Reminiscence

Note: What follows is a reminiscence of a reading in celebration of the journal Lip, of which Tom Weatherly and Kenneth Bluford were a part, on Sunday, November 19, 1972. — David Grundy

Tom Weatherly, as I recall, came to Philadelphia from New York City on the day of the reading. Perhaps it was Victor Bockris who acted as a conduit to get Tom to travel to the reading at the bookshop (Middle Earth Books) in Philadelphia. Victor was working with Tom to produce Thumbprint, one in the series of pocketbooks published by Telegraph Books.

At any rate Tom arrived and signed his copies of Climate/Stream after the reading if I remember correctly. Kenneth Bluford signed his in the afternoon, probably in my apartment behind the bookshop.

Like most readings in that series, it felt like a fast-moving train pulled into the station, made a pit stop, and was gone again in a few hours. Just like the “Electric Generation” living up to the moniker that Bockris/Wylie attached to their series of pocketbook line. 

There was a certain kind of “edge” in the bookshop during the reading, and I was left with one hundred signed pamphlets, a cassette recording, and traces of the electricity that forecast that something special was in process.

As it turned out, I was rewarded years later when those early perceptions were confirmed.