Attention, iconoclasts, rebels, anti-establishment advocates and anyone who's interested in learning more about the birth of Beat culture: Here's a "happening" you won't want to miss.
A group of local poets will honor the 60th anniversary of the first public reading of Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl this Saturday at 8pm at Doc's Lab, 124 Columbus Ave. in North Beach.
It's widely acknowledged that Howl marked a turning point in literary culture and ushered in the Beat Generation. This Saturday, you can get a feel of what it was like at the 6 Gallery at 3119 Fillmore St., where the iconic poem made its public debut on Oct. 7th, 1955.
City Lights Bookstore and Stanford Continuing Studies are presenting the event, "Beat Explosion: The 6 Gallery and the Birth of the Beats" with music by the EaR Candy Trio. Doors open at 7pm and tickets are $12–$15, but organizers say to get them early because they expect to sell out.
Bay Area writer and performer Wonder Dave will perform as Kenneth Rexroth, who introduced the five poets who read the night of the poem's 1955 premiere. Five local poets will then re-create the reading, adding their own interpretations.
They are:
- Lisa Evans reading as Gary Snyder
- Josh Merchant reading as Allen Ginsberg
- Gabriel Cortez reading as Philip Lamantia
- Daniel Riddle Rodriguez reading as Philip Whelan
- Joyce Lee reading as Michael McClure
Kenneth Rexroth at 6 Gallery. Photographer unknown, courtesy Peter Maravelis.
"What is happening is a loose recreation of the 6 Gallery reading," Wonder Dave said. "I have cast Bay Area poets of today as Bay Area poets of yesterday," he said, adding that he chose poets based on the energy they bring. It's not meant to be an exact replica of the night, but to capture the feel of what went on.
"I think they’re all great writers in their own right and it’s nice to see them paying homage to this big event in the past," Wonder Dave said. "Instead of trying to recreate it verbatim, it’s about working with that kind of energy."
That energy, he added, included a jug of wine passed around by Jack Kerouac (spoiler alert: that will be part of Saturday's show) and audience participation. So don't expect a stale, sedate poetry experience here.
"People were really excited during this reading," Wonder Dave said. "Neal Cassady was super excited when Ginsberg alluded to him within Howl. Kerouac was a very vocal audience member and sort of encouraged the rest of the crowd to be the same, so it was a very lively event. It wasn't a boring literary reading. It was not stuffy in any way. And the things that were happening were new and exciting. And for those poets, it was a coming out party for them.”
Peter Maravelis, events director for City Lights, gave Wonder Dave a list of all of the poems read that night, and they'll be read in the same order on Saturday. Howl was not the last poem, Wonder Dave said, and he worried before rehearsal if it would work.
"I was concerned with Howl being the monolithic thing in culture that it is that putting something after it would be weird," he said, "but it’s actually great.”
Maravelis said the 6 Galley reading was important because "Yes, it was the first time that Ginsberg read Howl and many things ensued after that. But it’s equally important because the 6 Gallery was the nexus of this cross-pollination between dancers, sculptors, painters, musicians and writers. The arts were all represented at this place. It’s significant that each of the six members that founded the 6 Gallery was enmeshed some way in the arts."
Many poetry readings, like the one at 6 Gallery, were accompanied by music, he added, and Beat poet Ruth Weiss was one of the first to perform live with jazz accompaniment.
The launching of the Beat movement, Maravelis added, was the key to a long legacy of anti-establishment thinking leading all the way to the punk era. In fact, he said, Ginsberg was very much into the punk scene and called it "modern kabuki." Not to mention, “Here in the basement of City Lights is where Search and Destroy [punk zine] printed its first issue,” he added.
It would be remiss not to mention that not only was Howl revolutionary in literary circles, it caused a legal stink when Lawrence Ferlinghetti, founder of City Lights Bookstore, published it in 1957 and was hauled to court on obscenity charges. With backing from the American Civil Liberties Union, Ferlinghetti won the case.
Also of note was that the Beat generation were iconoclasts for welcoming women and people of all races into the fray, Maravelis said. Jay DeFeo and Weiss were having shows back then, and Hayward King, one of the first African American curators in the Bay Area, was part of the 6 Gallery.
Another fun fact: Doc's Lab, the site of the re-creation, used to house the Purple Onion, a legendary comedy and entertainment club that gave rise to edgy stars including Lenny Bruce and Phyllis Diller.
"The space has a really great history of performers and is a great space now," Wonder Dave said. "They booked a whole National Poetry Month there."
This Beat Explosion event is the first of three celebrating poetry this month: Doc's Lab will also host "The Dead Poet's Slam" at 8pm on April 14th with Daphne Gottlieb, Joyce Lee and more, and "Literary Pop! at 8pm on April 28th, with Jamie DeWolf, Lisa Evans, Wonder Dave and Yume Kim.
