Correspondence #13: Jonah Raskin
A galaxy of star rock writers joined forces in San Francisco last week to read from their work. A poet, novelist and key Beat historian was present to catch the show
Jonah Raskin, the Bay Area-based writer, has published acclaimed countercultural histories – For the Hell of It, a biography of Yippie co-leader Abbie Hoffman, an overview of Kerouac’s jazz recordings in Kerouac on Record and American Scream, the story of Allen Ginsberg, ‘Howl’ and the seeds of the Beat Generation.
Late last year, he issued a new novel, Beat Blues, San Francisco 1955, which provided a semi-fictionalised account of the time when Ginsberg was about to launch his great work on the world.
Last week, Raskin pursued one of his lifetime pleasures – a strong affection for that bustling intersection where music and writing come together. Here he reviews a performance with the fine art of rock journalism at its heart, including well-known Beat followers Greil Marcus and Michael Goldberg in the cast…
Email, October 22, 2022
Hi Simon,
‘The Only Truth Is Music’, Litquake 2022, the Make-Out Room, San Francisco, October 20th
A lively crowd of folks who had come of age with Dylan, the Stones and the Beatles, as well as with punk and funk, turned out on a Thursday night at the Make-Out Room, a San Francisco bar and nightclub, to listen to six writers on rock read from their work.
Jack Boulware, the co-author with Silke Tudor of Gimme Something Better, played the MC at ‘The Only Truth Is Music’, the next-to-last event in Litquake's 2022 season, co-presented with KPFA radio. I sat near the stage, spellbound.
Nadine Condon offered the audience a slice from her Confessions. Greil Marcus read from Folk Music, his new book about Dylan, while Rickey Vincent insisted that the ‘funkiness of African-Americans was the salvation of America.’
Sylvie Simmons called ‘Chuck Berry the Shakespeare of rock'n'roll’. Ben Fong-Torres honored the memory of Tina Turner and Michael Goldberg delivered the opening chapter, which he apologetically called ‘a bummer’ from his new book, Wicked Game: The True Story of Guitarist James Calvin Wilsey, that reveals ‘the dark side of rock’.
By the end of the evening it was clear that the city that had given birth to Rolling Stone magazine had also given nurtured outstanding music critics, and that writing about rock, punk and funk could mean writing about everything from sex and power to race and violence, language and wisdom.
- Jonah Raskin
See also: ‘Beat homage covers Goldberg variations’, October 8th, 2022; ‘Book review #6: ‘Freak Dream Scene’ trilogy, April 21st, 2022; ‘Beat Soundtrack #14: Jonah Raskin’, March 24th, 2022; and ‘Book review #2: Beat Blues: San Francisco, 1955’, all at Rock and the Beat Generation