Hailing from St. Louis Missouri, Craig Kurtz came to national prominence with the 1981 release of The Philosophic Collage EP (reissued by BDR Records in 2012). A second band, The Dots, released two 45s and a track on the Hotel Massachusetts compilation CD in Northampton Massachusetts in the early 90s. Writing as Barry Stoller, he evaluated the ‘indie rock’ scene with the article Music, Marxism, and the Hype About D.I.Y. published by Monthly Review. Kurtz contributed many pop music articles for Perfect Sound Forever, such as this one. He has since written ‘light verse,’ internationally featured in literary journals, such as Bedlamite’s First Date published by Dalhousie Review, Life Before the Internet published by Rattle and The Cat Nobody Wants published by Quadrant. Writing as Wortley Clutterbuck, he penned the Twin Oaks polemic Understanding Utopia. Short stories include Imagine No Possessions published by Litro USA and Intelligent Life published by Maudlin House. An essay The Refusal is featured at ZNetwork. A song Christmas Shoplifting is available at Little Old Lady Comedy. After 13 years at Twin Oaks, the author now resides in Charlottesville VA with his dear old cat Governess; he works as a Special Education Teacher’s Assistant at Jackson P. Burley middle school.

UPDATE. My three self-published books, including Surviving the Dream, were printed by (and made nationally available through) KDP. I justified this at the time, asking what did I owe traditional gatekeepers. In response to Jeff Bezos’ recent decision to censor editorials on The Washington Post, however, I have unpublished all these titles. Remaining copies are available at the local public library. I suggest all Americans boycott Amazon completely.