(also known as Saturica). Written by Titus Petronius Niger, courtier to Nero. Menippean satire somewhat similar to the European picaresque novels, it concerns the journey of the narrator Enclopius through the social strata of Rome.

The Satyricon is a satire written in the first century CE by Petronius. Petronius pokes fun at the excesses of the upper class ala Oscar Wilde, and his jests are sometimes downright hysterical. Consider the following excerpt from a conversation about the late Chrysanthus (translated from the Latin by William Arrowsmith):

"And you know how old he was when he died? Seventy and then some. But he carried it beautifully, hard as nails and his hair as black as a crow. I knew him for ages, and he was horny, right to the end. By god, I'll bet he even pestered the dog. Boys were what he really liked, but he wasn't choosy: he'd jump anything with legs. I don't blame him a bit, you understand. He won't have any fun where he's gone now."
And made into a fabulous film by the Italian writer-director, Federico Fellini, the Fellini Satyricon.

Admitedly it is not an accurate transposition of the work by Petronius, it is, nevertheless, Encolpius' journey through the night and various undergrounds. In one hilarious scene, Encolpius is shown mercy by the Minotaur because he cries,"I'm only a student!"

And apparant sister film to Fellini Roma, these two extravagances are probes into the, what can I call it, mind, psyche, self, imagination, whatever of one of the greatest film makers of the 20th century, who made use of whatever was at hand, even his own creative block (see the film 81/2).

Satyricon is a Scandinavian black metal band consisting currently of Satyr (lead vocals, guitar, bass), Kvelduv (guitar), and Frost (drums). They have released a number of albums, including:

Anyone wanting to check something out by them should first check Nemesis Divina, and follow that to their other albums.

Satyricon was a great club in Portland, OR operated by George Touhouliotis from 1983 to 2003. It was at 125 SW 6th, between Couch and Davis if my PDX geography is still working. Satyricon featured a wide-ranging mix of all kinds of rock and roll. The first show I can remember seeing there was the Miracle Workers in 1984, I think. The place soon became a regular hang out for me, don't ask me why -- I guess I didn't have anything better to do. Oh, the lost days of my misspent youth! Anyway, some of the great shows I remember seeing there were True West (1985), the Vibrasonics (1984-1986), Hardcore Hoedown (July 10, 1985 iirc) featuring Western Front (Fred Cole's band at the time), the Vibrasonics, and a couple of other bands, Black Flag (1984), the Vipers (June 1985), the Catheads (1988?), and boatloads of others. There was a great show January 2, 1986 featuring the Tennesseans opening for Western Front.

Did I mention the Vibrasonics? They were a rockabilly band modeled on the the Ventures -- they even played Gretch guitars just like the Ventures. The Vibrasonics was formed by Dave Scott after the breakup of Youth for Buckley in 1984 -- what a great name for a band, they actually got Wm. F.'s autograph once. They always put on a great show, featuring crowd-pleasers such as Walk, Don't Run, Perfidia, and Who Slapped Joe?. I can remember one show in the summer of 1985 that was just a religious experience. Perfidia has pretty sappy words but of course the Vibrasonics played it as an instrumental, lyrical and yet moving forward with lots of energy.

Well, the fact is that Portland in the 80's was a slacker's paradise. Gentrification had yet to hit in any serious way. Rents were cheap and everybody was doing their own thing, as they say. I still love Portland, it's awesome. I haven't been to the Satyricon since sometime in the late eighties. I'm sorry to read that it's closed now. Well, with any luck there is already another legendary club in the making.

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