Product Description
First in a series of in-depth interviews by pop culture icon V. Vale: Four leading figures in social movements discuss the state of Western culture and what led to its demise, with firsthand accounts of their own experiences, including subjects that concern every creative artist and thinker: The Internet and social change; why everyone must paint(!); mind control, marketing, branding and consumerism; corporate chain stores and the problem of Amazon; punk rock history; the rise of Do-It-Yourself (D-I-Y) culture production; fame and its downside; sex and relationships. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Great reading for this election year (or any other)
Here are four in-depth conversations, most centering on art and politics, published in 2001. Considering the tidal wave of events since then, it's astounding how these interviews still resonate with contemporary issues. Depending on your point of view you'll find Rollins, Biafra, and to a certain extent Billy Childish, insightful or exasperating in their politics, but its hard to miss the passion in their arguments. Ferlinghetti, by far, takes the longest view of events past and present, and suggests solutions (some new, some old), sounding the most conservative by comparison. Many will consider these four exchanges as nothing more than preaching to the already converted, but in this political season they take on the character of voices crying in the wilderness.

Thought-provoking and Inspiring
Wow. This collection of interviews is amazing. Though I had heard very little about any of these men when I picked the book up, I found their words very interesting. Even where I disagreed with their messages, they caused me to think about why I disagree. Many times I felt like putting down the book and going out to either create or protest. Even though all four of these men are politically active and radical, they each provide very different perspectives that, when presented together, have much more power than they could on their own. I recommend this book for anyone in search of inspiration to question and act.

a good perspective on 2 mixed bags and 2 relatively unknowns
2 noted ex-users turned full time cranks Biafra-speed, Rollins-ritalin fronting 2 good punk bands DeadKennedys and BlackFlag are getting old.Their legacies are questionable.
They both never met a microphone they didn't like.They talk more than little girls.Both are way too serious and need to lighten up.They're in the entertainment industry yet yearning for artistic integrity (then stick to arts and craft shows).

Rollins complains about book/album sales, his business, and his own niche marketing scheme.The guy brags about hard work, working out, and dislike of everything hokey and cheesy.Typical manic depressive straight edge loudmouth.Relax buddy, you need a rest guy.He turned out just like his parents, but he can't settle down.Hence the mass confusion running out of his head.Every job has it's ups and downs.They get monotonous and draining.Worrying about money [stinks], so you compromise nearly everything up to and including you're very being.Hank likes being "commercial" because big corporations pay well and promptly.Movies and commercials are money on the table.It's easy and if he doesn't take it someone else will.

Biafra is one man publicity stunt show.Running for mayor(truly funny and creative).Including a poster of sodomy in records and calling it artistic freedom under the holy grail of free speech.I don't know anyone who buys a record expecting or wanting such a thing.The poster is funny but is by all definitions pornographic.Not everyone has a dirty sense of humor.Jello fought and lost for our right to do such silly things.Now he worries about his company's future as a b-music distributer especialy with the rise of this internet file sharing thingy (more punk than the whole punk movement combined).He's made a living as a paranoid alarmist worrying people to death.

Bottom line, everyone's replacable, independent.Past succes doesn't guarantee future success, but that's who gets better odds.Like it or not.Whether your stuff has critical mass approval or not.Carrying the torch will get you burned both up and out.These guys are one trick ponies branching off into other areas.A good perspective on 2 long winded spotlight hogs.Their music speaks or itself.JB's album with no means no and doa are worth buying or downloading.Black Flag is good clean fun.RESEARCH/VSEARCH always put out good stuff.

Real Conversations: an envigorating and inspiring book!
I've been familiar with Biafra/Rollins/Childish and Ferlinghetti for a long time, but can't say I'm a huge fan of any of the four, but in reading through these interviews, I have a whole new respect for all of them.Vale talks about so many issues of political importance, artistic integrity, life, and everything with them.What comes through is not esoteric or academic, not something only appealing to punks or poets, but a feeling of being alive.All four are very smart, funny, engaging and interesting individuals and Vale really knows how to bring out their personalities.This is like a bible of common sense from 4 great prophets of the eternal underground.If you yearn to be creative and find your own happiness outside of the constraints of a 9-5 job and mainstream culture, this book will hopefully be an inspiration to you.It's also refreshing to hear people talking about important political and philosophical issues in a way that makes you believe that you can be involved and help make culture and live how you want.We also glimpse into their lives outside of the public eye through some wonderful storytelling.Vale helps to put the nail in the coffin of the "dumb punk" notion: these guys are geniuses.You need this book!

A great read for these times
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Essentially, the best thing about "Real Conversations No. 1" is that it's just that -- a good chunk of honest dialogue between a guy and four other guys who sound like they're pretty close friends with him, talking about what's on their minds and in their lives (both theirs and his) in ways that are sometimes entertaining, sometimes thought-provoking and sometimes even illuminating. And, yes, at least two of the people talking in this book have figured somewhat prominently in the entertainment and pop culture landscapes for the past few years. But guess what? They actually say stuff that doesn't totally sound like part of their act! Henry Rollins, for all the macho, stoic bluster that he gives off, turns out to be pretty funny and down-to-earth, as well as enthusiastic to the point of geekdom when it comes to archiving bootlegs of bands that he admires and/or played with. Jello Biafra's comments are obviously more political and exhibitionist, but he does make light of how he got that way in the first place, and how he was just as inspired by other people in the anti-WTO protests in Seattle as they were by him. Besides that, the most wholly "inspirational" words probably come from Billy Childish, who advocates "doing it yourself" (and "thinking and taking responsibility for yourself" as well) not just as a moral or even as a craft, but as something that fits into enjoying the simple fact that you're alive. And Lawrence Ferlinghetti comes off almost as the wise grandfatherly figure who has a wealth of stories to tell about the past but knows pretty clearly about what the future entails.

But really, the total effect of all these conversations for me wasn't so much hero worship or a privileged glimpse into the workings of complicated minds. It was more the idea that, if I ever had the chance, I'd wanna hang out with these people and talk about some of this stuff with them myself. (Of course, in some ways, I'm not sure that I could even get a word in edgewise, but that's another matter.) I guess that's one of my personal reasons for being glad that I bought this book directly from Re/Search in San Francisco, almost beyond the whole deal of supporting the independents: When I called the place up to inquire about my order right after the attacks happened, I thought at first that I'd gotten a particularly thoughtful and conversational assistant who sounded vaguely like Jello Biafra on the phone. It turned out to be Vale himself, and we talked for maybe half an hour about the attacks, how they'd played out on CNN and the likelihood that any chance for progressive politics was dead now. He seemed as interested in what I had to say as I was in what he had, and I think it probably helped get us both out of the shell-shock and thinking clearly again.

So maybe some of these good things still aren't quite out of reach yet. Or, if they are, then maybe now we'll scramble a bit more to get hold of them again. ... Read more

Product Description
"A Far Rockaway of the Heart" is Ferlinghetti's sequel to "A Coney Island of the Mind," written forty years afterwards in what the author has called "a poetry seizure" that lasted more than a year. A sequence of one hundred and one poems with recurrent themes, it includes various sections on love, art, music, history, and literature, as well as confrontations with major figures in the avant-garde before the arrival of the Beat generation. This paperbound edition now includes eighteen new poems from Ferlinghetti's "Pictures of the Gone World" which he publishes under his City Lights imprint. A self-styled "stand-up tragedian," Ferlinghetti has been called "the foremost chronicler of our times." If "A Coney Island of the Mind" was a generations vibrant eye-opener, "A Far Rockaway of the Heart" is a wake-up call for a new age. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great Bohemian Poetry
This is a great book for exploring the Bohemian poetry movement in the U.S. (namely, San Francisco).Contains the poem, "Autobiography," in which Ferlinghetti misidentifies Mount Rushmore as existing in North Dakota--but as I met him recently at a reading at the U of Minnesota, he was cool about it--knew exactly what I was talking about. . .so maybe he has learned a little since the time he wrote it!

GREAT!
A Far Rockaway of the Heart is Ferlinghetti's most recent anthology of poetry, and it's one of his best. With more than one hundred poems, it's also packed full of passion. I think that after many years of searching,Ferlinghetti finally found his true voice. These poems are sometimes funny,sometimes painful, but always beautifully created and full of life. ... Read more

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Poet and City Lights publisher Ferlinghetti is the subject of this photographic study by filmmaker and photographer Christopher Felver. Some of Ferlinghetti's best-known works, and one previously-unpublished poem, are included amongst Felver's 100 duotone portraits of Ferlinghetti, Ginsberg, Burroughs, Di Prima and other Beat authors. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Old Beat Poets Never Die, They Just Become Very Boring
In the late 1950s, when Beatnik poets were flaunting their unconventiality by declaring that rhyme, meter, grammar, coherence, and meaning were dispensable in poetry, Lawrence Ferlinghetti was one of the movement's prime exponents-not only as a poet, but also as the proprietor of San Francisco's City Lights Books, a popular hangout for local "nonconformist" writers of the era.

In "this stunning and intimate collection of photographs" (according to the book's jacket), we are afforded a rare glimpse of Ferlinghetti sleeping. . . Ferlinghetti standing in his bookstore. . . Ferlinghetti sitting at his desk. . . Ferlinghetti walking in the woods. . . Ferlinghetti painting a sign outside of his cabin that reads "Temple of the Zen Fool". . . There are no photos from the Beat era, which would have at least been interesting as a historical document. All of the photos in the book are from 1980 to the present.

There is one truly hilarious photo of Ferlinghetti at the easel in his painting studio, with an overweight nude woman posing for him. His painting is so ridiculously crude that you'd wonder why he went through the trouble of having her pose for him. There are numerous photos of Ferlinghetti posing next to his works of "art," which if your five year-old came home with you might hang on the refrigerator for a week, then quietly place in the trash while he's away at school.

The book jacket proclaims that "These photographs underline the poignant friendships with poets and comrades-Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder . . ." In other words, there are photos of Ferlinghetti standing next to those people.

The book contains "his famed poem 'Autobiography,'" a long ramble about the fact that he has done nothing of any importance in his life. As far as mediocrities go, Ferlinghetti is certainly one of the least pretentious.

My favorite photo is toward the end of the book. After suffering through page after page of some of the most ordinary, uninspiring images ever assembled, the viewer is treated to a portrait of this poetic genius, smiling kindly and holding up his middle finger to the viewer.

Well same to you, Ferlinghetti!

On same plane as "Picturing Hemingway"'98 ...
An equal tome--Distinquished with highest profiled clarity..the legacy of Beat Generation preserved, distilled..enhanced for all time,thru portals of..City Lights. world's foremost protagonist of beats..& "thegreat enabler"for visionary beats... a recommended photo-accompanimentto that other Icon-of-American Letters,Hemingway (100th anniversarycelebration ed.)

On same plane as "Picturing Hemingway"'98 ...
An equal tome--Distinquished with highest profiled clarity..the legacy of Beat Generation preserved, distilled..enhanced for all time,thru portals of..City Lights. world's foremost protagonist of beats..& "thegreat enabler"for visionary beats... a recommended photo-accompanimentto that other Icon-of-American Letters,Hemingway (100th anniversarycelebration ed.) ... Read more

Product Description
A reissue of Ferlinghetti's very short experimental plays (1965) with three new plays added to the original thirteen. In this collection Ferlinghetti takes a revolutionary look at modern theater and explores the area between old-style drama and spontaneous improvisation by supplying a blueprint for dramatic action—an outline from which director and actors may create and interpret freely. In one called '"Our Little Trip" two men in conservative suits wind themselves in and out of a long bandage while a questioner circles them seeking Meaning. "Servants of the People" puts on political podium hogs in torrents of cliches. "Bearded Lady 'Dies'" features the Second Coming all decked out for newspaper coverage. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A bit of fun, a bit of memory lane, a bit of outrageousness
Remember "happenings"? Remember the HUAC? This slim volume is a collection of scripts for happenings or experimental theater.Some wear their age easily e.g. "Our Little Trip" where a couple bound separately but with a single bandage wind/unwind while the Question Man quizzes them about relationship.Or "The Nose of Sisyphus" which enacts the myth on playground equipment ... with a big baboon providing closure.Or "Sleeper" - two lovers playing a single bass - one playing Baroque, the other jazz.

Other pieces convey important messages but are less immediate as their reference points slide into history e.g. "Servants of the People" with Cold War and HUAC images.Or "Fuclock" set in a mantra rock dance."

There are two "routines" that had no appeal to me: "Non-Objection" painters in competition and "The Customs Collector in Baggy Pants" a explicitly sexual piece.However, both are well written and humorous.

If you enjoy Ferlinghetti, are interested in the Beatniks or the Hippies, or in experimental theater, this is a fun read; it may also cause you to muse over what happenings are proper to this era. ... Read more

Product Description

Close to 100 figurative drawings in black and white, and in color, mostly nudes in love or strife, some "disastered by life," some with incisive or caustic words integrated in the images. This is a retrospective of Ferlinghetti's graphic work and play, ranging from his early drawings made in Paris ateliers, to yesterday's sessions sketching models in his San Francisco studio.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti, poet and founder of City Lights Books, author of A Coney Island of the Mind and Pictures of the Gone World, among numerous other books, has been drawing from life since his student days in Paris where he frequented the Academie Julien and where he did his first oil painting.

Customer Reviews (1)

This book has changed a young poet's life
After reading the first two poems in this book: Jack of Hearts andDirector of Alienation, I was absolutely hooked on Ferlinghetti, Beatliterature, and poetry in general. I would definately recomend it to aunpoetic yokel and an experienced poet... and all the in-betweens. Theobservations put forth in this publication are priceless. ... Read more

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This collection of recent poems is graced with a short introduction by the poet in which he says, "All I ever wanted to do was to paint light on the walls of life." For more than fifty years Ferlinghetti has been doing just that—illuminating both the everyday and the unusual, all the while keeping true to his original dictum of speaking in a way accessible to everyone. He has been, and remains, "One of our ageless radicals and true bards" (Booklist) and his voice is well-known in many places around the world. He was one of the two American poets (the other being John Ashbery) chosen to participate in the 2001 Celebration of UNESCO's World Poetry Day in Delphi, Greece, where he along with his international confreres each poetically addressed the Oracle. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Demonstrates and documents a true literary master
Lawrence Ferlinghetti is one of the best and widely read of America's 20th century poets, who has been awarded numerous citations, awards, and recognitions for his work. How To Paint Sunlight: New Poems showcases for his legions of fans a new compendium of his work that demonstrates and documents a true literary master. Moored: A boat moored/In the deep shade/under a weeping willow/in the bend of a river//As the light fades/so does the boat/with its willow/with its river//Only memory remains/of the lovers/in the bottom of the boat/moored to each other//They too/Gone on.

He's Still Got It!
This book is a real delight to anyone who enjoys poetry. Ferlinghetti still has it and has it in spades. His poems do something that most poets have forgotten how to do: COMMUNICATE! He is the poet for Everyman and the Everyman of poets. In an age of poetry slams and unintelligable linguistic pirouettes from Europe, Ferlighetti stands nearly alone. The poetry still has its political edge, there are lines in the section on Big Sur that will go into the thin volume that should be made on the poetry and prose that really describe the Big Sur experience. And finally, the last section, Into The Interior, where the poet turns the unflinching light of honesty on the death of Allen Ginsburg, and himself, is a simple, quiet apotheosis. Read this book.

Interesting in parts,other times a disappointment
I just picked up this book today,after eagerly awaiting it. It is worth reading, but if you are a fan of his older material ("Her","European Poems & Transitions","Coney Island of the Mind",etc. etc.) it is somewhat of a disappointment. Also,a few of these poems aren't all that 'new' per se. There is one where he wrote, "Ginsberg died 49 nights ago" and well, Ginsberg has been dead for four years now. There are a few memorable,beautifully lyrical lines..."Your heart in a flower pales the dawn" from, 'First, the News'. Other poems are funny in parts..."You don't get in free, & there's no chicken soup, and this ain't no Frank O'Hara lunch poem". Sadly though, for the most part this book is somewhat unmemorable. ... Read more

Product Description
For the first time, a comprehensive Selected Poems in a bilingual edition, by Mexico's greatest living poet. Eyes to See Otherwise is the first extensive selection of poems by leading Mexican poet Homero Aridjis to appear in English. The scope and quality of the translations, by some of America's finest poets, mark the centrality of his work on the map of modern poetry. Aridjis's sources range from Nahuatl chants and Huichol initiation songs to San Juan de la Cruz and the 16th-century Spanish poet Luis de Góngora y Argote. He is, in the words of translator George McWhirter, "a troubadour of love for lost environments, a voice in the wilderness of Mexico City and Mexico." Included in this selection are poems by Aridjis evoking his own life, present and past, his memories always sticking close to his birthplace Contepec, where, on Altamirano Hill, the Monarch butterflies arrive each year. This long awaited Selected Poems enables the reader to witness, from his 1960 collection The Eyes of a Double Vision to new unpublished poems—in a bilingual edition—the poetic and personal evolution of this "visionary poet of lyrical bliss, crystalline concentrations and infinite spaces" (Kenneth Rexroth). Translated by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Martha Black Jordan, Philip Lamantia, W.S. Merwin, John Frederick Nims, Kenneth Rexroth, Jerome Rothenberg, Brian Swann, Barbara Szerlip, Nathaniel Tarn, Eliot Weinberger, and the editors. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Powerful
Powerful,melodious, poignant in the interpretation of love, in the recollection of the poet's childhood. Aridjis ranks among some of the greatest poets of our times--C.P.Cavafy, Giorghos Seferis.
Thomas M Kazamias, MD

The world through the eyes of a great poet
This is the most extraordinary book of poems I have read in the past decade... Aridjis is the most visionary poet in Latin America, no doubt about it... since I read his first poems in Exaltation of Light I embarked on a search for more translations into English. And now, this incredible anthology has finally been published, including translations from many important American and British poets... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Astonishing poetry
The way he sees the world is beautiful.Some lines make you see the world in a new way and sort of makes you wish you could see the world the way he does.Here are a few lines that I underlined in some poems that I thought were great: "The pigeons strut about not even thinking of flying" "We steal their lives to feed our own and with their lives our dreams are sown" "In a dream within a dream I dreamt a dream of animals calling to each other in codes we never understand" "A man burns down his house to roast his pig"There are so many more but from these you get the gist of what I mean about his vision.Also, the topics he chooses to write about are very unique.One he wrote about a dog and how it would see the world and others are about places he has been to internationally or within United States. ... Read more

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