"Random Sightings"

yesterday's mail brought a sterling addition to my collection of the Cleveland scene. Kirpan Press has just issued looking for d.a. levy (Random Sightings): the d.a. levy bibliography. this is the first volume covering 1963-66. its editors are Kent Taylor & Alan Horvath.

I'd like to quote from Horvath's intro: "What makes this archaeological effort to catalogue levy's work more difficult is that levy started printing books almost 45 years ago. Many of these books have disappeared or are moulding in a box in someone's basement. At best they might be found with their staples rusting in the special collections department at a university library or in the vaults of a private collector. Many of the people who were true friends of d.a. levy are a lifetime away. All the fine details as far as exact dates or even who helped print which publication are blurred by decades of dealing with their own lives. Remember, everything was happening so fast at the moment in the 1960s that there wasn't a lot of concern to record volumes of information for posterity. Life was for the NOW, if you could grab it. History was for somebody else to worry about & debate."

as a one-time bibliographer   I support his notion that that art is an "archaeological effort." & as someone who startd publishing at that time I understand how much we forget. writing parts of Alex in Movieland has been an exercise in my own archaeology because I'm getting to the age where memories fade.

but let me return to the book. it's handsomely made. it presents the facts of each publication while offering some commentary which stirrd all manner of memory. The Jug Band? dear lord... hadn't rememberd that group in ages. & one of its members Alan Diamondstein? he was always broke. I remember buying him a meatball sandwich at the Rathskeller Bar in Kent. that place is long gone. Al too?

you too can have a copy of this volume. make out a check for $45 to Alan Horvath & mail it to
Kirpan Press
PO Box 2943
Vancouver WA 98668-2943