My friend Cecilia, a french girl who now lives in Portland, Oregon, has a super cool shop on etsy. You should follow her if you want a chance at the super cool stuff she lists. It’s called Wildsville, click here to visit.
Beatnik Group on Facebook
There’s a group on FB that is worth having an account for: https://www.facebook.com/groups/beatniksploitation/
It’s crazy how much cool stuff is posted there. Go, go, go check it out!
Here’s some photos from my collection and at a party last week.
The painting above is by Jampur Fraize.
The painting below is by BRUCE ROBERT MOORE who studied in Paris in the late 40’s. It shows three bohemian figures hanging out on the banks of the Seine. He did a watercolor sketch first, which I have as well and probably put the title on the back in later years, as the term beatnik was coined in 1958. (by Herb Caen San Francisco journalist)
London Beatniks
Beatnik
Beatnik Cafe Bar in Brussels Belgium
I always base my judgement of a good beatnik cafe is if I could draw in sketchbook or write in a journal for hours there. Cafe Moka is great for these activities over a huge cappuccino. Most of the clientele are doing the same and are looking pretty bohemian.
Paris Beatnik Week
End of summer, back to school and the autumn approaching create desires to write, read or see an amazing film. We went twice to the Pompidou museum to see films in a series of Shirley Clarke. I saw this beatnik in the streets offering a poem on the spot. Reminds me of San Francisco. We saw The Cool World and The Connection. So good.
There is a Bluebird in my Heart
Bluebird by Charles Bukowski
there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I’m too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I’m not going
to let anybody see
you.
there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pour whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smoke
and the whores and the bartenders
and the grocery clerks
never know that
he’s
in there.
there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I’m too tough for him,
I say,
stay down, do you want to mess
me up?
you want to screw up the
works?
you want to blow my book sales in
Europe?
there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I’m too clever, I only let him out
at night sometimes
when everybody’s asleep.
I say, I know that you’re there,
so don’t be
sad.
then I put him back,
but he’s singing a little
in there, I haven’t quite let him
die
and we sleep together like
that
with our
secret pact
and it’s nice enough to
make a man
weep, but I don’t
weep, do
you?
My client came to me with that poem as the base for her tattoo. I’m such a lucky girl! I love it when people have an intelligent concept, it makes my work so much richer, I think.
Buddhaism
Beatnik Scenes from Richard Sala
From “Maniac Killer Strikes Again” Delirious, Mysterious Stories by Richard Sala Fantagraphics Books
