Poetry. Art. EVERYTHING ELSE is a collection of wild and witty collaborative poetry written by two of the leading lights of the Actualist poetry movement, Darrell Gray and G. P. Skratz, between 1975 and 1986 (with guest appearances by Andrei Codrescu and Pat Nolan). It includes spurious translations and an essay by Skratz on the origins of Actualism, with two drawings by Dave Morice and fifteen photographs by Shelly Vogel.

"It brought back a wave of nostalgia and a horrible desire for coke. Go forth, my child. History's horny for us."—Andrei Codrescu

Author City: OAKLAND, CA USA

Darrell Gray was born 20 April 1945 and died in October 1986 in Oakland, California. After attending the Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa he wrote the Actualist Manifesto. He taught sporadically but mainly professed the occupation of poet. G. P. Skratz recalls: "He seemed to invent fake Darrells with the goofy mystery of nursery school sketches or his favorite comic strip, Ernie Bushmiller's Nancy, to which he attributed cosmic meaning. He was instrumental in bringing the glowing ember of 'Actualist Conventions' from Iowa City to the San Francisco Bay Area where it sparked a glorious 15-year run."

G. P. Skratz is the author of fun (Philos Press, 2006), the prose-poem collection The gates of disappearance (Konglomerati Press, 1982), and ghostwriter of the Three Stooges bio Larry: The Stooge in the Middle (Last Gasp, 2001). From 1969- 75 he led the Stone Show, a five-member troupe of poets and musicians, through hundreds of performances and two cross-country tours. After settling in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1975, he co-produced Actualist Conventions, eclectic displays of theater, dance, poetry and "art with no name." In the early 80s, he did performance art and video residencies at Toronto's A-Space and San Francisco's La Mamelle/Art Com. Nowadays, he plays guitar in and writes songs for the acoustic band Smooth Toad—"twisted roots & cast-iron crooning for those occasions when your ordinary music just won't do."