On Aug 2, 2006, Richard Denner wrote:
Luis Garcia and I've been close pals since the Berkeley Poetry Conference in 65, he was at your reading at Moe's, sitting in the back, dug your red shoes and the biting Bush bits, sees the world as mostly on fire, that is when everything isn't just water, he has a beautiful new book called -The Token- which you would like . . .
On August 02, 2007, David Meltzer wrote:
I remember the '65 Conference — but the night Big O talked the talk, was on Derby Street w/ others getting the pad ready for the aftermath party — Creeley was in a mood to deck somebody — I passed
PS Luis Garcia & I used to be stablemates in/at Oyez Press in the '60s.
Onward in word
On August 2, 2006, Richard Denner wrote:
My wife and I had a pad on Derby Street near the blind school, where I hosted a party for Ginsberg, I think it was the night the new poets read, Olson was there, Creeley came late, I had given him cryptic directions stuffed in a wine bottle filled with weed, bet that was the night…
ALL THE HEADS OF THE TOWN LIT UP
I filled vials with violets and grass.
I made baggies of marigolds and grass.
I loaded a wine bottle with grass
and announced a Party for Allen.
I underestimated by a hundred
how many would attend this bash.
I was in a spot, so I put out my stash
and passed my Stetson.
Olson filled the papa chair
and passed his pipe—that was some pipe.
Orlovsky and I made it to the liquor store
much to everyone's relief.
Krech read a diatribe seated on the commode.
Lew Welch swung from the chandelier.
It was Creeley demanding everyone know
where the firemen and police were located
that cleared the place.
So, I added the cost and the cost of the cost.
Nothing was stolen, and nothing was broken,
save for the chandelier.
On August 05, 2006 10:10 PM, David Meltzer wrote:
Re: all the heads of the town lit up
not the same pad or night, but what gobsmack synchronicity —
yr poem sums it up as good as anybody —
Onward in word & beyond it
On April 14, 2007, Richard Denner wrote:
I wonder if you have written anything on the poetry scene in Berkeley in the 1960s or have memories you would like to share or know of any discussion.
On April 14, 2007, David Meltzer wrote:
Was earthbound in the '60s — "beatniks" were '50s dissidents, middle-aged guys like beloved Allen — I was a red diaper baby in Brooklyn in the War Years — already against the grain, already aware of acceptance — a lad —
Yes, have some sharp invisible Polaroids of '65 — Jack Shoemaker & I were involved w/ The Rolling Renaissance inter-city gallery, performing space, &tc & had 5 days at Glide to assemble programs of local younger poets & elders —& made a night open to the "Berkeley Poets" of that moment like Al Young, John Simon &tc. — will try to reassemble the disassembling hoo hah for yr edification — or total mashed potato paste of past -
Met the Big O in '65 at a party pad after the Big Talk at UC Berkeley — also had to negotiate a boxing event between me & Creeley (bless him) — he was too drunk to punch my lights out: I was too young to
treasure his illuminated works —
Ask me more
On April 16, 2007, Richard Denner wrote:
I remember being introduced to you by Allen Ginsberg at a party on the south-side of campus one day during the conference and later sat in a car with Jack Spicer and, I think, Ed Sanders. Do you remember? It was a stucco California bungalow, kitchen off to the right as you entered, bedroom to the left, I thought it was your house, since you were standing in the middle of the front room, but I know now you lived in the city, so I mistook you for the host, Allen proceed to sit down on a mattress in the front room and a couple of chicks slung themselves around him, and I was surprised because I thought he might not like girls, so little did I know.
Asking you more—
what was the flavor of the street in the mid-sixties?
how did the political situation and civil rights affect your work?
what books were you reading, did you read Artaud?
what haunts in Berkeley were your favorite,
do you remember Robbie's Cafeteria?
did you encounter Ron Silliman in those daze?
what was Glide and the Rolling Renaissance?
could you tell me more about your impressions of Olson?
funny about Creeley, I too nearly got in a fight with him
Back to you
On April 18, 2007, David Meltzer wrote:
Scrambled yet focused, back from New College.
This is buckshot but first off, you shd contact Bob Hawley & arrange some kind of interview w/ him since he published Gail & Luis & Doug P &, in a sense, was the behind the scenes Diaghalev of those spring rites. Am unaware of Silliman's Berkeley daze but admire his work & activism.
For me, the key event was when Jack Shoemaker & I (of Maya Press) coordinated the 5 day reading events at Glide in conjunction w/ the city-wide Rolling Renaissance arts celebration. One of the nights was given over to the Berkeley contingency like Al Young, John Simon, Alta. (There's a curious footnote to the post-readings celebration at Fritz Maytag's Anchor Steam Brewery where the "Berkeley" contingency felt free to nude themselves.)
Jeez, in a car w/ Spicer & Ed, holy smokes. Was it in SF or Berkeley?
For a geezer, have a rather acute clarity on details of what everyone else was forgetting.
Will try to address yr beehive of questions in the next installment.
Keep on my sluggish case, ace.
Amazing moment.
On July 30, 2007, David Meltzer wrote:
i knew spicer pre berkeley big tent event
was on derby street w/ the hawleys
who were the open door party for
the post big o talk
spicer was a remarkably generous & uncomfortable man
jack & robt duncan used to meet at joe dunn's pad every sunday
for an ad hoc salon where us tadpoles plied our torpid stuff
imagine being evaluated by these 2 forces
a most profound exchange
jack was for metaphysical conflation
compression
whereas robt was the grand maitre of the rhetorical hermetic
my wife & i & the hawleys & van aelstroms [sp.?] were setting up the
scene for the post
my first visage of the big o was he bending down beneath the door frame
to enter
he had two co-eds in each embrace & a bottle of jack daniels
he found a throne seat right by the door
sat down
& they sat on his lap & he & they guzzled
& chas popped some pills
god knows what
(this was not too long after his wife died)
creeley was in the kitchen getting angry drunk
& picked a fight w/ me for no known reason
(i'd met him earlier at the brakhages)
ginsberg stripped
& wandered longingly
& nakedly through the crowd
