Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    

I can imagine that Thompson really got on Gleason's nerves.

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail came out in 73 (and was
published in 72 as a running story in RS) so Gleason had to have
known about Thompson riding with Nixon and talking football.  Just
guessing that didn't sit well.  But it's just a guess.  
  

    

I just noticed that Pete Richardson had a topic here about his book
on Thompson, two years ago, which I didn't post in.  So I'll mention
here that I met Thompson in 69 after my parents thought it would be
smart to get me out of SF and into a boarding school just down the
Roaring Fork River from Woody Creek and Aspen.  
Our ski coach had been Killy's coach earlier so we had the insane
experience of skiing with Killy whenever he came to Aspen.  He
coached us earnestly that "the steeper it is the safe it is."  As a
side effect, Thompson came to the school for lectures a couple of
times.  I remember a classmate asking "if things are as bad as you
say, why don't you just kill yourself?"
In SF I'd known about Ramparts and Scanlan's through our neighbors
the Howard Gossage family.  This stuff was the nutritional medium of
my youth and I feel lucky to have survived.
  

    
Wow, what a roster. There’s a podcast about Howard Gossage. Will
look it up if you’re interested. Don, I believe I read about
Gleason’s antipathy for Thompson in Joe Hagan’s bio of Wenner. Not
much detail and no citation if memory serves. I’d like to know more
about that, too. Maybe it was a stray comment from a family member?
Or a document in the Straight Arrow papers? 

In the meantime, can you tell us more about the informal salon he
hosted at his home in Berkeley? I dug that part of your book.
Musicians, activists, journalists, etc. 
  

    
I’m enjoying this warm bath of reminiscence...my entree into the SF
music scene was through my friends at the short-lived music journal
Mojo Navigator. I remember so clearly that there was a dichotomy
between our affection for all the bands, most of whom were amateur
in the best sense, in that although some could barely play (oops is
that uncharitable?) they connected to the heart into our
drugs-fueled desire to be a communal scene; as opposed to the groups
who had actual skills and played at a level of musicianship that we
wanted to celebrate. 

I think that was something that serious music writers found
challenging, including RJG. I watched his attitudes shift as he
began to appreciate Janis, for instance, and wanted to highlight
what was happening in SF music without abandoning critical writing.
Interesting conundrum.

Here’s a funny connection to this topic, <dgault>: was Susan Cheever
still at Rocky Mountain when you were there? She was my English
teacher (65-66) and it turns out she later ended up married to
Hinckle.
  

    
(Oops, iPad posted that a little prematurely for my grammar check,
but you get the idea.)
  

    

No, I don't remember Susan Cheever teaching there.  I was only there
for a year.  I looked her up and noticed her marriage at that time
to Robert Cowley, son of Malcom Cowley.  Lots of famous parents. 
Reminds me of Gossage's kids.  One time Howard's daughter told me
"making it in America is getting your obit in Time Magazine."  She
achieved that, in a terrible brutal way.  
<richardsonpete> I'm very interested in a podcast on Howard Gossage,
thanks. 
And I remember Gleason's changing view of Janis and BBHC.  I think
the Monterey Pop performance is what turned him around.  I just
remember being interested in what amps they used...
  

    
The Gossage podcast is called The Firehouse Salon.  
  

    
I got to natter on in this episode, which focuses on Gossage and
Ramparts magazine. It's also on Apple and other platforms.
https://tunein.com/podcasts/History-Podcasts/The-Pink-Air-Podcast-p3804420/?to
picId=383240840
  

    
Peter, the Gleason roundtables highlight the importance of such
private gatherings in developing Bay Area culture in the 1960s. It
was a floating discussion that occurred at different households
around the area. The circle of participants was diverse - old-school
Lefties, hip novelists like Kesey and Nelson Algren, and the
Gleasons. In letters, Gleason fumes and thrills to the discussions.
He loved the contact with the literary Illuminati. He was enraged by
the unwillingness of older liberals to change. These discussions
mirrored the atmosphere of debate in the Gleason household - kitchen
table discussions including Berkeley radicals and others. One
participant would present a thesis, another the antithesis, and then
argue it out.  
  

    
The "social media" of the day - not at all the same as now, merely a faint
resemblence.
  

    
That kind of freewheeling, casual conversation holds a lot of appeal
for me. Berkeley was a good place for it, though I know many San
Franciscans, including my wife, who spent almost no time in the East
Bay. (At least before we met.) 

As you know, Don, Gleason also taped discussions with jazz musicians
at his house. Those conversations make up the book from Yale U.P.
called "Conversations in Jazz." My favorite story about that had to
do with John Coltrane, who was playing in San Francisco but wanted
to go to Gleason's house afterward. He asked photographer Jim
Marshall where that was. You mean the address, Gleason asked. No,
Berkeley, Coltrane said. Marshall drove him to Gleason's house and
asked if he could hang around. Then he snapped the photograph that
eventually hung in the Obama White House. 
  

    
Peter, I didn't know the Coltrane photo hung in the Obama White
House—wow! Marshall shot many pictures of Gleason, including a
publicity still I have. Even the Marshall licensing folks had never
seen that one. Fodder for future posts on my blog don-armstrong.com.
Today I posted Ralph's first-ever music column, for the Columbia
University Spectator.

https://don-armstrong.com/2024/03/27/ralph-gleasons-first-music-column/
   
  

    
Here's the photo:

<https://sfae.com/Artists/Jim-Marshall/John-Coltrane-at-Ralph-Gleason-s-House-1
960>
  

    
From that 1936 column:

        "A Fine Romance," we are afraid, is not one of Jerome Kern's
        better tunes.


I wonder if he changed his mind later that year when he heard Billie
Holiday's version.
  

    
Well, as much as I love RLG and what he did for me, mrs icenine will
not let me spend $119.00 on the Amazon book..I am on a tight leash
with her when it comes to my book purchases..I think I will wait
until a Used copy shows up on AbeBooks..I can wait even though, to
me, that is not an outrageous price on Amazon but “happy wife, happy
life” are words and deeds to live by..
  

    
Don will know for sure, but I think a paperback edition is in the
works. 
  

    
Cool!
Thanking you, Peter and 
Don for your work on this fascinating and enduring writer..
  

    
We want to thank Don Armstrong and all the other participants in
this great conversation. We ask our guest for a two week commitment,
and he agreed to extend for a third week. While it's time to thank
everybody and announce an end of the commitment, this topic remains
open, and it's fine to continue the conversation. Reminder that the
administrivia post - <6> - has pubic links, if you want to share the
conversation.
  

    
Thanks for the conversation! I enjoyed reading along.
  

    
Same here
  

    
I'll stay tuned through the end of the week if anyone wants to yak
anymore. Never grow tired of discussing Ralph and music journalism
history. A paperback edition will come out in summer 2025. In the
mean time, check your local library. I plan a weekly Gleason post on
my website, cool stuff that didn't make it into the book! 

https://don-armstrong.com/
  

    
Thanks again, Don!
  

    
Thanking you, Don and I just subscribed to your WordPress site
  

    
Thank you all; I enjoyed this!