Buk’s 100th birthday:
Awaiting the next chapter
Bukowski in Bronze, a GoFundMe campaign launched nearly a year ago on Charles Bukowski’s 99th birthday, Aug. 16, 2019, was supposed to raise money and focus preparations for a celebration of his 100th that would feature the unveiling of a bronze sculpture of the poet and author in the Waterfront Arts District.
Bukowski lived in San Pedro from 1978 until his death in 1994, and the area was often the inspiration and setting for his work.
The plan, according to the San Pedro Heritage Museum, was to create a gathering place where fans could honor the author’s legacy. But, with less than two weeks remaining until the big day, there has been no news or updates on the celebration. Only crickets have been chirping since the last update on the GoFundMe page in August 2019.
San Pedro Heritage Museum called upon renowned sculptor, educator and San Pedro resident Eugene Daub to work on the monument renderings. The coming celebration was reported on in Random Lengths News and other publications.
Sacred Grounds coffee house hosted the poetry reading and crowdfunding launch on Bukowski’s August 2019 birthday anniversary. The fundraising goal was set at $150,000. The campaign had the support of Los Angeles Councilman Joe Buscaino, the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce, the San Pedro Business Improvement District, the San Pedro Waterfront Arts District, Grand Vision Foundation and Angels Gate Cultural Center. Unfortunately, the funds weren’t met. To date and amid the pandemic, the crowdfunder has raised $5,000.
Indeed, absent an unveiling and local celebration, as Buk’s 100th birthday approaches, the author of thousands of poems, hundreds of short stories and six novels and more than some 60 books, his legacy persists in San Pedro and beyond.
Recently, film company Slamdance released a rediscovered film titled You Never Had It —An Evening with Bukowski, to be released in virtual cinemas Aug. 7, through Kino Marquee and Slamdance sites. Hosted by Italian journalist — and probably as close as one might call a contemporary friend of Bukowski — Silvia Bizio, the film is a look into what made the celebrated author of “dirty realism transgressive fiction” tick. Bizio knew Bukowski and interviewed him many times, including for Rolling Stone and the Los Angeles Times.
Being Bukowski’s friend allowed Bizio and film crew entry into the author’s San Pedro home in 1981. The interview went on long
Proposed Bukowski bronze sketch by Eugene Daub. into the night — beginning at 4 p.m. and going until 1 a.m. The crew was accompanied by Bukowski’s wife, Linda Lee Beighle and their cat, Max.
They talked, they drank wine, they looked at the view from Buk’s upstairs bedroom and writing room. They even viewed a little of the author’s artwork. The film is unlike many other documentaries about Bukowski in that it is set in one mostly uninterrupted scene of the author’s home. There are a few cutaways to scenes of the Los Angeles streets Bukowski haunted by murals depicting him and even a few visuals of San Pedro. Yet, most of the scenes and the dialogue in You Never Had It are driven by Buk himself, which is the main magnetism of the film. For any fans of Bukowski it will be a good time spent with the author as he offers insights into his thought processes and idiosyncrasies.
What made Bukowski magnetic? That is something that unfolds in his poem
Dinosauria,We [Born Into This] in which Bukowski depicts a dystopian world. Written in 1992, its nightmarish verses depict the world we live in right now. It’s worth the read and you will understand. But even within the wickedness of Dinosauria, We in its end he offers light.
And there will be the most beautiful silence never heard
Born out of that.
The sun still hidden there
Awaiting the next chapter.
While Bukowski lived in this town during his last decade-and-a-half, San Pedro did
“have” and behold him while he was among us. And that may well be the way he would have preferred it to be.
Coming February 2021, the Palos Verdes
Art Center will celebrate Bukowski with an exhibition of works inspired by his writing. Details: https://vimeo.com/439315696