Bukowski and Classical Music - anyone else at a loss...

[Fez1]

12 years late - BUT - have a question, [which might be answered elsewhere, I don't know] I have a recording of Buk reading his poetry with classical music in the background. To me it works well. poems like Consummation, The soldier, The Genius, Rain, A Radio With guts, The Poetry Reading, Short Order, The Strongest..., The Last Days of the Suicide Kid, Friendly Advice, The Most, The Mockingbird, The Proud, Helping the Old, Confession, Fan Letter, Are You Drinking, Dinosauria, Luck, We Ain't Got No Money Honey. Anyone know where this recording comes from? Any details?

 

[hank solo]

That's "Bukowski Lives!" seemingly a Russian bootleg CD. More details here:

Bukowski Lives!

Hello, everyone! I was wondering if anyone can give me the titles of some of the music used in "Bukowski Lives!". I haven't been able to find anything on the web or elsewhere and its a really cool set of tunes I'd like to hear.

bukowskiforum.com

 

[Fez1]

Hank Solo, thank you very much. Kind of you. Especially after 12 years. Want the information for an article in my Beat Scene magazine. It does seem that this recording, with all this wonderful music, would be popular if released. Though getting permissions might be tricky.
On another point, the forum, seems quieter these days. Any reason for that?

 

[zobraks]

Maybe 18 years of (almost non-stop) talking about Charles Bukowski and thrashing everything (even slightly) related to him and his work has something to do with the fact that people don't want to discuss it anymore.

 

[Rekrab]

People have shorter attention spans these days. They prefer photos and quotes to lengthy discussions. The details don't seem to interest the bulk of fans.

 

[tony walton]

But he also wrote about crooners, and about the old songs and even about rock and roll. He didn't write about them as much, but the idea that he ignored or rejected everything but classical music isn't exactly accurate. He simply preferred classical music.

Creative people, and especially, "genius the likes of which we see one in a generation," often have a low tolerance for art that they consider easy, cheap or common, and most popular music is all of those things.

This sums up the music thing with Bukowski. He did love Jean Sibelius more than many people.

​

 

[d gray]

On another point, the forum, seems quieter these days. Any reason for that?

the band broke up.

 

[Jeff]

My contribution. I relisten to Ham on Rye over and over and I will discuss anything about CB. He would be an inspiration to any writer, I think and is therefore of lasting importance.

 

[Pogue Mahone Athbheoim]

Maybe 18 years of (almost non-stop) talking about Charles Bukowski and thrashing everything (even slightly) related to him and his work has something to do with the fact that people don't want to discuss it anymore.

At times you felt like Pavlov's dog, but there was no rhyme or reason as to when you were gonna get shocked. I've said this before: It really was an interesting microcosm of social media and what it does to people -- it evolved over time until it collapsed under its own weight. I'm not proud of some of my own behavior. What started out as exciting and fun turned into Lord of the Flies.

It may be much quieter these days, but it seems more respectful.

 

[d gray]

it was an interesting social experiment wasn't it?

"Lord of the Flies" isn't a far off comparison in retrospect.

 

[antonello23]

There's a study which explores the connection between classical music and Hank made by Robert Sandarg in 1998 that Roni shared in 2008 (Roni's post), I don't know if it can be useful to the topic, but I'll put here anyway. I also put the traslation that I made in italian.

 

[Father Luke]

Bukowski - he drank, he wrote, he drank, he worked at a job he detested but paid the bills

Oh, come now… easy there.

and let him, what, drink and write, not necessarily in that order.

Exactly. ‘Not necessarily in that order.’

First, I may forget to get around to it so, Welcome! It’s quite an elite band of renegades here. Most everyone here had met Buk, or someone he fucked.

Now.

He was ruggedly ugly with the personality of a bull dog and the genius the likes of which we see one in a generation.

once

Oh, and he bet on horses, every single day.

We need to be fair Kalima. Sometimes he bet more than once a day on the horse races. It must be said.

Does anyone else have trouble connecting these dots to the gentile strains of Haydn and Debussy? Maybe I'm missing some Bukowski minutia - please friends, fill in this perplexing blank.

Excellent question. He liked Beethoven. Called him The Master. Can’t remember offhand who his fave was…

He was a man of deep emotions. Not particularly a “man’s man” in the Hemingway, way, but he was
…a leader, an individual, All sorts of things. And he felt deeply. A wound that deep needs the salve of ‘the gentle strains of Haydin and Debussy’

My 2¢

 

[Pogue Mahone Athbheoim]

He liked Beethoven. Called him The Master.

I think in reality they were on par.

 

[Father Luke]

I think in reality they were on par.

 

[Purple Stickpin]

Bach, Beethoven and Brahms were his favorites. I think there's a poem named or containing "The Three Bs" and those are to whom he is referring. He was also a big fan of Jean Sibelius.