A rollicking rapid-fire, mixed-media introduction to The Beat Generation – made especially for youth (specifically, a 11th grade lit class at a DoD base school) – with topics including:
what made The Beats, the beats (ergo: time, place, circumstance, intentions, global mindset, searching for “holy”)
characteristics of style (freeverse, spontaneous prose, collaboration, diversity, art + craft + integrity)
notable writers and characters including: Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg William S. Burroughs, Gary Snyder, Neal Cassady, Lawrence Ferlinghetti
roots and branches extending from the Beats like: Merry Pranksters, folkies, hippies, yippies, punks, DIY and even “digital nomads”
riffs about censorship, “obscenity” trials, sexuality, religiosity
call to action about the importance everyone with something to say “saying it” – including YOU
plus more notable writers: Gregory Corso, Richard Brautigan, Ruth Weiss, Diane DiParma & currently working Ron Whitehead and Anne Waldman
namechecks and cameos for: The Clash, Tom Waits, Jello Biafra, Ken Kesey, Wang Ping, Masa Uehara, Nanao Sakaki many more…
Presented from a historic barn in provincial Japan with vinyl records, artifacts, ephemera, loads of books, postcards etc – by storymaker Dave Olson who invites you to ask questions via postcard (address included within).
Semi-legible list of recent books read… in bed a lot recently so staying off the robot screens and looking at the pages of the words.
Some of these may be a couple months ago but can’t remember if I told you or not – anyway I made a list {which includes “lists of note“, a book of lists deserving of a wider audience, not to be confused with its cousin “letters of note“ volumes one and two, ed. & signed by Shaun Usher.
also Kerouac, Cassady, Brautigan, Ginsberg, Thompson, Babbs (a.k.a. usual suspects) plus Miles Copeland bio (& obligatory World War II book now that I’m a middle-aged guy).
Somehow mentioning Montana (regarding ordering Doug Peacock book from Black Elk Press in Livingston) reminds me to mention about reading Richard Brautigan’s “An Unfortunate Woman” in a lovely first edition hardback. Its a meta-chronological account of a few months of RB’s life, much in Montana with Japan, Toronto & SF namechecks and time-shifting. When i read his books, sometimes i think i wrote the lines, or at least want to make more pods and videos about his books but i’m super tired now so here are other items, already made, ergo: “Richard Brautigan” tag at this very creative life archive.
Extraneous note: Posting this from a bus with Wi-Fi leaving the house for the first time by myself since January, or is in December (#sickness)… Anyway, heading for some seitai treatment, it’s chilly, and i’m a bit foggy but I’m all right. Have scarf & cool shoes.
PS Bus has Wi-Fi and power outlets at the seat. Some kind of luxury. The bus company is called “Uno bus“ and it’s a private franchisee providing municipal bus service in my area of Okayama ++ seat rest covers, various payment options. And it’s actually really good Wi-Fi too. Also you pay based on *exactly* for how many stops you ride.
when boarding, get a ticket with a number and match with the grid when disembarking, that’s your price OR use a prepaid tap card and voila, auto-magic accurate payment
A rapid-fire introduction to the “Beat Generation” focused on the story of “6 Poets at Gallery 6” reading Oct, 1955 SF CA when Allen Ginsberg, Phillip Whalen, Gary Snyder, Micheal McClure, Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, Lawrence Ferlinghetti et al were all in the room for a reading hosted by Kenneth Rexroth that would go into legend and launch a poetry renaissance in San Francisco and the world.
Includes extended erstwhile members of the movement and “what happened” after that night as the poets and their friends scattered their influence globally (with, not surprisingly, a little bit of extra emphasis on Japan, Zen, India/Nepal) plus Merry Pranksters, Furthur bus, Grateful Dead and even the Simpsons. Whoa!
i really think you are gonna dig this story
Lots of the usual ephemera, show & tell, couple of vinyl records, loads of books, various digressions and asides, hats & homework.
Burning sage, sharing global postal arrivals, variety of historic & alt passports, dropping needle on Ginsberg’s Howl, digressions on reconciliation, exhaustion & <3 for pals & family.
Poets, Passports, Postcards in the Cascadia Consulate
Feeling weary, burning sage and obviously *not at his best* Dave meanders through topics including (not necessarily in this order):
Passports galore! From CCCP, Yugoslavia, USA, Albania, Romania and *alt* passports from The Matinee Band https://thematineemusic.com and Cascadia Bioregion https://cascasdiabioregion.org / with my *important photo choosing process* {and yes this dear old grain storehouse is the Setouchi Consulate of Cascadia}. Come get your passport stamped (just not right now).
First spins of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl on red vinyl (thanks ScurvyDawg) along with ephemera and riffs about the “6 Poets at 6 Gallery” (legendary reading) and how you can do something like that, i.e.: 1) make a poster and postcard, 2) invite folks, 3) pass a hat for wine.
* Indian Residential School Survivor’s Society (donate)
* Brother on Diego Garcia and flashback to Ghandruk, Annapurna district, Nepal
* Miracle of Death” and being weak and making art through the transition
* Larry’s Dark Star Ranch and not knowing whether a particular beast is an Elk or a Deer (indeed! we collectively know so little)
Other rambling meanderings about feeling a bit exhausted from this year of house renovation, firewood (first fire and making firestarters) and getting adorable son Ichiro into school, plus so many medical appointments and endless paperwork to get properly settled. Whew.
How to find my address: tip = anywhere/everywhere.
Yes I do send a lot of postcards. You can join the club if that’s of interest ($5 gets you a piece of handmade art each month) https://daveostory.com/shop
Plus thanks for Banghi and Maddog for holding books and records (support book stores and humans)
So much, so little, such nothing and everything and anything. Settle in.
Fondy, daveo, Tsuchida Cottage
PS tips of how to improve lighting and sound welcome (memo: there is no natural light in the barn, i want to make well-lit 2 camera videos with quality sound with as minimal processing (moving stuff and files around) as possible. hit me up with ideas
Many of you likely noticed the campaign to help the venerable San Francisco institution City Lights bookstore “keep the lights on” and hooray, they rocketed past the $300,000 goal thanks to many small donations from around the world. Now, there’s a few other neighbours in the North Beach area to shine a light on, specifically “the Beat Museum” – an eclectic grassroots archive of artifacts from Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder and well… dozens of other luminaries who have influenced counter-culture, literature and music.
To pitch in, you can buy a membership – especially handy if you live in the San Francisco area as it offers unlimited admission – those of us *anywhere else* can dig discounts on purchases (including mail order), exclusive content/interviews/events, and a membership card – I’m a sucker for membership cards!
Did you see a big North Beach neighbourhood round-up diary post I shared recently? Included a photo essay of many items on display including Allen Ginsberg’s typewriter (along with many other typewriters), Jack Kerouac’s jacket, Gary Snyder’s bits and pieces from Japan and so much more.
+ Their bookstore has a variety of rare additions, one-offs, special treats (I picked up a first edition of Allen Ginsberg’s Indian Journal on my visit).
So to recap, do one or several of the following:
* Go check out their website to see their mission and the big hearted folks running the show
* Purchase a membership (various levels/prices)
* Maybe buy yourself a little something nice, or a gift for someone else
* Kick them down some extra cash
* Sign up for their newsletter for campaigns & updates
* Spread the word to keep the goodness rolling
You got any questions or thoughts? Let me know.
And of course if you’re seeking unique Beat literature related content, I have dozens of podcasts, various essays, scrapbooks, maps, and so on for you to peruse.
Fondly, dave
PS shared respectfully knowing lots of folks are in tough financial situations and there’s lots of requests rolling around for various dire situations – in spirit of solidarity, safety, and abundance.
Books are my pals, even since a kid – and sometimes books (by circumstance or convenience) are stashed at mysterious locales around the world.
Sometimes, i snap pics of the cache for future reference, sometimes they go to little /free libraries, sometimes into my “Liberated Literature” program.
Regardless, sometimes, the bookcases and/or contents are captured for memory of spending time with friends in a still-life of sorts. As such, this dossier of evidence.
In this case, the growing bookcase at Tsuchida Cottage in Okayama, Japan with a stash of new treats obtained by mail order, special delivery by folks coming to wedding or by kind gift, ergo:
Robbie Robertson’s auto-bio, Testimony (thanks Naoki), Aaron Chapman x 2, Eve Lazarus BC crimes, Grant Lawrence’s hilarious tour diary, David Wills’ riffs about Ginsberg’s travels, Lookout records’ honcho’s rise and meltdown, Neruda’s romantic poetry, the usual Kerouac, a few Lafcadio Hearn, Ed Abbey’s postcards, Jerry Kruz’s Afterthought poster collection, Brian Hassett’s JK riffs, a few more punk rock (Please Kill Me and Our Band Could be your Life, Kim Gordon’s memoirs), various Japanese classics (Tanizaki esp) and more more – oh and Shiv’s renegade Woodstock>Nepal-made poetry.
Displayed here with a stash of a scrapbooks and diaries, a few of my publications, and with our household shrine on the top.
Books are my pals, even since a kid – and sometimes books (by circumstance or convenience) are stashed at mysterious locales around the world.
Sometimes, i snap pics of the cache for future reference, sometimes they go to little /free libraries, sometimes into my “Liberated Literature” program.
Regardless, sometimes, the bookcases and/or contents are captured for memory of spending time with friends in a still-life of sorts. As such, this dossier of evidence.
In this case, a case from Nusa Ceningan (made from an old canoe) from Summer 2019 reading, including usual assortment of Tolstoy Kerouac, plus an assortment of Vancouver-centric treats by Eve Lazarus, George Garrett and Grant Lawrence, a few Bali-specifics, Rumi’s romantic poetry, Ginsberg’s India Journal (1st edition, 1970) etc.
Note the canoe bookshelf is decorated with various insta-photos and travel / hotel luggage tags and a few paintings.
Along the wanders, I found myself in San Francisco, really mostly in Pacifica, one of my favourite hideaways and just south of the city… but anyway, ventured into SF proper to (finally) get some time at the Beat Museum and wow, what a great job these folks are doing. As such, a few notes and artifacts from the museum and history dripping neighbourhood for your amusement and my memory.
Inadequate backgrounder…
Now I could go on and on about the importance of *the Beats* connecting literary traditions, sparking countercultures leading to the revolutionary “pranksters“ to the *hippies* (for lack of a better term), punks (no I’m not talking mohawks here), indie-making artists of all medium, everything… while also looking back to Whitman, cummings (sic), WCW, Wolfe, Twain, Thoreau, Dostoevsky… you get the general gist. Or what I’m trying to see is wide-thinking, free-roaming, do it yourself souls sharing empathy for others, breaking conventions to find out who you really are and then manifesting the distilled results t into one’s own life which infuses your own soul, then effectuates inspiration in others – also (critically) this ain’t always pretty, rarely is. That’s not the point.
Work in progress…
Anyhow, the Beat Museum was (maybe is) undergoing some construction as the building needs an earthquake-resistant upgrade, – I’ve shared some various fundraising campaigns and podcast riffs about their history over the years in this archive maybe you’ve come across and supported their noble efforts… but anyway, the building was surrounded by scaffolding in a bit of commotion and for a guy like me has easily sensory overload it, it could easily be intense but I stepped in and disappeared for an afternoon amongst the curated exhibits.
This is not some fancy-pants museum, this is a grassroots effort with everything done by intention and in an attentive spirit. I took some crappy snapshots along the way just to remember for my own memory as i wander far and wide and sometimes the twist and turns get a little too quick for me to process real time in my noggin.
Artifacts and abstractions…
note: There is a little mini-theatre room looping a film (was it “Pull My Daisy? It’s all a bit hazy now a few countries later), which pleased me for the visual abstraction of Beat life as well as regrouping in a small / dark / cozy room.
Notable artifacts include:
“referee shirt” Neal Cassady famously wore while driving Furthur, the Merry Prankster bus
a plaid wool jacket Kerouac wore (I’ve had one just like it)
Full of mis-spoken words, forgotten names and other sloppiness comes annotated thoughts (squished through time and space) for shut-ins, drifters and sufferers amidst erstwhile festive melancholy times of disruption and tumult, including poems – read alongside mosquito and rooster sounds – by:
riffs about John Lennon and Ono Yoko and Marshall McLuhan
&
musical riffs by Chet Baker Quartet with Russ Freeman
Plus name checks for Neal Cassady, Jello Biafra, Dave Madden, Allen Ginsberg’s holy cock, dine and dash, Ken Kesey, Gary Snyder, Alan Watts, Beat Museum, City Lights, Grateful Dead, Beat Museum, City Lights Bookstore, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Jim Robson and more… (note to self: add links).
