Dick McBride was born in Washington, Indiana in 1928.
After years of travelling around Wisconsin, Kentucky, and Nebraska working in radio, Dick hit San Francisco in the early '50's to pursue writing more seriously.
In 1952, his first play "From Out The Whale's Mouth" was produced and directed by Broadway writer and actor, Montague Ash. The play received positive reviews from the San Francisco Chronicle and interviews on local TV followed.
Dick soon came into contact with Kenneth Patchen, who hosted poetry readings at his apartment in Green Street, San Francisco with his wife, Miriam.
“The first man who gave me any kind of modern lit guidance (another world of Giono, Celine, Sailone, Proust, Nathaniel West, even Saroyan and [surprise] Herman Melville…) was Kenneth Patchen, and I probably owe him more than I realize.”
Kenneth Patchen introduced Dick to Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who offered him a job as store manager of City Lights Bookstore. Dick worked at City Lights from 1954 until 1969 and during this time became friends and poet-in-arms with Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg and Richard Brautigan, among others. He also worked as editorial assistant for the City Lights Journal.
He came to England for six months in 1964 to help "bohemianize" Better Books in London. Tony Godwin, the founder of Better Books, had met Lawrence Ferlinghetti and suggested a "work swap" whereby Ferlinghetti would send "one of his Beats over in exchange for an English salesman who needed some education." In 1965, Better Books became the centre of the British Poetry Revival and the UK Underground.
In 1967 City Lights relocated their publishing operation to 1562 Grant Avenue. Dick ran this part of the business with his brother, Bob McBride and Martin Broadley for several years.
Dick returned to England in 1969, where he worked as the director of independent book distributors "McBride Bros. and Broadley", selling books in England and to the Continent. The business was based in Great Horwood, Bucks. and the books were stored in an old Church:
“Still think it’s a kick, all them dirty words (what used to be dirty words before the Beat/Hippie wash was hung out to dry) stored in an abandoned Methodist Chapel…”
In the summer of 1973, Bernard Stone and Dick McBride hosted a "Fourth of July Party" for Allen Ginsberg at the Turret Bookshop, London. Ginsberg’s “Fall of America” had been published earlier that year, and it seemed appropriate to hold a reading on the birthday of American Independence. The party is commemorated in his biography of Ginsberg "Cometh With Clouds" (Cherry Valley Editions 1982).
During the 1980s, he moved to Australia and returned to the UK in 1988, settling in West Malvern, Worcestershire.
In November 1996, Dick was a guest at the Conegliano Poetry Festival, where he read his poetry alongside Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Andrey Voznesensky and Roger McGough. The festival was organised to honour City Lights and the Beats and to celebrate Allen Ginsberg’s 70th Birthday.
In 2001 he collaborated with Celluloid on the Last Beat project, a live and recorded performance project that received airplay on BBC Radio 3's "Late Junction". A UK tour followed, including a performance at Birmingham ArtsFest.
Dick also headlined the 2001 Leeds Voice Festival of New Writing, a 10-day festival of live literature, providing a platform for emerging spoken word artists.
In 2004 "Remembered America" was published by Rue Bella, who described the book as "...an uplifting reminder of the transcendent thrill of Beat poetry, mixed with a maturity hard earned by McBride in his long and colourful life".
In 2006 he headlined the Words In Motion stage at the Big Chill Festival
In 2008 Charlie Stewart produced a recording of Dick reading his poetry at his home in Colwall, Herefordshire. The recording was released as "Upbeat and Groovy: Poems 1960-2008".
In 2009 Dick was invited to read at "The British Beat" event, part of the Back On The Road exhibition at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham. The event was curated by Dick Ellis and also featured readings by Jim Burns, Ian McMillan, David Tipton & Camelia Ellias.
He now lives in Colwall, Herefordshire, where he continues to write and perform.
Prose:
Haircut Dream (City Lights Journal: Number One, City Lights Books, 1963)
Lonely The Autumn Bird; Two Novels (A Swallow Paperbook, 1963)
Memoirs Of A Natural-Born Expatriate (Alan Swallow, 1966)
Cometh with Clouds - Memory: Allen Ginsberg (Cherry Valley Editions, 1982)
Tall Tales & Outright Lies / Satie-Faction (Martin Wheeler, 1993)
The Astonished I (Memories & Wet Dreams) (McBride's Books, 1995)
The Garden (Annihilator Press, 1999)
Allen Ginsberg & the Blue Rinse Brigade (Urthona - Issue 15, 2001)
Macho Ovum
Behan & The Beats (Appliance Books, 2005)
Poetry:
Oranges illustrated by Victor Wong (Bread & Wine Press by Wilder Bentley, 1960)
Ballads of Blood (Golden Mountain Press, 1961)
Jacqui - Love Poems (McBride's Books, 1994)
Remembered America: Poems by Dick McBride (Rue Bella, 2004)
Plays:
From Out The Whale's Mouth
Unnecessary Miracle
Devils In A Quandary
There And Where
Anthologies:
Beat Voices: An Anthology of Beat Poetry ed. David Kherdian (Beech Tree Books, 1996)
Stories, Poems and Articles published in:
The Spectator
City Lights Journal
Olympia Journal
Roots and Branches
Ramparts
Beatitude
Kayak
Logos
Hastings Daily Tribune
Mainstreet Journal Urthona Em Writing & Music
Audio:
Upbeat & Groovy: Poems 1960-2008 (Ltd CD, 2008) [More]
Live at the Big Chill Festival 2006 (Ltd CD-R, 2006)
Dick McBride w/ Celluloid: "The Last Beat" [More]
Live at the Octagon Bar (Ltd CD-R, 2004)
Reviews:
"I have long admired his energy and his stubbornly hopeful vision against all the odds...I am especially taken with "Grass", it's haunting refrain running through what is both an elegy and a rhapsody.
In general I am gladdened by writing that can be wild like Ginsberg and is never far from ecstasy."
Thanks a lot, Dick, for your friendship request. VAN BLUUS is very happy to have a genuine Beat poet as their friend. Your poems are inspiring, the way you perform them is powerful and your co-operation with Celluloid is amazing. By the way, our song White Boy Blue has a quote by Beat writer Jack Kerouac at the end. You may listen to it on our MySpace page.
many thanks for the friendship. please do stop by, one and all, and read some musings. lots posted each day. hope you enjoy. mr.mcbride its a joy to hear you speak and you words are inspirational. many thanks...
All here in “Omnia Opera” land welcome you into our cyber bosom. We dig where you’re coming from. Great deep poems. Always cool to connect with creative people. We are all connected. Yours, Captain Bagley, Omnia Opera…Go beyond…Over and Out!
Great to have a contact with you ! Please lets exchange our CD's. I would be happy to play your stuff on my radio show called Aksamitne Podziemie at: www.jazzradio.pl every Saturday 3pm-5pm. peace. mag
