John Giorno died last week, at age 82, at his home in Lower Manhattan, were he was living with his partner Ugo Rondinone. Poet and performer — a strong and suffering voice belonging to New York’s avant-garde milieu — in 1965 has founded the not-for-profit record label and organisation Giorno Poetry Systems with the aim of connecting poetry and related art forms to a larger audience using innovative ideas, audiovisual materials and experimental recording techniques. GPS released albums regularly until the late 1980s featuring recordings by artists such as Laurie Anderson and Philip Glass as well as unique performances by Frank Zappa, Diamanda Galás, Allen Ginsberg, John Cage, Brion Gysin, Giorno himself and William S. Burroughs.

The episode features: John Giorno, Rose Lesniak, Anne Waldman, Cabaret Voltaire, Lydia Lunch and Clint Ruin, Richard Hell, John Cage, Laurie Anderson, Brion Gysin with Ramuntcho Matta and Psychic TV.