I received notice that Dave Christy founder of the Alpha Beat Press has passed away. The press was very prolific and influential in the little magazine and chapbook scene in the 80's and 90's. I had my first chap published by Dave Christy: "Poems of Boston and Just Beyond: From the Back Bay to the Back Ward" May he rest in peace.
From the website:
Alpha Beat Press has been publishing Beat Generation, post-Beat Independent and other modern writings since 1986. Alpha Beat Press had its beginnings in a Montreal flat with the idea of keeping the aesthetics and sensibilities of the Beat generation alive. Our first magazine, Alpha Beat Soup was unique, being the only small press magazine publishing original and current Beat writings. In our new magazine Bouillabaisse and in our other poetry publications we have continued in that tradition, publishing a wide variety of writers and styles, from Bukowski to the lesser known poets. Alpha Beat Press is certainly the best of the small press!
Past Contributors include: John Clellan Holmes, Charles Bukowski, Beatrice Wood, Allen Ginsberg, Diane DiPrima, Carolyn Cassady, Gary Snyder, Carl Solomon, Ken Kesey, Simon Vinkenoong, Kaviraj George Dowden, John Montgomery, Jack Kerouac, Ken Babbs, Bruce Fearing, Ray Bremser, Al Aronowitz, Ana Christy, Gerald Nicosia, Diane Wakowski, Bob Kaufman, Steve Richmond, Janine Pommy Vega, Antler, Herbert Huncke, Pradip Choudhuri, Jack Micheline, Gregory Corso, Joan Reid, Allen Cohen, Yusuke Keida, Barbara Moraff, A.D.Winans, Tuli Kupferberg, Richard Morris, George Montrgomery, Frank Moore, Erling Friis-Baastad, t.k.splake, ruth weiss, elliott, Ted Berrigan, Neeli Cherkovski, Clayton Eshleman, Gerald Locklin, Joy Walsh, Anne Waldman, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Michael McClure, Kurt Nimmo, Ron Androla, Graham Cournoyer, Bill Costley, Jan Kerouac, Jeanne Conn, Stephan Ronan, Christine Zwingman, Chris Challis, Lyn Lifshin, Ulvis Alberts, Lorrie Jackson, Tony Seldin, Judson Crews, Steve Allen, William S. Burroughs, Neal Cassady & Ted Joans.
Sorry to hear of Dave's passing. Your tribute is a fine one. I learned of Alpha Beat Press through Splake and enjoyed the few copies I have read over the years.
ReplyDeleteTragic. I was a reader of the great Bouillabaisse and was lucky to publish a poem or two in Dave's Alpha Beat broadsheet series back in the late 1990s. The man gave a lot to the small press scene & will be missed.
ReplyDeleteR.I.P. Dave; you were the bomb in all the pretense, all the MFA bullshit, and now you sup Ambrosia with Gods, all whom adore poetry.
ReplyDeleteSean Brendan-Brown
Alpha Beat Press published my collection of writing and collages called I, pentagonal antagonist: propaganda 4 a better America in 1997. It was my attempt to use art as a catalyst for social change. I sent copies everywhere I could think of. For the most part the reaction was as if I'd dumped them in a black hole. Except for the letter I received back from Howard Zinn. He even gave me a blurb: "I PENTAGONAL ANTAGONIST -- an extraordinary piece of writing! It has poetry and power, and important things to say." That made the whole thing worth it. Thanks to Dave and Ana for enabling my effort. Though sometimes it feels as Allan Ginsberg compared the artistic community's united opposition to the Vietnam War like dropping a pie off a step ladder in a crowded room.
ReplyDelete