V/A - The Nova Convention

Original 1979 LP. Factory-sealed.

"American label set up in 1972 by the poet John Giorno. Mostly credited on releases as Giorno Poetry Systems records, Giorno Poetry Systems tapes and Giorno Poetry Systems video.
The earliest releases were exclusively poetry collections of the "Dial-A-Poets" (John Giorno, William S Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Allen Ginsberg, John Cage etc.): "In 1961 I was a young poet who hung out with young artists like Andy Warhol, Bob Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, as well as with members of the Judson Dance Theatre. The use of modern mass media and technologies by these artists made me realize that poetry was 75 years behind painting and sculpture, dance and music. And I thought, if they can do it, why can't I do it for poetry. Why not try to connect with an audience using all the entertainments of ordinary life: television, the telephone, record albums, etc? It was the poet's job to invent new venues and make fresh contact with the audience. This inspiration gave rise to Giorno Poetry Systems" - Giorno Poetry Systems

Side One
1. Terry Southern – Vignette of Idealistic Life in South Texas
2. William S. Burroughs – Keynote commentary & Roosevelt After Inauguration
3. John Giorno – Eating The Sky
4. Patti Smith – Poem For Jim Morrison & Bumblebee

Side Two
1. William S. Burroughs – Benway
2. Philip Glass – Building, excerpt from Einstein On The Beach by Robert Wilson & Philip Glass
3. Brion Gysin – Kick That Habit, Junk Is No Good Baby, Somebody Special & Blue Baboon
4. Frank Zappa – The Talking Asshole
5. William S. Burroughs – From The Gay Gun: "This Is Kim Carson," "Just Like The Collapse Of Any Currency," & "The Whole Tamale"

Side Three
1. William S. Burroughs – What The Nova Convention Is About
2. Ed Sanders – Hymn To Aphrodite from Sappho
3. John Cage – Writing For The Second Time Through Finnegans Wake
4. Anne Waldman – Plutonium Ode & Skin Meat Bones

Side Four
1. Laurie Anderson & Julia Heyward – Song from America On The Move
2. Allen Ginsberg & Peter Orlovsky – Punk Rock, Old Pond; Feeding Them Raspberries To Grow, & Nurses Song
3. William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Timothy Leary, Les Levine & Robert Anton Wilson – Conversations

Recorded at Entermedia Theater, New York, December 1 & 2, 1978