Category Archives: Music

“On Rachmaninoff’s Birthday”: Frank O’Hara and the Russian Composer

Posted on April 1, 2017 by

Today is the birthday of the Russian composer and virtuousic pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) — a date which held special significance for Frank O’Hara. Across the course of his life, O’Hara wrote seven different poems titled “On Rachmaninoff’s Birthday” — … Continue reading →

Posted in Frank O'Hara, Music, Poems, Sergei Rachmaninoff | 2 Comments

Leonard Cohen (1934-2016), Kenneth Koch, and the Island of Hydra

Posted on November 11, 2016 by

                    Very sad news broke last night that the legendary songwriter, singer, and writer Leonard Cohen had passed away at 82.  Cohen began his career as a daring young Canadian poet … Continue reading →

Posted in Kenneth Koch, Leonard Cohen, Music, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

“Frank O’Hara: In the Heart of Noise” — London, Nov. 9

Posted on November 2, 2016 by

If you’re in or near London next week, you’ll want to check out this event devoted to Frank O’Hara, featuring poet, critic, and New York Schoolologist extraordinaire Mark Ford and the Aurora Orchestra.  It will be on November 9th, at Kings Place in … Continue reading →

Posted in Event, Frank O'Hara, John Cage, Mark Ford, Morton Feldman, Music, Ned Rorem, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

New York School Sons (to Delmore Schwartz)

Posted on February 18, 2016 by

The New Yorker has posted a piece by John Ashbery on the writer Delmore Schwartz.  The essay, which Ashbery first gave as a talk in Japan in 1996, has not been easily accessible in print until now, but it will apparently … Continue reading →

Posted in Andy Warhol, Delmore Schwartz, Influences on the NY School, John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, Lou Reed, Music, Velvet Underground

Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore Talks Poetry with Daniel Kane

Posted on December 17, 2015 by

The musician Thurston Moore — one of the founders of the groundbreaking experimental rock band Sonic Youth — has deep and long-standing ties to the New York School of poets, and to avant-garde poetics more broadly.  After all, he did recently record a song called “Frank O’Hara … Continue reading →

Posted in Bernadette Mayer, Bruce Andrews, Charles Bernstein, Clark Coolidge, Dan Graham, Frank O'Hara, Interview, John Ashbery, Music, NY School Influence, Patti Smith, Poetry Project at St. Marks, Richard Hell, Ted Berrigan, Thurston Moore, Vito Acconci

Ornette Coleman (1930-2015), Frank O’Hara, Amiri Baraka

Posted on June 11, 2015 by

This morning brought the sad news that the groundbreaking jazz musician Ornette Coleman has passed away at 85.  There will surely be many obituaries and testimonials to Coleman’s importance and legacy, but I wanted to just note some the important points of … Continue reading →

Posted in Abstract Expressionism, Alfred Leslie, Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones), Frank O'Hara, Jackson Pollock, Jazz, Music, Ornette Coleman

Patti Smith on Lou Reed: “He recited the great poets — Rupert Brooke, Hart Crane, Frank O’Hara”

Posted on April 19, 2015 by

  As someone who has been trying to make the case that there’s an important and under-recognized connection between the New York School of poets and Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, I know that for some skeptics, one nagging fact gets … Continue reading →

Posted in Frank O'Hara, Lou Reed, Music, Patti Smith, Velvet Underground