Arts & Entertainment

VIDEO: Barney's Beanery Surprises Patrons with Charles Bukowski Poetry Slam

Unbound Productions salutes the renowned poet in an unexpected performance at Weho's historic eatery.

"Cockroach!" yelled out a busboy inside Barney's Beanery as he dramatically threw a large pan to the ground. Behind him, a musician on bass played a jazzy riff.

It was Unbound Productions' spontaneous flash mob, poetry performance known as Charles Bukowski: Back at Barney's. West Hollywood's original roudhouse presented the event in connection with the Getty's Pacific Standard Time public art exposition across Southern California. A former West Hollywood resident, Bukowski was a habitué of Barney’s.

Six actors from Unbound Productions dressed as a busboy, bartender, diner, pool shark, drinker and bystander emerged just past 9 p.m. to bellow several memorable Bukowski poems: Cockroach, along with How come you’re not unlisted?, I have shit stains in my underwear too, Alone with Everyone, Scarlet and How to be a writer.

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