“We write because we believe the human spirit cannot be tamed and should not be trained.” NG (Home sick today watching The Black List, Volume 1 and the amazing Suzan-Lori Parks talking about the amazing Nikki Giovanni.)
Tonight, a birthday party combining two of my favorite things: RE/Search Publications and William Burroughs.
I'm old now, but when I was young you could talk me into anything. I had an open mind. So when I saw the ad saying some "professional writers" needed an "adventurous girl" to "interview for fictional purposes," I was intrigued, especially when the ad went on to say that by simply answering questions, I could "make an important contribution to American Literature." I had always wanted to make an important contribution to something, so I threw on my coat, grabbed my purse, and went straight to the address listed in the paper.
In 1990, Marianne Faithful taught a workshop at Naropa with Hal Willner. She was just about to perform in The Seven Deadly Sins in London, and she sang for us: Working Class Hero, Strange Weather, and Ballad of the Soldier's Wife (link is Lennon). Thanks to UE for reminding me.
"You can't show anyone anything he hasn't seen already, on some level - any more than you can tell anyone anything he doesn't already know. It is the function of the artist to evoke the experience of surprised recognition: to show the viewer what he knows but does not know that he knows. Helnwein is a master of surprised recognition." William Burroughs.
There were many amazing things about Naropa in the late eighties. But magic, real, heart-pounding magic? Don Cherry was magic.
