Buddhist Bubblegum: Esotericism in the Creative Process of Arthur Russel

Raised in the cornfields of Oskaloosa Iowa Arthur Russell (1951-1992) would become a visionary cellist singer composer and producer in Lower Manhattans Downtown arts scene during the 1970s and 80s. Russells enigmatic music blended and transcended genres as disparate as Indian raga Americana folk avant-garde composition and disco. He actively infused popular music into Manhattans avant-garde art scene while bringing a Buddhist-inspired experimentalism into American popular music. As poet Allen Ginsberg recalled His ambition seemed to be to write popular music or bubblegum music but Buddhist bubblegum; to transmit the dharma through the most elemental form...Following Russells premature death due to AIDS at age 40 composer Philip Glass reflected Arthur was very very ahead of his time. And while a few of his dance singles would remain underground classics Russells work would be significantly neglected for over a decade. However through the archival releases of Audika Records a documentary film (Wild Combination) and a biography (Hold On to Your Dreams) Russells fearless creativity and radical vulnerability have found an admiring audience in the 21st century. Today celebrated artists--from Kanye West to Rosalía and Peter Broderick--as well as emerging musical generations are breathing new life into Russells music and praising his name. Nevertheless he has remained as mysterious as he has become accessible.Buddhist Bubblegum dives deep into the mystery of Arthur Russell and offers an unprecedented exploration into his lifelong Vajrayana Buddhist practice. Author Matt Marble charts Russells spiritual path from his early life as a Buddhist monk on a Bay Area commune to his maturing engagement with Japanese Shingon and Indo-Tibetan Vajrayana traditions in Manhattan. Along the way we learn how Russell creatively adopted traditional methods of mantra mandala meditation astrology numerology and more. Through extensive archival research personal interviews and musical score analysis Marble highlights Russells major works and shows how esotericism and aesthetic theory strategically guided his creative process. The writing is supplemented throughout with numerous archival images featuring Russells original scores notebooks and photographs. Marbles work is indebted to the Arthur Russell Estate/NYPL Audika Records/Steve Knutson Tom Lee and Russells friends and collaborators as well as to the pioneering work of biographers Tim Lawrence and Matt Wolf. Hailed by the New York Times as groundbreaking work Buddhist Bubblegum reveals how one of Americas most visionary artists uniquely fused spiritual and musical disciplines.