Friday’s Weekly Round-Up – 100

Allen Ginsberg & Steven Taylor, Passaic Falls, Paterson, New Jersey, May 1978. photo: c.Terry Sanders

One hundred “Friday Round-Ups”!  We thought we’d celebrate today with a re-posting of some (a few) selected (random) highlights from the past two years.

Our Friday Round-Up feature began on November 12, 2010, with a picture of Allen and his guitarist-accompanist, Steven Taylor, in Paterson, New Jersey, at the Passaic Falls (see above), an Arabic translation of Allen’s poem “Song” (“the weight of the world/ is love”), and this little bit of “Howl” minutae:
(from New Yorker, Stefan Jones)
– “who sank all night in submarine light of Bickford’s floated out and sat through the stale beer afternoon in desolate Fugazzi’s, listening to…”
– “My grandparents owned Fugazzis, and ran it at the time “Howl” was written. My father tended bar there for a short time, while in grad school.It was on 6th, a few doors down from the Waverly theater. The building was torn down and a fast food place installed. According to my parents, the clientele were old Italian guys who came for the polenta and bacala special, and beatniks. I have vague toddler memories of the place,
and my grandparents’ apartment up above..”

Beat hagiography? Excessive devotion? We ourselves have to be wary of it. Here’s Joe Woodward’s intelligent take on the subject (from Round Up number 7, January 7, last year).

Round-Up 8 includes glimpses of Allen in Ireland in 1993 – ah! the sartorial elegance! – that  great grey “thorn-proof” Donegal tweed suit!

Richard Nagler‘s work? Word on the Street? Photography as Haiku? Are Allen Ginsberg Project readers familiar with it? You should be.  More information may be had about it here.

Speaking of photographers, two other photographers/ photo-portfolios that shouldn’t be missed – Dan Wilcox, custodian of “the world’s largest collection of photos of unknown poets” (sic) shows selections from his “Ginsberg & Ferlinghetti & More”

& Marvin Moore‘s snaps are recommended/viewable  (including a truly beatific Allen here)

Ginsberg encounters? We’ve featured a good many – Round-Up 22 has him in – of all places! –  an Iowa pig roast! , in Round-Up 23, he’s in Butte, Montana. The following week, it’s 1971 and he’s just back from India.. (just some of several)

then there’s such non-encounters as here and here (Clark Knowles and Chris Clarke) and, while you’re on that page, check out the great postcard-collaboration with the late great Ted Berrigan.

Ed Sanders is another of our “frequent visitors”, check out some of the Ed Sanders pages here, here and here

Round-Up 43? – what’s so special about Round-Up 43? – well, that just might be (when we think about it) one of the most essential of our Ginsberg posts (featuring, as it does, the Allen Ginsberg Practicum -) (2013 update – the “Practicum” is no longer accessible, but you can catch something of Allen’s teaching syllabus – here)

“Dexter” (Michael C Hall) on Allen Ginsberg is a popular one. Read his sound-byte, especially for us, in Friday’s Round-Up 62  (from February of 2012)

So’s Daniel Radcliffe (“Harry Potter”). Read and think about Harry Potter and homophobia.
When (Allen) Ginsberg and (William) Burroughs met Samuel Beckett! – #63 has the link to Steven J Gertz’s intriguing article here.

Yes, this is only a scattering of “hits”, a few (just a few) passing moments.
Check out our archives
And look forward to a whole lot more.

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