When we first heard that Daniel Radcliffe would be the latest to portray Allen Ginsberg on fllm, we wondered if Kill Your Darlings would have any focus on the 1944 murder of David Kammerer, the 33-year-old "stalker" of Lucien Carr. The production has been filming all over New York for weeks, and most recently settled in at Columbia University. The school is where Carr (who already knew William S. Burroughs from St. Louis) met Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac—and the surrounding area is where the slaying occurred. more ›

Earlier today we noted that Daniel Radcliffe would be in Brooklyn portraying Allen Ginsberg for the new movie Kill Your Darlings, yet another flick about the beat poet in just a handful of years. We headed over to the scene, and found Radcliffe walking down Smith Street flanked by a blond-haired security guard, while press photographers ran ahead, telephoto lenses in hand to get their shot. Radcliffe parked up in a tent guarded on the outside by crew members. more ›

The latest actor to take on the role of Allen Ginsberg on the big screen is none other than Daniel Radcliffe. Currently the flick, Kill Your Darlings, is filming around Court Street and Union Street, Smith and Sackett, and Carroll Park in Brooklyn (groupies take note). Signs have also spotted around around West 3rd Street/Bleecker and Sullivan/Thompson in Manhattan. We've sent a photographer out on a paparazzi mission to capture what Harry Potter as the Beat icon looks like, and we'll update if she succeeds. Update: Mission ACCOMPLISHED. We got a photograph of him in costume! more ›

Can Daniel Radcliffe, fresh off a decade-long Harry Potter run, really pull off playing Allen Ginsberg? He's the latest actor to be cast as the Beat icon, in a movie coming out next year called Kill Your Darlings. The movie has actually been in development for a couple of years, and originally Jesse Eisenberg was rumored to be playing Ginsberg. more ›

Last month, James Franco was at the 92nd Street Y discussing his portrayal of Allen Ginsberg in the movie Howl, and how he developed his voice for the part. Now the 92Y has an mp3 of Ginsberg himself reading “Mind Breaths” during a 1977 appearance there. They say the poem was inspired by his study of samatha meditation, which Ginsberg has said "is paying attention to the breath leaving the nostril and dissolving into the space in front of the face. There is constant daydreaming and drifting away from that attention to the space." more ›

Allen Ginsberg spent 21 years of his life (1975 to 1996) living in a fourth floor walk-up in the East Village, and now—following the death of his partner Peter Orlovsky, it's on the rental market. Earlier this month, The Allen Ginsberg Project stopped by as it was undergoing renovations, and there's little left of the poetic madman's presence. For example, the bedroom that his pal Harry Everett Smith once resided in is now a bathroom (read an interview Ginsberg did with Paola Igliori in 1995, where the two discussed his one-time roommate). more ›

The restaurateur who sent out an obscenity-laden missive against his employees last week stands by his angry rant, which he has defended as his food industry version of Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl." Vadim Ponorovsky, owner of the Meatpacking District eatery Paradou, told the Post that he has been receiving death threats because of his email to staffers, which goes something like this: more ›

That's pretty much a rhetorical question, because the above photographic evidence is undeniable (okay, not everyone agrees). We can now see that James Franco will not only make a fantastic (looking) Ginsberg, but following the news that he's practically the next Proust all but confirms he can encapsulate the influential poet's spirit. The biopic he's starring in, the Gus Van Sant-produced Howl, is currently filming in NYC (where the actor attends school) and concerns the 1957 obscenity trial that almost got the famous poem banned. (Spoiler alert: Judge Clayton Horn ultimate ruled that "Howl" was of "redeeming social importance.") more ›

At the 1968 Democratic Convention, anti-war activists were denied permits to demonstrate by the city and spent most of the week getting their skulls cracked courtesy of the Chicago Police Department, witnessed by a television audience of over 50 million. A year later, eight of the most high profile radicals – guys like Abbie Hoffman and the Black Panthers' Bobby Seale – were tried on charges of conspiracy and inciting riots. The courtroom was a circus, with Seale gagged to silence his outbursts and ultimately sentenced to four years for contempt, while testimony from counterculture icons such as Phil Ochs, Arlo Guthrie, Norman Mailer and Timothy Leary drew massive crowds for the National Guard to disperse. more ›

As chains take over every nook and cranny of this city, some people in the East Village are forming a united front against them. The Villager reports on the corporate takeover, the resistance and the new spin on this story as old as time. more ›

It's the longest day of the year, so you should be able to fit Shepard Fairey's exhibit and at least one of the following events in. more ›

The Cedar Tavern is next in the long list of establishments giving way to condo development. The tavern has been located at 82 University Place (between 11th and 12th Streets) since 1963, though it's original location, in 1866, was on Cedar Street, from there it moved to 24 University Place. more ›

I was telling a filmmaker friend of mine that for the Mafia boss I needed someone who is old and physically not very strong but psychically totally dominating, like William Burroughs. He said, why not ask him? I could think of no good answer to that, and got in touch with Burroughs, and he was interested. He did the part perfectly, except for his Midwestern accent. An unknown (at the time) actor named Vincent D’Onofrio was a bartender at the Ritz, a club that has since turned into Webster Hall, and somebody I knew who worked there put us together and he tried out for the lead part. He wasn’t right for it--too big and tough looking--but he was a good actor so I asked him to play one of the muggers. more ›

While you’re touring New York’s Beat Generation landmarks, drop by the Grey Art Gallery to find out what the “community of disaffiliates” were doing out in San Francisco. You’ll discover through Semina Culture that they were hanging out with Wallace Berman. more ›

To correspond with its 50th anniversary celebration reading tonight, the 92nd Street Y Blog created this map of Beat Generation spots. The map is based on a Post article from Saturday that mentions addresses and events in the history of "all those crazy hepcats who turned postwar America on its head." more ›

The above clip is as frustrating as it is intriguing. The footage is of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Lucien Carr, Mary Frank and children Pablo and Andrea, as well as Lucien's wife Francesca Carr and their three sons, Simon, Caleb and Ethan. Shot in New York in the summer of 1959 at the Harmony Bar & Restaurant at E 9th Street and 3rd Avenue, the footage is all silent (that's the frustrating part, however - it is somewhat fitting). more ›

Have you heard of Plastic People of the Universe? The band, from Prague, was a major part of the underground culture there. This underground culture is often linked back to starting just after Allen Ginsberg visited Prague, and was then expelled from Czechoslovakia, in 1965. It's also linked to a rare copy of the Velvet Underground's first record showing up there and inspiring those in the music circle. The PPU (who got their name from the Frank Zappa song "Plastic People"), and others, sprouted up and went against the Communist regime, and were often arrested by the Czech communists in the 1970's because of this. In 1989 the (bloodless) overthrow of Communist rule occured, and was called "the Velvet Revolution." more ›

Bruce Levingston, Clasical Pianist more ›

. This makes the NYPL's collection of Bea-era materials the most comprehensive, since it already holds the Jack Kerouac archive. The NY Times story about the acquisition had the interesting sidenote about how Allen Ginsberg wanted the NYPL to buy his collection, but since he wanted to sell it quickly, the NYPL wasn't able to get the money together in time - the Ginsberg collection is at Stanford - but now the NYPL can say "This will be the place in the world to come to study the Beats." At any rate, we hope an exhibition of the work will be mounted soon - we'd love to see his letters to Kerouac, Timothy Leary, Ginsberg, and Terry Southern, among others. more ›

Bring back the Tompkins Square Park band shell! more ›

Part II: Conclusion. Bob Dylan's life and music (airing tomorrow night @ 9pm) more ›

Artwork by Jim Jarmusch, Nan Goldin, Anton Van Dalen and others up for bid; screenings and performances in community gardens; Charlie Parker tribute jazz festival; hip hop arts; readings; live music; parties; theatre; burlesque; art shows; films; Rooftop Rants; Beat poetry; Latino music and dance; Hebrew trivia; performance art; semi-nude live models in Tompkins Square Park; a Vomitorium; Wigstock with Boy George and RuPaul; and, of course, all things Allen Ginsberg. more ›

Daniel Nester, Proofreader/Editor/Poet more ›

Andy Horwitz, P.S.122 more ›