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Alan Cabal
Pen nameGarbled Uplink[1][2]
OccupationJournalist, Occultist
NationalityAmerican
SpouseBonnie Wilford (1983–1997)[3]

Alan Cabal (born December 1 1953 [4] ) is an American journalist and occultist [1] [6] who has written for New York Press, High Times magazine, CounterPunch, and other publications. In the Nineties, he performed in the band White Courtesy Telephone. His tenure at the New York Press began in the 1990s and concluded in 2005 when he resigned in response to Matt Taibbi's controversial satire titled "The 52 Funniest Things About the Upcoming Death of the Pope". Known for tackling highly-controversial subjects, he has contributed to the upstart political magazine CounterPunch.

Biography

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Early career

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Several months after his birth on December 1 1953 in the New Jersey town of Bridgeton to a 15-year-old mother, Alan Cabal was adopted by Albert and Elizabeth Cabal, respectively, a chemical engineer and a housewife; they raised him in Camden, New Jersey.[4][5] Cabal was a child actor in the theatre, performing on and off Broadway. [7][8][1]

Magickal Childe

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Off and on from 1979 to the early 1990s, Cabal worked at The Magickal Childe in the Chelsea area of Manhattan, an occult shop founded in the mid-1970s as the Warlock Shop by Herman Slater; the shop went out of business in the late-1990s.[9][6] Cabal was described in * Christopher Knowles 2007 book Our Gods Wear Spandex as a luminary of the occult scene in New York City,[6] which Cabal had profiled in the New York Press essay titled "The Doom that Came to Chelsea",[3] when he also shared that he was involved with the administration of the "Caliphate" version of Aleister Crowley's Ordo Templi Orientis for nearly twenty years.[3][6]

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In the Nineties, Cabal was a member of the New York online community Echo, using the online name "Garbled Uplink", and was also in the employ of Echo for a while. [10][11] In Stacy Horn's 1998 book about Echo, Cyberville: Clicks, Culture, and the Creation of an Online Town, he is described as "the most extreme Echoid",[12] while also considered many people's favorite "Echoid" in an online survey of the BBS's members. [12] In Kenneth Li's review of Cyberville in New York's Daily News "Garbled Uplink" is reported to have been "one of the most feared members of Echo", "ill-tempered", and "known for his fierce online reprimands". [13]

White Courtesy Telephone

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Cabal also went by the name "Garbled Uplink" in the band White Courtesy Telephone, in which he was one of the two singers. White Courtesy Telephone began as a lark intended for only one concert celebrating the release from prison of "Phiber Optik", a hacker who had worked at Echo. According to Billboard magazine, the band garnered many positive press notices and ended up winning over New York clubgoers. [14] The other singer, music journalist Rob Tannenbaum, wrote a Details magazine piece titled "Rock & Roll Fantasy" about the band's story which was described in Billboard as "hilarious and sometimes excruciating". [15] [16] Billed as the first band to form in cyberspace, White Courtesy Telephone turned down an offer from a record company and instead self-released their debut album, "Everything Is Fun", through an online record label called Monster Island, run by band member Mike Caffrey. [1] [15]

Journalism

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Cabal's journalism career began at High Times magazine, writing as "Garbled Uplink", his online name at Echo. [1] [17] He is better known, however, for contributions under his real name to New York City's alternative weekly New York Press. Commenting on the first paragraph in Cabal's New York Press article "Blu is the New Red", The American Spectator quipped that his "polemical prose [was] sure to make every loyal Republican an opponent of capital punishment".[18][19] Jason Maoz, a senior editor of The Jewish Press, opined in 2003 that Cabal's byline had "appeared atop some memorably anti-Israel writing" in the New York Press. Cabal had sent an email to The Jewish Press responding to an opinion piece they had published, in which he described Zionists as "an aberration and a blasphemy against an otherwise noble faith".[20] His article "The Doom that Came to Chelsea" is cited for information about the origins of the Simon Necronomicon,[21][22] and has often been discussed, including a commentary by occultist Catherine Yronwode.[23] He was a contributing writer until March 3 2005 when he resigned in response to the publication of a controversial satire by Matt Taibbi titled "The 52 Funniest Things About the Upcoming Death of the Pope". [24] [25] [26] Bemoaning the loss of New York Press's iconoclastic edge, Cabal termed Taibbi's satire "a waste of paper, and a mere insult, not in the least bit challenging, to New York City's Roman Catholic population".

He has written for other publications, such as Gallery magazine, and has contributed to the political magazine CounterPunch. His "sympathetic"[27] article on the incarceration of holocaust denier Ernst Zundel published in CounterPunch in 2004 titled "Star Chamber Redux: the Prosecution of Zundel", attracted the attention of the media, internet forums and blogs, and the Jeff Rense radio show,[28] which Zundel called "An amazing break-through" in a letter to the Adelaide Institute.[29] [30] In 2005, former New York Press editor-in-chief Jeff Koyen described Cabal as "anti-Semitic" in a response to Cabal's resignation letter.[31]

Influence

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Wayne State University Department of English professor Steven Shaviro lists, as one of his favorites, a quote from Cabal's New York Press essay "Best Things About Being a Middle-Aged Guy In New York" (noted by Arts & Letters Daily in 2000 with an 'offense advisory')[32] in which Cabal stated, Honestly, at this point, all I really care about is novelty and making sure I have ringside seats for whatever awful spectacle is about to unfold.[33] [34]

Cabal's influences have been found in many publications. He is quoted in Rob Brezsny's Pronoia is the antidote for paranoia,[35] Marian Seldes' essay in Buckminster Fuller: Anthology for the New Millennium,[36] in Francine Hornberger's Carny Folk;[37] mentioned conversing with musician John Lydon in John Strausbaugh's Rock 'Til You Drop;[38] blurbed Weird N.J. Volume 2;[39] and cited as influential, along with his late ex-wife, in the opening pages of Lady Rhea's The Enchanted Formulary.[40]

Selected bibliography

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Matthew McAllester (October 20, 1996). "Life in Cyberspace: Banding Together To Make Cybermusic". Newsday. "'I have two choices,' says Garbled, whose real name is Alan Cabal but whose online name has carried over to the real world." & His biography "includes being a child actor, a stockbroker, a card-carrying Satanist and a roustabout circus worker"
  2. ^ Stacy Horn (January 1998). Cyberville: Clicks, Culture, And The Creation Of An Online Town. New York City: Warner Books. p. 336. ISBN 446-5190952300. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid prefix (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  3. ^ a b c Cabal, Alan (vol. 16, no. 23 (June 10, 2003)). "The Doom that Came to Chelsea". New York Press. Retrieved 2009-03-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ a b c Cabal, Alan (vol. 13, no. 6 (February 9-15, 2000)). "Badlands: Burying Camden and My Mom". New York Press. pp. archive. Retrieved 2009-03-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ a b Slivka, Andrey (vol. 14, no. 32 (August 14, 2001)). "Jersey Shore Diary: Oh the rain keeps a-fallin?, as the great Freddy Fender sang..." New York Press. Retrieved 2009-03-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) "We passed through the village of Bridgeton, where Cabal was born to the mother who abandoned him."
  6. ^ a b c d Christopher Knowles (2007). Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes. San Francisco, Calif.: Weiser Books. pp. 197–198. ISBN 978-1-57863-406-4. Luminaries like former Village Voice writer Alan Cabal, occult writer Peter Levenda, Bonnie Wilfrod (then wife of X-Men writer Chris Claremont), filmmaker Kenneth Anger, and assorted fans of sci-fi and other genres were all drawn into the scene. Note: Cabal has never written for The Village Voice: the error was first committed by astrologer Rob Brezsny and subsequently perpetuated by others.
  7. ^ Dan Sullivan (September 7, 1966). "Theater: Wilder Is Given; 3 Early Plays at Cherry Lane in Limited Run". The New York Times.
  8. ^ Walter Kerr (April 14, 1967). "Theater: Lincoln Repertory's 'Galileo'; Anthony Quayle Plays the Title Role Brecht Drama Offered --Hirsch Is Director". New York Times.
  9. ^ Daniel Harms and John Wisdom Gonce III (2003). The Necronomicon Files: The Truth Behind Lovecraft's Legend. Boston, MA: Weiser Books. p. 39. ISBN 1-57863-269-2. ... a group associated with the Magickal Childe bookshop, then known as the Warlock Shop. Though now closed, this store was for many years the center of New York City's occult community. The shop's owner was Herman Slater, a showman-occultist of the old school.
  10. ^ John Seabrook (February 1997). Deeper: My Two-Year Odyssey in Cyberspace. New York City: Simon & Schuster. pp. 134–136. ISBN 978-0684801759.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  11. ^ Joshua Quittner (January 23, 1995). "Hacker Homecoming". Time.
  12. ^ a b Horn, Stacy (1998). Cyberville: Clicks, Culture, and the Creation of an Online Town. pages 13, 20-21, & 168: Warner Books. p. 340. ISBN 044651909X, 9780446519090. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)CS1 maint: location (link)
  13. ^ Kenneth Li (March 8, 1998). "The Net's Horn of Plenty". Daily News. Retrieved 2009-03-29.
  14. ^ Larry Flick (August 21, 1999). "Continental drift". Billboard. "Tannenbaum found himself jumping over to the other side of the industry fence after accepting a magazine assignment to front a rock band. The result was White Courtesy Telephone-a lark that took on serious life after the act won over New York clubgoers and gleaned a pile of positive press notices. Now, he's committed to making the transition, and it's easy to envision left-of-center rock fans digging this in a major way."
  15. ^ a b Doug Reece (August 14, 1998). "Popular uprisings". Billboard.
  16. ^ Rob Tannenbaum (July 1997). "Rock & Roll Fantasy". Details. pp. 132–137, 152–153.
  17. ^ "Garbled Uplink: "Whitley Strieber & The Visitors"". archive. High Times. vol. 240 (August 1995). Retrieved 2009-03-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ [[The American Spectator]]. Original from the University of Virginia, Digitized Jul 6, 2007. Saturday Evening Club. 2003. {{cite book}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  19. ^ Alan Cabal. Blu is the New Red
  20. ^ Jason Maoz (March 19, 2003). "Media Monitor". The Jewish Press.
  21. ^ Colavito, Jason (2008). Knowing Fear: Science, Knowledge and the Development of the Horror Genre. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co. p. 288.
  22. ^ Christopher Knowles (2007). Our Gods Wear Spandex, Weiser Books, p. 93.
  23. ^ Catherine Yronwode (2003-06-08). "The Doom that Came to Chelsea". alt.magick.tyagi.
  24. ^ Alan Cabal is listed as a "Contributing Writer" on the New York Press Masthead as late as July 2004, according to the last accessible Internet Archives mirror of the New York Press masthead prior to his resignation in March 2005. His last published article with them was in January 2005.
  25. ^ Matt Taibbi (March 2, 2005). "The 52 Funniest Things About the Upcoming Death of the Pope". New York Press.
  26. ^ Ryan Underwood (March 7, 2005). "Take This Job and Shove It!". Fast Company archives.
  27. ^ Grobman, Alex. "Holocaust Denial: A Global Survey - 2004". David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies. Retrieved 2009-03-29. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  28. ^ "Some Good News in the Zundel Case: Weber On The 'Jeff Rense' Show". Institute for Historical Review. March 26, 2004. Retrieved 2009-03-29.
  29. ^ Zundel, Ernst (June 2004). "Letter from Ernst Zundel, March 20, 2004". Issue #217. Adelaide Institute. Retrieved 2009-03-18.
  30. ^ Alan Cabal, "Star Chamber Redux: the Prosecution of Zundel", CounterPunch (reprinted at HistoriansBehindBars.com), February 1, 2004.
  31. ^ Jeff Koyen (vol. 18, no. 10 (March 9-15, 2005)). "The Mail". New York Press. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  32. ^ "2000 Archive". Arts & Letters Daily.
  33. ^ "Steven Shaviro's Web Pages". Retrieved 2008-06-25.
  34. ^ Cabal, Alan (vol. 13, no. 39 (September 27 -October 3, 2000)). "Best Things About Being a Middle-Aged Guy In New York". New York Press. Archived from the original on 2001-08-20. Retrieved 2009-03-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  35. ^ Brezsny, Rob (2005). Pronoia is the antidote for paranoia: how the whole world is conspiring to shower you with blessings (illustrated ed.). page 129: Frog Books. p. 296. ISBN 1583941231, 9781583941232. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)CS1 maint: location (link)
  36. ^ Buckminster Fuller: Anthology for the New Millennium (illustrated ed.). page 171-174: Macmillan. 2001. p. 388. ISBN 0312266391, 9780312266394. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: location (link)
  37. ^ Hornberger, Francine (2005). Carny folk: the world's weirdest sideshow acts. page 181: Citadel Press. p. 221. ISBN 0806526610, 9780806526614. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)CS1 maint: location (link)
  38. ^ Strausbaugh, John (2002). Rock 'Til You Drop: The Decline from Rebellion to Nostalgia (illustrated ed.). page 205: Verso. p. 259. ISBN 1859844863, 9781859844861. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)CS1 maint: location (link)
  39. ^ Weird N.J. Volume 2: Your Travel Guide to New Jersey's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets (illustrated ed.). Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. 2006. p. 256. ISBN 1402739419, 9781402739415. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  40. ^ The Enchanted Formulary: Blending Magickal Oils for Love, Prosperity, and Healing. page x: Citadel Press. 2006. p. 305. ISBN 0806527048, 9780806527048. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
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Category:1953 births Category:Living people Category:Alternative journalists Category:American political writers Category:American occultists Category:People from Burlington County, New Jersey Category:People from Camden, New Jersey

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