Here are some recent poetic gleanings from my many delightful Youtube hours. Allen Ginsberg really got around and very often the cameras were rolling. His habit of always talking about himself is fully evident in these clips. But fortunately the people he's talking to are very important characters, and they even get to say a few words themselves.
First is Neal Cassady, who looks rather wan but at one time was supposed to be able to throw a football 70 yards. That's still 30 yards less than Rudy "The Rifle" Bukich, a Chicago Bears qb of the early 60s who is said to have had the strongest arm ever. Bukich at least got to play pro ball -- he was a high school teacher in the offseason -- while Neal got taken for a ride in more ways than one by Ken Kesey and his acid heads. As everyone knows, Neal Cassady died walking along some railroad tracks in Mexico. But here he is again, once Ginsberg shuts up...
And here's Bob Dylan, also trying (but not too hard) to get a word in edgewise as he and Allen visit Kerouac's grave. There's no question that Bob is the absolute avatar of cool. Nobody else has ever come close. Notice the outfit he wears with perfect aplomb, and how he stares off into the distance as Ginsberg talks about himself...
And I can't resist sharing this clip of Bob and Joan Baez singing a startlingly unconventional version of "Blowing in the Wind." It's from the famous Rolling Thunder tour of 1976...
