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