"With the abundance of everything fighting against it, it’s difficult to get beyond personal revolution. But I believe it’s still possible. In my own lifetime, we’ve seen remarkable shifts in societal attitudes and values, reflecting the power of grassroots movements and individual enlightenment. It seems the government, the systems, are much behind the individual minds. They say that AI will change everything. I’m interested to see…

"The Beats loved jazz, Kerouac wanted to be a jazz writer, but they also appreciated classical music and other forms of music. Notice the shout-out to Ray Charles at the beginning of Ginsberg’s “Kaddish.” What really helped keep the Beats alive was their influence on rock music: Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, The Doors, Janis Joplin, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, The Clash, Nirvana. Rock lyricists are the true heirs of the Beat…

"Keep dreaming the big dreams, but don't forget to take out the garbage."

George Wallace: A Rebel With A Cause

George Wallace is writer in residence at the Walt Whitman Birthplace, author of two dozen chapbooks of poems, editor of Poetrybay and associate editor of Great Weather For Media. A New York City poet, he travels throughout…

"Most of the lessons I learned when teaching children were joyful. For instance, I learned that every youngster could be motivated to play well enough to enjoy ensemble or choral work at a basic level. I also learned that gracious parents and brilliant colleagues could guarantee such results. There was one lesson that was not so joyful. Music education was starting to be considered…

"In terms of racial issues, the Beats were especially fond of blues and jazz—Ginsberg’s last hours were spent listening the blues, when he was in a coma—their writings addressed issues important to the Black and Latino people. The Beats were extremely important to socio-political movements such as sexual and gay liberation, the ecology, and others."

Michael Schumacher: Rebellion…

"As far as we know, in ancient times, poetry and music were the same thing. And of course we still speak of the music of poetry, in terms of meter, rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, repetition, and so on, even when the poetry is read silently from a page. If literature is defined as fine writing, it is always musical to some extent."

Steven Taylor: Notes Sutra,…

"I learned to be open to the chance, it made me want to “follow my inner moonlight”, express my feelings without being afraid and live my life to the fullest. Of course, “On the Road” brought in the forefront the technique of Bob prosody… More importantly, it taught me the meaning of friendship and it instructed me to try to listen to the music of the words, always underlying though seemingly latent, just like the music of the…

"I’ve learned that all perspectives are definitely not equal, that culture is the quality of life. Love and respect are most important, the sin of pride is the most dangerous, common courtesy is a given. To love and be loved is all. I’ve never personally had anything to complain about besides social conditions. I’ve learned it’s too easy to be weak and decisiveness is key. Class struggle and solidarity show the way to a better world. I’ve learned that…

"Poetry’s roots are lyrical and this continues to expand and illuminate as can be seen in the cultural preeminence of hip-hop. Music is the blood flow of our cosmic existence on terrestrial earth."

Todd Swindell: Harold Norse Blues

Todd Swindell is writer and archivist based in Sonoma County, California. As a close friend of Beat poet Harold…

"Destroy all egos and attain emptiness."

Tate Swindell: The Sūtra of The Beats

Archivist, Poet and Photographer, Tate Swindell is the founder of Unrequited Records, which specializes in poetry records released on the vinyl format. The latest release was an album of rare Gregory Corso readings from the late 1970s that included previously…

"Actually, the nature of freedom has long been debated, and I’m not going to solve it here. But I do believe the Beats advanced a more universal notion of freedom, a kind of animating spirit. And that spirit inhabits more than literature—music is also key to its transmission. That spirit has dimmed in our current times. But existence is cyclical, and there is always renewal."

Casey Rae: Let The Rock…

"It’s hard for me to believe that one can’t live without culture - especially art - which to me is music, poetry, literature as well as the visual arts. I think without the appreciation of the arts, then one is lost within their culture. Art is just as important as food."

Tosh Berman:

Growing Up in Wallace Berman's…

"Throughout the world, poetry and music have been forerunners in challenging the mindsets of people. Irrespective of the genre and language both music and poetry have constantly motivated people into thinking differently, into rising in revolt against mediocre or oppressive thought processes."

Maitreyee B Chowdhury: Bangalore Blues

Maitreyee B…

"On one hand, not as significant as it could or should be in our present global climate. On another level, literature is the net in which all of these phenomena are gently and tactfully caught. Like a net, literature is full of gaps and threaded apertures that allow us to see how issues of gender, race, culture and politics implicate and comprise our human reality. Music of certain ilks does this too."…

"The Beat writers raise interesting paradoxes worth exploring.  The Beats are, in many ways, out of step with the current American climate of identity politics.  To say that the Beats are politically incorrect is an understatement.  Their desire to celebrate life outside the margins led them to exalt minority experience in ways that are clearly viewed as racist today, despite their celebratory tone."…

"A soundtrack to the Beat Generation: put Allen Ginsberg in a steamy juke joint deep in the Delta in the 1950s, surrounded by Afro-American sharecroppers. Everybody gets drunk, everybody gets stoned, everybody gets naked."

Ben Schot: Avant-garde Beside The Sea…

"Poetry is the purest form of communication in my opinion. The more poetry that comes out of me, the better I think clearly and therefore even more poetry flows. It’s a perfect cycle of creation and music can make that whole process more colorful."

Aliah Rosenthal: No Hookups…

"My hope is that each pioneering vanguard of artists and writers will have the wisdom and selfless good sense to recognize the truest horizons before them."

George Wallace: Playful As A Whip…

"The Beats and music are connected through poetry, purity, ingenuity, experimentation, all with a childlike sense of abandon and absorption in whatever milieu they find themselves."

Nancy Calef: The Way of Peoplescapes…

"In the counterculture at large it's the idea of independence — thinking for yourself  — expressing yourself — being yourself — in a long line from Neal & Allen to flower children to green hair to sex changes to hugely popular stoner films."

Brian Hassett: The Beat State Of…