Steven Taylor – 2

February 18, 2018Simon Pettet

[Steven Taylor, Allen Ginsberg & Lawrence Ferlinghetti,  New York City, 1985. Photo: Hank O’Neal]

Continuing from yesterday – a Steven Taylor weekend. What a range of music to hear!

False Prophet – Field Notes From The Punk Underground  (a must-read) is still very much in print

“From 1988 through 1993, guitarist/vocalist Steven Taylor toured the U.S. and Europe with the alternative rock group False Prophets, keeping a detailed journal with the intent of documenting the role of musicians in the international anarchist youth movement. His field notes form the core of the book, accounting with honesty and aplomb the sometimes … Read More

Friday’s Weekly Round-Up – 300

January 27, 2017Simon Pettet

[“Ground Zero for the Beat Generation” – Unidentified Woman reading from “Howl” inside the 7 Arts Coffee Gallery in New York City, c.1957 – Photograph by Dave Heath]

No Friday-Round Up last week, so a little catch up today, starting with Sean Elder’s Gary Snyder interview, “National Treasure,” in Lion’s Roar.

 [Gary Snyder at the Center For Interfaith Relations’ 2014 Festival of Faiths: Sacred Earth, Sacred Self]

GS: “The first time I met Allen Ginsberg was at Rexroth’s house—Allen had just come up from Mexico. The first time I saw  Kerouac was when Allen brought him to … Read More

Colin Still – Optic Nerve

May 2, 2015admin

 

 [Colin Still]

Colin Still and Optic Nerve‘s poetic documentation and extraordinary achievement needs to be sung. So we’re singing it today here.

By now, perhaps, many of you will have already seen, and be familiar with, this footage (Colin’s footage) – the legendary pairing – Allen Ginsberg accompanied by Paul McCartney, at the Royal Albert Hall in London, in October of 1995 – “The Ballad of The Skeletons” From the same occasion – “After Lalon” but that event and that footage, extraordinary though it is, is only the very tip of the iceberg. Colin has shot full-length
… Read More

Friday’s Weekly Round-Up – 216

April 10, 2015admin

 

Hal Willner‘s 60th anniversary celebrations in L.A.  for “Howl” this past week turned out to be a grand success.  From Tim Grierson‘s account of the evening, for Rolling Stone: “Nearly 60 years after its first public reading in October 1955, a concert was held in downtown Los Angeles to honor “Howl”, Allen Ginsberg’s epic zeitgeist-chaneling poem that wrestled with sexuality, creativity, drugs, capitalism and the contradictory forces that were shaping mid-century America. Although not as consistently revelatory as the poem itself, “A Celebration of the 60th Anniversary of Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl”” could be as

… Read More

Friday’s Weekly Round-Up – 208

February 13, 2015admin

 

[Lawrence Ferlighetti Interviews Allen Ginsberg in London in 1965 – William Shakespeare listens in – Photograph by John “Hoppy” Hopkins]

Notice (last week) of the passing  of London’s ubiquitous counter-cultural hero, John “Hoppy” Hopkins brings us to this little snippet of footage (from the BBC’s current affairs program, Panorama) – footage of a “Legalize Pot” rally (including archival footage of Allen) in 1967, in London’s Hyde Park. Despite the pompous commentary…

Speaking of marijuana, here’s Allen, in New York, on the picket line, pushing for legalization, two years before:  

[Allen Ginsberg – Photograph by Benedict J … Read More

Friday Weekly Round-Up – 207

February 6, 2015admin

020614-Burroughs101-Monthly-Flyer-v1

Tonight in New York City, a William S Burroughs 101 Birthday Celebration.

Last night in London they were celebrating

Meantime, in Denver, it’s the 6th Annual Neal Cassady Birthday Bash

& tomorrow, in Paterson, New Jersey, Feb. 7, 1 to 3 p.m, in the Paterson Hamilton Club Building, the 2014 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards – the annual poetry reading and award ceremony hosted by the Passaic County Community College

[Allen Ginsberg – Photograph by John “Hoppy” Hopkins]

The above image of Allen was taken by the legendary figure of the ‘Sixties UK counter-culture, John “Hoppy” Hopkins. Here’s another of his

… Read More

Diane Di Prima’s 80th Birthday

August 6, 2014admin

 [Diane Di Prima with poet Ted Joans, at The Poetry Project, St Mark’s Church, New York City, 1994 – Photograph by Allen Ginsberg c. Allen Ginsberg Estate] 

[Diane di Prima and Allen Ginsberg]

The great poet-activist-wise-woman-scholar, Diane Di Prima is 80 years old today!  –  Happy Birthday Diane! She, in the past year, has been teaching a course (at the Bay Area Public School) – “The Dream of Pre-History” From her catalog note: “This class explores the beginnings of what we call “human” – the fall of Neanderthal and the rise of Cro-Magnon culture – the beginnings, dominance, … Read More

Poetry In Motion

May 3, 2014admin

Ron Mann’s groundbreaking 1982 film, Poetry In Motion, (we have featured, in the past, snippets, including Allen’s enthusiastic “Capitol Air” performance) is now available, in its entirety, on the incomparable UbuWeb.  From their informative notes:  “It was re-released in 1994 in an innovative format on CD-Rom..and, in 2002, as a DVD. Poetry In Motion 25 was also made available (“a one-hour television special featuring outtakes from Poetry In Motion with many of the artists featured in the original film”, (different poems, different settings), “plus a bunch of new faces (including Peter Orlovsky, Alice Notley, Jerome … Read More

Friday’s Weekly Round-Up – 175

May 2, 2014admin

[Allen Ginsberg throwing out the first ball at the San Francisco Giants game at Candlestick Park, June 2, 1994 – Photo courtesy Steve Silberman]

Our friend, Chris Funkhouser has a must-read piece (part of a 4-part series) in Jacket 2 on his experiences with audio recording (and in this case, in particular, the recording of Allen Ginsberg). “I studied with Allen..at Naropa in 1986”, he writes. “He was my teacher and friend from then onward. There’s no question my sense that poetry could (if not should) be an electrified-multimedia performance came from (him). With so many years of practice … Read More

Friday’s Weekly Round-Up – 169

March 21, 2014admin

Neal Cassady Collected Letters

March 21, in case you didn’t know it, has been officially declared by the UN (by UNESCO) “World Poetry Day” Fanny Wallendorf‘s wonderful translations into the French of Neal Cassady‘s Letters (“Un truc tres beau qui contient tout”)  (“It’s a beautiful thing, with everything in it”) –  (the title, taken from Neal’s 1948 letter to his pal, Bill Tomson) have just been (just this past month) published.  See here and here. ( note – texte en francais) We should point out that the book only covers the years 1944-1950 (a second, concluding, volume is due … Read More