Flannery O’Connor

“On June 1, 1994, Allen Ginsberg gave a poetry reading to nearly 30,000 people—without question the largest audience of his entire career. Then firmly ensconced as the most recognizable American poet alive, Ginsberg read one poem, was booed throughout the entire performance, and walked away. But somewhere between finishing his final line and disappearing down a tunnel, Ginsberg, in perhaps the greatest poet mic drop of all time, stepped onto the pitcher’s mound of Candlestick Park in San Francisco and fired a near-perfect strike over home plate, much to the amazement of the 28,208 half-soused fans officially in attendance. Peace out. Ginsberg has left the building.”

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Matthew Abrams in Bomb Magazine. Allen Ginsberg Takes the Mound by Matthew J. Abrams

Hum Bomb Allen Ginsberg, Torino, Italy, Jan. 24th 1992

Comic legend Jackie Gleason (1916–87) was one of the biggest, most beloved and best paid stars of his time. His role as Ralph Kramden in The Honeymooners remains a veritable classic of television’s early days. As big as his star was, Gleason never shied away from one of his favorite, nonmainstream topics: the occult. A high school dropout with a photographic memory and a major case of insomnia, he was an avid reader and spiritual searcher who looked for answers in the most unexpected places. Gleason was also a confirmed skeptic who believed that some grand cosmic scheme existed, but he could not say what it might ultimately be.
Additionally, Gleason amassed a staggering collection of over 3,000 esoteric books, ranging from scholarly studies to supermarket paperbacks, now part of the holdings of the University of Miami Special Collections Library. Library of the Paranormal lifts the lid on this treasure trove of arcana. A generous selection of colorful and quizzical covers from Charles Fort, L. Ron Hubbard and dozens more are reproduced alongside press excerpts and interviews in which Gleason manages to shoehorn his thoughts on ESP, aliens, life after death and other decidedly off-topic interests, including his failed plans in the early ’50s to produce a television show devoted to paranormal experiences.

Here’s a little lagniappe about one of my favorite filmmakers in one of my favorite places on Earth . What it’s like to take an 11-day filmmaking workshop with Werner Herzog (in the Azores). “Take your camera, get the shot, forgo storyboards, don’t overdo it and, above all else, do the doable.” But also: “What will the local priest think?”