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Howl - Prelude to Apocalypse?

31/8/2015

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Allen Ginsberg and the Death of a Generation

PictureDon't Hide the Madness
"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 machinery 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,

 
who bared their brains to Heaven under the El and saw Mohammedan angels staggering on tenement roofs illuminated,"  ... Read More

I can't remember exactly when i read Howl for the first time and i wasn't overcome with awe or driven by a sudden mad burst of inspiration to become a poet or writer after reading it. I do know however, that many of the "word images" in the poem became embedded in my consciousness even as i started to become more aware of the past ... a past it seems, had been hidden to me in plain view! 

Howl was written in 1955 at the end of the first decade post WW2. Already there was a swelling movement of disaffected young people in the USA who were growing up in the icy shadow of the new "Cold War" period. The world had been divided up among the victors and communism and capitalism had dug their heels in and were prepared to fight it out to a bitter ideological end. America had become the new bully on the block and was beginning to engage in a global hegemonic "dirty war" with the then USSR (Russia) for economic and cultural power and control. 

Many starry eyed dreamers were beginning to smell a "rat" behind the American "dream" and galvanising themselves into groups to protest against what was perceived as the "evil" designs of the "military industrial complex." From the "Beat" movement in the fifties there grew a full scale "alternative" lifestyle movement advocating a return to the land and a more simple, sustainable way of life. 

This poem is the herald of the beginning of what would be turbulent times ahead in the sixties and seventies surrounding the "Vietnam War" and the "counterculture" movement in the USA. Allen Ginsberg became a leading spokesman for his generation calling for radical change in society on all fronts social, cultural and political. America's covert wars would ultimately result in the deaths of countless innocent civilians and soldiers around the world. 
   
Picture
Michael McClure, Bob Dylan and Allen Ginsberg


Above is a photo taken with Bob Dylan and Michael McClure in the alley way behind City Lights bookstore in San Francisco in 1965. Ginsberg was in tune with the issues of his day and moved in circles that included many of the leading artists, musicians and writers of his time many of whom were involved in various protest and resistance programs against the government. He understood what was at stake and wrote in an informed and outspoken manner, unafraid to tackle difficult social and moral questions he felt needed to be addressed. 

Howl is more than a poem, it is an angry appeal to those behind the power structures to consider the urgency of his appeal for "change" in order that his generation might find the peace and freedom they were yearning for. It is also an indictment about what society had become; the coldness of the machine age and the fixation on corporate profits and efficiency at the expense of individual fulfilment and happiness. Even more, i believe it is an epitaph to a dying world, to a human vision that no longer feels for others or cares for values such as truth, honesty and integrity.

Below is a mini documentary giving some background behind Ginsberg and "Howl."
 


Howl should be read with an open mind and generosity of spirit because it is a poem of its time which actually succeeds in becoming an anthem for all displaced, downtrodden and disaffected people anywhere, anytime. 

Explicit sexual references in the poem need to be read in context but if the reader has any doubts by all means be forewarned there are some graphic expressions in the text. This poem actually resulted in a legal precedent being set that effectively saw the relaxing of strict censorship laws for print and film in the USA. 

Howl is an innovative work as each line is meant to be read as a single breath and this is a first in modern poetry leading to the Spoken Word movement and in particular The Last Poets black poetry group of the mid 60's. It's just a hop, skip and jump from there to Rap and Hip Hop as spoken word art forms but the inception of this style apart from the influence of the Blues and Jazz heritage can be found in Ginsberg's "Howl" and in particular his method of spoken delivery.
 

Listen to Allen Ginsberg reading Howl below.  
Here are the links to Parts 2 and 3 of Ginsberg reading Howl.

https://youtu.be/PJDV9z8XvEo

https://youtu.be/FihYsCy9x8A


Howl is a meditation and a spoken hope of the idealism and dreams Ginsberg had of life. He reveals how he sees the world and what his values are. Each reader will have to approach the poem on their own terms and decide for themselves. He may well have been the first "hippie" and the true origin of the "counterculture" movement of the 60's. 

I'm inspired by Howl because i see the utopian fervour in the language used and empathise with a whole generation who believed in the same dream as Allen Ginsberg. Hope is the greatest thing and Howl oozes hope and longing for a better world. This is always a positive and needed especially now in the current period of heightened pessimism about the future!


"An Elegy For Allan Ginsberg" - Documentary - Click here

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MacArthur Park

12/8/2015

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Someone Left the Cake Out in the Rain ...

Jimmy Webb wrote a classic in 1967 that still divides opinion today. The song "MacArthur Park," was written out of his own experiences with a failing romance at that time. Webb says that all the images in the song relate to real things he saw and experienced during the summer and fall of that year in Los Angeles. The song is also a response to a challenge from music producer Bones Howe to write a pop song with multiple movements for radio. The story of how it became the focus of extreme admiration and alternatively, loathing by some is a fascinating read. I just see it for what it is, one of those rare anomalies in artistic creation that transcends understanding and encapsulates the pure tragedy of a once in a lifetime love that is slowly, inexplicably drifting away.
The following video is an original live performance by the writer, Jimmy Webb. 

Here are the lyrics to the song.

Spring was never waiting for us, girl
It ran one g step ahead
As we followed in the dance

Between the parted pages and were pressed
In love's hot, fevered iron
Like a striped pair of pants

MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain

I don't think that I can take it
'Cause it took so long to bake it
And I'll never have that recipe again, oh noooooo

I recall the yellow cotton dress
Foaming like a wave
On the ground around your knees
Birds like tender babies in your hands
And the old men playing checkers, by the trees

MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain

I don't think that I can take it
'Cause it took so long to bake it
And I'll never have that recipe again, oh noooooo

(Short instrumental interlude)

There would be another song for me
For I will sing it
There would be another dream for me
Someone will bring it

I will drink the wine while it is warm
And never let you catch me looking at the sun
And after all the loves of my life
After all the loves of my life, you'll still be the one

I will take my life into my hands and I will use it
I will win the worship in their eyes and I will lose it
I will have the things that I desire
And my passion flow like rivers through the sky

And after all the loves of my life
Oh, after all the loves of my life
I'll be thinking of you - and wondering why

(Longer instrumental interlude)

MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain

I don't think that I can take it
'Cause it took so long to bake it
And I'll never have that recipe again
Oh noooooo, o-oh no-ooooo


The story goes that the song was rejected for commercial recording and release in late 67 but that Webb serendipitously met Richard Harris  at a fundraiser and Harris told him in conversation that he wanted to make a record. The result was that Webb flew to London and after going through a list of song possibilities they tried MacArthur Park and Harris said "that's the one!" The following year in 1968 Harris' version of the song went 'gold' topping the charts in Europe and Australia. 

It was an unusual choice for a single as it was more than 7 minutes long and that was weird in a time where all songs were written at 3 minutes or less. I was thirteen when i first heard this and all i know is that it left an indelible impression on me that i have never forgotten. Even today, it is hard for me not to be moved by the emotional waves felt in the voice and music, painting a picture of true love lost. This was heady stuff for a teen beginning his personal voyage through a sea of turbulent passion and romance. I still play it, but not too often in order to retain it's impact and efficacy.  
The following video is the original recording by Richard Harris released in 1968.

I don't know why many people railed against the song at the time and still do now. Actually, i don't really care and am glad i was ignorant of all the ruckus surrounding it! What i do know is that it is a miracle that it was produced and released at that time. Maybe it was because of the strength of Harris' acting reputation that they took a gamble on it. The song is unusual as it has four movements based on classical music structure and the lyrics do seem to paint a strange hallucinogenic vision if you close your eyes and let your imagination go. 

Webb states that the lyrics describe exactly what he saw in the park where he would meet and have lunch with his love (Susie Horton) and the futility and powerlessness that he felt as the love affair came to an end before his eyes. I don't think any apologies are necessary from a writer when they share their lives and when that piece of art then touches so many people deeply. There is no perfect way a song or piece of music should be made. It becomes what it is by virtue of the creative talents and insights of the people shaping it to completion. After it's released, that's it, like a newborn baby it's arrived, like it or not!  
Personally, i believe the talent of the "Wrecking Crew," that infamous troupe of LA musicians who worked on the studio hits that formed the sonic background of a whole generation, did a masterful and sensitive job on this recording! 

I get inspired every time i hear this song. I sense anew the frailty of human life and the misery felt when a good thing is lost. I can identify totally with the writer and singer and all those who have a sensitive heart and have experienced similar sadness in their own lives!


Check out these alternative versions of the song recorded by Glen Campbell and Donna Summers.
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Shin Hyun Jung

7/8/2015

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Remembrance, Redemption, Reconstruction

Artefacts and Ritual for a New Age

Exhibition Opening

Picture
Yearning Mother - 1998 - Shin Hyun Jung


There is a deep longing and hope held by many that mankind will transition peacefully into the future. As an artist Shin Hyun Jung has been making art in praise of what has gone before, that which is and what may possibly be. Looking back over a career of more than 30 years, Shin has merged together into his art, ideas from the varied disciplines of anthropology, geology, zoology, botany and archaeology among others. He attempts to describe the beauty and fragility of the ecosystem and man's dependance on it but at the same time tries to re-contextualise world culture and the humanity imbued in the objects made by human hands. The artist urges us to remember our links to the past in order to get back (redeem) the good which was lost in order that we might rebuild the foundations for a better tomorrow. 

Shin's work is an attempt to restore order and balance to a way of life on earth that he sees as no longer sustainable.
   
Picture
Duck - Syrian (date unknown) - Shin Hyun Jung collecton

Often, the apparent visual simplicity of an art exhibition precludes the viewer from discerning the veiled theoretical complexity embedded within it. The purpose of an exhibition is to open a space for discourse around the artist’s work and the layers of meaning that arise from both intention and incident. 

In the work of Shin Hyun Jung there is evident, the working of an astute mind, a complexity that requires thought and effort by the participant. There are some fundamental ideas in the work calling for clarification which are contingent with contemporary issues. These are, understanding the mechanics of knowledge, power and control in social relations, the concept of longing and desire for authenticity and the function of objects in the production of memories.   

Picture
Ledger - (Source and date unknown) - Shin Hyun Jung

There is little dispute that history is a compilation of selected stories chosen by those in power for the purpose of manipulation and control of the naive and unquestioning.

Knowledge is power and those that manipulate it can and do coerce and dominate those that do not “know.” 

Shin Hyun Jung knows this and attempts to restore some sort of “knowledge equilibrium” by re-presenting his objects in the hope that the viewer will question and recontextualize their understanding of the past. 

The artist intervenes in one of the few uncensored spaces where questions can be asked and the thinking mind provoked. 

Venue

Seoul National University 

Fine Art College Gallery
1st and 2nd Floors

1 Gwanak-ro
Gwanak-gu
Seoul, Korea

August 12 thru 26

Opening on the 12th, 4-6 pm

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    William M Boot

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