A monumental occasion, today, the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great bard of America (indeed, great bard of the world), beloved Walt Whitman.
HAPPY 200th BIRTHDAY WALT!
For a selection of posts about Whitman on the Allen Ginsberg Project – see here, here, here, here, and here (on his birthday), and here and here. A series on Whitman and “Spontaneous Poetics” begins here, a series on Whitman and “Expansive Poetics, here, and a series on ” Whitman, Meditation and Poetics” – here
and yes, we’re aware that that’s not a real butterfly he has in his hands in the photo.
We would also recommend you read Whitman’s prescient and, sadly, timely words (from his great prose work, Democratic Vistas) – here
We would recommend you read Whitman.
Allen Ginsberg’s own birthday, incidentally, is in a few days time, Monday, (June 3rd). More about that in the coming days.
Howl Happening in New York will be having its annual celebration for him, tomorrow. Anne Waldman, Bob Holman, Bob Rosenthal, Ed Sanders, Luc Sante, and others, will be among those featured. For more information on that event – see here
and.(if you happen to be up-state (Woodstock), Shiv Mirabito will be hosting (June 3), his annual Ginsberg birthday celebration.
Other Beat news –Chuck Smith‘s documentary Barbara Rubin and The Exploding New York Underground (that we mentioned here last week) is a doc. not to be missed (with significant Ginsberg content – see this clip in The Advocate – “Watch How Allen Ginsberg and Barbara Rubin Started Their Love Affair“) –
The film continues to get great reviews – (see Jordan Hoffman in The Times of Israel , Sheri Linden in The Hollywood Reporter, Nick Schager in Variety)
Interviews with Smith about the film here. and here
“Big Man Looks Back at Little Boy” – Jonah Raskin reviews Lawrence Ferlinghetti‘s recent book
& Casey Rae’s William Burroughs and The Cult of Rock ‘n Roll now has a playlist -see here
