Book Review: "The Call of the Weird"

Louis Theroux
THE CALL OF THE WEIRD
(Da Capo Press)

To vidiots such as yours truly, Louis Theroux is best-known stateside as a reporter for Michael Moore's long-gone satirical television show TV Nation. In merry old England, Theroux - the British/American son of novelist Paul Theroux - hosted his own TV program, Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends, which explored various American subcultures like adult films and gangsta rap.

After a decade of creating these mini-documentaries on odd alt-Americana, Theroux thought about retracing his steps and checking up on some of his earliest subjects, people he had previously interviewed, to see how their lives ended up after he had reported on them. To this end, Theroux proposed a six-month cross-country tour of American in 2004 to "catch up" with his former subjects. The resulting tales are accounted in Theroux's first book, The Call Of The Weird.

No matter how weird and wacky his subjects - and believe me, they are - Theroux does a wonderful job in exposing the humanity that lay at the core of racists, porn stars, pimps, UFO chasers and snake oil salesmen. Among the more interesting stories, Theroux visited the Aryan Nations World Congress to reconnect with Rev. Jerry Gruidl, an aging racist and anti-Semite. In spite of his disturbing beliefs, Gruidl proved to be a genuinely nice guy, even going so far as to help Theroux find a lost laptop computer.

Gruidl wasn't the only white supremacist that Theroux talked to, the US/UK cultural hybrid seemingly fascinated by the politics of hate. The author also tells the tale of Lamb and Lynx, twin daughters of racist April Gaede, that sing under the name of Prussian Blue. The Gaede twins are fourth generation white supremacists, and as Prussian Blue they sing folk-oriented White Power music, a curious mix of racially-charged original tunes, traditional German songs and cover versions of songs by skinhead bands like Skrewdriver.