Greetings friends!
Things are slowly returning to "normal"—a relative term if there ever was one!—down the coast. (1)
Thank You for your monthly (or yearly) financial support of the Library. If you would like to update your subscription please do so HERE! ... things have been challenging lately, the time is nigh!
Be sure to tell your friends: The Library will be open Oct. 2, 3, and 4 as the Dolan Fire has reached 90 % containment with all evacuation orders lifted.
It's nonetheless been a wild ride and we're still slightly pensive given all that's been going on. Including the fact that in Sweden people do not wear masks obeying recommendations from Public Health officials...
So!
We'll find solace in the warm and enveloping arms of our old friends—Henry, CSNY, Lucinda, Sandra Barry and others!
Enjoy the Digest!
New thing! We want to hear from you!
The "new thing" is
"What I'm reading during the pandemic" (WIRDTP)
Not sure why it took us this long to think of it, but better late than never, right?
Here's how it works. Simply respond to this email, and tell us what you're reading, and provide a quick review of the book thus far. Oh, and let us know if it's not ok to use your first name. BONUS: You can also add "what I'm reading next." (WIRN). Then we'll include it in future digests!
For example:
"I'm currently reading 'Sailor Song' by Ken Kesey. It was his first book in a long time after his masterpiece 'Sometimes a Great Notion.' This book is a slog. It's fantastical, madcap, but also meandering. The reward comes every dozen or so pages when he drops a half-page passage of lyrically and lysergicly captivating writing. But otherwise...meh.
WIRN: 'The Reason for God' by Timothy Keller.
-A certain HML staffer
Banned Book Week is September 27th-October 3rd! Banned Books Week is an annual event that celebrates the freedom to read. Supported by the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, the event brings together librarians, booksellers, publishers, teachers, and readers of all types and ages who wish to maintain the public’s right to seek out and express ideas, even those deemed unpopular
To celebrate this momentous event, New Mexico State's Dylan McDonald panned this scintillating homage to, naturally, "Tropic of Cancer." (4) Enjoy!
51 years ago: CSNY at Esalen!
Last year marked the 50th anniversary of the Celebration at Big Sur - at Esalen, the one featuring Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell (2) and others.
The anniversary came and went. We didn't mention it in any of the digests last year. We wish we could say it was because we just assumed you've seen this amazing video above, but in reality, we forgot!
But man...if you haven't seen this video above -- or even if you have -- we're sure you'll agree that it is very epic!! (3)
The video below, from the same event, does not even need an intro because it has been determined to be unarguably and totally Epic! (-:
Flashback #1: Lucinda Williams, 2012!
It's hard to believe this was eight years ago, but there you have it. Here's Lucinda performing "A World Without Tears." (5)
Oct 17: A Zoom with Cyprian and Pico!
Mark your calendars! On Oct. 17 via Zoom, our good friends Fr. Cyprian Consiglio, Prior of the New Camaldoli Hermitage, and Pico Iyer, will discuss how the contemplative traditions of East and West chime and diverge. More info and registration here!
The Photo above (© Debi Lorenc) is of the pair giving a talk at the Library in 2018, which you can hear here!)
Or if you'd rather get to the point fast here is a link to Cyprian answering the question "What Happens After We Die? (Pico defered to Cyprian on this question...)
Lawrence Ferlinghetti's first solo exhibition of paintings in New York!
Speaking of banned books, our friend Lawrence Ferlinghetti recently turned 101 (!), and if you can believe it, he will be having his first exhibition of paintings in New York. "Lawrence Ferlinghetti: Études, is being held at New Release (August 27 – October 2, 2020), a new gallery in a funky storefront in Chinatown just across from Columbus Park. Click here for the whole story!
(The painting above, "The Young Yeats," is from 2008)(6)
Marfa: Our quasi-sister arts "city" Every now and then someone tells me the Library reminds them of Marfa, Texas. Not in terms of the dry, dustry desert vibe—the Library has none of that!—but instead, the Mothership's artsy, bohemian spirit.
You could even say Marfa is something a kin to a "sister" arts city (if the Library were a city.)
This interesting article looks at how artists in Marfa are struggling to get by during the pandemic. (It's not as depressing as you'd think!)
It's the "end of the line" UK songbird Sandra Barry will take us home. “End of the Line” is the flip to the minor 1965 hit “We Were Lovers (When the Party Began)." (7)
The catch is you have to sit through "We Were Lovers" to get to "End of the Line." (8)
Lucky for you, "We Were Lovers" is great too! Hope you like both songs as much as we do.
See you next month!
Love, Magnus, Mike, Iguana John, and Jack 'the cat' Kerouac
(1) Thanks for the cool photo, @made_outside!
(2) Did you hear? Rolling Stone just updated its Top 500 albums of all time. Joni's "Blue" is now #3!
(3) Psychologists agree: COVID has made us run into the warm and enveloping arms of nostalgia!
(4) That's the dust jacket of the 1953 edition of The Tropic of Cancer, printed by Tokyo publisher Keimeisha, indicates to purchasers the work is uncensored and not for import into the U.S.A. or England
(5) Lucinda's "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road" clocked in at #98 on Rolling Stone's list.
(6) Kind of has a Francis Bacon vibe IMO—but thankfully less hellacious!
(7) Originally performed by the Exciters.
(8) Yes, we considered the Travelling Wilburys' "End of the Line" instead, but really, when does Sandra Barry ever get a shout-out?
Henry Miller Memorial Library | 48603 Highway 1 | Big Sur, CA 93920 | henrymiller.org
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