Product Description
When Bukowski arrived here to read in 1979, it was for the second time. Unfortunately there was no record of the first reading. I thought there was. One day I arranged for that reading to be shown to me and several friends. It never happened. That tape, which I thought existed, was nowhere to be found. What could I do? I decided to write Bukowski and tell him and ask if he would be willing to come back and try it again. Would he do another reading? My friends would get to see him live, I could film it and make sure that this visit would be recorded. He answered; said yes, he would come back. I organized flights and hotel, rented a hall and advertised. I set the date for Friday, October 12, 1979. Hank and Linda Lee Beighle (later to become Mrs. Bukowski) arrived the night before. There was a dense fog that night and they were rerouted. They had to be bused to Vancouver. I was in a frenzy. They came through arrivals several hours late but, they were here! We took them to their hotel where they freshened up and we went out on the town and got to know each other. The reading was at an old hall in the Downtown Eastside on Hastings Street. It was a hall used for weddings and dances mostly. Perfect! Since it seemed to me laden with the overtures of many lives. We set up chairs, put Hank in front with a bank of microphones and filmed it. It was raw, raucous, and raunchy. But also sublime. 650 people came. There was plenty of yelling, screaming, and applause. There was also plenty of tears and shouts resounding with love and adulation for this man. It s all here. I hope you enjoy it. It was the last time he performed outside the United States. It was and remains a testament to a great poet and writer.
About the Actor
Charles Bukowski was born August 16, 1920 in Andernach, Germany to a German-born mother and an American serviceman after the end of World War I. He lived there until age 3, at which time the family moved to Los Angeles. His father, who was drunk most days and nights, beat Bukowski regularly. The adult Bukowski had a spotty work history, except for a decade at the Post Office; he survived there to write some classic elegies, never to be forgotten. He stated that, 'Style is the answer to everything. A fresh way to approach a dull or a dangerous thing...' For decades he remained a fairly obscure writer; but over time, he became recognized as one the great contemporary American authors. Many knew him from the Los Angeles Free Press column Notes of a Dirty Old Man. In the late 60s Black Sparrow Press started publishing his works and supported him financially. In 1987 Barbet Schroeder directed the movie Barfly, based on Bukowski s life and screenplay. It starred Faye Dunaway and Mickey Rourke. Born Into This, a documentary, was released in 2004. More than a million people have seen it. In 2006 Factotum, starring Matt Dillon, was released and Bukowski's papers entered the Huntington Library permanent collection archives. All his manuscripts and papers were donated by his wife Linda to that august institution. After Barfly, Bukowski wrote some of the most contemplative and profound prose and poems you'll ever come across. Little was ever captured of him reading his poems to an audience; clips would show up now and then. But now we have two works, dormant for over 25 years, finally being released. In 1979-80 Bukowski gave two sold-out readings to audiences in Vancouver, Canada and Redondo Beach, California. After the Redondo Beach reading, he gave up public performances, concentrating instead on his writing, for the final 14 years of his life. For those of you who were lucky enough to personally experience his performance art the banter with the audience, the insane atmosphere that almost culminated in a riot these DVDs will bring vivid memories. For those of you who only know of Bukowski through his written work, prepare yourselves.
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