"I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness"

[aamusedinatx]

This week, the birth of Beat half a century ago will be marked by twin celebrations in California and Britain, where Ginsberg became an icon for rebellious youth in the late 1950s and '60s. Ten hours before San Francisco launches a "Howl at 50" event, centred on the site of the Six Gallery where the poem made its debut, a recital and concert in Leeds will hail the lasting power of Howl.

Starting with the line, "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness", the poem will be read to an accompaniment of specially commissioned musical pieces at Leeds University.

"That evening, on October 7 1955, had an extraordinary resonance," said Simon Warner, a former rock musician who lectures in popular music at Leeds. "It woke up a generation dulled by McCarthyism and the repressive conformity imposed by the cold war."

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