Ginsberg, McClure and Conner / Chanting at Ginsberg’s Apartment

San Francisco 1965

After meeting Ginsberg for the first time, I was not in Allen's Fell St. apartment long before he rolled up the rug, sat down, and chanted mantras for around an hour. During that time Peter Orlovsky, Michael McClure, Bruce Conner and I joined in. Then the chant changed to "fuck death" probably by McClure. The irony for me was that while we were doing the new chant, my dad the friendly mortician was supporting me. He was putting me through art school and paid for my photo supplies. With this photograph, I wanted the viewer to have the feeling of what it was like to sit down and join in the chanting with the Beats.