Peter Hale

Happy Birthday today to the wonderful Peter Hale, the man who continues to make it all happen, our beloved current manager for The Allen Ginsberg Estate

We salute him with a little portfolio of photos of him, taken by Allen, “back in the day”

Peter’s initial encounter with Allen is a story worth telling. He recounts it – here

For a more detailed account of his early life around the Beats and his experiences – see here

He grew up in Italy, Germany, and then Boulder, Colorado, where he earned a BA in Classics, Greek & Latin, from the University of Colorado, all the while attending classes in music, poetry and meditation at Naropa. A long-time practicing Buddhist, he became part of the staff at the Ginsberg office in 1992. Following Bob Rosenthal’s retirement in 1997, (on Allen’s death, to concentrate on his teaching career), he took over the reins, and has continued to be, very much, the mainstay of the organization.

He is also an accomplished musician and d-j, (not to mention, stupendous gardener!)

Peter, most recently, was co-producer of two Allen Ginsberg tribute albums – Allen Ginsberg’s The Fall of America – a 50th Anniversary Musical Tribute and Allen Ginsberg’s Fall of America – Volume II

In response to a question posed to him, back in 2O11 – ” I get the impression you have kind of dedicated a part of your life to maintaining an accurate record of what happened with the ‘Beat’ writers, why do you feel it is so important?

Peter: “I guess that, since I was lucky enough to have this job practically fall into my lap, it’s more that I feel a huge responsibility to Allen’s legacy. A pretty daunting position to say the least, and I’m sure I’m remiss in a lot of areas, but it’s a challenge I enjoy. Allen in his own lifetime worked so hard to keep the record straight. It infuriated him how easily and often he’d be misquoted and how sloppy journalists could be, to the point that he insisted on reviewing any interview before it was published. Just being witness to his process taught me a lot about how he wanted things”.

Peter has followed his path (and continues to follow his path) dutifully and wisely.

The Allen Ginsberg Estate is in such good hands.