Allen’s Dharma pal poet friend Marc Olmsted sent us this 2008 interview with him and poet Peter Marti by producer/painter/performer Julie Adler & we can’t thank him enough. This one really gets inside Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche‘s influence on their poetry & lives as well as Allen’s and the early days of Naropa University.
It ends with a genius version of Allen doing his poem “Birdbrain” backed by Olmsted’s band, The Job. Recorded at On Broadway in North Beach, San Francisco, (directly above the legendary punk club, Mabuhay Gardens) in 1981, this take is completely different from the more familiar release with the Glu-ons, & seriously off the chain!
Check out the interview – here
We highly recommend checking out Julie Adler’s other interviews & radio segments, especially if you’ve got any interest in Tibetan Buddhism. They range from interviews with Reggie Ray, to stories on the Dalai Lama, Gyoto Monks, Milarepa, and the 17th Karmapa to name just a few. Check out Julie’s site – here