About Steven Jesse Bernstein

Steven Jay Bernstein (December 4, 1950 - October 22, 1991) was an American underground poet and performance artist who is most famous for his recordings with Sub Pop Records and close relationship with William S. Burroughs. Bernstein was born in Los Angeles, California. He later moved to Seattle, Washington and began performing his poetry there during the mid 1980s. Bernstein recorded the album Prison with Steve Fisk at a correction center in Monroe, Washington during 1991. The album was intended to be along the same lines as Johnny Cash's At Folsom Prison. Fisk later decided to score the recordings with jazz and ambient music. The album was only partially completed when Bernstein killed himself. It was released on April 1st, 1992. In 1994, one of these recordings was used in the film Natural Born Killers. I'm Secretly an Important Man, a collection of written poetry, was released in March of 1996 by Zero Hour publishing.