A piece for piano, taken from the third movement of my 9th String Quartet, for two violas and two ‘cellos. It’s sort of a cross between a minuet and a gavotte, going back and forth between 3/4 and 4/4. Here’s the first page…

The ninth string quartet is for two violas and two cellos: a rondo (which includes a round, appropriately), a fervent andante, a moderato that shuttles between a minuet and a gavotte, and a tango. Here’s the first page:

A sleepy piece for viola and piano. Here’s the first page…

No Bile! is now available from Black Scat Books! This is my 8th translation of the peerless French proto-dadaist Alphonse Allais (1854-1905). This collection of what he called his “anthumous works” includes love stories, revenge stories, short-shorts, and unclassifiable prose, all affronting the reader with startlingly modern black humor, imagination, and wordplay. Among the highlights are “Absinthes,” an internal monologue about the effects of the Green Fairy; “Poor Césarine!”, a grisly tale of obsessive love; and “A Good Society,” which proposes collecting used matches for the poor. Translated, annotated, and illustrated by Doug Skinner. With six extra stories! Available from Black Scat Books or Amazon.

A black cat investigates six absinthe glasses, in an illustration for my translation of No Bile!, by Alphonse Allais, to be published soon by Black Scat Books. Most of the stories were originally published in Le Chat Noir, Allais often mentions absinthe, and I’ve included six extra stories.

Here’s a little catalogue of what I showed at the Mothership:

1. ????: Non-narrative detective action, from my book The Unknown Adjective.

2. ALPHONSE ALLAIS MOCKS THE SPIRIT OF SCHOPENHAUER: The frontispiece for my translation of Allais’s book Long Live Life!

3. ASTERISKS: Chat Noir endnotes, for Double Over, another Allais translation.

4. BACK YARD: Spring is here.

5. BUGS, NOT DRUGS!: From a cut-paper animatic video for my old band, White Knuckle Sandwich. It was filmed by Anney Bonney for an early streaming site, Pseudo.com.

6. CAPTAIN CAP EXPLAINS THE POTATO: From my illustrated translation of Captain Cap: His Adventures, His Ideas, His Drinks, by Alphonse Allais.

7. CHONCHON: A scary figure from Chilean folklore. This one doesn’t look so bad.

8. COCKROACH: Ew.

9. A CURIOUS PHYSIOLOGICAL INDUSTRY: A broadside from Black Scat Books. Design by the inimitable Norman Conquest.

10: EASY PUZZLE: Much easier than most jigsaw puzzles.

11. EVELYN, BEVERLY, CAROLYN, AND DORIS: From a picture story about four women trying to get somewhere, in The Unknown Adjective.

12: THE FLYING SAUCER SUBCULTURE: The pencil rough for the cover of a booklet by John Keel — now, of course, a rare collectors’ item.

13: GIDEON BIBLE CARD: I like to replace Gideon Bibles with other books. I leave this card.

14: HOW UNUSUAL: A comic strip about things falling from the sky, for Nickelodeon Magazine.

15 & 16: INDEX CARDS: I make thousands of these. They help with insomnia.

17: LIMERICKSHAW: A broadside from Black Scat Books. Design by Norman Conquest.

18: THE MOON HOWLING AT A DOG: For a slide show by my old band, White Knuckle Sandwich, at the Kitchen in NYC.

19: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS: Once a regular feature in the online journal Le Scat Noir, which is now, alas, no more.

20: NO EVIL: Done for a group show at the Mary Anthony Gallery in NYC, way back when.

21: NOT FUNNY: My contribution to that fine magazine, Weirdo.

22 & 23: THE PASSING CLOUDS MOCK THE SKY’S STASIS AND PURITY: A score for an imaginary instrument.

24: RUBBER STAMP STEREOSCOPY: Cross your eyes to see the pictures in stereo. If it doesn’t work for you, look at something else.

25: SEA SERPENT: There’s always an explanation.

26: TRAVEL SKETCHES: When I travel, I prefer a pen to a camera.

27: VIOLINIST: It’s often difficult to play to the room.

28: WALTER & BENNY HUNT THE ELUSIVE BATWORM: A color version, done for the anthology Typhon, edited by Danny Hellman.

I also read “The Royal Touch,” from The Snowman Three Doors Down, and joined Paul McMahon on his song “Life Isn’t Fair.”

POSTSCRIPT: You can hear the original recording of the song, with me on melodica, here.

There will be a show of my artwork at the Mothership, the multi-purpose space in Woodstock run by Paul McMahon. It will be small but lively: cartoons, illustrations, travel sketches, scores, index card assemblages, rubber stamp stereoscopy, broadsides, and other works on paper. And it will be up for only a few days: the opening is Thursday, May 17, 6-8; and the closing is Tuesday, May 22, 6-8. Come feast your eyes!

The Mothership is at 6 Hillcrest Avenue; there’s more info on Paul’s site.

My horror story, “The Werechurch,” will appear in the next issue of Dagger Magazine. It tells the terrifying tale of a man who turns into a church, and then meets a gruesome end. To make it more gothic, it’s told in sonnets. Here’s the first one:

The night was dark, although the sky was starry,
As Di and Dave strolled homeward after dining.
They’d stuffed themselves on wine and calamari,
And now were looking forward to reclining.
The gibbous moon above was just a sliver,
The wind that whistled past them, keen and lashing;
The road they took led downward, by a river,
Where they were startled by the sound of splashing.
A church heaved onto shore, alive and dripping,
A church with steeple, portals, sanctuary,
And stained-glass windows caulked with weather stripping.
The building seemed so sinister, so scary,
And when it shook itself, so diabolical,
Their hair stood up on end, down to the follicle.