Hi Friends; This came to me from my friend, Soheyl Dahi. He shot the video. Also, here are some stills from that same time... Best, Bill
Too bad it's such a short clip. Does anyone know if the entire interview will come out? 25 seconds of Linda King is a tease. I enjoy listening to her stories.
Wow ! I didn’t even know she was still alive ! But it’s because I didn’t have in mind the big age difference between Buk and his girlfriends. Indeed, I’m now remembering that his former babes were 20 to 30 years younger than him, a lot of them must be still living then ! She’s not as cute as the good old days, but she’s still recognizable. Does someone know what has become of the Bukowski bust ? Concerning his paintings…I definitely prefer Buk as a writer.
The original clay bust was recently displayed at the Elephant Theatre in Hollywood, as part of the inaugural Bukowski 'festival'. And bronze versions are still available, for around $6,000 USD. Linda King has a website, here: http://www.lindakingarts.com/
Thanks Hanky ! I will never be interested by bying a bronze version of the bust, all this merchandising around poor Bukowski makes me ill-at-ease.
I met a collector in Montreal last summer who was offered to buy the bonze bust for 2500. and had declined. I bet he regrets it now. He also wanted to buy the painting of Buk and Georgia but I decided to keep it a little longer.
Perhaps I'm mistaken but I tend to believe that by-products really developed after his death. I can't imagine such products massively existing while he was alive, no ? Did Linda already sell her replica at that time ?
You're right; all the merchandizing started after he died. While Buk was alive there was only his own work and a limited amount of writing about him, some photographs available, but no refrigerator magnets or bobbleheads, nothing mass produced and marketed.
if I do have to have refrigerator magnets, I'd rather have some with Buk on them than, say, little kitten. if I do have to have bookends or T-shirts with people on them or mugs with a witty quotation - I'd prefer Bukowski over Kermit the frog anytime.
but he did wear a shirt with his larger than life face on it in several pictures in the 70's. so he was indeed into it. bukowski loved bukowski, right?
What I find disturbing are not the writings, photos or postcards but the gadgets such as the magnets or bubbleheads you’re quoting. Bukowski is Bukowski. He’s not Britney Spears. Concerning Linda’s bust, I find it quite disconcerting that she turned an object symbolizing her relationship with Hank into a mere product.
She probably felt the same way about him turning their relationship into the stories/poems/novels he sold. (And, as she has pointed out, he usually left her side of the story out.)
Back in the day (late 60s, early 70s) it was inconceivable that anyone would make, or buy, a refrigerator magnet with Bukowski's face on it. I remember telling another poet that I thought someday Buk would be "big time," meaning commercial publication by the big New York houses, as opposed to small press, and he said no way. We both idolized Buk but my friend couldn't imagine the mainstream would ever embrace Bukowski. I saw the potential, but never imagined films based on his work, let alone mousepads and bobbleheads. And that the Huntington Library would feature his work was also inconceiveable. What next, action figures? The funny thing is, when he finally went big time, I imagined not hardcovers and trade paperbacks but those old Bantam mass market paperbacks, the kind that cost 95 cents. I envisoned "Post Office" as one of those.
here's linda reviewing Barfly... http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/culture/detail?blogid=3&entry_id=47318
She's right about Rourke not capturing Bukowski's intelligence. BARFLY has it's moments, and I like Rourke, but at times he seems like a drunken apeman in BARFLY.
here's another linda king article. so, she's 69, and sold her buk love letters for $69,000...how erotic! http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/17/DDGF19N3S8.DTL
What? They sold for $69,000 and she only got $25,000? Who took the rest? I thought that the sellers paid a 10% premium and so did the buyers and that was the auction house cut. Something is either wrong or something is very wrong... Bill
Maybe she sold them to the auctioneer for 25,000. and he put them up for auction for himself. Usually, the auction house takes 20%. If a gallerist sells your art for instance, he or she takes 50-60 even 70%, which sucks big time but it is the market.
'I had a dream once that I had a Bukowski rug on the floor, and each time I got broke, all I had to do was reach into the mouth and some money would come out of the rug - the Bukowski rug." Ugh.
