lester bangs and bukowski (1 Viewer)

[hoochmonkey9]

there's been some talk of lester and buk here on the forum.
I found some liner notes lester wrote for a Comedian Harmonists release where he talks quite a bit about Buk. the cd didn't come out until '99. the new york times printed the notes here....http://www.nytimes.com/library/music/090599comedian-harmonists.html
you have to be registered on the ny times site to read it.

 

[mjp]

I got in without registration. I think the NYT site lets you see the first article without logging in, but if you click away from that article you get shut out.

Typical Bangs, by which I mean; great, funny, brilliant, etc. Bangs never let me down, even when I had no idea what the hell he was talking about.

 

[chronic]

Thanks for posting this hoochmonkey! I read the article and it got me interested enough to track down some Comedian Harmonists mp3s. Listening to them now and they are really great. Probably would have never heard of them if not for your post.

 

[hoochmonkey9]

Listening to them now and they are really great.

yes they are. glad you liked them, chronic.

 

[rjwink666]

Lester Bangs is my favourite writer. :)

If only he could have lived long enough to pen an autobiography or novel

 

[slimedog]

He's on of my faves. When I read him in Creem I was only interested in music but now I see the how unconciously, he influenced me.

 

[rjwink666]

Recently got through the Lester Bangs biog. 'Let it Blurt: The life and Times of Lester Bangs' by Jim DeRogatis and there is an interesting anecdote about Bangs and Buk meeting

From p105
"By 1974 Bukowski had joined Burroughs and Kerouac as one of Lesters favorite writers. The following year Creem would tap him to cover the Rolling Stones tour just as Jann Wenner turned to Truman Capote, but Lester also believed that Bukowski pandered to his cult by playing the belligerent barfly. The two put a serious dent in the poet's six case stash of big-mouth beers and stated screaming at each other at the top of their lungs. "It was like guerrila warfare," Ochs said. "It sounded like they could come to blows, but they never did, and there was clearly a mutual respect." Finally Lester paused to go to the bathroom. "Is this guy all right?" Bukowski asked Ochs. "He really seems to be laying it on."

 

[Bandini10]

Thank you for all this. I am ashamed to say, as a musician and writer, that I have never read Lester but due to his connection with Buk, I will now plumb the depths. Thank you!