Open All Night

by Ken Miller, William T. Vollmann (Contributor)

Book by William T. Vollmann, Ken Miller.

Genres: Photography, Art

96 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1995

Reviews

[knig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Miller is supposed to be really, really good. I’m just not sure at what. Obviously he’s gone round the bazaars in San Fransisco’s underbelly, and cherry picked some pretty respectable down and outs, as far as that goes. What I would do, I would capture the moment in real time: unaffected and natural. What Miller does, he starts staging. This ‘strike a pose’ alleged defiance perhaps confers a sliverette of legitimacy on some of these pot-crack-whore –skin heads, dues ex machina. This I get. But see. If someone has the capacity to faff about around a few hundred takes, then they’re not wasted in extremis, and, not to put too fine a point on it, but if you’re going for ‘unflinching reportage’, then maybe you want them spread and sprawled. A little. You know, for the je ne se quoi of it.

When Miller sees an Asian woman prostitute, Tunnel Vision sets in. The man has obviously seen ‘ Funeral Parade of the Roses’ and this now shall be forever more his Manichean klieg light Pharos. But. Is he hoping no one else has seen it? Banking on it? Slap bang on goes the pancake foundation, the inquisitorial lamp snaps on, whirr up the contrast, and look: its Pita and Osamu again. Over and over and over again. I think there ought to be a plagiarism suit in the making.

For a truly visual experience of the mercurial temperament of ghetto politics and the human form in atrophy, Harmony Korine ( ‘Gummo’) makes for a better Praxiteles.

[Nathan "N.R." Gaddis]

Ken Miller is responsible for introducing William T. Vollmann to the Tenderloin and various assorted portions of the unseen sectors of the world, writing about which would make a small name for Vollmann. Readers of Bill’s fiction will recognize Ken as The Photographer from Butterfly Stories, the sheetrock guy from Thirteen Stories Thirteen Epitaphs, and various and sundry miscellaneous appearances. No Ken, no Bill.

These 45 photographs are each accompanied by a short text drawn from Bill’s earlier works. For a Vollmann reader the photographs become necessary for the slight reminder they provide that much of Bill’s Book, his conceptual continuity, comes straight in off the street, that sometimes the stench is lost in the printing process, sometimes the fantasy which repulses life overtakes the grip on the real (thank the good angels), and sometimes the printed word might be ergänzt not foreshortened, by the photographic word. Such is the case here.

The Preface of Open All Night, the only original piece by Bill published here, is also published in the Vollmann reader, Expelled from Eden, which is, incidentally, dedicated to Ronald Sukenick.

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A recent interview with Ken Miller by Bruno Bayley at vice.com ::
http://www.vice.com/read/an-interview...

VICE: Open All Night is the book that made us want to get in touch with you, but when I found your website I was pretty unsure it was the same Ken Miller. You do a lot of wedding photography now.
Ken: Yeah man. I have to bury that old stuff. Those brides get scared when they see that.

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A number of photos can be discovered by typing “open all night ken miller” into your favorite search engine, and specifying an image search.

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This review brought to you by Geoff’s review of the Vollmann Reader; please read :: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

[Sharla-owl Windsong · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it's an excellent book, since I am in there

[Tyff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is awesome. It is very Diane Arbus-esque examining the underbelly of the Haight Ashbury District of the 1980s. I personally love this book for its documentation of Skinheads in the early 80s (SF Skinz) which was rarely done pre-Geraldo/Oprah.. If you are a collector of subculture you should definitely check out this book and William T. Vollmann's book Rainbow Stories based upon the same groups of people.

[Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miller's pictures speak for themselves. Though Vollmann is a writer I'm coming to like more and more, his text was unnecessary.

[Gena D'Angelo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ken Miller used his camera as a way to lure me into his apartment in the Haight Ashbury when I was in 9th grade. He asked me my age as we walked to his home. It was plain to anyone with eyes that I was not 18. He was well into his late 20's at the time. I was naive and thought we were just going to see his photos. I had seen him in the neighborhood before and didn't think I was in danger. When we got into his apt, all his roommates were gone. he opened a closet door and in there I saw a nude photograph of a homeless girl I recognized. She was underage. He proceeded to try and kiss me, touch me, and asked me questions about oral sex. I ran out of his house. He is filth who took advantage of children while pretending to be an artist.

[Juan Ocampo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Libro de fotografías que se lee de un tirón. A la derecha una foto (skins, drogadictos, personas sin hogar, prostitutas, travestis, etc.) y a la izquierda un extracto de la obra de Vollmann que la acompaña muy bien.

Un acercamiento desde lo real y visual a la obra del propio V.

[Yousseif Abdellatif · Rating 4 out of 5]

Open All Night cuts deep because William T. Vollmann demonstrates how easily people mistake modern technological convenience for genuine personal freedom.

[Yousseif Abdellatif · Rating 3 out of 5]

Open All Night forces a hard question: William T. Vollmann asks whether we are actually building our own lives or just following a pre-approved cultural checklist.