Friday, May 14, 2010

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Read 'Em While You Can

"This new law to censor the Internet would have a chilling effect on the First Amendment. It's upsetting and it's also un-American. We are still publishers of Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl. Howl was judged not obscene in a landmark trial, but we fear that the book could now be at risk again, more than forty years later."
-Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Paul Cezanne's Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1900

Oil on canvas, 78 x 99 cm (31 x 39 in); Hermitage, St. Petersburg

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Howl


Premiering at Sundance this year was yet another amazing -- and historical -- film from the directors and writers of The Times of Harvey Milk, Rob Epstien and Jeffrey Friedman.  This time, though, they take on the task of retelling the story of Howl, the peom that changed the literary universe as we know it and spawned a generation.  This is no adaption of the poem itself but a retelling of the events behind the poem from the 6 Gallery reading in San Francisco to the court case that changed the rules of publishing and obscenity.  Starring James Franco as Allen Ginsberg and a slew of phenominal actors playing other Beat Generation players.  Coming this September to theaters.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman


I CELEBRATE myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease . . . . observing a spear of summer grass.

Houses and rooms are full of perfumes . . . . the shelves are crowded with perfumes,
I breathe the fragrance myself, and know it and like it,
The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.

The atmosphere is not a perfume . . . . it has no taste of the distillation . . . . it is 
         odorless, 
It is for my mouth forever . . . . I am in love with it,
I will go to the bank by the wood and become undisguised and naked,
I am mad for it to be in contact with me.

The smoke of my own breath,
Echos, ripples, and buzzed whispers . . . . loveroot, silkthread, crotch and vine,
My respiration and inspiration . . . . the beating of my heart . . . . the passing of blood 
         and air through my lungs, 
The sniff of green leaves and dry leaves, and of the shore and darkcolored sea-
         rocks, and of hay in the barn, 
The sound of the belched words of my voice . . . . words loosed to the eddies of 
         the wind, 
A few light kisses . . . . a few embraces . . . . a reaching around of arms,
The play of shine and shade on the trees as the supple boughs wag,
The delight alone or in the rush of the streets, or along the fields and hillsides,
The feeling of health . . . . the full-noon trill . . . . the song of me rising from bed 
         and meeting the sun. 

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Esquire's Idea of Beat Style

Dress code: Canvas or wool jackets, denim jeans, work boots.
Recent sighting: Artists' studios in Brooklyn. 
Hall of Famers: Jackson Pollock, Jack Kerouac, Jean-Michel Basquiat. 
Signature accessory: Rips and/or paint splashes. 
Bragging rights: Earned every one of those rips and paint splashes. 
In his closet: Two-button cotton blazer ($1,500) by Etro; cotton jacket ($425) by Woolrich Woolen Mills; cotton shirt ($98) and cotton T-shirt ($27) by J. Crew; cotton jeans ($98) by Levi's.

Never lived to see the day...


Legendary painter, graffiti artist, poet and musician Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) was only 19 years old when he played the lead in DOWNTOWN 81, a striking "lost" film that chronicles the explosive early-'80s Manhattan art and music scene. Completed and theatrically released two decades later, it's the story of a charismatic artist who attempts to sell a painting amidst the rappers, junkies, strippers, models and art-world matriarchs of a pre-Giuliani Lower East Side. This vividly entertaining slice of life is also a fabulous showcase for the music of Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Tuxedomoon, The Plastics, DNA, The Lounge Lizards, and Basquiat's own band, Gray. Shot on location, DOWNTOWN 81 not only captures one of the most important and provocative artists of the 20th-century as he is poised for worldwide fame, but is also a vivid snapshot of a New York City that no longer exists.


DOWNTOWN 81 was shot in 1980-81. Originally titled "New York Beat," it was written and co-produced by the well known writer Glenn O’Brien, produced by Maripol, the art director and stylist, and directed by photographer Edo Bertoglio, all of whom were deeply involved in the art, music and fashion scenes of the time. The Director of photography was John McNulty, one of New York’s top lighting men, shooting his first feature.
The film is not a documentary, but presents a slightly exaggerated, romantic and magical version of the reality of the time. The entire cast is composed of the movers and shakers on the downtown scene. In 1981, business problems interrupted the completion of post-production, and parts of the film were lost in Europe. Finally after much searching, the missing materials were located in 1998. Post production was begun in 1999 and finished in 2000, supervised by Maripol and Glenn O’Brien and edited by director/editor Pamela French. Executive producer of the film is Michael Zilkha, whose Ze Records released recordings by severals of the bands in the film.