I used to hang out in North Beach on weekends sometimes-That is the part of San Francisco where the beatnicks lived' mainly. Then it was the cheapest part of town. The beatnicks were anti war and anti establishment. They kept to themselves and supported themselves selling their art work and poetry-They made leather goods and drank lots of strong coffee and did alot of reading-The difference between them and the hippy movement a few years later was that the people living in the Haight Ashbury area had a hard time supporting themselves-The same ideals were there and the peace movement was strong; but it was hard to get a job with long hair or even if the boss thought you were a hippy-Yes-there was plenty of discrimanation then. Much more then now. The beatnicks usually had alot of education. I never saw one panhandeling.They were were a small group mainly in San Francisco and Greenwich Village in New York-I liked talking to them . They had their own language. They used terms like-"hey daddy O or "thats soo square"-we copied some of these in the 60s-like cool and groovy and farout man!-They sound funny now but hey'It was our language and our parents could not always understand it-great! Anyway-the beatnicks of this country were productive and very artistic and were a nice change from the pro-war mentality of our parents.-Good reading-John Steinbeck-Cannery Row-
And Allen Ginsberg...miss him ..... HOWL I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machin- ery of night, who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high sat up smoking in the supernatural darkness of cold-water flats floating across the tops of cities contemplating jazz, for the complete poem: http://members.tripod.com/~Sprayberry/poems/howl.txt to download Ginsberg reading the poem, his reading starts 41 minutes into the mp3: http://www.archive.org/details/naropa_anne_waldman_and_allen_ginsberg And check this too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howl Peace, poor_old_dad
hey, rob? Have i mentioned that i would like to trade places in life with you? you would like to be 26 again, wouldnt you? it sounds like you've had quite a trip! I was in San Fran a few weeks ago, and North Beach was one of my favorite parts.
Well-DD-Trust me-you don't want to be my age until it's time--See-thats the trade off-When your young your bones can take a beating and you can bounce off walls-but; for a young person to really experience life means to get dirty and take chances-That might mean bouncing off a few wall along the way-Unfortunately the human body will not put up with alot of abuse as it ages-bummer!-Not fair I say-I used to come crashing down some huge waves in San Francisco and fall down some steep streats on skateboards-get up and walk away-Enjoy your youth-Get out there and see the world--I will leave you with a little story-When I was 18-I had two friends from school go together to open a cool little leather shop in North Beach-they only had it goin a few months and it was great-then out of the blue one day one of the guys is in a car wreck that left him paralaized from the neck dow-All that talent gone-now a vegetable the rest of his life-he was 18-don't waste your time with bs-go out and enjoy yourself till it's over-which can be any minute or any year--and do it with a clear head if possible-you will remember it more to be able to talk about it in 40 years-Also-just be someone that people are happy to see comin down the street-be honest-
As a writer my main influence is the Beat Generation, but from what I understand 'Beatnik's to be are just students who adopted the 'Beat' from the Generation and turned it into something different. Many of the Generation actually went to the forces (Kerouac, Navy; Burroughs, Army; for example) and Kerouac as an example was part of a pro-Hitler family during WWII, he himself was anti-semitic. Being 'Beat' isn't about politics, it's about creativity. In my opinion.
The look the Beats had was taken straight from the streets of Paris-The art' the gotee and the little caps were all from the French-See-the French ain't so bad afterall!
After his breakdown, and alcoholism, in the '60s he fell out with his former friends/colleagues. He spent his time living with his mother, infatuated by her and developed an Oedipus Complex. He would often phone Ginsberg and hurl anti-semitic remarks to him.
His parents were always racist, and so was Kerouac. Blaming alcohol for the reason you say something offensive whilst drunk, is only because you wouldn't say it if you were sober, but the intent is always there. Kerouac was a great writer, but he was also an asshole.
