Beyond Beat, the five-day Los Angeles Beat convention continues. Among the highlights tonight, a group reading of “Howl” (also a performance of Gregory Corso’s “Bomb”, and a poetry reading by Neeli Cherkovski and Paul Vangelisti). Tomorrow (Saturday) will include a “Punk and Beat” panel (with V. Vale, Jerry Casale, and S.A.Griffin), a panel on Bob Kaufman, and a showing of Billy Woodberry‘s documentary on Kaufman, And When I Die, I Won’t Stay Dead. Sunday includes Steve Silberman (on the Legacy of “Howl”), a “Howl” panel (with Steve Silberman, Marc Olmsted, and Richard Modiano), panels on Buddhism and the Beats, Gay Culture and the Beats, Michael C Ford on Beat and Hollywood, a showing of a Diane di Prima movie – and plenty more. The festival concludes on Monday with a showing of Pull My Daisy, Pat Thomas interviewing David Amram, and David Amram in performance. A full schedule can be seen here
Lowell Celebrates Kerouac – celebrating what would have been Kerouac’s 96th birthday this weekend, beginning tonight with “Disembodied Poetics – A Night of Music and Poetry” at the Hearing Room on Chelmsford Street. Tomorrow (Saturday), (beginning at the Pollard Memorial Library, despite its recent water-damage), an all-day marathon reading of On The Road. Sunday (among the features) at the Lowell National Historical Park Visitors’ Center on Market Street, Kerouac biographer, Paul Maher will be reading from and discussing his recent study – I Am The Revolutionary – Young Jack Kerouac. More Jack Kerouac here on the Allen Ginsberg Project in the coming days.
Monday night in San Francisco (the actual birthday) – Capos restaurant in a benefit for the Beat Museum – (“Visions of Chicago Cracker Thin Pizza” anyone?)
More Kerouac news, while we’re at it – Kerouac’s long-lost novel The Haunted Life has been adapted for the stage by Sean Daniels of the Merrimack Repertory Theatre and will kick up the company’s 40th season, March of next year.
A Kerouac stamp? – Dean Contover reports his campaign continues. It isn’t over yet.
A little letter/note from Allen, (from August 1971, regarding contracts and his recordings of Blake and of mantras) is going up for auction at RR auction house (closing bids, Thursday next)
to “Al (Bendich), & Sol (Zaentz) & Ralph (J Gleason)” of Fantasy (“Phantasy”) Records” – Allen writes: “Here are 3 reels: Side 1 & 2 of Blake album, Side 1 of a Mantra album, These are the Masters, I have no copies, can you make a protection copy at 15 I.P.S. and 3 copies at 7 1/2 IPS (one for me, one for Miles & one for Peter Edmiston)? If 2 or 3 cassettes can be made simultaneously I could use those for musicians. I’ll be back in a week from Snyder & Sierras, & be in town very briefly before going to India for a week. If contracts are agreed & ready on return from Sierras and/or India, O.K.—I would like to re do “Spring”, “Nurse’s Song”, and “A Dream“, all the choruses, make them longer & bouncier in chorus. For that I’ll need couple sessions & couple sessions mix down time (6 & 6) in studio around September 18-23 (???) – Allen,” Added as a postscript: “16 albums of poetry were completed this eve, safety copy made. Will deliver those on call.”
Do Angels Need Haircuts? – a Lou Reed poetry-collection (of early poems and with ephemera and accompanying CD – Lou reading live in 1971 at the St Marks Poetry Project) was recently announced – due out in April. Two of the poems can already be listened to – here
And speaking of rock and poetry – Patti Smith. Patti appeared last weekend at the annual Tibet House Benefit – see (some excerpts from her performance) here, here and here
Robert Hyatt, Neal Cassady’s son, reading at the Neal Cassady Birthday Bash, last month in Colorado – here