Seymour Krim

August 30, 2017Simon Pettet

Seymour Krim’s death, August 30, 1989, announced, the following day, in the New York Times.

“Seymour Krim, an author and critic, was found dead, apparently of a drug overdose, in his Manhattan apartment last night…Mr. Krim, who was 67 years old, was found sitting in a chair in his apartment at 120 East 10th Street. A bottle of pills and notes explaining his apparent suicide were found nearby…..”

Gerald Nicosia in The Washington Post gives a little more detail

“A note explained to the police that he had followed the instructions for a painless death provided for terminal patients … Read More

Rebels – A Journey Underground

June 20, 2013Simon Pettet

Our feature today – A New Kind of Bohemia, segment two in a a six-part series by Kevin Alexander, made in 1999 for Canadian television, Rebels – A Journey Underground. (The other episodes, incidentally, are also well worth catching – see here)

From the episode synopsis – “Following World War II, a new period of post-war social complexity overtook America. It was during this turbulent, often repressive Cold War time that Jack Kerouaccoined the phrase “beat” and gave birth to a new literary movement. This film follows the activities of this new breed of writer – Kerouac, (Neal)

… Read More

Friday Weekly Round Up – 124

May 3, 2013admin

[Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky – “A.G & P.O. 5 Turner Terrace, Potrero Hill Housing Project, Peter’s kitchen, hot summer day 1956.” (Allen Ginsberg Caption) – Photograph c. Allen Ginsberg Estate]

Well, it’s a whole seven days later, but we couldn’t resist alerting you to the Doug Ireland skewered review of Steve Finbow’s bio (mostly for the clear, where-to-begin, response by Our Allen‘s Steve Silberman – thanks Steve, for setting the record straight! – or, rather, keeping the record queer!) – see also comments by Jim Cohn and others in the (in this case, essential) “Comments” section following Ireland’s, … Read More

Friday’s Weekly Round Up – 123

April 26, 2013admin

[Allen Ginsberg, San Francisco 1994 – photograph by Chris Felver (from the Berg Collection at the New York Public Library]

Belatedly noting the passing (he died April 11, aged 86) of the noted free-speech lawyer, Edward De Grazia, “one of the country’s foremost advocates of the First Amendment, championing the causes of writers, publishers, film-makers and others who challenged legal and moral conventions” (as his Washington Post’s obituary-note succinctly puts it). De Grazia was the author of the wonderfully-titled, (and wonderfully-comprehensive), Girls Lean Back Everywhere -The Laws of Obscenity and the Assault on Genius (the source of that … Read More

Friday’s Weekly Round-Up – 113

February 15, 2013admin

From last weekend’s Round-Up: 

Beat Memories – the show of Allen’s photographs currently up in New York, at the New York University’s Grey Gallery (until April 6), has inspired some intelligent response. Here’s Roslyn Bernstein in Guernica. Here’s Seth Rogovoy in the Jewish Daily Forward. Here’s Alana Shilling in The Brooklyn Rail. Here’s Arielle Budick in The Financial Times. Here’s Martin Chilton in the Daily Telegraph. Here’s Mariano Andrade’s AFP report. Here’s the Huffington Post (with a slide-show!) – and Flavorwire with even more of a side-show!)

The show continues to gather international responses – here… Read More

The Beats: A Graphic History

March 27, 2009admin

By Harvey Pekar, Nancy J. Peters, Penelope Rosemont, Joyce Brabner, Trina Robbins and Tuli Kupferberg

(Hill and Wang; 199 pages; $22)

We haven’t had a chance to check out the recently-published The Beats: A Graphic History so for now we’re relying on Gerald Nicosia’s review in last Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle. He points out some troubling factual errors, some fairly egregious ones in fact, but is even-handed enough to point out the book’s strong points, of which there seem to be many.

However, our favorite, without a doubt the most amusing & no-holds-barred vicious review, comes via Greg Adams … Read More