the same without me." But coming from Al Aronowitz, the former music columnist for the New York Post who was often called "the godfather of rock journalism," such sentiment is perhaps justified.  Here, in a compilation of many of his unpublished manuscripts, Aronowitz describes in candid yet affectionate detail his friendships with Bob Dylan and the Beatles.  As a music writer and fan who recognized the musicians' limitless potential early in their careers, Aronowitz decided to bring them together for the first time, in a New York City hotel in 1964, a meeting that also involved the Beatles' introduction to marijuana. His prescience was soon bolstered by the 1965 releases of Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited and the Beatles' Rubber Soul, both seminal albums that altered the landscape of pop music.  This landmark moment is just one of Aronowitz's colorful memories and musings of being a hanger-on with these legends and their associates, including The Band, Beatles manager Brian Epstein, poet Allen Ginsberg, deejay Murray the K and others.  Specifically provocative are the accounts of Dylan's erratic behavior and short temper, which often led to fitful confrontations and even the ending of friendships, including that between Dylan and the author.  It's also evident that Aronowitz was particularly fond of George Harrison, and the two remained friends until Harrison's death in 2001.  Most remarkable is the close proximity he maintained to these gods, whether he was at their homes, hoteI rooms, recording studios, or concerts.  Though his personal life certainly had its share of woes (particularly bankruptcy and his wife's death), Aronowitz exhibits a marked sense of pride---and rightly so---for playing a key role in music history,

An enticing backstage pass to the meeting of arguably the two most influential acts in rock history.


"BOB DYLAN AND THE BEATLES: Volume One Of The Best Of The Blacklisted Journalist is a golden stash box of Al's You-Are-There history of two thirds of rock's Holy Troika"---MICHAEL SIMMONS, LA WEEKLY.

". . .Amazing stories in this book" ---JAY LUSTIG, NEWARK STAR LEDGER

". . .Aronowitz has a place in the annals of history that nothing can erase"---DAVID DANKWA, GAZETTE LEADER

". . .Aronowitz has a simple, straightforward writing style that makes the reading go fast. . ."---JEFFERY LINDHOLM, DIRTY LINEN

"Aronowitz. . .witnessed things that most rock fanswould give an arm and a leg to see"---REGIS BEHE, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE REVIEW

"The best of Aronowitz's writing. . . offer riotous and rambling time capsules comprising detailed vignettes and told in a voice that's direct, disarming and self-deprecating"---MIKE MILIARD, BOSTON PHOENIX

". . .Addictive reading" ---GOLDMINE MAGAZINE

IN THIS 615-PAGE PAPERBACK, AL ARONOWITZ, ACCLAIMED AS THE "GODFATHER OF ROCK JOURNALISM," TELLS YOU MORE ABOUT BOB DYLAN AND THE BEATLES THAN ANY OTHER WRITER CAN TELL YOU BECAUSE NO OTHER WRITER WAS THERE AT THE TIME. AS THE MAN WHO INTRODUCED ALLEN GINSBERG TO BOB DYLAN, BOB DYLAN TO THE BEATLES AND THE BEATLES TO MARIJUANA, ARONOWITZ BOASTS, "THE '60S WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN THE SAME WITHOUT ME."


AND HERE'S ANOTHER BOOK BY AL ARONOWITZ!

THE MOVIE WAS FICTION. THE TRUE STORY IS STRANGER THAN FICTION: FOR MOST OF HIS SHORT BUT SPECTACULAR LIFE, BOBBY DARIN UNKNOWINGLY LIVED A LIE

". . .A highly entertaining and informative read"--HAMMOND GUTHRIE, THE THIRD PAGE

". . .Its 43 chapters provide snapshots of Darin's brief, sensational life>" ---GOLDMINE MAGAZINE


CLICK HERE TO GET TO INDEX OF COLUMN 114


CLICK HERE TO GET TO INDEX OF COLUMNS

The Blacklisted Journalist can be contacted at P.O.Box 964, Elizabeth, NJ 07208-0964
The Blacklisted Journalist's E-Mail Address:
info@blacklistedjournalist.com
 
 

THE BLACKLISTED JOURNALIST IS A SERVICE MARK OF AL ARONOWITZ