Friday’s Weekly Round Up – 48

This week’s Friday Round-Up begins once again in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street. Here’s Eric Drooker‘s on-site slide presentation (and a spirited recital of the Moloch section of Howl). Andy Laties is on saxophone, Eric Blitz is on percussion (“playing a piece of foam-core because the cops shut down his drums”). Filming is by Rebecca Migdal.

For earlier (sunnier! – tho’ no less impassioned) on-site Zuccotti footage we recommend here, Laki Vazakas‘ impressionistic portrait of October 17 2011.

Johnny Depp fans? Johnny’s been doing the rounds (well, doing a little press) for his Hunter S Thompson movie, and, as always, giving the kudos to Allen. From Roger Moore’s piece in The Orlando Sentinel : “Literary historian Douglas Brinkley compared him (Hunter) to Ernest Hemingway, Thompson’s idol, who also committed suicide, and F Scott Fitzgerald. Depp adds to that list “Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, Jack London and Nathanael West“.
One common denominator (perhaps)? – the unflinching gaze.

Here’s Hunter Thompson’s recorded remarks on Allen, shortly after his death:
“Yeah. Allen was a particular friend, one of my heroes, really. I knew him almost as long as I’ve been writing…I was once arrested with Ginsberg. He was a big help to me. He was one of the few people who read unknown writer’s work. Maybe he was just hustling me. He liked to flirt, Allen. They called him a monster but he was only falling in love!”

Our friend Jerry Aronson passed on a little thing he received – a poem made from Johnny Depp’s comments on Allen (from the footage of Depp in The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg -transcribed, along with other Depp materials, here).
We don’t usually feature poem-contributions, but in this case we’ll make an exception.
“After reading it for a poetry group, I was invited to teach a workshop on found poetry”, the author, Jamie Bennison, writes:

Ginsberg

Allen Ginsberg saying many window things
floating hands brother telling amazing stuff
talking remember cry of wandering states
of Kerouac felt beautiful driving in California
days New York nights Burroughs shooting
this smoke that ideal road called America.in
true little hands chant a united dream of lit
cigarette eye long and staring at sound. here
nicotine kitchen poets verge on something
sweeter, spend nothing but the very moment
writer reached out books forward change
you remember how anything certain ended?
smoking tea in the world corner house i can
physically remember Ginsberg’s immensely
pure poetic picture – howl for young days and
older years, time dealing want introduced was.
but then the diamond god faced cancer call
his pulse a ripple in the dream of tranquility
love in reading this beautiful sea of gestures
spoke amazingly pure our always brother Allen

Did you know Allen was “born at the Beth”? Newark’s Beth Israel Medical Center just celebrated it’s 110th and on the occasion reveals the Philip Roth-Allen Ginsberg-Jerry Lewis connection!

Remember this?  this?  and this?-  Alex Pytlartz continues (picking up his project again) with this and this

Next Tuesday, November 8, this copy of Howl goes up for sale at the auctioneers, Swann Galleries, in New York. Lot 278. We’ll let you know how much it fetches.

Follow-up news – finally good news for New York St Marks Bookstore (real-estate news in New York)

Lawrence Ferlinghetti will be reading and talking tonight in San Francisco at the Meridian Gallery, He will be joined by the irreplaceable Jack Hirschman.

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