Speaking to the English
daily newspaper The Guardian in recent times the actor Nick Nolte - who
played the role of Neal Cassady in the late 1970s film Heart Beat, said - "There
was a whole generation in America that didn't even know its
own subculture: the Beats. That couldn't happen today. A subculture wouldn't
last more than 10 days before advertising agents would be on to it."
-----------------------------------------------
In the
current issue of Beat Scene there is a page on Serendipity Bookstore in
Berkeley, California. Run by Peter Howard for decades, it was a monumental
book place and we reflected on that and the owner.Sadly Peter Howard
died and the premises and his massive stock were sold by a major
international auction house. I may have been a little hard on Peter Howard
and his manner in the article. He could be abrasive. But there was obviously
a softer aspect to him, as his many friends and associates have noted.
Looking in my diary for 1981 recently, a bit of research for something, I
came across an entry for September of that year where I had a little
correspondence with Howard. I'd completely forgotten how he had given me a
lovely 'Captain Beefheart' concert poster as a gift after I'd bought a few
books there a few weeks earlier. I knew a friend who was really keen on
Beefheart, I've never been enamoured of him, apart from 'Diddy Wah Diddy,'
and passed the poster onto him. He was delighted. Back home I got a letter
from Peter Howard a few weeks later and he asked if I could obtain a poster
from an exhibition that was running at the Natural History Museum in London
just then. I managed to get the poster, it was a beauty, and airmailed it off
to Peter Howard in a tube. Things were slower then and it wasn't until a few
weeks later that a little package came from California. In it was a lovely
copy of an early Kerouac novel, not a first but a lovely edition and not
something you'd find easily outside America back then. I'd completely
forgotten his kindness. The book and the letter remain on my shelves still.
So, a little like Bukowski, Peter Howard had a Bluebird in his heart, and now
and then he let it sing.
The Beat
Scene Press will soon be publishing JACK KEROUAC'S LAST NIGHT IN
NORTHPORT by Patrick Fenton. It will be number 36 in the chapbook series. An
edition of 125 numbered copies. It will be £6.95 in the UK and £7.95
everywhere else. If you live in the UK and would like to pre-order a copy,
click the button below. Overseas please email me and I'll send
you a link or sort something out with you.
In the chaos
that is the Beat Scene subscriber mailout, something I both look forward to
and dread because whilst I've got the fillip of a new issue there is the slog
of mailing them - I overlooked to mention the new Beat Scene Press chapbook
is out. WHATNOT: A CONVERSATION WITH PHILIP WHALEN by David Meltzer is
number 35 in the series. 125 numbered copies. Whalen has always been a
favourite of mine. A quicksilver mind. And I must thank David Meltzer for
giving me permission to publish it. If you would like a copy, it is in the
usual 8" x 5" little brown cover format, click the link below.
Beat Scene 67 has been out for a few days and is almost sold out. It includes Jack Kerouac (see front
cover above), William Burroughs, Black Mountaineer Basil King, Ed Sanders, Charles Bukowski,
George Whitman, Doctor Sax, Maggie Cassidy, On the Road & more. If you would
like to purchase a copy it is £7.95 in the UK. There is a UK Paypal button below.
Scroll further down for an OVERSEAS BUTTON.
A beautiful poem
by Michael McClure is available to read at the Poetry Foundation site.
"The Chamber" is dedicated to Jack Kerouac. Click here to read it.
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/241728
The Poetry
Project have made available a whole series of poetry readings made for
cable television in America in the 1970s. These were very low budget
programmes made in black and white, yet the series recorded many fine poets.
Ed Sanders and Ted Berrigan feature, as does Joanne Kyger. Here's a link to
the Joanne Kyger recording, made in March 1978. The reading lasts
about 28 minutes. Good stuff. Just scroll down til you reach Joanne's show.
http://poetryproject.org/history/public-access-poetry
Click here if you live outside the UK and would like to obtain a copy of
Beat Scene 67 by Airmail post.
Reading
through the exchange of letters between Jack Kerouac and his Lowell friend
Sebasatian Sampas during the very early 1940s, in THE SEA IS MY BROTHER -
it was difficult not to be touched by their youthful idealism and agonies as
they made their way in life. Sampas was as artistically inclined as Kerouac
and my mind sometimes forgot that he wasn't a young Allen Ginsberg. The
letters were so reminiscent of the ones that he and Kerouac shared just a
short while later. Jack obviously felt a deep need to put his views onto
paper and test them out with others. When Sebastian died in 1943 it seems
Ginsberg and others replaced him in the letter writing stakes. The Sampas/Kerouac
flurry of letters, the Sampas letters predominate, some of Kerouac's are
lost, presumably because Sampas was in the army and things were often chaotic
for him, reveal an individual in thrall to William Saroyan and Thomas Wolfe.
And so was Kerouac. Sebastian even writes to Saroyan, calling him 'Bill,' and
extolling the virtues of his friend Jack Kerouac and his budding writing
skills. And, of course, telling Saroyan how great they both think he is and
expressing his dismay that one of his plays has been poorly received when
shown in New York theatres. The letters chart the ups and downs of their long
distance friendship, Jack and Sebastian, once boyhood pals in Lowell, are now
rarely in the same place, it is a litany of proposed meetings, get togethers,
hopes, dreams, shared friends, gossip, their respective writing developments,
aspirations to see the world together. Sampas seems highly strung, very
sensitive, at odds with his times, his life and surroundings, sees beauty
everywhere and awfulness as well. Lives for the arts, poetry, plays,
classical music, girls, jazz. Does that sound like Kerouac too? Yes it does,
doesn't it. They could be brothers and indeed they are in everything but
name. The war takes its toll on them both, Sampas sees things no one should
ever see, especially when he is hardly out of his teens. The ruin that war
brings. And it goes on forever doesn't it. Maimed lives, while politicians
talk of 'economic growth.' Inevitably the war moves them apart, creates
shifts in their thinking, their loosely knit group of 'Prometheans' is sorely
tested. Sampas clings to the ideals til he dies, Kerouac less so. For Sampas
the letters must have helped him enormously as he endured the brutality of
army life. And he too shows startling stylistic changes in his poetry as he
edges towards his end. His Wolfian and Saroyanesque stylings giving way to a
leaner approach. Sampas was a massive figure in Kerouac's life. He features
heavily in THE TOWN AND THE CITY of course and again right at the conclusion
of Kerouac's life with VANITY OF DULUOZ. And, as the footnotes
alongside these letters point out, he crops up in unlikely settings in things
such as MEXICO CITY BLUES. It is hard to shake off the impression that had he
lived we might have been talking about him in the way we do about Kerouac and
all his gang.
Years ago Beat
Scene did a few pages on the American cartoonist Robert Crumb. And since then
we've done nothing. Crumb has always got me confused. I like his
draughtmanship, he can really draw stuff. He's what I'd call a proper artist.
No unmade beds or sharks in vinegar. But his style seemed preoccupied with
females and their anatomy and sex. He's wasting his talents I often thought.
I recall the Arena film documentary screened by the BBC many years ago and
that too intrigued me. Whatever you thought about him he has had an
interesting and full life. Reading his book of letters, Your Vigor For Life
Appalls Me, was equally thought provoking. A month or two back the English
daily newspaper THE GUARDIAN, ran an article on him and one critics take on
what he does. Crumb is prolific, of course he's illustrated a couple of
Charles Bukowski books into the bargain and they were just right. Here's a
link to that Guardian piece. Crikey, the English newspaper scene would be a
much sadder place without The Guardian.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/jan/12/robert-crumb
A little
reminder this morning on the national radio news, Classic FM to be precise,
how peripheral the Beat Generation can be. It was announced that Jack
Nicholson's leading role in ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST had been
voted the best ever performance in a movie....ever. The news reader said his
performance as Randle P. McMurphy in 'Ken Kaycee's' novel was brilliant. I
nearly choked on my toast. A classic book of the Twentieth Century, adapted
for the silver screen in the 1970s and seen by countless millions over the
years, a pivotal point in just how we perceive the way things really are,
just how the lunatics really are running the asylum and still, still, still,
they get Ken Kesey's name all wrong. I ask you, do they get Tony
Blair's name wrong, Ronald Reagan, Martin Amis? Does J.K. Rowling suffer this
indignity? It drives it home to me that the Beat Generation, and to me 'Ken
Kaycee' is very much part of all that, a loose knit generation we know, yet
all held together by a common bond, they wrote for change - they remain
outsiders, some kind of rabble for having the audacity, the nerve, to
question the accepted notions of reality, truth, how things are. They say don't
believe everything you hear in the media, this is especially true when they
can't even get the names right. Here's Jack Nicholson below, his name was read out
correctly.
Jack Kerouac
would have been 90 recently had he fought the demon drink just a little harder.
To counter the many negative reviews, put downs, that come Kerouac's way,
even today - here's a link from a three page review of his Windblown
Worldjournals book from around 2004 and published in the New York
Times. Very thought provoking. Have a read and see what you think. As
Kerouac's words from his youth get published it is important that his more
mature journals and diaries don't get bypassed.
As a few
of you will know Jim Burns is deputy editor of my magazine Beat Scene
and a regular contributor to it. Jim has written passionately and with great
insight about the Beats, American writers, jazz, poetry of an often
alternative kind of poetry and much more over the years. He has published a
string of poetry collections and had a few collections of his erudite essays
published. Here's a link to his very new collection,
BRITS, BEATS &
OUTSIDERS, published by The Penniless Press in the UK.
http://www.pennilesspress.co.uk/books/PPP.htm#BRITS,_BEATS_AND_OUTSIDERS_
Here is a link
to an article he wrote about the publishing and bookselling world a few years
ago. It stands the test of time.
A few people
have asked about THE FACE ON THE FORK: A WILLIAM
BURROUGHS TRIPTYCH, a recent chapbook in the Beat Scene series. By Iain
Sinclair, it is a work originally begun in the 1960s, which Iain very
kindly allowed me to publish. All copies were signed and numbered in an
edition of 125. NOW ALL GONE.
Stretching back to much
earlier Beat Scene days, there are just a handful of issue 24 still
available. A Jan Kerouac cover (Nelson Algren on the rear). There was stuff
on Allen Ginsberg, an interview with Ann Charters, shenanigans at the NYC
Kerouac conference, reported on by Gerald Nicosia, an extract from a play
about Kerouac that was being performed in London at the time, Terry Southern,
Ken Kesey & more. It'll be gone and then only available from rip off rare
book dealers who'll want your arm and leg. If you would like a copy of this back issue there is a
button below.
A very dark
morning. Christmas is a fading memory, if I ever remembered it. Did I
remember it? Nah, not really. Stuck in a broken down car in a London street.
Trip to the big city cut short and spending Christmas evening in a near
deserted service station outside Oxford. We'll laugh about it later. But
there on the doormat 7.30 a.m. on the last day of the year is an unexpected last
flurry of post and a packet from California. Inside is a big paperback, the
work of poet and writer Jack Foley and artist Helen Breger. SKETCHES
POETICAL. Wow, this is nice, I think as I thumb through it with my
porridge, light gradually coming to the day. Breger has been sketching poets
in bookstore readings around California for a very long time, there they are,
grumpy Kenneth Rexroth, physically tortured Kenneth Patchen, sad eyed
Kerouac, Dharma bum Snyder, everyman Ferlinghetti, the everso influential
Robert Duncan, railroad man Neal Cassady, jailbird Ezra Pound, Brautigan,
name change Leroi Jones, giant Charles Olson, the enduring Joanne Kyger, Jack
Foley's friend Michael McClure, heavily bearded Ginsberg, heartbreaker Robert
Creeley and there's more, Kay Boyle, TS Eliot, Theodore Roethke, James
Broughton, Dizzy Gillespie et al. The sketches, and you can trace how Breger
evolves with time, plus the impressions of Jack Foley on the art and the
poets. A lovely package that deserves the attention of poetry lovers
everywhere. Contact Jack Foley at 2569 Maxwell Avenue, Oakland,
California 94601, USA. Email
jandafoley@sbcglobal.net
Beat
Scene 66 has been mailed off to all subscribers. You should have your
copy now. To all you subscribers, THANK YOU for sticking with me. It's
easy to click a few buzzers and bells and get your information on the
internet. But you guys, being a little more discerning, make things possible.
The aim is to continue far into the future and I hope you come along for the
ride.
REALLY TRULY Absolutely dedicated
to the Beat Generation and nothing else besides THEM. At all Ever..........
...65
To say I needed
cheering up is an understatement. And news of an obscure sort of publication
from English writer Iain Sinclair really did cheer me up no end. It
arrived in the post yesterday, December 20. BLAKE'S LONDON: THE
TOPOGRAPHICAL SUBLIME is published by The Swedenborg Society and is a
handsome little hardcover book with a wraparound cover enhancing the nice
detail and attention that has gone into the production. The text is a
transcript of a talk that Iain Sinclair presented at the Society in November
2007. I've not read it yet, but will lift my spirits with the anticipation of
doing so in very near future. Those of you who know Iain's writing will
realise that he and London are inseparable and so this book fits the bill
perfectly. The Swedenborg Society, 20-21 Bloomsbury way, London WC1A 2TH
(ISBN 978-0-85448-170-5)
http://www.swedenborg.org.uk/bookshop/new_releases/blakes_london_the_topographic_sublime
Hurrah for
broadcaster Paul Morley on the very recent BBC television show The Review
Show. In a panel of four, Morley stoutly defended and praised the new Jack
Kerouac book THE SEA IS MY BROTHER. He saw the book for what it was,
the first novel of a very young man burning to be a real writer. He found
merit in Kerouac's literary questing, his ambition to do something different
with the novel form, his taking on board the qualities of his influences,
Whitman, Proust and so on. The other critics on the show were indifferent, in
particular the prof from the University of East Anglia, a specialist in
American Lit no less, who was sort of hostile to Kerouac. I think she made
the comment that Kerouac only wrote one decent book - beggars belief. Paul
Morley pointed to the fact that Kerouac has become iconic, almost a celebrity
and is feted in that sense, sidelining his literary talents. I felt here, and
it isn't rocket science I know, he understood pretty well what had happened
to Kerouac. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not making a case for THE
SEA IS MY BROTHER as book of the year, far from it - though as a Kerouac
avid it comes high on my list - just as AND THE HIPPOS WERE BOILED IN THEIR
TANKS and ORPHEUS EMERGED were not Kerouac's finest. BUT, they do give us
insight into his development, they fill our curiosity surely? If we knew
about them - as we suspected they existed for decades - and they remained
unpublished we'd be up in arms. So Paul Morley gets a big thumbs up from me
for flying in the face of indifference to clearly see Kerouac's importance in
the social history of our times and to see that it might be important to read
what he was up to as a twenty year old rookie. There is a link to the show
here. Kerouac is the last item, so you might want to scroll along.
Thanks to
Eddie Woods for telling me about this BBC page on the recent publication of
Jack Kerouac's THE SEA IS MY BROTHER. The writer of the article damns
him with very faint praise, sadly. In the little interview clip, Stuart Evers
is far more positive, while seeing the book for what it is in the early days
of Kerouac's writing life.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15870925
Thanks to Daniel Bratton for sending this photo of
Allen Ginsberg with Leslie Fiedler in Fiedler's back garden in the
Buffalo, New York area after Ginsberg had done a reading at SUNY at Buffalo.
Not sure of date, possibly later in the 1960s.
FINDING JOSEF ALBERS
It is Sunday, November
13, 2011. It is such a crisp and pleasant early winter day that we decide to
drive into town, leave the car at the station and catch the train for a twenty mile trip to
Birmingham to see a couple of things at the galleries there. Its years since
I’ve been. Last time was an exhibition of some photo realist paintings by
Ralph Goings and others. I liked one so much I got a large print and it
remains on the wall at home to this day. A diner photo. A guy is sitting on a
stool at the counter with his back to the artist, or so it seems. He is
looking out through a large window. Any minute now he will turn around. We catch the train. It is
so full. People are standing. The usual whirr and hiss
of portable music stuff, headphones, bags, restless people. Thankfully it is a
brief trip and we are out into the streets of Birmingham. For a Sunday
lunchtime it is incredibly busy. Walking up the pedestrianised street uphill
towards the main square, town hall and the gallery area, I reflect on how this used to
be a busy road with cars dominating. Good to see it has been given back to
the people. It feels so much better.
The first museum is a bit of a let down. There isn’t much art, lots of
ceramics, jewelry. I remember Birmingham has a renowned ‘jewelry quarter.’ So
we go around the corner to a quiet street and find another gallery. Or is it
an extension of the one we’ve just been in? I’m unsure. But the art is here.
Lots of Pre-Raphaelites of course, Holman Hunt, Bourne-Jones and the like.
Some really big name European artists. It’s so hot in there and after a while
I’m getting battle fatigue. A kind of creeping overload. The senses are
struggling to cope. So many names. And just at a point where the legs plead
to rest, there he is. The Black Mountain man. Josef Albers. Tucked onto a corner site. Almost invisible. Out of
place amongst these European grand names. He
played a significant role in struggling to keep that weird and wonderful
college in Carolina thriving. And
was a real mainstay over the years there. Just a little piece of his art.
Almost invisible, pale – almost not there. Faint lines, impressions on a
cream background. What was he doing with it? And how did he end up in this
provincial English city all these years later? I sit down and wonder if
anyone knows his name, his history, how he is part of a doomed experiment in
alternative education in an obscure and at the time fairly remote region of
the USA almost eighty years ago? He seems lost amongst the massive waves of
colour around him. The medieval religious art, the biblical art. Why does
religion feature so much in art? There is little information about Albers in
the card below his framed creation. It saddens me. He should be reunited with
others he did, in a collection. I’m glad he’s here for me to see, even though
it does little for me. I like his spirit. Birmingham on a winter’s day is no place for this
American innovator.
Michael McClure was 79 on October 20. In 1989 he was on Radio KPFA in
the Bay Area. You'll know that this radio station is something of a legendary
establishment, the kind of radio station you'd want in your town. Going since
the 1940s when Kenneth Rexroth held court there, it is free from mainstream
influence. In this two hour show Michael McClure plays some of his favourite
music at that time and discusses why he likes the things he's playing. From
Beethoven to Howling Wolf. Good stuff.
http://www.archive.org/details/MC_1989_07_06
NEW COURT RULING IN JACK KEROUAC ESTATE CASE - AS OF AUGUST 2011. FINAL
DECISION
It is reported that in August it seems the Florida courts finally
decided that the estate of Jack Kerouac was wrongfully appropriated after it
was declared that Kerouac's mother's signature had been forged - it is
claimed. Up until now Jack's nephew Paul Blake had been unable to take action
to secure ownership of his uncle's estate. With this final court ruling,
which I am told is unappealable, Paul can now begin what will likely prove to
be a long legal journey to secure rightful ownership. You will recall that
Kerouac's last letter was to Paul - in it he gave everything to him. The
wrangling over the ownership of Jack Kerouac's estate has cast a dark and
seedy shadow over his name in the past decades. Much of his archive has been
sold to private auction and lost forever to the public during that time. At
the height of the controversy some years ago Beat Scene took the line that
Kerouac's estate was not being handled properly and that Jan Kerouac was
being marginalised by the then owners of the estate. We still hold that view
and look forward to a time when Jack Kerouac's estate is in the hands of Paul
Blake, Jack Kerouac's sister Nin's son. Surely then it will be administered
in a caring and thoughtful way and not just for personal gain. Just as Jack
Kerouac would have wanted back in 1969 when he had $97 in his wallet. He
wanted above all to be recognised as a writer. Let his estate set the tone
where he is seen to be just that. We wish Paul Blake and his associates the
best of luck in his legal journey. And feel sure he will act at all times to
maintain his uncles good name.
-------------------------------------------------
The new Hope Savage: Mystery Girl chapbook was issued a couple of
weeks ago and the run is now sold out. Thank you to those who purchased a
copy. This
is number 32 in the Beat Scene Press Pocket Book series. It is an edition of
125 numbered copies.
Beat Scene 65
cover image below. Click on the Paypal button below image to order your copy.
A
still
below from the forthcoming ON THE ROAD movie.
This is a site always dedicated to
America's Beat
Generation and all the associated people and promoting the magazine
BEAT SCENE (a real paper magazine) which is
totally focused on them, concentrating on them historically and in a
contemporary way with interviews, news, profiles, reviews, photos. The
magazine has been published since 1988. Which of course makes it now twenty
three years old. I don't plan on putting up articles here from the paper
magazine. I get asked when I'm going to do this quite amazingly. (Talk about
shooting myself in the foot) - My
preference is always for a printed magazine. Something you can actually hold
in your hands.
There is a new chapbook
out now, number 31 in the Beat Scene Press series. Al Hinkle: Last
Man Standing by Stephen Edington. 125 numbered copies. You will know Al
Hinkle as Ed Dunkel in On The Road. In this chapbook Al recalls his times
with Neal and Jack. If you would like a copy click on the button below.
Beat Scene
64 was issued a while ago, that's Gary Snyder on the cover, a terrific
photo taken by his friend Giuseppe Morretti. Gary likes the cover and the
Peter Coyote essay on him inside. There's big stuff
on William Burroughs, of course, ex Digger Peter Coyote on Gary Snyder, William Everson
at Waldport, big interview
with Diane di Prima, Sinclair Beiles, interview with Anne Waldman, Janine
Pommy Vega, Jim Burns on Hipsters and much more. If you would like a copy and you live outside the
UK there is a button below.
Ken Kesey reading a copy of a very old issue of Beat
Scene, number 18 in fact. Photo taken for the magazine by Alan Balliett in
West Virginia (who also conducted an interview with Ken for the magazine at
the time.)
UK ONLY
button right below. At £5 a copy.
Transit 24
is available now. It includes writing on Jack Kerouac by Gregory Stephenson, an interview
with William Burroughs, extracts from Gael Turnbull's 'Beat Hotel' journals
relating to Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs and Corso in Paris in 1958,
plus poetry from Diane di Prima, Barry Gifford, Jack Hirschman, Neeli
Cherkovski, Dan Propper, Sam Charters and stuff on Beat films. Copies are
£6.95 for overseas, button below.
Thank you to the
40 people who responded to the mailout for the recent TALKING WITH GINSBERG
chapbook. I appreciate it. It is in an edition
of 125 numbered copies. Another chapbook will follow that quite quickly. If
you would like a copy click the button below.
Having
just viewed Nic Saunders film At Apollinaire's Grave, it struck me,
how on earth do you finance such a minority interest project like that?
Looking at the box the disc is housed in there is no telltale sign of funding
from any organisation, just the logo for Nic's film company 14167 Films. So
where does he find the loot to bankroll what must be a very expensive little
film, it runs to 25 minutes? Taking as his lead Allen Ginsberg's 1958 poem
AtApollinaire's Grave, when he and others were holed up at
the Beat Hotel in the Latin Quarter in Paris, this lovingly shot little gem
takes an easy pace to Pere Lachaise and the actual grave of the man himself.
I'm still taking the film in and to be honest don't want to spoil it for you.
Following on from his film Curses and Sermons, based around the work
of Michael McClure, it is evident Nic Saunders feels at home amongst the Beat
poets. However he doesn't take the conventional route when filming, At
Apollinaire's Grave will surprise you. Check it out.
www.14167films.com
---------------------------------
Did you see the movie of HOWL yet? It has been
screened at a few places outside London in recent days. I've just watched it
at the Warwick Arts Centre in Coventry. True to form there were about fifteen
people in the audience. I don't know how many will turn up at screenings this
week. Maybe to the students (the cinema is on the Warwick University campus
site) just don't connect with something that happened well over fifty years
ago. These old poets might be old hat to them. Very old hat. Yet you might
imagine the presence of James Franco might tempt the students away from their
laptops and blackberrys? He certainly caught the speech patterns of Ginsberg
pretty good. I'd say in mainstream cinema terms the movie was fairly low
budget. The courtroom scenes, the kind of face to face interview with Franco
as Allen, documentary footage, the very impressive Six Gallery recreation.
Though I would have liked to see a little of the other poets in that reading,
Snyder, Lamantia, Whalen, McClure, if only to better put it in context. Erick
Drooker's animation is wonderful, as it is in other Ginsberg books, a big
plus for the film in fact. Don't want to spoil your enjoyment by saying too
much, well worth a visit if you can get to a screening. But the small
audience confirmed to me that this Beat Generation thing is really a minority
aspect of our society. The things they did resonate still in so many ways,
yet they are dimming as time flies past.
Interesting 4
minute snippet from a recent documentary film on William Burroughs. Click the
link above.
As the Monty
Python team used to say, 'and now for something completely different.' In
this morning's post came a book NICK DRAKE: THE PINK
MOON FILES edited by Jason Creed. Now Nick Drake, who died in the mid
1970s, is a million miles from the Beat Generation and is totally out of sync
with this site. So please indulge me. I'm a big fan of Nick Drake and I was
back in 1969 when he put out the first of the three vinyl LPs he would
release in his short life. Tracks like TIME HAS TOLD ME from the gorgeous
FIVE LEAVES LEFT album just hooked me. I didn't know then that Nick came from
just down the road in Tanworth in Arden, a little village in the green belt
outside Coventry. He even played a rare live date at Coventry Teacher
Training College, which didn't go well. After buying his first album, it was
followed by BRYTER LATER and PINK MOON, all three albums on the wonderful
Island label of course. In 1972 I met my wife and in her little record
collection of Traffic, Tim Buckley, Leonard Cohen, King Crimson, Bell & Arc,
Captain Beefheart and others, was Nick Drake. I knew instantly she was the
girl for me. It is doubtful that Nick even sold a couple of thousand of any
of his three albums in his lifetime. My lovely wife is a woman of very good
taste. In the mid 1970s we were wondering when the next Nick Drake album was
coming out and we wrote to Island Records, a few days later we got a hand
written reply with a little book of Nick's lyrics telling us Nick had been
found dead a week or so earlier. Remember this is the 1970s, no internet, not
Ipads, we didn't even have a phone, not many people did back then. There was
a tiny mention in the NME or Melody Maker and that was it. How sad to learn
of this so premature passing. But we carried on loving these three albums. In
the late 1980s and early 1990s I put together a music magazine called Zip
Code, it was mostly a poor thing, but now and then it had moments, interviews
with Nirvana and John Martyn being two things I recall. And there was an
interview with producer Joe Boyd that I'm pleased to have done. Though it
very nearly didn't happen. It did and we talked all about Nick Drake, whom
Joe nurtured and produced. Joe was businesslike and I would have enjoyed more
time to ask questions but it got done. Now that interview has resurfaced in
the book mentioned above, along with a whole bunch of other Nick Drake
interviews and articles. I'm pleased to be in there. For Nick Drake fans, and
his name has reached so many more people in the past decade or so, this book
will be a dream. It is published by Omnibus. I'm off to put FIVE LEAVES LEFT
on the turntable.
Just back from
visiting the Beat photography exhibition at the National Theatre on London's
South Bank complex. (We also managed to see a Peter Blake exhibit, which was
a disappointment, but that is another story) - On a bitterly cold day this
particular part of London is not always a good place to be. As far as I can
ascertain, entrance to the building is tricky, through a series of walkways.
The Siberian blasts whipping across the Thames made it uncomfortable. The 'Brutalist'
concrete architecture doesn't help, some bright eyed architects vision of the
future no doubt. I recall coming to the Hayward Gallery close by a couple of
decades ago to see the Edward Hopper exhibit - and thinking what a dismal
place. Once inside the place resembles a very large cave. The exhibit was upstairs
in a big cafe sort of area. We were the only people there in an hour of
looking, which is a great pity as there were in excess of 70 black and white
Beat photos, all produced in a larger format and mostly from the camera of
Allen Ginsberg. Though the entrance hall site of a naked Allen Ginsberg is
not an image I'd want to retain, especially mid morning. He had some funny
ideas. There is a trendy catchphrase in use these days, which might have been
designed just for Allen, 'too much information.' Ginsberg could have reined
himself in just a shade. But he was a wonderful documenter of his life and
times, not a great photographer by any stretch, but without him the era and
his milieu would be the less for him. Many of the photos are to be found in
books you might own, though ones by others in the exhibit, by Chris Felver
for example, might be less familiar. And of course, seeing them developed to
such dimensions is a real bonus, it sheds new light. Neal Cassady, Burroughs,
Snyder, Corso, Leary, Kerouac as a younger man and as a befuddled middle aged
bloke, sadly forlorn in a chair. Burroughs, I never knew he was anything
other than a sixty year old drug fiend. Here as a trim healthy looking thirty
something in Cairo. Considering his alleged drug intake he should have been
six foot under by thirty. Kathy Acker, Jim Morrison, Abe Hoffman and many
others. The organisers are to be applauded for setting this up, the Beats are
a little cult minority thing, yet they are a group with a massive impact on
today. If you can, get to see it, on throughout March.
Above a still from the forthcoming Walter Salles
film adaptation of Kerouac's On The Road.
Do you recall
that late 1950s television show The Phil Silvers Show? Really it
should have been The Bilko show as the character played by Silvers, Sgt
Ernest Bilko, really was the star. That show has always been a favourite of
mine since they aired it on English tv early on the 1960s. I love it even
today. So much, it would seem, that 'Bilko' infiltrates my dreams. Just
recently he was in The Village Vanguard in New York, the place where Jack
Kerouac famously, or should that read 'infamously' read his work with jazz.
He bombed and his contract was terminated. Well Bilko was in the background
behind Kerouac, attempting to sell autographs, he had those of Neal Cassady,
Charles Plymell and, for some obscure and possibly bizarre reason, American
folk singer Tim Buckley, who died young of course. Now Cassady was in his
'moth eaten overcoat' that Kerouac describes in the final pages of On The
Road and Jack is morosely saying 'Here comes Neal in his moth eaten
overcoat,' but the words are appearing like speech bubbles in my dream. And
then very abruptly Jack and Neal start singing 'Dave Brubeck is the
swingingest,' which of course is a line/title of a track from a Kerouac
album. But a surly Kerouac won't sign autographs for Bilko and Bilko is
trying to conjure up a scheme to convince Jack that they can make a million
bucks doing that. Bilko has his arm around Jack, while Jack keeps singing
about Dave Brubeck. Jack likes him but just wants to sing with him. And
meanwhile Bob Dylan has sent his autograph for Bilko to auction, but he has
sent it by 'Wicked Messenger.' I'm not steeped enough in Dylan to fathom that
one out. Dylan won't deliver it personally. But he tells Bilko, magically
without being there, of his dreams and the rascally Bilko wants to auction
those as well. There's a side thing going on in my dream about one of Bilko's
platoon accidentally making a poetry with jazz record, but my recollections
of that are a shade hazy. There are also flying plaster ducks hovering and
Carol King's lovely pop tune from about 1962, It Might As Well Rain Until
September comes in and sets off a fire alarm. All very odd. As Bob Dylan
once said, 'You Can Be In My Dream if I Can Be in Your Dream.' Did he say
that? Bobheads let me know. Wish I knew what it all meant.
"The
Hymns to St Geryon designer. I'd not really placed him before - a name
slipping in and out of things. Thanks. An affecting piece." Heathcote
Williams
The new
Beat Scene Press chapbook is Wallace Berman...Verifax Man. Issued
in an edition of just 100 numbered copies, it is out now. Copies are £7.95 around the world. Click on the button here to order.
Allen Ginsberg's KADDISH AND OTHER POEMS 1958-1960 - an expanded 50th
anniversary edition with a new afterword by noted Beat scholar and biographer
Bill Morgan, is out now from City Lights Press. It was No 14 in their
acclaimed Pocket Poets Series. See
www.citylights.com for more.
Inevitably there was a little delay in producing the new Beat Scene,
computers. Don't you just love them. Great when they work but a pain
otherwise. The issue is now out and I've been exceptionally busy mailing them out.
Recently, I posted the last batch of subscriber copies.
So look for your copy very soon. A few of you may follow darts on tv?
Well it isn't every day I'm standing at the Post Office with my bundles of
Beat Scene and get nudged in the back by the onetime World Darts champion. A
lovely man, now 80+. He lives at the end of my street. We always talk
football, he Ipswich, me Coventry. What has that got to do with anything, I
dunno? If you can stretch
to picking up an extra copy of the magazine for a friend it would be massively helpful to me,
I rely entirely upon sales. There is no advertising or funds sponsoring the
magazine. Amazingly I still get queries asking when will the magazine go
online? Like, why don't you give it away for free? But I'm so greedy, I like
little luxuries like bread and water, a roof over my head. The answer is
never. If you would like a copy and you live outside the UK and would like
a copy, click this box here.
A few months ago
it was cheering to read about the release of a new film based around the
trial in San Francisco surrounding the publication of Allen Ginsberg's
Howl. Things looked good, a flash internet site for the film promised a
lot. But, but, but, it emerges that one of the key characters, Shig Murao,
who was Lawrence Ferlinghetti's right hand man in those days and the guy most
visitors to City Lights would likely encounter, has been airbrushed out of
history and out of the film. Now this is odd. Readers of Beat Scene may
recall the lovely full page photo of Shig with Lawrence Ferlinghetti in the
courtroom at the trial that I included in a fairly recent issue. There he is
large as life, yet the film makers have seen fit to ignore his existence. Can
this be right? If the film purports to recreate for us the true events they
are misleading us. Now I'm not making a case for Shig Murao as a vital figure
in the Beat chronology, but he was there with City Lights for a long time,
part of the jigsaw of the place, he was the guy at the desk arrested for
selling Howl to the police and they took him away to the police
station. He was a well respected figure at City Lights for a long time. It is
the thin edge of the wedge, who will they airbrush away next, Herbert Huncke,
Luanne Henderson, Alan Ansen, Orlovsky, not cool enough, too druggy, too gay,
too whatever? If Howl makes it to England I'll be sure to see it, yet
it'll be with the nagging knowledge that they've re-imagined the past. Shig
will be absent. See below a link for some background stuff on Shig.
It
is now ten long years since Compendium Bookshop in London's Camden Town
closed down. After starting up in the late 1960s the store shut it's doors
for the last time in 2000. With a wonderful mix of books that simply couldn't
be found anywhere else in Britain and a knowledgeable staff who stayed loyal
to the place for decades, Chris Render, Diana, Mike & co, it was a beacon of
a place and drew people from all over the country. As I feared, nobody has
stepped in to fill the huge gap it left. The internet and in particular,
monsters like Amazon, have decimated the book world, actual places you can
physically visit and look for books, have disappeared almost on a daily
basis. Now it is the soulless click of a mouse. Waterstones promised for a
while, Borders promised for a while, but both have failed miserably, offering
the same bland, middle of the road fare. Sad disappointments. Foyles in the
Charing Cross Road have a decent - ish poetry section but it too, falls far
short of what Compendium could offer. Where are the small press publications
that Compendium excelled in supplying? It is all so corporate and neat. OK,
so you might find a few Bukowski's and the more easily obtained Gary Snyder's
and Kerouac's, but they don't go the extra yards that Compendium did to stock
those harder to find titles. And outside London, forget it. Look in the
literary sections of Waterstones and similar around the country, you might
discover On The Road and Naked Lunch, if you're really lucky. Otherwise it is
a wealth of Faber & Faber titles, the usual poetry classics suspects. It is
as if Columbus never made it to America and they haven't discovered it.
Hearing of the early death of Compendium stalwart Chris Render recently
reminded me of how much I miss this wonderful place, akin to and much better
even than New York's late lamented Gotham Book Mart. The coin an old
hackneyed phrase, Compendium was a 'destination.' The fun of being in such a
place, packed floor to ceiling with books, many from America, Beats, New York
School, you name it, was such fun. It is doubtful we will ever see such a
bookstore again. A big shame.
OUT NOW -
THE LAST DAYS OF JACK KEROUAC
by James Birmingham. No 27 in the Beat Scene Press Pocket Book series. 125
numbered copies. If you would like to order a copy, click the button below.
The
Ginsberg/Kerouac
book of letters, what can be said....? Just brilliant
spellbinding reading. It is a reminder, if one was ever needed, of why
Ginsberg and Kerouac hold a fascination for so many people. This big
collection will tell you more about them than fifty biographies.
Their fears, hopes, frustrations. As they wonder when America will discover
them. They have that dogged belief that they are very talented writers and
that they have big things to say. They are a little support group of two,
sustaining each other through difficult times. About three quarters of these
letters are previously unpublished and they reveal almost everything you need
to know about them both. That around the time of the John Clellon Holmes
debut novel GO, he wasn't their best friend. Kerouac is openly dismissive and
hostile towards him in letters. But then, that was Jack. As fickle as the
wind it seems. Chart his friendship with J.C. Holmes by contrasting the
letters between them at similar points. It lets you know Kerouac, for all his
study and espousal of Buddhism, (and Catholicism for that matter) was as
capable of envy, jealously, tetchiness as anyone, he was human after all and
not really a king. Ginsberg and Kerouac fall out and reconvene, friendly as
you like weeks later, mostly touchiness on Kerouac's part. But its good that we get to know more about less
celebrated people like Sheila Williams from Ginsberg & Al Sublette and
Stanley Gould from Kerouac, amongst a whole squadron of unsung friends and
fellow artists & writers that they mixed with in New York and San Francisco.
First meetings with Robert Duncan, Philip Lamantia are transmitted in
letters. So funny to hear how friendships that later flowered got off to
inauspicious starts. I've got to mid 1955, they are still waiting for their
breaks in their lives that will hurl them headlong into notoriety as much as
critical acclaim. Arguably one of the biggest 'Beat' books of the past ten
years or more. So much more could be said, but it would spoil it all for you. If you haven't got a copy, what are you waiting for?
Recently
back
home
from going to the Michael McClure reading at the Ledbury Festival on July 2. On the face of it a 'Beat poet' at a sleepy small town literary
event seems out of the ordinary. So credit must be given to the organisers
and Worcester University who, I understand, sponsored the event. Ledbury is a
lovely little town - traditional long high street. I half expected the ghost
of Thomas Hardy to be strolling down the street - it has that air. It is
impressive that they have two venues like this to put things on in. The
Prince of Wales pub in that little alleyway of a street was lovely. Michael's event kicked off the whole festival and it was a very well
attended gig at the Community Hall, which looked to hold about 250 people.
Michael was introduced by his friend filmmaker Colin Still. (see
www.opticnerve.co.uk) Despite some
debilitating illness, both himself and wife Amy, in recent times Michael read many favourites and
delighted the crowd with little stories and a memory or two. Good to meet up
with Chris Moughton from Lechlade. And Glen Storhaug of Five Seasons Press.
See www.fiveseasonspress.com
As well as young film maker Nic Saunders. Nic is currently working on an
Allen Ginsberg film. Today, Saturday, saw four films presented by Colin
Still. documentaries on Frank O'Hara, Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder and Michael
McClure. Colin and Michael discussed the films with the audience and answered
questions. The McClure film was aired for the first time in public. I wasn't
aware of how well McClure knew O'Hara. Obviously I'd associated him with Gary
Snyder and Allen Ginsberg, so this was something new. He is not especially
interested in talking about Bob Dylan, his expression when asked about that
link said it all. It was a long time ago. His new book, MYSTERIOSOS (New
Directions Press) emphasised that while McClure will forever be associated
with the Beats he has moved on and remains a fully active, developing
American poet as concerned with the modern world as he was in the heyday of
Kerouac & co. Performances with Ray Manzarek, Charles Lloyd and Terry Riley,
amongst others are more relevant to him these days. He also read at the
London Review Bookshop in Bury Place by the British Museum in London
on Thursday evening, July 8, and Collin Still also screened his documentary
Michael McClure: Abstract Alchemist of Flesh. It was a lovely evening
in a lovely bookstore. A full house packed into every nook and cranny.
Kerouac biographer Steve Turner was there, playwright Richard Deakin (Angels
Still Falling - the controversial Kerouac play) also there, a big McClure
fan, a bunch of household names on the English poetry scene that I know
nothing about and the event was introduced by the sheer excellent Iain
Sinclair. Iain, I was looking to see if you had notes, but you didn't - how
do you do that? Setting the scene with your special mix of erudition and
idiosyncrasy. Good to round off the evening with a visit to the Museum pub
just around the corner. By the time you read this Michael McClure will be
home in California.
Oh, I forgot to
mention. Beat fan Johnny Depp wrote a letter in recent times. Not every day a
letter comes in the mail from a star of the silver screen I can tell you.
Johnny was very nice and encouraging about Beat Scene. He really does follow
the history of the Beats and reads the books. It was lovely of him to drop a
line, he must be very busy. Thank you Johnny.
Many
people remain fascinated by the late poet Lew Welch. An aura of mystery still
envelopes him. Is he truly dead? Or did he walk off and choose another life
somewhere else? His body has never been discovered. As well as being a member
of the Reed College trio with Philip Whalen and Gary Snyder, he was an
integral part of the West Coast Beat Generation, he must have been in the
frame to read at The Six Gallery in the mid 1950s. Of course Welch was also a
good friend to Jack Kerouac, along with their mutual friend Albert Saijo, he
penned TRIP TRAP, with Jack, and the pair exchanged many, many letters in the
1950s and 1960s. So I'm doubly pleased to say that The Beat Scene Pocket Book
No 26 is LETTERS FROM LEW WELCH and it is available NOW.
Published in an edition of 125 numbered copies. If you would like to
order you can do it - UK and Europe only
- on the button below. Overseas, please email me.
Beat Scene62 is out now. Charles Bukowski and Dan Fante are amongst the
contributors. There is a new interview with Carolyn Cassady, an interview
with Richard Brautigan's first wife, Virginia Aste. John Cohassey writes on
Kerouac in Chicago, Daniel Bratton files a terrific article on Eric Mottram,
Gillian Thomson recalls Elise Cowen, Jim Burns on Migrant magazine, plus
there is an extract from a new book about Charles Bukowski, Kevin Opstedal
returns to the Bolinas scene, Thea Snyder Lowry, Gary Snyder's late sister,
contributes, the Beat Hotel & more... Oh and you subscribers only received another broadside with your copy. All subscriber copies will include extras
in the future. Single copies in the
UK are £6.95 including postage in a reinforced envelope. If you would like to
order a copy, click the button below. THIS IS UK ONLY - Overseas
see under Gary Snyder just below.
Belated best
wishes to Gary Snyder, 80 in May. A monumental poet and force for good.
FOR BEAT
SCENE 62 IN USA, JAPAN, AUSTRALIA & similar regions. Please click on
this button.
Out NOW is
another issue of my other little Beat Generation influenced magazine. This is number 23. In this latest issue is poetry from
Anne Waldman, ruth weiss, Neeli Cherkovski, Ed Sanders, David Meltzer, Jack
Micheline, Diane di Prima, Barry Gifford, Charles Plymell, Lawrence
Ferlinghetti, Tim Hunt on Slim Gaillard, and an excerpt from Charles
Bukowski's Scarlet by Pamela 'Cupcakes' Wood. Copies in the UK are £5
including postage. (Cheques payable M.Ring) OVERSEAS please email me.
I have a copy of Transit 22 up for
grabs. William Burroughs cover, the issue includes poetry from Joanna Mcclure,
Jack Micheline, Janine Pommy Vega, Tom Pickard, Barry Gifford, Ruth Weiss,
Neeli Cherkovski, Charles Plymell and a James Birmingham essay on William
Burroughs. Copies are £5 in the UK and £6 elsewhere. For UK only click this
button below. Overseas please email me.
If you have
about 26 minutes to spare, why not click on this link and watch PULL MY
DAISY where Jack narrates the film. In his own spontaneous way, I do
believe this is truly off the cuff, no editors involved.
That lovely man musician David Amram sent this
photo taken of him in 1957 at The Five Spot in NYC. The place that he
accompanied Jack Kerouac and others in - doing jazz readings way back. The
photo is by Burt Glinn.
A recent chapbook
is CHARLES BUKOWSKI: CENSORSHIP DOES
PAY
by Abel Debritto.
A fine piece of research. 125 numbered
copies. If you would like to order a copy, click the button here.
Call me a Luddite but books will never be
bettered by technology. You can download & digitise forever and read stuff on
your orangeberry or whatever it is, nothing beats paper. It's a little like I
read about that guy out of The White Stripes, Jack somebody, talking the other day, he
downloads music but he has to have the vinyl album, its a tactile thing. Same
with books. And speaking of books, isn't it such a pity that all our used
bookstores are disappearing with the encroachment of the internet. My home
town has never been overly blessed with them. The actual town centre had one
for a while, though I rarely go into Coventry. There was one on the other side
of town which I went into quite a bit. It wasn't great, the owner didn't seem
to add to his stock at all. There is a barn like place right out of town - it
is very English in the stock it has, as though they haven't realised America
has been discovered. The poetry section is filled with Larkin, Betjeman,
Chaucer and the like. Disappointing mostly. The only one that saves the day
in Coventry is Robert Gill's Gosford Books. Situated opposite the Art
College in the remnants of a row of old Coventry housing and just by the
rapidly expanding Coventry university and art gallery. He has been there
for about twenty five years. It is small, it used to be gloomy, dusty - there
was a clock ticking
away - though it seems to have brightened up a little. An old two up two down house. There are books lined on the steep
stairs, but the upper floor isn't open. I don't know why. It has the
look of a very traditional 1950s bookstore. The owner is sometimes
to be found having his lunch at the desk, some classical music or Bob Dylan
in the background. They've recently extended a little out the back and the
place is piled high with books.
The book prices are pretty fair by today's standards. Poetry, art, cinema,
fiction, etc etc. It has the look of a 1950s Charing Cross Road emporium, the
nice window
display is from that era and there are books outside in baskets. There is even a shelf of Beat titles on his desk.
Hunter Thompson, Olson, Bukowski, Burroughs, Kerouac, Miller et al.
Owner Robert Gill is friendly when you get to talk a little, though not
expansive and he lets you alone. He owns the place and says he isn't going
anywhere. Doesn't have anything to do with the internet, and says if you want
to buy a book off him you have to visit his shop. I get the impression he
likes being independent. He's mainly open in the
afternoons, including Sundays til 6.30. In an age where Amazon and the like have wiped
the floor with used bookstores, Robert Gill's little bookshop is a most
welcome anachronism, a real throwback. 116 Gosford Street, Coventry CV1
5DL. Tel 02476-220813
------------------------------------------------- Going for 15
years, my other little Beat Generation themed magazine TRANSIT has
number 23 out NOW. A smaller 6" x 8" inches format, this issue is
filled with poetry from Anne Waldman, ruth weiss, Neeli Cherkovski, Ed
Sanders, David Meltzer, Diane di Prima, Barry Gifford, Charles Plymell,
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Tim Hunt on Slim Gaillard and an excerpt from Pamela
'Cupcakes' Morgan's memoir of her time with Charles Bukowski. In the UK this
is £4 including postage. Cheques to M.Ring (better for me) or by the button
below. Overseas please email me.
Whilst rounding off
mailing out the current issue and taking a few minutes for a breather, an
interesting statistic sprung up while doing the post. The percentage
split between UK subscribers and overseas is uncannily virtually a 50%
figure. Subscriptions from America make up a sizeable proportion and an
increasing number from Scandinavian countries. The UK proportion is actually
falling, which is in very direct contrast to the earlier days of the
magazine. This is disappointing and something I'm puzzled and dismayed about,
I feel the magazine has improved with every issue. If I wasn't so modest
(ahem), I'd say nobody is ever really appreciated in their own backyard. At
the moment America likes Beat Scene more than the English do. Subscriber
copies are all posted now, so all you loyal subbers should have your copies
now, complete with subscriber only Kerouac broadside. Certainly
helping to keep me fit. Drop me a note when you receive your copy. Comments
always welcome. Go on, go crazy.
One development
that intrigued me of late is yet another deluxe edition of On The Road
has surfaced. Going for a cool $1,000 it puzzles me why there is a need for
such a publication. It does include paintings from one of America's most
noted artists
but does this justify such a fee? It smacks of blatant exploitation to be
honest. And it diminishes Jack Kerouac in my view. There is so much more to
him, a string of novels and poetry collections. People rave about Mexico
City Blues, Dylan waxes lyrical about that, as does Michael McClure, yet
it is consigned to the shadows. Maggie Cassidy? A beautiful novel.
Visions of Cody. A book that many rate more highly than On The Road,
Kerouac certainly thought much of it. Fine as On the Road is - I still
prefer the edited first edition if I'm honest - Kerouac is no one hit wonder.
Only those with fat wallets will opt for this exercise in pure money making.
Let them have it I say. It is far from the reasons that Jack wrote.
Beat Scene 61 is
out now. It includes Harold Norse, Burroughs, Jim Carroll, Seymour Krim,
Lenore Kandel, Dan Fante, Michael McClure, Jack Kerouac & more.
Subscriber copies and advance orders have all been mailed. You should have
your copy by now. Work is progressing daily on No 62 and I'm looking at late May for that
issue.
A couple of Beat Scene Press chapbooks have
been prepared. One of them is John Fante: A
Conversation with Ben Pleasants. That is out NOW. There is a button below for people in the
UK to click on. If you live overseas email me and I'll send you details. As always let me know if books in this
ongoing series are of interest to you. Once again they are in editions of
just 125 copies. Numbered as always. And, I'm working on a new
departure which I hope to bring news of in the near future. Watch this space.
Our Jack Kerouac special
came out in October2009. Sadly it wasn't delivered by Aubrey, who has brought it here for a very long time, he died
after a short illness. I'll miss his sharp Yorkshire wit and stories about the biggest fish you ever saw getting
away. Marking forty years since the death of Jack. Contributors include
Michael McClure, Gary Snyder, Ann Charters, Iain Sinclair, Barry Gifford,
David Amram and others. Subscribers have been contacted by email about an
offer on this issue. ( I thank the 35 people who have taken me up on this
offer). Subscribers got a Kerouac broadside with their copy.
If you would
like a copy please get in touch. There are only a few left.
If you live
inside the UK here is a button above to order at £6.95 including post. REMEMBER, THIS IS A UK ONLY BUTTON. Scroll down a little for Overseas
Incidentally
Helen Weaver has a site and she has some words about her new book
about her times with Jack Kerouac and others THE AWAKENER - go to
http://www.helenweaver.com/?p=1121
Later in 2009
LETTER FROM SAN FRANCISCO by Philip Lamantia was collected from
the printer. It is number 23 in the Beat Scene Press Pocket Book series. It
is a long essay/letter from a teenage Lamantia that was sent to an English
literary magazine in 1947. In it Lamantia lays out his hopes and dreams for
the future. The essay has languished in oblivion since then, possibly a
victim of Lamantia's notorious tendency to throw things away or destroy them.
So, I'm pleased that permission was given to republish after all these years. If you would like a copy, they are all numbered. Click on the box
below. They are £6.95 each, and that includes postage worldwide.
You may have read one or two of his books, CHUMP
CHANGE, SPITTING OFF TALL BUILDINGS, MOOCH, CORKSUCKER, KISSED BY A FAT
WAITRESS, ARIZONA HIGHWAY, DON GIOVANNI and others, but have you heard
Dan Fante read? In a revealing and sometimes
heartrending half hour interview on NPR radio in the USA, Dan talks with
great candour. His new book, the fourth in the Bruno Dante series, his alter
ego, is recently published. If you think you knew Dan Fante, just wait til
you hear him. At this link you will also be able to read an extract from the
new novel.
THE GAME & OTHER POEMS by Jack Hirschman
is a very recent Beat Scene Press Pocket Book. Number 22 in the series.
Limited to 125 signed and numbered copies. It is £6.95 in the UK. Everywhere
else please send me an email.
Out
late Summer in 2009 was a new Beat Scene Press Pocket Book. Number 21 in the series -
Tom Pickard's WORK CONCHY relates the story of how a teenage poet from
Newcastle upon Tyne in the North east of England brought the Beat poets to an
ancient tower on the old city wall in the 1960s. Allen Ginsberg, Gregory
Corso, Robert Creeley, David Meltzer, Jack Hirschman, Ed Dorn and so many
others - they all made the trek there over the years. The chapbook also
chronicles the fight Pickard had with the local authorities to be a poet in
an age when young men were expected to do as they were told. Published in an
edition of 125 signed and numbered copies. It can be got in the UK by clicking on the button below. All other regions please email me.
David Amram
got in touch recently with news of Ted Joans, which I'll be posting up as
soon as I can. Meanwhile here is a little five minute clip of David with
Alfred Leslie, talking about PULL MY DAISY.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4mQCnhKCd4
Beat Scene magazine No 59 came out later in 2009. It sports a Charles Bukowski
cover image. In a packed issue William Burroughs, David Meltzer, Kay Johnson,
Herbert Huncke, Jack Kerouac, Tom Pickard, and Harold Norse all feature. Plus
an article about seminal New York Beat magazine Intrepid & more besides.
Click below for a copy in the UK ONLY
News to us later in 2009
The Kerouac Court Case...Will found to be a
forgery......
A Message from Gerald Nicosia
There has been a monumental ruling today in the Circuit
Court of the Sixth
Judicial Circuit in and for Pinellas County, Florida, Probate Division.
Judge George W. Greer, who presided at the trial of the challenge to the
Gabrielle Kerouac's will on April 1 of this year, ruled that Gabrielle
Kerouac's purported will is indeed a forgery. The evidence presented at
trial, both medical and that of a handwriting expert, which he cited in his
ruling, indicates that Gabrielle Kerouac was incapable of signing the will
as it is signed on the purported document. This means, quite simply, that
any possession of the Kerouac Estate by the Sampas family, more than the
one-third interest to which Stella Kerouac was entitled by a dower's right,
was obtained purely and simply through a criminal act of fraud.
Jan Kerouac has been vindicated, at last, more than 13 years after her
death.
Yours,
Gerald Nicosia
Our
Jack Kerouac special issue is out NOW.
Marking 40 years since Kerouac's death. Subscribers will get their copy as it
will be Beat Scene 60. A little landmark. If you would like a copy or an
extra copy get in touch. At the above email. Copies will be sent to
subscribers as normal and any after that are strictly on a first come first
served basis. Overseas it is $15. If you live OVERSEAS you can click this
button to order.
Readers ofGary
Snyder might well be keen to see him being interviewed by Lew Sitzer on
NCTV11. The filmed intervew is fractionally over an hour long. Don't expect a
trip down memory lane. Snyder is firmly and mostly in the here and now. He is
preoccupied with bio-regionalism. biodiversity, language, fire management
where he lives and so on. Have a look at
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7493184569903349861
RecentlyTransit magazine, issue 21, was published.
As the discerning among you will know, it is a little magazine devoted to all
things Beat Generation. Measuring approximately 6" x 9" it includes poetry
from Jack Hirschman, David Meltzer, Barry Gifford and Dan Fante. Plus there
is a big essay on Leroi and Hettie Jones and their seminal 1950s magazine
YUGEN. Hettie Jones was happy with it. The issue is now sold out.
A little five
minute film of Herbert Huncke reminiscing at Cafe Nico in 1994. The film
quality is good, the sound is good. Have a look at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3xMtnpZcfo
A little poser for you Beat 'Sherlock Holmes'
characters out there. On the official Allen Ginsberg site there is a five
minute movie of Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and Lucien Carr on a street
corner in New York City around 1964, Peter Hale of the Allen Ginsberg project
reckons. Can you fill in any details? Give names to the other individuals/
See it at
http://ginsbergblog.blogspot.com/
Out from the Beat Scene Press is CARL WEISSNER,
CHARLES BUKOWSKI'S SECRET AGENT. An edition of one hundred numbered
copies. It is number 20 in the Beat Scene Press Pocket Book series. It is £6
including postage. Click here to buy a copy.
Not many people this side of the pond will have heard
that Bukowski's photographer, Michael Montfort, died late last year. Montfort
gave us many striking images of Bukowski. Being a man who liked his privacy
it was somehow surprising that Bukowski allowed Montfort in. But the two got
on and for many years Montfort kept snapping. You'll see his pictures in
books such as SHAKESPEARE NEVER DID THIS. But in many more besides. There
is a feature on Michael Montfort in Beat Scene 59.
A recent Beat Scene Press Pocketbook is Barry Gifford's NEW POEMS.
It is number 19 in the series. It is a signed
and numbered edition of 125 copies. You may know Barry Gifford as the
co-author with the late Lawrence Lee of the biography of Jack Kerouac JACK'S
BOOK. Many years ago Gifford also penned KEROUAC'S TOWN. Since those days he
has become an acclaimed writer. WILD AT HEART, THE IMAGINATION OF THE HEART,
PORT TROPIQUE and many others. Get in touch if you would like a copy, these
little brown books prove very popular.
Click below if you would like a copy
Beat Scene
came out just before last Christmas. Number 57. I was very pleased with it, especially the lovely cover photo of Allen
Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky, which was taken by Gordon Ball. I've been very
busy mailing out subscriber and store copies, both for England and overseas.
(Like an idiot I actually spent Boxing day morning doing this!) - I'm sending out copies to everyone in reinforced
envelopes these days. It is very time consuming and more expensive doing this but I figure it
helps to get the issue to you in a decent shape it is worth the time and
money. I did
subscribe to the English music monthly MOJO in recent years but when my first
subscriber copy came through the mail in a flimsy plastic bag - all dog eared
and unloved - I cancelled my sub with them and went back to buying it off the
shelf. And I thought I don't want the same thing happening to your copies. I
know a lot of you store your copies carefully and would like to get them in
neat shape. So this should do the trick. Hands up those that leave them down
the back of the sofa with a coffee cup ring on the front cover!?
THIS ISSUE NOW SOLD OUT.
And continuing with the William Burroughs theme - you may
recall an interview with film maker Lars Movin we conducted in a recent issue
of Beat Scene - Lars sent a number of Burroughs photos taken in Sweden that
we were not able to use for one reason or another. So here are a couple of them
here.
During
October there was a Beat Generation Symposium held in Chicago. Joanne Kyger
and Michael McClure were there. Also there was Liz Von Vogt who recently had
681 LEXINGTON AVENUE: A BEAT EDUCATION IN NEW YORK CITY 1947-1954
published. In that book she recalls her young life mixing with her brother
John Clellon Holmes and his friends such as Jack Kerouac. You can hear Liz
speak and read from her book if you click the link here.
http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Content.aspx?audioID=29934
A
recent issue of Transit magazine, number 20,
is
out. It features an extended essay on the interview Jack
Kerouac did with The Paris Review a year before his death. Plus an interview
with Joanne Kyger, poetry from Michael McClure and Barry Gifford, Jim Burns
on William Wantling and a little feature on Anne Waldman's new recording.
Copies are £4 in the UK. If you live in the UK and would like to order,
click the box below.
Issue 56 is out NOW.
SEE BELOW.
If you would
like to order a copy of Beat Scene 56 and you live
in the UK- click on the button below
A recent book in the Beat Scene Press Pocket Book series
is a signed and
numbered story by Dan Fante. Not many of this one left.
If you would like a copy -
Click here
A few of you might know I publish another Beat influenced magazine.
Transit. No 19 is now ready. In fact it is almost sold out. Featuring poetry from David Meltzer, Diane di Prima, Barry Gifford and Jack Foley with an essay on Charles Olson and
Projective Verse. A single issue in the UK is £4 including post. Either by
cheque payable to M.Ring ( I much prefer that) - OR by paypal to the Beat
Scene email address. To the USA it is $12 cash OR by paypal. Europe is 10
Euros OR by paypal - FOR UK only click below.
.
COOL KEROUAC, by Jim Burns - number 17 in the
Pocket Books series, out now. Signed and numbered.
REMEMBERING JACK KEROUAC
by John Clellon Holmes is number 16 in the Beat Scene Press Pocket Book
series. 125 numbered copies. Click below for a copy
IN THE UK ONLY (Overseas please email
me).
BEAT SCENE 55 is still available. Copies in the UK are
£6.50. Click below for A UK copy only.
Overseas please send me an
email.
For something special on Allen Ginsberg - you can go to
http://www.reed.edu/reed_magazine/winter2008/features/the_beats/and hear the earliest
known recording of Allen Ginsberg reading major parts of HOWL, recorded at
Reed College in Oregon prior to his first public reading at the Six Gallery.
The recording was co-discovered by John Suiter who is writing a biography of
Gary Snyder.
"1963. On the way to Bolinas we stopped for gas and I borrowed Ginsberg's
camera after taking that photo from backseat of Neal under torn headliner in
his '39 Pontiac." (Charles Plymell from Neal and Anne at Gough Street.)"
The Beat Scene Press has published NEAL AND ANNE AT GOUGH STREET by
Charles Plymell. Number 14 in the pocket book series, it is numbered in an edition of 125 copies and signed by Charles Plymell. Copies
in the UK are £5.95 ...........OVERSEAS - please email for price.
BEAT SCENE 54 OUT NOW.
Scroll down a little to buy a copy in the UK.
Overseas please email.
A recent issue of my other little Beat Generation magazine, Transit, is out
now. Number 18 is given over to an essay on Gary Snyder. Copies are
£3.50 in the UK. Overseas please ask.
See this link
here for some famous people talking about Jack on a day that marked 50 years of ON THE
ROAD. Though of course we all know that it was published in Heaven years
before that
NOW OUT in the continuing Beat Scene Press Pocket Book series is
REXROTH, BUKOWSKI AND THE POLITICS OF LITERATURE by Ben Pleasants. 125
signed and numbered copies, out NOW. £5.95
Beat Scene 53
. Articles include interviews
with both Joyce Johnson and Hettie Jones, big stuff on Burroughs, Yugen
magazine, Jack Kerouac & more besides. Copies are £5.95 in the UK.
Overseas please scroll down the page just past this image of Jack Kerouac
USA copies of BEAT SCENE 53 here, click on the
button below for a copy to be airmailed ...
Allen Ginsberg - Died 1997
I met Allen Ginsberg years ago outside a pub in Lowell
in Massachusetts. June 1988. He had done a reading and my diary tells me he
had been signing copies of his new book of photographs, something that took
over more and more of his time later in his life. He was talking to a lot of
people outside the bar, it was a cold and windy night and I recall him kindly
saying to me that my young son shouldn't be out so late at night, it was
around midnight. My son Nathan was eight. I agreed and said I didn't have
much option as we were on holiday together alone. We talked about John
Clellon Holmes who had died around that time. Allen spoke of one or two
ailments of his own. It was late and yet he seemed keen to talk to everybody
despite the hour and that it had been a long day for him, beginning at The
Whistler Museum early in the day. I had just started Beat Scene by then and
he encouraged me to use his photos in it. I was impressed by his generosity.
He wrote me a couple of brief letters afterwards and then years later sent a
postcard or two asking about the magazine. I always sent him copies but
whether he always saw them I don't know, as he was always moving around. A
few days earlier I had been sitting in Brighams ice cream shop in Kearney
Square in Lowell, having a chocolate milk shake with Ben Woitena, the creator
of the terrific Kerouac park in Lowell. Ben was from Texas and told me all
about the work on the big monolith type slabs he'd created with Kerouac's
words carved into each one. He loved an American band The Sir Douglas
Quintet, probably because they too were from Texas. He seemed pleased when I
said I had heard them. I'm certainly the right age. A lovely man. Sitting in
the next booth were Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Allen Ginsberg. Not sure
whether they were having a milkshake. We walked down to the Kerouac park with
Ben, pouring with rain and looked and admired them. In the late afternoon I
went into a council office in the centre of Lowell and got to see Kerouac's
typewriter and to try on his rucksack. I almost sank to my knees. Even later that day we were at
the Pawtucketville Social Club, quite a gathering there. Allen, Lawrence,
Henri Cru, Edie Parker, lots of fans like me as well. There was an electrical
sorm and the power was out and candles were lit. I recall going to a
Greek restaurant with a few people, the friendly Henry Hefco and his wife,
(my son was very impressed with Henry's gym), Dean Contover, Tony Sampas amongst them. I think Allen
was there.
JACK KEROUAC - born March 12, 1922
- would've been 85 in 2007. The photo below on the right is one the English
Sunday Times used for his obituary notice.
left here, JK on the Steve Allen TV show in
1959...Are you nervous Jack? Right, in The Kettle of Fish Bar in NYC,
1957
BEAT SCENE friend and subscriber Joe Lee attended a reading by Carolyn
Cassady in San Francisco in recent times and sent in a few photos of the
event. To
start, from left to right - here's one of Joe Lee, Al Hinkle (Jack Kerouac's
big buddy from late 1940s and 1950s and heavily featured in ON THE ROAD of
course), Carolyn Cassady's daughter Cathy Cassady Sylvia and her husband
George Sylvia. Thanks for sending them in Joe.
above, Carolyn Cassady with Joe Lee
Left, Joe Lee, Al Hinkle & Cathy Cassady
right above, here's another of Carolyn Cassady from
a few years ago in Scotland when she attended a play about herself, Neal
Cassady and Jack Kerouac, the actors who played them are with her.
above, another photo sent in by arch snapper Joe Lee of
John Cassady and Jami Cassady, two children of Carolyn and Neal Cassady.
Photo taken 2006 in San Francisco.
and above, Carolyn Cassady in Florida in 1999 with film
maker Judy Sharples.
above, Neal Cassady & the ill fated Natalie Jackson in
SF, 1955.
In
the early 1970s Iain Sinclair and his friends battled their way though the
making of a film about Allen Ginsberg in London and efforts to interview him
and others including William Burroughs. That filming developed into a book -
THE KODAK MANTRA DIARIES. A distinctive spiral bound affair that quickly sold
out. In it Sinclair captured something of the spirit of the times - both for
Ginsberg and for London, not to mention he and his friends. Just before Christmas 2006 I published Iain's book
once again in an expanded edition of 500 copies.
I have
copies of THE KODAK MANTRA DIARIESsigned by Iain Sinclair. If
you would like one of these they are £12 including post in the UK.
I think Beat Scene 51 (see below) issue is desirable simply because of the very
special Jack Kerouac content alone. I guarantee it is something you won't have seen before. And
people have commented on the big Bolinas content, I believe this is the
biggest focus those times has received to date and hope it will push others
into further research of the era and the poets who gathered there. I
wanted to really investigate this late 1960s, early 1970s loose community of
poets and so spoke to a number of them to get their recollections of the
time. Writers included were David Meltzer, Joanne Kyger, Anne Waldman, Lewis
Warsh, Larry Kearney, Duncan McNaughton, Tom and Angelica Clark, Alice Notley
and others. I
know of at least one writer who has been enthused enough to begin putting
together a book about this community. On the cover are Lewis Warsh and Anne Waldman, over 35 years
ago. Two poets who are still going strong. Copies of this issue are down to the last few boxes and my
garage is emptying.
If you live in the UK click here for a copy of BEAT SCENE 51 for UK buyers ONLY below
USA, JAPAN & AUSTRALIA go to BACK ISSUES
TO PURCHASE A COPY
TRANSIT magazine, our other little Beat Generation hued magazine continues.
Number 17 is not long out. Includes poetry from Tom Clark, Alice Notley, David Meltzer, Anne
Waldman, Lewis Warsh, Barry Gifford, Diane di Prima, Dharma Bum John Montgomery, Janine Pommy Vega, Joanne Kyger,
Ruth Weiss, Beat archivist Arthur Winfield Knight. £4.25 including
post in the UK.
BEAT SCENE 51 for EUROPEAN residents only, BUY HERE
If
you live in Europe, USA/Australia, Japan
click below for a copy of the Beat Scene Special issue THE KODAK MANTRA
DIARIES. Cost is £7.50 inc post.
AND, Beat Scene Press published the fifth in the Beat Scene
Pocket Books series, which is poet and biographer Tom Clark's LETTERS HOME FROM CAMBRIDGE
1963-65. Clark studied in Cambridge, England in that period and his letters
are a snapshot of poetic life in the early 60s. Produced in an edition of 100 signed and numbered copies. Strictly
on a first come first served basis. Copies are £5.95 each including postage
in the UK.
BEAT SCENE SUBSCRIPTION FOR USA, JAPAN,
AUSTRALIA ---CLICK HERE
TRANSIT 16
is available, it features Barry Gifford, Tisa Walden, Michael McClure,
Diane di Prima, David Meltzer, Tom Clark, Ted Joans, Jack Hirschman, Dan
Fante, Arthur Winfield Knight, Janine Pommy Vega, Anne Waldman, Henry
Denander, Ron Whitehead & Roger Taus on William Carlos Williams.. copies are
£4.25 including post. Either by cheque in UK payable to M.Ring. OR BY
CLICKING HERE BELOW
AND, SPEAKING OF TRANSIT, I'VE FINALLY FOUND THE BOX OF
TRANSIT 3 FROM 1993. THIS IS THE KEROUAC SPECIAL ISSUE,
A LONG ESSAY BY JIM BURNS ON KEROUAC AND JAZZ. A NUMBER OF PEOPLE HAVE ASKED
ABOUT THIS ISSUE OVER THE YEARS. HERE'S YOUR CHANCE TO GET A COPY. BEFORE
THEY GET LOST AGAIN.
TRANSIT No 15
is out now. It includes essays on Gary
Snyder and Jack Kerouac, poetry from Dan Fante, Diane di Prima, Tom Clark,
David Meltzer, Arthur Winfield Knight, Charles Plymell, Anne Waldman, Neeli
Cherkovski, Barry Gifford, Robert Creeley, Tisa Walden and Jim Burns You can
buy a copy by clicking below.
OUR CHARLES
BUKOWSKI SPECIAL ISSUE
In 2004 we decided to mark the 10th anniversary of the
death of Charles Bukowski (above). To mark the date Beat Scene magazine published an entire special
issue devoted to the man.
We included interviews with his longtime friend and Black Sparrow Press
publisher John Martin, a substantial interview with the man who
photographed him over the decades, Michael Montfort. Girlfriends, he had
a few, but Linda King was a significant
woman in his life, we interview Linda. We look at Bukowski at the racetrack, his time with Jon and Lou
Webb down in New Orleans being published by the Loujon Press. We
investigate his longterm publishing history with Marvin Malone's
Wormwood Review magazine and publish a photo of Marvin Malone, a rarity.
There's an interview with his German translator Carl Weissner and much
more. Full colour covers, including two striking portraits of Bukowski.
All this for £6.50 including post - either by cheque payable to
M.Ring or by clicking below.
Speaking to the English
daily newspaper The Guardian in recent times the actor Nick Nolte - who
played the role of Neal Cassady in the late 1970s film Heart Beat, said - "There
was a whole generation in America that didn't even know its
own subculture: the Beats. That couldn't happen today. A subculture wouldn't
last more than 10 days before advertising agents would be on to it."
Beat Scene 67 has been out for a few days and is almost sold out. It includes Jack Kerouac (see front
cover above), William Burroughs, Black Mountaineer Basil King, Ed Sanders, Charles Bukowski,
George Whitman, Doctor Sax, Maggie Cassidy, On the Road & more. If you would
like to purchase a copy it is £7.95 in the UK. There is a UK Paypal button below.
Scroll further down for an OVERSEAS BUTTON.
The Poetry
Project have made available a whole series of poetry readings made for
cable television in America in the 1970s. These were very low budget
programmes made in black and white, yet the series recorded many fine poets.
Ed Sanders and Ted Berrigan feature, as does Joanne Kyger. Here's a link to
the Joanne Kyger recording, made in March 1978. The reading lasts
about 28 minutes. Good stuff. Just scroll down til you reach Joanne's show.
As a few
of you will know Jim Burns is deputy editor of my magazine Beat Scene
and a regular contributor to it. Jim has written passionately and with great
insight about the Beats, American writers, jazz, poetry of an often
alternative kind of poetry and much more over the years. He has published a
string of poetry collections and had a few collections of his erudite essays
published. Here's a link to his very new collection,
BRITS, BEATS &
OUTSIDERS, published by The Penniless Press in the UK.
A few people
have asked about THE FACE ON THE FORK: A WILLIAM
BURROUGHS TRIPTYCH, a recent chapbook in the Beat Scene series. By Iain
Sinclair, it is a work originally begun in the 1960s, which Iain very
kindly allowed me to publish. All copies were signed and numbered in an
edition of 125. NOW ALL GONE. 
Stretching back to much
earlier Beat Scene days, there are just a handful of issue 24 still
available. A Jan Kerouac cover (Nelson Algren on the rear). There was stuff
on Allen Ginsberg, an interview with Ann Charters, shenanigans at the NYC
Kerouac conference, reported on by Gerald Nicosia, an extract from a play
about Kerouac that was being performed in London at the time, Terry Southern,
Ken Kesey & more. It'll be gone and then only available from rip off rare
book dealers who'll want your arm and leg. If you would like a copy of this back issue there is a
button below.
A very dark
morning. Christmas is a fading memory, if I ever remembered it. Did I
remember it? Nah, not really. Stuck in a broken down car in a London street.
Trip to the big city cut short and spending Christmas evening in a near
deserted service station outside Oxford. We'll laugh about it later. But
there on the doormat 7.30 a.m. on the last day of the year is an unexpected last
flurry of post and a packet from California. Inside is a big paperback, the
work of poet and writer Jack Foley and artist Helen Breger. SKETCHES
POETICAL. Wow, this is nice, I think as I thumb through it with my
porridge, light gradually coming to the day. Breger has been sketching poets
in bookstore readings around California for a very long time, there they are,
grumpy Kenneth Rexroth, physically tortured Kenneth Patchen, sad eyed
Kerouac, Dharma bum Snyder, everyman Ferlinghetti, the everso influential
Robert Duncan, railroad man Neal Cassady, jailbird Ezra Pound, Brautigan,
name change Leroi Jones, giant Charles Olson, the enduring Joanne Kyger, Jack
Foley's friend Michael McClure, heavily bearded Ginsberg, heartbreaker Robert
Creeley and there's more, Kay Boyle, TS Eliot, Theodore Roethke, James
Broughton, Dizzy Gillespie et al. The sketches, and you can trace how Breger
evolves with time, plus the impressions of Jack Foley on the art and the
poets. A lovely package that deserves the attention of poetry lovers
everywhere. Contact Jack Foley at 2569 Maxwell Avenue, Oakland,
California 94601, USA. Email 
Beat
Scene 66 has been mailed off to all subscribers. You should have your
copy now. To all you subscribers, THANK YOU for sticking with me. It's
easy to click a few buzzers and bells and get your information on the
internet. But you guys, being a little more discerning, make things possible.
The aim is to continue far into the future and I hope you come along for the
ride. 
Thanks to
Eddie Woods for telling me about this BBC page on the recent publication of
Jack Kerouac's THE SEA IS MY BROTHER. The writer of the article damns
him with very faint praise, sadly. In the little interview clip, Stuart Evers
is far more positive, while seeing the book for what it is in the early days
of Kerouac's writing life.
There is a new chapbook
out now, number 31 in the Beat Scene Press series. Al Hinkle: Last
Man Standing by Stephen Edington. 125 numbered copies. You will know Al
Hinkle as Ed Dunkel in On The Road. In this chapbook Al recalls his times
with Neal and Jack. If you would like a copy click on the button below. 
Beat Scene
64 was issued a while ago, that's Gary Snyder on the cover, a terrific
photo taken by his friend Giuseppe Morretti. Gary likes the cover and the
Peter Coyote essay on him inside. There's big stuff
on William Burroughs, of course, ex Digger Peter Coyote on Gary Snyder, William Everson
at Waldport, big interview
with Diane di Prima, Sinclair Beiles, interview with Anne Waldman, Janine
Pommy Vega, Jim Burns on Hipsters and much more. If you would like a copy and you live outside the
UK there is a button below. 
Ken Kesey reading a copy of a very old issue of Beat
Scene, number 18 in fact. Photo taken for the magazine by Alan Balliett in
West Virginia (who also conducted an interview with Ken for the magazine at
the time.)
UK ONLY
button right below. At £5 a copy.
Having
just viewed Nic Saunders film At Apollinaire's Grave, it struck me,
how on earth do you finance such a minority interest project like that?
Looking at the box the disc is housed in there is no telltale sign of funding
from any organisation, just the logo for Nic's film company 14167 Films. So
where does he find the loot to bankroll what must be a very expensive little
film, it runs to 25 minutes? Taking as his lead Allen Ginsberg's 1958 poem
At Apollinaire's Grave, when he and others were holed up at
the Beat Hotel in the Latin Quarter in Paris, this lovingly shot little gem
takes an easy pace to Pere Lachaise and the actual grave of the man himself.
I'm still taking the film in and to be honest don't want to spoil it for you.
Following on from his film Curses and Sermons, based around the work
of Michael McClure, it is evident Nic Saunders feels at home amongst the Beat
poets. However he doesn't take the conventional route when filming, At
Apollinaire's Grave will surprise you. Check it out.
Did you see the movie of HOWL yet? It has been
screened at a few places outside London in recent days. I've just watched it
at the Warwick Arts Centre in Coventry. True to form there were about fifteen
people in the audience. I don't know how many will turn up at screenings this
week. Maybe to the students (the cinema is on the Warwick University campus
site) just don't connect with something that happened well over fifty years
ago. These old poets might be old hat to them. Very old hat. Yet you might
imagine the presence of James Franco might tempt the students away from their
laptops and blackberrys? He certainly caught the speech patterns of Ginsberg
pretty good. I'd say in mainstream cinema terms the movie was fairly low
budget. The courtroom scenes, the kind of face to face interview with Franco
as Allen, documentary footage, the very impressive Six Gallery recreation.
Though I would have liked to see a little of the other poets in that reading,
Snyder, Lamantia, Whalen, McClure, if only to better put it in context. Erick
Drooker's animation is wonderful, as it is in other Ginsberg books, a big
plus for the film in fact. Don't want to spoil your enjoyment by saying too
much, well worth a visit if you can get to a screening. But the small
audience confirmed to me that this Beat Generation thing is really a minority
aspect of our society. The things they did resonate still in so many ways,
yet they are dimming as time flies past.
"The
Hymns to St Geryon designer. I'd not really placed him before - a name
slipping in and out of things. Thanks. An affecting piece." Heathcote
Williams
Inevitably there was a little delay in producing the new Beat Scene,
computers. Don't you just love them. Great when they work but a pain
otherwise. The issue is now out and I've been exceptionally busy mailing them out.
Recently, I posted the last batch of subscriber copies.
So look for your copy very soon. A few of you may follow darts on tv?
Well it isn't every day I'm standing at the Post Office with my bundles of
Beat Scene and get nudged in the back by the onetime World Darts champion. A
lovely man, now 80+. He lives at the end of my street. We always talk
football, he Ipswich, me Coventry. What has that got to do with anything, I
dunno? If you can stretch
to picking up an extra copy of the magazine for a friend it would be massively helpful to me,
I rely entirely upon sales. There is no advertising or funds sponsoring the
magazine. Amazingly I still get queries asking when will the magazine go
online? Like, why don't you give it away for free? But I'm so greedy, I like
little luxuries like bread and water, a roof over my head. The answer is
never. If you would like a copy and you live outside the UK and would like
a copy, click this box here. 
OUT NOW -
THE LAST DAYS OF JACK KEROUAC
by James Birmingham. No 27 in the Beat Scene Press Pocket Book series. 125
numbered copies. If you would like to order a copy, click the button below.
Recently
back
home
from going to the Michael McClure reading at the Ledbury Festival on July 2. On the face of it a 'Beat poet' at a sleepy small town literary
event seems out of the ordinary. So credit must be given to the organisers
and Worcester University who, I understand, sponsored the event. Ledbury is a
lovely little town - traditional long high street. I half expected the ghost
of Thomas Hardy to be strolling down the street - it has that air. It is
impressive that they have two venues like this to put things on in. The
Prince of Wales pub in that little alleyway of a street was lovely. Michael's event kicked off the whole festival and it was a very well
attended gig at the Community Hall, which looked to hold about 250 people.
Michael was introduced by his friend filmmaker Colin Still. (see
Many
people remain fascinated by the late poet Lew Welch. An aura of mystery still
envelopes him. Is he truly dead? Or did he walk off and choose another life
somewhere else? His body has never been discovered. As well as being a member
of the Reed College trio with Philip Whalen and Gary Snyder, he was an
integral part of the West Coast Beat Generation, he must have been in the
frame to read at The Six Gallery in the mid 1950s. Of course Welch was also a
good friend to Jack Kerouac, along with their mutual friend Albert Saijo, he
penned TRIP TRAP, with Jack, and the pair exchanged many, many letters in the
1950s and 1960s. So I'm doubly pleased to say that The Beat Scene Pocket Book
No 26 is LETTERS FROM LEW WELCH and it is available NOW.
Published in an edition of 125 numbered copies. If you would like to
order you can do it - UK and Europe only
- on the button below. Overseas, please email me.
Beat Scene
62 is out now. Charles Bukowski and Dan Fante are amongst the
contributors. There is a new interview with Carolyn Cassady, an interview
with Richard Brautigan's first wife, Virginia Aste. John Cohassey writes on
Kerouac in Chicago, Daniel Bratton files a terrific article on Eric Mottram,
Gillian Thomson recalls Elise Cowen, Jim Burns on Migrant magazine, plus
there is an extract from a new book about Charles Bukowski, Kevin Opstedal
returns to the Bolinas scene, Thea Snyder Lowry, Gary Snyder's late sister,
contributes, the Beat Hotel & more... Oh and you subscribers only received another broadside with your copy. All subscriber copies will include extras
in the future. Single copies in the
UK are £6.95 including postage in a reinforced envelope. If you would like to
order a copy, click the button below. THIS IS UK ONLY - Overseas
see under Gary Snyder just below.
Belated best
wishes to Gary Snyder, 80 in May. A monumental poet and force for good.
Out NOW is
another issue of my other little Beat Generation influenced magazine. This is number 23. In this latest issue is poetry from
Anne Waldman, ruth weiss, Neeli Cherkovski, Ed Sanders, David Meltzer, Jack
Micheline, Diane di Prima, Barry Gifford, Charles Plymell, Lawrence
Ferlinghetti, Tim Hunt on Slim Gaillard, and an excerpt from Charles
Bukowski's Scarlet by Pamela 'Cupcakes' Wood. Copies in the UK are £5
including postage. (Cheques payable M.Ring) OVERSEAS please email me.
I have a copy of Transit 22 up for
grabs. William Burroughs cover, the issue includes poetry from Joanna Mcclure,
Jack Micheline, Janine Pommy Vega, Tom Pickard, Barry Gifford, Ruth Weiss,
Neeli Cherkovski, Charles Plymell and a James Birmingham essay on William
Burroughs. Copies are £5 in the UK and £6 elsewhere. For UK only click this
button below. Overseas please email me.
A recent chapbook
is CHARLES BUKOWSKI: CENSORSHIP DOES
PAY
Beat Scene 61 is
out now. It includes Harold Norse, Burroughs, Jim Carroll, Seymour Krim,
Lenore Kandel, Dan Fante, Michael McClure, Jack Kerouac & more.
Subscriber copies and advance orders have all been mailed. You should have
your copy by now. Work is progressing daily on No 62 and I'm looking at late May for that
issue.
A couple of Beat Scene Press chapbooks have
been prepared. One of them is John Fante: A
Conversation with Ben Pleasants. That is out NOW. There is a button below for people in the
UK to click on. If you live overseas email me and I'll send you details. As always let me know if books in this
ongoing series are of interest to you. Once again they are in editions of
just 125 copies. Numbered as always. And, I'm working on a new
departure which I hope to bring news of in the near future. Watch this space.
Our Jack Kerouac special
came out in October2009. Sadly it wasn't delivered by Aubrey, who has brought it here for a very long time, he died
after a short illness. I'll miss his sharp Yorkshire wit and stories about the biggest fish you ever saw getting
away. Marking forty years since the death of Jack. Contributors include
Michael McClure, Gary Snyder, Ann Charters, Iain Sinclair, Barry Gifford,
David Amram and others. Subscribers have been contacted by email about an
offer on this issue. ( I thank the 35 people who have taken me up on this
offer). Subscribers got a Kerouac broadside with their copy. 
Later in 2009
LETTER FROM SAN FRANCISCO by Philip Lamantia was collected from
the printer. It is number 23 in the Beat Scene Press Pocket Book series. It
is a long essay/letter from a teenage Lamantia that was sent to an English
literary magazine in 1947. In it Lamantia lays out his hopes and dreams for
the future. The essay has languished in oblivion since then, possibly a
victim of Lamantia's notorious tendency to throw things away or destroy them.
So, I'm pleased that permission was given to republish after all these years. If you would like a copy, they are all numbered. Click on the box
below. They are £6.95 each, and that includes postage worldwide.
You may have read one or two of his books, CHUMP
CHANGE, SPITTING OFF TALL BUILDINGS, MOOCH, CORKSUCKER, KISSED BY A FAT
WAITRESS, ARIZONA HIGHWAY, DON GIOVANNI and others, but have you heard
Dan Fante read? In a revealing and sometimes
heartrending half hour interview on NPR radio in the USA, Dan talks with
great candour. His new book, the fourth in the Bruno Dante series, his alter
ego, is recently published. If you think you knew Dan Fante, just wait til
you hear him. At this link you will also be able to read an extract from the
new novel.
Out
late Summer in 2009 was a new Beat Scene Press Pocket Book. Number 21 in the series -
Tom Pickard's WORK CONCHY relates the story of how a teenage poet from
Newcastle upon Tyne in the North east of England brought the Beat poets to an
ancient tower on the old city wall in the 1960s. Allen Ginsberg, Gregory
Corso, Robert Creeley, David Meltzer, Jack Hirschman, Ed Dorn and so many
others - they all made the trek there over the years. The chapbook also
chronicles the fight Pickard had with the local authorities to be a poet in
an age when young men were expected to do as they were told. Published in an
edition of 125 signed and numbered copies. It can be got in the UK
by clicking on the button below. All other regions please email me.
Our
Jack Kerouac special issue is out NOW.
Marking 40 years since Kerouac's death. Subscribers will get their copy as it
will be Beat Scene 60. A little landmark. If you would like a copy or an
extra copy get in touch. At the above email. Copies will be sent to
subscribers as normal and any after that are strictly on a first come first
served basis. Overseas it is $15. If you live OVERSEAS you can click this
button to order.
Readers of
Gary
Snyder might well be keen to see him being interviewed by Lew Sitzer on
NCTV11. The filmed intervew is fractionally over an hour long. Don't expect a
trip down memory lane. Snyder is firmly and mostly in the here and now. He is
preoccupied with bio-regionalism. biodiversity, language, fire management
where he lives and so on. Have a look at
RecentlyTransit magazine, issue 21, was published.
As the discerning among you will know, it is a little magazine devoted to all
things Beat Generation. Measuring approximately 6" x 9" it includes poetry
from Jack Hirschman, David Meltzer, Barry Gifford and Dan Fante. Plus there
is a big essay on Leroi and Hettie Jones and their seminal 1950s magazine
YUGEN. Hettie Jones was happy with it. The issue is now sold out.
Beat Scene
came out just before last Christmas. Number 57. I was very pleased with it, especially the lovely cover photo of Allen
Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky, which was taken by Gordon Ball. I've been very
busy mailing out subscriber and store copies, both for England and overseas.
(Like an idiot I actually spent Boxing day morning doing this!) - I'm sending out copies to everyone in reinforced
envelopes these days. It is very time consuming and more expensive doing this but I figure it
helps to get the issue to you in a decent shape it is worth the time and
money. I did
subscribe to the English music monthly MOJO in recent years but when my first
subscriber copy came through the mail in a flimsy plastic bag - all dog eared
and unloved - I cancelled my sub with them and went back to buying it off the
shelf. And I thought I don't want the same thing happening to your copies. I
know a lot of you store your copies carefully and would like to get them in
neat shape. So this should do the trick. Hands up those that leave them down
the back of the sofa with a coffee cup ring on the front cover!?
THIS ISSUE NOW SOLD OUT.
A
recent issue of Transit magazine, number 20,
is
out. It features an extended essay on the interview Jack
Kerouac did with The Paris Review a year before his death. Plus an interview
with Joanne Kyger, poetry from Michael McClure and Barry Gifford, Jim Burns
on William Wantling and a little feature on Anne Waldman's new recording.
Copies are £4 in the UK. If you live in the UK and would like to order,
click the box below.
If you would
like to order a copy of Beat Scene 56 and you live
in the UK- click on the button below
A few of you might know I publish another Beat influenced magazine.
Transit. No 19 is now ready. In fact it is almost sold out. Featuring poetry from David Meltzer, Diane di Prima, Barry Gifford and Jack Foley with an essay on Charles Olson and
Projective Verse. A single issue in the UK is £4 including post. Either by
cheque payable to M.Ring ( I much prefer that) - OR by paypal to the Beat
Scene email address. To the USA it is $12 cash OR by paypal. Europe is 10
Euros OR by paypal - FOR UK only click below.
REMEMBERING JACK KEROUAC
by John Clellon Holmes is number 16 in the Beat Scene Press Pocket Book
series. 125 numbered copies. Click below for a copy
IN THE UK ONLY (Overseas please email
me).
"1963. On the way to Bolinas we stopped for gas and I borrowed Ginsberg's
camera after taking that photo from backseat of Neal under torn headliner in
his '39 Pontiac." (Charles Plymell from Neal and Anne at Gough Street.)"
A recent issue of my other little Beat Generation magazine, Transit, is out
now. Number 18 is given over to an essay on Gary Snyder. Copies are
£3.50 in the UK. Overseas please ask.
See this link
here for some famous people talking about Jack on a day that marked 50 years of ON THE
ROAD. Though of course we all know that it was published in Heaven years
before that
Beat Scene 53
. Articles include interviews
with both Joyce Johnson and Hettie Jones, big stuff on Burroughs, Yugen
magazine, Jack Kerouac & more besides. Copies are £5.95 in the UK.
Overseas please scroll down the page just past this image of Jack Kerouac
left here, JK on the Steve Allen TV show in
1959...Are you nervous Jack? Right, in The Kettle of Fish Bar in NYC,
1957
In
the early 1970s Iain Sinclair and his friends battled their way though the
making of a film about Allen Ginsberg in London and efforts to interview him
and others including William Burroughs. That filming developed into a book -
THE KODAK MANTRA DIARIES. A distinctive spiral bound affair that quickly sold
out. In it Sinclair captured something of the spirit of the times - both for
Ginsberg and for London, not to mention he and his friends. Just before Christmas 2006 I published Iain's book
once again in an expanded edition of 500 copies. 
AND, Beat Scene Press published the fifth in the Beat Scene
Pocket Books series, which is poet and biographer Tom Clark's LETTERS HOME FROM CAMBRIDGE
1963-65. Clark studied in Cambridge, England in that period and his letters
are a snapshot of poetic life in the early 60s. Produced in an edition of 100 signed and numbered copies. Strictly
on a first come first served basis. Copies are £5.95 each including postage
in the UK.
