If the event of Allen’s pubic hair was the big story this week (“Daniel Radcliffe told not to trim his pubic hair for latest Allen Ginsberg role”) that would say much about movie-making and fatuousness. It was the big story (but a few other things, mercifully, happened). Philip Glass celebrated his 75th birthday (and premiered at Carnegie Hall, to an enraptured response, his 9th Symphony), William Burroughs’ second collection of letters, Rub Out The Words: The Letters of William S Burroughs 1959-1974 (edited by Bill Morgan) made an early appearance (official pub. date is Tuesday), Neal Cassady got a belated diploma (the third annual “Neal Cassady birthday bash” is on tonight). Meanwhile, OTR (On The Road) news – Rick Dale over at The Daily Beat has just published an interview with Al Hinkle, 85-year-old Al Hinkle, the Ed Dunkel of On The Road, (that’d be Danny Morgan, playing him as a young man in the upcoming movie version). Countdown to Cannes. “Buzz” about the film remains strong. Everyone’s pretty excited.
Michele Corleone got in touch with us and reminded us about his remarkable photos – his remarkable “Beat Generation portfolio”. That’s Allen in 1996 setting off the “Round-Up” this week. Other images of Ferlinghetti, McClure, Sanders, Marty Matz (sic), John Giorno, Judith Malina, Diane di Prima and Anne Waldman.
Diane DiPrima, incidentally, is recovering from oral surgery (that took place this past Monday) – “All manner of light, good thoughts, vibes, rituals, get-well notes, prayers, wish-paths, aspirations, mantras, lit candles of any persuasion, mailed by postal service or sent or projected on the physical, cyber, astral, or other planes – the Hindu, Zen, or Tibetan Mind-Realms, and blessings from unknown depths of space, will be gratefully received”, she sweetly reminds us.
We began with Daniel Radcliffe, so let’s close with Daniel Radcliffe. Here’s his early thoughts on the Ginsberg role (from a recently-conducted interview, with Ben Moore, for Screenrant, sadly, no longer on line):
“What’s been wonderful so far is doing all the research. I’ve been looking into his (Ginsberg’s) childhood and his life and I’m reading the journals at the moment. I’m about to read the biography – [Barry Miles? Michael Schumacher? Ed Sanders? Bill Morgan, we wonder] – It’s fantastic. He’s obviously an extremely interesting character… What’s interesting about him – the more I learn about him in his life, he was more or less the most placatory person you could ever have met. He was all about trying to keep peace and keep any situation calm. His mother had a deep personality disorder, so he was at home a lot of times as a kid just watching – just trying to make sure everything was ok…Which is why it’s intriguing that he was so confrontational in his poetry. It was like that side could never come out in any kind of actual social interaction. I’m mainly (looking forward to) working with the director. It’s his first film. He’s a young guy called John Krokidas. I think he’s going to make a fantastic, fantastic movie. He’s co-written it as well. He’s just really super-smart.”