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Howl: A Performance with Percussion and Cornet
[image: Justin Jay Hines, percussion and Kirk Knuffke, cornet. Photo by Natasha Marco]
Come experience this new recitation and musical interpretation of Allen Ginsberg’s ground-breaking poetic masterpiece Howl, performed by Justin Jay Hines (percussion) with master jazz improviser Kirk Knuffke (cornet).
Completed in 1955, Howl – a rage against conformity and censorship, and a typically Ginsbergian mixing of the sacred with the profane – was first performed at the Six Gallery in San Francisco on October 7 that year. Its publication by Lawrence Ferlinghetti of the city’s famed bookseller-publisher City Lights led to an obscenity trial. Supported by the ACLU, Ferlinghetti prevailed, with Judge Clayton Horn decreeing that the poem was of “redeeming social importance.” Howl has stood the test of time and remains one of the signature literary achievements of the Beat Generation.
The 2010 movie Howl depicts the trial, with James Franco playing the poet, and Andrew Rogers the publisher.
The venue, Bowery Poetry Club, is an even mix of seated and standing.
$25 seated ticket / $20 standing ticket.