TUC Archives – a 29 minute audio-documentary of a January 2010 art exhibition in the small former logging town of Willits, CA, with poems and paintings by Ferlinghetti; and collages, and photos from Indian reservations by Maria Gilardin.
The re-broadcast of this documentary was scheduled to honor Lawrence Ferlinghetti on his 102nd birthday, March 24. City Lights Publishers just announced that he died last night on February 22nd, 2021. They said that: “He continued to write and publish new work up until he was 100 years old .. His curiosity was unbounded and his enthusiasm was infectious, and we will miss him greatly.” – I agree.
Even though this is not the formal Obit Ferlinghetti deserves, I decided to present this documentary (produced in 2014) as scheduled. The exhibition, End of Industrial Civilization, would not have been possible without his paintings, his poetry and his ideas. Ferlinghetti even continued his engagement with the project and planned to collaborate to redo the exhibit under the title: Dismantling Industrial Civilization.
The program opens with the Ferlinghetti poem: Wild Dreams of a New Beginning, written in 1974, about the mile high tidal wave that runs over Los Angeles which sinks like the Titanic, all lights lit; crosses the country to sweep Manhattan Island clean in 16 seconds. The washed land then awakes again to wilderness, and the Indians reclaim their canoes.
That is followed by reflexions about Industrial Civilization from The Airconditioned Nightmare by Henry Miller and Kirkpatrick Sale’s article: Lessons from the Luddites. Followed by comments on Industrialization and self reliance from visitors to the opening reception at the Willits Center for the Arts – including the popular Sheriff of Mendocino. (Interviewed by KZYX programmer Annie Esposito)The program ends with a short biography of Ferlinghetti (up to 2014).
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)
