Liar extraordinaire: Michael Palmer/Gonzo Palmer/Michael Marcum/Michael Markham

5/13/12: Commenting has been disabled for now. I will consider turning it on later, but for now a few people (well, those on michael's side) should probably cool off and re-evaluate their positions. Whether or not there is any conviction of rape, would you really want to spend time with someone who has been accused of it by so many people? Not to mention someone who just got out of prison... Ladies, find someone worth your time. If you do spend time with Michael, do not give him any personal information or access to ANYTHING you care about. I understand that people need to make their own mistakes to learn, but please, think hard on this. Regarding Michael's "apology" to me - there was none. he wants this blog down because it is effectively scaring away a lot of his potential prey. I'm keeping the post up because I WANT people who are suspicious to see that they're right to have doubts about this person. Nevertheless, I do hope justice comes to this worm sooner rather than later. 

Michael Palmer, the definition of pathology.


This is the letter I wrote to Michael's goddaughter in response to her question of "What happened?"

On Tuesday July 21, Michael told me that he had tickets to go see Marilyn Manson and Slayer in Atlanta. Tickets AND Backstage Passes. I'm not a huge Slayer fan, but I love Manson so I thought this sounded cool. The thing was, since Michael apparently had a DUI a couple years ago, he doesn't drive, and doesn't have a car. So he'd kind of be using me to drive him to Atlanta, while I'd be "using" him to go see this show.

I went to Atlanta with Michael on the condition that he would be paying for the trip in exchange for my driving. He told me he would pay for the gas, for the hotel, the meals, and entertainment, and promised me he wouldn't fall asleep when I was driving - that's my biggest pet peeve, if I'm taking a road trip with someone and I'll be the one doing all the driving, the least they can do is stay awake and keep me company.

20 minutes after I picked him up, we stopped for gas and Michael told me he realized he had left his credit card back at his house.

I said that we should go back and get it, since he had no other money (though this part he lied about... at that point he said he DID have some cash, later on he said he DIDN'T, then went back to saying he DID...) BUT he refused, saying that we would stop at a bank before leaving Tennessee and he would get money using his bank card.

Later when I asked him where we should stop, he said we would try a bank when we got to Atlanta.

I ended up paying for all the gas for the way there, which was not supposed to happen.

When we got there, we went to the hotel he had booked, I waited in the car, and he went to check in. He said that they would not let him stay since he didn't have his credit card with him, though they had all the information on file. He told me that he cursed at the hotel manager and told him to "fuck his mother, and that if she was dead he should go dig her up and skull fuck her." Needless to say, at this point there was absolutely no way they would ever let us in.

Then, Michael told me we would go to the Omni hotel, since somehow he had some free nights there. Originally he said he talked to them on the phone and we would need a credit card to secure the room, and I offered to let them use mine as long as nothing was going to be charged.

When we made it to the Omni, they told us they would have to charge my card and that when Michael mailed them the letter saying that he had free nights there (which he said was back at his house in Knoxville) they would refund the card. Michael said "Don't worry, we can go to a bank right after this and I'll get you the cash."

On those terms, I agreed to let Michael "borrow" the money for the hotel room - which was over $230.

Of course later that evening he never went to a bank. The next day he lied to me and said he had tried using an ATM at the hotel lobby to get cash, but when I spoke to the people at the front desk they told me there was no ATM there.

Later that night Michael had me run errands for him, buying him cigarettes and beer- promising me that first thing in the morning he would pay me back, he was going to have his agent wire him the money through Western Union.

The following morning, Michael got mad at another girl who was staying with us (Leigh) for not "cuddling" with him when he was cold, so he called her a "hateful psychotic bitch" and told her to leave. I told her I would drive her back to her house, and asked Michael for the valet ticket for MY car, but he refused to give it to me and said "that bitch can walk home". I felt horrible, and was truly afraid because Michael had gotten so angry and mean for almost no reason.

That morning he said we would go get breakfast around 8 but he never got his act together and got ready. He also called his agent around 8:30 and asked her to wire him the money, and told me that we would get it before we went to eat. All that morning I just did the crossword puzzle and heard him make jokes about fucking my mom, and telling me to suck his dick (which I had already told him I was not going to do). Eventually I forced him to get his stuff together by 11:45 because check-out time was noon, and I did NOT want to pay for another night at the hotel - after he'd broken so many promises I didn't want to take any chances and end up losing ANOTHER $230.

We checked out and were going to get the car when Michael noticed his ipod was missing. He said he'd run back to the room and get it - this was 11:55 AM - and be back in 5 minutes. After waiting in my car for half an hour, he called and said he couldn't find it, could I check my bags for it, etc. I looked thoroughly, called him back, and told him I didn't have it. At around 1 he called and said he was really angry and was going to call the police, though he didn't know if maybe Leigh had taken it. At 1:30, he called and said Leigh had agreed to take a polygraph so he really believed she hadn't taken it. At 1:45 I called him and told him that I had been waiting in my car in this garage (which is supposed to be valet, for pick ups and drop offs only) for almost 2 hours, and that I was going to have to move the car. He said he was going to call the police and file a report, and I told him to call me whenever that was over with.

So, after 2 hours of waiting in my car I finally left and went to get my "breakfast" at 2 pm. I was going to try and check out the area and was driving around until 2:45 when Michael called me. He said the police wanted to know if I would take a polygraph, even though he "knew I didn't take the iPod" and that I "would have no reason to take it" since I "drove him down there" and "had my own damn ipod". I said "Of course I'd take one, if they really want me to," and then I could hear him cursing at the police over the phone and he hung up. He called me back in 10 minutes and told me to come pick him up, which I did. He said there was absolutely no success with the police (which I had expected) and that we were going to his friend's hotel which was on this one road. He told me he knew exactly where it was and would point it out to me. Unfortunately, he kept falling asleep while I was driving and he didn't know where it was - and neither did anyone we asked on the street.

Finally, after an hour of driving around I said "Do you want to go back to Knoxville?" He didn't give me an answer, just said "The show is tonight... why, do you want to go back?" and I said "Yes, I'm really not having any fun, and you told me you would get me money over 24 hours ago but that was a lie, and you've been really mean all day" and he said "Well I'm sorry but I couldn't have foreseen that my iPod would go missing on me." and I said "I know, I understand that, but you're angry and you're taking it out on me, and I have been sitting around all day waiting to do something, ANYTHING, even spent almost 4 hours in my car just waiting for YOU and now you don't even know where we're going." Then I said "Would you mind just getting me the money like you promised you would and then I could go back? I mean, couldn't you take a bus back to Knoxville tomorrow or something?" He said "Yeah, ok." and hardly anything else.

He called his agent and she apparently told him where she had sent the money to, so we spent another half hour trying to find Peachtree center. Then at around 4 Michael pointed to a place up ahead and said "that's it, that's where the western union is, park the car over here and wait for me." I didn't see any sign that said Peachtree Center or Western Union, but like a fool, I believed him. He got his bag out and I said "Why don't you leave that in the car, then I can drop you off somewhere after you get back?" and he said "No, I'll need to show them my identification." I was a little suspicious, but I said "Okay."

After 15 minutes I looked on my iPhone for Peachtree Center and found it was 2 miles away from where I was then, and where I had dropped Michael off. I looked up Western Union as well, and yes, it was in Peachtree center - two miles away. I called Michael and he didn't answer his phone, I waited 10 minutes and called again. He didn't answer, so I left a message saying "Listen, I know there's no Western Union where I dropped you off, and I know that Peachtree center is 2 miles away. I understand if you want to ditch me, but I'd appreciate you actually telling me straight out instead of lying. If you want a ride to the real Peachtree center, I'll wait around here for another 15 minutes, or you can call me, but if I don't hear from you I'm just going to have to go."

He didn't call. I waited in the car for another half an hour but realized that he HAD ditched me.

Then today (Sunday) he sent me a text message that said "I know you got my Ipod. The best thing you can do is stay the fuck away from me."

I replied "I swear to Christ that I didn't take your iPod. The best thing you can do is pay me back the money you owe me." He didn't respond.

Not counting the gas for the return trip, Michael promised to pay me back over $277.

If Michael had done the honest thing, gone to the REAL western union and gotten me the money, I might have been willing to stay in atlanta at least for the night so he could see the show, and then take him back late that evening or the next day. However, he lied to me and ditched me, and didn't even give me the opportunity to change my mind.

Even if he had said "You know what, I can't get the money right now, I'll pay you back next week in Knoxville" I might have been OK with it, but it's just the fact that he lied to me constantly that made me realize I had to leave.

I found out that Palmer isn't even his real last name, and he was trying to keep it a secret from Leigh and me. His last name is Markham or Marcum, and now he's trying to go as Gonzo Palmer, probably because he knows that everyone who knows him as Michael Palmer knows he's a liar.

I didn't want to leave him, and I didn't - he left me. I would have given him a ride back if he had just paid me the money he promised or if he had told the truth for once, but he chose to lie.

If you talk to him, tell him I'm sorry he couldn't get a bus back, if I had known he didn't have ANY access to money (he lied and told me he did) I wouldn't have let him leave. But I left thinking "well, he's got the $277 he stole from me and more coming from his agent, that should be enough to get him through another night."

He really just needs to learn that his lying is what got him in trouble with everything. If he had told the truth we all would have had a great trip.

---This is the majority of the message I sent to his Goddaughter. She messaged me back telling me that he had also lied to her, and if she talked to him she would ask him to return my money, but she didn't want to deal with his lies anymore... which I found to be very sad. I mean, I had heard Michael claim to love his goddaughter, and now apparently he had lied to her and greatly hurt her mother. How terrible.

And now, the story continues... he's trying to go by a different name - "Gonzo Palmer" and we CAN'T let it happen again. Apparently he's trying to run the same scam again, get a ride to some show with someone on facebook and probably fuck her over the same way he did me... So, if you live in Knoxville or Atlanta or anywhere and you're contacted by this bald guy who looks like a sociopath, take caution: he IS a sociopath. Watch out, or he will take advantage of you too.

I am not the first person who has been taken in by him. I will link to Patrick Christian's story about the whole Les Claypool fake interview fiasco that Michael screwed The JustUs Leeg over with.

Dead bodies & art.

I'm not a big person for posting links, but right now I am just fascinated.

I mean there is so much art done with corpses these days that it's not really all that shocking anymore.

see: Ferrarri Forever - "Marco Evaristti is searching for a person on the verge of death, who wants to donate his body..." to be placed in an awesome Ferrari as 'art'!

It's funny, though, because I have always said that I would like to donate my body to art after I die. Art, then cannibalism, then science, in that order. But only art in a public sense - in a gallery at least for a while and if it does end up in someone's private collection, i would like there to be high resolution prints of it available online, no matter what.

At first my thought is "I'm not sure if I would want my name associated with it, though, what if it made me look bad?" Then I realize "Wait, I'd be dead, why would I care if I looked bad?" I don't know. I guess most bodies that are donated are donated anonymously.

Speaking of donating bodies... I was very shocked to hear about this almost 6 months after moving here. Just because I am weird and interested in this kind of thing but didn't know about it at all...

The original "Body Farm" (started by William Bass) is the University of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility located a few miles from downtown off of Alcoa Highway in Knoxville, Tennessee.

I drive Alcoa highway pretty much any time I go out. I know exactly where that is. Unfortunately, Google's satellite image isn't very revealing, but still, crazy, right?

View Larger Map

Anyway, I would love to go visit there but it's closed to the public. Maybe it's time to start studying anthropology?

Body Farm, originally uploaded by ZenOptic.

I guess this is a photo of the body farm in winter, when you can at least kind of make out some of the structure of the place.

Also, here is a set of much closer-up photos, but all you can see is the fence.

Hmm, where was I?

Well, I was talking about dead bodies & art. Unfortunately I don't think many of the bodies at the "body farm" are taking part in any artwork of any kind.

So. Anyway, one thing I stumbled across (when reading about the Ferrari thing above) was Honoré Fragonard, who was an anatomist in the late 1700s. (See? I didn't even wikipedia link it, because the wikipedia article isn't actually very good)
I guess some of his écorchés or "flayed figures" (though I think the literal translation of écorché is "scorched" - ok, i looked it up and the answer is "skinned" but I can see how "scorched" is similar. A neat trick with French words is if they start with "é" that "é" can sometimes be changed for an "s" to create a cognate. "étudier" for example, is the verb for "to study", "épine" is the word for "needle" -like spine, get it?-, "école" means "school" ... so if you are ever confused in French and can't look it up, try that trick. It doesn't always yield the answer, but it does sometimes and it can help. Another useful trick is that the circumflex (^) often goes over a vowel where the S afterward has been removed. "pâtes" is "pasta", "hôpital" is "hospital", "île" is "isle", "fête" is "festival" etc.)

Ahem.

Anyway. It makes sense that the word for "skinned" would be similar to "scorched", I don't know though, I often try to make connections when there really are none.

What's cool about this Fragonard guy is his stuff really did leave the realm of educational or scientific and has crossed far over into art. Amazingly, the museum that has his stuff doesn't have very many good photos of it on their website, but I found a photographer's website which has some very nice photos.

Warning: You may find the image below offensive.


Click here to see the full series.

My favorite piece by far is "Man with a Mandible," which I will link to after the description.
Just because the description is so... I don't know, exciting.

This tall écorché was inspired by Samson knocking the Philistines down, using a donkey jaw. The work carries extreme violence : his arm brandishes the threatening mandible, his lips are tense, his look is deviated, his injected penis is obscenely taut. Fragonard went as far as twisting his ears and lips, and deep-setting his nose to give him an aggressive grin.

Click here to see "Man with a Mandible".

I guess it's just part of that whole incredulity I have with death, because these bodies are so ... energetic, it's just almost impossible to believe that there's no life within.

And to think about the guy that put that together, an anatomist being inspired by the bible, it's just awesome. And I don't mean awesome as in "bill-and-ted" awesome, but as in awe-inspiring. I don't know.
I just think of this guy and maybe the life he was living and how it came to be that he chose to do that pose. He had to put bodies together somehow and maybe he was complaining to his mom or something, "I just don't know how to pose them," and then she says "Well, why don't you look in the bible for inspiration?" And he did, it's perfect. Just perfect! This nerdy guy and his mom gives him the idea for it!
OK, well I don't know if that really happened, but this is the kind of thing my imagination takes and runs wild with.

Also, see the movie "Anatomy" with Franka Potente (trailer here). I am linking to the German trailer because the English language trailer sucks a lot. Walmart used to sell this movie for $5.50 and it's definitely been one of their better deals. Most of the DVDs in those huge bins suck, but this one is great - however, I don't think they still sell it there, I think I bought it about 5 years ago. Anyway, it's all the "plastination" stuff where all the water is sucked out of the body and replaced with plastic so it doesn't decay... like that "Bodies" exhibit that everyone in the world has seen but me. And I lived in New York while it was there, what is wrong with me?

I guess it's in Atlanta until January, that would be a reason to go see it.

Hmm.

Anyway, I don't really have much to say right now. Just saw some stuff that I thought was interesting. Am moving soon, which is going to be exciting. I just can't wait to get out of Maryville. It's a cute town and all, but all I ever do is drive to and from Knoxville all the time. Oy.

So that's it for now.

See you all later.