LitBits: Low Carb and Packed with Energy
by Caryn Thurman on Tuesday, August 2, 2005 08:17 am
Grab and go literary goodness for your busy lifestyle ...
-- Al Aronowitz, the man who introduced Bob Dylan to the Beatles and helped popularize Beat literature and culture with his series of articles in the NY Post has died.
-- In the Summer Reading 2005 feature on NPR, librarian Nancy Pearl offers up 10 memoirs that are worth a look. The list includes some beat-flavored picks, such as Joyce Johnson's Minor Characters and Hettie Jones' How I Became Hettie Jones.
-- A pen and ink sketch of poet Ted Hughes by none other than also-poet Sylvia Plath will be up for auction this fall in London. The sketch is part of a sale that will feature hundreds of musician, writer and artist portraits from the collection of manuscript expert Roy Davids. It is unknown whether the sketch includes a Sharpie-pen mustache and devil horns.
-- A few months ago we mentioned the lighthouse that inspired Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse was slated to be closed. It seems protesters have managed to save the lighthouse for now, with some minor changes to its operation. I know I will be sleeping a lot better now.
-- Al Aronowitz, the man who introduced Bob Dylan to the Beatles and helped popularize Beat literature and culture with his series of articles in the NY Post has died.
-- In the Summer Reading 2005 feature on NPR, librarian Nancy Pearl offers up 10 memoirs that are worth a look. The list includes some beat-flavored picks, such as Joyce Johnson's Minor Characters and Hettie Jones' How I Became Hettie Jones.
-- A pen and ink sketch of poet Ted Hughes by none other than also-poet Sylvia Plath will be up for auction this fall in London. The sketch is part of a sale that will feature hundreds of musician, writer and artist portraits from the collection of manuscript expert Roy Davids. It is unknown whether the sketch includes a Sharpie-pen mustache and devil horns.
-- A few months ago we mentioned the lighthouse that inspired Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse was slated to be closed. It seems protesters have managed to save the lighthouse for now, with some minor changes to its operation. I know I will be sleeping a lot better now.
4 reponses to "LitBits: Low Carb and Packed with Energy"
Al AronowitzI'm sorry to hear about Al Aronowitz, who was a regular at the downtown NY poetry scene for as long as I've been going to shows. He was an odd presence, often the oldest guy in the room, usually sporting a cowboy hat, occasionally getting onstage to mumble some memories (but he was clearly more at home in print than onstage). Spotting him across the room, I've often pondered the fact that this humble guy played a big role in the music and poetry that's shaped my life ... along with the Dylan/Beatles/Kerouac/Ginsberg connections, he was also the original manager of the Velvet Underground in 1965, and got them the big gig where they met Andy Warhol (after which they quickly dumped Aronowitz to become part of Warhol's factory). I'm not sure if he lived a happy life -- his website at http://www.bigmagic.com/pages/blackj/ talked a lot about personal struggles, career problems, drug addictions, aging and other perils that go along with being an urban hipster for life. No matter what, his devotion to authentic New York beat and spoken word poetry in his later years says a lot about his character.
Everything I read about that Bob Dylan & the Beatles book makes it sound really good. Also, on the Blacklisted Journalist site, I really enjoyed the writings of Bob Holman.
thanks, Levi, for the link to his blog. Will search for "Bob Dylan and the Beatles". Sounds interesting.
I just remembered that Al was at the front table at the Bitter End for our 5th Anniversary LitKicks Poetry Happening ... click on that link and go all the way to the bottom of the page where there's a photo captioned "Crowd Scene". That's Al Aronowitz in the big glasses in that photo ...