To email Beat Scene kev (at) beatscene (dot)
freeserve (dot) co (dot) uk
The new issue of Transit magazine, number 20, will be
out in about a week. 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 pre-order,
click the box below.
Robert Giroux, an early editor of Jack Kerouac's work,
died lately. He was 94. Kerouac dedicated The Town and the City to him. See
feature in upcoming Beat Scene 57.
Whilst tidying up I discovered a very old issue of Beat
Scene. Number 26. The one with Bob Dylan, Michael McClure and Allen Ginsberg
on the cover. This issue is long sold out. There is a tear on the cover, I
must point this out. Otherwise it is fine. If anyone in the UK would like it
- please send £3.95 to to Beat Scene email address kev (at) beatscene dot
freeserve dot co dot uk by Paypal or by cheque payable to M.Ring.
BEAT SCENE
MAGAZINE
absolutely dedicated to
the Beat Generation
If you are a subscriber you should have received your
copy of Beat Scene 56 by now. The mailout was completed some weeks ago. Now busy
on Beat Scene 57 and the revamped
Transit magazine, a new mix of essays,
interviews etc on the Beat Generation. Issue 20 ready soon.
We are a site dedicated to the 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, photos. The magazine has been published since
1988. Which of course makes it now twenty 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. My preference is always for a printed magazine.
Something you can actually hold in your hands. I'm interested in playing a small part in keeping certain things alive.
Issue 56 is out NOW. SEE BELOW. Like No 55 it will disappear quickly, so get your
order in now. I also have No 17 in the Beat Scene Pocket Book series out now and that is £5.50 in the UK.
If you would
like to order a copy of Beat Scene 56 and you live
in the UK- click on the button below
The planned chapbook of Tom Clark in the Beat Scene
Press Pocket Book series has been cancelled I'm afraid. My apologies to those
who were waiting for it. The next book in the series will be a story by Dan
Fante. More news on that nearer the publishing time.
If you want to know a little more about BEAT SCENE, click on 'about
us.' (above right)
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.
.
Beat
Scene is on Facebook shock! Thanks to my youngest brother Loz. Beat Scene has
a presence on this current site. I know and understand nothing about it but
welcome the publicity. Cheers Loz.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=896055703
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 now available. Copies in the UK are
£6.50. Click below for A UK copy only.
Overseas please send me an
email.
My lovely wife has a friend, Geoff Thompson, he's a
writer, good man. He invited us to a showing of a film he wrote the
screenplay for ROMANS:12:20 and we saw it last night. Being a very lapsed
catholic it struck a few chords with me and is a deeply moving film borne out
of sad personal experience for the writer. I don't normally post anything
other than Beat Generation material here but I wanted to share this with you.
Go to
http://www.romans1220.com/index1.html
Recently LETTERS TO BEAT SCENE from Charles Bukowski
became number 15 in the Pocket Books series. 125 numbered copies. Click below
for a copy.
I've just taken delivery of a box of the new Dan Fante book, KISSED BY A
FAT WAITRESS. A USA paperback, published with the usual class by Al
Berlinski. If you live in UK or Europe and
would like a copy click on the button below. It is £12.95
On Friday February 15 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 recently 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.
There have been some nice comments from subscribers to
Beat Scene in the past week or so, since issue 54 appeared. It is so
heartening to read an encouraging letter or email from places around the
world. Bless you all. A link to a site that recently posted some lovely
supportive sentiments is placed here. The Australian site run by writer
Lachlan Jobbins is well worth investigating.
http://www.control-edit.com/?p=78
BEAT SCENE 54 OUT NOW.
Scroll down a little to buy a copy in the UK.
Overseas please email.
The latest 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.
Sad to
report the passing of ace photographer Fred McDarrah, a man who
captured the Beat Generation in New York during the 1950s. Read this review
from the New York Times. Above is one of his pictures, Corso, Ginsberg,
Burroughs & Maretta Greer in NYC, 1967.
The Beat Scene
Press has recently published SCENES FROM EAST HILL
FARM: SEASONS WITH ALLEN GINSBERG by Gordon Ball. It is Number 13 in the
Beat Scene Press Pocket Book series. An edition of 125 signed and numbered
copies. If you would like a copy click on the button below. Copies are £6.95
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 ...
David Ohle's MUTATE OR DIE: WITH BURROUGHS IN KANSAS
was an even more recent chapbook in the series. Get in
touch if you would like to book a copy. It is signed and numbered. or
click below for a copy.
OUT NOW....from The Beat Scene Press...JACK KEROUAC AT 681 LEXINGTON AVENUE
by Elizabeth Von Vogt, the sister of John Clellon Holmes. The chapbook
is a warm memoir of Kerouac in late 1940s New York. It is a
signed and numbered edition. Orders being taken now,
see the Beat Scene Press page for more information on how to do this.. or you
can simply pay into my Paypal at kev (at) beatscene dot freeserve dot net (excuse me
putting it like that - it stops those awful spam people getting my email)
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. Just before Christmas 2006 I published Iain's book
once again in an edition of 500 copies.
I have
copies of THE KODAK MANTRA DIARIESsigned by Iain Sinclair. If
you would like one of these they are £10 including post in the UK.
I think the
fairly recent 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.
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).
I've just taken delivery of a box of the new Dan Fante book, KISSED BY A
FAT WAITRESS. A USA paperback, published with the usual class by Al
Berlinski. If you live in UK or Europe and
would like a copy click on the button below. It is £12.95
"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 latest 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.
photo by Janie Eisenberg
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
David Ohle's MUTATE OR DIE: WITH BURROUGHS IN KANSAS
was an even more recent chapbook in the series. Get in
touch if you would like to book a copy. It is signed and numbered. or
click below for a copy.
OUT NOW....from The Beat Scene Press...JACK KEROUAC AT 681 LEXINGTON AVENUE
by Elizabeth Von Vogt, the sister of John Clellon Holmes. The chapbook
is a warm memoir of Kerouac in late 1940s New York. It is a
signed and numbered edition. Orders being taken now,
see the Beat Scene Press page for more information on how to do this.. or you
can simply pay into my Paypal at kev (at) beatscene dot freeserve dot net (excuse me
putting it like that - it stops those awful spam people getting my email)
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. Just before Christmas 2006 I published Iain's book
once again in an 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.
