WE’RE LOOKING FOR HELP IN EXPANDING OUR EXHIBITS
We’re expanding our Collection and our Exhibition Space at The Beat Museum. We’re looking to build exhibits with the following themes:
A). SPUTNIK AND THE COLD WAR
We need an artist or craftsman who can build a full scale replica of the Russian Satellite “Sputnik” that we can hang from the ceiling. You’ll recall Sputnik was launched in October of 1957, just a few weeks after the publication of “On The Road”. This is what led to the coining of the term “Beatnik”.
Sputnik was a communications satellite about the size of a basketball. I’m hoping some talented person out there can build us a life-size replica within the next 60 days. PLEASE CONTACT ME IF YOU’D LIKE TO DO THIS.
Link: Photo of Sputnik
http://www2.fht-esslingen.de/telehistory/sputnik.html
Contact: thebeatmobile@yahoo.com (put SPUTNIK in the subject line)
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B). BEATNIK PAD?We’re also looking for items to build a large display area that shows an “AUTHENTIC BEATNIK PAD” circa 1958/1959. We’re looking for tables, chairs, bedding, books, magazines, ashtrays, photographs, artwork - authentic type of stuff that would be in a North Beach apartment in 1958. Please contact me if you think you might have something appropriate.
Send an email to: thebeatmobile@yahoo.com (Subject line: BEATNIK PAD)
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C). TWELVE NEW EXHIBIT AREAS
We’re also looking for photographs, artifacts and other exhibition material that would be appropriate to display for the following exhibits:
1). People who influenced the Beats (Whitman, Emerson, Blake, Rimbaud, Wolfe, Edgar Cayce, The Jazz Musicians (Bird/Dizzy/Monk, etc), Spengler, Yeats, Kafka, Dostoevski, Nietzsche, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Celine, DH Lawrence, Melville, Proust, William Carlos Williams, etc, etc)
2). Items of Interest related to the early life of the Beats (Kerouac’s Lowell, Ginsberg’s Patterson, Burrough’s New Orleans, Cassady’s Denver, etc, etc). This could include a variety of things - old baseball memorabilia from the 1930’s, maps of Larimer Street, a picture of Bellevue Hospital
3). Items related to Columbia University, Times Square and Greenwich Village circa 1940’s - 1950’s and then later - David Kammerer, Lucien Carr, Lou Little, Bill Canastra, Hal Chase, Ed White, Allen Temko, Herbert Huncke, John Clellon Holmes, Carl Solomon, Frank O’Hara, Amiri Baraka, - New York Hangouts - The West End Cafe, St. Mark’s Church, etc
4). Beats during WWII and post WWII (Kerouac’s time on USS Dorchester/USS George Weems, Sammy Sampas at Anzio, Uncle Sam “I Want You” poster, Rosie the Riveter, WWII artifacts, etc
5) The Culture of the 1950’s - James Dean, Brando, The Cold War, The Atom Bomb, The Artists - Robert Frank, David Amram, Robert LaVigne, Jackson Pollack, Lenny Bruce
6). The Women of The Beat Generation - Carolyn Cassady, Diane di Prima, Joyce Johnson, Hettie Jones, Eileen Kaufman, Lenore Kandel, Joan Vollmer, Elise Cowen, Luanne Henderson, Anne Murphy, Edie Parker, Joan Haverty, Stella Sampas, Joanne Kyger, Natale Jackson, ruth weiss, Denise Levertov, Joanna McClure, Jay Deoe Anne Waldman
7). The San Francisco Renaissance - The Six Gallery Reading, City Lights, Berkeley, The Howl Trial, North Beach hangouts (The Cellar, The Coffee Gallery, The Place, The Co-Existence Bagel Shop), - Ferlinghetti, Rexroth, Lamantia, Corso, McClure, Snyder, Whelan, Welch, Kaufman, Orlovsky, Harold Norse, Jack Micheline
. Themes - Inclusiveness, Tolerance, Compassion - racial harmony, gay acceptance, role of women, spirituality/religion, environmentalism9). Beats become Beatniks - “Beatsploitation” films, novels and television - Life & Times of Dobie Gillis, Route 66,
10). Railroading and the 1950’s highway system - especially The Southern Pacific Railroad and Route 66 (as well as the circuitous route taken by Jack & Neal in On The Road). Brakeman’s lanterns, uniforms, photos of trains - maps and photos of the old Route 66, etc.
11). The Beatniks become the Hippies - the move to Haight Ashbury, Ken Kesey, The Merry Pranksters, Hugh Romney becomes Wavy Gravy, The Grateful Dead, the 1964 bus trip, The Acid Tests.
12). The people and movements the Beats inspired - Bob Dylan, John Lennon and The Beatles, Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek and the Doors, Hunter S. Thompson, Patti Smith, Johnny Depp bringing it all up to today’s influences and the spiritual children of The Beats.
BOTTOM LINE: We’re telling a story here at The Beat Museum. We’re telling the story of individuals, of a generation, of America and the world. We’re telling the story of a shift in consciousness, of a culture and of counter-culture.
Please let me know of any items you feel you can donate that would help us tell that story in an authentic and more complete way.
We’re also looking for artsy/crafty types who can help us build these display exhibits so if you’ve got the skills we can put them to good use.
Send an email to thebeatmobile@yahoo.com (Subject line: DISPLAY EXHIBITS)
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Ideas, suggestions and thoughts on these projects or anything not mentioned will be gladly welcome.
Thanks!
Jerry
