At the encouragement of Bob Dylan, Beat poet Allen Ginsberg went into the studio in 1971 to record his first ever album of music. He then re-entered the studio in 1976 and 1981 and finally in 1983 he compiled all of the recordings (which featured contributions from Dylan, members of his band, and Arthur Russell, and was produced by John Hammond Sr.) onto a double LP called FIrst Blues. Now, 30 years later, Ginsberg Recordings are reissuing the album in vinyl and digital formats, and to celebrate they're throwing a release party in NYC.

The celebration takes place on January 16 at Housing Works Cafe (126 Crosby St.) with Ginsberg's "friends, collaborators, relatives and co-conspirators" Lou Reed, Anne Waldman, Ambrose Bye, CA Conrad, Steven Taylor, Hettie Jones, Arthur's Landing, and others. A limited edition of "500 seven track vinyl that mimics the original style down to the newspaper insert" will be available at Housing Works that night and online.

John Cale

That same night, Lou Reed's Velvet Underground bandmate John Cale will be doing a Nico tribute at BAM (1/16) with a number of guests including Kim Gordon, Sharon Van Etten, Mark Lanegan, Magnetic Fields, and more. Tickets for that show are still available.

John Cale also performs his solo album, Paris 1919 with the 20-piece Wordless Music Orchestra at BAM on January 18 and 19 and tickets for those shows are still available too.

Some song streams from First Blues below...

Continue reading "Allen Ginsberg's 'First Blues' getting a reissue; Lou Reed playing release party (same night as John Cale's Nico tribute)"

As previously mentioned, Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson curated February at the Stone. Along with daily shows by many notables, every Sunday in February, including today (the Superbowl one), is an open house.

EVERY SUNDAY IN FEBRUARY--STONE OPEN HOUSE
Laurie Anderson and Anna Brenner invite you to Stone Open House.
FEEL FREE TO COME IN ANY TIME BETWEEN 3 AND 10PM
From the practical to the theoretical, SOH will be a place to hang out, drink great coffee, read, listen to unusual presentations and invent alternative ways to live and work. Part think tank, part party, SOH will host a series of presentations that cover a wide range of topics- from the history of boilers to teaching music to dogs. In cooperation with Housing Works Book store, SOH will present a library of must-read books for people interested in expanding in unpredictable ways.

2/6 Sunday (KM)
OPEN FROM 3PM TO 10PM
Scheduled Lectures:
4:00 PM--Eyvind Kang: Mood, Being, Acoustic Image (a workshop for bowed strings to which all are welcome, bowed string players should bring instruments!)
6:00 PM--Erik Ehn: Writing is breaking / Writing about genocide
8:00 PM--Roma Baran: Suddenly Jewish
Admission to the Open House is FREE. A TEN DOLLAR fee will be collected from those attending each lecture.

The soundtrack is really good. Largehearted Boy is right. Stream it at AOL. See it live sort of. The actual movie will be playing at Film Forum in NYC. when it opens on November 21st. Trailer and clips below...

Continue reading "I'm Not There"