Simon Warner's Avatar

Simon Warner

@simon-warner.bsky.social

Popular music researcher with interests in the Beat Generation writers, Founding Editor of the website Rock and the Beat Generation

36 Followers  |  7 Following  |  54 Posts  |  Joined: 20.03.2025  |  1.5736

Latest posts by simon-warner.bsky.social on Bluesky


Preview
Obituary #8: James Grauerholz 'To him I owed my career'

James Grauerholz, the overseer of the William Burroughs estate, is dead. Oliver Harris, one of the leading scholars of the novelist's world, pays tribute to the man and his achievement for Rock and the Beat Generationโ€ฆ
simonwarner.substack.com/p/obituary-8...

02.01.2026 18:36 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 14    ๐Ÿ” 8    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
Film review #5: Outrider Waldman at core of cinematic doc

Poet Anne Waldman continues to be powerful force on multiple fronts: published writer, on-stage performer and central focus of recent biodoc Outrider. Jonah Raskin saw theย Alystyreย Julian movie at a screening in SF for Rock & the Beat Generationโ€ฆ
simonwarner.substack.com/p/film-revie...

30.12.2025 16:15 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
Book review #60: Bread of Angels New Patti recollections rich source

Steven Taylor, Fugs guitarist & 20 years an accompanist to Allen Ginsberg, takes on the new Patti Smith memoir Bread of Angels for Rock & the Beat Generation. Taylor finds much to enjoy in this backtrack to the very early days of the would-be poet rocker
simonwarner.substack.com/p/book-revie...

27.12.2025 21:10 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Post image

Winter Sky w/ Car, December, Yorkshire

17.12.2025 08:34 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

We interview Ron Rosenbaum about his recent Bob Dylan biography Things Have Changed. Rosenbaum has some critical words regarding Dylan's relationship with Allen Ginsberg. Rock and the Beat Generation was keen to find out more.
simonwarner.substack.com/p/interview-49โ€ฆ

13.12.2025 15:45 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

60 years today a classic SF photoshoot saw Beat poet Allen Ginsberg & Bob Dylan snapped in Jack Kerouac Alley. Poets & critics, historians & rock writers, explain the reasons for this transgenerational summit. Rock & the Beat Generation reportsโ€ฆ
simonwarner.substack.com/p/last-gatheriโ€ฆ

05.12.2025 16:01 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Ron Rosenbaum's bold & provocative Things Have Changed brings numerous fresh angles to Dylanโ€™s oft-reported story. The writer has a very negative take on Allen Ginsberg's influence. Rock & the Beat Generation Editor Simon Warner weighs up the evidenceโ€ฆ
simonwarner.substack.com/p/book-review-โ€ฆ

23.11.2025 12:50 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Post image

At last, a store for the tramp about townโ€ฆ

14.11.2025 11:27 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Burroughs scholar Oliver Harris reviews The Bunker Diaries, Stewart Meyerโ€™s account of life in WSBโ€™s legendary Manhattan headquarters for Rock & the Beat Generation. The dealer & would-be writer offers intimate insights into that underground enclaveโ€ฆ
simonwarner.substack.com/p/book-review-โ€ฆ

02.11.2025 14:59 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
Rock and the Beat Generation | Simon Warner | Substack Where hip writers meet hot rockers. Click to read Rock and the Beat Generation, by Simon Warner, a Substack publication with thousands of subscribers.

Rock & the Beat Generation: AI-free since 2021
simonwarner.substack.com

29.10.2025 17:55 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Post image

Soul searching: In the week that the English monarchy broke its 500-year-old golden rule โ€“ donโ€™t go praying with no popes โ€“ a packed congregation filled Halifax Minster to worship at the feet of a Luther Vandross impersonator to absorb a little gospel truth. Postmodernity indeed.

24.10.2025 12:00 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
Interview #45: David S. Wills New 'Howl' history further unpacked

70 yrs ago today Ginsberg's 'Howl' was given its premiere at the 6 Gallery in SF. David S. Willsโ€™ book about the event is Remarkable Collection of Angels. He talks to Rock & the Beat Generation about the challenges of writing the titleโ€ฆย 
simonwarner.substack.com/p/interview-...

07.10.2025 12:31 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
Book review #55: A Remarkable Collection of Angels Legend reprised, myths busted in 'Howl' history

As the 70th anniv of โ€˜Howlโ€™โ€™s premiere nears, David S. Willsโ€™ investigation into the landmark 6 Gallery reading, A Remarkable Collection of Angels, is scrutinised for Rock & the Beat Generation by our Chief Book Reviewer & Ginsberg expert Jonah Raskinโ€ฆ
open.substack.com/pub/simonwar...?

01.10.2025 15:56 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
Interview #44: Joyce Johnson Beat legend turns 90, talks music

Joyce Johnson, Kerouacโ€™s girlfriend as he made his breakthrough with On the Road, turns 90 today. The woman, who would go on to become a successful writer herself, talks jazz & folk to Rock & the Beat Generationโ€™s Simon Warner in an exclusive interviewโ€ฆ
simonwarner.substack.com/p/interview-...

27.09.2025 06:46 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Post image

Megafungi: Paperback book just a marker but four huge mushrooms on our lawn. What are they, I wonder?

23.09.2025 14:09 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
Rock and the Beat Generation | Simon Warner | Substack Where hip writers meet hot rockers. Click to read Rock and the Beat Generation, by Simon Warner, a Substack publication with thousands of subscribers.

@litquake.org Maybe we could collaborate in some fashion. See simonwarner.substack.com

21.09.2025 14:59 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Post image Post image Post image

As the latest Dylan Bootleg Series surfaces, the new Mojo cover mount CD puns on the recent Bob biodramaโ€ฆ

21.09.2025 14:57 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Post image

Melody Maker, 1968โ€ฆ

28.08.2025 14:44 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Why doesnโ€™t Trump concentrate on exerting maximum sanctions on ๏ฟผPutinโ€™s evil empire rather than fighting the Fed and taking on its only black woman governor? Crush Russiaโ€™s economy not your own, you megalomaniac fool.

28.08.2025 14:41 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

@ginsbergpoem.bsky.social

20.08.2025 15:09 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Guardian headline: โ€˜Russia says it must be part of international talks on Ukraineโ€™s securityโ€™

Yeah, like arsonists should be part of wildfire management plansโ€ฆ

20.08.2025 15:08 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
Book review #53: The Nonconformists Beats, jazz and rock in a Cold climate

Allen Ginsberg's 1965 Prague adventure is a key episode in Brian K. Goodman's recent title The Nonconformists. Jonah Raskin, Rock and the Beat Generation's Chief Book Reviewer, finds much to fascinate in the churning waters of the Cold War conversation...
simonwarner.substack.com/p/book-revie...

20.08.2025 11:09 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
Kesey party...but why no Dylan? When Beat stars joined Pranksters' NY bash

Might Dylan have attended the famed Kesey/Kerouac Prankster bash in NYC in summer 1964? In this speculative account, Rock & the Beat Generationโ€™s Simon Warner engages the collective minds of Beat experts to consider the evidenceโ€ฆ
simonwarner.substack.com/p/kesey-part...

13.08.2025 14:51 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Best (real) band name for a while:
Near Jazz Experience

13.08.2025 14:48 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Couldnโ€™t Putin be legitimately arrested for his war crimes when he enters the United States on Friday. There is certainly a legal bounty on his head.

10.08.2025 17:50 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Stewart Lee, stand-up comic, presents a new Radio 4 series What Happened to Counter-Culture? Heading this queue of disruptives are the Beats with Ginsberg christening this very production. Simon Warner reviews the show at Rock & the Beat Generation
simonwarner.substack.com/p/radio-reviewโ€ฆ

07.08.2025 21:32 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 5    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Post image

Of interest? A snapshot of our current home page at Rock and the Beat Generationโ€ฆ

23.07.2025 12:04 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
Interview #38: Miles Albert Hall extravaganza turns 60

Legendary Beat historian Miles is the subject of the latest interview at Rock & the Beat Generation, as the famedย Albert Hall reading, the International Poetry Incarnation, commemorates its 60th anniv on this very day. Leon Horton asks the questionsโ€ฆ
simonwarner.substack.com/p/interview-...

11.06.2025 15:34 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
Terri Thal #3: Folkies and the Beatles When British Invasion met Greenwich Village

Terri Thal, Dylan's first manager, contributes a third article to Rock and the Beat Generation, this time focusing on the effect the Beatles' emergence in the US had on the Greenwich Village folk sceneโ€ฆ
simonwarner.substack.com/p/terri-thal...

23.05.2025 13:18 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Even VAR canโ€™t save Lineker

19.05.2025 11:08 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

@simon-warner is following 7 prominent accounts