27 July 2005

under the bay to Berkeley

the next day I met Kent Taylor at Civic Center & we took BART to North Berkeley.


years after Cleveland Posted by Picasa

under the bay I hand'd him the Century Dimes & he gave them right back to me. easily the quickest transfer I've ever had. "I even pay my bills immediately" he laughd.

we were pickd up at the station by Jeff Maser. this amazing young man has establishd himself as one of the nation's premier booksellers. he has a stock in excess of 300000 volumes which soon I was wandering thru. it includes the holdings of Jim Lowell's legendary Asphodel.


thx to Jeff's 911 Camelia St broadsides this is becoming one of the important addresses in current American poetry Posted by Picasa

Jeff showd me a copy of Dec. '70:Ohio with the original mailing envelope which I'd addressd to Paul Mariah. quite a surprise.

the 3 of us took a great lunch break at a spot calld Jimmy Bean's. when we returnd we were joind by Jason Davis. his Verdant Press occupies space in Jeff's warehouse. Jason handsets broadsides & chapbooks which reprint d.a. levy & present new work by Richard Krech & Thurston Moore. he's also responsible for important checklists of such poets as Russell Atkins & r.j.s.


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also on this trip I was thrilld by hearing D. Travers Scott read from his new novel & by viewing "The Art of Richard Tuttle" at SFMOMA. & finally I saw an over-the-top performance by Patrick Michael Dukeman. some 20 years ago he was an outrageous theater student at Kent State. it was good to see that his flame still burns bright.

4 comments:

richard lopez said...

alex:

sounds like a lovely trip. i'm interested in krech, only read a few things here and there, and understand he lives in the bay area too. met maser once, he is friends with the poet james den boer, who was also an online bookseller but consigned, or sold, not sure which, his stock to maser. jim has told me of his vast wherehouse and his love of small-press poets. i understand moore is crazyinsane for the mimeo press poets of the 60s and 70s and hunts for books from presses like ole and runcible spoon. doesn't he have a journal too?

Alex Gildzen said...

I publishd Krech in "Toucan" a hundred years ago. recently we met up again via e-mail.

one of Jeff's 911 Camelia St broadsides is by Den Boer.

yes Thurston collects that whole scene with an emphasis on the Cleveland poets.

DJJDukeman said...

Did you know my brother Patrick when he was at Kent State? I barely remember seeing his performances then...I was very young. His performances after that point at UNC-Greensboro seem much more vivid.

-Doug
http://djjdukeman.blogspot.com

D. Travers Scott, News said...

Hey glad you enjoyed the reading - thanks for coming! - Trav