Friday’s Weekly Round-Up – 356

March 9, 2018Simon Pettet

Beyond Beat, the five-day Los Angeles Beat  convention continues. Among the highlights tonight, a group reading of “Howl” (also a performance of Gregory Corso’s “Bomb”, and a poetry reading by Neeli Cherkovski and Paul Vangelisti). Tomorrow (Saturday) will include a “Punk and Beat” panel  (with V. Vale, Jerry Casale, and S.A.Griffin), a panel on Bob Kaufman, and a showing of Billy Woodberry‘s documentary on Kaufman, And When I Die, I Won’t Stay Dead.  Sunday includes Steve Silberman (on the Legacy of “Howl”), a “Howl” panel (with Steve Silberman, Marc Olmsted, and … 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’s Weekly Round-Up – 173

April 18, 2014admin
kathy-acker2 [Bob Kaufman (1925-1986) & Kathy Acker (1947-1997)]

April 18 – Bob Kaufman‘s and Kathy Acker‘s birthday today. For our postings on Kaufman – see here and here. For our posting on Kathy Acker see here

Women of the Beat Generation, a perennially significant topic, gets another airing next week in Randolph, New Jersey. Joyce Johnson and Hettie Jones will be speaking on the subject. Hopefully, there’s been some significant progress since this:

Sociologically and cinematographically of interest, the full movie – “Beat Girl” (sic – “Wild For Kicks” in its 1960 US manifestation), … Read More

Friday’s Weekly Round Up – 165

February 21, 2014admin

[Allen Ginsberg, 1954 – oil on canvas – painting by Robert LaVigne]

Two weeks since the last round-up, so let’s get right to it. lavigne.jpg (39580 bytes)

[Robert LaVigne – Photograph by Myles Aronowitz]

Robert LaVigne – The troubling case of Robert LaVigne and the allegedly stolen paintings.

Newspaper reports last year noted a court case involving LaVigne and his former assistant George Chebanyuk – (“Chebanyuk is alleged to have tried to sell off six works created by LaVigne, including a nude presumably depicting Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg”).  A jury deliberated for four hours, on February 4, and returned a … Read More

Remembering Kathy Acker

April 18, 2013admin

[Kathy Acker (1947-1997) – photograph by Allen Ginsberg. Copyright – Allen Ginsberg Estate – caption – “Kathy Acker in Green Room, Detroit Institute of the Arts, one night February 1985 we read together with Diane Di Prima – she writes violent sexual feminist narratives, parody of imaginative love-torture novels, lives in London, first published chapters of books as pamphlets I found in the mail from Lower East Side New York”]

Kathy Acker’s has been … Read More