REMEMBERING PETER ORLOVSKY

In a group of hyperactive young individualists, Peter was the most energetic of all of us.

When it was Peter's turn to perform at a concert we did together for George McGovern's presidential campaign at Times Square in 1972, the sound system blew out.

It didn't phase Peter for a moment.

He came up to the podium and sang with such gusto that his baritone voice soared above the traffic and din of Broadway and 42nd St. and kept an audience of passerbys enthralled, especially after he ended the song and gave a crazy spontaneous ten minute rap, which in the opinion of many, was the most original, as well as entertaining speech ever delivered during the entire campaign.

His free spirit made everything he did always lighten up the proceedings wherever he was.

In the 1959 film Pull My Daisy we will always be able to see Peter as a young radiant free spirit, lighting up the screen in his own special way.

He was also an accomplished artist and a poet, and for over the fifty years that I knew him, he was someone who could always make you smile whenever you were with him.

Now he is in that spirit world with Allen, Jack, Neal, Gregory, Lucien, Dodi Muller, Dizzy, Monk, Charlie Parker and all those on the other side whose spirit and work continue to light up the sky.

Now that Peter is in new surroundings, Bhudda will be smiling more often than ever.

And every time we think of Peter, so will we.