Woodard mystery solved?

Yesterday, I posted a photo of William S. Burroughs and a man simply identified as “Woodard” that Pitch music critic Jason Harper found buried in his office.I had no idea who Woodard was, but friend of the Plog S.T. Vockrodt thinks he’s solved the mystery. Vockrodt sent me a link to this 2000 OC Weekly profile of David Woodard. The story seems to perfectly describe the photo.

He said he designed dream machines, which I assumed were clock radios,

and that he was a friend of William Burroughs. One correspondence

contained a picture of Woodard and Burroughs dressed in circa-1930

suits, their arms around each other. Burroughs was very old and nearing

death, while Woodard—wearing a fedora and a stern expression—was trying

hard to hide the fact that he wasn’t.

Thanks, S.T. But after reading the OC Weekly story, Woodard’s truth appears blurred between fact and fiction. He’s a man who sold hallucination-inducing “dream machines,” which may or may not have led to the suicide of Kurt Cobain. His words, not mine. His Web site offers correspondence from Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, who apparently wanted Woodard to play music before McVeigh’s execution. The more I found out about Woodard, the less I really felt I knew about him. — Justin Kendall