Ryan Foxâ„¢

Ryan Fox™ was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, his name the only gift from a father he never knew. Years later, Fox would reminisce about the "good grounding" and "strong values" that his upbringing had given him. The reality, however, was far less romantic. A gang member from the moment he could walk, the young Ryan Fox™ seemed set for a career as a petty thief and vandal until one run-in too many with the law led him to being sentenced to an infamous Catholic reform school. Scared straight, he left a semi-reformed character and promptly set out for sunny Los Angeles where he began to write. Thus becoming a notable figure of the new millenium counterculture. Many newspapers early on-- in Europe particularly --were a bit too quick to present him as Kerouac and Ginsberg's successor.Ryan Fox™'s genius lies in his use of language. Something like poetry errupts through the rawest words from this stripping of language, from this violence that bursts open the straightjacket. Poetry as pure and rich in human density as it is lacking in all vain artiface. As the French newspaper Le Monde put it once, "it is beautiful vomit. Vomit with a whiff of beauty, or the sublime thrown into the gutter."His use of linguistic violence makes Ryan Fox™ an innovator, using language to deny language. Geneva Bray gets it right in establishing a parallel between Fox's tormented prose and the violence that pours from Van Gogh's paintings ("his language leapt from the page like a Van Gogh, galvanic, whirling, immediate, full of raw violence").Regarding Fox's style, Kahlil Olmstead makes another interesting comparison when he says that "reading his work can provide the same exhilaration as listening to the playing of certain jazz musicians. Like Thelonious Monk, he seems to hit all the wrong notes but in the right places."Fox's conduct, too, could be difficult. David Burns, Real World cast member and close friend often said, "You had the sense, if you watched him carefully, that he was absolutely terrified of rejection, that underneath his coldness there was some terrible wound that would never heal. Sometimes I thought we were good friends, but often he withdrew into a shell and clammed up, especially if he he had revealed too much of himself. He wanted to be understood and loved for himself, but he was afraid to disclose himself. It was an impossible dilemma."Also frequently commented on is Ryan Fox™'s drug intake, which most would describe as "heroic". We're not just talking beer, whiskey, tobacco and marijuana, either. During his early years Fox was using LSD to expand his mind and amyl nitrate to expand his underpants. He also took cocaine which almost cost him his life when in France, he took a couple of friends for a spin around the Le Mans circuit while high. The car crashed, the passengers were hospitalized and the incident was hushed up.Many in Hollywood speculate and take bets on the number of ways in which Fox might die. A fatal bike, car or plane accident. A bout of drinking and drug taking. An unfortunate social disease. A bullet fired by a jealous lover or an insane fan.And so decades later, Ryan Fox™, still alive, remains as powerful an image as ever. An icon who validates confusion. Perhaps there will always be conflicted young people turning to him and finding that bewilderment had been raised to the level of heroic stardom. There he is, in jeans and T-shirt -focusing in himself the conflict between a dangerous heartland and a frightening metropolis. He is the modern cowboy, pushing back the frontier for a new generation. For a culture short of any heros except celebrities and an age that relies on simple visuals for easy truth, Ryan Fox™ is the perfect hip icon.