Claire Burch Video Catalog The Mysterious World Of Claire Burch PRODUCED BY ART AND EDUCATION MEDIA INC. SEE OUR BOOK CATALOG BELOW. Also visit our website: http://www.dnai.com/~cburch All videos are $24.95 plus $4.00 shipping. They are standard VHS format. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A Festival of Bay Area Music (Relix Concert) Color / sound / 58 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-79-7 A documentary commemorating an event sponsored by Relix magazine. Included is the legendary Ramblin' Jack Elliot, introductions by J.C. Flyer, and assorted Bay Area bands. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Alfonia Color / sound / 58 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-32-0 A memorial tribute to Alfonia Tims Jr., an innovative African American jazz musician who died at age 26, three weeks before release of his first highly praised and well received album. Includes early conversations, original music and other documentary material. The second half is titled Anyhow What Was Your Dream, Alfonia? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Amazing Art of Beauford Delaney From David Leming's reading from his Biography of James Baldwin Color / sound / 20 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-89-4 David Leming, author of James Baldwin, a Biography (Scribner's, 1994) narrates an incident involving the African American painter Beauford Delaney, and James Baldwin. Stills of the artwork of this little known painter are interspersed throughout. Of Beauford Delaney, Henry Miller wrote "His work is amazing. It is sad that the last years of his life had to be spent in a psychiatric unit." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Another Trip With Ram Dass Color / sound / 45 minutes Dr Richard Alpert, known as Ram Dass, worked with Timothy Leary at Harvard and later Millbrook, experimenting with psychedelics. He has written valuable books and his speeches are a continuing inspiration to many. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Atrocities of the Drug War Ram Dass Speaks Out Color / sound / 30 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-86-x Ram Dass (Richard Alpert) was one of the noted speakers at a Human Rights Forum conducted at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco in 1995. This piece, which is Part One, communicates his moving and sensitive suggestions towards solutions to the injustices described in the Forum's exhibit of photographs and case histories. Later parts will include more music, other speakers, and an historic reading of a new "manifesto" of human rights. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Highlights of Atrocities of the Drug War Color / sound / 45 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-30-4 Paul Krassner, Jello Biafra and others continue the symposium begun by Ram Dass (Richard Alpert). Featuring photos from the exhibit Give Peace A Chance, set to readings of a new Human Rights manifesto. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Celebrate for the Rain Featuring the Music of Elizabeth Burch Color / sound / 40 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-88-6 A young girl plays and sings her original songs at age fourteen. These haunting melodies help her to come to terms with her father's death when she was six, and the assorted mysteries of growing up in a non-mainstream New York City subculture. Despite the singer's age, both guitar and voice lead the listener to major emotions. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Country Joe McDonald at Provo Park Earth Day Concert with Wild Mango and Others Color / sound / 58 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-84-3 Country Joe and his Band perform folk and folk rock favorites on a festive occasion, Earth Day, celebrating installation of the new "Peace Wall," a collection of peace tiles made by individuals in the Berkeley community. The video begins with a heart-stopping daring dance, by dancers secured by ropes, down the side of a high adjacent building. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Country Joe McDonald: Concerts at People's Park Color / sound / 58 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-78-9 Country Joe McDonald, known still for his "Fixin' to Die Rag" (the Fish Cheer) in the Sixties -- which made a huge splash at the original Woodstock Festival -- is still an activist. He does benefits at People's Park in Berkeley, usually on Earth Day or celebrating other memorable events such as the opening of a Farmer's Market. This piece, which starts with a stirring music video, encompasses two separate concerts during which cut-ins of images from the Sixties, as well as current street problems, are heavily used. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elegy for a Street Survivor (Yume) Color / sound / 45 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-82-7 This piece follows the strange memorial that takes place after Yume, a homeless man who had been a "Buddhist hippie" dies of respiratory distress. His friends gather to perform odd rituals such as passing out his last pack of cigarettes, burning money in his honor, etc. As their feelings and tributes are expressed, the little knot of street people begins to take on the aspects of a Felliniesque procession. A fascinating addition to annals of contemporary sociology as well as an absorbing tale. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Entering Oakland Color / sound / 50 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-31-2 A documentary about the problems of African Americans in Oakland and a look at the city itself. The narration is partly by James Baldwin, partly by Erskine Peters of Notre Dame. Much music. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Ghost of Solid Gold Illusion Meets Danny Boy Color / sound / 30 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-77-0 A homeless man with a biting sense of humor gives his views, along with psychedelic cut-ins of a series of images that seem to invade his consciousness. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ghost of the SF Oracle Meets Timothy Leary Color / sound / 75 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-75-4 Also containing: Ghost of the "others" meets Timothy Leary The "Naked People" of Berkeley Partly surreal documentation of a book-signing by Timothy Leary at Cody's Bookstore in Berkeley. The book is Chaos and Cyberculture, (Ronin Publishing, Berkeley), 1994. The "Ghost" consists of images from the Facsimile Edition of the old Haight Ashbury San Francisco Oracle, published by Regent Press. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Guilty Until Proven Not Guilty -- Napoleon's Revenge The Nightmare Ordeal of Steve Weissner Color / sound / 58 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-81-9 This video tells the incredible story of a hippie dropout from Brooklyn, New York who, after years in the Far East and Southeast Asia, lands in the oldest prison in France, serving five years for a drug related "murder without intent." On appeal years later he is finally found not guilty, but through a fluke of French "justice" under Napoleonic laws, his eight to ten year sentence still stands. During this period the Gulf War occurs and he is the only Jewish American surrounded by Arabs, in Nimes, a four-hundred-year-old prison. We learn of his ill-fated relationship with Victoria Lockwood, a young model later to become sister-in-law to Princess Diana of England. The viewer isn't sure whether to laugh or cry at the the unbelievable mix-up in X-rays during his imprisonment, and the resulting series of misadventures until his final release when he becomes the first American prisoner to ever win against the French government. Cured of his addiction the hard way, he returns to America as a street survivor, homeless and destitute but determined to start over. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hello Goodbye Bob Sparks Color / sound / 90 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-93-2 A piece in four parts, archiving a march to People's Park in memory of longtime park and housing activist Bob Sparks. Much music by local musicians. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Helping Children at Risk Occupational Therapy with Crack and Alcohol Addicted Children Color / sound / 30 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-85-1 Rhoda Cohen, an occupational therapist with forty years of hospital experience, takes on a class of crack-addicted young children including those born with fetal alcohol syndrome, working with them individually each week. This piece follows her methods through one intense session. Helpful to families and teachers alike, the piece clearly demonstrates the therapist's innovative methods and how they help solve some of the learning difficulties faced by these children. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The History of American Funeral Directing Color / sound / 45 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-94-0 A heavily illustrated view of the world of mortuaries, embalming, caskets and funeral practices all over America, with a fascinating narration by an ex funeral director. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Homeless in the Nineties (The Video) Color / sound / 40 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-33-9 Book available also from Regent Press The combined emphasis is on the friction between society and a marginalized group -- a friction that is potentially explosive. This emphasis is characterized by the opening clip, James Baldwin addressing an audience in Berkeley, where Baldwin says: "If I ain't got nothing to lose, what are you going to do to me?" The primary view of the situation is given via an impassioned interview at the Center for Independent Living in Berkeley with Margaret, a homeless Native American and mother of three. Includes original songs and images about homelessness. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Home Care for Children with Emotional Disturbances (The Video) Color / sound / 60 minutes A Book and Video by CLAIRE BURCH narrated by MARK WEIMAN The chapter on children, from the classic book STRANGER IN THE FAMILY, explores ways of helping. As Dr. Walter Barton, Medical director of the American Psychiatric Association, pointed out in his introduction, "her poetic and heartfelt plea is a simple one addressed to all parents; namely that they consciously aspire to ever greater tolerance of those who are "different" who can be free to live in our world, accepted on their own terms, as people "different but equal". "In this much needed volume Claire Burch has provided an important service for those who have had to cope in everyday life with the "different," the troubled, the sometimes troublesome individuals, both in and out of the home. She has done for families of the emotionally disturbed what Benjamin Spock did for those responsible for Baby and Child Care Clearly and simply written, this sound book takes the reader through the foundations of both mental health and illness, helps with the understanding of how their manifestations came about, and directs attention to what is available to deal with individuals in difficulty. At the same time there are do's and don'ts that provide constructive directions for handling the problems involved. The author covers not only the wide spectrum of age related problems beginning with children, but also covers the newer types of treatment and community programs. This book's purpose is to relieve the helplessness which so often is the understandable response of the family member when faced with the distress and need for action in the face of emotional disturbance in the home." Reginald Lourie Director, Psychiatry Children's Hospital, District of Columbia ------------------------------------------------------------------------ How I Got Out of Jail and Ran For Governor of Indiana: The Jim Moore Story (The Video) Color / sound / 58 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-55-x (Book also available, see Book catalog) In 1931, Jim Moore, alias Theodore Luesse, went to prison for 21 months for "obstructing legal process." What he was doing was obstructing evictions in Indiana. Bursting with blue collar wit and post Great Depression wisdom. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The James Baldwin Anthology Color / sound / 90 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-49-5 A celebration of the ideas of James Baldwin, punctuated by original music and a ride through the city of Oakland during one of his visits. Also including additional excerpts from his work, read by Professor Erskine Peters of Notre Dame University, and an illuminating speech by Baldwin. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Judy and Emily Color / sound / 45 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-87-8 The video film Judy and Emily takes a thirty five minute memory stroll through the lives of a single mother and her daughter. Undaunted by what fate had thrown at them in the way of a congenital illness that keeps Judy in a wheelchair without the use of her hands, arms or legs, what she manages to put together in the way of a joy-seeking responsible and creative life is simply inspiring, though with its bitter lemon moments. With what grace and humor Judy serves soup to her friend the filmmaker, the serving ladle held securely in Judy's mouth as she deftly transfers food from pot to plate. Take a close look at beautiful Judy and her beautiful daughter, growing up before our very eyes. Don't define Judy by her disability; her sometimes acerbic wit and gentle sarcasm inside the world of pet cats, pet dogs, pet plants and pet people she oversees can bring a burst of laughter to your life. Contributions to Habitat for Humanity in their name might help give Judy and Emily an accessible house where their pets would be welcome and Judy would be able to paint pictures again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kenny & Georgia The Story of a Homeless African American Couple Color / sound / 58 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-80-0 Kenny and Georgia is a thirty minute video film about a homeless couple. It contains voiceover and images of Kenny and Georgia, intercut with scenes and images of their friends and acquaintances, who are also homeless. A large part of the film consists of original music set to images of homeless break-ins, squats and gatherings in People's Park in Berkeley. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lethal Weapons The Visual Art of Barton Benes Color / sound / 20 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-76-2 An illustrated interview with an artist who had just had a museum retrospective, who uses his own H.I.V. positive blood as "art supplies." Barton Benes is known for his visual puns and politically rebellious treatment of money. After he tore up a three thousand dollar grant from the NY Council on the Arts, the US Treasury sent him a million dollars in shredded money which he used to create assemblages and collages. He states, "I can tear up a ten dollar bill, use it in my art pieces, and and a bank will buy it for a thousand, perceiving the humor in the creation." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Murder In Our Family Color / sound / 45 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-52-5 A young woman dies, leaving two small children. Her husband remarries with the promise that his new wife will help raise them. She becomes progressively deranged and murders him along with the youngest child, as they sleep. An aunt, who adopted the surviving child, tells this chilling story of the near destruction of a middle class family. Narrated by the aunt who, at age ninety, is still unable to forget the details of the event. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Nepal at Risk Community Development and the Environment by Elizabeth Burch Color / sound / 60 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-68-1 Produced on location in the Himalayan Kingdom in 1992, this beautifully filmed video examines environmental problems that exist in Nepal, home to the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest. The World Bank lists Nepal as one of the poorest countries in the world, with a per-capita income of $160. Out of a population of over 19 million Nepalese, 90 percent are subsistence farmers scraping out a living in remote mountain villages. An increase in tourism, coupled with population growth and an inequality of resources, has had a negative impact on Nepal's fragile ecosystem. Threatened by environmental disaster, today, the Himalayan kingdom is no longer the "Shangri-La" touted in the tourist guidebooks. As the need for answers to the ecocrisis in the Indian subcontinent increase, the Nepalese people work to reverse the environmental destruction of their land. Environmental experts find that only a holistic approach toward development will lead to sustainable growth accompanied by environmental protection. With poverty alleviation playing a critical role in the development process, plans to protect Nepal's natural resources must address local communities' basic needs. By highlighting environmental projects in the field, Nepal at Risk identifies several successful strategies in nature conservation. The program shows that when citizens are included in the development process, solutions toward saving the environment become possible. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A New Connection: The Video Drug Treatment / color / sound / 45 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-56-8 Interview with Dr. John Frykman, former director of drug services at the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic, presently clinical director at Ross Hospital in Marin County. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Oracle Rising The Recreation of the Haight Ashbury Underground Newspaper Color / sound / 58 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-28-2 Oracle Rising is a one hour video film of historical interest to libraries, universities and the collector worldwide. It chronicles through music, psychedelic images and narration, the unforgettable phenomenon of Haight Ashbury in the 60's. The film contains images of Oracle pages superimposed on historical events, plus footage of the famous Human Be In. It is filled with exciting archival footage of the "Summer of Love." This unusual film celebrates a creative achievement, the publishing by Regent Press of The Oracle Facsimile Edition. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ People's Park of Berkeley: Then and Now Color / sound / 58 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-35-5 A kaleidoscope of past and present sociology concerning the origin of the free speech movement in America. Contains music performed at the controversial park, haunting footage of some of the "regulars" who hang out there and usually line up for the Food Not Bombs meal daily at 2:30 pm. Contains a running commentary by the author - historian Michael Rossman. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Remembering Jonathan Color / sound / 30 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-92-4 People gather at People's Park to remember Jonathan Montague, a familiar figure. According to park custom, his belongings, consisting mostly of books and stuffed animals, are givien away to anyone who wants them. Much music. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Remembering the Summer of Love and other songs Color / sound / 30 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-36-3 A musical tribute to Bill Graham. Also includes several songs from the musical play by Claire Burch: It's a Blues to be Called Crazy when Crazy's All There Is. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Telegraph Avenue Street Musicians The Concert at Ashkenaz Color / sound / 58 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-83-5 A group of Telegraph Avenue street musicians get together to celebrate a C.D. done on a grant to empower the homeless. Their concert at Ashkenaz contains surreal documentary cut-ins that introduce rebellious social issues to the outward reality of their concert. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Second Timothy Leary Tape Color / sound / 150 minutes Containing: Ghost of the SF Oracle Meets Timothy Leary If Leary Was Dreaming How Tim Leary Changed My Life Second Thoughts Of Tim Leary Tim Leary Remembers the Summer of Love (two songs) Claire Burch writes: In 1995 and '96 I was able to film Dr. Leary whenever he was in the San Francisco area. This material began to assume assorted forms and eventually became the basis for the pieces on this tape. Like his own thinking, they are not all rooted in "straight reality"; both his words and images are collaged against psychedelic overlays that still preoccupy his vision. "In appreciation of Claire Burch's brilliant video documentaries of the 60's counter culture" Michael Horowitz / Cynthia Palmer Author - archivists Cynthia Palmer and Michael Horowitz are directors of the Fitz Hugh Ludlow Memorial Library in San Francisco. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To Save Jack Kerouac's Daughter Color / sound / 58 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-90-8 Archival documentation, including interesting surreal visual material, of a benefit to save Jan Kerouac, daughter of Jack, by raising money to get her a kidney transplant. Ken Kesey, Paul Krassner, Allen Cohen, editor of the old Oracle, Ramblin' Jack Elliot and others present tributes to Jack Kerouac, and poet Gerald Nicosia describes the controversy about a "conspiracy" involving the Will of the author of On the Road. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I Can't Give You Anything but Love drawings by Claire Burch Including more of the "Unusual People drawings" used in the forthcoming Hollywood movie "Timothy Leary's Dead" plus Solid Gold Illusion paintings by Claire Burch set to original music. Color / sound / 90 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-34-7 Images from the book Solid Gold Illusion, plus new ones, set to music. "Finally I liked the funky poem drawing collage works of Claire Burch. Burch is something else. . . . The main interest in Burch's show is a series of drawings incorporating fragments of family snapshots and matched to the pages of a manuscript of poems. Gallant and garrulous the poems confront the trauma of the artist's loss with lines a likeable as these: ". . . my mother rages / get out and look for a new father for your children / my children don't want a new father they want pizza." The graceful economical drawings meanwhile depict men and women sitting or lying around in a state of sensuous alertness. The intimacy is unforced and infectious. . ." Peter Schjeldahl The New York Times ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stranger on the Planet The Story of Laurie Color / sound / 30 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-58-4 Laurie, who died of an overdose, was one of a huge group of people -------------- strangers on this planet -- who were always given what is called a "dual diagnosis," emotional problems and chemical dependency. You see them wander by, often in some dire emergency, often in pain. They live in a thousand places, go to hospitals for a few days, take a geographical escape often, hoping that a new place will make them better. They need more help than they get, and they need it now. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Street Survivors, More Street Survivors, & History of a Street Survivor Color / sound / 90 minutes (in three parts, 30 minutes each) / ISBN 0-916147-51-7 A compassionate look at the people who go through life's most intense emotions on the streets of Berkeley, sometimes landing in hospitals, other times simply "expressing themselves" in an area that tolerates more differences than the mainstream of American society. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Telegraph Avenue Street Calendar LIVE Color / sound / 58 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-53-3 The filmmaker probes the soul of people on the street with her guerrilla camera and open heart. Includes The "Naked People" of Berkeley. Thumbed a Ride to Heaven ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Music of Alfonia Tims and Others Color / sound / 40 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-74-6 An all-music film which features the music composed and improvised by Alfonia Tims, a young African American musician, along with others. There are powerful visual cut-ins to this brilliant early funk music by several jazz musicians. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What Really Killed Rosebud? Color / sound / 58 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-69-x Tells the story of Rosebud Abigail Denovo, a homeless young girl of 19 who was killed by an Oakland police officer on August 25, 1992. A later autopsy report revealed heavy discrepancies in the story given to the media. The piece interviews street survivors, Rosebud's boyfriend, her many friends from People's Park of Berkeley, and others, raising disturbing questions. It contains songs and incidental music, memorials by those who knew and loved her. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Ghost of James Baldwin at Glide Memorial Color / sound / 30 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-49-5 A touching reminder of poverty in San Francisco. Across from the church dispensing free Christmas dinners, a homeless break-in is taking place. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Solid Gold Illusion, Variations I, II and III Color / sound / 90 minutes / ISBN 0-916147-34-7 Images from the book, plus new ones, set to original music. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Timothy Leary San Francisco Memorial Color / sound / 58 minutes Documenting an unusual memorial service for Timothy Leary at the First Unitarian church in San Francisco on June 12, 1996. Some of the noted speakers and musicians were Ram Dass, Robert Anton Wilson, Ralph Metzner, Frank Barron, Michael Horowitz and Cynthia Palmer, Diane Di Prima, Richard Katz, R.U. Sirius, Nina Graboi, Robert Forte, Country Joe McDonald, Paul Kantner, Diana Tremble, Barbara Imhoff, and family members Rosemary Leary, Deidra and Zach Leary. "Light is the language of the sun and the stars, where we'll all meet again." Timothy Leary May 30, 1996 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Wavy Gravy Birthday Benefit for Seva Foundation Color / sound / 58 minutes Documenting a concert on activist Wavy Gravy's birthday, featuring Bob Wier of the Grateful Dead, Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane, Maria Muldauer, and many others. This delighful concert was a benefit for Seva Foundation and Camp Winnarainbow. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Streetwise Color / sound / 58 minutes A close look at people and events on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley and Haight Ashbury in San Francisco. Puntuated by original music, and heartfelt encounters with street people young and old. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A World We Never Made Color / sound / 58 minutes Another close look at life in the streets. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jim Henry and the Infamous Bones Color / sound / 58 minutes Two of the people tell their story in depth, intercut with music performed by Bones. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Poetry on Telegraph Avenue Color / sound / 90 minutes Poetry Flash sponsors a street reading, featuring such stirring poets as Diane Di Prima, adjunct to the annual Telegraph Avenue Bookfair. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A Visit to NIAD Color / sound / 50 minutes Documenting the National Institute for Art and Disability in Richmond, Ca.. This sheltered workshop is a model resource for art therapy for the developmentally and or physically disabled. Some of the work done by "outsiders" as they are described, is fascinating. People in the workshop describe their feelings and hopes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Runaways Color / sound / 40 minutes Runaways takes a close look at the lives and hopes of a group of young people who've left their homes all over the United States, to come to Berkeley, a place which gives a measure of entitlement to the homeless of all ages. They are all different, Raven, Sweetleaf, Jeremy, Doug and the others, but they share a rebellious nature, a comination of innocence and weary cynicism, and a tendency to get into trouble with the law (often not their fault) since citations for trespassing usually means they've found a place to sleep that wasn't legal. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A Short History of Nudity and A Short History of Love Color / sound / 50 minutes These jaunty spoofs celebrate the year of "The Naked People of Berkeley," a time when they walked about like Adams and Eves in the Gardens of Edens, explaining that their cheerful decision to bare all was protected by the First Amendment. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Update on People's Park Color / sound / 30 minutes The battle of People's Park continues well into the 90's, with the constant threat of the removal of the Free Box and free food delivery by Food Not Bombs. The years have passed - 1996 brought a great fight over an attempt to pass the new anti-loitering anti-panhandling bill. Much music by bands performing on the free stage during special events. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Memoirs of a Barbed Wire Surgeon an interview with Elmer Shabart M.D., FACS One Surgeon's Incredible Legacy as a Prisoner of the Japanese During World War II Color / sound / 70 minutes This is a video about a survivor of the Bataan Death March in World War II who managed to continue practicing his profession all through their long ordeal, without instruments, anesthetics, antibiotics, medicines or even simple supplies like bandages and antiseptics. Dr. Shabart, first as a young man who takes his Hippocratic oath seriously, later as a surgeon reflecting on how they somehow managed to stay alive, takes us on a frightening and revealing journey that begins before the fall of Bataan and actually carries us through the present. A series of hair raising adventures, none of them for fun, add up to a saga of war-is-hell courage and endurance. One of the lucky ones who gets home after the surrender, this compassionate ex POW has woven a tale of bombings, hurricanes and jungle problems with a passionately ironic almost end - when the war is over he is made a present of two huge cases of finely crafted surgical instruments which had been in the possession of their captors all along. Eventually he donates them to the Army Medical Museum. Mysteries lurk in the material, questions of Army Intelligence investigations into a possible deal struck in connection with war crimes such as the rumored injections of plague given to POWs at the infamous Unit 731, other atrocities, and little known facts about the American military urge to be one up on all enemies in possible chemical warfare. His brushes with death and encounters with deprivation have served to motivate him to continue working and studying towards his goal, improving thoracic surgery. Historic events and tales of quiet heroism are included in this modest story of a life well spent. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The CIA Contra Crack Connection Parts 1 and 2 Hosted by Jerry Brown Color / sound / each is 60 minutes Learn the awful facts about the CIA/Contra/Crack connection. Hear award- winning investigative journalist Dennis Bernstein and former DEA agents Celerino Castillo and Michael Levine as they blow the lid off U.S. government drug involvement. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SOME NOTABLE QUOTES: "I was impressed with Claire Burch's painstaking and voluminous work as a video artist and also by her extensive documenting and collecting of art made by homeless people. She has a longstanding involvement with the arts in the community, particularly communities at risk." Julie Mackaman, Film Arts Foundation "Ms. Burch has turned to film as a way of combining personal image and graphics with social issues to make a powerful statement.' Michael Winter, Director, Center for Independent Living "Your work defies easy classification. You make the viewer/perceiver "work" and feel on multi-levels. We think your sarcasm, wit, style and genius comes through beautifully." Jane Muramoto, KQED Inc., San Francisco "In appreciation of Claire Burch's brilliant video documentaries of the 60s counter culture." Michael Horowitz / Cynthia Palmer Cynthia Palmer and Michael Horowitz are directors of the Fitz Hugh Ludlow Memorial Library in San Francisco. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ BOOK CATALOG Published by Regent Press 6020A Adeline St., Oakland, CA 94608 (510) 547-7602 fax (510) 547-6357 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Strangers on the Planet: The Small Book of Laurie CLAIRE BURCH Psychology / $12.95 paper (ISBN 0-916147-67-3) / 175 pages / 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" A mother remembers her adopted child, abandoned by her birth mother at a month, neglected in foster care, who never managed to adjust to the needs of others, or have a happy life. Given the frightening and self-fulfilling prophecy diagnosis of child schizophrenia in infancy, Laurie never made it back, and her continuing problems splintered her adoptive family. Later she was repeatedly told that she had a "dual diagnosis," mental illness and chemical dependency. Being loved was not enough. The center section contains her astonishing writing and beautiful drawings. Family pictures of her from infancy until her death from an overdose following a broken relationship, connect with the writing to create a haunting and unforgettable image of a soul in torment, her words often tinged with defensive humor. Sadly, she herself recognized that she had been dealt a bum hand by fate in terms of genetic heritage and accidental events. Part Two of this memorial book is a careful guide through the jungle of opposing thoughts on dual diagnosis. The writer, still struggling with the "if onlys", has "been through it" with this child's Coney Island ride into terrified womanhood. She also takes a searching look at possible solutions to the continuing problems of those thousands of other street and psychiatric unit survivors who still need better help. "The world is filled with what they never told us -- sexual problems, the bust, bad trips. And now the barriers are breaking down because people who have been there are beginning to tell us what it's like for them and how to be a person in the midst of it. In this sense Claire Burch's book pioneers in how to live with trouble nobody ever asked for but trouble that needs to be looked at with all the bravery and insight at our command." Arthur Sainer Playwright and Village Voice Drama Critic ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stranger In The Family: A Guide to Living With The Emotionally Disturbed Claire Burch Psychology / Self Help / $19.95 paper (ISBN 0-916147-25-8) / $34.95 hardback (ISBN 0-916147-70-3) / 214 pages / / 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" Originally published in 1972 by Bobbs Merrill, the classic Stranger In the Family: A Guide to Living with the Emotionally Disturbed remains an innovative work on a controversial subject. Endorsed by the American Psychiatric Association with an introduction by Dr. Walter Barton, former Medical Director of the Association. Also including a new, updated overview by Dr. Lester Gelb. "Claire Burch has done the 'impossible'. She has explicated the diverse, controversial, multi-disciplinary, multifaceted and often confused field of mental disorder in a clear, amazingly complete, readable and yet well documented way. All of this for a humanistic purpose -- to show us how in this society where so many suffer from conflict and confusion sufficient to require professional help, the non -professional friends and family members can also be of help, and to demonstrate that these friends and family members, while they may be a part of the problem, may also be part of the solution." Lester Gelb, M.D. Former Associate Director & Clinical Director Maimonides Community Mental Health Center "The book reflects enormous care and effort in surveying the vast field of psychiatry and related disciplines. Ms. Burch has done a magnificent job in leading the reader through the maze of ambiguities, uncertainties and contradictions that surround the solid data of this field. Any relative of a patient would benefit from reading this thoughtful and rewarding book. I recommend it highly." Dana Farnsworth, M.D., Director, Harvard Health Services "If properly presented to the millions of people suffering from emotional disturbance, this book could have a major impact in alleviating much of the distress by patients and their families. In terms of the professional audience, the book will have benefit in focusing the attention of psychiatrists and others to developing better strategies for assisting patients with their daily living and shifting attention away from the commonly used conventional psychotherapeutic approaches which prove frustrating and unrewarding and generate notions that the patient is incurable rather than the more optimistic notion that the patient has a problem for which we have not yet developed or so far determined an operational solution. Experience throughout the world has certainly demonstrated that hallucinations do not necessarily impair an individual's ability to function in the society. It is largely the attitude towards such defense mechanisms which determine whether the patient will be allowed to function. Stranger In The Family could be a landmark book comparable to Clifford Beer's The Mind That Found Itself, and I am happy to endorse it." Ari Kiev, M.D., Program Head, Cornell Program in Social Psychiatry "Stranger in the Family is a radical book Claire Burch had to write since nothing like it existed. It is more than an expert study of dealing, at the family level, with people who are presenting symptoms of what has been labeled emotional disturbance. She makes it clear that emotional departures from the cultural norm can be considered as sometimes healthy expressions of feeling and need not be thought of as necessarily tragic, that the person having difficulty functioning in society is still to be thought of as a valuable member of society and that the meaning underneath his symptoms should be interpreted with understanding and warmth. In short she validates expressions of so called "craziness" and points out how they can be used in a constructive way." Alice B. Morris, Harper's Bazaar Literary Editor for 17 years "In this much needed volume Claire Burch has provided an important service for those who have had to cope in everyday life with the "different", the troubled, the sometimes troublesome individuals both in and out of the home. She has done for families of the emotionally disturbed what Benjamin Spock did for those responsible for Baby and Child Care. Clearly and simply written, this sound book takes the reader through the foundations of both mental health and illness, helps with the understanding of how their manifestations came about, and directs attention to what is available to deal with individuals in difficulty. At the same time there are do's and don'ts that provide constructive directions for handling the problems involved. The author covers not only the wide spectrum of age related problems beginning with children, but also covers the newer types of treatment and community programs. This book's purpose is to relieve the helplessness which so often is the understandable response of the family member when faced with the distress and need for action in the face of emotional disturbance in the home." Reginald Lourie, Director, Psychiatry Children's Hospital, District of Columbia "Stranger In the Family by Claire Burch is well written, clear, direct and carefully thought out. It could only have been written by one who has been through the agony and anguishes, the diffuse, confusing, sometimes seemingly overwhelming problems which emotional disturbance brings to the family. She has come through with a keen desire to help -- for some of the suffering can be alleviated if the family knows what can be realistically done. In this sense the book is a true guide to living with oneself as well as with the patient." Soll Berl, M.D., Dept. of Psychiatry, Psychiatric Institute, N.Y. "I have read Stranger In The Family and it speaks in a poetic sense about the nature of growing, of the mind, and about family interrelationships. It was moving and illuminating." Joseph Chaiken, Director of Open Theater, N.Y. "Claire Burch is an artist in every sense of the word. It's interesting to find her artistry applied to an area normally reserved for clinicians. But like everything she does, her thoughtfulness of the approach, the intelligence of her attitudes, the empathy she applies, all shine through. The book will prove an invaluable guide to anyone facing the emotionally disturbed." Jack Kuney, Producer, Director WNET 13 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Homeless in the Nineties Collected Poetry: 1962-1992 CLAIRE BURCH Poetry / Drawings and Paintings by the Author / $12.95 paper (ISBN 0-916147-19-3) / 650 pages / 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" "I became easily engaged as I began to read Claire Burch's poetry. At first, I was afraid to tackle it because I thought I wouldn't be able to handle such a massive volume. But as I made my way into it, and began to be taken in by her most provocative turn of mind, and her interesting presentation of situations, I was glad that there was lots of it and that there was always more to come. I knew immediately that I was on an enchanting odyssey, and that when finished I would look forward to taking the adventure again and again. Claire Burch writes in a style that compels you to be alert, while it amuses and awakens you. Like all poets of distinguished capacity, Burch is skeptical of the orthodox. Thus she is always teasing with our given perceptions of reality, understanding that if the orthodox functions to do anything, it is to conceal rather than reveal truth. Moreover, Burch is an excellent narrative poet. Her sequences are given lyric continuity and dramatic coherence through the exploration of the thought and action of two major characters, Babe and 606. But this coherence and dramatic effect comes mainly through Babe, the longest survivor. It is Babe who mainly reveals to us what it is that makes the dilemmas of life so weighty, who carries us through the great range of human anxieties, and who does manage to give us wisdom without enveloping it in sophistry. Rarely giving us an overwrought phrase, Burch writes poetry with a lyrical and dramatic ease that makes you want to become a part of her thought and her craft. In her reality, life is a poetic stance, a stance of continuous revelation and astonishment, of paradox and contradiction made bare, and of hypocrisy made comic and ungilded." Erskine Peters, Professor of English, University of Notre Dame "I was much impressed by your poems, more impressed than before since now you have given order to the collection. They are intensely personal. Sometimes they make me feel that you have torn a bleeding heart from a breast, like an Aztec priest, except that the heart is your own. The images are moving and effective." Malcolm Cowley "People give you (I'm talking about the general you, not the particular you) a lot of things, but they seldom give you something you most want; namely something to stick to the walls of your mind. This you have done for me in your writing. My desk looks like the sweepings of a subway car. I never know when I pick up a piece of paper from it, what world I will be in for the next few minutes. And then I pick up your writing and I am completely transported into your world." Norman Cousins, Former Editor Saturday Review "Claire Burch's work is carried in fierce lyric directness into the life of the reader. These words are a spear. Also - they should be published at once. I have a strong feeling that many people -- like me -- are waiting for them." Muriel Rukeyser "I like reading people whose nerve ends show. Claire Burch's do and they pick up some uncommonly poignant images. These she has the good sense to write down, half wryly, still wrapped in the little indignities of normal living." Dora Jane Hamblin, Former Associate Editor, LIFE magazine "This could have been featured in our literary section, but its important social comments on the homeless experience shouldn't be limited to poetry readers. Burch's poems speak of the politics and realities of the homeless experience in our times: a weighty 600+ page paperback blends black and white photos of art and illustrations with surprisingly powerful free verse describing different aspects of life in the 90s." The Midwest Book Review ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Homeless in the Eighties Claire Burch Text and Photographs / $9.95 paper (ISBN 0-916147-09-6) / 135 pages / 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" In Homeless in the Eighties, Claire Burch begins with tough-talking free-verse that tells the facts and feelings of the homeless experience in a blunt but evocative style. She takes the reader on a thorough tour of homeless life -- the shelters, the soup kitchens, the crash pads, and gives the non-homeless an intimate glimpse of the bonding and conflicts between the drifters. Alternating between the voice of the poet and the voice of the street, Burch describes the situation and doesn't hesitate to place the blame. The rest of the book is devoted to her photos of people on the street, expanding on her themes. Like the poetry, the pictures are often angry and accusatory, but again there is warmth and humanity as well. The images show a range and depth of emotion, intercut with surreal paintings and collages in revealing juxtapositions. It is a spirited book. Perhaps sentimental, certainly poignant, but not at all a tear-jerker aimed at the soft touch. It's simply very honest and direct -- a strong expression of a knowledgeable view on a very human predicament, as complex as human predicaments always must be. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ You Be The Mother Follies Claire Burch Novel / $14.95 paper (ISBN 0-916147-13-4) / 142 pages / 6" x 9" "You Be The Mother Follies is about two women linked across time by the common bond of stressful motherhood. Emma Darwin is the wife of Charles Darwin, and Charles is never around. Off trotting around the Galapagos and other places, Charles is no help at all in raising their children. After ingesting some stale bread pudding (probably ergot tainted), Emma begins to hallucinate that she is another Emma, on welfare in the 1970s in New York, trying to get child support from an errant husband who has run off with a "flotsam jetsam floozie." Under this stress, it's no wonder that this twentieth century Emma would come to believe she is Emma Darwin, actively corresponding with a man a hundred years dead. This delightful tale of two Emmas unfolds in letters and dialogue between husband and wife, a combination of arcane jive talk and contemporary slang. Actually the story of divorce, abandonment, and the toil of a single mother couldn't be more relevant to our times. This fantasy novel about Emma Wedgewood, wife of Charles Darwin, centers around her hallucinative mind. Her grief at the death of their child Annie is given a bizarre twist by some ergot mold on the bread she uses for her pudding; her world becomes the twentieth century. Burch presents this fantasy as a collage of Emma's hallucinogenic reports; her husband's sympathetic but tangential letters -- which contain fragments from Darwin's Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals; and contributions from other characters such as the social worker Dorothy (Beauty) Pageant, and Emma's unusual later offspring, Ralph Waldo Business Administration. Ralph Waldo achieves a more fortunate ration of brain size to body weight at a carnival where he is split into two precocious individuals. The technique is striking. The reports of Emma's caseworker place the wife among us, struggling with her schizophrenia, her kids, and her ex (Darwin) who won't fork over past due child support payments. The contemporary slang jolts the reader in its juxtaposition to Darwinian ideas. The unexpected is well presented here." Michael Healy, BEST SELLERS, The Monthly Book Review ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Goodbye My Coney Island Baby Claire Burch Novel / $19.95 paper (ISBN 0-916147-14-2) / 329 pages / 6" x 9" "Somewhere in the shadow zone between the Beat Generation and the Postmodern Era, lies this witty, poignant, compassionate, blunt, and daring novel about a single mother, her family and her relationships. The central character, Babe, is the hub from which a multitude of spokes radiate, such as 606, the responsible father of her children, her problem daughter, Joanne, and the bizarre collection of therapists called The Crisis Association. With all these perspectives, Goodbye My Coney Island Baby is an intensely intimate look at one woman's world from every angle at once, like a cubist painting of the mind. From the emotive illuminating short scenes of Part One to a realm of prose in the tradition of Kerouac, Faulkner and Gertrude Stein of Part Two, Goodbye My Coney Island Baby is disturbing and uplifting literature with both grit and punch. This is a not a novel with only characters and plots and dialogue. The people here are intuitive beings struggling to bring home a germ of truth. The plot is as open-ended as reading the Brooklyn Eagle to your little girl. The dialogues are the voices that go on beneath the ordinary. And author Claire Burch writes evocatively of a series of encounters and musings. A section entitled, Anthropoltergeist Preview of Coming Attractions. Exact moment of birth. Dreams. The most important character in this book is Babe, her different mind, her impressive handling of words and images, her always original mind." The Book Reader ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What Really Killed Rosebud? Claire Burch Investigative Report / $10.00 paper (ISBN 0-916147-69-x) / 120 pages / 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" This book, with accompanying video listed elsewhere, chronicles an incident in 1992. A homeless young girl of nineteen in a severe depression, desperate and not knowing where she can sleep so as not to be harassed by police, breaks into the mansion of the chancellor of a prestigious university and is shot to death by an Oakland policeman. Autopsy reports tell a story quite different from the one given to the media. The book is a compassionate investigative record of public and private reaction to the way in which the incident was handled, resulting in local riots and, several years later, the formation of a memorial activist group, "The August 25th CD Brigade." The C.D. in the name has a double meaning from the slogan "Civil Disobedience is Civil Defense." Packed with in-depth interviews and a stream-of-consciousness reconstruction of the dangerous event. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ How I Got Out of Jail and Ran for Governor of Indiana The Jim Moore Story As Told To CLAIRE BURCH Biography / $10.00 paper (ISBN 0-916147-47-9) / 200 pages / 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" Jim Moore, although ninety years old, is still active in developing ideas that will benefit people. Despite partial blindness and a pacemaker he delivers newspapers every day, plans and distributes leaflets, speaks out wherever he goes against poverty and injustice, and spends his spare time trying to get housing for the homeless. In 1931, under his birth name of Theodore Luesse, he went to prison for 21 months for "obscuring legal process". What he was obstructing were evictions in Indiana during the Great Depression. He obstructed evictions of jobless people because of his deep belief that every person has the right to live, just because he's alive. All his arrests have been for a social cause. Since the government protects the habitats of animal life, it was Jim's belief that this same protection should extend to human beings. Salty blue collar language and wit. >From the Indianapolis Times, July 14, 1933 Long Stretch of Torture Spent by Luesse in 'Hole' Red Leader, Doomed by His Record to Punishment in Penal Farm Dungeon, Relates Horrors He Saw. Men Worked to Exhaustion Point Scores Poisoned by Unfit Food, Clubbing of Inmates Charged. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Solid Gold Illusion Claire Burch Art / $25.00 hardbound (ISBN 0-916147-15-0) / 116 pages A limited edition collection of drawings and paintings by an artist who rarely shows but whose work is in major museums and collections, Solid Gold Illusion has many recent images in a style unique to the artist, a fusing of surreal elements with painterly by a series of layers merged with the often surprising paintings below. Signed and numbered. An original drawing is included with each book. "Finally I liked the funky poem drawing collage works of Claire Burch. Burch is something else ...The graceful economical drawings depict men and women sitting or lying around in a state of sensuous alertness. The intimacy is unforced and infectious." Peter Schjeldahl, The New York Times "Pale expertly done semi-abstract watercolors in which figures and landscapes glide like ghosts. Ms. Burch paints in a lilting fashion and has a special feeling for color harmonies . . . genuinely pleasing and succeeds in translating them into something her own." Stuart Preston, The New York Times ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Memoirs of a Barbed Wire Surgeon an interview with Elmer Shabart M.D., FACS One Surgeon's Incredible Legacy as a Prisoner of the Japanese During World War II edited by Claire Burch (ISBM #1-889059-02-1 / 180 pages / paperback / $10 This is a book by a survivor of the Bataan Death March in World War II who managed to continue practicing his profession all through their long ordeal, without instruments, anesthetics, antibiotics, medicines or even simple supplies like bandages and antiseptics. Dr. Shabart, first as a young man who takes his Hippocratic oath seriously, later as a surgeon reflecting on how they somehow managed to stay alive, takes us on a frightening and revealing journey that begins before the fall of Bataan and actually carries us through the present. A series of hair raising adventures, none of them for fun, add up to a saga of war-is-hell courage and endurance. One of the lucky ones who gets home after the surrender, this compassionate ex POW has woven a tale of bombings, hurricanes and jungle problems with a passionately ironic almost end - when the war is over he is made a present of two huge cases of finely crafted surgical instruments which had been in the possession of their captors all along. Eventually he donates them to the Army Medical Museum. Mysteries lurk in this book, questions of Army Intelligence investigations into a possible deal struck in connection with war crimes such as the rumored injections of plague given to POWs at the infamous Unit 731, other atrocities, and little known facts about the American military urge to be one up on all enemies in possible chemical warfare. His brushes with death and encounters with deprivation have served to motivate him to continue working and studying towards his goal, improving thoracic surgery. Historic events and tales of quiet heroism are included in this modest story of a life well spent. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Also try our Internet catalogs at: http://www.dnai.com/~cburch