squatter’s guide 10: one for the doctor

Bad craziness: Vyvian Raoul‘s recommendations for free fun this weekend

“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro…”

A couple of freebie retrospective art things this week. Each looks back at the life of one of the rarest specimens of the last century: a howling, angelheaded hipster, and the man who picked up the baton of Beat, and for whom it never got weird enough.The first is a photography exhibition at the National Theatre: a collection of photos about the Beat generation by the Beat generation, through the lens of one of its main players, Allen Ginsberg. Capturing “fleeting moments from a floating world”, the pictures provide an amazing insight because of their personal nature, and are all the more illuminating for Ginsberg’s notations and comments. This Saturday also sees a talk explaining the significance of the shots; but fans of the free, beware: this one is a fiver. Is it worth it, I ask.

My own project, the People’s Picturehouse, is particularly proud to present One for the Doctor, a Hunter S Thompson double bill. To commemorate the anniversary of his passing, and to celebrate both his hundred mile an hour life and writings, we’re showing two classics of cinema dedicated to the good doctor of Gonzo journalism. Let the bad craziness commence…

Photo: Courtesy of Corbis and The Allen Ginsberg Trust