A fine little piece...

[Hosh]

Thought folks would appreciate the insights of this article, as well as the photo and drawing.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/journal/article.html?id=239168

 

[willrodgers]

wow. very nice. have not seen this before.

 

[mjp]

She's got articles all over the place. I particularly enjoyed this one.

 

[bospress.net]

Do many people live in sheds out there? I ask this seriously as I have heard of a few people that have done this. Henry Rollins is one that mentioned it. I guess if the weather is o.k, it works. It just seems a bit rustic. Still, shelter is better than no shelter and some places are so damn expensive that people may not have a choice.

And, I am now infatuated with Molly Young...

Bill

 

[james]

thanks, Hosh! i very much enjoyed that...

 

[mjp]

Do many people live in sheds out there?

Why, yes, they do.

When I moved out here, my friend from Minneapolis was living on someone's porch. There are long alleyways all over town lined with garages that people live in. A shed would be a step up for some people. I lived for a year and a half in a makeshift loft above a rehearsal studio (that was a converted garage), so I guess I was one of them. But that probably has more to do with the cost of renting than the desire to live in a garage. I don't think people want to live in shacks. But hey, shacks are cheap.

The rickety lean-tos that pass for housing out here would shock people from more harsh climates. I'm serious. You East coast people - you wouldn't believe it. You would be dumbfounded and wonder how people could live in such substandard crap. I have never lived anywhere in California - (nice) house, apartment, motel, garage - that didn't at the very least leak when it rained, and at worst, become an indoor swimming pool. Water dripping off light bulbs, warped doors. It's like one big movie set built to last ten weeks.

It's a savage land, I tell you. Full of ne'er do wells, confidence men and grifters.

 

[Bukfan]

Interesting article. Nice photo and doodles too.
Thanks, Hosh!

 

[Gerard K H Love]

Excellent article as well as the one mjp pointed out about hoarders.

That is the best story of how I discovered Bukowski to date. Molly Young is a very talented writer.

 

[Digney in Burnaby]

Thanks for the article. I'd come across a 1971 NOLA Express ad for Post Office that quotes a person named Guy Williams. I had thought it was the poet but a little research a while back showed that I was thinking of Miller Williams (Lucinda's father?).

Anyway, Molly Young's article identifies Guy Williams as a painter who brought Bukowski to Pomona College to do a reading.

Probably everybody already knew this. I'll add the ad and shut up.

 

[roni]

she's cute!

 

[Bukfan]

Nice ad! Thanks, Digney...

she's cute!

Not to mention, a real looker! drool-drool

 

[Johannes]

Wow, how could I miss this one?

Very very interesting.

Thanks a lot, Hosh!

 

[nervas]

Couple few things... Yes, that girl is more than cute, she's hot! A friend called me a hoarder today, so that article also made me laugh! My question is, did Buk read at Cal Poly Pomona University? Did I really spend, what was it, 6 years(for what was supposed to last me 2, since I had already spent 4 years at community college) walking those halls, not knowing Buk read there at some point? Or is this Pomona college a different college than Cal Poly? Which Pomona college did he read at?

 

[DirtyJersey13]

If you look at that ad for Post Office, it says on the bottom that you could buy a hardcover copy(only 50 copies produced) of Post Office signed by Buk, including a drawing by him, for only $25. That kills me, if we only knew then what we know now.

 

[mjp]

That's about $140 in today's money. And Bukowski wasn't BUKOWSKI quite yet, so it was still a lot of money to drop on the first novel of a small press author at the time. In retrospect it seems like a steal, but bear in mind that you could have bought a few copies of Flower, Fist And Bestial Wail, Longshot Pomes For Broke Players or Run With The Hunted in 1970 - from Bukowski - for a buck apiece. He had copies of many of those early chapbooks for a long time. Even if you paid $5 for them somewhere, they would have been a better buy than Post Office.

But yeah, in retrospect it would have been very clever to buy a few copies of all of his books with original art and locked them up somewhere. But one last thing to remember is that Martin pre-sold most of those special copies to people on his mailing list, the same way small press publishers do now. So even if you had the money in 1970 and wanted a copy, you might not be able to buy one.

 

[LickTheStar]

Damn collectors, they always ruin everything... I'm kinda surprised he held on to the early chaps... Based on the number of times he references stolen books in his poems, I figured he wouldn't have any books left.

But $140... Damn, small price to pay when you've got the ability to see back...

 

[bospress.net]

But one last thing to remember is that Martin pre-sold most of those special copies to people on his mailing list, the same way small press publishers do now. So even if you had the money in 1970 and wanted a copy, you might not be able to buy one.

It took John Martin a while to sell those 50 copies. They may have presold later books with art, but this one took a little while.

Bill