Wednesday Coffee House: Beatniks, Poetry, Prose, & Jazz

The Beat Generation was born out of post-war disillusionment and restlessness. They were a generation of young people struggling to come to terms with the chaos and uncertainties that were a part of their upbringing. Their movement, if it can accurately be called that, manifested itself in literature and poetry, which threw off the traditional, classical format to become a character in and of itself. The Beats attempted to express themselves in a way that was extremely personal and extremely in-your-face. They addressed issues that were taboo at the time, most notably homosexuality and drug use, writing largely for and to each other, sharing life experiences and crying out against an establishment that harbored little space for individuality and protest. ~ Amanda Erickson, The Beat Generation

Before the so-called folk music renaissance found folks sitting in coffee houses and listening to old and new folk songs, there were the Beats. I’ve blogged about the Beat Generation several times because I am enamored with certain aspects of it, such as their pacific response to the absurdities of life.

The coffee house experience of the Beats primarily centered around writers reading their own poetry or prose, occasionally accompanied by music from a single bongo drum to a jazz band. Jazz and bebop were the music of the Beats and one will find numerous references and even allegories regarding especially jazz in Beat writings. For example, listen to improvisers Del Close and John Brent attempting to explain Hip, the supposed language of the Beats:

Basic Hip ~ Del Close and John Brent

Moving on and into the Coffee House, one often found quite a scene (a word that also had a unique hip meaning). Jack Kerouac describes a gathering of beats for a poetry reading in a San Farancisco hipster club. (A note about Kerouac’s writing: most of it was autobiolgraphical—Jack wrote about what he experienced. In the selection below, the fictional names Jack has given his characters are followed [ ] by their real names)

The other poets were either hornrimmed intellectual hepcats with wild black hair like Al­vah Goldbook [Allen Ginsberg], or delicate pale handsome poets like Ike O'Shay [Michael McClure] (in a suit), or out­of-this-world genteel-looking Renaissance Italians like Francis DaPavia [Philip Lamantia] (who looks like a young priest), or bow-tied wild-haired old anarchist fuds like Rheinhold Cacoethes [Kenneth Rexroth], or big fat bespectacled quiet booboos like Warren Coughlin [Philip Whalen]. And all the other hopeful poets were standing around, in various cos­tumes, worn-at-the-sleeves corduroy jackets, scuffly shoes, books sticking out of their pockets. ~ Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums

Besides the reading of poetry and prose, as I wrote above, there was also music. Therefore, let us begin this visit to the Coffee House with jazz singer Carmen McRae singing Coffee Time, a song that perhaps should begin every visit to a coffee house:

Coffee Time ~ Carmen McRae

Moving on, allow me to introduce two of the most famous Beat writers, Jack Kerouac, and poet Allen Ginsberg.

Here is Jack reading his American Haikus:

American Haikus ~ Jack Kerouac

Now, Allen Ginsberg reads his Sunflower Sutra:

Sunflower Sutra ~ Allen Ginsberg

Back to Kerouac for a reading of his Bowery Blues, accompanied by Steve Allen:

Bowery Blues ~Jack Kerouac accompanied by Steve Allen

And, to end the evening, a bit of soft jazz: Dave Brubeck playing Hoagy Carmichael’s Georgia on My Mind:

Georgia on My Mind ~ Dave Brubeck

Hang around. Take your time. Enjoy your coffee. Be cool—there ain’t use in rushing around. You dig?

In case anyone is interested, all of the audios I post are from my own CDs.