Angelheaded Hipsters As a teenager at a British public school where marijuana was more readily available than fresh vegetables, my ambitions were to become a poet and a hippie. How my younger self would despise the creature I have become – a harassed old hack who votes Conservative, couldn’t write a poem if he tried and now indulges in nothing stronger than coffee and cigarettes.
My heroes in those days were rock stars and the American Beat writers. Now I sometimes find Radio 2 a little too cutting-edge for my tastes, and I would far rather read a detective story than a poem by Allen Ginsberg or a novel by Jack Kerouac. But the heroes of my youth still hold a strange allure, and the National Theatre is currently staging a fine exhibition that will bring back vivid memories to anyone who ever dreamed of driving across America in a beat-up car, boarding the bus for the Merry Pranksters’ acid tests, and hanging out with William S Burroughs. Angelheaded Hipsters largely consists of Allen Ginsberg’s photographs of himself and his friends, among them Burroughs, Kerouac and the poets Gregory Corso and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Burroughs was older than the rest of them, and has always struck me as a deeply sinister figure, an impression Ginsberg’s pictures do little to dispel. But the photos of the others catch the excitement of youth, breaking the rules, and taking on the world. Yet you also see the years taking their revenge, with Kerouac transformed into a bloated drunk and Ginsberg turning into a fawning court jester to the likes of Dylan and Madonna. Leaving this exhibition, I was glad to have re-encountered the heroes of my youth, but even gladder to be catching the train home to safe suburban Surrey and a nice cup of tea. Angelheaded Hipsters is at the NT until 20 March. Info: nationaltheatre.org.uk -- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/8292979/Angelheaded-Hipsters-from-hipster-to-home-loving-boy.html Via InstaFetch -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sixties-L" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sixties-l?hl=en.
