Ai Weiwei and HUM BOM! – a taster from the forthcoming The Fall of America – A 50th Anniversary Musical Tribute – Volume II – the eagerly-awaited follow-up volume releasing in early October
Pre-orders and the “HUM BOM!” single are available right now, at Allenginsberg.bandcamp.com and if you order today, Friday, you can take advantage of Bandcamp Fridays, where all proceeds go to the artist! In this case PEN.org
Yes, all proceeds will benefit PEN America / Pen.org. Our thanks go to Ai Weiwei, OFuture and Aliah Rosenthal for their riveting and powerfully provocative film interpretation.
The poem is actually a poem in three parts. As Allen explains:
“Part I codifies a longer improvisation in a southern church at Anti-War Rally marking U.S. carpet bombing North Vietnam early‘70’s. Performing this percussive bummer with me at Folk City a decade later, Don Cherry lay down his trumpet and protested squealing “We don’t wanna bomb!?” so Part II evolved to alchemize the aggressive energy into something positive. I thought that I was finished with the poem but the bombing of Iraq prompted another seven stanzas’ blacktop analysis. Part III’s an attempt to lob a word bomb, an explosion of mantric sound, into the middle of what seems by hindsight one of the most successful coups of government brainwash in the history of American mass-media.”
Birthday Greetings – here‘s Allen (including wise words) from last years birthday posting
(& from 2016 – here and here – our 90th birthday Ginsberg photo portfolio)
Poetry and Bread, Bob Holman’s podcast (nineteen episodes so far, check it out) features Allen this week – Allen in India (with guests and scholars, Deborah Baker and Tony Trigilio).
For more of Holman and producer-editor-director, Ram Devineni’s Indian explorations – see here
More on that important topic – Allen and India – here and here
and Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky and Francesco Clemente on India – here and here
Jonah Raskin writes on Stevan Weine’s Best Minds book for Counterpunch – and has some thoughtful criticisms/qualifications – “Unsafe At Any Speed” – see his review here
Alexandre Ferrere‘s essay, “A Derridean Exploration Into Allen Ginsberg’s Archive(s)” appears in the current print-issue of Beatdom (as we have previously announced). There is also a colorized, more accessible version now available on line – see here
Simon Warner writes on Larry Beckett‘s “Howl” recording (“Howl at The Beat Museum”) – here on his Rock and the Beat Generation Substack (which also includes, this week, number #7 in his “Beat Meetings” series – A.Robert Lee recalling his memorable encounter with Beat Surrealist, Ted Joans)
Nathalie op de Beeck writes in Publisher’s Weekly on “Beatnik Nun Eco Poet”, Mary Norbert Corte
For those of you, any of you, should you be happen to be in the Brooklyn area this Sunday, there’ll be a book-launch for Korte’s book, Jumping into the American River – New and Selected Poems, Vol. 1 – see here
and City Lights en francais – (a little literary history)
et aussi The Beat Generation (on Radio France)
Looking forward to Allen’s birthday tomorrow, 97, looking forward to the Centennial in 2026.