Beat News: January 2006
by Levi Asher on Friday, January 13, 2006 04:34 pm
1. I used to be totally up on Beat Generation news, but lately I have go to places like Syntax of Things to get my updates. (Anything you need to know about literary state quarters, though, I'm your go-to guy).
Here's some good stuff: 72-year-old poet and political activist Jack Hirschman has been named the new Poet Laureate of San Francisco, and Ken Kesey's son Zane has put up a wonderful photo essay on the current condition of Further, the most famous bus in literary history (sorry, William Inge). Read about all of it here.
2. Barry Gifford and Lawrence Lee's Jack's Book is about to be republished by Thunder's Mouth Press. This superb oral biography of Jack Kerouac was one of the first books ever published about the author. It consists entirely of recollections by those who knew Jack, and introduced several of the tales that have since been entrenched as Beat myth. Barry Gifford is a notable novelist in his own right; he wrote the book that became the David Lynch film Wild At Heart.
3. Poet Gregory Corso died five years ago this month.
Here's some good stuff: 72-year-old poet and political activist Jack Hirschman has been named the new Poet Laureate of San Francisco, and Ken Kesey's son Zane has put up a wonderful photo essay on the current condition of Further, the most famous bus in literary history (sorry, William Inge). Read about all of it here.
2. Barry Gifford and Lawrence Lee's Jack's Book is about to be republished by Thunder's Mouth Press. This superb oral biography of Jack Kerouac was one of the first books ever published about the author. It consists entirely of recollections by those who knew Jack, and introduced several of the tales that have since been entrenched as Beat myth. Barry Gifford is a notable novelist in his own right; he wrote the book that became the David Lynch film Wild At Heart.
3. Poet Gregory Corso died five years ago this month.
This blog post is part of the series Beat News. The previous post in the series is Beat News: July 22 2001.
2 reponses to "Beat News: January 2006"
Moss Enshrined WindshieldThat one photo of the bus, Further, with the caption "Nothing Lasts" - I'm going to print that and add it to the "pics & quotes" collection, which are taped up, wreath-like, around my computer screen. Also, it was good to go back and read all the messages about Gregory Corso, including all the ones by Graham Seidman.
Ken Kesey Family PhotosI really liked your link to the Ken Kesey family photos including that of the various FURTHUR's busses. I liked the newest reincarnation also. As you already know, I met the "fabulous freaks" many years ago at the New York World's Fair. I didn't know what to think of the original FURTHUR. I said howdy and we exchanged waves. I thought they were tourists at first. Pretty funny, eh? Since I was a tourist and came by VW microbus and NYC transit.Kind folks and gentlepeople, it would really be fab if the original FURTHUR was refurbished and put on display. It is a bit of counter-culture history. I'm about as moss-backed as FURTHUR now... The last of the merry pranksters and the great me-memberers must keep on keeping on...I also remember Steve Gaskin's troupe when they travelled by busses through Tennessee and camped out with them once as a guest in 1971. I got a "warning ticket" for hitchhiking on the interstate and had to find a place to crash. Gaskin and Co. were living in Pelham, TN, at the time before they moved to Summertown, TN... ie. THE FARM.