---J J R <jrovira@juno.com> wrote: > > Well, I had the privilege of hearing him speak at Rollins College in > Winter Park, FL last night. Even got to shake his hand :) He was in > Orlando to do a media thing about Kerouac's house over here, and read a > couple poems he'd written about Kerouac along with some of his other > work. He said Kerouac was the most miserable when he was the most > successful, so he said the house we dedicated over here was a place > Kerouac was miserable in--he wrote Dharma Bums there. > > Ferlinghetti was an absolute riot. I just didn't expect to laugh as much > as I did during the reading. I had only read Pictures of the Gone World > and caught some of the humor, but hearing him read it made the poems > sound like a string of one-liners--like a Woody Allen short story or > something--especially when you take his NY Jewish accent into account. > > He said Beat poetry was primarily performance poetry and told a story > about Ginsberg stripping during a reading in LA, I think, in the 1950s. > He called himself the "straight brother" of the beat movement, and told a > story about one of his publishers having to testify that before a > subcommittee that he (LF) was not a communist. > > The auditorium was, well, BEYOND standing room only. The aisles were > filled up with people from the back all the way down to the stage. LF > asked people crowded around the front door to come in and sit on the > stage with him. > > At the same time, some people told me that personally--person to person, > that is--he came across pretty cold. I left the reception afterwards > just as he was arriving so I wasn't able to find out for myself. > > But he sure was a riot behind the podium :) > > Jim > I have never heard of Ferlinghetti, what relationship did he have with Kerouac and Ginsberg? -Liz Friedman _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com