My father, Neal Cassady, named me after his friend, Allen Ginsberg (my middle name). Allen would visit our family often. One day he showed up with a full cast on his right leg. I said, "Allen, how did you break your leg?" He gave me a wink and said, "chasing women." He was a funny guy. (He actually slipped on the ice on a frozen pond on his farm in upstate New York). We did a concert once at the Greek Theater at UC Berkeley for a benefit for Chet Helms' Avalon Ballroom in SF. Me on guitar, Peter Orlovsky on banjo (he was pretty good!), and Allen on that weird harmonium thing, into which he would pump air with his right hand. I asked, "Allen, where did you learn to play that thing?" (It was usually just his little Indian finger cymbals he used for accompanment to his poems). Allen said, "Dylan taught me the Blues." I said, "wow. Can he join our group?" "Not likely." We opened with a song that Allen had just written backstage called, "LSD At Breakfast Time." The crowd went wild. We all miss you, Ginsey...John Allen Cassady
I for one am glad that Jonah R didn't write American Scream in hipster/beat jargon . The beats wanted to be taken seriously as writers, and so I think that JR's style for the book was perfectly appropriate. Otherwise it might be easier for future students and scholars to dismiss Scream as a period piece of special pleading. Ditto for JR's comments on AG's links to T S Eliot. After all Howl and The Wasteland are arguably the two most popular and influential poems of the 20th Century .To see how two figures and poems that are normally juxtaposed as natural enemies are related is revelatory, and points to a larger issue that is normally ignored or obscured: the porousness of the borders and the shifting outlines between the counter-culture and the establishment. Thanks to serious works like JR's Scream it will be impossible for any serious person to dismiss Howl in the terms that it was often originally derided. Anyone choosing to do so against all the evidence of AG's poetic talent and psychological/ sociological penetration will be regarded as versions of the preachers who smashed Elvis' records over their knees.
Simon : This is a link to a music poem I did as a Ginsberg tribute on a Spoken Word CD . I also sent it to Jonah Raskin. I showed it to AG once in his office at Brooklyn College , without the music, and he made some helpful comments. My comment about AG in the piece got an approving chuckle out of him.
My father, Neal Cassady, named me after his friend, Allen Ginsberg (my middle name). Allen would visit our family often. One day he showed up with a full cast on his right leg. I said, "Allen, how did you break your leg?" He gave me a wink and said, "chasing women." He was a funny guy. (He actually slipped on the ice on a frozen pond on his farm in upstate New York). We did a concert once at the Greek Theater at UC Berkeley for a benefit for Chet Helms' Avalon Ballroom in SF. Me on guitar, Peter Orlovsky on banjo (he was pretty good!), and Allen on that weird harmonium thing, into which he would pump air with his right hand. I asked, "Allen, where did you learn to play that thing?" (It was usually just his little Indian finger cymbals he used for accompanment to his poems). Allen said, "Dylan taught me the Blues." I said, "wow. Can he join our group?" "Not likely." We opened with a song that Allen had just written backstage called, "LSD At Breakfast Time." The crowd went wild. We all miss you, Ginsey...John Allen Cassady
Great memories, John. Thank you for sharing them…
I for one am glad that Jonah R didn't write American Scream in hipster/beat jargon . The beats wanted to be taken seriously as writers, and so I think that JR's style for the book was perfectly appropriate. Otherwise it might be easier for future students and scholars to dismiss Scream as a period piece of special pleading. Ditto for JR's comments on AG's links to T S Eliot. After all Howl and The Wasteland are arguably the two most popular and influential poems of the 20th Century .To see how two figures and poems that are normally juxtaposed as natural enemies are related is revelatory, and points to a larger issue that is normally ignored or obscured: the porousness of the borders and the shifting outlines between the counter-culture and the establishment. Thanks to serious works like JR's Scream it will be impossible for any serious person to dismiss Howl in the terms that it was often originally derided. Anyone choosing to do so against all the evidence of AG's poetic talent and psychological/ sociological penetration will be regarded as versions of the preachers who smashed Elvis' records over their knees.
I very much share your sentiments, Dave. Thank you for contributing your thoughts.
https://youtu.be/M1J25v14AeM?si=IN8wKjFIzqeWFF25
Simon : This is a link to a music poem I did as a Ginsberg tribute on a Spoken Word CD . I also sent it to Jonah Raskin. I showed it to AG once in his office at Brooklyn College , without the music, and he made some helpful comments. My comment about AG in the piece got an approving chuckle out of him.