Review
IN THE REBEL CAFE: Interviews with Ed Sanders – Review
Marc Olmsted
IN THE REBEL CAFE
Interviews with Ed Sanders
edited by Jennie Skerl
Clemson University Press
$120.00
Jennie Skerl has put together a magnificent intro/crash course to Ed Sanders, "second generation" Beat. Sanders, to many of us, needs no introduction, but he is not the household name that many of the "first generation" are.
Further complexity involving appreciation of Sanders is how many angles one can know him from. Many are more aware of his band The Fugs. Perhaps one read The Family in one of its revisions, Sanders' journalistic exploration of Charles Manson, (and among the absolute best of the true crime genre). Finally, one may know him poetically, and in particular, through his "investigative poetics" - journalistic, historical, data-collecting poetics, a refinement and extension of the political "list" poetry of Allen Ginsberg such as "CIA Dope Calypso," which arguably has its own musical influence from Th...
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Review
Anne Waldman: the Poet vs. the Warring God
John Pietaro
This is my vision…days on earth/Days when the weather changed course
When we lost our minds/When leaders failed us/ There was no wisdom.
From the opening strains of “Extinction Aria”, the lead selection on Anne Wa...
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Review
SOUTH AMERICAN JOURNALS January – July 1960 by Allen Ginsberg – review
Marc Olmsted
SOUTH AMERICAN JOURNALS
January - July 1960
by Allen Ginsberg
edited by Michael Schumacher
University of Minnesota Press
$29.95
First, I was immediately struck by how much unpublished poetry or early drafts (such as "Aether" and "Magic Psalm") are contained in this volume - far beyond any previous journal publications of Allen Ginsberg. In fact, he mostly wrote his journal as poetry during this period. Granted much is not A-list material, as Allen correctly understood in not publishing a lot of it. But for earnest scholars and fans, it is a gold mine. There are also amazing little notations of events, such as seeing Montgomery Clift's "Raintree County" ("he too looks sad" - in fact, Monty's face-rearranging car crash occurred in the middle of filming that picture). Likewise a long dream about Marlon Brando, who imitates Jack Kerouac's voice at one point(!) and includes a dream discussion of how great Orson Welles' Magn...
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Podcasts
S02E13 – Sharon Mesmer
Bernard Meisler
Poet and teacher Sharon Mesmer in conversation with Bernard Meisler.
photograph of Sharon Mesmer by Ester Levine
I always enjoy speaking with the great Sharon Mesmer, one of my favorite poets and/or people! We ...
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Review
Uncle Skallywag by Shiv Mirabito – Review
Andy Clausen & Pamela Twining
The poet carries the Universe on his shoulders (p 20).
Thus, Shiv Mirabito, in his beautiful and provocative new book, Uncle Skallywag, published by Shivastan Press in Kathmandu, Nepal, on handmade paper, leaps bravely into the fray - outsider art, renegade artists, poems and poets gone before, Ginsberg, Ira Cohen, Janine Pommy Vega, Corso, and many others.
This book is a nifty sweep of poetry influenced by Whitman, the Beats, Buddhism, Anthropological travel, thousands of movies, and rock n roll. Let’s peruse some of them.
AMERICAN VALUES, sharply satirical, is all about freedom becoming synonymous with amassing money and adoration of Self.
“I know I am the crown of creation
I have dominion over all that I see
I am totally sure
because I saw it on TV” (p13)
The eponymous UNCLE SKALLYWAG defines, outlines, and reinforces the fiercely compassionate persona of Skallywag, the friendly Outsider, the goodhear...
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Podcasts
S02E04 – Eve Packer
Bernard Meisler
NYC poet Eve Packer in conversation with Bernard Meisler.
Eve Packer
Great NYC poet Eve Packer and I spoke about the loss of our dear friend Steve Cannon, Jeffrey Epstein (Note: this was recorded in mid-July), her own ...
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Interview
An Interview with John Giorno
Thaddeus Rutkowski
First published in Terminal! magazine, No. 14 (Philadelphia, ca. 1982)
Conducted in Giorno’s home, in the building on the Bowery, Manhattan, where William S. Burroughs had his Bunker, by Thaddeus Rutkowski.
TR: To an...
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Podcasts
S02E02 – Gerald Nicosia
Bernard Meisler
Gerald Nicosia in conversation with Bernard Meisler.
Gerald Nicosia
An absolute must-listen for all fans of Jack Kerouac and the Beats. Gerry and I spoke about his role as an advisor to the film version of "On The Road...
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Review
The Criminal: The Invisibility of Parallel Forces by Max Wolf Valerio – Review
Marc Olmsted
The Criminal: The Invisibility of Parallel Forces
by Max Wolf Valerio
Eoagh Books, $20.00
Reviewed By Marc Olmsted
MAX WOLF VALERIO said, “Before I transitioned, I was 19 and showed Allen Ginsberg a poem of mine ...
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Review
Something’s Happening But You Don’t Know What It Is
Vincent Zangrillo
Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese
Reviewed by Vincent Zangrillo
I’ll tell you my own Bob Dylan story. Or maybe two or three. I can guarantee you that these are the god’s honest truth, ...
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Essay
First Thought, Best Thought
Richard Modiano
The expression “first thought, best thought” is usually attributed to Allen Ginsberg. Ginsberg indeed popularized the phrase but it was actually coined by his Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Further, there is ...
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DON’T HIDE THE MADNESS—William S. Burroughs in Conversation with Allen Ginsberg–reviewed
Marc Olmsted
DON'T HIDE THE MADNESS
William S. Burroughs in Conversation with Allen Ginsberg
(Steven Taylor, ed.)
Three Rooms Press
$26.00
Those lucky enough to have socialized with William Burroughs report the best situations had...
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Poem
Snail Poem
Peter Orlovsky
Snail Poem
Make my grave shape of heart so like a flower be free aired
& handsome felt,
Grave root pillow, tung up from grave & wigle at
blown up clowd.
Ear turnes close to underlayer of green felt moss & sound
o...
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