In an event that was held in London recently to discuss First Third Books publication of the monograph about her life, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge was interviewed by another countercultural luminary, Barry Miles, a man who brought Beat and underground culture to Britain in the 1960s via associations with Allen Ginsberg, The Beatles, the International Times, “The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream” concert event, the Indica Gallery and bookstore (where John Lennon met Yoko Ono) and the International Poetry Incarnation at the Royal Albert Hall. Miles, as he is known, has also run an amazing record label (I Can See for Miles), and he’s written a gazillion books, including biographies of Frank Zappa, William Burroughs, the coffee table book Hippie, two volumes of his autobiography (which I highly recommend) and Paul McCartney’s officially sanctioned biography, Many Years from Now.
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I’m sure Genesis was quite pleased at the choice of Miles to lead the questions—after all he was right in the thick of seminal sixties cultural events the young Neil Megson would have read about in IT—even if Miles ultimately gets but a few words in edgewise. The discussion begins with how a teacher at school told Neil about Jack Kerouac’s On The Road, and how he resolved to meet the real life person the “Old Bull Lee” character was based on—William S. Burroughs—and soon would…

This event was taped at Rough Trade East in London, November 7th, 2013