Vojo Sindolic’s 1986 Belgrade Interview – part two

February 25, 2018Simon Pettet

[Dubrovnik, in the old city – Photograph -Beth Leonard]

Allen Ginsberg interview – continuing from yesterday

VS: When you first visited me in my home in my birthplace, the old city of Dubrovnik, in October of 1980, you were so delighted by its beauty that you decided to stop and stay for a long four weeks!  During that time we spent any happy hours together, talking just about everything, making plans for the first book of my translations of your poems. It was there in Dubrovnik that you wrote two of your best later poems – “Birdbrain”. and “Eroica” … Read More

Friday’s Weekly Round-Up – 130

June 14, 2013Simon Pettet

[Simon Vinkenoog (1928-2009)]
Allen Ginsberg, goaded on at the beginning there by a typically giddy Simon Vinkenoog, reads  “Mafkees” (a.k.a. “Birdbrain“) (from a reading in 1983, from Allen’s European tour, recorded that year in Amsterdam) – (for earlier (alternative) versions of this “Ginsberg minor classic”, see our previous postings – here and here) .  This recording includes, also, a brief segment from a Dutch interview – wherein Allen, bemused and non-plussed, sweetly chastises the hapless interviewer [2014 update – the video of this interview is, unfortunately no longer available but we have maintained the transcript]
… Read More

A Mix Tape/Allen Ginsberg Dancing

April 6, 2013admin

[“Allen Ginsberg Dancing” via Contemporary Poetry blog]

A “mix tape“?  A little weekend-indulgence.

– Since we’re wondering if all these items were caught the first time they were posted, we’re running them (well, alerting you to them) again.  

how about..

America/Closing Time – Allen Ginsberg/Tom WaitsSpell/Footnote to Howl – Patti SmithHadda Be Playing On The Jukebox -Rage Against The MachineWhen The Light Appears Boy – Allen Ginsberg/CornershopAirplane Blues – Paul RelfGospel Noble Truths – Anne Waldman & Steven Taylor

Ghetto Defendant – Allen Ginsberg/The ClashBirdbrain – Allen Ginsberg/ The GluonsHits … Read More

Nanao Sakaki and Allen Ginsberg – Birdbrain in Japan

January 24, 2013admin

Two of our more popular postings – on the great Japanese poet, Nanao Sakaki – and on Allen’s poem, “Birdbrain” – coalesce here with this lively recording of the two of them reading it (that poem) together, (Allen, the English, Nanao, the Japanese), tweaking it with contemporaneous Japanese references. The occasion is, October 30, 1988, a major anti-nuclear protest march on Kansai Electric‘s head office in Osaka. Allen was visiting Japan. The reading took place at Nakanoshima Koen, behind Osaka City Hall, and was filmed, edited, and (we thank him for it!) uploaded by Ken Rodgers.

How … Read More