LAST PERFORMANCE:

Jazz and Poetry & Other Reasons :

OPUS EIGHT: THE BEAT REVEALED

Friday, September 30, 2011
7:30 PM SHOW
at TaborSpace*

TaborSpace*
5441 SE Belmont St., Portland, OR 97215
(in the Mt. Tabor Presbyterian Church building)

Once again accompanied by the cool jazz of J. Stuart Fessant on sax, Tim DuRoche on drums, and Dan Davis on bass, Robert Briggs remembers the Beats of the 1950s and their revolutionary contributions to art, literature and freedom. In this poetic commentary, Briggs reveals why after so many decades, the Beat continues to haunt the American mind by shedding critical light on present day America - an America that in 2011, seems to be floundering at its very foundation of democracy and the pursuit of happiness for all.

*TaborSpace with its tall ceiling, stained glass windows and fireplace, comfortable chairs with tables in a café-like atmosphere offers delectable beverages and sweets for your enjoyment as you listen to Briggs accompanied by cool jazz reminiscent of the Beats and the early ‘60s!

Ruined Time and other books and CD audios by Robert Briggs are available from our web store and will also be available in signed editions at all performances. For purchases or media inquires, please contact rb@ruinedtime.com.

Hope to see you there!

From the Bomb to the Beat and beyond — Robert Briggs delivers "a mesmerizing memoir that sees through the scene and peers into the soul of an age ...clear-eyed nostalgia, critical and unflinching, yet searching and sympathetic ... a wild, wonderful ride."    (Gerald Lubernow, UC Berkeley)

Before slams and Def Jams there was ... the Beat. The incendiary wedding of jazz and poetry that began in the 1930s reached an ecstatic high during the post-WWII Beat era, with icons like Jack Kerouac, Gregory Corso, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. In places like San Francisco's Cellar, bearded bards and bebop prophets offered epistle and inspiration that freed the body and mind from mundane concerns. Discover why this vibrant era, born under the bomb's early light in the shadow of America's military-industrial complex, continues to capture and haunt the popular imagination ... and "why jazz is to music what poetry is to knowing."

A contemporary of Kerouac's and a veteran of the Cellar scene, Robert Briggs is an accomplished poet and the writer of "Ruined Time 1950's and the Beat."

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