Allen’s first ever recorded reading of Howl is getting a proper release treatment from our good friends at Omnivore Records! Digital/ CD / Vinyl & limited Red Vinyl (of course) Street Date APRIL 2, 2021.
Ginsberg’s first public reading of his epic poem “Howl” took place at San Francisco’s famous Six Gallery in October of 1955. Along with Ginsberg, the evening included readings by Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, Philip Lamantia, and Michael McClure. Poet and anthologist Kenneth Rexroth was the emcee, and Jack Kerouac, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Neal Cassady were in attendance. Unfortunately, no one recorded that reading, and it was long thought that the first recording of “Howl” was from a reading in Berkeley that following March.
Before Berkeley, however, Allen had traveled to Reed College with Gary Snyder to give a series of readings. Snyder and Philip Whalen had been students at Reed and had studied under the legendary calligrapher Lloyd Reynolds. On February 13 and 14, 1956, Snyder and Ginsberg read at Reed, with the Valentine’s Day performance recorded, but then forgotten till it surfaced in 2007.
Tracklisting includes Epithalamion (later published as Love Poem on Theme by Whitman), Wild Orphan, Over Kansas, A Dream Record, Blessed Be the Muses, A Supermarket In California, The Trembling of the Lamb (published Transcription of Organ Music), & Complete Howl part 1 but then only the beginning of part II
