In all fairness...
Why did you ruin it with that garbage? That clueless, hammy third rate ACtor reading The History Of A Tough Motherfucker will ruin the poem for you. Fair warning. Turn off the preview when you get to it. Eject the DVD when you get to it. Pass a law making this kind of thing illegal. Do something.
In all fairness to Joanne Gordon, the producer/director, and Mark Piatelli, the actor who performed the poem, I thought it was very powerful.
Love, Bukowski was the second award-winning play Joanne produced and directed based on on Hank's poems. I saw the play three times and loved it - after the first time, I asked permission to film it and Linda and Joanne agreed. I especially loved the poems that Mark performed - a lot of feeling, in my opinion.
At the Huntington event Joanne told the story of the first play based on Bukowski's poems she produced and directed. She wrote it and contacted Hank to ask permission. He got back to her and said he would come to the theater to see it during rehearsals, and if he liked it, she could do it for free - but if he didn't like it, she couldn't do it all all.
In an amazing show of self confidence, Joanne rented a theater, hired actors, and rehearsed without knowing if the play would ever open. When Hank and Linda arrived, she was incredibly nervous. After it ended, Hank turned to her and said, "It's good, it's fucking good. Let's get a beer." - and he gave his permission to stage his poems - with no fee.
If it's really not to your taste, it's in the "Extras" section and can easily be skipped. But, there are two other poems from the play: The Crunch and Flyboy. I think all three are real gems.
In addition to the three poems from
Love, Bukowski, Bukowski at the Huntington, and About
Born into This, there are interviews with Dennis Del Torre, who produced the Vancouver reading, Denny Bruce who produced the Redondo reading and the CD Hostage, and my wife and myself.
Dennis also contributed his letters from Hank and the personal inscriptions from his Bukowski book collections.
I hope everyone will enjoy it - in this 30th Anniversary Special.
In making this, there is a poem in the Vancouver reading that Hank does not say its name - every other poem is introduced. It bugs me that we can't find it anywhere to get the title - we called it "Untitled - Marty". Does anyone know the real title? Does the poem show up anywhere besides the Vancouver reading?
BTW - remember Dennis Del Torre talking about how in the first half of the readings Hank would give you the laughers and funny stuff, and in the second have he gave you the soul stuff. Then look closely at the part of the Redondo reading where Hank is walking off the stage; the guy behind him is an earlier verion of Dennis - when he had a lot of hair.
