You're A Hook: The 15 Year Anniversary of Dial-A-Poem (1968-1983)

[Various Artists]

You're A Hook: The 15 Year Anniversary of Dial-A-Poem (1968-1983)

New York City, USA: Giorno Poetry Systems, 1983

12” vinyl record

Edition size unknown

A collection of authors, poets, musicians and composers collected to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Dial-A-Poem project, and the (tenth, eleventh?) anniversary of the record label. 

Side One

1. John Giorno: (Last Night) I Gambled with My Anger and Lost (Greene Street Recording, New York, August 1983)

2. William S. Burroughs: “Old Man Bickford” from The Place of Dead Roads (Kabuki Theater, San Francisco, February 25, 1983)

3.  Laurie Anderson: Song from America on the Move (The Nova Convention, New York, April 29, 1977)

4. Philip Glass: A Secret Solo (Big Apple Studios, New York, April 29, 1977)

Side Two

1. Lenny Kaye: No Jestering (The Place, Eugene, Oregon, May 9, 1978)

2. Patti Smith: “7 Ways Of Going” from The Histories of the World (New York, January 1, 1975) / Fire of Unknown Origin (The Nova Convention, New York, December 1978)

3. Jim Carroll: From The Basketball Diaries (Giorno Poetry Systems, New York, March 30, 1969)

4. Frank Zappa:  The Talking Asshole (The Nova Convention, New York, December 2, 1978)

5. Allen Ginsberg: Father Death Blues (ZBS Media, Fort Edward, New York, February 28-March 1, 1981, courtesy of Hammon Music Enterprises

"In 1961 I was a young poet who hung out with young artists like Andy Warhol, Bob Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, as well as with members of the Judson Dance Theatre. The use of modern mass media and technologies by these artists made me realize that poetry was 75 years behind painting and sculpture, dance and music. And I thought, if they can do it, why can't I do it for poetry. Why not try to connect with an audience using all the entertainments of ordinary life: television, the telephone, record albums, etc? It was the poet's job to invent new venues and make fresh contact with the audience. This inspiration gave rise to Giorno Poetry Systems” 

- John Giorno

 

The Nova Convention

[Various Artists]

The Nova Convention

New York City, USA: Giorno Poetry Systems, 1979

Gatefold 2LP set/double cassette

Edition size unknown

In 1978, Semiotext(e) founder Sylvere Lotringer approached John Giorno about organizing a tribute to William S Burroughs, bringing together European and American academics for a series of seminars, celebrating the writer as a "philosopher of the future", someone who best understood postindustrial society.

Giorno was more interested in a counterculture event that would feature musicians, poets, novelists and artists alongside academics, maybe a star attraction. Keith Richards was added to the bill at the last minute to meet the final requirement, ensuring that the event quickly sold out. 

Titled The Nova Convention, the event took place between November 30th and December 2nd, 1978, in the East Village at the Entermedia (the former fabled Phoenix Theater, now the Village East Cinema). The "convention" featured music performances, readings, screenings and panel discussions, that sought to grapple with some of the implications of Burroughs' writings and influence. 

The audience was made up of academics, students, publishers, writers, artists, punks and people wanting to see the Rolling Stones guitarist. However, complications from his Toronto heroin arrest prevented Richards from attending. 

Philip Glass performed a minimalist solo work on the synthesizer, and was booed. Burroughs friend and associate Brion Gysin took the stage next, with the audience shouting "Where's Keith?"

Frank Zappa was recruited at the last minute to appear in place of Richards. Too late to arrange his band, he agreed to read from talking asshole scene from the Burroughs classic Naked Lunch. 

Patti Smith appeared next - nervous to follow Zappa - in a fur coat and iguana-skin cowboy boots. During her introduction a heckler shouted, "Tell it to the iguana." Smith is reported to have surreptitiously masturbated onstage through a slit in her coat pocket, to maintain her command over the audience. 

"I know you guys came in to see Keith," she told them, breaking the news for the first time. "Well, Keith ain't here. He's on a plane right now between L.A. and Toronto. He asked me to tell you all that if anybody wants their money back they can come and get it right now." She then proceeded to pull some crumpled bills out of her pocket, but no one approached to claim them. 

Sick with bronchitis, Smith was unable to sing but instead played clarinet and electric guitar, despite not being proficient on either. The New York Times review described her playing as "with virtually no technique in the conventional sense but with a certain understanding of the kind of effects that were within her grasp."

John Giorno - an always excellent performance poet - read two emotional and moving works and a young Laurie Anderson gave a presentation about the future, her voice electronically pitch-shifted. Anderson, Burroughs and Giorno would later team up for a spoken word tour together, and Burroughs appeared in Anderson's breakthrough film Home of the Brave. 

Burroughs received a warm welcome for his readings. Even when his subject matter is challenging, Burroughs' arresting voice, midwestern accent and haunting persona could be counted on to captivate an audience. He also provided the keynote lecture, and appeared on a panel discussion with Gysin, Timothy Leary, and Robert Wilson, moderated by artist Les Levine. 

The series was originally produced by Giorno Poetry Systems for WBAI radio, and released the following year as a double LP. 

Side One

1. Terry Southern – Vignette of Idealistic Life in South Texas

2. William S. Burroughs – Keynote commentary & Roosevelt After Inauguration

3. John Giorno – Eating The Sky

4. Patti Smith – Poem For Jim Morrison & Bumblebee

Side Two

1. William S. Burroughs – Benway

2. Philip Glass – Building, excerpt from Einstein On The Beach by Robert Wilson & Philip Glass

3. Brion Gysin – Kick That Habit, Junk Is No Good Baby, Somebody Special & Blue Baboon

4. Frank Zappa – The Talking Asshole

5. William S. Burroughs – From The Gay Gun: "This Is Kim Carson," "Just Like The Collapse Of Any Currency," & "The Whole Tamale"

Side Three

1. William S. Burroughs – What The Nova Convention Is About

2. Ed Sanders – Hymn To Aphrodite from Sappho

3. John Cage – Writing For The Second Time Through Finnegans Wake

4. Anne Waldman – Plutonium Ode & Skin Meat Bones

Side Four

1. Laurie Anderson & Julia Heyward – Song from America On The Move

2. Allen Ginsberg & Peter Orlovsky – Punk Rock, Old Pond; Feeding Them Raspberries To Grow, & Nurses Song

3. William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Timothy Leary, Les Levine & Robert Anton Wilson – Conversations

This Week on Tumblr: John Giorno

http://artistsbooksandmultiples.tumblr.com/tagged/john-giorno

You're the Guy I Want To Share My Money With

Laurie Anderson/John Giorno/William S Burroughs
You're the Guy I Want To Share My Money With
New York City, USA: Giorno Poetry Systems, 1981
Vinyl LP/Audio Cassette
Edition size unknown

A cassette and double LP released in 1981, with the CD following in 1993.  The tenth release from the Giorno Poetry Systems (and the second to feature Giorno and Burroughs), the album was recorded during the "Red Night" spoken word tour of 1981. Most of Anderson's material came from her magnum opus United States, and live versions of some tracks, such as "It Was Up in the Mountains", would also be included in her later 5-LP release, United States Live. This was Anderson's first major album release predating her solo debut, Big Science, by a year.

Whereas many of the Giorno Poetry Systems LPs had covers designed by visual artists (Les Levine, Keith Haring, Gary Panter, Robert Williams, etc.), this record was designed by George Delmerico, the late art director for the Village Voice newspaper.

Anderson's contributions to the LP include "Born, Never Asked", "Closed Circuits", "Dr. Miller", "It Was Up In The Mountains", "For Electronic Dogs", "Structuralist Filmmaking" and "Drums." Burroughs' tracks include "Introducing John Stanley Hart; He Entered The Bar With The Best Intentions", "Progressive Education", "The Wild Fruits", "Mr. Hart Couldn't Hear The Word Death" and others. Giorno is represented by two longer tracks: "Completely Attached To Delusion" and the epic "I Don't Need It, I Don't Want It, And You Cheated Me Out Of It".

The LP was a multi-grooved record, so depending on where the needle landed on the record listeners would hear either an Anderson, Burroughs or Giorno track.



"In 1974, I hitchhiked to the North Pole and when I got back my loft had been completely vandalized. There was some old mail lying on the front steps of the building inviting me to do a project at Zero Bull Shit Media in Fort Edward, New York. ZBS Media was a commune/recording studio where I learned about Buddhism and sound recording. It’s where I met Bob Bielecki, who was chief engineer there. Through him I met William and also John, who was beginning to record his work. We were all interested in making records and Dial-A-Poem was a sudden outlet for the work of all kinds of writers, musicians, and poets.

Burroughs’s “Language is a virus from outer space” always struck me as an odd thing for a writer to say—that language is a disease communicable by mouth. So, if language is a disease, what were we doing?

William wanted to be a song and dance man. He had some of the showman swagger of James Cagney and a few notes of Jimmy Durante saluting Mrs. Calabash (wherever you are). When he, John, and I made the record You’re the Guy I Want to Share My Money With (1981), William insisted that the three of us hold canes and pretend to dance for the photo shoot. So there we are on the back cover—the three of us in white shirts—William and John in some kind of tan suits and we’re all planting our canes in the same spot as if we’d just finished dousing.

It was a double album and each of us had a side. The album noted that these were “multi-track” pieces. The fourth side was a crapshoot. Depending on where you put the needle down, you would tap into one of our intertwined spirals, randomizing the record and giving it the feeling of one of William’s cut-ups."

- Laurie Anderson, "Dancing with John and William"

You're the Guy I Want To Share My Money With

Laurie Anderson/John Giorno/William S Burroughs
You're the Guy I Want To Share My Money With
New York City, USA: Giorno Poetry Systems, 1981
Vinyl LP/Audio Cassette
Edition size unknown

A cassette and double LP released in 1981, with the CD following in 1993.  The tenth Giorno Poetry Systems release (and the second to feature Giorno and Burroughs), the disk was recorded during the "Red Night" spoken word tour of 1981. Most of Anderson's material came from her magnum opus United States, and live versions of some tracks, such as "It Was Up in the Mountains", would also be included in her later 5-LP release, United States Live. This was Anderson's first major album release predating her solo debut, Big Science, by a year.

The LP was a multi-grooved record, so depending on where the needle landed on the record listeners would hear either an Anderson, Burroughs or Giorno track.

1. Laurie Anderson Born, Never Asked
Organ [Farfisa], Handclaps, Violin, Marimba – Laurie Anderson
4:31
2. Laurie Anderson Closed Circuits
Electronics [Microphone Stand Turned Through Harmonizer], Percussion [Wood Block] – Laurie Anderson
7:27
3. Laurie Anderson Dr. Miller
Producer, Engineer – Roma Baran
Saxophone – Perry Hoberman
Synthesizer, Percussion, Performer [Pa] – Laurie Anderson
Written-By – Laurie Anderson, Perry Hoberman
4:22
4. Laurie Anderson It Was Up In The Mountains
Voice [Read By] – Paul From L.A.
2:13
5. Laurie Anderson For Electronic Dogs
Electronics, Violin – Laurie Anderson
3:08
6. Laurie Anderson Structuralist Filmmaking 1:10
7. Laurie Anderson Drums 0:34
8. William S. Burroughs Introducing John Stanley Hart; He Entered The Bar With The Best Intentions 2:23
9. William S. Burroughs Twilight's Last Gleamings 2:51
10. William S. Burroughs My Protagonist Kim Carson 4:56
11. William S. Burroughs Salt Chunk Mary; Like Mr. Hart, Kim Has A Dark Side To His Character 4:13
12. William S. Burroughs Progressive Education 7:13
13. William S. Burroughs The Wild Fruits 2:26
14. William S. Burroughs The Unworthy Vessel 2:45
15. William S. Burroughs The Name Is Clem Snide 2:03
16. William S. Burroughs Mr. Hart Couldn't Hear The Word Death 2:54
17. John Giorno I Don't Need It, I Don't Want It, And You Cheated Me Out Of It 10:40
18. John Giorno Completely Attached To Delusion 7:47

Giorno Poetry Systems | Chocolate Bar Poem

[John Giorno] Giorno Poetry Systems
Chocolate Bar Poem
Dusseldorf, Germany : Eat Art Gallery, 1970

19,5 x 20,9 cm

Edition size unknown

Giorno Poetry Systems: Big Ego

(Various Artists)
Big Ego
New York City, USA: Giorno Poetry Systems, 1978
Double Vinyl LP set with gatefold sleeve
Edition size unknown

Includes songs, audioworks and poetry by John Giorno, Meredith Monk and Philip Glass (who appear on the cover together, photographed by Les Levine), as well as Patti Smith, Robert Wilson & Christopher Knowles, Robert Ashley, Claes Oldenburg, Laurie Anderson and William S Burroughs.

Stream the individual tracks at Giorno's website, here.

Giorno Poetry Systems: Better An Old Demon Than A New God

(Various ‎Artists)
Better An Old Demon Than A New God
New York City, USA: Giorno Poetry Systems, 1984
12" vinyl LP
Edition size unknown

Continuing the Giorno Poetry Systems mandate of releasing compilation records featuring artists and writers alongside musicians, this disc featured Beat and Post-Beat writers John Giorno, William Burroughs and Jim Carroll and punk/alternative/art rock musicians Psychic TV, Lydia Lunch, David Johansen (New York Dolls) and Meredith Monk.

Tracklist:

David Johansen              Imaginatin' Cocktail                    2:42
John Giorno                   Exiled In Domestic Life            4:06
William S. Burroughs    Dinosaurs                                    5:50
Psychic TV                    Unclean                                    5:50
Lydia Lunch                  What It Is                                    1:42
Meredith Monk       Candy Bullets And Moon            4:09
Jim Carroll               A Peculiar-Looking Girl            6:20
Anne Waldman       Uh-Oh Plutonium                    3:35
Richard Hell               The Rev. Hell Gets Confused    2:22
Arto Lindsay           Alisa                                            2:28