Friday’s Weekly Round-Up – 160

“To Allen Ginsberg”, Living Music‘s, long out-of-print, free-form, “acid-folk” “avant-jazz”, 1971 album, recorded for Italy’s RCA’s experimental imprint, “Free Dimension” and featuring the voice of Gianfranca Montedoro, the keyboards of Umberto Santucci, and the saxophone and flute of Umberto’s brother, jazz legend, Cicci Santucci, was recently re-released by the intriguing, inquisitive, Australian label, Light In The Attic Records, and is now available again on vinyl.

Here’s Bob Baker Fish, reviewing it on Cyclic Defrost – “This is a total freak oddity, a concept album from 1972 Italy made by a musical social experiment with tunes that evolve through psychedelia, the esoteric, acid folk, world and experimental jazz. It’s a moment in time, and though that moment has well and truly passed, the ambitious confluence of ideas, hopes and musical genres has resulted in a compelling work of eccentric head-scratching genius”
“The highlight..is (their rendition of) “Howl” , which is (19)70’s psychedelic hippy funk, with cyclical guitar, groovy bass and urgent bongos that makes it come across like some kind of cop show theme that’s ingested too much grass. For further information see the cover of this album. The song is tension and release with Montedoro’s earnest female vocals reciting Ginsberg’s incendary words over a repetitive protest funk before delicate guitar melodies and droning tenor sax offer a time out, an evening in the amber lounge if you will. Ultimately, once Ginsberg’s words are worn out and there’s a chorus of wondrous chanting voices and the song descends into a gentle low-key funky soul workout.
Remarkable.”

“Lysergic Acid” (from the same album) can be listened to here.

“Outrider”, Alystyre Julian’s five-years-in-the-making documentary on Anne Waldman has released a fundraising teaser (see above), including Allen’s fervid introduction:
“She was born in Greenwich Village. She saw Gregory Corso ambling by MacDougal Street, “looking for an angry fix”. She has affairs with books. She writes, publishes, copulates, and gives birth to books. She teaches her apprentices how to listen like Plato. She has affairs with ancient Christian Churches like St Marks-in-the-Bowery. She has affairs with sapphires, emeralds, amber and rubies. She coordinates the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics with her left pinkie. She knocks me out. She thrills my bones. She supports my skull with her right hand. She’s the muse of Naropa. She’s Anne Waldman!”

Anne may also be glimpsed, alongside Bob Holman, Charles Plymell, Simon Pettet, Michael Lally, Tony Towle and sixteen (sic) others, in “Twenty One Poets”, John Shaw’s film, available here.

Upcoming sightings –  She’ll be appearing next Thursday (January 16) at the Freed Orman Center at the  University of Windsor (Canada) speaking on “The Poet’s Job – Looking Into the Darkness of our Times”

She’ll also be featured tomorrow here on The Allen Ginsberg Project.

Anne Waldman, the official web-site – here

More Burroughs Centennial news (following on from last week posting). On February 5th, the date of his birth, William Redwood and Anthony Clayton will be conducting a walk,
“William Burroughs – An Alien in London”, around London’s West End. For more information, see here. Two days later, Guerrilla Zoo will present “Interzone”, a multi-media event at a secret undisclosed London location – “Combining promenade theatre, music, performances, art, films and art installations – Think Naked Lunch meets Punch Drunk”, the organizers write. Then, there’s the whole issue of Beat Scene, coming out later this month, which will be given over entirely to Burroughs. Then.. well, don’t forget to check in with Burroughs 100 and The Burroughs Century blog. Events will be taking place throughout the year.

William S Burroughs

Burroughs isn’t the only friend of Allen’s to be having a Centennial this year, “Anti-Poet”, mathematician, physicist, literary genius, Nicanor Parra turns 100 this year (and he’s still alive!) – Last Saturday, ChilePoesía organized the first of what will doubtless be numerous salutes to this extraordinary poet, revered throughout Latin America, in Las Cruces, Valparaiso, in Chile, where he currently resides

Ginsberg parodies. We’re grateful to Steve Heilig for providing a necessary counter-point to the link we posted last week (from the San Franciscan Chronicle) – “I saw the poor ghost of Allen Ginsberg spinning in his poet’s grave, appalled disgusted misappropriated/ His legendary poem co-opted in the name of all that he disdained:/Selective ideologically motivated misleading attacks on basic rights to basic health care by phony populist mouthpieces of corporate greed and marketplace fundamentalism..” – Yes, it’s important to point out co-option and appropriation (mis-appropriation) – “Phony populism” – “wolves in sheep’s clothing” – We should all be on our guard.

that which matters, that which insists, that which willl last,/<that! o my people, where shall you find it, how, where, where shall you listen/when all is become billboards, when, all, even silence, is spray-gunned?

Forty-four years ago on this day, the poet Charles Olson died.

And yesterday (as we reported) his friend the poet Amiri Baraka died.

Here’s Baraka reading Charles Olson

And here’s Tom Clark’s haunting hommage

One comment

  1. Incredible post. The Living Music "Howl" is SO great! It's both a classic period piece and a worthy & respectful re-presentation of "Howl." I'm so psyched to know about this!

    While we're at it, here's a loud and appreciative OM AH HUM! to you Mr. Hale and the fine work you continue to do with the venerable Allen Ginsberg Project. Thank you!

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