Bukowski recordings (1 Viewer)

mjp

Founding member
The current list can be found here.

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I'd like to make a comprehensive list of Bukowski recordings, but I'm pretty sure I don't have/know of everything. Here's a quick list of what I know, please add or remedy anything here.

1962 - Poetry of Charles Bukowski (live reading on KPFK radio, Los Angeles 8/5/62)
1970 - Cassette Gazette - Nola Express (studio reading)
? - King of Poets - bootleg (same as above?)
1972 - 12 Great Americans - Cold Turkey/Klacto/Sea Urchin (studio reading)
1973 - San Francisco Museum of Art (live reading, audio and video, 12/6/73)
1974 - Underwater Poetry Festival - Litmus (live reading, 10/25/74)
1977 - Baudelaire's (from cassette)
? - Solid Citizen - CD bootleg of LP (live reading, Hamburg, 1978)
80s? - Interview and "Do You Use A Notebook" - Movable Feast #3 (studio reading)
1985 - Hostage - Rhino - (live reading, Redondo Beach, April 1980)
1985 - The Bukowski Tapes - Lagoon video (VHS), 2006 DVD - Barrel
1988 - Bukowski at Belleview - Black Sparrow (live reading, video), 2004 DVD - Screen Edge
early 90s - Poetry in Motion - computer CDROM with videos
1995 - Bukowski Reads His Poetry - Black Sparrow (studio reading)
2000 - Uncensored from Run With the Hunted - Cademon - recorded in San Pedro, 1993
2004? - Poems and Insults - Grey Matter CD - (City Lights live reading, San Francisco 9/14/73) later resequenced and released as Bukowski Reads His Poetry - Takoma
2008 - The Last Straw - (live reading, Redondo Beach, April 1980) Monday Media DVD
2008 - There's Gonna Be a God Damn Riot in Here - (live reading, Vancouver) Monday Media DVD
 
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1968 - At Terror Street and Agony Way - Reel to reel tape - Black Sparrow Press

1972 - A Cold Turkey Press Special - Vinyl LP - Cold Turkey/Klacto? - features 2 Bukowski tracks, "A Report Upon the Consumption of Myself" and "Something for the Touts, the Nuns, the Grocery Clerks and You". Tracks later reappeared on the Poems and Insults CD and 12 Great Americans CD.

1977 - 90 Minutes in Hell - Double vinyl LP - Earth Books (home recording c1966)

c1997 - 70 Minutes in Hell - CD - Chinaski Records [German bootleg?] - (home recordings c1966) cut-down release from the vinyl 90 Minutes in Hell

1998 - At Terror Street and Agony Way - double CD - King Mob Records (home recordings 1969 - Not the same as the tape released by Black Sparrow with same title)

1998 - Run With the Hunted - Audio Cassette - Caedmon Audio (later expanded for CD release)

Underwater Poetry Festival
was re-released by The Temple Inc on CD in 2006.

I believe that Poetry in Motion was also released on VHS.

The Hamburg reading was originally released by Zweitausendeins on vinyl, titled "Hello. It's good to be back". Unfortunately I can't check the release date on my copy right now (possibly 1978 tho'). They also re-released it on CD in 2008.
 
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1972 - 12 Great Americans - Cold Turkey/Klacto/Sea Urchin
the Buk-recording on this one took place Feb 18th 1967.
(source: inlay-sleeve of CD)

p.s.:
maybe it's better to sort them not by publication-date but by recording date.
(naming the publications AFTER the actual reading, which would prevent different publications of the same reading appear several times in the list, like the 1980Redondo-Beach-reading, the 1972-SF-reading, the 1978HH-reading, ...)
 
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maybe it's better to sort them not by publication-date but by recording date.
Yes. I may put them in the database, so the query would order them any way we want. But even if it's just a text list it will be ordered by reading date.
 
While I'm admittedly about as much of a fan of the readings as Buk was, it strikes me that it might be more useful to classify the releases based on year of performance and include the release date in the description rather than the other way around.
 
In Wormwood 22 (1966), in the Newsworthy Notes section, Malone makes reference to an upcoming LP from Loujon called "Bukowski Talking."

I don't know whatever came of it, but thought I'd include it here for general interest/nerdiness...

WW_22_5.png
 
1998 - At Terror Street and Agony Way - double CD - King Mob Records (home recordings 1969 - Not the same as the tape released by Black Sparrow with same title)

But the content on the tape and the double CD is the same, right?

The Hamburg reading was originally released by Zweitausendeins on vinyl, titled "Hello. It's good to be back". Unfortunately I can't check the release date on my copy right now (possibly 1978 tho'). They also re-released it on CD in 2008.

I had a look at Zweitausendeins and i it looks like the CD is sold out. Oh well, there's still the Solid Citizen CD of the same reading even though the sound quality is poorer (or so I'm told).
 
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I don't know if this counts, but don't forget about the flexidisc Bill had for sale from the Beat Magazine guys in the UK...
 
Updated.

I'll be working on the contents of each of those recordings too. So if they do get added to the database they can be attached to the individual poems.

We have the contents for most of them listed around here, just have to find them all.
 
But the content on the tape and the double CD is the same, right?

No, the CDs released by King Mob are from the tapes Barry Miles was recording for Zapple. The Black Sparrow tape contents are listed here.

1969 - Home recording, January 1969
At Terror Street and Agony Way (Not the same as the Black Sparrow tape), double CD, King Mob Records, 1993
.....
199x? - home/studio recording
Bukowski Reads His Poetry - Black Sparrow CD, 1995

Looking at the old threads about the Miles tapes reminded me that those recordings were used for the Black Sparrow Bukowski Reads His Poetry CD.

BSP_Bukowski_Reads_His_Poetry_tracks.JPG
 
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Just remembered, the extras included on the Born Into This DVD include a short video reading by Bukowski recorded by Linda at their home, 25 February 1992. The recording includes:

8-29-91 10:55pm - Journal Entry (collected in "The Captain Is Out To Lunch and The Sailors Have Taken Over The Ship")

form letter (collected in "Come On In! New Poems")

the 8 count concerto (collected in "what matters most is how well you walk through the fire")

this moment (collected in "what matters most is how well you walk through the fire" [nb: in the video Bukowski calls this poem "forget it"]​
 
No, the CDs released by King Mob are from the tapes Barry Miles was recording for Zapple. The Black Sparrow tape contents are listed here.

I see! Thanks, HS!

Looking at the old threads about the Miles tapes reminded me that those recordings were used for the Black Sparrow Bukowski Reads His Poetry CD.

That's right! I bought both at the same time and when I got home and found out Black Sparrow's Bukowski Reads His Poetry CD was lifted from the At Terror Street And Agony Way double CD I went back to the store and got a Buk book instead.
 
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couple of recordings (see attachment):

31 Hank Thomas 9/17/66 Home-recording 1966
32 Hank Thomas 1967 Home-recording 1967
33 Hank Thomas 1967 Home-recording 1967
34 Reading The Bridge 1st public reading 12-20-69
35 Black Sparrow Master ???
36 Hank Q&A 1971 with H.M. (2 tapes) ???
37 Linda King Pasadena ???
38 St. Mark's Reading reading 2-3-72
39 Huston Texas reading Oct, 4. 1975
40 Golden Bear Halloween (3 tapes) reading 1975 (Helloween)
41 Buk Troubadour reading 10-3-76

BUK-RECORDINGS_MM_b.jpg
 
I assume those are in the Montfort stash and not your own?
38 St. Mark's Reading reading 2-3-72
41 Buk Troubadour reading 10-3-76
Added these since they weren't in the timeline.

The overall recordings list though is meant to reflect what is (or was) available to hear. I would imagine there are hundreds of tapes of readings out there, but we'll never hear them. So I wouldn't add most of those to this particular list.
 
Great stuff, Roni.

I never expected that a recording of The Bridge Reading would be surfaced again.

February, 1972: reading in St. Mark, New York. Pam accompanied him, right?
Somehow my bad memory tells me that Buk met Cupcakes much later...1974 or 1975.
 
February, 1972: reading in St. Mark, New York. Pam accompanied him, right?
Somehow my bad memory tells me that Buk met Cupcakes much later...1974 or 1975.
He read at St. Mark's again in June of 1976. So that works for Pam's timeline.
 
I guess it's unlikely that Buk read in NY twice. And he would have written about it.

edit: I overlooked your word "again". So he read their twice. I'm surprised as usual.
 
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I assume those are in the Montfort stash and not your own?
yes.

[...] what is (or was) available [...]
right.
I just remembered, I had made this list and looked it up and since our official list holds some recordings which were only home-recordings in the first place before they came available, I thought I'd shove them on you.


tapes that looked like or were labeled like "official" variations:

17 - Hostage - Reading 1980 - tape OVP
19 - 90 Minutes in Hell - Recording 1966 - 2nd Press, Toronto, 30/30
20 - 90 Minutes in Hell - Maro
23 - Bukowski & Richmond - Interview 1968 and Reading (?) - S-Press Tonband Verlag OVP

mm-tapes.jpg
(sorry, no better screenshot possible)
 
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Since I just made these lists I figured I'd post them here. It's the contents of the two readings DVDs, Last Straw and Riot.

THE LAST STRAW
Jam
What have I seen?
Trouble
Eating The Father
Competition
The Secret Of My Endurance
On The Hustle
I'm A Reasonable Man
The 9 Horse*
The Beast
I Don't Need A Cleopatra*
Hemingway
Fan Letter
The Drunk With The Little Legs
Tour
The Recess Bells Of School*
Giving A Poetry Reading

THERE'S GONNA BE A GOD DAMN RIOT IN HERE
The Secret Of My Endurance*
Sucks (It Sucks/Runaway Inflation?)
I Don't Need A Cleopatra
Unleaded
Quick Dreams (?)
Untitled (?)
The 9 Horse
Schubert
Layoff
Platonic
We've Got To Communicate
The Beast*
The Alien
Trumpets For Strumpets (?)
The Old Pinch Hitter
The Lady In Red
The Recess Bells Of School
Combat Primer
A Love Poem For All The Women I Have Known

*These poems are only included in the two dvd set, One Tough Mother.
 
I thought we had a list of the contents of all the other recordings as well, but I don't see it anywhere.

Unless it's in a text file somewhere on my computer at home...or in my imagination...
 
What about the readings that he gave at different universities? Did any of those ever resurfaced, or are they included in the ones listed above?
 
I believe the list is complete. The only recorded university reading that comes to mind is "Bukowski At Bellevue". Maybe some of the guys here can think of some other ones.
 
I may put them in the database...
Oh, look.

It took a while to work out the technical bits, but I think I have it buttoned up. Only three recordings are in the database at the moment (the KPFK CD, and both versions of Terror Street), I just put in enough to test with.

I'll try to get the rest in next week, but the data entry isn't quite as exciting as the coding and database work.
:rolleyes:
 
The year of the recording is there if you click through.

It's dated by the publication year in the initial results to help anyone looking for the recordings. My thinking was the interest would be in the product, not the session the product is taken from.

But either way, both are there.
 

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