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

Early career

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

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]}

Garbled Uplink

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

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

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

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

• as "Garbled Uplink".
  • Whitley Strieber & The Visitors, High Times, vol. 240 (August 1995)
• as Alan Cabal.
  • Badlands: Burying Camden And My Mom, New York Press, vol. 13, no. 6 (February 9-15, 2000)
  • Best Things About Being a Middle-Aged Guy In New York, New York Press, vol. 13, no. 39 (September 27 - October 3, 2000)
  • Zodiac Unmasked, New York Press, vol. 15, no. 16 (April 16 - 22, 2002)
  • The Doom that Came to Chelsea, New York Press, vol. 16, no. 23 (June 3-9, 2003)
  • Star Chamber Redux: the Prosecution of Zundel, CounterPunch (reprinted at HistoriansBehindBars.com), February 1, 2004
  • Weimar Falls Indeed, New York Press, vol. 17, no. 45 (November 10-16, 2004)
  • Christmas Surprise: The happiest mom in the world, if only for a moment, New York Press, vol. 17, no. 51 (December 21-27, 2004)
  • Mayday from the Circus Tent, CounterPunch, January 27 - 28, 2007
  • How Charles Manson Kept Me Out of Vietnam, CounterPunch, February 6, 2007

See also

• Gonzo journalism

References

External links

• Archive of articles by Cabal in New York Press
• MySpace: White Courtesy Telephone's official band web page

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