Paul Krassner (1932-2019)

Sad to report. Another ‘Sixties legend departs – Paul Krassner – author, journalist, satirist, founder, editor and frequent contributer to the legendary (and highly influential) magazine The Realist, founding member of the Yippies , counter-cultural beacon, wit, storyteller, prankster, gadfly, honorary Beat.

Here‘s the obituary notice from Politico,  here is the notice from AP,  here‘s the notice from Variety, and one from the LA Times,

and here from the San Francisco Chronicle – and here (an extended obituary) from the New York Times

Here’s Paul in 2007 (from an interview in David S Wills in Beatdom magazine):

DW: How influenced were you by the Beat Generation?

PK: It was reassuring to see it as a counterculture movement even before the word was invented.  I identified with their spirit of irreverence toward authority.  And I liked the individuals I met, such as Allen Ginsberg and Gregory Corso, whose lives were as poetic as their writing.  I think there’s always been a counterculture, from the Bohemians to the Beats to the Hippies to the Yippies to the Punks to the Hip-Hop.  It probably started during cave-dwelling days; while the adults were drawing on the walls of their caves, the kids were out in the field making their marks on boulders.”

Here’s Paul’s speech from 2010 at Oakland PEN, receiving his richly-earned lifetime achievement award

Last year’s in-depth piece by Bruce Fessier in The Palm Spring Desert Sun – “50 Years After the Democratic National Convention , Paul Krassner Still Hasn’t Sold Out” – The headline says it all – “Desert Hot Springs Resident Paul Krassner’s legacy endures”

Too much to ennumerate here but here’s a couple of vintage interviews – with Mae Brussell from  1972 and 1977.   More (much more) to follow..

And the books

Here’s Paul discussing with Andy Thomas in 2009 his book, Who’s To Say What’s Obscene

And the speeches – and the memories

Here’s the New York Times back in 1988 reviewing Allen and Paul (and Frank Maya and Karen Finlay), all appearing on the same bill

And from his article in The Huffington Post – “Remembering Allen Ginsberg” (read the whole of Paul’s sensitive recall of a fellow compadre and revolutionary)

We miss you, Paul