Howlapalooza - Festival Celebrates Ginsberg's Greatest Poem

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness ...

So begins the most celebrated poem of the hippie generation, "Howl!," by Allen Ginsberg. After its first reading at the Six Gallery in San Francisco in 1955, it was the subject of a First Amendment obscenity battle, which its publisher, Lawrence Ferlinghetti of City Lights Books, inevitably won. Then, throughout the next four decades, Ginsberg would read it to rapt audiences around the world, bellering his barbaric yawp in celebration of social freedom and spiritual extravagance.

Now Howl-heads have an opportunity to gather and share the joy, history, and sound of the poem, as Howl! Festival 2009 kicks off in Tompkins Square Park in NYC on September 4, 2009, and runs for three days, just a few yards from Ginsberg's final dwelling place in the East Village. Billed as "Three Days, Two Stages ... Art Around the Park, Lowlife! HipHop Howl! Howl Kidz! Poetry! Music! Dance! Free Fun For All!", the festival proudly embraces and expresses the spirit of that original yelping Ginsbergian melange of party and poetry.

Other venues around NYC will be sharing their Howl!-a-mania - St. Marks Church on the Bowery, The Millennium Film Workshop, The New Museum, The Bowery Poetry Club, and others - all giving Howl! enthusiasts a chance to share and shout about their beloved revolutionary classic.

So go give a howl for Howl! After all, you can't be the best mind of your generation without a little madness.