I recently bumped into the UBUWEB archive, while researching the 2013 Tectonics Reykjavik festival (I’m going!), in particular Vicki Bennet’s People Like Us.

Here are some of the treasures I found in their Sound section. Archives like this make me want to be a teacher, I’d love to use these clips in my class. I am sure many do and there will be more after reading this.

Charles Bukowski

130 minutes of the first-ever recordings of Charles Bukowski reading his own work. Culled from tapes made by Bukowski at his Los Angeles home in 1968 for biographer and rock critic Barry Miles, long before the author had begun regular public readings. Bukowski was so shy he insisted that he record alone. He reads both poetry and prose, gets thoroughly drunk during the recording, and bitches about his life, his landlord, and his neighbors.

**

Allen Ginsberg (including recordings with Don Cherry)

**

Gherasim Luca – the great Romanian-origin surrealist, speaking in French while in Paris. He committed suicide by throwing himself in river Seine.

**

Frank Zappa

Five minutes of a public reading

The Talking Asshole

Performed at The Nova Convention, NYC
December 2, 1978

**

Eugène Ionesco

The Romanian-origin theater giant can be heard reading his play “The Bald Singer” with his friends.