A guy named Larry Kirwan is credited with some of the music. The performance and recording was done by a band called Black 47 (though they may have been called – The Major Thinkers – then. Simon was apparently involved in the staging of fests such as the performance of the Rock Opera Book of the Law – which incidentally is why I originally got the book – as I was looking for info on this – I have it on a cassette somewhere but not much can be found on the internet about it.
He tells the story of a vibrant occult scene that included varied groups and types of people from Wicca, paganism, OTO, Church of Satan, Process Church (this one an offshoot from Scientology), New Age, and even the Son of Sam Cult that was implicated in several serial murders and animal sacrifices. Simon tells the stories of all these people but notes that the history was not all dark as many people did quite well. Herman Slater and his partner at the occult shop died of AIDS.
These tragedies are part of the “Dark History of the Necronomicon” as is the suicide of the original publisher – Larry Barnes of Barnes Graphics – from a drug overdose. His aged father committed suicide before him by hanging himself in the church on the eve of the Russian Orthodox Christmas. Prazsky died under mysterious circumstances – possibly accidental but likely a suicide. Simon thinks that he burned the manuscripts, including the Necronomicom, out of fear of being implicated. Prazsky started his own church, was a collector of church paraphernalia (and rare occult texts), a well known homosexual, a shyster, and employer of the two priests convicted in the rare book heists. He tells the story of Andrew Prazsky, who became a bishop of the Slavonic Orthodox Church at a young age under bizarre circumstances and his friend, the writer Peter Lavenda. Simon teaches us about the ‘wandering bishops’ – bishops of various Christian churches with shoddy or non-existent credentials. Yemen is also an area referred to in ancient and modern works in the Necronomicon and in works on Arabic magick. If the text did emanate from Arabia – it would not be so far-fetched as Arabia is very close geographically to southern Iraq and ancient Sumer and Babylon. The text contains ‘bastardized’ Sumerian and Babylonian intermingled with Neoplatonic type magic which is what one might expect from a later text. Simon suggests that it was kept up by tribal peoples. Certainly Sumerian would have been known to the later Babylonians and Assyrians. This can only mean that there was a tradition practicing with Sumerian deities until the late Dark Ages when the Arab composed the text. The Sumerian script and pronunciation was not recovered and interpreted until the late 19 th century. Simon’s Necronomicon contains many names from ancient Sumerian. If this is true we are left to ponder how Lovecraft knew about it which remains unanswered. Simon claims to never have heard of Lovecraft’s story when the Necronomicon fell into his hands. The Necronomicon has been assumed to have been invented as a legendary magic text in the 20’s by the horror author H.P Lovecraft who apparently mentions both the book and a bit of its content. Simon does mention in the preface that he does at times attribute conduct to himself to protect the privacy of some others – particularly ecclesiastical personnel – involved, who do not wish to risk their reputations. The Warlock Shoppe became Magickal Childe in the 80’s and I remember getting the catalogues from them then so I actually remember many of the things to which he refers. He does a great job of painting a picture of that time and place. He worked with the OTO in New York City (but said he was never a member), taught classes in magick at Herman Slater’s Warlock Shoppe in New York City, and was part of the varied magickal community an NYC during the magical revival of the 70’s and 80’s. Simon is apparently a priest of the Eastern Orthodox sect who became more and more interested in ceremonial magick as time passed. He shows the actual newspaper article about the two priests implicated in the thefts. He claimed that the manuscript turned up as a part of the booty in a theft ring of esoteric books from libraries (mostly European) in the 70’s. Simon (a professed pseudonym) here presents his argument that the Necronimocon is a real textual grimoire written in Greek by an Arab late in the first millenium CE. It has been assumed, according to internet analysis and a book that has been written, that the Necronomicon is a hoax, invented and perpetuated by Simon and his colleagues. The Book of Dead Names, fell into his hands. Simon sure can weave a tale, though in this book he recounts the rather bizarre story of how the famous grimoire – The Necronomicon – ie.