By MOTOKO RICH

Published: March 20, 2008

Sebastian Horsley, a British author who has written an eyebrow-raising memoir detailing a life of rampant drug use and voluminous encounters with prostitutes, was turned back at Newark Liberty International Airport on Tuesday as he tried to enter the United States for a book party and New York news media tour.

Mr. Horsley, whose memoir, "Dandy in the Underworld," was published last week in paperback by Harper Perennial, a unit of HarperCollins, said he was detained by United States customs authorities for eight hours and questioned about his former drug addiction, use of prostitutes and activity as a male escort.

"I'm absolutely shattered and upset and gutted about not being able to come to America," Mr. Horsley said in a telephone interview from London, where he had returned on Wednesday. "I was very much looking forward to meeting everybody."

Lucille Cirillo, a spokeswoman for the New York office of United States Customs and Border Protection, said she could not comment on specific cases. But in an e-mail message, she said that under a waiver program that allows British citizens to enter the United States without a visa, "travelers who have been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude (which includes controlled-substance violations) or admit to previously having a drug addiction are not admissible."

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"God bless America, land of the free, but sadly not the land of the depraved," he said. He referred to the recent resignation of Eliot Spitzer, the former governor of New York, in the wake of revelations that he had frequented prostitutes. "I'm not a politician, I'm an artist," Mr. Horsley said. "Depravity is part of the job description."

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"Sculpture Center - In Practice Special Projects Series"

The Silencing, 2008 Digital slide-show, vinyl on Plexiglas panels, vinyl banners - ends March 30.

"Alix Lambert presents images from her new book The Silencing, published by Perceval Press (2008). The publication introduces a selection of photographs from six locations in Russia where journalists, some friends of the artist, were murdered over the past few years."

"The six murders addressed here are, unfortunately, a very small representation of the multitude of journalists—not only in Russia, but worldwide—who have had their lives taken from them for what they believe in and whose cases remain unsolved. These few speak for many."

I am dying to know about that cake story...WTF?

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The Library of Congress has launched one of the best public Art/Information projects ever.

..."the project will help address at least two major challenges: how to ensure better and better access to our collections, and how to ensure that we have the best possible information about those collections for the benefit of researchers and posterity. In many senses, we are looking to enhance our metadata.

The project is beginning somewhat modestly, but we hope to learn a lot from it. Out of some 14 million prints, photographs and other visual materials at the Library of Congress, more than 3,000 photos from two of our most popular collections are being made available on our new Flickr page, to include only images for which no copyright restrictions are known to exist.

The real magic comes when the power of the Flickr community takes over. We want people to tag, comment and make notes on the images, just like any other Flickr photo, which will benefit not only the community but also the collections themselves. For instance, many photos are missing key caption information such as where the photo was taken and who is pictured. If such information is collected via Flickr members, it can potentially enhance the quality of the bibliographic records for the images."

The images included in this first series are amazing. Color transparencies from the 1930’s and 40’s, and beautiful black and white images from glass negatives taken during the 10’s and 20’s. This collection is not to be missed.

The Library of Congress Flickr Photo Project

Some of you may remember Hannah’s film about searching for Bettie Page, but for those of you who don’t, here are some classic images from the work of Dave Stevens that re-imagined Bettie for a new generation.

One of the more entertaining sections of the film was a series of Man-On-The-Street Interviews which asked men of varying ages what they thought of when they saw images of Bettie. Invariably, the drawings by Dave Stevens brought back memories of hidden stashes of Men’s Magazines, flashlights under the covers, and a longing for young lust.

Along with airbrush artist Olivia and Archivist/Artist Greg Theakston, Dave Stevens’ work reinvented Bettie Page, and her legacy is the juicier for it.