Yesterday was Diane Di Prima's 81st birthday.
Here's the extraodinary class she gave last May (with ProfessorSteven Goodman) at the California Institute of Integral Studies - in two parts, here and here
Earlier Diane Di Prima birthday shout-outs on the Allen Ginsberg Project here, here, and here
Here's a two-part story on another prominent Italian-American - Lawrence Ferlinghetti- hereandhere
and an excerpt from his forthcoming book-Writing Across The Landscape
(a further excerpt may be found - here)
& keeping the Italian theme, Gregory Corso's Gasoline appears in a new edition in Italian
Here's Fred Misurella and George de Stafano considering Gregory's Italian-ness and reviewing The Whole Shot
Here's Gregory on Italian tv (appearing approximately half-way through - he's interviewed (he speaks in English), and reads ("The Whole Mess..Almost"), appearing in a sympathetic forum, ("Blitz" - un programma innovativo"), alongside the great and much-lamented Fabrizio de Andre)
Another wonderful piece of vintage footage on You Tube - William S Burroughs and Alex Trocchi, in London in the early 'Sixties, in a seemingly well-attended Project Sigma gathering - "I'd like to make a rather unpopular statement here..."
Burroughs suggests a true "underground" figure should consider dressing like him, straight, invisible, inconspicuous - Trocchi's not buying it.
Jonah Raskin's review of the Philip Whalen biography, Crowded By Beauty, appeared this week in the San Francisco Chronicle
Beat fetishists - check out these items
and - (Beat exploitation corner) - oh, dear, oh dear !
Not to be perceived as a thanato-blog - but it (inevitably) keeps happening - the "best minds" - (Lee Harwood last week) - keep fading away. Ken Irby's passing to report on this week (he actually died eight days ago, but we omitted mention last week).
The magisterial Collected Poems - The Intent On was expertly and lovingly compiled by Kyle Waugh and Cyrus Console for North Atlantic Books in 2010. Kyle was also instrumental in the gathering (along with William J Harris) in 2014 of a special feature for Jacket .
Invaluable are his readings on Pennsound (Lee Harwood is featured there too)
and Irby poems and commentary - here and here. A chronology - here,
- recent memories from Steve DickisonTom Raworth, Pierre Joris& others
