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Welcome to Venice West: Audio Recordings from the Lawrence Lipton Papers

Tape 470, Side 1: Lawrence Lipton speaking with Herbert Gold (writer) on literary movements, the beat movement, Allen Ginsberg (poet) [...]

Tape 470, side 1) Lawrence Lipton speaking with Herbert Gold (writer) (0:02) on literary movements, the beat movement, Allen Ginsberg (poet), Gregory Corso (poet), Peter Orlovsky (poet), Norman Mailer (writer), Michael McClure (poet), Kenneth Rexroth (poet), Harlan Ellison (writer), conformity and norms, the Judeo-Christian lifestyle, freedom and defiance. ❧ Tape 470, side 2). Blank. -- TIMES indicate where sections begin.

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1. Tape 470, Side 1: Lawrence Lipton speaking with Herbert Gold (writer) on literary movements, the beat movement, Allen Ginsberg (poet) [...] Tape 470, side 1) Lawrence Lipton speaking with Herbert Gold (writer) (0:02) on literary movements, the beat movement, Allen Ginsberg (poet), Gregory Corso (poet), Peter Orlovsky (poet), Norman Mailer (writer), Michael McClure (poet), Kenneth Rexroth (poet), Harlan Ellison (writer), conformity and norms, the Judeo-Christian lifestyle, freedom and defiance. ❧ Tape 470, side 2). Blank. -- TIMES indicate where sections begin.
Contents of this annotation:
1. Tape 470, Side 1: Lawrence Lipton speaking with Herbert Gold (writer) on literary movements, the beat movement, Allen Ginsberg (poet) [...] Tape 470, side 1) Lawrence Lipton speaking with Herbert Gold (writer) (0:02) on literary movements, the beat movement, Allen Ginsberg (poet), Gregory Corso (poet), Peter Orlovsky (poet), Norman Mailer (writer), Michael McClure (poet), Kenneth Rexroth (poet), Harlan Ellison (writer), conformity and norms, the Judeo-Christian lifestyle, freedom and defiance. ❧ Tape 470, side 2). Blank. -- TIMES indicate where sections begin.

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Contents of this tag:
1. Tape 108: Stuart Z. Perkoff reading "Blues for Billy Holiday" (0:14) [...] Tape 108: Stuart Z. Perkoff reading "Blues for Billy Holiday" (0:14), "Bird" (4:58), "Invocation" (9:14), "For a stunky school teacher…" (13:57), "The death of Arthur" (31:41) all with music. Julie Meredith singing "Got me a letter from someone who's lonely" (18:14), "He's trying to make me jealous" (18:23)"Waiting for the baby" (21:06), 'Loray my dear heart" (24:56), "Why they a?" (27:51) with guitar, 1959 October 21.
2. Tape 106, Side 1, Part A: Lawrence Lipton interviews Stuart Z. Perkoff on his development as a poet from "The Venice poems" to his current state […] Tape 106, side 1, part A) Jazz (0:02). Lawrence Lipton interviews Stuart Z. Perkoff (0:07) on his development as a poet from "The Venice poems" to his current state, mentions "The naming poem", "Crucifixion poem", his time in Seattle speaking with Theodore Roethke (poet), the beat generation phenomenon, Allen Ginsberg (poet) who said "dig prosity", popularity as a poet, Suzan Blanchard (wife), reading William Blake's poetry, William Butler Yeats (poet), Ezra Pound (poet), Perkoff's "That curse", Majaleesy[?] (poet), the Kreely family language, Perkoff's "Three little short poems", Frankie (poet?), June Janson[?], the naming ritual in poetry, Perkoff's "A birthday poem, without any name, for the 19th of June, and she named the same", Sash "Alex", Perkoff reading Perkoff's "Alex is Alex" (11:18), being in therapy and writing on the walls, the sane vs. the insane, the Venice West cafe, communicating through poetry, John Montgomery (poet). ❧ Tape 106, side 1, part B) Stuart Z. Perkoff his poetry: "The birds, on the beach" (19:48), "I didn't lift my eyes from the floor" (20:48), "Giant numbskull dingo" (22:19), "The gulls move through the air" (23:05). ❧ Tape 106, side 1, part C) Lawrence Lipton talking with Eva Myer (23:58) about the beat generation, nonconformity, clothing, the Brooks Brothers suit as uniform, Allen Ginsberg (poet), poetry, squares and cats, trickle-down economics vs. upward seepage by osmosis of culture, studio couches, the pad, "getting down", returning from the Korean War, the G.I. Bill's impact on jazz men, Jack Kerouac (writer), Friedrich Niezsche (writer), inflation, writers and poets and musicians interpret the beat generation, delinquency, Jimmy Dean, the beat generation age group is in their teens and twenties, but the spokesmen are older, Venice West (founded about 1954) consists of about 25 artists and writers and poets, Venice West vs. Greenwich Village, the Bohemians in San Francisco, ca. 1958. Jazz (44:20).
3. Tape 132, Side 2, Part B: Kenneth Rexroth speaking on books, 1955, KPFK radio re: Gary Snyder (poet), Phillip Whalen (poet), Lawrence Ferlinghetti (poet), Michael McClure (poet), American journalism debauching literature and poetry [...] ape 132, side 2, part B) Kenneth Rexroth speaking on books, KPFK radio (5:41, 39:50), re Gary Snyder (poet), Phillip Whalen (poet), Lawrence Ferlinghetti (poet), Michael McClure (poet), American journalism debauching literature and poetry, the war between art and commercialism, agent provocateurs and stool pigeons, a beatnik is an artistic strike breaker, Rexroth reading from Synder's book Riprap and Cold Mountain Poems "The late snow and lumber strike of the summer of fifty-four" (11:19) and "For a far-out friend" (12:49), Snyder's experiences in Japan or being out to sea, Jerome Rothenberg's book New Young German Poets (The Pocket Poets Series Number 11), Alexander Koval (editor), Rexroth reading from Günter Grass' book Nana the Doll: Sketches from Her Daily Life [Aus dem Alltag der Puppe Nana] "The clock" [Die Uhr] (17:18) translated into English by Rothenberg [excerpts], Rexroth reading Hans Magnus Enzensberger's "The end of the owls" [Das Ende der Eulen] (20:28) translated into English by Rothernberg, Robert Duncan's Selected Poems (The Pocket Poets Series Number 10), advertises for a volunteer secretary, book acknowledgements, Europe, donation of Rexroth's files to the University of California Los Angeles, a fellowship, books on Negro life, paucity of Negros in the cultural life of San Francisco, segregation in Saint Louis, gambler who bought a house in Woodside and was hassled by the police, party at the home of a literary critic in Los Angeles at which were some mixed-race couples, how many Negros listen to KPFK?, Eliot Elisofon's and William Buller Fagg's book The Sculpture of Africa (Praeger), Francis L. Broderick's book W.E.G. Du Bois: Negro Leader in a Time of Crisis, Walter White (civil rights activist), Negro influence in Egyptian art, Marcus Garvey (political leader), Langston Hughes (poet), Frederick Douglass (social reformer), Fenton Johnson (writer), Jean Toomer (poet), George Frazier Miller (writer), Schuyler, William Stanley Braithwaite (drama critic), Alain Locke (writer), Sterling Brown (poet), Ralph Bunch (political scientist), Negro self-sufficiency and voluntary segregation. Olivier, Laurence, 1907-1989, actor; Tandy, Jessica, 1909-1994, actress; Cronyn, Hume, 1911-2003, actor; Fulton, Jack, 1903-1993, composer; Steele, Lois, composer; King's Jesters, musical group; Posner, Paul M., 1930?-2007, speaker; Rexroth, Kenneth, 1905-1982, speaker; Snyder, Gary, 1930- , poet; Grass, Günter, 1927-2015, poet; Grass, Gunter, 1927-2015, poet; Enzensberger, Hans Magnus, 1929- , poet; Rothenberg, Jerome, 1931- , translator; Sinatra, Frank, 1915-1998
4. Tape 396, Side 1, Part A: Kenneth Rexroth in a live performance, January 1957-1958, reading poetry (all with music) [...] Tape 396, side 1, part A1) Kenneth Rexroth in a live performance, 1957 [1958?] January, reading poetry (all with music) (0:14): Li Qingzhao's "Late spring" (Kenneth Rexroth, translator; Ron Croddy, double bass) (2:10), Ju Shu Chun's "Spring has come" (Kenneth Rexroth, translator; Ron Croddy, double bass) (5:46), Rexroth's "Sword in a cloud of light" (1999) (10:24), Rexroth's "This night only" (Erik Satie's Gymnopédie #1"; Claire Willy, piano) (16:55) , Francis Carco's "The shadow" (22:05), Rexroth's "Habeus corpus" (38:03). ❧ Tape 396, side 2, part A2) [playback speed is too fast] Kenneth Rexroth in a live performance, 1957 [1958?] January, reading poetry (all with music): unidentified poem (0:06), Carl Sandburg's "Mag" (1:20), Kenneth Rexroth's "Quiet lady" (7:34), Rafael Alberti's "Homecoming of love amongst illustrious ruins" from "Retornos de lo vivo lejano" (Kenneth Rexroth, translator) (10:34). ❧ Tape 386, side 2, part B) Tram Combs reading his poetry, 1959 (all with music): "A farewell for Elliott Thomas" (15:29), "On the necessity of new statement of myths and ideas alien to the times" (18:07), "In the mind's silences" (19:50), "Ballad for Americans in mid century, for Elizabeth Malone with five kids" (21:03), "No responsibilities and small thoughts" (22:45), "En la que tu de la noche en San Juan" (24:15), "Lust at night" (26:09), "April carnival, St. Thomas" (27:32), "Down fields of concrete" (30:09), "A going away gift" (31:04), "A pastorale in New Orleans" (32:44), "Middle class" (36:09), "A letter to Gil to remember a hermit" (38:09). -- TIMES indicate where sections begin. Alberti, Rafael, 1902-1999, poet; Carco, Francis, 1886-1958, poet; Combs, Elisha Trammell "Tram", Jr., 1924-2018, poet; Combs, Elisha Trammell "Tram", Jr., 1924-2018, speaker; Croddy, Ron, double bass; 李清照, 1084-ca. 1141, poet; Qingzhiao, Li, 1084-ca. 1141 writer; Rexroth, Kenneth, 1905-1982, poet; Rexroth, Kenneth, 1905-1982, speaker; Rexroth, Kenneth, 1905-1982, translator; Sandburg, Carl, 1878-1967, poet; Satie, Erik, 1866-1925, composer; Willy, Claire, piano
5. Tape 470, Side 1: Lawrence Lipton speaking with Herbert Gold (writer) on literary movements, the beat movement, Allen Ginsberg (poet) [...] Tape 470, side 1) Lawrence Lipton speaking with Herbert Gold (writer) (0:02) on literary movements, the beat movement, Allen Ginsberg (poet), Gregory Corso (poet), Peter Orlovsky (poet), Norman Mailer (writer), Michael McClure (poet), Kenneth Rexroth (poet), Harlan Ellison (writer), conformity and norms, the Judeo-Christian lifestyle, freedom and defiance. ❧ Tape 470, side 2). Blank. -- TIMES indicate where sections begin.

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Audio Collection Below is a collection of all audio clips included in this exhibit.

To view and access timestamps for each clip, click on "Annotations" below each audio player. To collapse the annotations for a clip, click on "Description."

To see where, in this exhibit, a given audio clip appears, click on "Citations."
Introduction
Lawrence Lipton, the Beat Generation in Venice West, and the Lawrence Lipton papers at USC.
Lipton and the Beat Generation Poets
Lipton’s interviews with or about Beat poets, featuring Stuart Perkoff, Kenneth Rexroth, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and others.

Lipton and Venice
The Venice West Picture Essay, the Gas House, and the history of Venice.

Lipton and Jazz
Jazz Canto, Langston Hughes, and Lipton’s recordings of poetry jazz sessions.
Lipton and the Beat Generation Poets Lawrence Lipton was not known as a part of the Beat movement until much later in his life when he published The Holy Barbarians (1959) at the age of sixty-one. However, as a resident of Venice since 1941 and through his literary connections from his earlier work as a writer and editor, Lipton quickly became a leader of the "Venice West" Beat community during the period surrounding The Holy Barbarians.
Stuart Perkoff
One figure that frequently appears in Lipton's audio recordings and writings on the Beats is Stuart Z. Perkoff.
Perkoff lived, wrote, and performed in the Venice West Beat community and, in 1958, he co-founded the Venice West Expresso Café--on Dudley Avenue near Ocean Front Walk--in order to establish an authentic gathering place for Beat artists in the area. Perkoff ran the café for about six months until January of 1959 when he was forced to sell it at a loss because of the lack in paying customers. The Venice West Café remained active under new ownership and even began to thrive following the publication of Lipton's The Holy Barbarians in July of 1959.[1] The "Venice West Picture Essay" that concludes The Holy Barbarians includes photographs of the café, captioned: "a real Beat generation coffeehouse that tourists haven't discovered yet"[2] (a caption that helped secure the café with future tourist patronage).
In Tape 106 from the Lipton papers, Perkoff discusses his relation as a poet to "the social phenomenon called the Beat Generation" in an interview conducted by Lipton. Later in the same interview (beginning around 15:53 in the recording), Perkoff discusses the challenges of using poetry to communicate to other people. Perkoff describes the different meanings that his poetry could take in different contexts: "If I read this poem at the Venice West Café, I'd get a much different response. I know some of the people would be just lost. And they won't dig being lost. [...] It's a question of coming back and not trying to reach so many people. Not trying to reach anybody." Perkoff concludes that writing a poem to reach a specific audience can cause that poem to become too rigid.
In another recording, Perkoff performs a few of his poems paired with jazz music, followed by Julie Meredith singing.
Kenneth Rexroth and Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Kenneth Rexroth, known as the founding father of the San Francisco Renaissance of the 1940s and 1950s, is also featured on the Lipton tapes.

Rexroth was an avid reader and translator of Chinese literature, publishing translations in his "Classics Revisited" column in the Saturday Review (1965-1969) and in various anthologies that he edited and/or translated, such as One Hundred Poems From the Chinese (1956) and The Orchid Boat (1972) – later reprinted as Women Poets of China. Tape 396 from the Lipton papers begins with a live performance by Rexroth reading his translations of Song dynasty poets Li Qingzhao and Chu Shu Chen, accompanied by Ron Croddy playing double bass.

On a different tape from the collection, Rexroth expresses some of his disapproval for the Beat Generation. During a KPFK radio interview recorded on Tape 132, Rexroth describes the tensions and overlaps between the talented poets of the San Francisco Renaissance on one side and the "kept press," which he describes as the enemy (and the establishment), on the other. Rexroth argues that some of San Francisco's Beat poets have behaved "the way the enemy wants them to behave" – as the artist stereotype devised by "the most evil section of American journalism," which is only interested in debauching poetry and making it seem ridiculous. Rexroth uses a concept from the labor movement to characterize the "beatnik" as "an artistic strikebreaker" and cites Lawrence Ferlinghetti as one example of a truly talented poet who has fallen into this exchange between art, the Beat literary movement, popular journalism, and commercialism.

Despite Rexroth's disapproval of the Beats, he and Ferlinghetti were friends and frequent collaborators during their years in San Francisco.

Aside from the Lawrence Lipton papers, USC Libraries Special Collections holds smaller collections of personal papers from both Kenneth Rexroth and Lawrence Ferlinghetti (see also papers of Rexroth and Ferlinghetti at UCLA Library Special Collections and the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley, respectively).
Allen Ginsberg and Others
Allen Ginsberg, author of Howl and arguably the most famous Beat poet, is frequently discussed in Lipton's recorded conversations and interviews.

Tape 470 records a discussion between Lipton and novelist Herbert Gold on a number of Beat writers. Part of their discussion on Allen Ginsberg leads to a disagreement on whether or not Ginsberg's former pursuits of controversy and publicity had an adverse effect on the quality of his writing. Lipton and Gold later question if a poet's heightened media attention always leads to financial gains. In Ginsberg's case, Lipton and Gold agree that increased publicity did not necessarily lead to greater income.

Other Beats (and Beat-adjacents) who appear on Lipton's tapes as performers or interviewees include Robert Duncan, Bruce Boyd, Leland Auslender, Charles Foster, Archer Goodwin, Carl Forsberg, and Jack Zucker.