Tentatively, Convenience's Reviews > Sidetripping

I found this bk (probably on sale) at some shopping mall bk store (maybe they cdn't dump this 'weird crap' fast enuf, eh?!) when I was 22. It has photos by Charles Gatewood w/ commentary by William S. Burroughs. I suppose Gatewood deserves credit as an explorer of the often hidden aspects of society but it's Burroughs' commentary that does it for me. He appraises things w/o giving a shit of whether his take is PC or whatever. In response to one photo he writes:

A youth with clothespins pinching his nipples wearing a leather jacket and gauntlets with a whip tied around his waist looks at the camera with wooden face dead eyes that seem to turn up showing the whites as you watch. Is he a slave or victim who might turn up as a body in some Houston sex murder?

Instead of commenting on how 'hard-core' this guy looks, Burroughs gets right to the point: THIS IS A DEAD MAN, like a melancholic, WALLOWING IN DESTRUCTION - POSSIBLY HIS OWN. & it might be 'hip' & it might even be 'glamorous', but it's probably a DEAD END.