NAB Communities Podcast Interview: Ellen Pearlman

Ellen Pearlman is a founder of The Brooklyn Rail and is affiliated with nine Utne Independent Press Awards. We ask Pearlman about her recent book, Nothing and Everything: The Influence of Buddhism on the American Avant-Garde.

“Tranced Fixations” — Kerouac’s Breakthrough

On October 7, 1951, Jack went to Birdland to hear the alto saxophonist Lee
Konitz.  The music sounded "so profoundly
interior" to Jack that he was sure very few people would understand it.
In fact, he compared Konitz's extended phrases to the sentences he was
writing lately.  Jack saw that he and the musician were essentially doing the same thing.

Holy Soul Jelly Roll

The Allen Ginsberg Estate is about to re-release in dowloadable format the most comprehensive audio collection the poet ever produced. Volumes have been written about Ginsberg's poetry, but nothing substantial has been written about the songs. Why not? Because poetry is "literature" subject to "literary criticism," and music is not?

Ring of Bone (New and Expanded Edition) Release and Lew Welch Tribute

This Thursday in SF, join Gary Snyder and guests to celebrate the poems by the legendary and mysterious Beat writer, Lew Welch. 

Awaken Your Inner Electronic Power

This Sunday night join A.C. Johner and Julian Reyes for a screening in Brooklyn of their film Electronic Awakening, with Q&A after.

Your Emoticons Won’t Save You: An Interview With Ethan Nichtern

Successful meditation is doing it, developing gentleness toward yourself and enough awareness to
know what's happening when it's happening with a non-judgmental attitude. Progress happens when you start to recognize what you're feeling when
you're feeling it.

Alexander Trocchi and Project Sigma

An
autonomous, self-managed, unalienated power of seamless creativity exists
alongside the old commodified spectacle until such time as it can subsume it
within its new means of creation. It is both science fiction and a business
plan, a utopian future and an almost exact description of sophisticated
spectacular business in the twenty-first century.

The Poem Again is Yours: A Tribute to Ira Cohen

Poet, publisher, photographer, filmmaker, artist-shaman and world traveler Ira Cohen died on
April 25th, 2011. The following article is a tribute from a few of his many friends,
assembled for RS by Steve Dalachinsky.

True Punk: Everything I Say Is a Lie

Two broad streams feed into punk. One is the African stream that since the mid 19th
century has been a wellspring of American popular musics. The other is the
avant-garde stream that since the late 19th century has blurred
the boundaries between art and …

Travels With My Aunt: Part I

When I was 21, I met Allen Ginsberg. We worked and traveled together for 21 years
after that. This is the first part of a memoir-in-progress.