On Aug. 2 the Bourgeois Pig in Lawrence hosted a memorial reading for the 50th anniversary of Naked Lunch's publication. The 1950s legal battle over censorship changed the course of United States publication freedoms. Some of the people who knew Burroughs best were at the Aug. 2 reading, including James Grauerholz and Wayne Propst. Wayne played a loop of his home movies of William; some of his artworks were on display; Susie Ashline and Dalton Howard played; and some commemorative vodka & colas were drunk. Diane W. Pinegar shared her photos, and Wayne Propst and T.F. Pecore Weso consented to some interviews.
I recorded some of this event, and, with the help of Carol Burns of Ironwood Films, made a 22 min. version. There is a clip posted at: http://deniselow.wordpress.com/video-projects/ . Copies of the entire project are available through mammothpubs@hotmail.com or at Quimby's in Chicago; Raven & Oread in Lawrence.
I also recommend Wayne Propst's footage at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il3317LLbwY and Yony Leyser's trailer for "William S. Burroughs: A Man Within"at http://www.burroughsthemovie.com/ . In person, Burroughs was brilliant, in conversation working out ideas with axes going multiple directions. If one were a friend, he had exquisite, sensitive manners. All of our lives are different because of him.
