We get a lot of cold calls from people plugging stuff. Sometimes the cold-caller is plugging something good. Not often, mind. Hardly ever in fact. But sometimes.
Yesterday I got a call about a DVD recording of the last stage performance in the UK by the late Allen Ginsberg, beat poet, photographer, dude, musician, performer and alternative patron saint of San Francisco.
The DVD has gone on general release. But we scored you a clip of the man performing Hum Bom, an anti-war poem from 1971, updated for the first Gulf War in 1991. Hasn't dated. What is it about war that politicians just don't get bored of it? (You need Real Player to watch that clip, by the way.)
I suppose we could've just ripped the clip from this promotional site but being mainstream media we kinda have to play by the rules and ask for our own copy.
Note to all the PR people who cold call. The Observer blog digs Allen Ginsberg and thinks he deserves a wide audience. That's why we are plugging this. Please stop calling with rubbish stories about D-list celebs opening supermarkets. We're still not interested.
