From the Inside (Paperback or Softback)

The Menninger Foundation is a clinic, sanatorium, and psychiatric school founded in 1919. Known as a beacon of health and reform, there have also been long-running rumors of controversy, abuse, and manipulation. Legendary Hollywood starlets like Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland sought treatment there, and still today, many celebrities secretly spend time there.

John Henry Timmis IV, the son of a wealthy family from Chicago’s northern suburbs, was diagnosed a psychopath after a string of rebellious misdemeanors as a teenager―possession of marijuana, prostitution, and theft. Timmis frequented the Menninger Clinic between the ages of 15 and 17. He repeatedly ran away and got recaptured, was held in solitary for extended periods, and forced to endure excruciatingly dull group therapy sessions. He recounts these experiences with adolescent braggadocio, blurring intensely personal confessions and exaggerated fantasies, in hopes of mythologizing himself and claiming a spot in the canon of rebellious youth.

Later in life, as JTIV, Timmis recorded sincere autobiographical songs in a style he deemed “Destructo-Rock,” and was acknowledged in The Guinness Book of World Records for creating the longest film ever made, The Cure for Insomnia. He passed away in 2002, leaving us his songs, the film, and this document to piece together his wild and bizarre story.

John Henry Timmis IV was a glam-punk savant who self-released 4 singles and 1 LP (in a musical style he called "destructo rock") while living around the Chicago area during the 1980's. His album was re-released by the venerable Chicago independent label Drag City in 2008. Timmis also made an 85-hour movie called "The Cure for Insomnia" which, upon its release, was deemed by the Guinness Book of World Records to the longest-running ever. As a young man, Timmis ran away from home several times before his mother committed him to the Menninger Clinic, with the story of his time there being the focus of his sarcastic, self-aggrandizing "memoir" From the Inside.

Plastic Crimewave, otherwise known as Steve Krakow, is a Chicago-based illustrator and writer, avant-garde musician, music historian and impresario.