Beats In Kansas: The Beat Generation in the Heartland

Just posted: Bruce Conner Memorial, "ON BRUCE CONNER (may he rest in peace) AND ASSORTED KANSAN COHORTS," by poet Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore, 2008, Beats In Kansas

Alison Streiff Scott and George Laughead, Wichita Vortex location;
camera held by Neal Smith; August 2009.

Chiron Review, Michael Hathaway, Editor, St. John, KS; widest possible range of contemporary creative writing

New: Artist S. Clay Wilson: The Underground Genius Surfaces, by Charley Plymell, Beats In Kansas

S. Clay Wilson Checkered Demon, Vol. 1 cover, 1998; inscribed to Charley Plymell (and Pam Plymell), courtesy C. Plymell

Charley Plymell & Roxie Powell, September 2009; photo by Laki Vazakas, copyright 2009.

Expanded Charles Plymell section:
"Nobody Rides For Free" by Grant Hart (Husker Du), music video by Laki Vazakas, YouTube

Charley Plymell notes: "I first met Grant at B's [William Burroughs] funeral. Charles Henri Ford has a cameo in this and Ray Bremser kissing the bird. Funny story when Angelica, daughter of keyboard jazz great, Paul Bley, who lives here, brought the bird to the party, Claude [Pelieu] said 'I deedn't know whether to say tweet tweet or twat twat!'"

Charles Plymell, from Kansa, Land of the Wind People, autobiographical sketch, 12/2002; Now at Beats In Kansas, 2009

Charles Plymell The Last of the Moccasins, 1996 ('Vortex' excerpt) Beats in Kansas

Minutemen: A Tribute To "We Jam Econo" - an original moment in time, man! about guitarist D. Boon, bassist Mike Watt and drummer George Hurley, written by Charles Plymell in the winter of 2007/2008.

Charles Plymell & Mike Watt, August 2008

Major Kansas Beat Deity: Interview With Beat Poet Charles Plymell, by Jon Randall

Charles Plymell: The Benzedrine Highway Interview, by Paul Hawkins, Jack Magazine, photographs

Comments from poet and life-long friend Roxie Powell, writer Hammond Guthrie, filmmaker Laki Vazakas, poet Ginger Killian Eades, and musician Mike Watt.

Charles Plymell: Low Ridin' To The Ghost Dance, video by Laki Vazakas, YouTube

"Pat O'Connor playing to my dancing at Wichita Art Museum. The Hotel Eaton is where I took Ginsberg and Robert Frank flew from NY to film us but I've never seen his film. The rest is mostly in Cherry Valley, NY." CP

Charles Plymell reads "Bennies From Heaven" poem Wichita Art Museum, June 4, 1999; video by Laki Vazakas, YouTube

Charley Plymell biography, at Cherry Valley Editions

founded in 1974 by Charles and Pamela Beach Plymell and Josh Norton: poetry and fiction from Herbert Huncke, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Claude Pelieu and Mary Beach.

Charles Plymell reads "Charles Henri Ford's Last Prints" at Ecstatic Yod, video by Laki Vazakas, YouTube; from Hand on the Doorknob, by Charles Plymell, amazon.com

("After the famous Gough St. bash where the Beats met the Hippies, Allen [Ginsberg] invited me over for a light dinner. He was just back from India and trying to get Neal [Cassady] settled in...")

New section: Robert Branaman, July 2009

Robert Ronnie Branaman, aka Barbital Bob, by Charley Plymell

Art Coyote: Robert Branaman, 2008

Monterey Dance Concert Poster, Robert Ronnie Branaman, July 1966, Beats In Kansas

San Francisco Oracle No. 9 backcover by Robert Ronnie Branaman, August 1967 Beats In Kansas

"William S. Burroughs: A Man Within", new feature-length documentary by Yony Leyser

50th Anniversary Celebration of William S. Burroughs' The Naked Lunch, Chicago Public Radio, includes audio of Peter Weller, Anne Waldman, Bill Ayers, John Giorno

Interview with Yony Leyser, director of the documentary "William S. Burroughs: A Man Within"

Naked Lunch At 50, The Bourgeois Pig - Sue Ashline and Dalton Howard provide music; Phil Heying, Jim McCrary, and Karl Gridley; James Grauerholz; and Wayne Propst.

Naked Lunch At 50, Lawrence Celebration, The Bourgeois Pig, August 2, Lawrence, KS; Phil Heying photographer; flickr photo stream

Updated: Naked Lunch@50: Symposium, organized by Dr. Oliver Harris, 2009, Paris

Hikuta! Tom Peschio on William Burroughs and His Guns, [T.P. was close friend and helper of W.S.B.], realitystudio.org

New: The Lost Art of Ah Pook is Here, Malcolm McNeill & William S. Burroughs Word/Image Novel

"Observed While Falling: Bill Burroughs, Ah Pook and Me," by Malcolm McNeill [Excerpts]

New Photograph: Beat writer William S. Burroughs with James Grauerholz, behind Jazzhaus, 1995, by Global Street Photographer Gary Mark Smith

Letter to Bill Burroughs: Tangiers Revisited, by C. Woww

Malcolm McNeill Interview on William Burroughs, Ah Puch Is Here, Emmy award winning artist McNeill worked with Burroughs in London during early 1970s, on comic series, The Unspeakable Mr. Hart, and graphic novel, Ah Puch Is Here (aka, Ah Pook is Here)

"Shooting Joan Burroughs" : Beat Generation writer William S. Burroughs at home, Lawrence, 1997. UFOs and Joan Vollmer Burroughs death. Article and photographs by George Laughead

The Inner Circle: Memories collected from the FOBs (friends of Burroughs), by Frank Tankard, 2007

S. Clay Wilson's medical crisis -- hard to explain that without his art, the total visual palette used today would be different.

Donations May 2009 address:
S. Clay Wilson Special Needs Trust [official site]
PO Box 14854
San Francisco CA 94114

William Burroughs, Jim McCrary, S. Clay Wilson -- on William's porch.

Corban LePell, University of Nebraska, 1955-1956; writings and paintings, Artistic Journey by Sylvia Smith Kleindinst

New: The Black Experience and the Blues in 1950s Wichita & Folk Music Clubs In Wichita: Melody And Protest & The Weasels: Underground Success of A Kansas Rock Group, all by Patrick J. O'Connor

• Why this site?  Seymour Krim's The Beats, Dodge City and 1963, by George Laughead

  

  ...the movement that became labeled "the Beats" started all over America in the post-WWII 1940s and early 1950's. The end of "the Beats" may have come as early as 1965, but for those of us living in Lawrence, KS, the 1968 closing of the unique Abington Book Shop, and its owner John E. Fowler moving, certainly marked one ending point....

  That Beat writer William S. Burroughs, the godfather of the Beat Generation, lived long and died in Kansas marks another.
  

  'Anybody can make Paris holy, but I can make Topeka holy.' Jack Kerouac

William S. Burroughs, Lawrence

• William Burroughs Photo Gallery
  February 5, 1914 - August 2, 1997; by George Laughead Beats In Kansas

• William S. Burroughs Memorial Service - Eulogy: Remarks on Behalf of the Community, by Professor Tim Miller, KU Religious Studies Dean, 6 August 1997. Posted 5 December 2006, realitystudio.org
• The Life of William S. Burroughs: A timeline
• Ten Years Gone: Assigning William S. Burroughs a place in local space-time, by Frank Tankard
• Bardo in Kansas (for William S. Burroughs) by Patricia Elliott, Lawrence, Literary Kicks
• Bardo, or Death Journey, of William Seward Burroughs by Denise Low, Lawrence; Photographs by Jon Blumb
• William S. Burroughs, The Biography Project at popsubculture.com
• William S. Burroughs, 1914 - 1997, Biography from rotten.com
• Burroughs and Dharma, Naropa University talk on William S. Burroughs, by James Grauerholz, 1999 [Burroughs' editor, heir, adopted son]
• Ah Puch Is Here Malcolm McNeill & William Burroughs, art work for unpublished image novel by McNeill and William Burroughs [text only version, Ah Pook Is Here]
• William S. Burroughs: The Man Within -- a movie by Yony Leyser,2009
• William S. Burroughs Interview, by Gregory Corso and Allen Ginsberg ; Journal For the Protection of All People 1961
• William Burroughs Interview, by Bill Rich, Talk Talk, Lawrence, 1981
• William S. Burroughs Papers Guide and Inventory, Ohio State University Libraries, compiled by John M. Bennett, 1999
• William S. Burroughs and William S. "Billy" Burroughs, Jr. reading , August 15, 1979, Naropa University Archive
• William Burroughs Interview on the Vision of Writing by Paris Review, 1965 [.pdf file]
• William S. Burroughs, Photographs by Jon Blumb, Lawrence; Beach Museum of Art, Manhattan
• William S. Burroughs & Allen Ginsberg: "PJ Morning at Learned Street," Lawrence, Kansas; Photograph by Pat Elliott
• William S. Burroughs with Cat, Photograph, April 1997, Lawrence, KS; by George Laughead
• William S. Burroughs Feeding Fish Photograph, March 1997, Lawrence, KS; by George Laughead
• William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, Last public appearance together, Photograph, Nov. 2, 1996, Lawrence
• William Burrough' view from his orgone box with Burroughs' art on his garage windows. Photograph, March 26, 1997, Lawrence
• William S. Burroughs & Allen Ginsberg Bibliography UCLA Library Special Collections
• William S. Burroughs and Patti Smith, Photograph, Nova Convention Revisited, 1996, Lawrence
• Nova Convention Revisited, 1996
• Report on "River City Reunion" The Beat Generation Poetry Festival, by Roy Lisker, September 13, 1987, Lawrence [.pdf file]
• Hell, Man, I'm Not Gonna Shoot 'Em Way Out There! article and Burroughs photographs by Jon Blumb
• Anne Waldman, Poet; Photograph, at William Burroughs' funeral banquet, James Grauerholz's house, Aug. 6, 1997, Lawrence
• William Burroughs Grave and Burroughs Family Plot Bellefontaine Cemetery, St. Louis, MO, Photographs
• William Burroughs Book Covers, including many front covers of different language versions, and rare out-of-print editions
• Calling Dr. Burroughs, William S. Burroughs interview by Victor Bockris, Lawrence, 1990
• Robert Creeley: On Burroughs, August 1997, Literary Kicks
• Cold War Correspondents: Ginsberg, Kerouac, Cassady, and the Political Economy of Beat Letters, by Dr. Oliver Harris, Dept. of American Studies, Keele University, England [leading eminent Burroughs scholar]
• Cutting up the Archive: William Burroughs and the Composite Text, by Dr. Oliver Harris, 25 May 2007, realitystudio.org
• The Death of William Burroughs Meditative visit and list of items buried with Burroughs, by poet John Giorno [Burroughs' friend and lover in the mid-1960s]
• John Giorno Reading "Death of William Burroughs" Poem, video by Antonello Faretta
• Everything Lost, the Latin American Notebook of William S. Burroughs: The Inside Story, by Oliver Harris, Dec. 2007, realitystudio.org
• The Lost Years of William S. Burroughs: Beats in South Texas, by Rob Johnson, Texas A&M University Press, May 2006 [review on RealityStudio.org]
• Open Directory Project: William S. Burroughs [human edited directory of William Burroughs links]
• The Pope of Advant Garde, William Burroughs, by Tom Huckabee, Austin Chronicle, 1997
• Ports of Entry; William Burroughs and the Arts, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
• Burroughs Live: Curated by José Férez exhibition marks the mid point between the tenth anniversary of William Burroughs’ death and the fiftieth anniversary of the first publication of his best known novel Naked Lunch; Royal Academy, London; 8 Dec 2008 — 19 Jan 2009
• "Naropa: The Good ol' Days," given by James Grauerholz the early years of Naropa focusing mostly on William Burroughs Sr. and his son Billy Burroughs Jr., Naropa University. June 17. 2003
• "Remembering William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg," by Jim McCrary, Lawrence, Beats In Kansas [Burroughs friend and office manager. Also, 1960s John Fowler associate. Poet. Posted: 23 September 2002]
• "Seven Souls", William Burroughs, More Routines

• "Shooting Joan Burroughs" Beat Generation writer William S. Burroughs at home, Lawrence, 1997. UFOs and Joan Vollmer Burroughs death. Article and photographs by George Laughead , Beats In Kansas
• Joan Vollmer Burroughs Links
• Joan Vollmer Burroughs, 1924-1951, Poem by Allen Ginsberg
• Joan Vollmer Adams Biography, Literary Kicks
• "The Death of Joan Vollmer Burroughs," by James Grauerholz, a 70-page
  essay on the question of William Burroughs' motives in shooting Joan Vollmer Burroughs. Massive details on the murder conviction of William Burroughs in Mexico; posted 9 Dec 03, lawrence.com
• William S Burroughs and Kurt Cobain: A Dossier, RealityStudio, 18 February 2007 [Cobain, 1967-1994]
• "Bill and Tony", William Burroughs and Bryon Gysin, movie clip, circa 1960
• Wild Bill's Cat-Cam, William S. Burroughs in Lawrence. Videos by Wayne Propst, Lawrence [Wayne Propst was an associate of John Fowler in the 1960s and longtime William Burroughs friend.]
• "Honesty Marked William's Work," by James Grauerholz, Lawrence Journal-World Letter to Editor
  [James Grauerholz is William S. Burroughs' editor, heir, and adopted son.]
• Interview with James Grauerholz about Billy Burroughs, Lawrence-Journal World, Sept. 24, 2006
• The Burroughs Guy: An interview with James Grauerholz,
  William S. Burroughs' editor, heir and adopted son, by Tom King
• Malcolm McNeill & William Burroughs, Ah Puch Is Here art work for unpublished image novel, by McNeill and William Burroughs
• Artist Malcolm McNeill art work with Beat writer William S. Burroughs, Beats In Kansas
• Naked Lunch At 50, Lawrence Celebration, The Bourgeois Pig, August 2009
• Birth of The Beats is Born, 64 years later, interview with editor James Grauerholz about And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks, 2008
• Back Beat: by George Kimball; Kerouac and Burroughs's co-authored noir novel, And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks, resurfaces, Boston Phoenix, 2008
• 421 W 118th Street - Apt. 62. Building where Joan Vollmer Adams & Edie Parker lived - 1943-44 -- where Jack Kerouac was staying when Lucien Carr came to tell him that he had killed David Kammerer

Beat Vortex, Wichita

• The Beat Vortex Wichita, 1947-1966, (includes Bruce Conner, Dave Haselwood,
  Michael McClure, Charles Plymell, Lee Streiff), by Lee Streiff, Wichita
  [The late Lee Streiff, close friend from youth of many other more famous Beats, remained to teach high school English in Wichita, KS. His former students include university deans that stayed in touch. Lee Streiff's influence on his Beat peers -- Conner, Haselwood, McClure -- should be better known. The Wichita Vortex attracted even Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg to visit. March 2009 -- archive.org copy, original off-line]
• A Blackout Tavern: Study in 1960s Folklore, by Pat O'Connor, Wichita; Beats In Kansas
• "Chances R"; Gay Wichita in the Beat Era, by Lee Streiff
• Flashbacks! Wichita Vortex Era art and photographs [archive.org copy]
• MONTAGE Film Series Wichita Film Society by Ben Urish [included Wayne D. Sourbeer, Corban LePell, Charles Plymell]
• Moody's Skidrow Beanery: Moody Connell, 1960s Hoboes and Beatniks,
  by Pat O'Connor, Wichita, Photographs: Beats In Kansas
• Dave Haselwood, Lee Streiff and Michael McClure, Photograph, 1951, Wichita, KS [very early Beat Generation photo]
• The Wichita Group by James Johnson, 1950s [Bruce Conner, Michael McClure, Enrique Riveron, David Bernard, Rex Hall, Jim Davis, Skip Harwick, Robert Kiskadden] archive.org copy
• Wes Race: Cryptic Whalin', Poet and self confessed "Blues Spectatin` Fool" came out of the Wichita Vortex in the 1950s
• Wes Race: Cryptic Whalin' Audio [Charley Plymell's in the piece]

Robert R. Branaman, Wichita

• Barbital Bites: Robert R. Branaman Exhibition in LA , Branaman is a film maker, printmaker and artist, and was an integral part of the Wichita Vortex of the 1950s, a friend of Bruce Connor, Charles Plymell, Roxie Powell, Michael McClure, Dave Haselwood
• Robert Ronnie Branaman, 1966 Monterey Concert Poster
• The Art of Bob Branaman, video by J. Grant Buckerfield, Art Coyote Gallery, Venice Beach, CA, 2008
• Experimental Films By Robert Branaman, praised by Underground Film scholar Sheldon Renan: "for their dynamic throbbing flow of light and space produced by the continual use of multiple-imposition."
• MoMA | Cinematography by Bruce Conner and Robert Branaman, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
• End Of An Era In Venice Beach La - Sponto Passes Away, details by the artist Robert Branaman aka Barbital Bob aka Rapid Ronnie

John Gary Brown, Lawrence

• John Gary Brown, (G. Brown), Lawrence
• John Gary Brown, Creede Repertory Theatre, Creede, CO
• Soul in the Stone photographs, John Gary Brown, Lawrence

Bruce Conner, McPherson and Wichita

• Bruce Conner Dead at 74, NY Times, Nov. 18, 1933 - July 07, 2008
• America is Waiting, Brian Eno and David Byrne, directed by Bruce Conner, 1982
• Bruce Conner Oral History Interview Conducted by Paul Cummings; Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1973 ["Wichita was a formative period. I don't know what kind of formatives. I can't judge, except that I know there are certain points that are important for myself."]
• Bruce Conner, 2000 BC: Part II Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
• Bruce Conner, On artnet
• Bruce Conner Prints, Magnolia Editions
• "Bruce Conner in the Cultural Breach" by Kristine McKenna, Los Angeles Times, June 10, 1990
• Bruce Conner 1965 photographs by Larry Keenan Beat Generation Gallery
• Bruce Conner with Dennis Hopper, 1996 photograph by Larry Keenan
• Devo - Mongoloid (A film by Bruce Conner)

Ed Dorn, Lawrence

• "The Cosmology of Finding Your Spot" Poem by Ed Dorn, 1969, Lawrence, Beats In Kansas [Ed Dorn on beer with Wayne Propst, George Kimball and The Great White Dog of the Rock Chalk Bar.]
• Edward Dorn 1929 - 1999, The Independent Buffalo, NY, 1999. Electronic Poetry Center Library [The Gunslinger, a major American long poem, is Dorn's best known work. "...the mission bells are ringing in Kansas."]
• Edward Dorn, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 1999. [Ed Dorn and Black Mountain College information.]

John E. Fowler, Lawrence

• John Ezra Fowler "Appreciations and Observations: A Collection of 8 Sets of Poems"
• John Ezra Fowler "Klee Poems" from GRIST On-Line
• GRIST Magazine On-Line #1 1993, by John E. Fowler
  (includes Charles Plymell, George Kimball, Jim McCrary, Rob Rusk)
• Fowler’s Blog: Poems and other Writings, John Ezra Fowler

Allen Ginsberg, "Wichita Vortex Sutra"

• "Howl" poem 50th Anniversary, October 7, 1955 - 2005 [Parts I, II, III] [six at the 6 Gallery, San Francisco]
• Audio files of Ginsberg reading "Howl" [8-bit]
• History of Howl, City Lights Books, San Francisco
• The Poet That Changed America, tribute to Allen Ginsberg on the 50th anniversary of the publication of "Howl" from Naropa University [.pdf file]
• San Francisco Renaissance: 6 Poets at 6 Gallery by Al Aronowitz
• After 50 Years, Ginsberg's 'Howl' Still Resonates , Oct. 7, 2005, NPR
• Allen Ginsberg in Wichita An analysis of "Wichita Vortex Sutra" poem, by Lee Streiff
• Allen Ginsberg's Vortex Photographs by J. Johnson and Lee Streiff [archive.org copy]
• "Wichita Vortex Sutra," Allen Ginsberg (1966); allen ginsberg trust, new york, new york [.pdf file, complete text, archive.org copy]
• On "Wichita Vortex Sutra," Modern American Poetry
• Wichita Vortex Sutra, by Philip Glass [Piano music, written for Allen Ginsberg to read his poem.]
• Conversation On Death: Allen Ginsberg & Philomene Long Thomas [Poet Long is the Beat Queen of Venice, California]
• Allen Ginsberg On-Line Poems
• Allen Ginsberg Trust, official site with "never-before-published text, photos, hand-written documents and audio and video materials representing Ginsberg's life-work"
• Remembering Allen Ginsberg, by Paul Krassner [1982 Naropa University panel on "Political Fallout of the Beat Generation." The panelists: Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Abbie Hoffman and Timothy Leary]
• Allen Ginsberg and his world: photos by Gordon Ball, Ball edited three books with poet Allen Ginsberg, including Pulitzer Prize nominee Allen Verbatim.

David Haselwood, Wichita

• David Haselwood Interview, by David Chadwick from Crooked Cucumber, 1995
• The Moon Eye and other poems (1951-1954), by Dave Haselwood; from Wichita Vortex site
• David Haselwood Photographs by Larry Keenan Beat Generation Gallery
• Stone Creek Zen Center, Joko David Haselwood, Sensei, associate teacher, Graton, CA
• Adrift on the Sea, Joko David Haselwood, Dharma talk, August 23, 2009 [mp3 zip file]
• Zen Path, Joko David Haselwood Dharma talk, May 25, 2008 [mp3 zip file]

Dennis Hopper, Dodge City and Wichita

• Dennis Hopper Photo Exhibit, cnn.com
• Dennis Hopper, Bruce Conner, Michael McClure and Allen Ginsberg; Photographs by Larry Keenan Beat Generation Gallery
• Dennis Hopper with Bruce Conner; Photograph by Larry Keenan
• Dennis Hopper Internet Movie Database

Ronald Johnson, Ashland and Topeka

• Ronald Johnson The Book of the Green Man from Light and Dust Anthology of Poetry
• Ronald Johnson The Shrubberies; Review from Flashpoint Magazine
• Ronald Johnson from The Shrubberies, Facture Magazine No. 1
• Ronald Johnson (1935-1998) from Jargon Society
• Ronald Johnson, Map of Kansas Literature, Washburn University
• Ronald Johnson Memorial Plaque, Washburn University, Ward-Meade Park, Topeka [May 25, 2005 dedication]
• Ronald Johnson Interview, by Peter O’Leary, November 19, 1995
• Ronald Johnson: The Earth From Space, by Josh Corey
• Ronald Johnson, 62, Poet Of Critically Acclaimed 'Ark', New York Times, March 8, 1998
• To Do As Adam Did: Selected Poems, Ronald Johnson, Review by Brad Haas, Talisman House, 2000
• Tribute to Ronald Johnson (1935-1998)

George Kimball, Lawrence

• George Kimball Guest-editor, Ploughshares Literary Journal, Summer 1972
• George Kimball biography, by Thomas Hauser, 2006
• The Sweetest Science: Veteran boxing scribe George Kimball revives the era when a distinguished quartet of pugilists ruled the sport.
• George Kimball in Lawrence

Dr. Timothy Leary, Lawrence

• Dr. Timothy Leary, River City Reunion, photograph, September 12, 1987, Liberty Hall, Lawrence; by Doug L. Miller, Beats In Kansas
• Dr. Timothy Leary on stage, River City Reunion, 1987, Liberty Hall, Lawrence, Beats In Kansas
• Timothy Leary on William Burroughs, Brion Gysin, and Bou Saada, realitystudio.org
• Timothy Leary Silhouette, By Stephen Bello, Harvard Crimson, October 13, 1965 [Harvard student Bello later writes Hill Street Blues]
• The Houseboat Summit: Featuring Timothy Leary, Gary Snyder, Alan Watts and Allen Ginsberg, February, 1967, Sausalito, California, San Francisco Oracle
• Testimony of Timothy Leary in the Chicago Seven Trial, 1969-1970 [concerning the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Chicago]
• Dr. Timothy Leary Interview, interview by Russell D. Hoffman on his radio show High Tech Today, September 8, 1995
• Dr. Timothy Leary Ph.D. Biography, wikipedia
• The Eternal Philosophy of Chaos, by Timothy Leary, 1994, from Chaos and Cyberculture
• Timothy Leary's Ultimate Trip (before his passing), Ronin Publishing
• "Why Not?" - The Last Laugh of Timothy Leary
• Dr. Timothy Leary, Ph.D. ("The use of psychedelics for spiritual purposes was started in the 50s by Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs." Tim Leary )
• Interview with Dr. Timothy Leary, Part I, Part II, at Millbrook, circa 1964, YouTube
• Walter Pahnke's "Good Friday Experiment": 1962 [experiments with psilocybin; Timothy Leary, principal academic advisor], A Long-Term Follow-Up and Methodological Critique, by Rick Doblin, Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1991

Corban LePell, Wichita

• Corban LePell, University of Nebraska, 1955; writings and paintings, Artistic Journey by Sylvia Smith Kleindinst
• Corban LePell letter on art, 1955, from Artistic Journey
• Montage I: Paint and Painter, film by Wayne D. Sourbeer; Painter: Corban LePell, circa 1959
• Corban LePell Painting, Permanent collection, Haywood, CA Area Forum of the Arts

Michael McClure, Marysville and Wichita

 
6 POETS AT 6 GALLERY  
--------------------

Philip Lamantia reading mss. of late John
Hoffman-- Mike McClure, Allen Ginsberg,
Gary Snyder & Phil Whalen--all sharp new
straightforward writing-- remarkable coll-
ection of angels on one stage reading
their poetry. No charge, small collection
for wine, and postcards. Charming event.

Kenneth Rexroth, M.C.

8 PM Friday Night October 7, 1955

6 Gallery 3119 Fillmore St.
San Fran
   

• 6 poets at 6 Gallery, October 7, 1955
[Michael McClure, Philip Lamantia, Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, Phil Whalen, Kenneth Rexroth]
• Michael McClure Biography from Literary Kicks
• What Are Souls? An Interview with Michael McClure, by Jack Foley, 2001 [includes discussion of Six Gallery reading, 1955, of "For the Death of 100 Whales"]
• Michael McClure: An Anthology of Poems Light and Dust Anthology of Poetry
• Michael McClure Home Page from Light and Dust Anthology of Poetry
• McClure-Manzarek.com, Michael McClure and Ray Manzarek ("The Doors")
• Michael McClure and the late "Freewheelin" Frank Reynolds: A Memorial
  Photographs by Larry Keenan
• Michael McClure Photographs by Larry Keenan, Beat Generation Gallery
• A Mammal Gallery, by Michael McClure [From Scratching the Beat Surface, 1982]
• The Poetry Of Michael McClure: a Scientist's View by Francis Crick (discover of DNA in 1953)
• Michael McClure: A Selected Bibliography, 1956-2002, empty mirror books

James McCrary, Lawrence

• James McCrary: An introduction by John E. Fowler, GRIST On-Line
• Jim McCrary: Ad Astra Poetry Project #24, by Denise Low, Kansas Poet Laureate
• James (Jim) McCrary "Poems of the Place," GRIST On-Line
• James McCrary "West of Mass, Part II" from GRIST On-Line
• Jim McCrary, Black Springs, the Lawrence Issue, 2005
• Jim McCrary Interview, by Tom Beckett, April 25, 2006
• Poet & anti-poet: The duality of Lawrence writer Jim McCrary, by Tom King, Nov. 19, 2009

James Mechem, Wichita and Topeka

• James Mechem Writer, Caprice magazine publisher, New York, NY, 2003;
  Interview and photographs by Denise Low, Kansas Poet Laureate, 2007-2009, Lawrence, Beats In Kansas [Beat Generation writer and native Kansan, talks about life at 80]

Moondog, Marysville, New York and Recklinghausen

• Moondog Official Site
• Moondog (Louis T. Hardin) Biography
• The Life And Works Of Moondog (Louis Hardin), 1918-1999 Discography
• Moondog, wikipedia
• The Viking of Sixth Avenue: Louis Hardin 'Moondog' Composer, multi-instrumentalist, May 26, 1916 - Sept. 8, 1999 in Munster, Germany

Patrick J. O'Connor, Wichita

• Cowboy Blues: Early Black Music In The West
• Minstrel and Medicine Shows -- Creating a Market for the Blues
• The Weasels: Underground Success of A Kansas Rock Group
• With Music the Ammunition -- Battles of the Bands in Wichita in the 1960s

Charles Plymell, Holcomb, Lawrence and Wichita

At Burroughs's services, Lawrence, Kansas, August 6, 1997
 
The Muse Is Satiated, well paid
Her Splayed Wand, still sparking
Her Stray Cats all found a pillow
Her Nefarious Boy came home
Osiris, share Thy Vortex Throne
                    
                                                 -Charles Plymell

• Charles Plymell, from Kansa, Land of the Wind People [Autobiographical sketch] 12/02, Beats In Kansas
• Pioneers Audrey and Fred Plymell, by Charley Plymell
• Charles Plymell Biography, wikipedia
• New: Poet Charles Plymell Ad Astra Poetry Project # 33, by Denise-Low, Kansas Poet Laureate, 2009
• Charles Plymell The Last of the Moccasins, 1996 ('Vortex' excerpt) Beats in Kansas
• Charles Plymell — "Journals From Lysidia", synaesthesia press
• Charles Plymell, Dharma Beats Outfielder Cosmic Baseball Association
• Charles Plymell "Anne and Neal [Cassady] at 1403 Gough St., San Francisco, 1963" Goblin Archives
• Charles Plymell Interview by Catfish McDaris, GRIST On-Line, June 1996
• Charles Plymell "Six" Poems from GRIST On-Line
• "The Frisco Kid, 1963", by Charles Plymell (on Neal Cassady)
• "Spew Alley (for uncle Bill)", by Charles Plymell
• Charles Plymell "Always Whacko in Waco" Poem from Thunder Sandwich #16
• Charles Plymell and Now: Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker by Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting, realitystudio.org
• Charles Plymell Collection, Wichita State University Libraries
• "The Prince of Tides," A Timely Fable by Charles Plymell, 1999
• November 3, 1998; Dark Afternoon for Ray Bremser, poem by Charles Plymell, Evergreen Review
• "On Ray Bremser" with photograph of Ray Bremser, Charles Plymell and Grant Hart in front of Allen Ginsberg's farmhouse at the Committee on Poetry, Cherry Valley, NY, August 1998, Evergreen Review
• Armageddon Rapture Headed End-time Blues, by Charles Plymell, at St. Mark's on the Bowery, Bowery Poetry Project, 2006
• "Pope Visits Mexico" poem by Charles Plymell, Underground Voices
• Charley Plymell in Austria, by Paul Hawkins

Roxie Powell, Wichita

• Roxie Powell Wild Whispers Chapbook introduction from Synaesthesia Press. Robert Peters said of Powell’s first chapbook, "anyone anxious for an original experience in poetry will love Dreams of Straw." Allen Ginsberg paid for a second printing of the book. Friend of Charley Plymell and Dave Haselwood.
• Roxie Powell Poems from lightweb.com
• Roxie Powell Poetry from Thunder Sandwich #19
• Roxie Powell on MySpace

Wayne Propst, Lawrence

• Wayne Propst from Who owns Jack Kerouac?
• William S. Burroughs and friends, video by Wayne Propst
• Wayne Propst MySpace, with more videos of William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Patti Smith
• On William Burroughs: Interview with Wayne Propst, 2007

Lee Streiff, Wichita

• Lee Streiff: Writer, Poet, Teacher; July 14, 1932 - August 1, 2004 - includes tribute by Tim Miller
• Wichita Vortex Lee Streiff's Beat Generation site [large collection of early 1950s photographs; archive.org copy]
• Poems by Lee Streiff, from Vortex Press [archive.org copy]

Glenn Todd, Wichita

• Shaped Poetry, edited by Glenn Todd
• The Ballad of Lemon and Crow, by Glenn Todd, art by Bruce Conner

Anne Waldman, Boulder, CO

• Anne Waldman Biography, litkicks.com
• Anne Walman from Museums of Modern Poetics, Interviews, Links, Works
• Anne Waldman, wikipedia.org
• Poet Anne Waldman at W. Burroughs' funeral banquet, Photograph, Aug. 6, 1997, Lawrence
• Anne Waldman Statement On War, Sept. 18, 2001

S. Clay Wilson, Lawrence

• Comic Creator: S. Clay Wilson
• S. Clay Wilson Pen & ink drawings from Wilson's Grimm
• S. Clay Wilson Color print examples

Edgar Wolfe, Lawrence

• Edgar Wolfe Poet and Cottonwood Review mentor

Magazines, Books, General Sites

• Beat Generation Books a powells.com bookstore partner
• Beat Literature Open Directory Project [human edited directory of links]
• The Beat Generation and the Sixties: a guide to web resources, by Alan Keig, University of Adelaide [great non-USA view of the Beats]
• "The birth of the beatnik", by James Campbell, author of This is the Beat Generation, 1999 [Excellant background to the naming of the beatniks by Herb Caen -- Sputnik 1 went into orbit October 4, 1957, the day after "Howl" was cleared by Judge Horn in San Francisco]
• Black Spring: "Lawrence, Kansas" issue with poetics by Ken Irby, Judy Roitman, John Moritz, Caryn Goldberg, Jim McCrary, Monica Peck, Jonathon Mayhew and Hawkman.
• Books by the Beat Generation Nice review of major books (collectables) by the Beats, by Dr. Donald W. Miller, Jr.
• Ashleigh Brilliant, Artist and writer, creator of pot-shots cartoons, famous for their 17-word limit. Since 1967, Brilliant epigrams have influenced us all - "I Want to Reach Your Mind... Where Is It Currently Located?" [did visit Dodge City, KS in 2005 -- to see inside of grain elevators.]
• Neal Cassady Estate, official site [with help from Mrs. Carolyn Cassady (email, August 2007); "I've no idea if Neal ever spent any time in Kansas. He very likely passed through there, but if he doesn't mention it in The First Third, I doubt it. [Neal writes a letter to Jack Kerouac, July 2, 1949, (page 192; 1981 edition) about going to Wichita, KS to get car tags for his first car, then through Russell, KS, and briefly jail, on his way back to Denver.] When he and I and our kids went to visit grandparents (as described in my book Off The Road), we stopped in Kansas City for a brief chat with his half-brother, Jimmy. We may even have spent the night there--I forget exactly where."]
• Beat related news updates from Cassady family [40th anniversary of The Summer of Love]
• Chiron Review, Michael Hathaway, Editor, St. John
• City Lights Books, San Francisco [Lawrence Ferlinghetti's great store; Ferlinghetti did ride around Lawrence, KS in March 1970 with site author, while playing a lap dulcimer.]
• Everygreen Review, founded in 1957 by Barney Rosset, publisher of Grove Press. The second issue declared the "San Francisco Scene," and was the first collection of work by the new Beat writers - including Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gary Snyder, Michael McClure, Philip Whalen, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsberg.
• First Intensity Magazine; Lee Chapman, founding editor, Lawrence
• Cartography--Selected Poems 1968-1998, by John Moritz
• "Haight Ashbury Song Book", by Ashleigh Brilliant, 1967, San Francisco, CA [cover image, original]
• Hemp History Archives, 1971, Lawrence
• Larry Keenan, Counter-Culture Photographer, exhibit of his photographs, potent view of the Beat Generation and beyond. Keenan captures many essential moments -- of Ginsberg, Whalen, Cassady, Corso, McClure, Dylan, and many others.
• Larry Keenan Interview, by Bill Ectric, billectric.org
• Jack Kerouac's On the Road, NPR
• The Last Riders On Route 66, Novel by Chet Nichols, Lawrence; Amazon.com
• Billygoon Party Rap, The Fabulous Billygoons music video [Broad St. Gym, Boston, 1982 - click on 'clip info'], Boston [Site author's post-punk 1980s rock friends. Thank you, Tommy White and Scott Lindberg. Barb Kitson, Thrills singer, RIP.]
• Doctor Felix Kruell's Kino Digital Music Videos, Buzzcocks, "What Do I Get?" [Bradford Hotel, Boston, 1980]; Unnatural Axe "Media Blitz" [The Rat, Boston, 1979] ; The Neighborhoods "Monday Morning" [The Rat/BFVF, Boston, 1979]
• Broad Street: 1980s Boston Urban History "The lurid carnival continues - in the Pax Americana Babylonia"
• Tony Moffeit, Publeo, CO, Outlaw Poetry Movement, winner of the Jack Kerouac Award from Cherry Valley Editions [new friend of Kansas]
• Naropa University - Audio Archive Project; Massive oral collection from Buddhist university; includes Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, William S. Burroughs, Philip Whalen, Michael McClure, Gary Snyder, Diane DiPrima, Lawrence Ferlinghetti
• On & Off Beat: Kerouac's Beat Etymologies, by Bent Sørensen, Philament Online Journal, University of Sydney
• Poetry Center and American Poetry Archives, San Francsico State University [artist biographies and MP3 audio files]

Beats In Kansas Beat Generation T-Shirts, Mugs & Hats

WWW-VL: US: 1950s History

WWW-VL: US: 1960s History

WWW-VL: United States History