T HE C ENACLE / A PRIL - The ElectroLounge

T HE C ENACLE / JUNE 2001 /15
talents and goals of my friends within its pages and at the Jellicle Guild. I will
carry forth the tradition as I see it in my small way. I will endeavor to make
connections on a person-by-person basis to widen my circle. I will retain total
control of my projects + treat my colleagues w/respect + w/love.
Three significant points are made here: disillusion with the American publishing
establishment; anger at the mishandling of traditionally regarded classics of American
literature by academics espousing ideologically-based opinions in college classrooms; & a doit-ourselves
desire to reconnect with these classics. Cenacle 1
was produced using equipment I’d just purchased or already
owned. With the means of production in our own hands, & the
willingness to pay for the process myself, those I thought of as
foes & impediments could be entirely circumvented (in 2001,
this spirit has infected musicians as well in the development of
MP3 technology—& online file-sharing progams such as
Napster & its clones—that allows bands to control the
complete process of getting their music to interested listeners,
Denied entry into the mainstream world of Art, whatever form
it takes, people will often find a different way).
The table of contents notes that the magazine contains an
"accompanying cassette" which features "highlights from the
April 1, 1995 Jellicle Literary Guild meeting held at Roma
Restaurant in New Britain, CT, plus an episode of WRCR Radio hosted by ‘Marky Sparky’
Bergeron." I was periodicals manager at Quantum Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts at the
time, & noticed that many of the computer magazines came with a disk or CD-ROM attached;
I thought: why not do this with a literary periodical? Its contents in the early issues were split
between highlights of the most recent Jellicle Guild meeting & Mark Bergeron’s DJ-style
mixes of rock "oldies" mostly from the 1950s & 1960s. These cassettes would enjoy their
best success when they reached the hands of people who were not regulars to the Jellicle
Guild meetings—& for whom they were a record of gatherings they were unable to attend.
There are nine contributors to the first issue of The Cenacle; these nine plus three others
filled the magazine’s pages exclusively for its first eight issues. The point here is that The
Cenacle started with a dozen contributors, all (save a work colleague) members of the Jellicle
Literary Guild. Thus the magazine was populated with enough voices & visions to climb to a
certain height. Issues #1-10 are of a piece. What follows is an overview of the major
contributors’ pieces.
Jim Burke’s anecdotal, philosophical letters became a regular feature of The Cenacle
commencing with #2 May 1995 & are prefaced as follows: