JiscMail Logo
Email discussion lists for the UK Education and Research communities

Help for BRITISH-IRISH-POETS Archives


BRITISH-IRISH-POETS Archives

BRITISH-IRISH-POETS Archives


BRITISH-IRISH-POETS@JISCMAIL.AC.UK


View:

Message:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Topic:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Author:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

Font:

Monospaced Font

LISTSERV Archives

LISTSERV Archives

BRITISH-IRISH-POETS Home

BRITISH-IRISH-POETS Home

BRITISH-IRISH-POETS  1998

BRITISH-IRISH-POETS 1998

Options

Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Log In

Log In

Get Password

Get Password

Subject:

Re: Censorship

From:

[log in to unmask] (cris cheek)

Reply-To:

[log in to unmask] (cris cheek)

Date:

Tue, 21 Apr 1998 09:53:42 +0100

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (84 lines)

ok.There might be many Ginsberg stories lurking here, but i'll tell it
anyway. I'd been writing a weekly listings column on 'literary events' for
The Times (1991). How i got into that is another story and not cogent here.
They wanted me to sumbit longer pieces (there was a caption photo piece on
Allen Fisher) and i'd heard 'The Lion For Real' CD (working for the
Recommended label and distribution networks) and liked it a lot. Said I'd
heard he was coming into town to promote it and how about it. They ummd and
ahhhd. Turns out they had to have a longer than usual editorial meet about
it. Apparently Ginsberg was sort of blacklisted at The Times. He'd been
considered person non grata since the late 1960s. So Pete's take has a kink
in it. His life and work were associated with all that went chair-shaped in
British poetry in the mid-70s etc, he was one who symbolically took the
backlash against hippidom that wreaked revenge under Thatcher. Plus he was
an upstart United States citizen, and he was gay.

My program was to turn the Beats into an institution, so that i could build
a platform for work that interested me from that base. Despite their
arguably 'undergrad' lifestyle affiliations the mixture of experimentation,
formal range, social engagements, issue-based positioning, ludic syntax,
cross artform collaboration and energetic networking still appeals to me,
still strikes me as a useful model for emergent practice.

Anyway, the upshot, they agreed I could write something, if it was about
the CD release. I met up with him at Island Records. I was on a couch in
the lobby and he came in, sat down next to me. Seemed stupid to wait to be
introduced, so I introduced myself, mentioned that i was an old associate
of Eric Mottram's and the deal was clinched. His eyes lit up. He cleared
the next two hours of Woman's Hour and so on interviews and we went off to
find a quiet place in the building where we could talk.

I hadn't know what to expect, something frosty, something haughty, someone
trying to make up to me - all those gory stories. I found him, energetic,
courteous, full of humility and simply keen to deliver information. I've
got about 60 minutes of actual tape. Probably nothing out of the ordinary,
excepting a push for more detail about the compositional process of
'Wichita Vortex Sutra' (past the tape transcription stage) which
particularly interested me.

Mostly we talked about censorship and what I mentioned yesterday. About the
list of 'chilled' works, including 'Huckleberry Finn' - 'Catcher in the
Rye' and so on. About how his own work and his own battles were being
aggressively rolled back under the carpet.

The Times got a piece about encroaching right wing censorship, didn't like
it much, bit the bullet and printed it (they'd reserved a space for it the
next day and couldn't back out). The Times and I parted company under
acrimonious fire about a month later, ostensibly about something I'd
written mentioning 'cultural hegemony' (they asked what it meant and i told
them to look it up, that they were a substantial example blah blah).

I only met him again once. That was the Albert Hall Reunion 'Return of the
Reforgotten' concert in 1994. Sianed and I were asked to be part of the
bill. Sorley MacLean looked incredibly frail, reading from the darkness way
at the back of the stage with that extraordinary Gallic sea in his mouth,
booming and breaking. Knew it was likely to be the last time i met him and
heard him 'live'.
Ginsberg gave a mixed moving and vaudeville performance, duetting with Paul
McCartney (in sneakers and jeans, playing through a little guitar amp,
looking somewhat taken aback when after having strummed out a plunking rock
guitar 4 bar chord sequence loked up to see Allen waving his hand in the
air and yelling at him "one - more - time!". Ginsberg said to me later "you
know i've worked with a lot of guitarists over the years and he can play").


We shook warmly at Filthy McNasty's about 2 o'clock that night. He'd opened
the top button ofd his shirt, his royal blue tie was somewhat askew and his
hair flying away. He was extremely generous, that remains my main
impression. We agreed to meet up again in the year 2000. Going down into
ablaze of sentimentality that he knew how to milk for gall. Like this post.
I knew we wouldn't meet again. It seemed as if he was on an extended tour
of goodbyes, at the same time as striking up new friendships.

Accounts of his death, posted to this list, are lodged in the archive. One,
the first and only writing from a friend who was massaging his feet when he
died is wonderfully gritty. Maybe I never sent that one.

love and love
cris




%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Top of Message | Previous Page | Permalink

JiscMail Tools


RSS Feeds and Sharing


Advanced Options


Archives

March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997


JiscMail is a Jisc service.

View our service policies at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/ and Jisc's privacy policy at https://www.jisc.ac.uk/website/privacy-notice

For help and support help@jisc.ac.uk

Secured by F-Secure Anti-Virus CataList Email List Search Powered by the LISTSERV Email List Manager