Beatdom. We celebrate once again, David S Wills’ Beatdom.
October 7 (the date marks the 70th anniversary of the legendary 6 Gallery reading)
will see the publication of Beatdom #25 –The San Francisco Renaissance issue.
The issue will include (amongst much else) a challenging essay by Jonah Raskin,
(author of the book-length study, American Scream) – “Beginner’s Mind – A Re-reading
of Allen Ginsberg’s Revolutionary “Howl” – Raskin attempts to approach the poem afresh. Specifically, he wants to look at “Howl” with “beginner’s mind” or Shoshin.
That is not easy with a poem you have read and studied for more than half a century!:
“I told myself I would hold back judgments, Raskin writes, “Or at least make the effort. I would think and speak for myself, not for the “common reader,” as Virginia Woolf called her, or for all fans of the Beats, and I would compare and contrast “Howl” with “America,” a short poem Ginsberg wrote and revised around the same time.”
Some of the other treats in store – Wills’ introductory essay (on the 6 Gallery reading), Leon Horton on poetry and jazz, Peter Oehler on the San Francisco Renaissance and Far Eastern Religions, James K Hanna on Kenneth Rexroth and Jack Kerouac, Ryan Mathews provocative piece on the San Francisco Renaissances (sic), articles on Robert Duncan, Thomas Merton, Michael McClure, Madeline Gleason, ruth weiss, and more
Beatdom #26 (due out June of next year) will be an Allen Ginsberg special (part of the Ginsberg Centennial celebrations)
Speaking of Jonah Raskin, check out his piece this week in Rock and The Beat Generation on (a book that we noted a few weeks back) Robert Dumont’ s survey of Natalie Jackson
Steven Watson‘s ambitious Artifacts project (first noted here) continues apace.
Recent additions have been Robert Wilson‘s final interview – see here
Upcoming is a 2001 interview with John Giorno – and on September 25th, at 222 Bowery (NYC), Giorno’s and William Burroughs old haunt, Steven will be interviewing Ira Silverberg about “Burroughs Giorno, and The People of 222 Bowery”
A week before that, next Thursday, September 18th, there will be a celebratory event in New York at the Anthology Film Archives to celebrate the publication of The Occult Harry Smith (we wrote about it here). The evening will feature the world premiere of Anthology’s new restoration of Smith’s Film No 20 – Fragments of A Faith Forgotten as well as rare recordings and home movies of Harry
John Zorn, will be performing live with his ensemble ( Ikue Mori (electronics), Jorge Roeder (bass), and Ches Smith (drums) alongside Harry’s films. If you happen to be in New York then, don’t miss it
&
The Beats, Radicalism, And The Bipolar World, the European Beat Studies Network‘s 13th Annual Conference begins next week in Hildeshiem, Germany. More on that next week.