Shakespeare and Company: Perhaps the most famous independent bookstore in the world
Pics include, George Whitman, his daughter Sylvia, Langston Hughes, Ted Joans, Allen Ginsberg, George Plimpton and Lawrence Ferlinghetti
LESTER YOUNG by Ted Joans
Sometimes he was cool like an eternal blue flame burning in the old Kansas City nunnery Sometimes he was happy ’til he’d think about his birth place and its blood stained clay hills and crow-filled trees Most times he was blowin’ on the wonderful tenor sax of his, preachin’ in very cool tones, shouting only to remind you of a certain point in his blue messages He was our president as well as the minister of soul stirring Jazz, he knew what he blew, and he did what a prez should do, wail, wail, wail. There were many of them to follow him and most of them were fair — but they never spoke so eloquently in so a far out funky air. Our prez done died, he know’d this would come but death has only booked him, alongside Bird, Art Tatum, and other heavenly wailers. Angels of Jazz — they don’t die — they live they live — in hipsters like you and I
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Ted Joans (1928-2003) poet, artist, and trumpet player. His artistic work was heavily influenced by jazz rhythms. A former room-mate of Charlie Parker’s, Ted coined the phrase “Bird Lives!” upon Parker’s death.
A printed invitation to the birthday party of Beat artist Ted Joans, July 1959. The invitation, addressed to 'Girls of the Beat Generation,' reads, in part, 'You are invited to Ted Joans birthday party bit so be present with a present and bring other chicklets, chicks, and even hip hens. Only cats with written invitations with be admitted. But girls free.' The party was held on July 25th 1959
themaninthegreenshirt reblogged
Bird Lives.
When Charlie Parker, died in 1955, Ted Joans, [a Beat Generation poet] wrote “Bird Lives” across the streets of New York.
Joans was a contemporary and friend of Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, but in a career that spanned more than 40 years, he never achieved their level of fame, yet he was considered an influential figure in American and African-American literature.
Joans died in 2003.
Ted Joans Lives
themaninthegreenshirt reblogged
Ted Joans reads his poetry at the Bizarre coffee shop NYC, 1959.
Ted Joans reads his poetry at the Bizarre coffee shop NYC, 1959.