Next Thursday, October 6 (at 5.30pm EST), Village Preservation in New York will be installing a plaque, at 204-206 East 7th Street, on the East Village residence, where both Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs lived in the early ‘Fifties (1952 and ’53 – a pivotal time for both of them in their literary careers)
Formal presentations will take place with readings from both writers’ work by Bob Rosenthal Bob Holman, and Regina Weinreich, and a discussion of the importance of the Beat Generation and its early years.
Thursday also marks the conclusion of the Howl Ultramarathon that we noted here last week – the conclusion of a grueling, and remarkable, effort that begins this coming Tuesday at Allen’s grave-site, and takes in such locations as Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in Morris Plains, New Jersey, (where his mother, Naomi, spent several years, off and on, starting in 1935, and where Allen would dutifully visit her), The Great Falls, Paterson, (Allen’s home-town and his bond with his mentor, William Carlos Williams), The New York Psychiatric Institute and Hospital (where he spent time in 1949, and first met the dedicatee of “Howl”, Carl Solomon), Joan Vollmer Adams and Edie Parker‘s apartment at 118th Street in Harlem (where he first met Jack Kerouac), Riverside Park at 116th Street (the site of the notorious David Kammerer incident), as well as key Beat hang-outs throughout Manhattan (The West End Bar, Bickford’s Cafeteria, Fugazzi‘s, the Pony Stable Inn)
An ultra marathon based around Allen’s life and poetry? As often as we’re reminded how he still inspires, this one’s truly exceptional and one you’d not necessarily expect (though maybe it’s not such a stretch at all, since it aligns with mantra, meditation, consciousness raising). We imagine he would be charmed by this herculean feat conducted in his honour.
and performed with such dedication and resolve.
Kerouac – Lowell Celebrates Kerouac next week (starting Thursday). We’ll feature more on that in the days ahead, but here’s a heads-up. Thursday, 2 o’clock, Charles Shuttleworth will be reading from Desolation Peak – Collected Writings the soon-to-be-released book on Kerouac’s Desolation Peak journals from Sal Paradise Press (in conjunction with Rare Bird Books). At 5.00, there’s the opening gathering at The Old Worthern, followed by a “Jack at Night Tour” led by Bill Walsh, (that will include stops at the St. Jean Baptiste Church, the site of the “Watermelon Man Bridge”, The Grotto and the Archambault Funeral Home, where Jack was waked), and then a return to The Old Worthen for an evening of music and poetry.
The celebration continues through October 10th,
The full scheduler can be found – here
Produced by the critically-acclaimed Beth Morrison Projects, the film component will
premiere with a live soundtrack accompaniment by glam opera band Timur & the Dime Museum alongside musicians from the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra. An original soundtrack recording is scheduled to be released on Cantaloupe Music sometime in 2023.
91-year-old Ramblin’ Jack Elliott is profiled this week in the New York Times
See the four part-interview that Allen conducted with him that we featured back in November of 2012 – here, here, here, and here
Jann Wenner‘s gossipy name-dropping self-serving autobiography appeared recently and of course Allen’s mentioned (along with the many hundreds of others) in it.
Wenner tells this story:
“U2 was in the final rehearsals for another multi-million dollar tour, and their plans for the kickoff included the cover of Rolling Stone. Then Allen Ginsberg died in the same news cycle. I never met Allen, but we corresponded as kindred spirits and the magazine had published a few of his long poems. I considered him a journalist-poet, reporting in the same language as Dylan on the landscape of the American soul, and I wanted to put him on the cover instead of U2. I announced that decision and we proceeded to assemble a tribute issue. Johnny Depp wrote a personal memory of meeting Allen for the issue. U2’s manager, Paul McGuinness, a delightful man, who I thought resembled the Wizard of Oz, immediately got wind of this. He called, pushing politely but forcefully, to say his cover. Paul had a great line – “Look, Ginsberg is dead. It’s not going to matter to him. But we’re alive and it matters to us”.
I couldn’t fight that one”
No, I guess you couldn’t!