Bukowski's 90th Birthday Party (and typewriter?)

[bospress.net]

This from Gerry Locklin (who will be there):

Bukowski 90th Birthday Party on Saturday, August 14, at 8:00 p.m. at Skylight Books...

 

[Gerard K H Love]

That's not in Delaware is it? Skylight Books

 

[bospress.net]

nope, LA...

 

[LickTheStar]

Damn you, Los Angeles! Why are you not closer to Portland?

 

[Bukfan]

You should talk, PS! What about us poor Europeans? (sob-sob) :)

 

[bospress.net]

I would say that we could do something in South Philly very close to the old Moyamensing Prison, and would do it if I thought that some of you within 500 miles would come. I'm 90 minutes from Philly and you could stay here. Still, it is short notice...

If we do it, no zombies are allowed....

Bill

 

[nervas]

This sounds cool. The site says they'll be showing screenings? Bill, do you know what they'll be showing? I'm pissed that I somehow missed John Waters there, somewhat recently. Anyone in the are going to the skylight books bday thing?

 

[bospress.net]

I posted all of the info that was sent. I did a Google search and cannot find anything. Maybe call the store?

Bill

 

[nervas]

Yeh, good idea. I was thinking they must mean the buk doc, or maybe some stuff from the Barbet tapes. Thanks again Bill.

 

[roni]

BoS: did you get the following details and corrections from Gerry too?
If not, I'm willing to post.

 

[bospress.net]

he sent me an e-mail, but it was to his gmail account, and I, of course, do not have his password!

Post away if you have the info.

Bill

 

[roni]

pictures of the event

This was forwarded to me by Gerry.
It comes from a guy at Skylight-books:


"Here are a bunch of photos of our hugely successful Bukowski Birthday event that were taken by Stefan Kloo of the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles:

http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=bukowski+goethe-institut&m=text

As some of you know, Linda Lee Bukowski attended the event and sent us a beautiful arrangement of flowers on Monday to say how much she appreciated it and how great an event it was. In addition to the people who spoke at the 8pm slot, we had continous Bukowski on video in the 1814 'annex' store, and the open mic in the 1818 store went on continuously till midnight. Lots of food and drink - thanks to the Goethe-Institut L.A., and giveaways -- thanks to City Lights and to Ecco Press."

 

[mjp]

What the what?

 

[hank solo]

And that's a beauti-ful 'face cake'...




Better than (at least) 98% of the 'portraits' found on ebay.

 

[Bill Sikes]

What the what?

Simple - one is for the dog lovers, and other for the cat lovers.

 

[cirerita]

What the what?

A pirate publication with cat poems????

 

[zenguru]

Dang, I would have loved to have been there. I gave a poetry reading Sunday evening at a local cafe, so that was my celebration.

What the what?

Look how much thinner the cat book is. I guess Buk didn't like cats as much as dogs.

 

[cirerita]

Just heard from someone over at Skylight Books:

I'm sorry but that was not really a book, but a 'creation' by our staff display person - the cat picture is the head of our bookstore cat, Franny.

 

[hank solo]

A little more info

it's one of two Bukowski-related Photoshop-created jokes we made relating to our store cat, Franny (the other was a cardboard cut-out of our cat sitting on a loaf of rye bread -- "Fran on Rye" instead of "Ham on Rye").

One of our staffers remade the "Love Is a Dog from Hell" book cover to read "Love Is a Cat from Hell" and put it in the window near the original. (In person, it didn't look as much like a book as it does in that photo.)
Sorry for the confusion!

 

[Bukfan]

There's a pic of an old typewriter. Could it be Buk's by any chance?

 

[zenguru]

That would be so cool if it was Buk's typewriter. I wonder if the keys have wine and beer stains.

 

[mjp]

This?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that was recently pulled from a dumpster.

If Bukowski held on to a manual typewriter it would have likely been his last manual, which was an Olympia that he last used in 1983. He replaced that with an electric typewriter, then the computer. When the computer broke down (what? I thought Macs were indestructible?) he would go back to the IBM Selectric, not the Olympia.

---

That looks like a photo of a photo anyway, so it may be a moot point.

---

Okay, I was thinking that could have been the Royal Deluxe that Linda King smashed in the street, but I can't find any example of a Royal with that long tab bar at the top of the keyboard. That's a pretty unusual placement. I couldn't find which company used it.

---

Me again. Olympia used the giant tab key. Bukowski only used his Olympia for 8 years. The typewriter in the picture shows a touch more than 8 years of use, but then again, it would be 35 years old now. It looks like the typewriter in the picture could be his. But I don't think it was there at the event. Look at the large version of that image - it looks like a photo of a printed page from a magazine or book.

Here's the Olympia in San Pedro:

 

[hank solo]

I used to have a Royal and it did look a lot like that photo, except it was very clean and tidy.

No, I'm mistaken. My Royal was like this:

Surely this is Bukowski's typer?

 

[Bukfan]

Look at the large version of that image - it looks like a photo of a printed page from a magazine or book.

That's right! If they had had Buk's old typewriter on loan from Linda Bukowski, they would probably have placed it on a pedestal with a big sign underneath saying it was Buk's typewriter. :)

 

[mjp]

So I think this is the typewriter in question, the Olympia SG-1 (SG stands for Schreibmaschine Groß - "Big Typewriter"). Weighing in at 45 pounds, it would seem to live up to its name.

The Mercedes Benz of typewriters! Made with West German craftsmanship in the hey-day of the German industrial revival of the 1960s.

For a manual typewriter, the typing experience on this machine is unparalleled! Each key is individually spring loaded on the end of the typebar to give your fingers extra cushioning. The touch control has nine separate settings that "click" into place. The ribbon control lets you type on the ribbon at four different heights, blue, red, yellow, and white, so your ribbon will last twice as long as with the standard red and blue setting.

Decide you don't like any of your tabulator settings and want to start over? No problem. The Olympia has an ambidextrous universal tabulator reset lever. One pull on the lever and all your tabulator stops disappear at once.

The more-than-handy paper injector lets you insert paper into the roller and to the proper height to begin typing with just one easy pull of the paper injector lever. You almost never have to fool with straightening the paper. For different typing jobs and paper sizes, the paper injector is adjustable.

Need to type between lines? No problem. In addition to single and double spacing, the Olympia lets you triple space and do all the half spaces between single and triple as well for a total of 5 different line space settings!

In addition to its mechanical features, this machine just glides smooth as glass when you type. It has the easiest touch of any desk model manual ever made.

 

[Bukfan]

45 pounds? That's some heavy s.o.b.! If the ad is correct, it must've been a great typewriter back in the 60's.

 

[roni]

Aaah! German engineering!

 

[mjp]

The typewriter in the picture shows a touch more than 8 years of use, but then again, it would be 35 years old now.

Correcting myself again - Olympia stopped making the SG-1 in 1962, so it was used when he got it in 1975, and would be anywhere from 48 to 60 years old now (depending on when his was made).