Words & Music, Book One

"Over 40 years ago, in a record shop on Long Island, during a weekend visit there to see my parents, i found a double-LP that looked like something i should definitely buy. It was called "BIG EGO", by the The DIAL-a-POEM POETS. On the cover was a picture of John Giorno (a great poet Ed Sanders had turned me on to) on a NYC rooftop with Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, and two kids. It cost $2.I bought it and rushed back to my parents house, where i still had my old turntable in the basement, not far from my Jimi Hendrix and Zappa Crappa posters, and my framed portrait of John Cage.My copy of Eno's "DIscreet Music" was still on the turntable, having been left there years before,when i'd fled Long Island for good. I lifted it from the platter, gently slid it back into its sleeve,like a priceless religious artifact, and put Side A of the Dial-a-Poem LP on.I almost lost my mind while listening to it. The next day i went back to the same record shop looking for more DIAL-A-POEM LP's. i found tw