St. Mark's Poetry Project: 1979 New Year's benefit (Broadcast and production reel)

WBAI's Drama, Literature and Art department presents the St. Mark's Poetry Project's New Year's Day Benefit to help rebuild the St. Mark's Church which partially burned down in 1979.

Part A is in two parts: Side one: (00:00:28) Intro and Patti Smith - "Because the Night" (studio version). (00:03:47) John Cage reads extracts from "Indeterminacy"; (00:07:03) Susan Howe reads from "Secret History of the Dividing Line"; (00:09:48) Hannah Weiner reads from "Clairvoyant Journal"; (00:12:30) Janet Hamill reads "Belladonna" and "The Change of Skin"; (00:15:48) Regina Beck reads three short poems; (00:17:25) Paul Violi is introduced; (00:17:41) Mike Sappol reads a poem; (00:19:30) The Talking Band (Tina Shepard and Paul Zimet) performs Gertrude Stein's "Lipschitz" and stanzas IV and V of Allen Ginsberg's "Kaddish"; (00:26:19) Anne Waldman reads "Plutonium Chant" and "Mirror Meditation"; (00:31:08) Taylor Mead reads some short poems; (00:37:51) Patti Smith - "Ghost Dance"; (00:42:07) Jackson Mac Low reads "Let It Go"; (00:46:38) Peter Orlovsky reads "And the Tea Will Seem Golden", "4-D Man", "Some One Liked Me When I Was Twelve", "My Mother's Memory Poem" and one additional (improvised?) poem.

Part A, Side two: (00:53:03) Bob Rosenthal reads "We Are All Peter Orlovsky"; (00:56:10) Ann Lauterbach reads "As It Turns Out", "Untitled Seascape", and "And So"; (01:01:03) Ted Greenwald reads "The Pears Are the Pears", "The Pink Room Is Empty", "One Foot" and "Giant Tuna"; (01:04:50) Patricia Barnett reads "Three Scenarios", "The Man from Upstairs, Come Downstairs", "A Dialogue for Two Voices", "Rings", and "I Wish as a Vehicle to Enter Time"; (01:14:14) Phillip Lopate reads "The Japanophiles"; (01:18:53) Paul Schneeman reads "Snug Harbor" and "Plaza"; (01:20:25) Kate Hammond reads "Instinct"; (01:21:55) Vincent Katz reads "Nickel Palms" and "Bead"; (01:25:10) Rose Lesniak reads "A Press Party" and "American Translation for 1979"; (01:27:31) Joe Johnson begins to read "Give My Regards to Broadway".

Part B is likely a production reel--some of the readings have been edited out. It seems that all of these readings were from St. Mark's Poetry Project's New Year's Day Benefit 1979, but the editing makes it unclear whether they were all performed at this reading. The tape begins with music by Philip Glass; next John Giorno reads poetry; Jackie Curtis performs; Robin Messing (breaks in the middle of a poem and cuts off before it's over); Ed Friedman reads; Michael Lally reads; Gerald Malanga reads; Rene Ricard reads (cut out); disco break; Sharon Matlin (reading edited out); Tony Towle reads; Gary Lindhardt reads; Charlotte Carter (reading edited out); Helena Hughes; unnamed woman poet; unnamed male poet; unnamed woman poet; Allen Ginsburg's Kaddish read by unnamed male poet (from Part 1?); Simon Pennant reads; Patricia Jones reads; Annabel Levitt; Frances Waldman (cuts off); unnamed male poet; Kenneth King and Robyn Brentano; unnamed woman poet; Rochelle Kraut performs Thomas Campion; James Brody reads (cut off); unnamed woman poet. This tape does not seem to be a "Part two," but they do seem to have been recorded the same evening.