Friday’s Weekly Round-Up – 366

1 week ago May 18, 2018Simon Pettet

[Allen Ginsberg in Benares, India, 1963]

Allen Ginsberg in Asia – another early taste of David S Wills’  World Citizen – Allen Ginsberg as Traveller, (due out later this year – his fourth book, and another must-read from Beatdom‘s spirited editor).

Also from Beatdom this year (we mentioned these titles last week), The Buddhist Beat Poetics of Diane di Prima and Lenore Kandel  by Max Orsini, and, Straight Around Allen – On The Business of Being Allen Ginsberg by Bob Rosenthal.

Must-read, certainly, would also be Sudarsan Raghavan‘s piece (first appearing in The Washington Post… Read More

Friday December 30 – Patti Smith’s 70th birthday

December 30, 2016Simon Pettet

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[Patti Smith – Gloria (Live SNL 1976)]

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Patti Smith turns 70 today. She’ll be performing tonight, in Chicago, at the Riviera Theatre, with her band, part of an on-going tour celebrating the release of her groundbreaking 1975 debut album, Horses

What a year it’s been for Patti! (always quite a year for Patti! – poet as rock-star, poet as performer, poet as activist)

Poet as upholder of lineage and tradition – So, most recently, the extraordnary rendition of Bob Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” at the Nobel Prize ceremonies, honoring Nobel laureate, Bob Dylan

She writes … 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