Allen Ginsberg was one of the creators of the beat poetry movement alongside the likes of Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs and Gregory Corso, with his two most infamous works being The Howl and Kaddish.
His mates included The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Clash and Patti Smith amongst others, but there was also a connection with Manchester, Salford, Prestwich and the North West, and now researcher and writer, Roger Bygott, is trying to shed some light on Ginsberg's visits here...
"Ginsberg visited Manchester a handful of times, yet in his biographies the city is only mentioned in passing" Roger explains "He read once at the Library Theatre in 1979, passed through with John Cooper Clarke maybe once or twice in the 80s and had a brief social visit in 1973 on his way from Scotland back down to London.
"Of local interest is the fact that his longstanding guitarist and fellow traveller of over twenty years Steven Taylor, was born in Gorton" he says "Taylor left for the USA with his family when he was ten, met Ginsberg at a University gig and was invited to accompany him. Taylor was able to revisit his childhood home when I invited him over to Manchester in 2015 for a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the first reading of Ginsberg's Howl.
"Yet, there is another fascinating link with Ginsberg and Manchester" he adds "Alan Wise, music promoter of everyone from The Fall, to Nico and Donovan, was also briefly Allen Ginsberg's road manager. Ginsberg stayed with him once in Prestwich and they travelled over to Liverpool for a reading with John Cooper Clarke. Travelling in the car with Cooper Clarke's mother, Ginsberg told her 'Your son is very polite'.
"At the 1979 Library Theatre reading Ginsberg noted there were some punks in the audience. Who were they?" he asks "On the 1973 visit he went for a meal with a group of people, before going on to visit the American poet Jonathan Williams in the Yorkshire Dales. Who was in that party? In the 80s he was hanging out with Alan Wise, John Cooper Clarke and Nico. Were you there too?
"James Young has some great anecdotes about Ginsberg and Nico in his book Songs They Never Play on the Radio but beyond that there doesn't seem to be much in print" he says "Sadly Alan Wise didn't get his autobiography together before he died. I wonder what happened to all his papers? I'm researching and writing about Ginsberg's visits to Manchester and the North West and would like to hear from anyone who met Ginsberg in those times. All pointers welcome..."
If anyone has any information please contact Roger at roger.bygott@gmail.com
Anyone interested in Roger's article on Steven Taylor from Beat Scene magazine No 92 in Spring 2019 can contact kevbeatscene@gmail.com
The two photos were taken by Allen Ginsberg in Manchester in August 1973 and show Scott Eden, a Scottish poet friend of Ginsberg who was travelling with him; Jonathan Williams and Thomas Meyer, both influential American poets who lived part time in the Yorkshire Dales; and an unidentified stocky man in a jacket. The photos are courtesy of Stanford University Libraries and the Allen Ginsberg Estate.
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