Shards of a Life - Paperback

by Charles Giuliano (Author)

Shards of a Life continues Gonzo journalism in a book of Gonzo staccato poems by the renowned critic Charles Giuliano. In the July 3,1970 edition of the Boston Herald Traveler, for which he covered jazz and rock, he wrote "Some 25,000 gonzo fans jammed the bowl end of Harvard Stadium, Wednesday, July 1 to hear their sex-rock idols, Ten Years After. The Schaefer Festival foams on with top rock." It was the first published use of Gonzo, which he coined while telling a wild tale in the living room of then Boston Globe Sunday Magazine editor William J. Cardoso. In a later letter Cardoso passed the Gonzo to Hunter S. Thompson. Giuliano is the only surviving original Gonzo. The poems include memories of his colorful Italian/Irish heritage growing up as the son of medical doctors. Their subjects range from an "interview" with the Duke of Windsor, a debutante ball at Versailles, and yacht racing in Annisquam to encounters with jazz and rock musicians including Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Dexter Gordon, The Rolling Stones, James Brown, Moondog, Yoko Ono, and Captain Beefheart.

Author Biography

Charles Giuliano is a critic, curator, artist, and art historian. Since 2006 he has published and edited the online arts website Berkshire Fine Arts. He has published widely with staff positions at the Boston Herald Traveler, Boston After Dark/Phoenix and the pioneering Microsoft website Sidewalk. He was a columnist and frequent guest editor of Art New England, as well as Boston correspondent for Art News. A graduate of Boston Latin School and Brandeis University, he holds an MA from Boston University. He was director of exhibitions and taught art history and the humanities for the New England School of Art & Design/Suffolk University. As an adjunct he taught at Boston University's Metropolitan College, U Mass Lowell, Salem State University, and Framingham State University. His work has been seen in numerous solo and group exhibitions. This is his first book of poetry. He has contributed essays to numerous museum and gallery catalogues. He serves on the Executive Committee of American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) and is a member of the International Society of Art Critics (AICA).