Past Kerouac and beat Events

This page is an archive of selected Kerouac events that have occurred from 2002 to 2015. Yes, there was probably a Kerouac event going on near you that you never heard about. And there are other Kerouac events that I don't know about, and which haven't been included. So it goes.

This website isn't very pretty, but it is here for archival purposes primarily, by descending year. Just to give the reader a bit of flavor of events over the years.

Click on link: (or scroll down and see all past events)

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2002 - 2003 Previous Events

Please email your Kerouac and beat event to:  kerouaczin@aol.com or write to: Attila Gyenis, DHARMA beat, PO Box 5174, Eureka, CA 95502-5174. Please include date, time, address, and contact. Thanks. 


Jack Kerouac's Birthday, March 12, 1922

Jack Safe in Heaven dead, October 21, 1969

January 2015

No events Listed

 

 


February 2015

February 6,7,8 2015 - NEAL CASSADY BIRTHDAY BASH IN DENVER

6th Annual Bash

Fri Feb 6th @ the Mercury Café
8 to 11 pm
An evening of poetry, music, stories and more.

Sat Feb 7th @ Lighthouse Writers Workshop, 1515 Race St.
6 to 8 pm
Panel discussion: “Denver, Neal, and the Beats.”
Featuring noted authors Ben Whitmer, Tim Hernandez, and others.

Sun Feb 8th @ the McNichols Building, Denver Civic Center
2 to 5 pm
Screening of Neal Cassady, the Denver Years.

 


Friday,  Feb 20 - 6:00PM, Celebration of the works of Beat Generation Poet Allen Ginsberg - Cornelia Street Café, New York City, hosted by Gordon Gilbert.

The first in a series of readings of the beat generation writers. A celebration of Allen Ginsberg’s life and poetry with personal remembrances and a reading of a selection of his works by local NYC poets & writers: Robert Gibbons, Heidi Schwartz, Mireya Perez, Bob Rosenthal, Christine Timm, Valery Oisteanu, Bob Quatrone, Barry Wallenstein, Ron Kolm, Eliot Katz, Jane LeCroy, Cindy Hochman, Megan DiBello (sorry, folks, no open mic). $ 8 includes a drink, food menu available. Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, New York, NY.
http://corneliastreetcafe.com/Performances.asp

 

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March 2015

Jack Kerouac's Birthday, March 12, 1922

Celebrate Jack’s Birthday in Lowell, Massachusetts, on March 6-7! - Lowell Celebrates Kerouac is planning a series of events on March 7th and 8th to celebrate the Birthday of Jack Kerouac. A finalized schedule will be released soon, but here’s what’s happening:

Friday, March 6, 2015

David Amram at UTEC. David Amram will present a class at the United Teen Equality Center (UTEC) in Lowell.

Jeff Robinson, "Live Bird". Jeff Robinson will present a one-man play on Charlie Parker, "Live Bird."

Saturday, March 7, 2015

3:00pm to 5:00pm. Ribbon-cutting ceremony at Pollard Memorial Library. 401 Merrimack St. The library is dedicating a corner of the library to Jack Kerouac, commemorating the spot where he read books written by the great names of literature.

6:00pm to 9:00pm. Music and open mic. SAC Club, 525 Market St. David Amram will sit in with area musicians.

 

Saturday, March 14, 7:30 p.m.: Jack Kerouac Night at the Flamingo Bar, St. Petersburg, FL.

A celebration of the On the Road author's March 12 birthday with live music and poetry at the bar where Kerouac had his final drink. Flamingo Bar, 1230 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. N. Part of SunLit Festival. http://sunlitfestival.org/

 

Friday,  March 20 - 6:00PM, Celebration of Kerouac - Cornelia Street Café, New York City, hosted by Gordon Gilbert.

On the Road Again --- Back to Jack! The second in a series of readings of the beat generation writers. A celebration of Jack Kerouac’s life and writings with personal remembrances and a reading of a selection of his works by local NYC poets & writers: Stephen Bluestone, Patricia Carragon, Jack Cooper, Steve Dalachinsky, Claire Fitzpatrick, Roxanne Hoffman, David Lawton, Michael Lydon, Peter Martin, Roberto Mendoza, Frank Perero, Su Polo, Leslie Prosterman, Griselda Steiner, Susan Weiman, and Jack Tricarico, with music by Viennese saxophone player Edith Lettner.  There will be drawings for several of Jack Kerouac's books. (sorry, folks, no open mic). $ 8 includes a drink, food menu available. Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, New York, NY http://corneliastreetcafe.com/Performances.asp


April 2015

 

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May 2015


 


June 2015

June 26-28: Beatnik Shindig at the Beat Museum, San Francisco, CA.

This looks like a great event. Connect with kindred spirits—writers, scholars, poets, filmmakers and casual fans will mingle and celebrate what we all love about the Beat Generation. Movies, panel discussions, art exhibits, books signings, parties, poetry readings, jazz and a whole lot more! Members of the original Beats will be in attendance as well as friends of Kerouac, Cassady, Ginsberg, and Burroughs. Check out the website for more info.

Featuring:

  • David Amram
  • The Cassadys
  • Neeli Cherkovski
  • Eric Drooker
  • Will Durst
  • Agneta Falk
  • Chris Felver
  • Joshua Hassel
  • Brian Hassett
  • Nicole Henares
  • Tim Hernandez
  • Al Hinkel
  • Jack Hirshchman
  • Dr. Philip Hicks
  • Hilary Holloday
  • Mary Kerr
  • Brenda Knight
  • Dennis McNally
  • David Meltzer
  • Marc Olmstead
  • Dominic Priore
  • Jonah Raskin
  • Kip Steinberg
  • Gerd Stern
  • Tate Swindell
  • Todd Swindell
  • V.Vale
  • ruth weiss

 


July 2015

 


August 2015

 

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September 2015

 

 


October 2015

Jack Safe in Heaven dead, October 21, 1969

 

Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Festival
2015 LOWELL CELEBRATES KEROUAC FESTIVAL, OCTOBER 8-12, 2015
"October is always a great time for me (knock on wood),
's why I always talk about it so much..."
Jack Kerouac. Desolation Angels
"Everybody goes home in October"
Jack Kerouac. On the Road


http://www.lowellcelebrateskerouac.org/sites/default/files/festival/2015/lck_festival_2015_poster_220x340.jpg
Pre-LCK Festival Events at UMass Lowell

Monday, October 5
3:30 pm: Readings by Beat Poet and Author Michael McClure. Allen House. UML South Campus 61 Wilder Street.

Thursday, October 8
3:00 p.m.: Exhibit Opening: "Kerouac Retrieved--Items from the John Sampas Collection. Allen House. UML South Campus
3:30 pm: Panel Discussion--Race, Ethnicity, and the American Hipster Panelists: Jean-Christophe Cloutier, Tim Z. Hernandez, D. Quentin Miller, Keith Mitchell. Allen House. UML South Campus

Friday, October 9
3:30 pm: Jean-Christophe Cloutier--A Discussion About Working in Literary Archives. Allen House. UML South Campus
For more details go to: UMass Lowell Kerouac Center Events, Fall 2015

 

Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Festival

Thursday, October 8
6:00-8:00 pm: Traditional Kerouac Pubs Tour. Old Worthen, 141 Worthen St., to Ricardo’s to Ward Eight to Cappy’s Copper Kettle. Meet leaders at the Worthen.
8:30 pm: Traditional LCK Kick-off: Music-and-Readings. Cappy’s Copper Kettle, 245 Central St. Alan Crane, Colleen Nicholas, and friends, and local musicians will perform with David Amram. Hosted by John McDermott. Readers of Kerouac passages will do the interludes. Always a kick!

Friday, October 9
9:30 am: The Annual Jack Kerouac Poetry & Prose Competition. Held at Jack Kerouac’s alma mater, Lowell High School. Students will read their poems and prose entries. David Amram will share his memories of collaborating with Jack Kerouac. Note: This event is not open to the public--students and invited guests only. Lowell High School Theater, 50 Father Morissette Blvd.
2:30 pm: Talking Jack. Readings and discussion. The shop is open—come with whatever Kerouac related topic or idea you’d like to have some conversation about. UML Inn & Conference Center Lobby, 50 Warren Court. Look for the LCK group by the fireplace or on the patio, depending on the weather. Led by Kurt Phaneuf.
4:00-6:30 pm: Opening Art Reception: In My Own Words—Images from Kerouac Interviews. From the book "Safe in Heaven Dead", edited by Michael White. A solo exhibition by Barbara Gagel with black and white conceptual images in the encaustic medium. Using the early 1930s Underwood typeface Barbara evokes Kerouac’s meaning and mood, "tossing words into the void." Ayer Lofts Gallery, 172 Middle Street.
8:00 pm: Kerouac and Jazz. A chronological musical presentation of Kerouac’s favorite jazz compositions performed by musicians MIke Payette, Dan Webster, Chuck Langford, Steve Clements, and singer Lesley Richardson. Readings with music gives insight as to how jazz influenced Kerouac’s writings. The New Uncharted Gallery. 103 Market Street.

Saturday, October 10
9:30 am. Commemorative at the Commemorative. French and Bridge Streets. Topic: "Jack’s Bridges—Lowell and Beyond." Lowell’s many bridges, over the Merrimack and Concord Rivers, fare prominently in Kerouac’s Lowell-based novels. They also serve as a metaphor for the many bridges Jack created in his literary life. One example: His essay "I’m a Bippie in the Middle" in which he sees himself as a bridge between the Beats and the Hippies. This is the theme to be explored in this year’s Commemorative at the Commemorative.
10:15 am. "Kerouac’s Lowell" Birthplace-to-Gravesite Bus Tour. Visiting his homes and other important Kerouac sites, finishing at gravesite. Led by Roger Brunelle. Leaves from Commemorative. $10 Donation. Reservations at 978-970-5000.
11:00 am. Stories from the Road. An exhibition at the Zeitgeist Gallery. Selected artists have been asked to display creative works of art illustrating the stated theme. Artists will give a brief talk about their work, accompanied by David Amram. Hosted by Judith Bessette. The Zeitgeist Gallery is located at 167 Market Street.
2:00 pm. Annual Parker Lecture with Dr. Tim Z. Hernandez. "Searching for the Real Mexican Girl." In 2010 author Tim Z. Hernandez located the real woman behind Jack Kerouac’s "Terry" from On the Road. At age 92 Bea Franco (now deceased) was living in relative obscurity in Fresno, California. In this presentation Hernandez will share his journey from research to writing of his award winning book, Mañana Means Heaven (University of Arizona Press, 2013), as well as the choices one must make when writing a counter-narrative to Kerouac’s portrayal of California’s Mexican communities in the late 1940s.
Dr. Tim Z. Hernandez in an award winning author, research scholar, and performance artist. He is the recipient of an American Book Award for poetry, the Premio Aztlan Prize for fiction, the Colorado Book Award, and the International Latino Book Award for historical fiction. In 2011 the Poetry Society of America named him one of sixteen New American Poets; and he was a finalist for his work on locating the victims of the 1948 plane wreck at Los Gatos Canyon as recalled in Woody Guthrie’s song "Deportee." The Lowell National Historical Visitors Park Visitors Center Theater. 246 Market Street.
3:30 pm. Kerouac’s Library Haunts and Hooky Tour. Led by Bill Walsh, Pollard Memorial Library, 401 Merrimack St. Meet at the Merrimack Street entrance.
4:30 pm: Open Mike at the Old Worthen Upstairs. 141 Worthen Street. Poets, musicians, and readers are welcome! Emceed by Cliff Whalen.
6:00-8:00 Chamber Music Presentation with David Amram and Local Musicians. Classical saxophonist and soloist with the Boston Pops and New York Philharmonic Ken Radnofsky, pianist Damien Francoeur-Krzyzek, and violist Consuelo Sherba are confirmed for an evening performing Amram's classical chamber music, in addition to Amram speaking, reading from his three books and leading programs related to his collaborations with Jack Kerouac which will include locals artists all performing together. Cake will be served for David Amram's 85th birthday after the concert. Selections Include:

  • I. The Wind and the Rain for Viola and Piano (1964)
  • II. Finale from Ode to Lord Buckey A Concerto for Saxophone and Piano (1981)
  • III. Prologue for Scherzo for Unaccompanied Saxophone (1999)
  • IV. Greenwich Village Portraits for Saxophone and Piano (2014)
    • a. McDougal Street (for Arthur Miller)
    • b. Bleecker Street (for Odetta)
    • c. Christopher Street (for Frank McCourt)

St. Anne’s Church. Corner of Kirk and Merrimack Streets
8:30: Woodstock Poets Andy Clausen and Pamela Twinning Accompanied by Local Musicians. The Old Court Pub—Upstairs. 29-31 Central Street. A $10.00 dollar donation requested.

Sunday, October 11
10:30 am: Mystic Jack Tour. Led by Roger Brunelle. Visit the church, school, and home that were so important in his early years as described in "Visions of Gerard." Meet in front of St. Louis Church, 221 W. 6th St. $10.00 donation requested.
1:30-4:00 pm: Annual Amram Jam! Our annual event featuring David Amram performing with a cast of many volunteer readers, poets, and musicians. You can feel the spirit of Kerouac moving here! Cake will be served for David Amram's 85th birthday after the event at 4:30. Lowell Beerworks, 203 Cabot St.
5:00-6:00 pm: Saxophonist Jeff Robinson and Musicians. Reading San Francisco Blues. Lowell Beer Works.
6:30-8:00 pm: Michele and Bernie Choiniere. French Canadian Traditional Folk Music. Lowell Beer Works.
8:30 pm: Ghosts of the Pawtucketville Night Tour. Led by Roger Brunelle. Visit Kerouac sites in Pawtucketville neighborhood and possibly the mystical Grotto. Group leaves from Cumnock Hall—University of Massachusetts, Lowell, North Campus. 1 University Avenue. $10.00 donation requested.

Monday, October 12
10:00 am: LCK Kerouac Loop Walk from the Kerouac Commemorative. Bridge St., to St. Louis church, W. 6th St., Centralville.
12-4 pm: Walking Jack: Continuing the Kerouac Loop Walk. From St. Louis School past Kerouac homes and landmarks in Centralville and Pawtucketville, finishing at Old Worthen Tavern for toasting to Jack.
Thanks to Our Supporters
The Enterprise Bank of Lowell
The Moses Greeley Parker Lecture Series
The University of Massachusetts at Lowell English Department
The Annual Donors to Lowell Celebrates Kerouac
The Old Worthen Tavern and the Lowell Telecommunications Corp. for providing LCK with meeting space throughout the year.

Our thanks to Darrell’s Music Hall of Nashua, New Hampshire for providing the keyboard for David Amram.
Lowell Celebrates Kerouac offers a very special thanks and appreciation to Mr. James Irsay of Indianapolis, Indiana for his generous support of LCK!
A big “LCK Thank You” as well to all the Lowell venues hosting our 2015 Events:
Cappy’s Copper Kettle, The Ward Eight Pub, Ricardo’s Cafe Trattoria, The Old Worthen, Lowell High School, The New UnchARTed Gallery, The Lowell National Historical Park, The Pollard Memorial Library, St. Anne’s Church, The Old Court Pub, St. Louis de France Church, The Lowell Beer Works, The University of Massachusetts at Lowell.

 

 


November 2015

 

 

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December 2015

 

 

 

 

 


January 2016

 

Please email your Kerouac and beat event to:  Kerouaczin@aol.com or write to: A. Gyenis, DHARMA beat, PO Box 5174, Eureka, CA 95502-5174. I also appreciate copies of any publicity information for the DHARMA beat archive. Please include date, time, address, and contact. We try to maintain a complete list of Kerouac events. Thanks. 


 

 

 

January 2014

No events ListedJack Kerouac

 

 

 


February 2014

February 7, 2014 - NEAL CASSADY BIRTHDAY BASH IN DENVER

Denver will be hosting its Annual Neal Cassady Birthday Bash on Friday, February 7th at 8:00pm, upstairs at the Mercury Café located at 2199 California in Denver.

The Bash features music, poetry and reminiscences celebrating the birthday and life of Neal Cassady. The 2014 Bash will feature Cathy, Jami and John Allen Cassady presenting a special tribute to their Mother the late Carolyn Cassady who died in 2013.

David Amram will be performing. Tickets are $20 ($25 at the door).

 

The following events take place in February at the Beat Museum, San Francisco:

Tuesday, February 4th, 7pm- 8TH ANNUAL NEAL CASSADY BIRTHDAY BASH. With San Francisco's favorite son John Allen Cassady and other special guests.

Wednesday, February 5th, 7pm - WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS AT ONE HUNDRED. WSB was born on February 5, 1914. Join V. Vale of RE/Search Publications on what would have been Burroughs 100th birthday.

Friday, February 21st, 7pm - CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH.
Jazz & poetry with jazz poet Charles Blackwell, Gail Mitchell, Q.R. Hand & friends with jazz accompaniment

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March 2014

Jack Kerouac's Birthday, March 12, 1922

Celebrate Jack’s 92nd Birthday in Lowell, Massachusetts, on March 7-8! - Lowell Celebrates Kerouac is planning a series of events on March 7th and 8th to celebrate the 92nd Birthday of Jack Kerouac. A finalized schedule will be released soon, but here’s what’s happening:


Friday, March 7. 6:00-9:00pm. A “Happy Birthday Jack” evening at the Zeitgeist Gallery at 167 Market Street. An informal evening of sharing in which those attending are invited to bring their favorite Kerouac passage, or a Kerouac-inspired writing of their own. [Five minute limit per person.] And they’ll be a birthday cake for Jack! This event is taking place in conjunction with the Zeitgeist Exhibit You Don’t Know Jack which runs from March 1 through March 23. Zeitgeist describes it as “An examination of two American icons, JFK and Jack Kerouac. This two part exhibit will include an on-site wall collage open to all participants to add to, and a show of 2D and 3D work featuring words, images, and setting relating to either of these seminal figures of American culture.”

Saturday, March 8:
9:45 a.m. A Kerouac Tour of Lowell High School. Led by Roger Brunelle. This is a very important site in Kerouac’s early journey, with numerous references to it in The Town and the City, Maggie Cassidy, and Vanity of Duluoz.
1:30 p.m. The Millennial Generation Meets the Beat Generation: a panel discussion with writer Jay Atkinson and students from his "Jack Kerouac and the Beats" course at Boston University. This presentation grew out of an opinion piece Jay wrote for The Boston Globe last December (2013) entitled “The Eternal Jack Kerouac." The essay, and the panel discussion, are focused on the enduring appeal of Kerouac and his work among a new generation of readers. Mr. Atkinson is the author of seven books, including Paradise Road: Jack Kerouac’s Lost Highway and My Search for America (Wiley 2010). Joining the conversation will be noted composer, musician and author, David Amram. Lowell National Historical Park Visitors Center Auditorium. 246 Market Street.
4:00—8:00 pm. Reception at the ALL Gallery for the “Travels Off the Beaten Track” Exhibit. This Exhibit is for artists who seek to capture on canvas—or through some other medium—the vagabond seeking and questing spirit of Jack Kerouac. Music and commentary with David Amram. Finger food provided. The All Gallery is located at 307 Market Street.
8:30--???? Jamming at the Athenian Corner. David Amram will join the fine House Band at Lowell’s Athenian Corner for an evening of Greek music and good food! A great way to close out a Kerouac Birthday! The Athenian Corner is located at 207 Market Street.

Sunday, March 9:
Noon—3:00 pm. An “After Party” Wind Down--Or Wrap Up--at the Zeitgeist. Returning to where the weekend started, this will be drop-in get together to talk Jack, view the Exhibit, share ideas for future Kerouac events—and generally hang out. Cider provided, along with any cake that may still be left.

Thursday, March 13:
SPECIAL POST-BIRTHDAY EVENT ON MARCH 13TH!
7:00 p.m. Lowell Telecommunications (LTC) Meeting Room and Gallery Opposite the LNHP Visitor Center at 246 Market Street.
Book Presentation and Discussion of a Recently Released Kerouac Novella: The Haunted Life, with Professor Todd Tietchen.
Dr. Todd Tietchen is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, and teaches courses on Jack Kerouac and Beat Studies. He is the Editor of Kerouac’s latest posthumously published work, The Haunted Life. Kerouac wrote this novella in 1944. With the central character named Peter Martin, and set in a fictionalized version of Lowell, The Haunted Life anticipates Kerouac’s first published novel, The Town and the City. Copies will be available for purchase and signing by Todd.

Visit Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Website here.

 

The following events take place in March at the Beat Museum, San Francisco. Click here for full details:

Wednesday, March 12th, 7pm - JACK KEROUAC'S 92ND BIRTHDAY. We'll be celebrating "The King of The Beats" with our very own Brandon Loberg leading a discussion with insights and details about a Kerouac you've likely never known before.

Friday, March 14th, 7pm - WOMEN OF THE BEAT GENERATION. Publisher, editor and writer Brenda Knight & friends present an evening celebrating the writers, artists and muses at the heart of the revolution.

 

March 12th, 2014 - Roaring at The Lion, London, UK. He's Ninety-Two, Let's Hoist a Few. The Jack Kerouac Birthday Bash On The Road in London, March 12th, 2014, 9 PM, at The Red Lion.

Starring: Brian Hassett from New York City; John Cassady from San Francisco; Sam Hammond ( Swiss Lips bandleader); Julian Joyce (Jam Junkies blues blower), Paul Kirkby (British bandleader). Readings, music, songs & stories. Sponsored by: The Beat Museum and LiteraryKicks . A Spirit Production

 


April 2014

April 10, 2014 - Book Auction of beats and counterculture at PBA Galleries in San Francisco.

 

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May 2014


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June 2014

Kerouac ScrollJune 8, 2014–January 4, 2015, Route 66 Exhibition at the Autry Museum, Los Angeles, CA, including the On The Road Scroll. The Autry Museum presents historical artifacts about Route 66 from institutions and private collections across the United States, many never before displayed together. See the oldest existing Route 66 shield, the original typewritten scroll of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, an early Jackson Pollock landscape painting, a ten-foot twin visible gas pump, the handwritten page from The Grapes of Wrath manuscript that introduces the “Mother Road,” renowned Dust Bowl–era photographs, Woody Guthrie’s guitar, a classic 1960 Corvette, and countless objects adorned with the Route 66 moniker or acquired along the route. For museum and event infomation, click here.

 

 

Jack Kerouac’s original manuscript for On the Road, 1951. (This manuscript is on loan from the collection of James S. Irsay. Photograph Courtesy of Christie’s, New York. Copyright Estate of Anthony G. Sampatacacus and the Estate of Jan Kerouac)

 


July 2014

Kerouac ScrollJune 8, 2014–January 4, 2015, Route 66 Exhibition at the Autry Museum, Los Angeles, CA, including the On The Road Scroll. The Autry Museum presents historical artifacts about Route 66 from institutions and private collections across the United States, many never before displayed together. See the oldest existing Route 66 shield, the original typewritten scroll of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, an early Jackson Pollock landscape painting, a ten-foot twin visible gas pump, the handwritten page from The Grapes of Wrath manuscript that introduces the “Mother Road,” renowned Dust Bowl–era photographs, Woody Guthrie’s guitar, a classic 1960 Corvette, and countless objects adorned with the Route 66 moniker or acquired along the route. For museum and event infomation, click here.

 

 

Jack Kerouac’s original manuscript for On the Road, 1951. (This manuscript is on loan from the collection of James S. Irsay. Photograph Courtesy of Christie’s, New York. Copyright Estate of Anthony G. Sampatacacus and the Estate of Jan Kerouac)

 


August 2014

Kerouac ScrollJune 8, 2014–January 4, 2015, Route 66 Exhibition at the Autry Museum, Los Angeles, CA, including the On The Road Scroll. The Autry Museum presents historical artifacts about Route 66 from institutions and private collections across the United States, many never before displayed together. See the oldest existing Route 66 shield, the original typewritten scroll of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, an early Jackson Pollock landscape painting, a ten-foot twin visible gas pump, the handwritten page from The Grapes of Wrath manuscript that introduces the “Mother Road,” renowned Dust Bowl–era photographs, Woody Guthrie’s guitar, a classic 1960 Corvette, and countless objects adorned with the Route 66 moniker or acquired along the route. For museum and event infomation, click here.

Jack Kerouac’s original manuscript for On the Road, 1951. (This manuscript is on loan from the collection of James S. Irsay. Photograph Courtesy of Christie’s, New York. Copyright Estate of Anthony G. Sampatacacus and the Estate of Jan Kerouac)

 

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September 2014

Kerouac ScrollJune 8, 2014–January 4, 2015, Route 66 Exhibition at the Autry Museum, Los Angeles, CA, including the On The Road Scroll. The Autry Museum presents historical artifacts about Route 66 from institutions and private collections across the United States, many never before displayed together. See the oldest existing Route 66 shield, the original typewritten scroll of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, an early Jackson Pollock landscape painting, a ten-foot twin visible gas pump, the handwritten page from The Grapes of Wrath manuscript that introduces the “Mother Road,” renowned Dust Bowl–era photographs, Woody Guthrie’s guitar, a classic 1960 Corvette, and countless objects adorned with the Route 66 moniker or acquired along the route. For museum and event infomation, click here.

 

Jack Kerouac’s original manuscript for On the Road, 1951. (This manuscript is on loan from the collection of James S. Irsay. Photograph Courtesy of Christie’s, New York. Copyright Estate of Anthony G. Sampatacacus and the Estate of Jan Kerouac)

 


October 2014

Jack Safe in Heaven dead, October 21, 1969

 

Kerouac ScrollJune 8, 2014–January 4, 2015, Route 66 Exhibition at the Autry Museum, Los Angeles, CA, including the On The Road Scroll. The Autry Museum presents historical artifacts about Route 66 from institutions and private collections across the United States, many never before displayed together. See the oldest existing Route 66 shield, the original typewritten scroll of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, an early Jackson Pollock landscape painting, a ten-foot twin visible gas pump, the handwritten page from The Grapes of Wrath manuscript that introduces the “Mother Road,” renowned Dust Bowl–era photographs, Woody Guthrie’s guitar, a classic 1960 Corvette, and countless objects adorned with the Route 66 moniker or acquired along the route.

 

Jack Kerouac’s original manuscript for On the Road, 1951. (This manuscript is on loan from the collection of James S. Irsay. Photograph Courtesy of Christie’s, New York. Copyright Estate of Anthony G. Sampatacacus and the Estate of Jan Kerouac)

 

 

Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Festival

OCTOBER 9—13, 2014 (in Lowell, Massachusetts)

“October is always a great time for me (knock on wood), ‘s why I always talk about it so much...” Jack Kerouac. Desolation Angels

“Everybody goes home in October” Jack Kerouac. On the Road

Pre-Festival Event

Jack Kerouac 5K Road Race. Begins at noon on Sunday, September 28th at Kerouac Park, intersection of Bridge and French Streets. For full information go to: kerouacrun.com.

Concurrent Exhibit: “Lawrence Carradini—A Poet in Lowell”. This exhibit honors the life and work of Lawrence Carradini (1953-2014)—scientist, poet, Lowell resident and past President and Board Member of Lowell Celebrates Kerouac. The exhibit runs from September 18 through October. Opening Reception and Readings on September 18 at 7:00 pm. Jim Dunn, Meg Smith, Ala Khaki, and Tony Sampas will read some of Lawrence’s poetry. Pollard Memorial Library. 401 Merrimack Street.

FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

Thursday, October 9

5:30-8:00 pm: Traditional Kerouac Pubs Tour. Old Worthen, 141 Worthen St., to Ricardo’s to Ward Eight to Cappy’s Copper Kettle. Meet leaders at the Worthen.

6:00—8:00 pm: Opening Receptions for Haiku/Art Exhibits. Greater Lowell Community Foundation, 100 Merrimack Street, Second Floor. And Lowell Telecommunications Corporation, 246 Market Street.

8:30 pm: Traditional LCK Kick-off: Music-and-Readings. Cappy’s Copper Kettle, 245 Central St. Alan Crane and friends, including Colleen Nicholas, will perform with David Amram. Readers of Kerouac passages will do the interludes. Always a kick!

Friday, October 10

9:00 am: The Annual Jack Kerouac Poetry & Prose Competition. Held at Jack Kerouac’s alma mater, Lowell High School. Students will read their poems and prose entries. David Amram will share his memories of collaborating with Jack Kerouac. Location to be announced on the LCK website, our Facebook page, and Twitter @LCK1922 by Thursday, October 7.

12:30 pm: A Walk in Doctor Sax's Woods. Through the Lowell-Dracut-Tyngsboro State Forest or at your leisure throughout the weekend. A map of the forest trails is available from the Mass EEA web site: Lowell-Dracut Tyngsboro State Forest map.

3:30 pm: Talking Jack. Readings and discussion. The shop is open—come with whatever Kerouac related topic or idea you’d like to have some conversation about. Mike Hudson, a playwright from New Zealand who wrote the play "Beautiful Losers" about On the Road, will be attending. UML Inn & Conference Center Lobby, 50 Warren Court. Look for the LCK group by the fireplace or on the patio, depending on the weather.

5:00—8:00 pm: Opening Reception for “A Visual Interpretation of Kerouac’s Spiritual Influences from Lowell.” A solo exhibition by Barbara Gagel at the Ayer Lofts Gallery, 172 Middle Street. Wax and pigment are the vehicles used to express the dream-like images that influenced much of Kerouac’s writing.

8:00 pm: Subterranean Homecoming Blues with Rhoney Stanley and Alligator Wine. Rhoney Stanley was part of the Grateful Dead scene from the mid-60s to the mid-70s with Owsley Stanley, and has written of her experiences in a recently released book Owsley and Me. She’ll be appearing with local band Alligator Wine—described as “Lowell’s own Grateful Dead tribute band” to share some stories and take part in the music. About Rhony’s book, Kerouac biographer and Grateful Dead historian, Dennis McNally, says: “An eyewitness accounts of inner space can’t come from a more credible source...Read this book!” The Last Safe & Deposit Company. 160 Merrimack Street. A $10.00 donation requested.

Saturday, October 11

9:30 am. Commemorative at the Commemorative. French and Bridge Streets. This year’s observance will include a remembrance of the life of Lawrence Carradini, a former President of Lowell Celebrates Kerouac who passed away this past spring. In case of rain, the Commemorative will be held at the Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center at 246 Market Street.

10:15 am. “Kerouac’s Lowell” Birthplace-to-Gravesite Bus Tour. Visiting his homes and other important Kerouac sites, finishing at gravesite. Led by Roger Brunelle. Leaves from Commemorative. $10 Donation. Reservations at 978-970-5000.

11:00 am: A Presentation on Japanese Haiku—and It’s Influence on Jack Kerouac—by Yuko Otomo. Lowell Telecommunications Corp. 246 Market Street.

12:00 noon. Haiku Readings. To follow Yuko Otomo’s presentation at the LTC. David Amram will accompany artists reading their chosen Kerouac Haiku.

2:00 pm. Annual Parker Lecture with Steve Dalachinsky: “A Bird in Hand.” Steve Dalachinsky has brought his poetry to several previous LCK weekends, and this year we are delighted to bring him back as our Moses Greeley Parker Lecturer. His talk will focus on poetry, jazz and the Beats. Steve is a widely published New York City poet, lecturer, and educator. Steve will be interviewed by WCAP's Wireless Mike Flynn. He has published 10 volumes of poetry including “And the Beat Goes On” and “The Superintendent’s Eye.” In a scholarly vein he is the author of “Logos and Language: A Post Jazz Metaphorical Dialogue.” The Lowell National Historical Visitors Park Visitors Center Theater. 246 Market Street.

3:30 pm. Kerouac’s Library Haunts and Hooky Tour. Led by Bill Walsh, Pollard Memorial Library, 401 Merrimack St. Meet at the Merrimack Street entrance.

4:30 pm: Open Mike at the Old Worthen Upstairs, 141 Worthen Street. Poets, musicians, and readers are welcome!

8 pm: An Evening of Jazz and Poetry with John Sinclair and Others. John Sinclair will be making a presentation of selections from his Thelonious Monk work in verse titled Always Know: A Book of Monk. He will be accompanied by David Amram, Kit Demos, and John McLelland. Also on the bill will be Steve Dalachinsky reading his poetry. Opening the night will be Mia Eliopoulos and Peter Eliopoulos; and Zach Stadelmaier and Josh Rosberg. The Old Court Pub—Upstairs. 29-31 Central Street. A $10.00 dollar donation requested.

Sunday, October 12

10:00 am: Kerouac’s Nashua Connection Tour. Visit the Kerouac family sites and graves in Nashua, NH, led by Steve Edington, author of “Kerouac’s Nashua Connection.” Meet at Visitor Center, 246 Market St., Lowell, to ride in van or car pool. $10 donation requested. Reservations at 603-883-3141.

1:00-5:00 pm: Serious Amram Jam! Our annual event featuring David Amram performing with a cast of many volunteer readers, poets, and musicians. You can feel the spirit of Kerouac moving here! Lowell Beerworks, 203 Cabot St.

6:00 pm: Ghosts of the Pawtucketville Night Tour. Led by Roger Brunelle. Visit Kerouac sites in Pawtucketville neighborhood and possibly the mystical Grotto. Group leaves from Cumnock Hall—University of Massachusetts, Lowell, North Campus. 1 University Avenue. $10.00 donation requested.

8:00 pm: Reception for “Up you go Little Smoke-The Holy Hipness of Jack Kerouac” by Artist Cat de Leon. 119 Gallery. 119 Chelmsford St. Music provided by David Amram.

Monday, October 13

10:00 am: LCK Kerouac Loop Walk from the Kerouac Commemorative. Bridge St., to St. Louis church, W. 6th St., Centralville.

10:30 am: Mystic Jack Tour. Led by Roger Brunelle. Visit the church, school, and home that were so important in his early years as described in “Visions of Gerard.” Meet in front of St. Louis Church, 221 W. 6th St. $10.00 donation requested.

12 to 4 pm: Walking Jack: Continuing the Kerouac Loop Walk. From St. Louis School past Kerouac homes and landmarks in Centralville and Pawtucketville, finishing at Old Worthen Tavern for toasting to Jack.

Post Festival Events

Tuesday, October 14. 7:30—9:00 pm. Cappy’s Copper Kettle—Central Street. Musical performances interpreting the influence of jazz on Kerouac’s writing. Donations accepted for the performers. Event coordinated by Barbara Gagel.

Monday, October 20. 7:30—8:30. Ayer Lofts Gallery. Middle Street. Movie: Jack Kerouac’s Road—A Franco American Odyssey. Produced by the National Film Board of Canada. Admission free. Event coordinated by Barbara Gagel.

 


November 2014

June 8, 2014–January 4, 2015, Route 66 Exhibition at the Autry Museum, Los Angeles, CA, including the On The Road Scroll. The Autry Museum presents historical artifacts about Route 66 from institutions and private collections across the United States, many never before displayed together. See the oldest existing Route 66 shield, the original typewritten scroll of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, an early Jackson Pollock landscape painting, a ten-foot twin visible gas pump, the handwritten page from The Grapes of Wrath manuscript that introduces the “Mother Road,” renowned Dust Bowl–era photographs, Woody Guthrie’s guitar, a classic 1960 Corvette, and countless objects adorned with the Route 66 moniker or acquired along the route. For museum and event infomation, click here.

Jack Kerouac’s original manuscript for On the Road, 1951. (This manuscript is on loan from the collection of James S. Irsay. Photograph Courtesy of Christie’s, New York. Copyright Estate of Anthony G. Sampatacacus and the Estate of Jan Kerouac)

 


December 2014

Kerouac ScrollJune 8, 2014–January 4, 2015, Route 66 Exhibition at the Autry Museum, Los Angeles, CA, including the On The Road Scroll. The Autry Museum presents historical artifacts about Route 66 from institutions and private collections across the United States, many never before displayed together. See the oldest existing Route 66 shield, the original typewritten scroll of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, an early Jackson Pollock landscape painting, a ten-foot twin visible gas pump, the handwritten page from The Grapes of Wrath manuscript that introduces the “Mother Road,” renowned Dust Bowl–era photographs, Woody Guthrie’s guitar, a classic 1960 Corvette, and countless objects adorned with the Route 66 moniker or acquired along the route. For museum and event infomation, click here.

 

Jack Kerouac’s original manuscript for On the Road, 1951. (This manuscript is on loan from the collection of James S. Irsay. Photograph Courtesy of Christie’s, New York. Copyright Estate of Anthony G. Sampatacacus and the Estate of Jan Kerouac)

 

 


2013 Events


January 2013

No events listed.

 

 


February 2013

February 19, 2013, "Jack's Last Call, Say Goodbye to Kerouac" reading by Patrick Fenton in New York City.

Jack's Last Call Patrick FentonOn February 19th, at the Cell Theatre in Chelsea, 338 West 33 Street (b/t 8th and 9th Ave), New York, Patrick Fenton will be one of the featured readers at the Irish American Artists and Writers salon . He'll be reading from a play he wrote about the writer Jack Kerouac. Since its first appearance on stage at the Boston Playwright's Theatre, "Jack's Last Call, Say Goodbye to Kerouac", has been recorded with a full cast on CD and aired on over 70 Public Radio Stations across the country.

Mr. Fenton will be on the bill with T. J. English, who wrote the classic book of Irish American life in Hell's Kitchen at a time when one gang ruled it all, "The Westies", and his latest book, "Savage City," actor Jack O'Connell who has appeared in "Mad Men", and Boardwalk Empire" and many other TV shows and movies will be reading, Larry Kirwan, leader of the Irish rock band Black 47 (there will be an excerpt from a film of a bus trip across Ireland with 3 busloads of his fans in 2003), and writer and newspaper columnist Mike Farragher author of "This is Your Brain On Shamrocks and his latest book, "50 Shades of Green." It all starts at 7:P.M. (to 10 P.M.) Admission is free. Donations to IAW&A appreciated.

February 24, 2013- Howl III, A Celebration of the Poetry of Allen Ginsberg, NYC

Monday, February 24th, 2013, 7 – 9:30 pm, at the Yippie Museum Café. 9 Bleecker Street (near the Bowery), (subway: B,D,F,M, downtown 6 to Broadway/Lafayette).

Host – Gordon Gilbert, (no open mic), $4 suggested donation

 

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March 2013

Jack Kerouac's Birthday, March 12, 1922

March 8, 2013: Kerouac birthday event, Lowell, MA

Kerouac: People, Places, and Things
Time: 6:00 to 10:00pm, Location: Lowell Telecommunications Corp Gallery, 246 Market St. Kerouac-influenced art exhibition opening reception

The Magnificent Pigtail Shadow
Time: 6:30 to 7:45pm, A film by Steven Cerio with the director to present, plus a reading from Big Sur played against the director's newest short

Music for Jack.
Time: 8:00 to 9:30pm. David Amram and friends. A $10 donation is requested.

 

March 10, 2013, Jack's Last Call, Say Goodbye to Kerouac. Northport, NY. Writer/Playwright, Pat Fenton will be reading from his play “Jack’s Last Call, Say Goodbye to Kerouac”, as part of the March is Kerouac Month at the Northport Historical Society. Mr. Fenton will also discuss Kerouac’s Northport years as well as his importance to American literature.

It’s the end of summer in 1964. A major cultural shift is starting to happen in the U.S., and on his last night in Northport, Long Island the America Jack Kerouac saw through a rear view mirror riding along side his "On the Road" partner Neal Cassady is slowly playing again in his mind.

Long after a small going away party that he has thrown for himself is over; Jack keeps on drinking as he prepares to move to Florida with his mother. He reflects back on his fame, his youth as a football star in Lowell, Massachusetts, and the worry that his time has come and gone. As he sums up parts of his life to the audience in a bittersweet narrative, he receives a series of soul-searching phone calls from his daughter Jan.

An obligatory stop at Gunther’s Bar down the block on Main Street, where Jack Kerouac spent much of his Northport Years, will be made by the writer, and the conversation will continue over pints of tap beer.

The birthday celebration will take place on Sunday, March 10th at 3 P.M., at the Northport Historical Society, 215 Main Street, Northport, Long Island.

 

On The RoadMarch 22, 2013 - General Release of
On The Road
movie in the United States

For an extensive list of where and when the movie is opening, see this website. It is a Kristen Stewart website (go figure, but IFC did not have a complete listing on their website).

See more about the movie here from DHARMA beat..

 

Monday, March 25th, 2013- On the Road Again: A celebration of the writings of Jack Kerouac

At the Yippie Museum Café, 9 Bleecker Street (near the Bowery), (subway: B,D,F,M, downtown 6 to Broadway/Lafayette). Monday, March 25th, 2013, 7 – 9:30 pm. Host – Gordon Gilbert.

 


April 2013

 

 

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May 2013


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June 2013

 

 

 


July 2013

Jack KerouacJuly 6th and 7th- The UK Jack Kerouac Convention. All Day Event - New York Stadium, Rotherham in the United Kingdom, 10:00 a.m. - 17:30 p.m. PLUS Evening Beat celebration and performance of BEAT SURRENDER 19:00 - late. Cost: £15 per day or £25 for the weekend. To find out about event click here.

Included in the package is a special tribute evening that features a performance of the festival heading Kerouac play, Beat Surrender, together with a full blown Beat evening of poetry music and entertainment. Dust off that beret and make sure you don't miss out on this international event - right here in Yorkshire. The event is taking place at the spacious and modern New York Stadium (home of Rotherham United).

All proceeds from the event will be donated to research into Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) which is the number one genetic killer of babies.

 


August 2013

 

 

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September 2013

 

 

 

 

Kerouac photo by Fred DeWitt


October 2013

Jack Safe in Heaven dead, October 21, 1969

 

Lowell Celebrates KerouacLowell Celebrates Kerouac Festival 2013: 50th Anniversary of Visions of Gerard and 25th Anniversary of Kerouac Commemmorative

“Everybody goes home in October.” --Jack Kerouac, On the Road
Final schedule: Oct 1, 2013 | Download a brochure | Meet other festival goers on Facebook

Pre-Festival Events
Sunday, September 29
Jack Kerouac Road Race
Time: 12:00 pm
Location: Old Worthen House, 141 Worthen St.
For more information and race registration: jackkerouac5k.com
Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! Festival

Thursday, October 10
Traditional Kerouac Pubs Tour
Time: 5:30-8:00 pm
Location: Start at Old Worthen House, 141 Worthen St.
Old Worthen to Ricardo's Café Trattoria (110 Gorham St.) to Ward Eight (280 Central St.) to Cappy’s Copper Kettle (245 Central St.).
LCK Celebrates Amram! Traditional LCK kick-off
Time: 8:00-???? pm
Location: Cappy’s Copper Kettle, 245 Central St.
LCK kick-off music-and-readings event. Alan Crane and friends will perform with David Amram. Readers of Kerouac passages will do the interludes. Always a kick!

Friday, October 11
Annual Jack Kerouac Poetry & Prose Competition
Time: 9:30 am
Location: Lowell HS Freshman Academy theater, 40 Paige St.
"The Annual Jack Kerouac Poetry & Prose Competition” at Jack Kerouac’s alma mater, Lowell High School. Students will read their poems and prose entries. David Amram will share his memories of collaborating with Jack Kerouac while the judges deliberate. All are welcome.
A Walk in Doctor Sax's Woods
Time: 12:30 pm
Location: Lowell-Dracut-Tyngsboro State Forest
"A Walk in Doctor Sax's Woods" through the Lowell-Dracut-Tyngsboro State Forest or at your leisure throughout the weekend. Maps will be available via the LCK facebook page, LCK website, and at merchandise tables. Contact leader Nomi at nomi1219@verizon.net or 617-775-8155 for car-pooling info and alternate times.
Talking Jack readings and discussion
Time: 3:30 pm
Location: UML Inn & Conference Center lobby, 50 Warren Court
The Divine and Perfect Ecstasy
Time: 5:00 to 8:00 pm
Location: Ayer Lofts Gallery, 172 Middle St
The Divine and Perfect Ecstasy: encaustic paintings and prints inspired by Jack Kerouac's Visions of Gerard; artist Barbara Gagel; exhibition opening at Ayer Lofts Gallery, 172 Middle St. Exhibition will be open on weekends through November 3. Hours for the LCK weekend are 11 to 4; on other weekends, 12 to 5.
Grave Matters
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: White Eagle Pub, 585 Market Street
Showing of Grave Matters film with director Brent Mason, 30-minute film explores Kerouac places in Lowell, culminating at his gravesite.
Jamming Jack
Time: 8:30 pm
Location: White Eagle Pub, 585 Market St.
listen to Jack himself read and sing in recordings with interludes by David Amram, Steve Dalchinsky, and friends.

Saturday, October 12
Commemorative at the Commemorative
Time: 9:15 am
Location: Kerouac Commemmorative, corner of French and Bridge Streets
This year will focus on "Early Memories." Join us at the Jack Kerouac Commemorative, an internationally renowned literary landmark that was dedicated 25 years ago in the summer of 1988. Early founders and leaders of LCK will speak about their first encounters with Jack Kerouac's work and share their personal inspiration to create and support "Lowell Celebrates Kerouac!" over the last 25 years. We will read from Jack's letters about his earliest memories of his hometown of Lowell, accompanied by David Amram.
Kerouac’s Lowell
Time: 10:15 am
Location: Leaves from Kerouac Commemmorative, corner of French and Bridge Streets
“Kerouac’s Lowell” birthplace-to-gravesite bus tour, visiting his homes and other important Kerouac sites, finishing at gravesite. Led by Roger Brunelle. Leaves from Commemorative. Required $10 donation. Reservations at 978-970-5000.
Welles Emporium’s Kerouac Open House
Time: 10:30 am to 12:00 noon
Location: Welles Emporium, 175 Merrimack St.
For those not on the bus tour, come by the shop to browse Kerouac and LCK merchandise while enjoying music, readings, and discussion with coffee and pastries.
Homage to “Ti Jean” at Kerouac gravesite
Time: 12:00 noon
Location: Edson Cemetery, 1375 Gorham St.
All commemorators of Kerouac are welcome to share his spirit and readings, especially from Visions of Gerard on its 50th anniversary!
Discovering Jack's Vision
Time: 1:00 pm
Location: Ayer Lofts Gallery, 172 Middle St.
Roger Brunelle will lead a discussion of the visual interpretation of the abstract work of artist Barbara Gagel, using Jack Kerouac's words from Visions of Gerard
Parker Lecture: Celebrating Kerouac In Film and Word
Time: 2:00 pm
Location: Visitor Center Theater, 246 Market St.
Parker Lecture: Celebrating Kerouac In Film and Word with Lowell native Jim Sampas, the founder of Reimagine Studios. Among his numerous film and recording projects are several that relate to the life and work of Jack Kerouac. They include the audio CD set of Doctor Sax and the Great World Snake, and the widely acclaimed documentary One Fast Move or I’m Gone which highlights Kerouac’s experience at California’s Big Sur and the novel of the same name. Jim was also a part of the production team for the new movie Big Sur, also based on the Kerouac novel. Another current project is his tribute, Kerouac—Joy, Kicks, Darkness. His work has gained him the citation by the Los Angleles Times as “The thinking man’s producer who has a reputation for sticking out of the pack.”
Kerouac’s Library Haunts and Hooky Tour
Time: 3:30 pm
Location: Pollard Memorial Library, 401 Merrimack St.
Kerouac’s Library Haunts and Hooky tour, led by Bill Walsh. Meet at the Merrimack St. entrance.
Open Mike at the Old Worthen
Time: 4:00 pm
Location: Old Worthen Upstairs, 141 Worthen St.
Poets, musicians, and readers are welcome!
Merrimack and Moody Street Regulars
Time: 5:30 to 7:00 pm
Location: Starts from City Hall, 375 Merrimack St.
“Merrimack and Moody Street Regulars” walking tour led by Roger Brunelle. Visit sites that Kerouac visited and walked past almost daily along Moody and Merrimack Streets with some remnants of Little Canada.
Jack's Roots: From Canada to Lowell
Time: 8:00 pm to ???
Location: Old Court Pub upstairs, 29-31 Central St.
Jack's Roots: From Canada to Lowell, with Michele Choiniere, Brent Mason, Bob Martin, David Amram, and poet Steve Dalachinsky. Kerouac-influenced musicians from Canada, Lowell, and New York will perform individually and jam together in exploring his cultural roots. There will be poems and readings mixed in from Kerouac’s novels.

Sunday, October 13
Kerouac’s Nashua Connection tour
Time: 10:00 am
Location: Meet at Visitor Center, 246 Market St., Lowell
Visit the Kerouac family sites and graves in Nashua, NH, led by Steve Edington, author of “Kerouac’s Nashua Connection.” Meet at Visitor Center, 246 Market St., Lowell, to ride in van or car pool. $10 donation requested. Reservations at 978-970-5000.
Serious Amram Jam!
Time: 1:00 to 5:00 pm
Location: Lowell Beerworks, 203 Cabot St.
Featuring David Amram performing with a cast of many volunteer readers, poets, and musicians. You can feel the spirit of Kerouac moving here!
Sun Sets over Jack’s Bridge
Time: 5:30 pm
Location: University Ave. between VFW Highway and Pawtucket St.
Adieu Again to Textile Memorial Bridge, Moody Street Bridge, Watermelon Man Bridge, University Ave. Bridge; to be demolished SOON! Poems, readings, flowers, and a watermelon will be dropped from the bridge. Group walk from Amram Jam at Beerworks starting at 5.
Ghosts of the Pawtucketville Night tour
Time: 6:00 pm
Location: Group leaves from Textile Memorial Bridge, University Ave.
Ghosts of the Pawtucketville Night tour, led by Roger Brunelle. Visit Kerouac sites in Pawtucketville neighborhood and possibly the mystical Grotto.
A Night of Poetry and Music
Time: 8:00 pm
Location: 119 Gallery, 119 Chelmsford St.
Featuring LCK guest poet Steve Dalachinsky with Yuko Otomo and friends.

Monday, October 14
LCK group walk from Kerouac Commemorative
Time: 10:00 am
Location: Leaves from Kerouac Commemmorative, corner of French and Bridge Streets
Mystic Jack tour
Time: 10:30 am
Location: St. Louis Church, 221 W. 6th St.
Led by Roger Brunelle. Visit the church, school, and home that were so important in his early years as described in Visions of Gerard.
Walking Jack
Time: 12:00 to 4:00 pm
Location: St. Louis Church, 221 W. 6th St.
Continuing the Kerouac Loop Walk from St. Louis School past Kerouac homes and landmarks in Centralville and Pawtucketville, finishing at Old Worthen Tavern for toasting to Jack.
Post-Festival Events
Sunday, October 20
Waking Jack: Jack Kerouac Memorial Walk & Wake
Time: 4:00 pm to ???
Location: Meet at Grotto behind Franco-American School, 357 Pawtucket St.
LCK group will walk with volunteer readings from the Grotto, music & readings to follow Upstairs at the Worthen; in memoriam of the death of Jack Kerouac on October 21, 1969.

 

 

Big Sur (2013) PosterBig Sur, the movie will be showing at the following locations. The film just came off the film festival circuit and will play one night only in the following cities and dates (check it out on IMDB):

October 14th:
Portland, OR at The Clinton Street Theater at 7:00pm
Little Rock, AR at the Market Street Cinema at 7:00pm
Bellingham, WA at The Pickford Film Center at 6:30pm
New Orleans, LA at The Zeitgeist Theater at 7:30pm

October 15th:
Tallahassee, FL at The All Saints Theater at 7:00pm
Providence RI at The Cable Car Cinema & Café at 7:00pm
Detroit, MI at The Maple Theater at 7:30pm
Arlington, MA at The Regent Theater at 7:30pm

October 16th:
Pittsburgh at The Hollywood Theater at 7:30pm

October 17th:
Eugene, OR at the Bijou Metro at 7:30pm
Kansas City KS at the Glenwood Arts at 7:30pm
Columbus, IN at the Yes! Cinema at 7:00pm

 

 


November 2013

 

 


December 2013

 

 

2012 Events

January 2012

January 27- May 6 On The Road Scroll displayed displayed at the “Chaos is a Friend of Mine: Cultural Icons from the Jim Irsay Collection”

Where: Indiana State Museum, 650 W. Washington St., Indianapolis
Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday (Eastern time)
Information: Call (317) 232-1637 or visit online at www.indianamuseum.org

 


February 2012

January 27- May 6 On The Road Scroll displayed displayed at the “Chaos is a Friend of Mine: Cultural Icons from the Jim Irsay Collection”

Where: Indiana State Museum, 650 W. Washington St., Indianapolis
Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday (Eastern time)
Information: Call (317) 232-1637 or visit online at www.indianamuseum.org

 

Jack Kerouac: King of the Beats on DVD & Blu-ray. Remastered in High Definition from the Original Film Print. Available February 28, 2012. This is the award-winning biography of the King of the Beat Generation. Available from Kultur.

 

Submissions Wanted - In order to celebrate what would have been the 90th birthday of celebrated Beat Generation writer, purveyor of haiku, iconoclast and visionary Jack Kerouac. Dharmic Angels (launching in March), will be a collection of poems providing a timeless and international response to the work of one of America's strongest literary voices. 

Selections from the great canon of Kerouac have been made and if you'd like to be involved in the project, please email the address at bottom of this page and you will be sent a segment, all you have to do is take this as the inspirational jumping off point for your own work. 

Responses will be welcomed in the form of poems, capturing the iconic voice of Kerouac in the modern age, in your own language, in your own emotions, in your own distinctive style. Responses will be blind reviewed. 

February 20th, 2012 - Deadline

If you'd like to get involved, please e-mail matt.macdonald@live.co.uk and you will be forwarded on the randomly determined excerpt. For more info

 

February 3rd, 8-10pm - NEAL CASSADY BIRTHDAY BASH IN DENVER -
They’re doing it again in Denver - celebrating Neal’s Birthday this Friday night at The Mercury Cafe. David Amram will be there as will Neal & Carolyn’s daughters Jami and Cathy. Steve Edington with Lowell Celebrates Kerouac and Junior Burke from Naropa’s "Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics" will be there, too. And his former high school will finally be issuing a High School Diploma to him, which he never had all this years. He done good.

Here’s a link to the big goings on:
http://www.facebook.com/events/206315476117860/

 

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March 2012

Jack Kerouac's Birthday, March 12, 1922

January 27- May 6 On The Road Scroll displayed displayed at the “Chaos is a Friend of Mine: Cultural Icons from the Jim Irsay Collection”

Where: Indiana State Museum, 650 W. Washington St., Indianapolis
Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday (Eastern time)
Information: Call (317) 232-1637 or visit online at www.indianamuseum.org

 

MARCH 8-11: Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! JACK KEROUAC WEEKEND AND BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION. LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS

SPONSORED BY LOWELL CELEBRATES KEROUAC AND
THE UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AT LOWELL

[To help defray the costs of this weekend, a $5.00 Donation is requested by those taking the Kerouac Tours. Thanks!]

Early Bird Event.  Monday, March 5, 3pm: A Screening of Henry Farrini's Lowell Blues Documentary Film.
The film features passages and images from Jack Kerouac's novel Doctor Sax. 
UML South Campus.  210 Coburn Hall on Broadway.
Also shown daily at 4:00 at the LNHP Visitors Center, 246 Market Street.

THURSDAY, MARCH 8TH:
4:00 p.m.: Introduction to Kerouac’s recently released novel, The Sea Is My Brother.
Book-signing & talk by book’s editor Dawn Ward.
UML South Campus, O’Leary Auditorium #222
7:30pm: An Evening with John Sampas.
John Sampas, Literary Executor of the Estate of Jack and Stella Kerouac will engage in a dialog with Michael Millner and Todd Tietchen, Professors of English at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, about his history with Jack Kerouac and his literary estate.
Visitors Center: Lowell National Historical Park, 246 Market Street

FRIDAY, MARCH 9TH:
5:30—7:00 p.m.: Exhibition Opening: Jack's Serious Exuberance: Paintings and Drawings, Abstractions of Jack Kerouac's The Scripture of the Golden Eternity by Barbara Gagel
Ayer Lofts Gallery, 172 Middle St. (Exhibition runs from March 8 to 30.)
6:00—7:30 p.m.: Kerouac’s Downtown Lowell Walking Tour. Led by Roger Brunelle. Meet at Kerouac Commemorative at Bridge and French Streets. Visit some of the places Kerouac writes about in his Lowell novels and experience the town that first shaped his literary consciousness.
7:30--9:30 p.m. (And beyond?) “Let’s Talk About Jack!” Readings and Discussion led by Nomi Herbstman. Kerouac’s body of literature resonates with many people in many ways. We’ll gather and share how Kerouac’s writings resonate with you. Bring your memories of how you were pulled into the Kerouac circle, and how your image of Lowell is shaped by his Lowell novels. Share your favorite JK passages. Not an open mike so much as it is an opportunity to enjoy the company of fellow Kerouac aficionados and discuss his writings. LCK will provide some food for munchies; feel free to contribute snacks of your own, White Eagle Cafe,.585 Market St.

SATURDAY, MARCH 10th:
1:00---2:30 p.m.: “Kerouac at 90” panel to discuss his life and influence. Panelists include: Steve Edington, Past President of LCK and author of The Beat Face of God; scholar John McHale of Salem State University; and Marilene Phipps-Kettlewell, award-winning author and painter, who is presently editing Kerouac's poetry for the Library of America edition. UML professor of Beat Literature Todd Tietchen will serve as moderator; Boott Cotton Mills Museum, Event Center. Foot of John St.
3:00--4:30 p.m.: Socio-Linguistic Origins of Kerouac. Tour and talk led by Roger Brunelle at St. Louis Church-School compound at Boisvert and 6th Streets in the Centralville neighborhood
5-:00—7:00 p.m.: Kerouac Pubs of Lowell Tour, Part 1. Begins at Ricardo’s (Formerly Nicky Sampas’ Bar) at 110 Gorham St. and goes to Cappy’s Copper Kettle and Major’s Pub. Led by Mike Wurm.
8:00—12:00 p.m.: Jack Kerouac 90th Birthday Celebration The Back Page at 15 Kearney Square behind the Blue Taleh Restaurant.  Coordinated by Judi Stadelmaier.
Events Include:
*A Dramatic Reading of Jack's Last Call, a play by Patrick Fenton with actor Jerry Bisantz.  Jerry was nominated for the "Best Actor Award" from the Independent Reviewer of New England for his performance of Jack's Last Call as produced by Lowell's Image Theater.  Mr. Bazantz and Playwright Fenton will perform short selections from the play.
*Reading of the "Jack Kerouac Day in Massachusetts" Proclamation by Mayor Patrick Murphy.
*Sauce and Special Guests.  Jazz standards of the 1920s, 30s and 40s.
Check out "The Back Page" backpagelowell.com
$5.00 Donation is requested.

SUNDAY, MARCH 11th:
1-4 pm: “Walking Jack” 90th Birthday Loop Walk from Kerouac Commemorative at Bridge and French Streets to significant boyhood homes and sites on both sides of the Merrimack River, ending along Merrimack /Moody Street corridor, being led by Mike Wurm and Bill Walsh with special guest readings
4-6 pm: Kerouac Pubs Tour, Part 2, Merrimack St. area & a taste of old Moody St. bars. Begins at Charlie’s Pub at 14 Cabot Street, and goes to The White Eagle then to The Old Worthen. Led by Mike Wurm.
Others Kerouac Birthday Related Events:
“Jack’s Serious Exuberance” art exhibition by Barbara Gagel.  Also noted in the program above.

Wed., March 14, 7:30-8:30: Panel discussion with local writers and poets.  The panelists will include Long Island based peot, George Wallace, former LCK President Steve Edington and Lowell based writer and poet, David Robinson..

Wed., March 28, 7:30-8:30: “A Lesson from Jazz,” a musical interpretation
The Ayer Lofts are located at 172 Middle Street in Lowell.  Check out thier website www.ayerlofts.com

 

KEROUAC'S BIRTHDAY IN SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY AND MONDAY MARCH 11TH and 12TH. The Beat Museum is pulling out all the stops for a TWO-DAY-BIRTHDAY-EXTRAVAGANZA! Mark your calendars: both Sunday March 11 and Monday March 12 starting at 7:00. http://www.kerouac.com/kerouac-90th-birthday/

Sunday, March 11, 2012 starting at 7pm
Featuring: Al Hinkle (Big Ed Dunkel in On The Road)
John Allen Cassady (Beat progeny of Carolyn & Neal and first human ever named after Jack Kerouac)
Musical Guests: The Dharma Bums

Monday, March 12, 2012 starting at 7pm
Featuring: Brenda Knight, editor Women of The Beat Generation
Joanna McClure, Tony Rodruigez, Alan Kaufman, Nicole Henares
Musical Guest: Chris Chandler poet, musician


GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN IN THE '49 HUDSON
Kerouac's Birthday Bash will also serve as a FUNDRAISER for The Foundation for Creative Expression 501(c)3. And for the first time ever we'll be offering the opportunity to "Take Your Photo in the Hudson." That's right, for a modest donation to the non-profit of only $20 you can have YOUR PHOTO taken in the '49 Hudson - the very same car delivered to The Beat Museum personally by Garrett Hedlund back in December of last year. Just think, you can rest your derrière (that's French!) on the very same bench seat Garrett shared with Kirsten Stewart, Sam Riley and Danny Morgan in the making of the soon-to-be-released Walter Salles film, "On The Road."

 

11 March, Sunday - KEROUAC AT 90: BEYOND BAROQUE PRESENTS A CELEBRATION OF THE WORK OF JACK KEROUAC. Venice, CA. Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Bl. Venice, CA 90291, Phone 1-310-82 2-3006

4:00 PM - READING
RAFAEL ALVARADO, IRIS BERRY, EVE BRANDSTEIN, MICHAEL C FORD, S.A. GRIFFIN, DOUG KNOTT, ELLYN MAYBE, GERALD NICOSIA, HARRY NORTHUP, MARC OLMSTED, DANI ROTER, and ARAM SAROYAN reading their favorite Kerouac works.

7:30 PM - PANEL
Panel discussion of Kerouac's life and works features Memory Babe author GERALD NICOSIAARAM SAROYANS.A. GRIFFIN and MARC OLMSTEDHosted by Beyond Baroque director, RICHARD MODIANO.
When On the Road hit the bookstores in September 1957, JACK KEROUAC ironically found himself in a most enviable position for an emerging author: by the time his second published novel made the best-seller list, he had at least four others ready to go, not to mention numerous poems, several religious works and a few experimental pieces. Though many of these works soon came into print, Kerouac was unable to parlay his fame into either literary or financial security. Instead of assuming his place as a distinguished author, he found himself vilified by critics whose respect he had hoped to win. Though he continued to write and publish until the end of his life, this twist of fate by which he attained celebrity in place of respect exacerbated his marginalization as an important American writer. Nevertheless, Kerouac’s work endures to the present day with new generations of readers re-discovering his remarkable body of work.

http://www.beyondbaroque.org/

 

March 26th, 2012, Monday, Back to Jack. A celebration of the writings of Jack Kerouac. 20 readers of his writings including a jazz vocal rendering of excerpts of his poetry, hosted by Gordon Gilbert.

Monday March 26th, 2012,
6:30 - 9 pm
Yippie Museum Cafe
9 Bleecker Street, NYC

for more info, contact
gordonagilbertjr@usa.net

 

ON THE ROAD 4 KEROUAC - How You Can Participate

There's an effort that started in France a number of months ago by a handful of students to gather tributes from people around the globe as to what On The Road and Kerouac's writings have meant to people of all ages. So far dozens of people from numerous countries have joined together to contribute. Their goal is to fashion a document that is at least as long as Kerouac's scroll (120 feet or 37 meters) and ship it to San Francisco for exhibition here at The Beat Museum. Take a look to view their progress thus far and learn how you can participate in this worthy effort.

Click here to see who has already contributed. You'll see some familiar names:
http://www.ontheroad4kerouac.org/2011/12/scrollers.html

Click here for details and to view a YouTube video of the project so far:
http://www.ontheroad4kerouac.org/

 

Kerouac Project in Orlando Florida - Applications for the 2012-2013 residencies are due by Saturday, March 31, 2012 and results will be announced in May. You can apply anytime throughout the year but applications will not be read until after the March 31st deadline. Also multiple submissions are not allowed. More info

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April 2012

January 27- May 6 On The Road Scroll displayed displayed at the “Chaos is a Friend of Mine: Cultural Icons from the Jim Irsay Collection”

Where: Indiana State Museum, 650 W. Washington St., Indianapolis
Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday (Eastern time)
Information: Call (317) 232-1637 or visit online at www.indianamuseum.org

 

April 21 & 22, 2012. NORTH BEACH WALKING TOUR (San Francisco, CA) - SATURDAY & SUNDAY. The Beat Generation Walking Tour in North Beach is a hit! Here's your chance to see what 1950's North Beach looked like. Check out April's Walking Tours at the link below and make your reservations now.

Saturday April 21st - 2PM
Sunday April 22nd - 10:30AM
Sunday April 22nd - 2PM

Dig it! Show me North Beach!
http://www.kerouac.com/walking-tours/

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May 2012

May 23, 2012 - The movie, On The Road, is premiering at the Cannes Film Festival. See the trailer for the movie here.

Producer Charle Gillibert announced the following via Twitter: "Am happy to share with you : OTR french release the 23rd of may, more to come." Check out this article as well.

And see DHARMA beat's article here.

 

January 27- May 6 On The Road Scroll displayed displayed at the “Chaos is a Friend of Mine: Cultural Icons from the Jim Irsay Collection”

Where: Indiana State Museum, 650 W. Washington St., Indianapolis
Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday (Eastern time)
Information: Call (317) 232-1637 or visit online at www.indianamuseum.org

 

On The Road ExhibitionMay 16 - August 19, 2012. On The Road scroll exhibited at at the Musée des lettres et manuscrits until 19th August 2012. Paris France.

The exhibition Sur la route de Jack Kerouac : L’épopée, de l’écrit à l’écran (On The Road by Jack Kerouac, the epic from book to screen) is at the Musée des lettres et manuscrits (here) until 19th August 2012. Open from Tuesday – Sunday from 10am – 7pm (9.30pm Thursdays)
Admission: 7€/5€.

With the release of the film On The Road released in France, perhaps this is the perfect moment to check out the musée des lettres et manuscrits (letters and manuscripts museum) with their bilingual exhibition about the famous beat generation book, comparing it with the film.

The Museum has, in partnership with MK2, an exhibition devoted to one of the most legendary novels of American literature. This is the first time the typescript of the first version of On the Road will be exhibited in France. This exhibition is proposed in conjunction with the theatrical release (May 23) of the film by Walter Salles on the road.

For information (in French) on the museum click here.

 

May 27, 2012 - Matt Theado: On the Road to Hollywood, Beat Museum, San Francisco.

Follow the path from the book to the movie. Professor Matt Theado (author of Understanding Jack Kerouac and The Beats: A Literary Reference) has uncovered never-before-seen correspondences between Kerouac, and the likes of Marlon Brando, among others, regarding Kerouac’s desire—insistence, actually—that On the Road be adapted into a major Hollywood picture. Join us as Professor Theado shares some of these correspondences for the first time. At the Beat Museum in the North Beach. Have a beer at Vesuvios afterwards. Click here for more information.


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June 2012

On The Road ExhibitionMay 16 - August 19, 2012. On The Road scroll exhibited at at the Musée des lettres et manuscrits until 19th August 2012. Paris France.

The exhibition Sur la route de Jack Kerouac : L’épopée, de l’écrit à l’écran (On The Road by Jack Kerouac, the epic from book to screen) is at the Musée des lettres et manuscrits (here) until 19th August 2012. Open from Tuesday – Sunday from 10am – 7pm (9.30pm Thursdays)
Admission: 7€/5€.

With the release of the film On The Road released in France, perhaps this is the perfect moment to check out the musée des lettres et manuscrits (letters and manuscripts museum) with their bilingual exhibition about the famous beat generation book, comparing it with the film.

The Museum has, in partnership with MK2, an exhibition devoted to one of the most legendary novels of American literature. This is the first time the typescript of the first version of On the Road will be exhibited in France. This exhibition is proposed in conjunction with the theatrical release (May 23) of the film by Walter Salles on the road.

For information (in French) on the museum click here.


July 2012

On The Road ExhibitionMay 16 - August 19, 2012. On The Road scroll exhibited at at the Musée des lettres et manuscrits until 19th August 2012. Paris France.

The exhibition Sur la route de Jack Kerouac : L’épopée, de l’écrit à l’écran (On The Road by Jack Kerouac, the epic from book to screen) is at the Musée des lettres et manuscrits (here) until 19th August 2012. Open from Tuesday – Sunday from 10am – 7pm (9.30pm Thursdays)
Admission: 7€/5€.

With the release of the film On The Road released in France, perhaps this is the perfect moment to check out the musée des lettres et manuscrits (letters and manuscripts museum) with their bilingual exhibition about the famous beat generation book, comparing it with the film.

The Museum has, in partnership with MK2, an exhibition devoted to one of the most legendary novels of American literature. This is the first time the typescript of the first version of On the Road will be exhibited in France. This exhibition is proposed in conjunction with the theatrical release (May 23) of the film by Walter Salles on the road.

For information (in French) on the museum click here.

 

Jack Kerouac’s ‘BEAT GENERATION’ tickets go on sale. Only 2,000 tickets available.  Shows in October. Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Lowell Massachusetts.  Tickets for the world premiere staged reading of Jack Kerouac’s “Beat Generation” will go on sale Thursday, July 26 at noon. Tickets start at $40 and can be purchased at MRT.org or by calling the MRT box office at 978-654-4678. The centerpiece of the 2012 Jack Kerouac Literary Festival, “Beat Generation” runs for eight performances only Oct. 10 through Oct. 14. “Beat Generation” will be performed in MRT’s intimate, newly-renovated 279 seat theatre. Order early - only a limited number of tickets will be available to this once-in-a-lifetime literary event.

“Beat Generation” is a story of friendship and karma set in the 1950s and its characters and dialogue capture the Beat mentality at the roots of American counterculture as only Kerouac could. Written in the author’s trademark autobiographical style, the play follows a group of friends based on Kerouac, Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg and others over the course of one day in 1955. The play’s premiere is being presented in Lowell with the support and collaboration of Kerouac Literary Estate representative John Sampas.

 


August 2012

On The Road ExhibitionMay 16 - August 19, 2012. On The Road scroll exhibited at at the Musée des lettres et manuscrits until 19th August 2012. Paris France.

The exhibition Sur la route de Jack Kerouac : L’épopée, de l’écrit à l’écran (On The Road by Jack Kerouac, the epic from book to screen) is at the Musée des lettres et manuscrits (here) until 19th August 2012. Open from Tuesday – Sunday from 10am – 7pm (9.30pm Thursdays)
Admission: 7€/5€.

With the release of the film On The Road released in France, perhaps this is the perfect moment to check out the musée des lettres et manuscrits (letters and manuscripts museum) with their bilingual exhibition about the famous beat generation book, comparing it with the film.

The Museum has, in partnership with MK2, an exhibition devoted to one of the most legendary novels of American literature. This is the first time the typescript of the first version of On the Road will be exhibited in France. This exhibition is proposed in conjunction with the theatrical release (May 23) of the film by Walter Salles on the road.

For information (in French) on the museum click here.

 

Jack Kerouac’s ‘BEAT GENERATION’ tickets go on sale. Only 2,000 tickets available.  Shows in October. Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Lowell Massachusetts.  Tickets for the world premiere staged reading of Jack Kerouac’s “Beat Generation” will go on sale Thursday, July 26 at noon. Tickets start at $40 and can be purchased at MRT.org or by calling the MRT box office at 978-654-4678. The centerpiece of the 2012 Jack Kerouac Literary Festival, “Beat Generation” runs for eight performances only Oct. 10 through Oct. 14. “Beat Generation” will be performed in MRT’s intimate, newly-renovated 279 seat theatre. Order early - only a limited number of tickets will be available to this once-in-a-lifetime literary event.

“Beat Generation” is a story of friendship and karma set in the 1950s and its characters and dialogue capture the Beat mentality at the roots of American counterculture as only Kerouac could. Written in the author’s trademark autobiographical style, the play follows a group of friends based on Kerouac, Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg and others over the course of one day in 1955. The play’s premiere is being presented in Lowell with the support and collaboration of Kerouac Literary Estate representative John Sampas.

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September 2012

 

Sunday 30 September 2012, Jack Kerouac 5K Road Race, Lowell, MA.Time: 12:00pm, registration starts at 10:00am, Location: Beer Works, 203 Cabot Street in Lowell Massachusetts. Lowell Celebrates Kerouac.

 

 

Kerouac photo by Fred DeWitt


October 2012

Jack Safe in Heaven dead, October 21, 1969

Jack Kerouac Literary Festival 2012

The Festival is co-sponsored by the UMass Lowell Kerouac Center and Center for Arts and Ideas, Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! Inc., and the Cultural Organization of Lowell. Unless otherwise noted, events are free and open to the public. Events subject to change. Check their websites for the most up to date schedule.

Monday 8 October 2012

Walking Jack: Kerouac Loop Walk, Time: 1:00pm to 5:00pm, Location: TBD
See the author’s boyhood houses and other landmark sites on both sides of Merrimack River. Starts and ends at Kerouac Commemorative, French and Bridge streets, downtown Lowell.

Tuesday 9 October 2012

Young Angel Midnight: UMass Lowell Alumni Reception & Book-Signing. Time: 4:30pm to 6:00pm. Allen House, Solomont Way, UMass Lowell South Campus. More than 20 UMass Lowell alumni from the departments of English, Music, and Art are represented in the award-winning anthology Young Angel Midnight: An Emerging Generation in the Arts in Lowell." Meet the writing, visual, art, and music contributors and have your book signed in between readings, visual displays, and performances.

Regional Film Premiere of The Typewriter. Time: 7:00pm. Location: Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center Theater, 245 Market St. Explores the role of typewriters in the literary legacy of Kerouac and other great writers of the 20th century. A Lowell Film Collaborative event.

Wednesday 10 October 2012

Tanya Donelly and Rick Moody - Time: 3:30pm. Location: TBD. Singer-songwriter Tanya Donelly (Throwing Muses, The Breeders, and Belly) will discuss songwriting, influence, and inspiration with the novelist, short-story writer, and essayist Rick Moody (Ice Storm, Garden State, and music essays, On Celestial Music: And Other Adventures in Listening). They will talk about their recent collaborations which experiment with the line between music making and prose writing.


World Premiere of "Beat Generation" by Jack Kerouac. Dates: 10 to 14 October. Location: Merrimack Repertory Theater, 50 E. Merrimack St. Kerouac's only full-length play will premiere in a stage reading on Oct. 10. This is a story of friendship and karma set in the 1950s. The characters and dialogue capture the Beat mentality at the root of American counterculture as only Kerouac could. The play follows a group of friends based on Kerouac, Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg, and others through one day in 1955. Written in 1957, when the now-legendary novel On the Road was published, and set in 1953, this is a play "about tension, about friendship, and about karma—what it is and how you get it." The Los Angeles Times wrote: "It bears traces of a deeper vision, defined by beatitude and despair... This is what continues to give Kerouac resonance." The play is being presented in collaboration with Kerouac Literary Estate representative John Sampas. The production is sponsored by UMass Lowell with additional support from 92.5 The River. MRT is funded in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

Thursday 11 October 2012

Poet Anne Waldman in Performance - Time: 3:30pm. Location: TBD. Anne Waldman is the author of more than 40 books of poetry and co-founder of the Jack Kerouac writing school at Naropa University in Colorado, where she is a Distinguished Professor of Poetics. She is one of the most important writers of her generation. An activist-artist, she has been a strong voice for feminist, environmental, and human rights causes.

Traditional Kerouac Pubs Tour, Worthen-Ricardo's-Majors-Cappy's - Time: 6:30pm to 8:00pm. Location: The Old Worthen, 141 Worthen St.; Ricardo’s Café Trattoria, 110 Gorham St.; Cappy's Copper Kettle, 245 Central St. Meet at the Old Worthen Tavern and proceed on guided tour to Ricardo’s Café Trattoria (historic Nicky’s Bar), and end at Cappy’s Copper Kettle. Under-21 travelers welcome, but beverage laws apply.


Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! Music-and-Readings - Time: 8:00pm. Location: Cappy's Copper Kettle, 245 Central St. Join local musicians, poets, and Kerouac lovers and interpreters for a spirited tribute to Jack!

Friday 12 October 2012

Lowell High School Poetry Competition - Time: 9:00am. Location: Lowell High School Freshman Academy, 40 Paige St. Student poets read their poems in a judged contest at the school where Kerouac shone as a scholar, athlete, and budding writer-poet from 1936-39.


David Kaiser: How the Hippies Saved Physics - Time: 2:00pm. Location: TBD. David Kaiser is Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science and Department Head of MIT's Program in Science, Technology, and Society, and Senior Lecturer in Physics. He is the author of the How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival (2011), which charts the early history of Bell's theorem and quantum entanglement, and the award-winning Drawing Theories Apart: The Dispersion of Feynman Diagrams in Postwar Physics (2005).


Talking Jack: Discussion and Readings of Favorite Kerouac Passages - Time: 3:00pm. Location: UML Inn & Conference Center, 50 Warren Ct.

Mystic Jack: Walking Tour Led by Roger Brunelle - Time: 5:30pm to 7:30pm. Location: Meet at St. Louis Church, 221 West Sixth St. Guided tour of Kerouac’s elementary school and childhood neighborhood. $10 donation per person requested; reservations advised (978-970-5000).


This Is Beat!: Improvisational Music Extravaganza - Time: 8:00pm. Location: Dom Polski Social Club, 10 Coburn St. Featured artists include Kerouac's friend David Amram, bop jazz singer Mark Murphy, and rock poet John Sinclair.

Saturday 13 October 2012

Commemorative at the Commemorative - Time: 9:00am. Location: Jack Kerouac Commemorative at Jack Kerouac Park, intersection of French and Bridge Streets
Reflections of the literature and life of Jack Kerouac and friends with readings and performances.

Kerouac Birthplace-to-Grave Bus Tour - Time: 10:30am. Location: Jack Kerouac Commemorative at Jack Kerouac Park, intersection of French and Bridge Streets. A guided tour with Kerouac scholar Roger Brunelle. $10 donation per person requested; reservations required (978-970-5000).

Writers on the Road: Charles Dickens and Jack Kerouac - Time: 11:00am to 12:30pm. Location: Boott Cotton Mills Museum, 115 John St. Nancy Metz, Prof. of English and Dickens scholar at Virginia Tech, and journalist Kathleen Pierce, who has written about Kerouac’s American journeys will discuss the travel writing of both authors. Metz is the author of The Companion to Martin Chuzzlewit.

Jack as Jock: Kerouac, the Writer-Athlete with Author Jay Atkinson - Time: 12:30pm. Mogan Cultural Center, 40 French St. The author of Paradise Road about his own tracking of the spirit of Kerouac on the routes traveled in On the Road, Atkinson will share his knowledge of the star athlete of Lowell High School who went to Columbia University on a scholarship to play football.

Connecting Kerouac, Ginsberg, Steinbeck, & Whitman: A Talk by Poet George Wallace - Time: 2:00pm. Location: Lowell National Park Visitor Center, 246 Market St.
Presented by Lowell Celebrates Kerouac and the Moses Greeley Parker Lectures.

Reading and Book-signing with Poet Tom Sexton - Time: 3:30pm. Location: Whistler House Museum of Art, 243 Worthen St. Tom Sexton will read from his new book of Lowell poems, Bridge Street at Dusk.

Kerouac Open Mike - Time: 3:30pm to 5:00pm. Location: Old Worthen Tavern, 141 Worthen St. Writers, musicians, and Kerouac admirers are invited to contribute their own work or favorite passages by the author.

Reading Jack: Tours of Kerouac's Boyhood Library, Source of His Literary Passion - Time: 3:30pm to 5:00pm. Pollard Memorial Library, 401 Merrimack St.
Lowell historian Bill Walsh will lead a tour of young Kerouac's favorite hideaway, an architectural and literary landmark.

Creative Non-Fiction: A Reading & Book-signing by Judith Dickerman-Nelson and Joe Blair - Time: 5:00pm. Location: Old Court Pub, 29 Central St. UMass Lowell 1991 alumni Judith Dickerman-Nelson (Believe in Me: A Teen Mom's Story) and Joe Blair By the Iowa Sea (about marriage and fatherhood) will read from and sign their 2012 memoirs. They are graduates of the MFA programs in writing at Emerson College and the University of Iowa, respectively. Their 1991 classmate, Finbarr Sheehan is co-owner of the Old Court Irish pub in downtown Lowell.

Ghosts of the Pawtucketville Night: Walking Tour Led by Roger Brunelle - Time: 5:30pm to 7:30pm. Location: Meet at Cumnock Hall, One University Ave., UMass Lowell North Campus. Guided tour of neighborhood sites in Kerouac's life and the novels Doctor Sax and Maggie Cassidy. $10 donation per person requested; reservations recommended (978-970-5000).


Jazz For Jack: David Amram, Judith Murray, Sauce, and More - Time: 8:30pm. Location: Back Page, 15 Kearney Square (behind the Blue Taleh restaurant)

Sunday 14 October 2012

David Amram: Double Feature - Time: 11:00am to 2:00pm. Location: Boott Cotton Mills Museum, 115 John St. Amram Presents the classic independent film narrated by Kerouac, Pull My Daisy, and David Amram: The First Eighty Years. Amram will also read from his memoirs of days with Kerouac and on his own musical road.

Amram Jam - Time: 1:00pm to 5:00pm. Location: Lowell Beerworks, 203 Cabot St. LCK! presents the world-renowned musician and composer David Amram for an afternoon of music and spoken words in the spirit of the jazz-poetry collaborations of Amram and Kerouac in the 1950s. Everyone is welcomed to perform.

Sunset on Jack's Bridge - Time: 5:30pm. Location: Pawtucket St. and VFW Highway
Join LCK! members in bidding adieu to the legendary Moody Street Bridge, a.k.a. Textile Memorial Bridge, Watermelon Man (of Dr. Sax) Bridge, and University Avenue Bridge—to be demolished in 2013; flowers and readings will be dropped.

A Night of Music & Verse with John Sinclair & David Amram - Time: 8:00pm. Location: 119 Gallery, 119 Chelmsford St. Featuring John Sinclair, Amram, and friends.

 

Post-Festival Events

Sunday 21 October 2012

Jack Kerouac Memorial Walk & Wake
Time: 2:00pm
Location: TBD

 

Jack Kerouac’s ‘BEAT GENERATION’ tickets go on sale. Only 2,000 tickets available.  Shows in October. Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Lowell Massachusetts.  Tickets for the world premiere staged reading of Jack Kerouac’s “Beat Generation” will go on sale Thursday, July 26 at noon. Tickets start at $40 and can be purchased at MRT.org or by calling the MRT box office at 978-654-4678. The centerpiece of the 2012 Jack Kerouac Literary Festival, “Beat Generation” runs for eight performances only Oct. 10 through Oct. 14. “Beat Generation” will be performed in MRT’s intimate, newly-renovated 279 seat theatre. Order early - only a limited number of tickets will be available to this once-in-a-lifetime literary event. You can use 'Dharma' to get a discount (enter 'Dharma' in promotional code box).

“Beat Generation” is a story of friendship and karma set in the 1950s and its characters and dialogue capture the Beat mentality at the roots of American counterculture as only Kerouac could. Written in the author’s trademark autobiographical style, the play follows a group of friends based on Kerouac, Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg and others over the course of one day in 1955. The play’s premiere is being presented in Lowell with the support and collaboration of Kerouac Literary Estate representative John Sampas.

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November 2012

David AmramFriday, November 9, 2012: Clearwater to Honor David Amram at Symphony Space Event - Hudson River Sloop Clearwater will honor legendary musician David Amram with the ”Power of Song Award” on November 9, at Symphony Space in NYC. The evening will begin at 6:30 PM with the world premiere of the film David Amram: The First 80 Years, directed by Lawrence Kraman.

The music portion of the evening will begin at 8:30 PM with performances by featured artists Pete Seeger, Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary, legendary Cuban saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera, singer-songwriter John Sebastian, New Orleans blues and gospel pianist/singer Henry Butler, folk great Tom Paxton, blues-man Guy Davis, folk singer-actor Josh White Jr., and youth musicians from Clearwater’s Power of Song programs, and others to be announced. Tickets can be purchased at www.SymphonySpace.org.


December 2012

December 21- Official premiere of On The Road movie in the United States, in Los Angeles and New York City (see trailer here)



 

2011 Events

 

January 2011

No events available for January.

 

 


February 2011

FEBRUARY 11, 2011 - HOWL. Join the Columbia Alumni Association,Professor Ann Douglas, composer and musician extraordinaire David Amram, writer Joyce Johnson, and a cast of dozens as Columbia honors its Beat prodigal sons, Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, in the 6TH ANNUAL HOWL.

The day's events will include a reading of Joyce Johnson's work and a conversation with her, a display and reception at Rare Books, and readings to David Amram's music, including the complete text of Ginsberg's "Howl." Questions? Contact Alejandra Kluger at alumni-events@columbia.edu or 212-851-7878.

 

Friday, February 4th, Neal Cassady Birthday Bash

The Mercury Cafe
2199 California Street, Denver CO
GUESTS: David Amram, Jami Cassady & John Allen Cassady

 

Friday, February 4th, Beat Museum, San Francisco, CA, Sixth ANNUAL NEAL CASSADY BIRTHDAY BASH -

The Beat Museum
540 Broadway
San Francisco, CA 94133
SPECIAL GUEST: Al Hinkle
MUSIC BY:  George Long


Click here for details:http://www.thebeatmuseum.org/

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March 2011

Jack Kerouac's Birthday, March 12, 1922

 

MARCH 11-12, 2011 - Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! JACK KEROUAC WEEKEND AND BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION. LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS

Friday, March 11th

Both events at Brew'd Awakenings at 61 Market Street
7:00 p.m.: "Possessed in Lowell" a presentation by Jonathan Stevens on a work in progress. Jonathan is reviving a manuscript began by a Great Uncle of his about his years in Lowell.

8:00 p.m. Open Mike.
Share your favorite Kerouac passage or your own Kerouac-inspired writings.

Saturday, March 12.  Jack's Birthday!

10:30 a.m.  An observance of the 75 Anniversary of the 1936 Lowell Flood.
Will feature a DVD presentation of the '36 Flood accompanied by readings from Doctor Sax where Kerouac describes the flood as seen from the Moody Street (University Avenue/Textile Memorial) Bridge through his 14 year old eyes. Weather permitting, we'll walk over the Bridge following the program.
Alumni Hall--University of Massachusetts at Lowell. 84 University Avenue.
There is a parking lot a block beyond Alumni Hall on University Avenue next to a Lowell Police Substation.

1:00 p.m. A showing of the documentary What Happened to Kerouac, co-sponsored by the Lowell Film Collaborative, LCK! and
Friends of the Pollard.
Community Room of the Pollard Memorial Library, 401 Merrimack St.

The Following and Afternoon and Evening Events Are Being Organized By:
George DeLuca of ComeToLowell.com

For further information go to: 
www.cometolowell.com/2011_KerouacSchedule.htm

Film: "David Amram: The First 80 years!"
A "sneak preview" of a film by Director Lawrence Kraman at the Boott Cotton Mills Theater at the end of John Street. 90 minute screenings start at 1:50 and 3:50 pm. Last preview before the film goes to the Library of Congress. Open Seating--no charge.

Jazz: 7-10pm: "Jack's Beat!"
Celebrate Jack Kerouac's 89th Birthday at the Back Page Jazz & Blues Club at 15 Kearney Square. Featuring jazz music and readings from "On the Road" with music director David Amram and a group of local jazz musicians. Free but seating is limited.
See www.cometolowell.com for details.

Blues: 10:30pm-closing: "This Song's for You, Jack!"
Celebrate Jack Kerouac's 89th Birthday at the Back Page Jazz & Blues Club at 15 Kearney Square. Featuring a roots blues tribute to Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James and Willie Dixon. Join a group of local blues musicians and guests for some hard core roof raisin' blues!  Free and open to the public.

 

Monday, March 28th, 2011, 6:30 - 8:30 pm, Hit the Road Jack! The Writings of Jack Kerouac, A Retrospective at the Yippie Museum Café, 9 Bleecker Street, NYC

20 invited readers, reading from the works of Jack Kerouac, as well as music and performance. No open mic.

 

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April 2011

Monday April 25, 2011 at 5pm (in French) - Radio documentary about the link between Kerouac and Brittany. It'll be broadcast on French National radio France Culture, (in French).

This documentary shines the light on the Breton obsession of the American writer Jack Kerouac, and on Brittany’s recent discovery of one of this long lost son.

Throughout his literary work and private life, the King of the Beat Generation often refers to the land of his ancestors, calling himself Jean-Louis Lebris de Kerouac, prince or baron of Brittany. In 1965, he went to Brest, to the home of Mr. Lebris to meet an alleged cousin. Raised with the family myth of a noble ancestor and of his lost treasure, “Ti Jean” found nothing and upon his return to Florida, published Satori in Paris, an account of his geographic wanderings and identity.

Thanks to the work of Patricia Dagier and Herve Quemener, we now know that he was going down the wrong road. The first Kerouac, leaving for America for unclear reasons in the 18th century, was named Le Bihan, whose treasure amounts to some fields… at Kervoac (pronounced Kerouac). For the organizers and attendees of a festival organized in his honor in Lanmeur, a small village in Finistere, as well as Frank Darcel, writer and former guitarist for Marqui de Sade , what matters most is Jack’s message of “pushing the limits,” a trait that comes quite naturally to a Breton.

Can also be listened online after the broadcast here

 

UPCOMING EVENTS at THE BEAT MUSEUM in San Francisco.

Three events in April:

  • Dharma Bums:  An Evening of Beat Zen - Wednesday, April 20th (aka 4/20) @7pm
  • Toby Lurie's Lost Coast Word Music Ensemble - Thursday, April 21st @ 6:30pm
  • Bill Morgan Book Signing for "Beat Atlas" - Thursday, April 28th @ 7pm

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May 2011

Monday, May 23rd, 2011 - A  Ferlinghetti Retrospective, Readings from the works of Lawrence Ferlinghetti, along with readers' own works. Host:  Gordon Gilbert (reading by invitation only, no open mic) 6:30 - 8:30 pm at the Yippie Museum Cafe, 9 Bleecker Street @Bowery/Elizabeth, free or| please donate $2 or so to the Yippie Cafe - support the space www.yippiemuseum.org

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June 2011

Kerouac photo by Fred DeWittStarting June 23, 2011 (for an extended run) Exhibition of The Dharma Bums manuscript. Orlando Florida. For the first time since 2008, the Orange County Regional History Center in Orlando, Fla., will display on June 23, 2011, the original 1957 manuscript of “The Dharma Bums” by the bard of the Beat Generation, Jack Kerouac, along with photographs taken of Kerouac by Orlando photographer Fred DeWitt for Time magazine. This significant piece of Central Florida literary history allows visitors a unique look at the manuscript with Kerouac’s handwritten notes rejecting his editor’s changes, as well as opportunities to view the rare photographs taken of him here in Orlando. The manuscript, on loan from Bruce Gordy and the Kerouac Project of Orlando, will be on display at the History Center for an extended run. At the Orange County History Center, 65 East Central Blvd. Orlando, FL 32801 (407) 836-8500

For 11 frenetic days and nights in the College Park neighborhood of Orlando, Kerouac wrote “The Dharma Bums,” what many have called a sequel to his best-known work, “On the Road.”  Inside a small house on Clouser Avenue, he received word that his first book was a national sensation, and he was hailed as one of America’s most important authors – and reluctantly as the voice of the Beat Generation – who inspired other writers including Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Waits, and Bob Dylan. “The Dharma Bums” chronicles some of his adventures with Gary Snyder and other San Francisco-area poets, as well as his immersion into Buddhism.

Fred DeWitt took the photos on display in January 1958 at the Clouser Avenue home when Kerouac was working on “The Dharma Bums.”  DeWitt submitted them to Time, but the magazine used only one photo from the roll for a review of Kerouac’s novella, “The Subterraneans.”  The remaining photos on display were all but lost for nearly a half-century until Orlando journalist and WESH-TV reporter Bob Kealing found DeWitt living in Orlando.  DeWitt recalled the Kerouac photo shoot,  "He was waiting for me in the doorway with his left arm propped up against the doorframe…I remember a lone light bulb, the roll of Teletype paper, and a manual typewriter."

The Jack Kerouac Writers-in-Residence Project of Orlando, Inc., works to further Kerouac’s legacy in Orlando and operates the Kerouac House in College Park, which it purchased and renovated to provide selected authors with rent, utilities, and some meals while they write.

 

June 4, 2011 - October 2, 2011 - Ed Ruscha: On the Road. Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA. This exhibition, organized by Hammer chief curator Douglas Fogle, brings together two great visionaries of art and language - Ed Ruscha and Jack Kerouac. Both men revolutionized the transparent use of words to document and comment on the shifting character of the American cultural landscape.

Over the last few years Ed Ruscha has continued to explore his own fascination with the shifting emblems of American life by turning his keen aesthetic sensibility to Kerouac’s classic novel. Having created his own limited edition artist book version of On the Road in 2009 published by Gagosian Gallery and Steidl, and illustrated with photographs that he took, commissioned, or found, Ruscha has created an entirely new body of paintings and drawings that take their inspiration from passages in Kerouac’s novel.

This exhibition includes Ruscha’s edition of Kerouac’s legendary novel, six large paintings on canvas, and ten drawings on museum board, each taking its text from On the Road. Whether painted over snow-capped mountains in Ruscha’s signature all-caps lettering or drawn atop delicately spattered abstract backgrounds, Kerouac’s words provide the artist with a means to explore his own archetypal landscape. Isolating key sentences and phrases from the novel for his paintings and drawings such as “In California you chew the juice out of grapes and spit away the skin, a real luxury,” “the holy con man began to eat,” or “fit and slick as a fiddle,” Ruscha adds another layer of deadpan aesthetic analysis to Kerouac’s original and radical use of language.

Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024. Phone: 310.443.7000


July 2011

Kerouac photo by Fred DeWittStarting June 23, 2011 (for an extended run) Exhibition of The Dharma Bums manuscript. Orlando Florida. For the first time since 2008, the Orange County Regional History Center in Orlando, Fla., will display on June 23, 2011, the original 1957 manuscript of “The Dharma Bums” by the bard of the Beat Generation, Jack Kerouac, along with photographs taken of Kerouac by Orlando photographer Fred DeWitt for Time magazine. This significant piece of Central Florida literary history allows visitors a unique look at the manuscript with Kerouac’s handwritten notes rejecting his editor’s changes, as well as opportunities to view the rare photographs taken of him here in Orlando. The manuscript, on loan from Bruce Gordy and the Kerouac Project of Orlando, will be on display at the History Center for an extended run. At the Orange County History Center, 65 East Central Blvd. Orlando, FL 32801 (407) 836-8500

For 11 frenetic days and nights in the College Park neighborhood of Orlando, Kerouac wrote “The Dharma Bums,” what many have called a sequel to his best-known work, “On the Road.”  Inside a small house on Clouser Avenue, he received word that his first book was a national sensation, and he was hailed as one of America’s most important authors – and reluctantly as the voice of the Beat Generation – who inspired other writers including Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Waits, and Bob Dylan. “The Dharma Bums” chronicles some of his adventures with Gary Snyder and other San Francisco-area poets, as well as his immersion into Buddhism.

Fred DeWitt took the photos on display in January 1958 at the Clouser Avenue home when Kerouac was working on “The Dharma Bums.”  DeWitt submitted them to Time, but the magazine used only one photo from the roll for a review of Kerouac’s novella, “The Subterraneans.”  The remaining photos on display were all but lost for nearly a half-century until Orlando journalist and WESH-TV reporter Bob Kealing found DeWitt living in Orlando.  DeWitt recalled the Kerouac photo shoot,  "He was waiting for me in the doorway with his left arm propped up against the doorframe…I remember a lone light bulb, the roll of Teletype paper, and a manual typewriter."

The Jack Kerouac Writers-in-Residence Project of Orlando, Inc., works to further Kerouac’s legacy in Orlando and operates the Kerouac House in College Park, which it purchased and renovated to provide selected authors with rent, utilities, and some meals while they write.

 

June 4, 2011 - October 2, 2011 - Ed Ruscha: On the Road. Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA. This exhibition, organized by Hammer chief curator Douglas Fogle, brings together two great visionaries of art and language - Ed Ruscha and Jack Kerouac. Both men revolutionized the transparent use of words to document and comment on the shifting character of the American cultural landscape.

Over the last few years Ed Ruscha has continued to explore his own fascination with the shifting emblems of American life by turning his keen aesthetic sensibility to Kerouac’s classic novel. Having created his own limited edition artist book version of On the Road in 2009 published by Gagosian Gallery and Steidl, and illustrated with photographs that he took, commissioned, or found, Ruscha has created an entirely new body of paintings and drawings that take their inspiration from passages in Kerouac’s novel.

This exhibition includes Ruscha’s edition of Kerouac’s legendary novel, six large paintings on canvas, and ten drawings on museum board, each taking its text from On the Road. Whether painted over snow-capped mountains in Ruscha’s signature all-caps lettering or drawn atop delicately spattered abstract backgrounds, Kerouac’s words provide the artist with a means to explore his own archetypal landscape. Isolating key sentences and phrases from the novel for his paintings and drawings such as “In California you chew the juice out of grapes and spit away the skin, a real luxury,” “the holy con man began to eat,” or “fit and slick as a fiddle,” Ruscha adds another layer of deadpan aesthetic analysis to Kerouac’s original and radical use of language.

Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024. Phone: 310.443.7000

 

 

August 2011

June 4, 2011 - October 2, 2011 - Ed Ruscha: On the Road. Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA. This exhibition, organized by Hammer chief curator Douglas Fogle, brings together two great visionaries of art and language - Ed Ruscha and Jack Kerouac. Both men revolutionized the transparent use of words to document and comment on the shifting character of the American cultural landscape.

Over the last few years Ed Ruscha has continued to explore his own fascination with the shifting emblems of American life by turning his keen aesthetic sensibility to Kerouac’s classic novel. Having created his own limited edition artist book version of On the Road in 2009 published by Gagosian Gallery and Steidl, and illustrated with photographs that he took, commissioned, or found, Ruscha has created an entirely new body of paintings and drawings that take their inspiration from passages in Kerouac’s novel.

This exhibition includes Ruscha’s edition of Kerouac’s legendary novel, six large paintings on canvas, and ten drawings on museum board, each taking its text from On the Road. Whether painted over snow-capped mountains in Ruscha’s signature all-caps lettering or drawn atop delicately spattered abstract backgrounds, Kerouac’s words provide the artist with a means to explore his own archetypal landscape. Isolating key sentences and phrases from the novel for his paintings and drawings such as “In California you chew the juice out of grapes and spit away the skin, a real luxury,” “the holy con man began to eat,” or “fit and slick as a fiddle,” Ruscha adds another layer of deadpan aesthetic analysis to Kerouac’s original and radical use of language.

Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024. Phone: 310.443.7000

 

 

 

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September 2011

Please email your Kerouac and beat event to:   Kerouaczin@aol.com or write to: A. Gyenis, DHARMA beat, PO Box 5174, Eureka, CA 95502-5174. I also appreciate copies of any publicity information for the DHARMA beat archive. Please include date, time, address, and contact. We try to maintain a complete list of Kerouac events. Thanks. 

Monday September 26, 2011, 7:00 pm, David Amram at the Beat Museum, San Francisco, CA.   Includes screening of 1959 Beat Cult Classic - “Pull My Daisy”

David will offer his usual magnificent performance along with tales of his personal recollections of Jack, Allen and Neal. Admission is $20. This event is sure to sell out and seating is very limited. Some tickets will be sold Standing Room Only. There are three ways to order - by phone, by internet or stop into The Beat Museum. In 1957 David Amram was onstage in New York City with poets Howard Hart, Philip Lamantia and Jack Kerouac performing Beat poetry to jazz accompaniment . David was in the famed 1959 Beat cult classic film "Pull My Daisy" by Robert Frank & Alfred Leslie. The film was narrated by Jack Kerouac and starred Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Peter Orlovsky and David Amram as Mezz McGillicuddy. Amram also wrote the famous musical soundtrack to the movie.

Details on The David Amram Event -
http://www.thebeatmuseum.org/events.htm#davidamram Please call The Beat Museum with your credit card information during business hours to reserve your tickets now. The number is 415-399-9626

 

June 4, 2011 - October 2, 2011 - Ed Ruscha: On the Road. Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA. This exhibition, organized by Hammer chief curator Douglas Fogle, brings together two great visionaries of art and language - Ed Ruscha and Jack Kerouac. Both men revolutionized the transparent use of words to document and comment on the shifting character of the American cultural landscape.

Over the last few years Ed Ruscha has continued to explore his own fascination with the shifting emblems of American life by turning his keen aesthetic sensibility to Kerouac’s classic novel. Having created his own limited edition artist book version of On the Road in 2009 published by Gagosian Gallery and Steidl, and illustrated with photographs that he took, commissioned, or found, Ruscha has created an entirely new body of paintings and drawings that take their inspiration from passages in Kerouac’s novel.

This exhibition includes Ruscha’s edition of Kerouac’s legendary novel, six large paintings on canvas, and ten drawings on museum board, each taking its text from On the Road. Whether painted over snow-capped mountains in Ruscha’s signature all-caps lettering or drawn atop delicately spattered abstract backgrounds, Kerouac’s words provide the artist with a means to explore his own archetypal landscape. Isolating key sentences and phrases from the novel for his paintings and drawings such as “In California you chew the juice out of grapes and spit away the skin, a real luxury,” “the holy con man began to eat,” or “fit and slick as a fiddle,” Ruscha adds another layer of deadpan aesthetic analysis to Kerouac’s original and radical use of language.

Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024. Phone: 310.443.7000

 


October 2011

Jack Safe in Heaven dead, October 21, 1969

The 2011 Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Literary Festival, Lowell, Massachusetts, October 6-10, 2011.

Pre-Festival Event:
September 25:  The Jack Kerouac 5K Road Race
Begins at Hookslide Kelleys Bar at 19 Merrimack Street.
For more information go to www.JackKerouac5K.com

Related Event:
A French Themed Art Exhibit  By Judith Bessette
Will run during September and October, 2011 at LaBoniche Restaurant and Welles Emporium. Sponsored by the Arts League of Lowell. Check the LCK website for specific dates and hours as they become available

Weekend Events:
Our two special guests for the weekend are jazz man and composer David Amram and New York based poet Steve Dalachinsky. Our Keynote Speaker is Dr. Todd Tietchen. David Amram is a long-time mainstay of our Kerouac Festivals, and it's always a joy to welcome him back to Lowell! In addition to his wide ranging, highly eclectic, musical talents David is the author of Vibrations and Off-Beat: Collaborating with Kerouac. Steve Dalachinsky is a New York "downtown" poet who is also active in the New York City jazz scene. His published works include The Final Note and Other Poems and Trial and Error in Paris. His works have appeared in numerous poetry journals. Steve and David will be participating in various LCK events over the weekend. It is our wish to keep all of our events as available as possible. As noted in the schedule we are requesting a $5.00 donation for our tours and for some of the performances to help defray the expenses of presenting this Kerouac Festival.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6
5:00 pm. Ribbon Cutting Ceremony and Reception.
Opening of the Kerouac Exhibit at the Lowell National Historical Park Visitors Center. 246 Market Street.
6:30 pm: Lowell Undiscovered - A showcase of emerging talent with the launch of the 40 Under 40 Anthology. This kick-off event features performances, visual art, and music from the Anthology artists. Presented by the Cultural Organization of Lowell. For more information, www.cultureiscool.org/discover-lowell. Appleton Mills. 219 Jackson Street.
8:00 pm. LCK Opening Night at Cappy's Copper Kettle. Join Alan Crane, Kim Jennings, Jon McAuliffe, Colleen Nicholas and Andrew Greene as we launch the 2011 Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Festival. 245 Central Street.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7
9:30 am.
Annual LCK Poetry Competition at Lowell High School. This event is open to the public. Come and hear the works of some wonderful young and aspiring poets!

12:45--1:15 pm: Dead Poets Day Observance at the Kerouac Grave Site at Edson Cemetery. This is part of an October 7th tour sponsored by the Dead Poets Society of America, which has designated this day as "Dead Poets Day."
2:30 pm. A Presentation- Conversation with Tess Adamski on Kerouac and Mexico: Bullfights and Beatifiic Chorus. Mr. Jalapenos.  124 Merrimack Street

5:30 pm. Off the Road Walking Tour of the Kerouac Pubs of Lowell.  Walk in the footsteps of Jack Kerouac from his favorite Nicky's Bar in Ricardo's Cafe Trattoria to Cappy's Copper Kettle and Major's Pub, climaxing at the Old Worthen House Tavern for the music. Enjoy the unique spirit of each bar where Kerouac was sighted in his hometown returns in the 1960s. Readings of poems and Kerouac passages at each bar. Mike Wurm will lead the tour, to be assisted by volunteer poets and readers. Group gathers at Ricardo's at 110 Gorham St. from 5:30 to 6 for start of the walk. $5 donations is requested.
9:00 pm. A Night of Music at the Old Worthen Tavern--147 Worthen Street.  
Jared Duff of the 88 Rangers at 9:00,  Reverend JJ at 9:45, Willie Loco Alexander at 10:30. A $5.00 donation is requested

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8
9:30 am. Commemorative at the Commemorative. Bridge and French Streets.
10:15 am. The Jack Kerouac Tour of Lowell. 
Jack claimed he was doing for Lowell what Joyce did for Dublin.  Let’s see if he did.  We’ll take a ride through his town to see how he drew and painted the neighborhoods of Centralville, Pawtucket and Downtown in languages crazy with wild descriptive sounds. Begins and ends at the Kerouac Commemorative.  Led by Roger Brunelle.  For reservations call 603-883-3141 or send an e-mail to revsde@hotmail.com. A $5.00 donation is requested.         
1:30 pm.  Keynote Speaker: Kerouac Today--The Continuing Legacy.  
Dr. Todd Tietchen.  LNHP Visitors Center Auditorium. 246 Market Street.
Dr. Tietchen has recently joined the English faculty at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, coming from Union County College in Cranford, NJ. His PhD in English is from the University of Washington. His latest book is Cubalogues: The Beat Writers in Revolutionary Cuba. This event is sponsored in partnership with the Parker Lecture Series.
Event Options: 3:30--5:00:
*Open Mike at the Worthen  147 Worthen Street
*Presentation: "Jack Kerouac, Haiku, and the Beats." Stanford Forrester.
Community Room. Pollard Memorial Library. 401 Merrimack Street.
5:30 pm. "Ghosts of the Pawtucketville Night" Walking Tour.
Many beloved friends of Jack are sketched and tied to places that have retained enough visual location to be matched to the descriptions of neighborhoods of Pawtucketville, as described in Doctor Sax.  The settings are painted in loose language with a strong sniff of French and with wild tumbling no-meaning sounds. Begins in front of Cumnock Hall, UML North Campus, 1 University Avenue. Led by Roger Brunelle. A $5.00 donation is requested.
8:00 pm. Performance by Michele Choiniere at the Centralville Social Club. 364 West 6th Street. Michele Choiniere is Vermont-based, Kerouac-friendly, Franco-American singer and song writer. She offers a blend of traditional Franco-American and Quebec folk songs, original compositions, and jazz standards. Michele was very well received at the 2010 Lowell Folk Festival and returns to Lowell to perform at the Social Club where Jack Kerouac's parents were once members.  For more information on Michele Choiniere www.michelechoiniere.com A $5.00 donation is requested.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9
10:00 am. "Mystic Jack". A walking tour.
This is about the last six months in the life of a nine year old boy who is Jack’s hero of holiness and kindness.  We will find Gerard/Jack in the Parochial School and in the Church.  First hand descriptions of life at Saint Louis de France, enhanced by the poetry of Visions of Gerard.  Begins at the corner of Boisvert and Sixth Streets.  Led by Roger Brunelle. A $5.00 donation is requested.
12:30 pm. A "Watermelon Man" Bridge Observance followed by a River Walk.  We will honor the Soldiers from the Lowell Textile Institute who lost their lives in World War II and for whom the Bridge was renamed. Meet at the top of the Moody Street Feeder and the University Avenue/Moody Street/Textile Memorial Bridge. Led by Mike Wurm.
2:00 pm. Annual Amram Jam at the Lowell Beer Works. Composer, Jazz Man, and amazingly talented musician David Amram will play for those who wish to share their Kerouac inspired readings. 203 Cabot Street.
7:00 pm: Poetry with Steve Dalachinsky. New York based poet Steve Dalachinsky will share his poetry at 119 Galley. 119 Chelmsfold Street.
An evening of Poesie and Music with our Poet in Residence. Suggested donation $5.00

MONDAY, OCTOBER 10
For those who are still in town!
10:00 a.m. Kerouac's Nashua Connection Tour. Led by Steve Edington.
A tour of the Kerouac sites of Nashua, New Hampshire as cited in Steve's book Kerouac's Nashua Connection. Includes visits to many of the places described in Kerouac's Lowell-based novels. The tour concludes at the St. Louis de Gonzague Cemetery and the gravesite of Jack's parents--Leo and Gabrielle, his brother Gerard, and daughter, Jan Michele. Bus departs from the LNHP Visitors Center at 246 Market Street. For reservations call 603-883-3141 or send an e-mail to revsde@hotmail.com. A $5.00 donation requested.

For schedule changes and updates check the website at www.LowellCelebratesKerouac.org

Lodging
The U-Mass. Lowell Inn and Conference Center in downtown Lowell (formerly the DoubleTree Hotel). Nightly rates begin at $100.00 plus tax. In walking distance of most of the LCK events. For more information and reservations call 1-877-886-5422.
The Lowell Courtyard by Marriott is holding a block of rooms for the LCK Festival with rates running from $89.00--$99.00 plus tax. The Marriott is off Exit 3 of the Lowell Connector. You'll need transportation into downtown Lowell. Call 800-321-2211 for reservations and reference Lowell Celebrates Kerouac. Reservations at the conference rate must be made by September 15, 2011.

 

October 16,17 - Love Always, Carolyn. A new movie presented at the Chicago International Film Festival.

Muse, mother, wife, and lover, Carolyn Cassady was the great woman behind two of the Beat Generation's greatest men: Neal Cassady and Jack Kerouac. As the model for Kerouac's Dean Moriarty in On The Road, Neal was a living legend who often left Carolyn and the kids behind for grand adventures in the beatnik universe. This endearing portrait celebrates the wit, beauty, grace, and normalcy of an overlooked figure from one of American literature's most popular moments. Sweden Directors: Malin Korkeasalo and Maria Ramström. Website for the movie, Love Always, Carolyn

Show Times:

  • Sun Oct 16, 2:30pm , EFLOVE1 – $13/$10
  • Mon Oct 17, 8:20pm , EFLOVE2 – $13/$10

 

October 19, 2011 - Accept Loss Forever: The Life and Work of Jack Kerouac, A presentation by Dan Barth. Noon to 1 PM. Lunch at the Library Series, Mendocino County Library, Willits Branch, 390 E. Commercial Street, Willits, CA 95490

 

June 4, 2011 - October 2, 2011 - Ed Ruscha: On the Road. Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA. This exhibition, organized by Hammer chief curator Douglas Fogle, brings together two great visionaries of art and language - Ed Ruscha and Jack Kerouac. Both men revolutionized the transparent use of words to document and comment on the shifting character of the American cultural landscape.

Over the last few years Ed Ruscha has continued to explore his own fascination with the shifting emblems of American life by turning his keen aesthetic sensibility to Kerouac’s classic novel. Having created his own limited edition artist book version of On the Road in 2009 published by Gagosian Gallery and Steidl, and illustrated with photographs that he took, commissioned, or found, Ruscha has created an entirely new body of paintings and drawings that take their inspiration from passages in Kerouac’s novel.

This exhibition includes Ruscha’s edition of Kerouac’s legendary novel, six large paintings on canvas, and ten drawings on museum board, each taking its text from On the Road. Whether painted over snow-capped mountains in Ruscha’s signature all-caps lettering or drawn atop delicately spattered abstract backgrounds, Kerouac’s words provide the artist with a means to explore his own archetypal landscape. Isolating key sentences and phrases from the novel for his paintings and drawings such as “In California you chew the juice out of grapes and spit away the skin, a real luxury,” “the holy con man began to eat,” or “fit and slick as a fiddle,” Ruscha adds another layer of deadpan aesthetic analysis to Kerouac’s original and radical use of language.

Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024. Phone: 310.443.7000

 

 


November 2011

 

 

 


December 2011

GROVE STREET FESTIVAL 2011, Gainsville, Florida, including a reading of Kerouac's Maggie Cassidy

Sunday, December 4, 2011, there will be a reading of JACK KEROUAC’S Maggie Cassidy at DREAMERS GARDEN on the corner of NW 10th Avenue at 4th Street beginning at 11 AM to conclude this event....  Join us on both days!  Since the year 2000 there has been a reading of one of Jack Kerouac's book in the Grove Street Neighborhood as part of this "the grassroots of the grassroots" festival in Gainesville, Florida.


This is part of a two day festival.

WHEN:  December 3&4, 2011, 4-6 PM.  Luminaries will be lit at 5:30 PM

WHERE: In the field in front of IGNITE LIFE CENTER which is located at 404 NW 14th Avenue, Gainesville, Florida, in the basketball court.  info: (352) 258-1238

For the past 14 Decembers, the Grove Street Festival has taken place in the Grove Street Neighborhood, Gainesville, Florida.  The most grassroots of the festivals in the area, this year’s festivities include Pofahl Studios students from Dance Alive NEXT GENERATION, local Latin dancers Laura Whithead, Katy Arambula, and Angel Serrano, local fire hoop dancer Katie Brunner, and readers that will make the poetry of Korean poet Ko Un, Japanese poet Matsuo Basho, Cuban poet José Martí come alive.  Japanese classical Koto music will be performed by Yasoto Yameso.  This event takes place en plein air, and is free and open to all.  Please attend—bring a friend.


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JANUARY 2010

January 31 - Jack Kerouac in Queens Lecture. Where: Weeping Beech, Margaret I Carmen Green Kingsland Homestead (143-35 37th Ave.) Flushing, NY.

Head to Kingsland Homestead this afternoon to hear writer, playwright and Kerouac historian Pat Fenton present a lecture celebrating the famed American writer — and, specifically, how Queens greatly impacted his life and writing. Call 718-939-0647 or visit www.nycgovparks.org for more details.

 


February 2010

Sunday, February 7- 1st Annual Neal Cassady Birthday Bash, Sunday, February 7th, 2:00 - 5:00pm, My Brother's Bar, 2376 15th Street, Denver, Colorado  80202.

Neal Cassady Birthday Bash in DENVER Sunday, February 7th, 2 PM
If you're in or near Denver you're in for a treat!  John Allen Cassady, his sister Jami Cassady Ratto and her husband Randy Ratto will be celebrating their father's birthday at MY BROTHER'S BAR. 

 

Sunday, February 7th, Beat Museum, San Francisco, CA, FIFTH ANNUAL NEAL CASSADY BIRTHDAY BASH - Sunday, February 7th, 7 PM.

Special Guest of Honor will be AL HINKLE, aka BIG ED DUNKEL from "On The Road".  Our theme will be "Last Man Standing".  Al was actually in the '49 Hudson as it roared across America!  He drove the Hudson!  He was with Neal when he bought it and suggested Neal buy the radio option instead of the heater!  Al worked side by side with Neal at the Southern Pacific Railroad, and, in fact, he's the one who helped Neal get the job!  He's been a lifelong friend to Carolyn Cassady and the Cassady children and continues to live in Northern California.  Al Hinkle is 83 years old and has stories only he can tell.  Al Hinkle - (Big Ed Dunkel) - at the Beat Museum to help us celebrate Neal's birthday.

Click here for details:
http://www.thebeatmuseum.org/feb-events.htm

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March 2010

Jack Kerouac's Birthday, March 12, 1922

 

MARCH 11-13, 2010 - Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! JACK KEROUAC WEEKEND AND BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION. LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS

THURSDAY, MARCH 11:

Docu-drama: One Fast Move or I’m Gone. Based on Kerouac’s experiences
as described in his novel Big Sur. Website: www.kerouacfilms.com

11:00 a.m.: Soundtrack CD Listening Session with Jim Sampas. Durgin Hall, Room 114.  U-Mass., Lowell South Campus. To attend RSVP paul_marion@uml.edu

3:00 p.m. Screening and discussion with producer Jim Sampas. UML South Campus. O’Leary Library Auditorium.

FRIDAY, MARCH 12:

JACK KEROUAC DAY AND 88th BIRTHDAY

Featured Event: Book Release of Jay Atkinson’sParadise Road: Jack Kerouac’s Lost Highway And My Search for America. Web address: www.jayatkinson.com

General: Governor’s Proclamation of “Jack Kerouac Day.”

4:00 p.m. Lowell Blues, a film by Henry Ferrini. Lowell National Historical Park Visitors Center, 61 Market Street.

5:30 p.m.: Paradise Road Reading and Signing With Jay Atkinson and Other Readers.Brew’d Awakenings. 61 Market Street.

7:00p.m. Paradise Road Launch Party. Remarks by Jay Atkinson and David Amram.General Celebration at the Old Court. 29 Central Street.

SATURDAY, MARCH 13:

DAVID AMRAM JAMS

2:00 p.m. Open Mike Readings with David Amram
The Dharma Buns. 26A Market Street.
*David Amram plays behind the readings
*Host: Mary/John Capriole; Moderator: Roger Brunelle
*On the Road Art Presentation by Mary Capriole
*John Capriole discusses the origin of Dharma Buns
*Paradise Road web video (2:30—2:40 p.m.)

7:00 p.m. This is BEAT! Caffe Paradiso 45 Palmer Street.*Readings by David, Tony Sampas, Paul Marion,  John Leite, Jerry Bisantz, Richard Rourke. Acoustic Jazz presentation by David Amram with*Stanley Swann,  Charles Langford,   Adam Amram, Lura Smith of MCC.  Lowell Jazz Day Camp: Alyssa Jones, Stanley Swann.   Paul Combs and John Harrington.  UMass Lowell Classical String Trio.

9:00 p.m. This Song’s For You, Jack! Continuing at Caffe Paradiso.
*Singer/Songwriter Bob Martin
*Singer/Songwriter Alan Crane
*Amy Black and the Red Clay Rascals
*Nolwenn Monjarret
*Special Late Night Guest.

Seating at Caffe Paradiso is limited. Please RSVP to george@copleymedia.com for the 7:00 and 9:00 p.m. shows.

Special thanks to: The Lowell Historical National Park, The Dharma Buns, Caffe Paradiso. The University of Massachusetts at Lowell, Brew’d Awakenings, The Old Court, Middlesex Community College, all the performers; and to George DeLuca for producing the Amram Jams

This schedule is also posted at: http://www.cometolowell.com/KerouacSchedule.htm 

The Courtyard by Marriott Hotel of Lowell has set aside 10 rooms for the nights of March 12 and 13 for persons attending the Kerouac 2010 Birthday events. The cost of a room with one king size bed for one night is $67.00 plus an 11.7% sales tax.
 
The Marriott is located off Exit 3 of the Lowell Connector. The Connector is accessed from Exit 35B on I-495. 

To make a reservation call 1-800-321-2211 and reference the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Room Block at the Lowell Courtyard by Marriott to make their reservations at the group rate. 

 

Thursday, March 11, “Jack’s Last Call: Say Goodbye to Kerouac”, Northport, NY. Pat Fenton reading from his Kerouac play at Northport-East-Library. 7:30 pm.

It’s the summer of 1964 and Jack Kerouac is spending his last night in Northport before moving to Florida with his mother. Long after his small going-away party is over, Jack keeps on drinking as he reflects on his youth as a football star in Lowell, Massachusetts, and wonders whether his time has come and gone. As he sums up his life in a bittersweet narrative, he receives a series of soul-searching phone calls from his daughter Jan.

Join journalist and playwright Patrick Fenton as he reads from his play “Jack’s Last Call” and talks about how he has chased the ghost of Jack Kerouac from Ozone Park to Northport. Mr. Fenton’s play has been featured on more than 50 radio stations across the country since its April 2008 release. No registration required.  Northport East Library. 7:30 p.m.

March 12, 2010, The Kerouac Effect 2010, Auckland New Zealand. Bright Yellow Beetle Records presents...The Kerouac Effect 2010

The Kerouac Effect, the annual celebration of Beat Poetry in Auckland City held on the birthday of one of Beat's most recognised proponants Jack Kerouac. It is a celebration of crossovers of music and spoken word/poetry featuring some of the region's finest voices in this genre. This is our 4th year of running this event and again we have a stirling line up including: Apirana Taylor, Beautiful Losers, Otis Mace, Anna Kaye & The Engineers, The Literatti, Courtney Meredith. Lee Wallace. Karen Hunter. Murray Haddow,
Boggy Beat & The Lost Poet

Location/venue:  Fordes Bar, 122 Anzac Avenue, Auckland CBD, 1010. Cost:  $15. Entry details:  Doors open at 6pm. R18 - Door Sales Only. Contact details:  Email: tabitha@bybr.co.nz

 

 

Orlando, FL, March 18, Thursday. Social Fundraiser to Benefit the Kerouac Project

The Kerouac Project in Orlando, Florida, is having a fun fundraiser with a simple premise. Buy a $20 ticket and come drink all the wine (you can) and eat all the flatbread (you want) with your Kerouac pals. All the usual suspects and some unusual ones too… you know who you are.

Thursday March 18, 2010 5:30 to 7:30 at Urban Flats downtown (where the movie theater is). Buy tickets at the door or mail a check with your contact information to Kerouac Project PO Box 547477, Orlando, Fl 32854 and they will mail some out to you. Or you can use the paypal donation button then shoot me and email at kerouacproject@gmail.com that you paid and tickets will be mailed.

 

GRATEFUL DEAD: NOW PLAYING AT THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY - In March 2010 until September 5, 2010, the New York Historical Society will present the first large-scale exhibition of materials from the Grateful Dead Archive. Drawn almost exclusively from the Archive housed at the University of California Santa Cruz, Grateful Dead: Now Playing at the New-York Historical Society, will chronicle the history of the Grateful Dead, its music, and phenomenal longevity through an array of original art and documents related to the band, its members, performances, and productions. Exhibition highlights from the archive will include concert and recording posters, album art, large-scale marionettes and other stage props, banners, and vast stores of decorated fan mail.

"The Grateful Dead began their musical journey in the San Francisco Bay Area at a pivotal time in American history, when the sensibilities of the Beat generation coincided with the spirit of the burgeoning hippie movement. Informally known as author Ken Kesey's house band, the Dead played at the Acid Tests (1965-1966), the communal experimentations with LSD initiated by Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, and at the first Human Be-In (1967), billed as a "union of love and activism," where Beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti shared the stage with LSD guru Timothy Leary and the political provocateur Jerry Rubin." Check details here.

 

 

 

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April 2010

GRATEFUL DEAD: NOW PLAYING AT THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY - In March 2010 until September 5, 2010, the New York Historical Society will present the first large-scale exhibition of materials from the Grateful Dead Archive. Drawn almost exclusively from the Archive housed at the University of California Santa Cruz, Grateful Dead: Now Playing at the New-York Historical Society, will chronicle the history of the Grateful Dead, its music, and phenomenal longevity through an array of original art and documents related to the band, its members, performances, and productions. Exhibition highlights from the archive will include concert and recording posters, album art, large-scale marionettes and other stage props, banners, and vast stores of decorated fan mail.

"The Grateful Dead began their musical journey in the San Francisco Bay Area at a pivotal time in American history, when the sensibilities of the Beat generation coincided with the spirit of the burgeoning hippie movement. Informally known as author Ken Kesey's house band, the Dead played at the Acid Tests (1965-1966), the communal experimentations with LSD initiated by Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, and at the first Human Be-In (1967), billed as a "union of love and activism," where Beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti shared the stage with LSD guru Timothy Leary and the political provocateur Jerry Rubin." Check details here.

 

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May 2010

Tuesday, May 4, 2010, 7:00 P.M, City Lights Bookstore, San Francisco, Michael McClure reading from his new collection of poetry Mysterioso published by New Directions.

Michael McClure has long been noted for the popularity of his dynamic poetry performances. He is a poet, playwright, songwriter, and one of the "movers and shakers" of the Beat Generation. He has authored over 30 books. At the age of 22 he gave his first poetry reading at the legendary Six Gallery event in San Francisco, where Allen Ginsberg first read Howl. Today McClure is more active than ever, writing and performing his poetry at festivals, and colleges and clubs across the country. He has worked extensively with his old friend Ray Manzarek, the Doors' keyboardist. 

 

 

Thursday, May 6, 2010 - The Beats and Mexico, 7:00 p.m.

Americas Society, 680 Park Avenue, New York, NY. Speakers: With Joyce Johnson, John Tytell, and Regina Weinreich

Three authorities on Beat literature will discuss the fascination that the Beat writers had with Mexico, where they sojourned in the 1950s and which fed Burroughs’s Naked Lunch, Kerouac’s Tristessa, and Ginsberg’s Howl. Indeed, Mexico was a site of both creative inspiration and personal tragedy for the Beats. In this panel, which will explore the Beats’ experiences with Mexico, Weinreich (Kerouac’s Spontaneous Poetics) will cover Burroughs; Johnson (Minor Characters as well as the author of a new Kerouac biography) will talk about Kerouac; and Tytell (Naked Angels) will moderate and discuss the appeal Mexico had for the Beats. Panel discussion in English.

 

Sun, 05/16/2010 - 3:00pm -  Jay Atkinson "Paradise Road: Jack Kerouac's Lost Highway and My Search For America", Bolton, Massachusetts

Paradise Road by Jay AtkinsonLocation:  Concord Bookshop, 65 Main Street, Bolton, Massachusetts

Please join us May 16th at 3 PM as we welcome Jay Atkinson, reading from his latest book, Paradise Road, Jack Kerouac's Lost Highway And My Search For America.

Jack Kerouac's iconic 1950s novel On the Road is a Beat Generation classic, chronicling the adventures and misadventures of Kerouac's travels crisscrossing North America with colorful companions Neal Cassady and Allen Ginsberg. Now gifted writer Jay Atkinson hits the road to retrace Kerouac's legendary journey today. How much has changed? What has remained the same? The author's experiences offer fascinating insights on American culture and society then and now and illuminate his own quest for self-understanding and discovery.

 

May 27-29, Beat Surrender, a play about Kerouac, Manchester, UK. A new play about Jack Kerouac - Beat Surrender - will be performed in Manchester, United Kingdom, May 27-29 at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester UK.

"Sometimes a force can enter our lives, so primal, so perfect and so powerful that all we can do is bow to its inevitability. Beat Surrender is an exuberant, evocative and highly enjoyable fantasy that conjures up the coffee-house bohemian atmosphere of bygone days. Come along and surrender to your own beat and bring your lacerated soul; you just might need it tonight.

Following the success of On the Road, Jack Kerouac fled to London to reassess his life. London, the late Fifties - a city where youthful rebellion collides with the dead-eyed blandness of a country built by yesterday's men. In a London hotel bar bride-to-be Maggie meets her personal Fate in the form of charismatic writer and poet Jack Kerouac. Maggie fears a future of quiet desperation whilst Jack wants to escape his curse of literary notoriety.  The pulse of a new age beats all around them, propelling them into conflicts and decisions that will shape the rest of their lives.

Following Beat Surrender is your chance to hear and, if you want, take part
in a recreation of a 1950s Beat poetry night. The actors and invited readers
will bring to life period poetry as we explore some of the famous and infamous word jazz experiments of the Beats." Can you dig it? Get information here.

 

GRATEFUL DEAD: NOW PLAYING AT THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY - In March 2010 until September 5, 2010, the New York Historical Society will present the first large-scale exhibition of materials from the Grateful Dead Archive. Drawn almost exclusively from the Archive housed at the University of California Santa Cruz, Grateful Dead: Now Playing at the New-York Historical Society, will chronicle the history of the Grateful Dead, its music, and phenomenal longevity through an array of original art and documents related to the band, its members, performances, and productions. Exhibition highlights from the archive will include concert and recording posters, album art, large-scale marionettes and other stage props, banners, and vast stores of decorated fan mail.

"The Grateful Dead began their musical journey in the San Francisco Bay Area at a pivotal time in American history, when the sensibilities of the Beat generation coincided with the spirit of the burgeoning hippie movement. Informally known as author Ken Kesey's house band, the Dead played at the Acid Tests (1965-1966), the communal experimentations with LSD initiated by Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, and at the first Human Be-In (1967), billed as a "union of love and activism," where Beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti shared the stage with LSD guru Timothy Leary and the political provocateur Jerry Rubin." Check details here.

 

May 2–September 6, 2010 - Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg, National Gallery of Art, May 2–September 6, 2010, Washington, DC.

GInsburg Photo - Jack KerouacIn the first scholarly exhibition of American poet Allen Ginsberg's photographs, all facets of his work in photography will be explored. Some 79 works on display will range from the 1950s "drugstore" prints to his now celebrated portraits of Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs, snapshots of Ginsberg himself taken just before he achieved literary fame, and his later portraits of the Beats and other friends made in the 1980s and 1990s. Ginsberg (1926–1997) started taking photographs in 1953 when he purchased a small, secondhand Kodak camera. For the next decade he captured numerous intimate shots of himself as well as his friends and lovers. He abandoned photography in 1963 but returned to it in the early 1980s. Encouraged by photographers Berenice Abbott and Robert Frank, he reprinted much of his early work and began making new portraits, adding sometimes extensive inscriptions. Although Ginsberg's photographs form a compelling portrait of the Beat and counterculture generation from the 1950s to the 1990s, his pictures are far more than mere historical documents. The same ideas that inform his poetry—an intense observation of the world, a deep appreciation of the beauty of the vernacular, a celebration of the sacredness of the present, and a faith in intuitive expression—also permeate his photography.

 

 

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June 2010

GRATEFUL DEAD: NOW PLAYING AT THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY - In March 2010 until September 5, 2010, the New York Historical Society will present the first large-scale exhibition of materials from the Grateful Dead Archive. Drawn almost exclusively from the Archive housed at the University of California Santa Cruz, Grateful Dead: Now Playing at the New-York Historical Society, will chronicle the history of the Grateful Dead, its music, and phenomenal longevity through an array of original art and documents related to the band, its members, performances, and productions. Exhibition highlights from the archive will include concert and recording posters, album art, large-scale marionettes and other stage props, banners, and vast stores of decorated fan mail.

"The Grateful Dead began their musical journey in the San Francisco Bay Area at a pivotal time in American history, when the sensibilities of the Beat generation coincided with the spirit of the burgeoning hippie movement. Informally known as author Ken Kesey's house band, the Dead played at the Acid Tests (1965-1966), the communal experimentations with LSD initiated by Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, and at the first Human Be-In (1967), billed as a "union of love and activism," where Beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti shared the stage with LSD guru Timothy Leary and the political provocateur Jerry Rubin." Check details here.

 

May 2–September 6, 2010 - Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg, National Gallery of Art, May 2–September 6, 2010, Washington, DC.

GInsburg Photo - Jack KerouacIn the first scholarly exhibition of American poet Allen Ginsberg's photographs, all facets of his work in photography will be explored. Some 79 works on display will range from the 1950s "drugstore" prints to his now celebrated portraits of Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs, snapshots of Ginsberg himself taken just before he achieved literary fame, and his later portraits of the Beats and other friends made in the 1980s and 1990s. Ginsberg (1926–1997) started taking photographs in 1953 when he purchased a small, secondhand Kodak camera. For the next decade he captured numerous intimate shots of himself as well as his friends and lovers. He abandoned photography in 1963 but returned to it in the early 1980s. Encouraged by photographers Berenice Abbott and Robert Frank, he reprinted much of his early work and began making new portraits, adding sometimes extensive inscriptions. Although Ginsberg's photographs form a compelling portrait of the Beat and counterculture generation from the 1950s to the 1990s, his pictures are far more than mere historical documents. The same ideas that inform his poetry—an intense observation of the world, a deep appreciation of the beauty of the vernacular, a celebration of the sacredness of the present, and a faith in intuitive expression—also permeate his photography.

 


July 2010

GRATEFUL DEAD: NOW PLAYING AT THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY - In March 2010 until September 5, 2010, the New York Historical Society will present the first large-scale exhibition of materials from the Grateful Dead Archive. Drawn almost exclusively from the Archive housed at the University of California Santa Cruz, Grateful Dead: Now Playing at the New-York Historical Society, will chronicle the history of the Grateful Dead, its music, and phenomenal longevity through an array of original art and documents related to the band, its members, performances, and productions. Exhibition highlights from the archive will include concert and recording posters, album art, large-scale marionettes and other stage props, banners, and vast stores of decorated fan mail.

"The Grateful Dead began their musical journey in the San Francisco Bay Area at a pivotal time in American history, when the sensibilities of the Beat generation coincided with the spirit of the burgeoning hippie movement. Informally known as author Ken Kesey's house band, the Dead played at the Acid Tests (1965-1966), the communal experimentations with LSD initiated by Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, and at the first Human Be-In (1967), billed as a "union of love and activism," where Beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti shared the stage with LSD guru Timothy Leary and the political provocateur Jerry Rubin." Check details here.

 

May 2–September 6, 2010 - Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg, National Gallery of Art, May 2–September 6, 2010, Washington, DC.

GInsburg Photo - Jack KerouacIn the first scholarly exhibition of American poet Allen Ginsberg's photographs, all facets of his work in photography will be explored. Some 79 works on display will range from the 1950s "drugstore" prints to his now celebrated portraits of Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs, snapshots of Ginsberg himself taken just before he achieved literary fame, and his later portraits of the Beats and other friends made in the 1980s and 1990s. Ginsberg (1926–1997) started taking photographs in 1953 when he purchased a small, secondhand Kodak camera. For the next decade he captured numerous intimate shots of himself as well as his friends and lovers. He abandoned photography in 1963 but returned to it in the early 1980s. Encouraged by photographers Berenice Abbott and Robert Frank, he reprinted much of his early work and began making new portraits, adding sometimes extensive inscriptions. Although Ginsberg's photographs form a compelling portrait of the Beat and counterculture generation from the 1950s to the 1990s, his pictures are far more than mere historical documents. The same ideas that inform his poetry—an intense observation of the world, a deep appreciation of the beauty of the vernacular, a celebration of the sacredness of the present, and a faith in intuitive expression—also permeate his photography.

 

July - December:  “ON THE ROAD AROUND THE WORLD”, exhibition of 100 differents copies of On the Road from all over the world. The Beat Museum, San Francisco, CA.

Starting in July and continuing through December 31st, The Beat Museum will be showcasing 100 different copies of “On The Road” in over 25 different languages!  Have you ever wondered what “On The Road” might look like in Chinese?  How about  Italian or Romanian,  Chech, Turkish or Serbian?  Well, thanks to Horst Spandler, a German collector, translator and friend of The Beat Museum, you’ll have that chance between July and December with our new six month exhibition “On The Road Around The World”.  Whether you live in San Francisco or if you’ll be visiting sometime this year this is one exhibition you will not want to miss!  “On The Road Around The World” - 100 different copies of “On The Road” in over 25 different languages! 
http://thebeatmuseum.org/ontheroad-aroundtheworld.html

The Beat Museum, 540 Broadway, San Francisco, CA  94133
1-800-KER-OUAC


August 2010

May 2–September 6, 2010 - Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg, National Gallery of Art, May 2–September 6, 2010, Washington, DC.

GInsburg Photo - Jack KerouacIn the first scholarly exhibition of American poet Allen Ginsberg's photographs, all facets of his work in photography will be explored. Some 79 works on display will range from the 1950s "drugstore" prints to his now celebrated portraits of Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs, snapshots of Ginsberg himself taken just before he achieved literary fame, and his later portraits of the Beats and other friends made in the 1980s and 1990s. Ginsberg (1926–1997) started taking photographs in 1953 when he purchased a small, secondhand Kodak camera. For the next decade he captured numerous intimate shots of himself as well as his friends and lovers. He abandoned photography in 1963 but returned to it in the early 1980s. Encouraged by photographers Berenice Abbott and Robert Frank, he reprinted much of his early work and began making new portraits, adding sometimes extensive inscriptions. Although Ginsberg's photographs form a compelling portrait of the Beat and counterculture generation from the 1950s to the 1990s, his pictures are far more than mere historical documents. The same ideas that inform his poetry—an intense observation of the world, a deep appreciation of the beauty of the vernacular, a celebration of the sacredness of the present, and a faith in intuitive expression—also permeate his photography.

 

July - December:  “ON THE ROAD AROUND THE WORLD”, exhibition of 100 differents copies of On the Road from all over the world. The Beat Museum, San Francisco, CA.

Starting in July and continuing through December 31st, The Beat Museum will be showcasing 100 different copies of “On The Road” in over 25 different languages!  Have you ever wondered what “On The Road” might look like in Chinese?  How about  Italian or Romanian,  Chech, Turkish or Serbian?  Well, thanks to Horst Spandler, a German collector, translator and friend of The Beat Museum, you’ll have that chance between July and December with our new six month exhibition “On The Road Around The World”.  Whether you live in San Francisco or if you’ll be visiting sometime this year this is one exhibition you will not want to miss!  “On The Road Around The World” - 100 different copies of “On The Road” in over 25 different languages! 
http://thebeatmuseum.org/ontheroad-aroundtheworld.html

The Beat Museum, 540 Broadway, San Francisco, CA  94133
1-800-KER-OUAC

 

GRATEFUL DEAD: NOW PLAYING AT THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY - In March 2010 until September 5, 2010, the New York Historical Society will present the first large-scale exhibition of materials from the Grateful Dead Archive. Drawn almost exclusively from the Archive housed at the University of California Santa Cruz, Grateful Dead: Now Playing at the New-York Historical Society, will chronicle the history of the Grateful Dead, its music, and phenomenal longevity through an array of original art and documents related to the band, its members, performances, and productions. Exhibition highlights from the archive will include concert and recording posters, album art, large-scale marionettes and other stage props, banners, and vast stores of decorated fan mail.

"The Grateful Dead began their musical journey in the San Francisco Bay Area at a pivotal time in American history, when the sensibilities of the Beat generation coincided with the spirit of the burgeoning hippie movement. Informally known as author Ken Kesey's house band, the Dead played at the Acid Tests (1965-1966), the communal experimentations with LSD initiated by Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, and at the first Human Be-In (1967), billed as a "union of love and activism," where Beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti shared the stage with LSD guru Timothy Leary and the political provocateur Jerry Rubin." Check details here.

 

 

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September 2010

May 2–September 6, 2010 - Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg, National Gallery of Art, May 2–September 6, 2010, Washington, DC.

GInsburg Photo - Jack KerouacIn the first scholarly exhibition of American poet Allen Ginsberg's photographs, all facets of his work in photography will be explored. Some 79 works on display will range from the 1950s "drugstore" prints to his now celebrated portraits of Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs, snapshots of Ginsberg himself taken just before he achieved literary fame, and his later portraits of the Beats and other friends made in the 1980s and 1990s. Ginsberg (1926–1997) started taking photographs in 1953 when he purchased a small, secondhand Kodak camera. For the next decade he captured numerous intimate shots of himself as well as his friends and lovers. He abandoned photography in 1963 but returned to it in the early 1980s. Encouraged by photographers Berenice Abbott and Robert Frank, he reprinted much of his early work and began making new portraits, adding sometimes extensive inscriptions. Although Ginsberg's photographs form a compelling portrait of the Beat and counterculture generation from the 1950s to the 1990s, his pictures are far more than mere historical documents. The same ideas that inform his poetry—an intense observation of the world, a deep appreciation of the beauty of the vernacular, a celebration of the sacredness of the present, and a faith in intuitive expression—also permeate his photography.

 

GRATEFUL DEAD: NOW PLAYING AT THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY - In March 2010 until September 5, 2010, the New York Historical Society will present the first large-scale exhibition of materials from the Grateful Dead Archive. Drawn almost exclusively from the Archive housed at the University of California Santa Cruz, Grateful Dead: Now Playing at the New-York Historical Society, will chronicle the history of the Grateful Dead, its music, and phenomenal longevity through an array of original art and documents related to the band, its members, performances, and productions. Exhibition highlights from the archive will include concert and recording posters, album art, large-scale marionettes and other stage props, banners, and vast stores of decorated fan mail.

"The Grateful Dead began their musical journey in the San Francisco Bay Area at a pivotal time in American history, when the sensibilities of the Beat generation coincided with the spirit of the burgeoning hippie movement. Informally known as author Ken Kesey's house band, the Dead played at the Acid Tests (1965-1966), the communal experimentations with LSD initiated by Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, and at the first Human Be-In (1967), billed as a "union of love and activism," where Beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti shared the stage with LSD guru Timothy Leary and the political provocateur Jerry Rubin." Check details here.

 

July - December:  “ON THE ROAD AROUND THE WORLD”, exhibition of 100 differents copies of On the Road from all over the world. The Beat Museum, San Francisco, CA.

Starting in July and continuing through December 31st, The Beat Museum will be showcasing 100 different copies of “On The Road” in over 25 different languages!  Have you ever wondered what “On The Road” might look like in Chinese?  How about  Italian or Romanian,  Chech, Turkish or Serbian?  Well, thanks to Horst Spandler, a German collector, translator and friend of The Beat Museum, you’ll have that chance between July and December with our new six month exhibition “On The Road Around The World”.  Whether you live in San Francisco or if you’ll be visiting sometime this year this is one exhibition you will not want to miss!  “On The Road Around The World” - 100 different copies of “On The Road” in over 25 different languages! 
http://thebeatmuseum.org/ontheroad-aroundtheworld.html

The Beat Museum, 540 Broadway, San Francisco, CA  94133
1-800-KER-OUAC

September 30--October 3, 2010 - The Jack Kerouac Literary Festival & Lowell Celebrates Kerouac's 25th Anniversary - See October for events

The Jack Kerouac 5K Road Race on September 26 at noon. Begins at Hookslide Kelly's Bar at 19 Merrimack Street. Further info at www.JackKerouac5k.com

Please email your Kerouac and beat event to:   Kerouaczin@aol.com or write to: A. Gyenis, DHARMA beat, PO Box 5174, Eureka, CA 95502-5174. I also appreciate copies of any publicity information for the DHARMA beat archive. Please include date, time, address, and contact. We try to maintain a complete list of Kerouac events. Thanks. 


October 2010

Jack Safe in Heaven dead, October 21, 1969

 

September 30--October 3, 2010 - The Jack Kerouac Literary Festival & Lowell Celebrates Kerouac's 25th Anniversary

Thursday, September 30th

3:30 p.m. Reading by Alan Lightman, Novelist and Physicist (MIT) - The author of "Einstein's Dreams" will read from "Meg: A Novel About the Creation". Alumni Hall, UML North Campus, One University Avenue     

4:00 p.m. "Lowell Blues" A film by Henry Ferrini. Lowell National Historical Park (LNHP) Visitors Center--246 Market St. (This is a daily, ongoing program of the LNHP.)

5:00 p.m.--7:00 p.m. Historic Kerouac Pubs Tour - Honoring the Spirit of Jack Kerouac on His Lowell Streets. Begins at the Old Worthen Tavern at 141 Worthen Street near City Hall. With Stops at: 5:45 - 6:15 Ricardo's Trattoria (Nicky's Bar) 110 Gorham Street; 6:30 - 7:00 Majors Club - 34 Jackson Street, 7:00 Break for Russell Banks Talk or Dinner;

7:00 p.m. Opening Presentation: Russell Banks - Noted American Author and Writer. ("Continental Drift",  "The Reserve") Will talk about Jack Kerouac and read from his own fiction.  A book signing will follow. UML Inn and Conference Center. (Formerly the DoubleTree Hotel) Adminision $10.00 (Free to Students and Seniors)
Contact Paul_Marion@uml.edu for reservations.

8:30 p.m. Music and Readings at Cappy's Copper Kettle. 245 Central Street--About a five minute walk from the UML--CC. Musician and composer David Amram, and Alan Crane, will perform along with Kim Jennings (www.KimJenningsMusic.com), Andrew Greene, Colleen Nicholas, and Jon McAuliffe (www.JonMcAuliffe.com).  Readers: Nancy Herbstman Richard Scott, Roger Brunelle, Pater Eliopoulos and his daugter Mimi. Event coordinated by John McDermott

Friday, October 1st

9:30 a.m. Poetry and Short Prose Competition - Lowell High School Freshman Academy Theater, 43 French Street

10:00 a.m.--8:00 p.m. Ongoing Children's Book Illustrators Program Brush Art Gallery. Next to LNHP Visitors Center. 246 Market St. Exhibit, receptions, artist talks, book signings featuring six illustrators: David Macaulay, Chris VanAllsburg, David Wiesner, Christopher Bing, Kelly Murphy, Matt Tavares. Also involves third grade Lowell students' work influenced by these artists.
Check the Brush Gallery for further details and additional information.

12:00 Noon UML Campus Presentation: "Jack Kerouac and the American Bohemian Tradition." Dennis McNally, author of Desolate Angel: Jack Kerouac, The Beat Generation and America and A Long, Strange Trip: The Inside History of The Grateful Dead.  UML O'Leary Library. Room 222.

3:00 p.m. A Walk in Doctor Sax's Woods. Led by Margarita Turcotte. Lowell/Dracut/Tyngsboro State Park. Directions available at earlier events. (Sorry, not handicapped accessible.)

4:00 p.m. Lowell Blues. LNHP Visitors Center.

6:30 p.m. Kerouac Literary Walking Tour: "Ghosts of the Pawtucketville Night"
A tour of some of the sites of Jack Kerouac's Doctor Sax. Led by Roger Brunelle. Begins at Cumnock Hall, 31 University Avenue. *Suggested donation of $5.00.

8:30 p.m. Urban Village Artist Series (UVAS) Event. Performers: Antje Duvekot, Poet and Folk Singer.  A winner of Boston Music Awards "Outstanding Folk Act of the Year."
Andrew Schelling, Poet/Essayist/Writer. Instructor at the Naropa Institute/Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. Samkhann C. Khoeun, Editor and translator of the honored "Cambodian Book of Poety" and "O' Maha Mount Dangrek"  Upstairs at the Old Court Bar. 29 Central St. Admission free

Saturday, October 2nd

8:30--11:00 a.m. Bus Tour of the Kerouac Sites of Lowell. Led by Roger Brunelle. Sign in at 8:15 a.m. Tour departs at 8:30 from the LNHP Visitors Center, 246 Market Street. Includes stops in Centralville and Pawtucketville. For Reservations Call 978-970-5000.

10:00 a.m.--4:00 p.m. Ongoing Children's Book Illustrators Event. Brush Gallery. Reception from 1:00--4:00 p.m. (See the Friday, October 1st entry for fuller details)

11:00 a.m. Commemorative at the Commemorative. Kerouac Park on Bridge St. An annual event to honor the life and legacy of Jack Kerouac. *Persons involved in the founding and early years of Lowell Celebrates Kerouac will offer some personal reflections on the 25th Anniversary of the founding of LCK. *The program will also include a tribute to the late Peter Orlovsky.

1:00--2:30 p.m. Theme Speaker: "Jack Kerouac and the American Bohemian Tradition" by Dennis McNally. Dennis McNally is the author of Desolate Angel: Jack Kerouac, The Beat Generation and America; and A Long, Strange Trip--An Inside History of The Grateful Dead. A joint program presented by LCK and the Parker Lecture Series. LNHP Visitors Center Theater. 246 Market St.

Following the Theme Speaker a variety of program options will be offered:

3:00--4:00 p.m. Poetry Readings: Maggie Dietz ("Perennial Fall") and Sandra Lim ("Loveliest Grotesque")--UML English Department.   UML Inn and Conference Center. Junior Ballroom

3:00--4:00 p.m. Discussion with Fiction Writers David Daniel ("Coffin Dust"),  Jay Atkinson ("Paradise Road"), and Steve O'Connor ("Smokestack Lightning").    The Dharma Buns--26 A Market St.

3:00--4:00 p.m.  Prose and Poetry: Reading from the Works of Jack Kerouac. Award-winning poet, painter, and short story writer Mariliene Phipps-Kettlewell,  and Kerouac's brother-in-law, John Sampas, will read from the newly published book Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg: The Letters.  Barnes & Noble. 151 Merrimack St.

4:00 p.m. Lowell Blues. LNHP Visitors Center.

4:00--5:30 p.m. Open Mike Upstairs at the Worthen House. Worthen Street near City Hall. Bring your own work or the favorite of another.

4:30--6:00 p.m. "Art and Commerce" Panel Discussion. Authors Anita Shreve ("A Change in Altitude"),  Ann Hood ("The Red Thread")  and  Tom Perrotta ("The Abstinence Teacher").  Moderator: Andre Dubus ("The Garden of The Last Days"). A book signing will follow. UML Inn and Conference Center. Junior Ballroom.

5:45--6:45 p.m. Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Exhibit/Tour at the Pollard Library. The Pollard Library will feature a 25 Anniversary of LCK Exhibit in the first floor alcove. Tour led by Bill Walsh. 401 Merrimack St.

8:00 p.m. Event to Present the Jack Kerouac Center for Creativity and  Celebrate 25 Years of Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! *Opening Remarks from Lowell Celebrates Kerouac. *Past (and present) Presidents of LCK will offer their favorite Kerouac passages:  Brian Foye, Richard Scott, Mark Hemenway, Lawrence Carradini, and Steve Edington. Musical Guest Performance by Gypsy Trio Ameranouche Suggested Donation: $5.00 to help cover food and site costs. UML Inn and Conference Center, 50 Warren Street.

Sunday, October 3rd

9:00 a.m. "Mystic Jack" Literary Walking Tour. Led by Roger Brunelle. A tour of the sites of Kerouac's Visions of Gerard. Begins at the old St. Louis de France Church building on W. 6th St. in Centralville. Suggested donation of $5.00 requested

11:00 a.m. Two Kerouac Related Documentaries: "Grave Concerns" and "On the Trail: Jack Kerouac in Cheyenne." Join filmmakers Brent Mason ("Grave Concerns") and Alan O'Hashi ("On the Trail…") in viewing and discussing their respective works.  Award winning Canadian songwriter Brent Mason will screen the Jack Kerouac episode of his CBC-TV mini-series "Grave Concerns".  Following that, Brent will perform some of his original tunes, including one written for Kerouac after visiting Lowell during the Scroll Exhibit. The Dharma Buns--26 A Market Street.

1:30 p.m. A Walking Tour of the Downtown Kerouac Sites of Lowell. Led by Roger Brunelle. Leaves from The Dharma Buns. $5.00 donation requested.

3:00 p.m. Amram Jam at Cappy's Copper Kettle. Close out the weekend with David Amram.  Share a reading of your own with David providing back up on keyboard. Long time Kerouac friend, Billy Kounentzalis will also be on hand to share his reflections on Jack.

4:00 p.m. Lowell Blues.  LNHP Visitors Center.
Related Events

All events subject to change - http://www.lowellcelebrateskerouac.org/lck-2010

Pre-Festival Event: The Jack Kerouac 5K Road Race on September 26 at noon. Begins at Hookslide Kelly's Bar at 19 Merrimack Street. Further info at www.JackKerouac5k.com

 

July - December:  “ON THE ROAD AROUND THE WORLD”, exhibition of 100 differents copies of On the Road from all over the world. The Beat Museum, San Francisco, CA.

Starting in July and continuing through December 31st, The Beat Museum will be showcasing 100 different copies of “On The Road” in over 25 different languages!  Have you ever wondered what “On The Road” might look like in Chinese?  How about  Italian or Romanian,  Chech, Turkish or Serbian?  Well, thanks to Horst Spandler, a German collector, translator and friend of The Beat Museum, you’ll have that chance between July and December with our new six month exhibition “On The Road Around The World”.  Whether you live in San Francisco or if you’ll be visiting sometime this year this is one exhibition you will not want to miss!  “On The Road Around The World” - 100 different copies of “On The Road” in over 25 different languages! 
http://thebeatmuseum.org/ontheroad-aroundtheworld.html

The Beat Museum, 540 Broadway, San Francisco, CA  94133
1-800-KER-OUAC

 

 


November 2010

 

July - December:  “ON THE ROAD AROUND THE WORLD”, exhibition of 100 differents copies of On the Road from all over the world. The Beat Museum, San Francisco, CA.

Starting in July and continuing through December 31st, The Beat Museum will be showcasing 100 different copies of “On The Road” in over 25 different languages!  Have you ever wondered what “On The Road” might look like in Chinese?  How about  Italian or Romanian,  Chech, Turkish or Serbian?  Well, thanks to Horst Spandler, a German collector, translator and friend of The Beat Museum, you’ll have that chance between July and December with our new six month exhibition “On The Road Around The World”.  Whether you live in San Francisco or if you’ll be visiting sometime this year this is one exhibition you will not want to miss!  “On The Road Around The World” - 100 different copies of “On The Road” in over 25 different languages! 
http://thebeatmuseum.org/ontheroad-aroundtheworld.html

The Beat Museum, 540 Broadway, San Francisco, CA  94133
1-800-KER-OUAC

 

 


December 2010

DAVID AMRAM’S 80TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION! Thursday, December 9, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.


UMASS Lowell, Durgin Concert Hall, 35 Wilder Street

Free & Open to the Public 
Join us Thursday, December 9 at 7:30 pm in Durgin Concert Hall for a historic musical event, David Amram's 80th Birthday Bash, presented by the UMass Lowell Orchestra, members of the New England Orchestra and the Lowell Youth Orchestra, conducted by Kay George Roberts.

Celebrating the eightieth birthday of David Amram, the acclaimed composer, conductor and multi-instrumentalist whom the Washington Post called "one of the most versatile and skilled musicians America has ever produced," the concert will feature

  • acclaimed soloist and adjunct faculty member Joseph Foley in the 2nd movement of Amram's Travels for Trumpet and Orchestra - a New England premiere
  • the concert performance of excerpts from Amram's classic film scores Splendor In The Grass The Manchurian Candidate with a screening - a New England premiere
  • a special birthday commission for the University Orchestra by UML's Daniel P. Lutz
  • David Amram & Trio
  • excerpts from Lawrence Kraman's upcoming documentary, David Amram - the first eighty years

The curtain rises at 7:30 pm on December 9th in Durgin Concert Hall, UMass Lowell 35 Wilder Street, Lowell 01854
The free concert is part of the Music on the Merrimack concert series.
There will be a 1:00 Master Class led by David Amram in the Concert Hall.

For more about David Amram: http:david-amram.blogspot.com

  • David Amram and Lowell have a very special connection:            

"Through knowing Jack, I wrote some of my best music." Twenty five years after David Amram wrote this in 1969, he was at Jack Kerouac's memorial site in Lowell, for the first time. It was the completion of a long journey. Being with others who loved Jack and created the festival Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! felt like " I had finally come home to a place I had always dreamed about, and longed for."

Happy Birthday Pops!

 

July - December:  “ON THE ROAD AROUND THE WORLD”, exhibition of 100 differents copies of On the Road from all over the world. The Beat Museum, San Francisco, CA.

Starting in July and continuing through December 31st, The Beat Museum will be showcasing 100 different copies of “On The Road” in over 25 different languages!  Have you ever wondered what “On The Road” might look like in Chinese?  How about  Italian or Romanian,  Chech, Turkish or Serbian?  Well, thanks to Horst Spandler, a German collector, translator and friend of The Beat Museum, you’ll have that chance between July and December with our new six month exhibition “On The Road Around The World”.  Whether you live in San Francisco or if you’ll be visiting sometime this year this is one exhibition you will not want to miss!  “On The Road Around The World” - 100 different copies of “On The Road” in over 25 different languages! 
http://thebeatmuseum.org/ontheroad-aroundtheworld.html

The Beat Museum, 540 Broadway, San Francisco, CA  94133
1-800-KER-OUAC



Up To Top

 

 


2009

2009 - There weren't many entries this year due to a computer glitch.

January 2009

 scollgifON THE ROAD Scroll Tour Continues

Dec. 14 – January 29, 2009: Birmingham, England – University of Birmingham

 

 

jkwithcigSaturday, January 10, 2009: JACK'S LAST CALL- (Say Goodbye to Kerouac) Written by PATRICK FENTON. JOHNSON THEATER, Saturday, January 10, 2009, 7:00pm, Suggested Donation $5

The drinking, the fame that grew after On the Road was published, the differences with his family, these parts of Jack Kerouac’s life, which made him a cultural icon of the American 50’s, are well known to many. But there is another part of Kerouac that only a few villagers from the quiet hamlet of Northport on Long Island had the chance to see up close. This is the Kerouac presented in Patrick Fenton’s play, JACK’S LAST CALL (Say Goodbye to Kerouac.)

It is the end of the summer in 1964, a major cultural shift is starting to happen, and on his last night in Northport, Long Island, the America Kerouac saw through a rear view mirror along side of Neal Cassady is slowly playing again in his mind. While wondering back on his road days, he receives a series of soul--searching phone calls from his daughter Jan.

 


 October 2009

Jack Safe in Heaven dead, October 21, 1969

 Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! Festival

 Up To Top

 JANUARY 2008
I counted minutes and subtracted miles. Just ahead, over the rolling wheat fields all golden beneath the distant snows of Estes, I’d be seeing old Denver at last.   
 -- Jack Kerouac, On The Road

Scroll Tour Continues -

November 9, 2007 through March 16, 2008 - On the Road Scroll at the New York City Public Library. Beatific Soul: Jack Kerouac on the Road on View from November 9, 2007 through March 16, 2008; Includes Famous Scroll Manuscript Typed on 120 Feet of Paper. http://www.nypl.org/press/2007/Beatific_exhibition.cfm  

Diaries, manuscripts, snapshots, and personal items of Jack Kerouac, the visionary author whose pioneering work helped to established the Beat Movement in the United States, will be on display in Beatific Soul: Jack Kerouac on the Road, an exhibition on view at The New York Public Library November 9, 2007 through March 16, 2008.

 


 February 2008

On The Road Scroll Tour Continues -

November 9, 2007 through March 16, 2008 - On the Road Scroll at the New York City Public Library. Beatific Soul: Jack Kerouac on the Road on View from November 9, 2007 through March 16, 2008; Includes Famous Scroll Manuscript Typed on 120 Feet of Paper. The scroll itself will be on display from November 9, 2007 through February 22, 2008;  http://www.nypl.org/press/2007/Beatific_exhibition.cfm  

Diaries, manuscripts, snapshots, and personal items of Jack Kerouac, the visionary author whose pioneering work helped to established the Beat Movement in the United States, will be on display in Beatific Soul: Jack Kerouac on the Road, an exhibition on view at The New York Public Library November 9, 2007 through March 16, 2008.

 

 

February 5 - August 3, 2008 - On the Road with the Beats, Ransom Center Galleries, The University of Texas at Austin.

The Harry Ransom Center's exhibition "On the Road with the Beats" explores the lives and works of the artists who made up the "Beat Generation."

Featuring more than 250 items drawn from across the Ransom Center's collections, the exhibition will take visitors on a journey through the cities, landscapes and communities that fostered and shaped the most important works of the Beat Generation, from the early 1940s to the mid-1960s. The exhibition runs from Feb. 5 to Aug. 3 in the Ransom Center Galleries at The University of Texas at Austin.

The scroll will not be available for viewing until Friday, March 7.

This exhibition will take visitors on a journey through the cities, landscapes, and communities that fostered and shaped the most important works of the Beat Generation, from the early 1940s to the mid-1960s. Writers such as Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and Gregory Corso are deeply identified with cities such as New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Tangier, Calcutta, London, and Paris. Indeed, without "visiting" these places one cannot truly grasp the nature of the Beat scene. Presses in Paris and London printed writings deemed obscene in the United States; a poetry reading in San Francisco vaulted Ginsberg's "Howl" to the sphere of literary myth; and Neal Cassady's scrawled description of a bus ride to Kansas City sparked Jack Kerouac's method of "spontaneous prose." The exhibition places the Ransom Center's most important Beat holdings into geographical context and includes special sections that highlight important themes such as jazz, marriage, and the beatnik phenomenon of the late 1950s.

Jack Kerouac's scroll manuscript of On the Road, on loan from the collection of Jim Irsay, will be on display from March 7 through June 1. The first 48 feet of this 120-foot "page" will be visible in the gallery. This visually stunning first draft has no paragraph or chapter breaks, and the characters are all referred to by their real names.

Docent-led tours are offered Tuesdays at noon and Saturdays at 2 p.m. For groups of more than 10 people, please call Lisa Murray at 512-475-8086 to arrange a tour.

"On the Road with the Beats" can be seen at the Ransom Center Galleries on Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended Thursday hours until 7 p.m. On Saturdays and Sundays the galleries are open from noon to 5 p.m. The galleries are closed on Mondays.  http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/2008/beats/ 

 

 Other Related Events

Beat Voices PERFORMANCE THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 7 P.M.

The Harry Ransom Center presents the premiere performance of Beat Voices on Thursday, February 21, at 7 p.m.

The series of brief plays, produced in conjunction with the current exhibition On the Road with the Beats, are written, directed, and performed by students in the Department of Theatre and Dance at The University of Texas at Austin. The pieces illuminate objects and people featured in the exhibition, including Beat figures Peter Orlovsky and Diane DiPrima, specific letters exchanged by Beat authors, and a painting by artist Alfred Leslie.

The performances allow audience members to engage with artifacts and historical figures in the exhibition through live performance.

After the premiere, the plays will be performed every Saturday and Sunday at 1 and 3 p.m. until the exhibition closes.  More Information

Go to Top of page


 March 2008

Jack Kerouac's Birthday, March 12, 1922

 

Celebrate Jack Kerouac's 86th Birthday in Lowell at these happenings:

Friday, March 7th: Talkin' Jack. Bob Pare Studio-117 Market Street. 7:30. Drop in for a time of informal conversation about how Kerouac's writings have played a part in your life. Wine and Cheese provided.

Saturday, March 8th: 6:00-7:30 Kerouac Memorabilia Display: Lowell Gallery. Stop by the Lowell Gallery at 14 Jackson Street to view Kerouac-related art, posters, and first editions of his work. Hosted by Guy LeFebvre. Refreshments provided.

7: 30 p.m. Kerouac Birthday Party! Olive That and More- 167 Market St. Readings and Music. Featured reader will be David Robinson reading from his recently published Sweeney on the Fringe. Open Mike: Bring your favorite Kerouac reading, or a Kerouac-inspired work of your own. Birthday Cake...Governor's Proclamation of Jack Kerouac Day In Massachusetts!

Wednesday, March 12th -[Actual Birth Date] O'Leary Library Auditorium. UMass Lowell. 61 Wilder Street. 7:00 p.m. Premier showing of "Remembering Jack Kerouac" a documentary about last summer's Scroll Exhibit in Lowell. Produced by Bridget Driscoll and River TV Studios. Followed by a forum on Where Do We Go With Kerouac? A Community Conversation about keeping the Kerouac Legacy alive in Lowell. Led by Paul Marion, Executive Director-Office of Outreach, University of Massachusetts at Lowell.

Sponsored by Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! and the Cultural Organization of Lowell

 
 
On The Road Scroll Tour Continues (In New York and Texas) -
 

February 5 - August 3, 2008 - On the Road with the Beats, Ransom Center Galleries, The University of Texas at Austin.

The Harry Ransom Center's exhibition "On the Road with the Beats" explores the lives and works of the artists who made up the "Beat Generation."

Featuring more than 250 items drawn from across the Ransom Center's collections, the exhibition will take visitors on a journey through the cities, landscapes and communities that fostered and shaped the most important works of the Beat Generation, from the early 1940s to the mid-1960s. The exhibition runs from Feb. 5 to Aug. 3 in the Ransom Center Galleries at The University of Texas at Austin.

This exhibition will take visitors on a journey through the cities, landscapes, and communities that fostered and shaped the most important works of the Beat Generation, from the early 1940s to the mid-1960s. Writers such as Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and Gregory Corso are deeply identified with cities such as New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Tangier, Calcutta, London, and Paris. Indeed, without "visiting" these places one cannot truly grasp the nature of the Beat scene. Presses in Paris and London printed writings deemed obscene in the United States; a poetry reading in San Francisco vaulted Ginsberg's "Howl" to the sphere of literary myth; and Neal Cassady's scrawled description of a bus ride to Kansas City sparked Jack Kerouac's method of "spontaneous prose." The exhibition places the Ransom Center's most important Beat holdings into geographical context and includes special sections that highlight important themes such as jazz, marriage, and the beatnik phenomenon of the late 1950s.

Jack Kerouac's scroll manuscript of On the Road, on loan from the collection of Jim Irsay, will be on display from March 7 through June 1. The first 48 feet of this 120-foot "page" will be visible in the gallery. This visually stunning first draft has no paragraph or chapter breaks, and the characters are all referred to by their real names.

Other Scroll Related Events


Kerouac scroll available for viewing EXHIBITION starting FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 10 A.M.-5 P.M.

First day to see the scroll manuscript of Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road in the exhibition On the Road with the Beats.

 

Docent-led tours are offered Tuesdays at noon and Saturdays at 2 p.m. For groups of more than 10 people, please call Lisa Murray at 512-475-8086 to arrange a tour.

In conjunction with the exhibition, there will be a series of plays and readings. Please visit their website for more up to date information. http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/events/

"On the Road with the Beats" can be seen at the Ransom Center Galleries on Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended Thursday hours until 7 p.m. On Saturdays and Sundays the galleries are open from noon to 5 p.m. The galleries are closed on Mondays.  http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/2008/beats/


Poetry on the Plaza: On the Road READING WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, NOON

The Harry Ransom Center hosts Poetry on the Plaza: On the Road on Wednesday, March 5, at noon.

Professor Jeffrey Meikle and two students from his class "The Beats and American Culture," Meg Halpin and Tom Bevilacqua, read poetry from the Beat Generation. They will be joined by Dr. Molly Schwartzburg, Curator of British and American Literature, who will read selections featured in the Ransom Center's current exhibition On the Road with the Beats, which runs through August 3.

The exhibition traces the travels of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and their friends across America and the globe. Manuscripts, books, photographs, and visual art from the Ransom Center's collections tell the story of the Beat Generation and the literary and social revolution they inspired. The scroll manuscript of Jack Kerouac's On the Road will be on display March 7-June 1, 2008.

Refreshments will be served at this free event.


"Hearing Private History: The Home Recordings of John Clellon Holmes, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsberg, 1949-1951"
LECTURE THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 7 P.M.

Phil Ford, Assistant Professor of Musicology at Indiana University, presents "Hearing Private History: The Home Recordings of John Clellon Holmes, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsberg, 1949-1951," on Thursday, March 6, at 7 p.m. at the Harry Ransom Center.

The talk focuses on an unpublished cache of home recordings that capture Clellon Holmes, Kerouac, and Ginsberg reciting poetry, listening to jazz, and trying their hand at vocal jazz improvisation. Ford will discuss how these recordings help us think about the unstable relationship between recorded sound and its decay, and the place of nostalgia in our reconstruction of the past through such ephemeral archival materials.

This event is held in conjunction with the Ransom Center's exhibition On the Road with the Beats, on display through August 3.


"Celebrating On the Road" LECTURE THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 7 P.M.

Ann Charters, biographer and bibliographer of Jack Kerouac, talks about her association with the novelist in "Celebrating On The Road" on Thursday, March 20, at 7 p.m. at the Harry Ransom Center.

Charters, a professor of English at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, discusses the changing reputation of Kerouac's On the Road since its publication in 1957—from its beginning as a best-selling novel that aroused controversy coast-to-coast in the United States to its present status honored as an American classic throughout the world.

This event is presented in conjunction with the Ransom Center's current exhibition On the Road with the Beats, on display through August 3. The scroll manuscript of Jack Kerouac's On the Road will be on display March 7-June 1.

Charters began collecting books by Beat writers in the early 1960s, and she worked with Jack Kerouac in the compilation of his bibliography in 1966. She published Kerouac: A Biography in 1973, and she's edited The Beat Reader, The Sixties Reader, two volumes of Selected Letters of Jack Kerouac, and the textbook The Story and Its Writer.


Marathon Reading of On the Road READING SATURDAY, MARCH 29, 10 A.M.-10 P.M.

The Harry Ransom Center presents a marathon reading of Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road, on Saturday, March 29, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at Spider House Café.

Readers can sign up for a time slot to read on the Ransom Center's website at www.hrc.utexas.edu/ontheroad.

This event is presented in conjunction with the Ransom Center's current exhibition On the Road with the Beats, on display through August 3. The exhibition traces the travels of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and their friends across America and the globe. Manuscripts, books, photographs, and visual art from the Ransom Center's collections tell the story of the Beat Generation and the literary and social revolution they inspired. The scroll manuscript of Jack Kerouac's On the Road will be on display March 7 through June 1.

Spider House is located at 2908 Fruth Street.    Sign up to read


Beat Voices PERFORMANCE

The series of brief plays, produced in conjunction with the current exhibition On the Road with the Beats, are written, directed, and performed by students in the Department of Theatre and Dance at The University of Texas at Austin. The pieces illuminate objects and people featured in the exhibition, including Beat figures Peter Orlovsky and Diane DiPrima, specific letters exchanged by Beat authors, and a painting by artist Alfred Leslie.

The performances allow audience members to engage with artifacts and historical figures in the exhibition through live performance.

The plays will be performed every Saturday and Sunday at 1 and 3 p.m. until the exhibition closes.  More Information

 

 

November 9, 2007 through March 16, 2008 - On the Road Scroll at the New York City Public Library. Beatific Soul: Jack Kerouac on the Road on View from November 9, 2007 through March 16, 2008; The original  scroll itself will be on display from November 9, 2007 through February 22, 2008 only; will includes a facsimile copy of the scroll roll, the original is now on display in Texas (see above).  http://www.nypl.org/press/2007/Beatific_exhibition.cfm  

Diaries, manuscripts, snapshots, and personal items of Jack Kerouac, the visionary author whose pioneering work helped to established the Beat Movement in the United States, will be on display in Beatific Soul: Jack Kerouac on the Road, an exhibition on view at The New York Public Library November 9, 2007 through March 16, 2008.

 

Go to Top of page


 April 2008

 

On The Road Scroll Tour Continues - 

February 5 - August 3, 2008 - On the Road with the Beats, Ransom Center Galleries, The University of Texas at Austin.

The Harry Ransom Center's exhibition "On the Road with the Beats" explores the lives and works of the artists who made up the "Beat Generation."

See March listing for more information. Featuring more than 250 items drawn from across the Ransom Center's collections, the exhibition will take visitors on a journey through the cities, landscapes and communities that fostered and shaped the most important works of the Beat Generation, from the early 1940s to the mid-1960s. The exhibition runs from Feb. 5 to Aug. 3 in the Ransom Center Galleries at The University of Texas at Austin.

"On the Road with the Beats" can be seen at the Ransom Center Galleries on Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended Thursday hours until 7 p.m. On Saturdays and Sundays the galleries are open from noon to 5 p.m. The galleries are closed on Mondays.  http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/2008/beats/

 Other Scroll Related events More Information


 Beat Film Series with Motion Picture, Pull My Daisy, City of Jazz, Bridges-Go-Round, Anticipation of NightFILM SERIES WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 7 P.M.

This series features selected works from filmmakers involved in the Beat movement, including: Frank Paine's Motion Picture (1956), Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie's Pull My Daisy (1959), Ed Bland's Cry of Jazz (1958), Shirley Clarke's Bridges-Go-Round (1958), and Stan Brakhage's Anticipation of the Night (1958). Co-sponsored by the Austin Film Society. Tickets Required.

ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE AT THE RITZ, 320 E. 6th Street


"California Beat: West Coast Art from the Beat Era" LECTURE THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 7 P.M.

David S. Rubin, Curator of Contemporary Art at the San Antonio Museum of Art, presents "California Beat: West Coast Art from the Beat Era."

 


Beat Film Series with The Last Clean Shirt, Wholly Communion, Towers Open Fire, The End, and Beat FILM SERIES WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 7 P.M.

Alfred Leslie's The Last Clean Shirt (1964), Peter Whitehead's Wholly Communion (1965), Anthony Balch and William S. Burroughs's Towers Open Fire (1962), and Christopher MacLaine's The End (1953) and Beat (1958). Co-sponsored by the Austin Film Society. Tickets Required. More Information

ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE AT THE RITZ, 320 E. 6th Street


Anne Waldman on Life as a Beat Poet READING FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 7 P.M.

Ann Waldman, co-founder of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University, discusses her life as a Beat poet. More Information

 

 


Beat Film Series with Scorpio Rising, Kustom Kar Kommandos, and A Bucket of Blood FILM SERIES WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 7 P.M.

Kenneth Anger's Scorpio Rising (1964) and Kustom Kar Kommandos (1965), and Roger Corman's A Bucket of Blood (1959). Co-sponsored by the Austin Film Society. Tickets Required.

More Information

ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE AT THE RITZ, 320 E. 6th Street


"Jack Kerouac's America" LECTURE THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 7 P.M.

Douglas Brinkley, Professor of History at Rice University and editor of Windblown World: The Journals of Jack Kerouac 1947-1954 and Jack Kerouac: Road Novels 1957-1960, offers his insights into "Jack Kerouac's America."

 


Beat Voices PERFORMANCE

The series of brief plays, produced in conjunction with the current exhibition On the Road with the Beats, are written, directed, and performed by students in the Department of Theatre and Dance at The University of Texas at Austin. The pieces illuminate objects and people featured in the exhibition, including Beat figures Peter Orlovsky and Diane DiPrima, specific letters exchanged by Beat authors, and a painting by artist Alfred Leslie.

The performances allow audience members to engage with artifacts and historical figures in the exhibition through live performance.

The plays will be performed every Saturday and Sunday at 1 and 3 p.m. until the exhibition closes.  More Information

 

 

April 3, 2008, Auction of Beat, Bukowski, and Counter Culture Books at PBA Galleries, San Francisco, CA. www.PBAGalleries.com  (415)  989-2665

 

April 21 - July 3, 2008 -  The Beats and Beyond, Counterculture Poetry 1950-1975.    The Beats and Beyond celebrates the remarkable growth of the Rare Book Collection’s holdings of post–World War II American avant-garde poetry over the past fifteen years. Development of this collecting area has been gradual but steady, with items purchased both as collections and individually. Today, the RBC holds thousands of modern American poetry items, by both mainstream (or “academic”) writers and by participants in the counterculture. Curated by Sarah E. Fass,  Rare Book Collection, Wilson Library,  The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill http://www.lib.unc.edu/rbc/beats_and_beyond/

 

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 May 2008

 

On The Road Scroll Tour Continues -

February 5 - August 3, 2008 - On the Road with the Beats, Ransom Center Galleries, The University of Texas at Austin.

The Harry Ransom Center's exhibition "On the Road with the Beats" explores the lives and works of the artists who made up the "Beat Generation."

Last day to see Kerouac scroll  SUNDAY, JUNE 1, NOON-5 P.M.  Last day to see the scroll manuscript of Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road in the exhibition On the Road with the Beats.

See March listing for more information. Featuring more than 250 items drawn from across the Ransom Center's collections, the exhibition will take visitors on a journey through the cities, landscapes and communities that fostered and shaped the most important works of the Beat Generation, from the early 1940s to the mid-1960s. The exhibition runs from Feb. 5 to Aug. 3 in the Ransom Center Galleries at The University of Texas at Austin.

"On the Road with the Beats" can be seen at the Ransom Center Galleries on Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended Thursday hours until 7 p.m. On Saturdays and Sundays the galleries are open from noon to 5 p.m. The galleries are closed on Mondays.  http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/2008/beats/


Beat Voices PERFORMANCE

The series of brief plays, produced in conjunction with the current exhibition On the Road with the Beats, are written, directed, and performed by students in the Department of Theatre and Dance at The University of Texas at Austin. The pieces illuminate objects and people featured in the exhibition, including Beat figures Peter Orlovsky and Diane DiPrima, specific letters exchanged by Beat authors, and a painting by artist Alfred Leslie.

The performances allow audience members to engage with artifacts and historical figures in the exhibition through live performance.

The plays will be performed every Saturday and Sunday at 1 and 3 p.m. until the exhibition closes.  More Information

 

 

April 21 - July 3, 2008 -  The Beats and Beyond, Counterculture Poetry 1950-1975.  The Beats and Beyond celebrates the remarkable growth of the Rare Book Collection’s holdings of post–World War II American avant-garde poetry over the past fifteen years. Development of this collecting area has been gradual but steady, with items purchased both as collections and individually. Today, the RBC holds thousands of modern American poetry items, by both mainstream (or “academic”) writers and by participants in the counterculture. Curated by Sarah E. Fass,  Rare Book Collection, Wilson Library,  The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
http://www.lib.unc.edu/rbc/beats_and_beyond/

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 June 2008

 

On The Road Scroll Tour Continues -

February 5 - August 3, 2008 - On the Road with the Beats, Ransom Center Galleries, The University of Texas at Austin.

The Harry Ransom Center's exhibition "On the Road with the Beats" explores the lives and works of the artists who made up the "Beat Generation."

See March listing for more information. Featuring more than 250 items drawn from across the Ransom Center's collections, the exhibition will take visitors on a journey through the cities, landscapes and communities that fostered and shaped the most important works of the Beat Generation, from the early 1940s to the mid-1960s. The exhibition runs from Feb. 5 to Aug. 3 in the Ransom Center Galleries at The University of Texas at Austin.

"On the Road with the Beats" can be seen at the Ransom Center Galleries on Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended Thursday hours until 7 p.m. On Saturdays and Sundays the galleries are open from noon to 5 p.m. The galleries are closed on Mondays.  http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/2008/beats/


Last day to see Kerouac scroll EXHIBITION SUNDAY, JUNE 1, NOON-5 P.M.

Last day to see the scroll manuscript of Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road in the exhibition On the Road with the Beats.


Beat Voices PERFORMANCE

The series of brief plays, produced in conjunction with the current exhibition On the Road with the Beats, are written, directed, and performed by students in the Department of Theatre and Dance at The University of Texas at Austin. The pieces illuminate objects and people featured in the exhibition, including Beat figures Peter Orlovsky and Diane DiPrima, specific letters exchanged by Beat authors, and a painting by artist Alfred Leslie.

The performances allow audience members to engage with artifacts and historical figures in the exhibition through live performance.

The plays will be performed every Saturday and Sunday at 1 and 3 p.m. until the exhibition closes.  More Information

 

 

April 21 - July 3, 2008 -  The Beats and Beyond, Counterculture Poetry 1950-1975.    The Beats and Beyond celebrates the remarkable growth of the Rare Book Collection’s holdings of post–World War II American avant-garde poetry over the past fifteen years. Development of this collecting area has been gradual but steady, with items purchased both as collections and individually. Today, the RBC holds thousands of modern American poetry items, by both mainstream (or “academic”) writers and by participants in the counterculture. Curated by Sarah E. Fass,  Rare Book Collection, Wilson Library,  The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill http://www.lib.unc.edu/rbc/beats_and_beyond/


 July 2008

 

On The Road Scroll Tour Continues -

February 5 - August 3, 2008 - On the Road with the Beats, Ransom Center Galleries, The University of Texas at Austin.

The Harry Ransom Center's exhibition "On the Road with the Beats" explores the lives and works of the artists who made up the "Beat Generation." The On The Road Scroll will be removed June 1, however the rest of the beat exhibition will remain for viewing till the end of the exhibition.

See March listing for more information. Featuring more than 250 items drawn from across the Ransom Center's collections, the exhibition will take visitors on a journey through the cities, landscapes and communities that fostered and shaped the most important works of the Beat Generation, from the early 1940s to the mid-1960s. The exhibition runs from Feb. 5 to Aug. 3 in the Ransom Center Galleries at The University of Texas at Austin.

"On the Road with the Beats" can be seen at the Ransom Center Galleries on Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended Thursday hours until 7 p.m. On Saturdays and Sundays the galleries are open from noon to 5 p.m. The galleries are closed on Mondays.  http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/2008/beats/

 

OTHER RELATED EVENTS


Austin Chamber Music Center performs tribute to Beats PERFORMANCE THURSDAY, JULY 17, 7 P.M.

The Austin Chamber Music Center presents the Tosca String Quartet in a tribute to the Beats, featuring Boston composer Lee Hyla's arrangement of Allen Ginsberg's "Howl."   JESSEN AUDITORIUM


Beat Voices PERFORMANCE

The series of brief plays, produced in conjunction with the current exhibition On the Road with the Beats, are written, directed, and performed by students in the Department of Theatre and Dance at The University of Texas at Austin. The pieces illuminate objects and people featured in the exhibition, including Beat figures Peter Orlovsky and Diane DiPrima, specific letters exchanged by Beat authors, and a painting by artist Alfred Leslie.

The performances allow audience members to engage with artifacts and historical figures in the exhibition through live performance.

The plays will be performed every Saturday and Sunday at 1 and 3 p.m. until the exhibition closes.  More Information

 

 

On The Road Scroll Tour Continues - July 3 to September 28, 2008: Indianapolis Museum of Art  (awaiting confirmation on dates)

 

 

April 21 - July 3, 2008 -  The Beats and Beyond, Counterculture Poetry 1950-1975.   The Beats and Beyond celebrates the remarkable growth of the Rare Book Collection’s holdings of post–World War II American avant-garde poetry over the past fifteen years. Development of this collecting area has been gradual but steady, with items purchased both as collections and individually. Today, the RBC holds thousands of modern American poetry items, by both mainstream (or “academic”) writers and by participants in the counterculture. Curated by Sarah E. Fass,  Rare Book Collection, Wilson Library,  The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill http://www.lib.unc.edu/rbc/beats_and_beyond/

 

July 17,18,19, 24, 25, and 26th, ."Kerouac's Last Call",  Boston Playwrights' Theatre - Kerouac's Last Call, which received it's successful World Premier as a fully staged play in Lowell last February (directed by Ann Garvin)  is hitting the road and will perform at the prestigious Boston Playwrights' Theatre on July 17,18,19, 24, 25, and 26th. Featuring actor Jerry Bisantz  who will portray Jack. "...a  fitting, vivid elegy to Kerouac.." The Lowell Sun.  The iconic writer’s final  party in Queens, NY is  brought to life in Newsday reporter Patrick Fenton’s  Boston  Premier play presented by Lowell’s Image Theater at Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, 949 Commonwealth Ave, Boston.  Limited run July 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26th.  at 8PM.  Call 866-811-4111  or go to www.Imagetheater.com.  Tickets $20 .

 

 

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 August 2008

 

On The Road Scroll Tour Continues -

February 5 - August 3, 2008 - On the Road with the Beats, Ransom Center Galleries, The University of Texas at Austin.

The Harry Ransom Center's exhibition "On the Road with the Beats" explores the lives and works of the artists who made up the "Beat Generation." The On The Road Scroll will be removed June 1, however the rest of the beat exhibition will remain for viewing till the end of the exhibition.

See March listing for more information. Featuring more than 250 items drawn from across the Ransom Center's collections, the exhibition will take visitors on a journey through the cities, landscapes and communities that fostered and shaped the most important works of the Beat Generation, from the early 1940s to the mid-1960s. The exhibition runs from Feb. 5 to Aug. 3 in the Ransom Center Galleries at The University of Texas at Austin.

"On the Road with the Beats" can be seen at the Ransom Center Galleries on Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended Thursday hours until 7 p.m. On Saturdays and Sundays the galleries are open from noon to 5 p.m. The galleries are closed on Mondays.  http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/2008/beats/


Beat Voices PERFORMANCE

The series of brief plays, produced in conjunction with the current exhibition On the Road with the Beats, are written, directed, and performed by students in the Department of Theatre and Dance at The University of Texas at Austin. The pieces illuminate objects and people featured in the exhibition, including Beat figures Peter Orlovsky and Diane DiPrima, specific letters exchanged by Beat authors, and a painting by artist Alfred Leslie.

The performances allow audience members to engage with artifacts and historical figures in the exhibition through live performance.

The plays will be performed every Saturday and Sunday at 1 and 3 p.m. until the exhibition closes.  More Information

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 September 2008

Please email your Kerouac and beat event to:  kerouaczin@aol.com or write to: A. Gyenis, DHARMA beat, PO Box 5174, Eureka, CA 95502-5174. I also appreciate copies of any publicity information for the DHARMA beat archive. Please include date, time, address, and contact. We try to maintain a complete list of Kerouac events. Thanks. 


 October 2008

Jack Safe in Heaven dead, October 21, 1969

Annual Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! -  Are you going to be in Lowell, MA, Jack's hometown. Join the annual Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! Festival celebrates Jack Kerouac life and writings. Take the time to spend 4 days in Kerouac's hometown, walk the streets he wrote about, and listen to lectures, see movies, go on a pub crawl and drink in the same bars that Kerouac did. Visit their website to see all the events -  Lowell Celebrates Kerouac.  

Kerouac was born in Lowell, and the city keeps a strong Kerouac presence alive all year round with a park named after the author. The original scroll is there right now, and will be through the end of this annual festival, which features four days of talks, readings, and events in what may be the most Kerouac-oriented town in America.

 

Friday, October 10 – Saturday, October 11, 2008, The Beat Generation Symposium, Chicago, IL - The Beat Generation Symposium will include academic panel discussions, a lecture and performance titled “Deaf/Def Poets and the Beats,” and readings of poetry by Joanne Kyger (October 10, 7:00 p.m.) and Diane di Prima (October 11, 7:00 p.m.). For more info:  www.colum.edu/beatsymposium

Columbia College Chicago
Film Row Cinema
1104 S. Wabash Ave.
Chicago, IL  60605

Conference Director:  Tony Trigilio, Columbia College Chicago.  Sponsored by the Beat Studies Association, Columbia College Chicago, and Illinois State University. (312) 344-8138, ttrigilio@colum.edu

ABOUT THE SYMPOSIUM

The symposium is part of a two-month college-wide initiative at Columbia College, during which time the first draft of Jack Kerouac’s On The Road will be on display at the Center for Book and Paper Arts, 1104 South Wabash, on the second floor. Kerouac typed the draft on a 120-foot-long scroll during a 20-day marathon session in the mid-'50s. The manuscript is a single, continuous scroll of semi-translucent paper that is nine inches wide. Kerouac created the scroll by pasting and taping separate 12-foot-long strips, then feeding them through his typewriter so he could write without interruption. 

Cost: Before August 1,  $50 Individual,  $25 Graduate Students, Independent Scholars, and Retired Faculty. August 1 and after,  $100 Individual,  $50 Graduate Students, Independent Scholars, and Retired Faculty

 

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 November 2008

 

 


 December 2008

 

 


 

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 JANUARY 2007

 

Scroll Tour Continues - January 1 to March 31, 2007 - Kerouac On The Road Scroll Display:  Denver Public Library, Denver, CO  For a complete schedule of events, see http://www.denver.lib.co.us/programs/fresh/kerouac.html
 
I counted minutes and subtracted miles. Just ahead, over the rolling wheat fields all golden beneath the distant snows of Estes, I’d be seeing old Denver at last.   
 -- Jack Kerouac, On The Road

 

HOWL ON TRIAL EVENTS
with Editor Bill Morgan

Bill Morgan, editor/author of the recent Howl On Trial, I Celebrate Myself, The Book of Martyrdom, [noted Allen Ginsberg Biographer].  January 15, Monday, 8:00 pm - Mr. Morgan will be making an appearance to discuss his three books. Held at the Unterberg Poetry Center, 92nd St. YMCA, 1395 Lexington Avenue. (with Ann Charters, Joyce Johnson, Hettie Jones, and Laurie Anderson)

Friday January 12, Time TBA
Northshire Bookstore
4869 Main St.
Manchester Center, VT

Monday, January 15, 8:00 pm
Howl on Trial Book Release Event!
Kaufmann Concert Hall
92nd Street Y
1395 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY
Recordings of Mr. Ginsberg are featured. Event also includes: Ann Charters, Joyce Johnson, and Hettie Jones
For more information call (212) 415-5500

 

SATURDAY, JANUARY 13,  2PM,  WHAT WAS THE BEAT GENERATION? Presented by Professor Ann Charters (“Kerouac:  A  Biography”; The Portable Beat Reader”; “Beat Down to Your Soul”), this lecture will focus on the beginnings of the movement. GREENWICH LIBRARY, Connecticut, SECOND FLOOR MEETING ROOM, For more info call  ED MORRISSEY at (203) 622-7918. Part of a Beat Generation series of lectures put on by the library.

Thursday, 1/25/07, Reading of On The Road - event take place at the Writers House, 3805 Locust Walk, Philadelphia (U of P).  4:00 PM - 12:00 AM in the Arts Cafe.

Kelly Writers House celebrates the 50th Anniversary of Jack Kerouac's On the Road. Jack Kerouac's On the Road, a rollicking, stream-of-consciousness novel, burst onto the literary scene in 1957, rocketing Kerouac to fame and inspired a multi-generational obsession with "the road." On the Road, a rapid-fire adventure tale of crossing the country (and back again) solo and with friends, discovering drugs, jazz, and the "bug" of travel, became a benchmark for the Beat Generation.

Kerouac wrote the novel in a three-week marathon burst on 12-reams of paper he taped together and referred to as "the scroll." In celebration of the book, and the spirit of the book, the Writers House will host a marathon reading of our own scroll, featuring local luminary guest readers, accompanied by improvisational jazz musicians, and you! Stop by the house to listen to the novel, enjoy the jazz and jump in on the reading! If you would like to read a section of the scroll, please RSVP to wh@writing.upenn.edu.


 February 2007

On The Road Scroll Tour Continues - January 1 to March 31, 2007 - Kerouac's On The Road Scroll Display:  Denver Public Library, Denver, CO  For a complete schedule of events, see http://www.denver.lib.co.us/programs/fresh/kerouac.html
 
I counted minutes and subtracted miles. Just ahead, over the rolling wheat fields all golden beneath the distant snows of Estes, I’d be seeing old Denver at last.   
 -- Jack Kerouac, On The Road

 March 2007

Jack Kerouac's Birthday, March 12, 1922

On The Road Scroll Tour Continues - January 1 to March 31, 2007 - Kerouac's On The Road Scroll Display:  Denver Public Library, Denver, CO  For a complete schedule of events, see http://www.denver.lib.co.us/programs/fresh/kerouac.html
I counted minutes and subtracted miles. Just ahead, over the rolling wheat fields all golden beneath the distant snows of Estes, I’d be seeing old Denver at last.   
 -- Jack Kerouac, On The Road
 

March 10, 2007, Saturday: Jack Kerouac's birthday celebration--Lowell, MA - self-guided tours, cemetery walk and evening event Lowell Celebrates Kerouac.  

March 11, 2007, Sunday, Auckland, New Zealand - The Literatti (a performance poetry posse) will be putting on a show to honour Kerouac on the eve of his birthday, 11th of March, at Shanghai Lils in Auckland.  The line up includes The Literatti, Genevieve McClean, Anna Kaye, Sally Legg and others.  8 pm - 12 midnight on the 11th of March. 

Thursday March 15, 2007 -New York City event to benefit the movement to bring the original On The Road Scroll back to Lowell.  Contact The Bowery Poetry Club in New York City for details. http://www.bowerypoetry.com/

GEORGE WALLACE AND FRIENDS present -- a reading to benefit 'Scroll To Lowell," a drive in Jack Kerouac's hometown to bring the original On The Road scroll to town for viewing in 2007. $6 admission at the door, proceeds will go to the cause. SCROLL TO LOWELL: George Wallace and Friends in a benefit reading to help bring Jack Kerouac's On The Road manuscript to his hometown of Lowell Massachusetts this summer. Tentative guests include Simon Pettet, Jason Eisenberg, Eero Ruuttila, LZ Nunn and special guest Yesod.

March 18, 2007, Sunday, Jack Kerouac Birthday Reading -  Composition Gallery presents Raging in the Gloom: A Jack Kerouac Birthday Celebration. Readings, live music, and refreshments. Sunday March 18, 6 p.m. Free. 1388 McLendon Ave. Atlanta, Georgia 678-982-9764. www.compositiongallery.com
 

THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 7PM, FOCUS ON JACK KEROUAC - Dr. Isaac Gewirtz, curator of the New York Public Library’s Berg Collection, will speak about and give a slide show presentation highlighting the life & work of the influential “On The Road” author.  GREENWICH LIBRARY, Connecticut, SECOND FLOOR MEETING ROOM, For more info call  ED MORRISSEY at (203) 622-7918. Part of a Beat Generation series of lectures put on by the library.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - The Lost Years of Jack Kerouac -  On Wednesday, March 28, at 2:00 P.M., in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the publishing of the literary classic, “On the Road,” local author and noted Kerouac scholar, Patrick Fenton, will be speaking at the Massapequa Library, 40 Harbor Lane, Massapequa Park, New York. He will discuss some interesting and unknown facts about the Beat Generation writer, and his famous journey. Mr. Fenton will also read from his play “Last call: An Evening With Jack Kerouac which had a sold out run at the Rockaway, Queens Playhouse. The play is based on Jack Kerouac’s last night in Northport, Long, Island. 
During his 12 years in Queens, Jack Kerouac, with a notebook in his back pocket, roamed the streets from Sutphin to Cross Bay Boulevards, and also to the ocean at Rockaway beach. It was in Ozone Park, Queens that the writer planned his famous “On the Road” journey from what he once described as “a little kid’s sort of library.” After many years of chasing the ghost of Jack Kerouac, Patrick Fenton has retraced a map of these years and discovered what he calls “the lost years” of Jack Kerouac. The chase took Mr. Fenton all the way from Ozone Park, Queens to Northport, Long Island where it ended at Gunther’s Bar on Main Street, a frequent Kerouac hangout for many years. 
 
Mr. Fenton can be contacted for interviews at Stoopdreamer@hotmail.com

March, 31, 2007, JACK KEROUAC ALLEY DEDICATION - Saturday, March 31st, 2007 Noon – 4:00pm,  EVERYONE WELCOME! (Jack Kerouac Alley is located between Columbus and Grant Aves. & City Lights/ Vesuvio), San Francisco, CA

Please join the Chinatown Alleyway Improvement Association, the Chinatown Community Development Center, the Department of Public Works, Vesuvio, City Lights, Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, San Francisco Poet Laureate Jack Hirschman, Edwin Lee, the City’s Chief Administrative Officer, Fred Abadi, the Director of DPW, mandolin ensemble Zighi Baci, St. Mary’s School students, jazz musicians, and many others to share this joyful event with us.

Jack Kerouac Alley, situated between Grant and Columbus, and a stone's throw away from Broadway, brings together the historic neighborhoods of Chinatown and North Beach. In 2007, this alley was renovated and transformed into a beautiful new passageway, lined with inspired writings by Li Po, Confucius, Maya Angelou, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, John Steinbeck, as well as Jack Kerouac himself.
 


 April 2007

THURSDAY, MAY 17, 7PM, FOCUS ON ALLEN GINSBERG - Writer & Ginsberg expert/biographer Bill Morgan (“I Celebrate Myself: The Somewhat  Private Life of Allen Ginsberg”;  “Howl on Trial”) will discuss the life, work and influence of the late Beat  poet  and social activist.  GREENWICH LIBRARY, Connecticut, SECOND FLOOR MEETING ROOM,  For more info call  ED MORRISSEY at (203) 622-7918.  Part of a Beat Generation series of lectures put on by the library.

April 26, Auction of Kerouac and beat items-  PBA Auctions, San Francisco. The sale of Kerouac and Bukowski items. See the catalog on line at  http://www.pbagalleries.com/live/sale_details354_all.php

 


 May 2007


 June 2007

June 2, 2007, Kerouac to Receive Degree - LOWELL, Massachusetts – Fifty years after the publication of Jack Kerouac’s most famous book, “On the Road,” the University in his hometown will honor him posthumously with an honorary doctorate of letters degree.

The award will be accepted by the executor of Kerouac’s literary estate, brother-in-law John Sampas, at the June 2, 2007 commencement ceremony at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Two weeks after that, the 120-foot “On the Road” scroll, upon which Kerouac’s manuscript was drafted in 1951, will be on display at the Boott Mills Cotton Museum in Lowell. The book was published in 1957.

“Jack Kerouac is synonymous with Lowell,” said John Wooding, UMass Lowell provost. “His books made Lowell a literary location known to the world, like Thoreau’s ‘Walden’ did for Concord. It is fitting for UMass Lowell to be the university that recognizes his achievement as one of the most important authors of the 20th century.”

This will be the only college degree awarded thus far to the famous writer, who is studied by English literature majors world-wide. Kerouac dropped out of Columbia University in his second year.

UML has a Kerouac Center for American Studies and offers a biennial Kerouac Conference on Beat Literature, directed by English Prof. Hilary Holladay, which draws Kerouac scholars and fans from the region and the world.  Kerouac died in 1969 and is buried in Lowell.

Kerouac was nominated for an honorary degree by UMass Lowell’s Community Relations Director Paul Marion, who is an author and Kerouac scholar. Marion edited “Atop an Underwood,” a collection of Kerouac’s early work. UMass Lowell then recommended the honorary doctorate recipient to the University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees, which voted to accept it.

“Kerouac’s books are read and studied in colleges and universities around the world,” said Marion. “Kerouac has always been popular in the community of readers. With this honor, UMass Lowell welcomes him into the community of scholars.” 

Contact: Renae Lias Claffey 978-934-3233 or Renae_Lias@uml.edu

On The Road Scroll tour, Lowell, MA - From June 7, 2007-September 16, 2007 - Lowell National Historical Park and its partners will present an exhibition of Jack Kerouac's original scroll manuscript of On the Road at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum! http://www.ontheroadinlowell.org/

June 30, Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, Boulder, CO - In celebration of the 50th anniversary of On the Road, the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics will share news of Kerouac celebrations around the world, updates about the School's own Kerouac Festival on June 30 and July 1, 2007 and perspectives of special guest bloggers.


 July 2007

July 1, Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, Boulder, CO - In celebration of the 50th anniversary of On the Road, the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics will share news of Kerouac celebrations around the world, updates about the School's own Kerouac Festival on June 30 and July 1, 2007 and perspectives of special guest bloggers.

July 5th, Thursday: Kerouac’s Last Call playing in Lowell, MA.  A play directed by Ann Garvin. Jerry Bisantz as Jack Kerouac. National Park’s Visitor Center Theater, 246 Market Street, Lowell, Massachusetts. Reserve your seat by calling 978-441-0102 
On Thursday, July 5th, at 8:00 P.M., the Image Theater of Lowell, Massachusetts will perform a fully staged reading of a moving new play by Newsday writer Patrick Fenton which deals with Kerouac’s Ozone Park, Queens years and Northport, Long Island. It is his last night on Long Island, the America he saw through a rear view mirror along side of Neal Cassady is slowly playing again in his mind.
 
After throwing a small going away party for himself, he spends the night tallying up his road years long after the few guests have gone. Over some bourbon, he’s visited by the memory of his father Leo and the early hardscrabble days when they lived as a family over a drug store in Ozone Park, Queens. During the evening, he receives a series of soul-searching phone calls from his daughter Jan.

For reservations for this one night only event, go to www.Imagetheater.com or call 978-441-0102. Limited seating available.  Image Theater is a not for profit theater company that only produces new works.  (producing 35 local playwrights in less than two years, we like to think that we would be Jack's favorite theater company!)

On The Road Scroll tour, Lowell, MA - From June 7, 2007-September 16, 2007 - Lowell National Historical Park and its partners will present an exhibition of Jack Kerouac's original scroll manuscript of On the Road at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum!  Lots of related events, check here http://www.ontheroadinlowell.org/events.html


 August 2007

On The Road Scroll tour, Lowell, MA - From June 7, 2007-September 16, 2007 - Lowell National Historical Park and its partners will present an exhibition of Jack Kerouac's original scroll manuscript of On the Road at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum! Lots of related events, check here http://www.ontheroadinlowell.org/events.html


 September 2007

On The Road - 50 Years old

In honor of this anniversary, Viking is publishing several Kerouac books, including the original scroll version of On The Road.


On the Road: The Original Scroll
Jack Kerouac - Author

Howard Cunnell - Editor/introduction
Joshua Kupetz - Introduction by
George Mouratidis - Introduction by
Penny Vlagopoulos - Introduction by


The legendary 1951 scroll draft of On the Road, published word for word as Kerouac originally composed it
.

[from the press release] Though Jack Kerouac began thinking about the novel that was to become On the Road as early as 1947, it was not until three weeks in April 1951, in an apartment on West Twentieth Street in Manhattan, that he wrote the first full draft that was satisfactory to him. Typed out as one long, single-spaced paragraph on eight long sheets of tracing paper that he later taped together to form a 120 foot scroll, this document is among the most significant, celebrated, and provocative artifacts in contemporary American literary history. It represents the first full expression of Kerouac’s revolutionary aesthetic, the identifiable point at which his thematic vision and narrative voice came together in a sustained burst of creative energy. It was also part of a wider vital experimentation in the American literary, musical, and visual arts in the post-World War II period.

It was not until more than six years later, and several new drafts, that Viking published, in 1957, the novel known to us today. On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of On the Road, Viking will publish the 1951 scroll in a standard book format. The differences between the two versions are principally ones of significant detail and altered emphasis. The scroll is slightly longer and has a heightened linguistic virtuosity and a more sexually frenetic tone. It also uses the real names of Kerouac’s friends instead of the fictional names he later invented for them. The transcription of the scroll was done by Howard Cunnell who, along with Joshua Kupetz, George Mouratidis, and Penny Vlagopoulos, provides a critical introduction that explains the fascinating compositional and publication history of On the Road and anchors the text in its historical, political, and social context.

Book: Hardcover | 5.98 x 9.01in | 416 pages | ISBN 9780670063550 | 16 Aug 2007 | Viking Adult | Adult  $25.95


On the Road: 50th Anniversary Edition
50th Anniversary Edition
Jack Kerouac - Author

A 50th anniversary hardcover edition of Kerouac’s classic novel that defined a generation

Few novels have had as profound an impact on American culture as On the Road. Pulsating with the rhythms of 1950s underground America, jazz, sex, illicit drugs, and the mystery and promise of the open road, Kerouac’s classic novel of freedom and longing defined what it meant to be “beat” and has inspired generations of writers, musicians, artists, poets, and seekers who cite their discovery of the book as the event that “set them free.” Based on Kerouac’s adventures with Neal Cassady, On the Road tells the story of two friends whose four cross-country road trips are a quest for meaning and true experience. Written with a mixture of sad-eyed naïveté and wild abandon, and imbued with Kerouac’s love of America, his compassion for humanity, and his sense of language as jazz, On the Road is the quintessential American vision of freedom and hope, a book that changed American literature and changed anyone who has ever picked it up. This hardcover edition commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the first publication of the novel in 1957 and will be a must-have for any literature lover.

Book: Hardcover | 5.98 x 9.01in | 320 pages | ISBN 9780670063260 | 16 Aug 2007 | Viking Adult | Adult $24.95


Why Kerouac Matters
The Lessons of On the Road (They're Not What You Think)
John Leland - Author

The author of Hip: The History reveals the lessons of the original hipster bible, On the Road

Legions of youthful Americans have taken On the Road as a manifesto for rebellion and an inspiration to hit the road. But there is much more to the novel than that.

In Why Kerouac Matters, John Leland embarks on a wry, insightful, and playful discussion of the novel, arguing that it still matters because at its core it is a book that is full of lessons about how to grow up. Leland’s focus is on Sal Paradise, the Kerouac alter ego, who has always been overshadowed by his fictional running buddy Dean Moriarty. Leland examines the lessons that Paradise absorbs and dispenses on his novelistic journey to manhood, and how those lessons— about work and money, love and sex, art and holiness—still reverberate today. He shows how On the Road is a primer for male friendship and the cultivation of traditional family values, and contends that the stereotype of the two wild and crazy guys obscures the novel’s core themes of the search for atonement, redemption, and divine revelation. Why Kerouac Matters offers a new take on Kerouac’s famous novel, overturning many misconceptions about it and making clear the themes Kerouac was trying to impart.


Book: Hardcover | 5.51 x 8.26in | 224 pages | ISBN 9780670063253 | 16 Aug 2007 | Viking Adult | Adult $23.95

Meet the author at the following events:

9/16/2007

New York, NY

BROOKLYN LITERARY FESTIVAL

 

9/17/2007

New York, NY

BARNES AND NOBLE #2619 Leland to read from Why Kerouac Matters

 

9/19/2007

Washington, DC

OLSSONS BOOKS & RECORDS Leland to read from Why Kerouac Matters

 

9/20/2007

Denver, CO

TATTERED COVER

 

9/22/2007

San Francisco, CA

BOOKSMITH Leland and Johnson to read (off-site at All Saints Church)

 

 

10/4/2007

Philadelphia, PA

PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC LIBRARY

 

10/14/2007

Denver, CO

DENVER PUBLIC LIBRARY (event with John Ventimiglia and David Amram)

 

 

 


 

On The Road Scroll tour, Lowell, MA - From June 7, 2007- October 14, 2007 - Lowell National Historical Park and its partners will present an exhibition of Jack Kerouac's original scroll manuscript of On the Road at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum!  The Lowell stay has been extended to October for the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac festival. Lots of related events, check here http://www.ontheroadinlowell.org/events.html

 

September 5 - 9th: The City celebrates Jack Kerouac and the 50th Anniversary of his iconic novel. Lowell, MA

Celebrations include:

  • Wednesday, September 5th
    10am-10pm: Marathon Reading of Kerouac's On the Road--50th anniversary of the novel's publication
  • Thursday, September 6th
    7pm: Montreal jazz bassist Normand Guilbeault's "Visions de Kerouac" bebop and spoken word show at McDonough Arts Magnet Theater (This event is free!)
  • Friday, September 7th
    7:30pm: David Amram's Kerouac Jazz at Boarding House Park
  • Saturday, September 8th: Jack Kerouac: Writers of the Next Generation
    1:00pm-2:30pm, The Brush Art Gallery, located in the complex with the LNHP Visitor Center at 256 Market St. Readers: Ken Janjigian, Lawrence Carradini and J.D. Scrimgeour.
    3:00pm-4:30pm Life Alive, 194 Middle Street. Readers: George Wallace, David Robinson, and Cesar Sanchez Beras.
    6:00pm-7:30pm Brew?d Awakening Coffee Haus , 61 Market Street. Readers: Jay Atkinson, Paul Marion, Peter Loosigian, and Mark Schorr.
  • Sunday, September 9th
    1:00-3:00 p.m. Next Generation Writers continued....
    Readers: Jean Monahan, Gigi Thibodeau, Richard Wollman, and Danielle Legros Georges. Boott Events Center, 115 John St, Lowell
    2:30 Special viewing of On the Road: An Exhibition of Jack Kerouac's Original Scroll Manuscript. Members of the exhibition team will be on hand to answer your questions. Boott Cotton Mills Museum, 115 John Street, Lowell. Free admission & refreshments
    4pm: Kay Roberts' New England Orchestra Kerouac classical and jazz tribute concert at the Merrimack Repertory Theatre (Tickets $15 available at the door; $10 for students/seniors)

 

 

September 5, 2007, On The Road at 50: A Celebration of Jack Kerouac, New York, NY.

A TimesTalks Panel. The Lighthouse Theatre, 111 East 59 St., NY, NY
Featuring Douglas Brinkley, Billy Collins and Joyce Johnson
Moderated by John Leland.  See most of the authors and editors of the Kerouac book onslaught—Brinkley edited the Library of America volume, Johnson’s memoir is being reissued for the anniversary and moderator Leland’s new critical book on Kerouac is at the top of Viking’s list—in one place on the big day. 

 


September 5, 2007, Wednesday, VESUVIO TO HOST LITERARY EVENT TO HONOR 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF “ON THE ROAD”  SAN FRANCISCO  – Vesuvio Café, long associated with Jack Kerouac since the earliest days of the Beat generation, is hosting The Ragged Promised Land, a live show to honor Kerouac’s On the Road on the 50th Anniversary of the book’s first publishing.

The literary entertainment event scheduled for September 5 features readings of excerpts from the book, punctuated with live acoustic jazz. “The excerpts from On the Road have been selected specifically to showcase Kerouac’s travels in California,” says Rodger Jacobs, the show’s director. Jacobs, an award-winning writer and documentary producer, will be performing the readings along with Joe Shackel, Jim Reese, Gregg Martinez, and Jan Becker. Vesuvio co-owner Janet Clyde is handling producing chores. Popular acoustic jazz trio Alt Tal will be on hand to round out the show. Event details: “The Ragged Promised Land,” 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Vesuvio Café,
255 Columbus @ Kerouac Alley, 21 & Over/ID Required. No Cover Charge

 

Thursday, September 6th, 10:00pm, Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of On The Road, New York, NY: Bowery Poetry Club

308 Bowery @ Bleeker.  Celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jack Kerouac's On the Road. Tim Moran accompanied by David Amram's Trio. John Ventimiglia ("Artie Bucco" of "The Sopranos") reads, as well. http://www.bowerypoetry.com/

 

September 6, 2007, Back On The Road, Boston MA. Celebration of On The Road sponsored by Harvard Bookstore at Brattle Theatre, Featuring John Leland and Joyce Johnson.

 

Monday, September 10, 2007, 8 pm - A Tribute to Kerouac's On the Road, 8:00 pm. San Francisco, CA.

With David Meltzer, Wavy Gravy, Lenore Kandel, Joanna McClure and other surprise guests. An exuberant celebration of the 50th anniversary of publication of Jack Kerouac’s immortal On the Road, featuring Bay Area poets, bebop jazz musicians, and beat aficionados of all stripes. Lose yourself in the Dionysian fire and musical magic of one of literature’s most enduring and artistic movements. Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California Street, San Francisco, CA. (415) 292-1233.  $8 Members | $10 Public

 

Wednesday, Sep 12 2007, 7:00pm, - Jack Kerouac's Road, Medford, MA.

Jack Kerouac's life and work are very complex. Steve Edington will discuss these sides of this Lowell, Massachusetts born writer whose works are now read world-wide. Steve Edington is the minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashua, New Hampshire. He's the author of "Kerouac's Nashua Connection" and "The Beat Face of God--The Beat Generation Writers as Spirit Guides." Steve is a long-time member of the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Committee. Price: Free. Phone: (781) 395-7950. Web Page: http://www.medfordlibrary.org


 

Saturday, September 22nd, 7pm, Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of On The Road, San Francisco, CA.

San Francisco, CA: All Saints Church, 1350 Waller Street. City Lights, The Booksmith and Penguin Books celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jack Kerouac's On the Road with Jon Leland, Joyce Johnson, Michael McClure, Barry Gifford, and Suzanne Kleid.  

Book related to this event: You'll Be Okay: My Life with Jack Kerouac by Edie Kerouac-Parker, 2007 Edition. "We’ve officially entered what might as well be called Jack Kerouac Awareness Month. It’s the 50th anniversary of the publication of 'On the Road,' and the commemorations include . . . a memoir, 'You’ll Be Okay,' from Kerouac’s first wife." – NY Times.

 

September 30, 2007, KEROUAC’S LAST CALL, Northport, NY - IN CELEBRATION OF THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PUBLISHING OF “ON THE ROAD,” JOIN US FOR A SUNDAY AFTERNOON AT GUNTHER’S WITH KEROUAC. (Gunther’s Bar, Jack Kerouac’s old hangout, 84 Main Street, Northport, Long Island.)
      On Sunday, September 30th, at 2:00 P.M., actor, director, Ed Dennehy, will present a new play by Patrick Fenton entitled “KEROUAC’S LAST CALL.” The play deals with Jack Kerouac’s time in Ozone Park, Queens, Richmond Hill, and Northport, Long Island. It is the end of the summer in 1964, a major cultural shift is starting to happen, and on his last night in Northport, Long Island, the America Kerouac saw through a rear view mirror along side of Neal Cassady is slowly playing again in his mind. While wondering back on his road days, he receives a series of soul--searching phone calls from his daughter Jan.
      
    “KEROUAC’S LAST CALL,” starring, Ed Dennehy, Jack O’Connell, Sonja Tannenbaum, Drew Keil, Sophie Vanier, and Michael Newman, music by Sue Sizza, is directed by Ed Dennehy. Contact Patrick Fenton at Stoopdreamer@aol.com  516-797-1483   Check it out.
 
(With the help of the Image Theater in Lowell, Massachusetts, Jack Kerouac’s hometown, a reading of the play recently took place there, which starred actor, director Jerry Bisantz and was directed by Ann Garvin.)

 

 October 2007

Jack Safe in Heaven dead, October 21, 1969

October 4 - 7, Memories of Lowell from the Road. Lowell, MA

20th Annual Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! -  Are you going to be in Lowell, MA, Jack's hometown?Join the annual Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! Festival celebrates Jack Kerouac life and writings. Take the time to spend 4 days in Kerouac's hometown, walk the streets he wrote about, and listen to lectures, see movies, go on a pub crawl and drink in the same bars that Kerouac did. Visit their website to see all the events -  Lowell Celebrates Kerouac.  

Kerouac was born in Lowell, and the city keeps a strong Kerouac presence alive all year round with a park named after the author. The original scroll is there right now, and will be through the end of this annual festival, which features four days of talks, readings, and events in what may be the most Kerouac-oriented town in America.

 

On The Road Scroll tour, Lowell, MA - From June 7, 2007- October 14, 2007 - Lowell National Historical Park and its partners will present an exhibition of Jack Kerouac's original scroll manuscript of On the Road at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum!  The Lowell stay has been extended to October for the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac festival. Lots of related events, check here http://www.ontheroadinlowell.org/events.html

 

October 19-21, 2007, Marathon Reading of On The Road - Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center of Venice California will be holding a marathon reading of On the Road from October 19 through October 21.  Poets, actors and original Venice Beat Philomene Long (the Beat Nun) will be reading, and in the Project Room there will be a "Road" inspired photo exhibit.   email - beyondbaroque@aol.com 

681 VENICE BLVD
VENICE, CA 90291
(310) 822-3006


 

email kerouaczin@aol.com to list your Kerouac event here!


 November 2007
 

November 9, 2007 through March 16, 2008 - On the Road Scroll at the New York City Public Library. Beatific Soul: Jack Kerouac on the Road on View from November 9, 2007 through March 16, 2008; Includes Famous Scroll Manuscript Typed on 120 Feet of Paper. http://www.nypl.org/press/2007/Beatific_exhibition.cfm  

Diaries, manuscripts, snapshots, and personal items of Jack Kerouac, the visionary author whose pioneering work helped to established the Beat Movement in the United States, will be on display in Beatific Soul: Jack Kerouac on the Road, an exhibition on view at The New York Public Library November 9, 2007 through March 16, 2008.

 

November 27, 2007,  Tuesday, Beatific Soul: Jack Kerouac’s On The Road, 1957-2007, New York Public Library

Length: 1 hr 30 mins
Intermission: None
Seating: General Admission, You choose your seats when you get to the theater.

This event is currently not on sale. Please check back soon for updated details.

https://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showCode=BEA9

With the Library’s exhibition Beatific Soul: Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, 1957-2007, LIVE from the NYPL will pay tribute to the career of Beat writer and poet Jack Kerouac and the Beat Movement. Drawing on the contents of the Jack Kerouac Archive, housed in the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, many of Kerouac’s unpublished manuscripts, diaries, journals, correspondence, drawings, photographs, and treasured objects will be on display. The exhibition’s title is derived from a characteristically awe-struck observation by the narrator of On the Road, Sal Paradise, about the novel’s central figure, Dean Moriarty, based on Kerouac’s friend and (as Ginsberg called Whitman) “courage teacher”: “He was BEAT—the root, the soul of Beatific.” Join us for an evening celebration of the life and work of Jack Kerouac.

 

November 29, 2007, On The Road Discussion, Sudbury, MA. Bill Schechter, History Department of Lincoln Sudbury Regional High School in Sudbury, Ma will hold a two night discussion of the Beat Generation and  "On The Road".
 
This open "Book Club" will be held on Thursday night November 29, 2007 and Thursday night December 6, 2007.  The event will be held at the LSRHS library.  This is a fundraiser for FELS (Foundation for Educators at Lincoln Sudbury) which gives grants to faculty and staff for personal and professional development.

 


 December 2007

November 9, 2007 through March 16, 2008 - On the Road Scroll at the New York City Public Library. Beatific Soul: Jack Kerouac on the Road on View from November 9, 2007 through March 16, 2008; Includes Famous Scroll Manuscript Typed on 120 Feet of Paper. http://www.nypl.org/press/2007/Beatific_exhibition.cfm  

Diaries, manuscripts, snapshots, and personal items of Jack Kerouac, the visionary author whose pioneering work helped to established the Beat Movement in the United States, will be on display in Beatific Soul: Jack Kerouac on the Road, an exhibition on view at The New York Public Library November 9, 2007 through March 16, 2008.

 

December 6, 2007, On The Road Discussion, Sudbury, MA. Bill Schechter, History Department of Lincoln Sudbury Regional High School in Sudbury, Ma will hold a two night discussion of the Beat Generation and  "On The Road".
 
This open "Book Club" will be held on Thursday night November 29, 2007 and Thursday night December 6, 2007.  The event will be held at the LSRHS library.  This is a fundraiser for FELS (Foundation for Educators at Lincoln Sudbury) which gives grants to faculty and staff for personal and professional development.

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January 2008

November 9, 2007 through March 16, 2008 - On the Road Scroll at the New York City Public Library. Beatific Soul: Jack Kerouac on the Road on View from November 9, 2007 through March 16, 2008; Includes Famous Scroll Manuscript Typed on 120 Feet of Paper. http://www.nypl.org/press/2007/Beatific_exhibition.cfm  

Diaries, manuscripts, snapshots, and personal items of Jack Kerouac, the visionary author whose pioneering work helped to established the Beat Movement in the United States, will be on display in Beatific Soul: Jack Kerouac on the Road, an exhibition on view at The New York Public Library November 9, 2007 through March 16, 2008.


email kerouaczin@aol.com to list your Kerouac event here!

 
 JANUARY 2006

Scroll Tour:  January 14 - March 19, 2006 - Kerouac Scroll in San Francisco - On the Road: The Jack Kerouac Manuscript Jack Kerouac wrote the manuscript for the now classic Beat Generation novel On the Road within a 20-day period in New York City in 1951 employing “spontaneous prose,” a nonstop, unedited style inspired by letters from his friend Neal Cassady. Kerouac’s manuscript is a 120-foot long scroll consisting of a series of single-spaced typed twelve-foot long rolls of paper that have been taped together. Thirty-six feet of the original manuscript will be exhibited along with an overview of Kerouac’s life and other works, a brief history of the Beat movement and Beats in San Francisco, told through photos, books and ephemera. This manuscript is on loan from the collection of James S. Irsay. © Estate of Anthony G. Sampatacacus and the Estate of Jan Kerouac. Sponsored by the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library. http://sfpl.lib.ca.us/news/coming.htm

Exhibition:  January 14 – March 19, 2006, Main Library, Lower Level, Jewett Gallery, 100 Larkin Street (at Grove), Ph: 415-557-4400 

Related Program: Thursdays at Noon Large Screen Video Series
January 2006 The Beats: Jack Kerouac and Friends

  • January 5 – The Source (1999)
  • January 12 – The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg (1992)
  • January 19 – The Coney Island of Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1996)
  • January 26 – Jack Kerouac: King of the Beats (1985)

Related Program: January 21, 2006 Kerouac's On the Road: From East to West - Gerald Nicosia, author of Memory Babe: A Critical Biography of Jack Kerouac, discusses the life of Jack Kerouac, his classic book On the Road and Kerouac's connection to San Francisco. Saturday, January 21, 2006, 2 p.m. - 3 p.m., Main Library, Lower Level, Koret Auditorium, 100 Larkin Street (at Grove)

January 13 - The Beat Museum opens in San Francisco- GRAND OPENING/RECEPTION, Friday, 7 - 9 PM.  - Come join Jerry Cimino and an assortment of North Beach characters as we celebrate our Grand Opening in San Francisco.  Carolyn Cassady will be there as will her children John Allen Cassady and Jami Cassady.  Refreshments will be served.  We'll have original artwork on display by Jack Michelene, Aggie Falk and Jack Hirschman. LOCATION:  The Beat Museum, 1345 Grant Ave, San Francisco http://www.kerouac.com


 February 2006

Scroll Tour continues: January 14 - March 19, 2006 - Kerouac Scroll in San Francisco - Main Library, Lower Level, Jewett Gallery, 100 Larkin Street (at Grove), San Francisco, CA, Ph: 415-557-4400 

Related Program - Women of the Beat Generation - Join us when Brenda Knight, author of Women of the Beat Generation discusses the lives and times of the Beats with Eileen Kaufman, Mary Norbert Korte, Jamie Cassady and Joanna McClure. Author ruth weiss will read poetry accompanied with jazz.
Thursday, February 9
6:00 – 7:30 p.m.
Main Library, Lower Level, Koret Auditorium
100 Larkin Street (at Grove)

Neal Cassady Birthday Bash - February 8, 2006, Wednesday. 7 PM until - ? at the newly opened Beat Museum, 1345 Grant Avenue, North Beach, San Francisco, CA. http://www.thebeatmuseum.org/schedule2.htm  In addition to Neal's children there will be many acquaintances on hand - people who knew Neal both in the 50's and the 60's. It would have been Neal's 80th birthday.

DAVID AMRAM PLAYS AT THE SACRED RUN CONCERT IN SF FRIDAY February 10, 2006 - 8 PM. Nancy Lewis and our friends at Red Hot Promotions are sponsoring a terrific line up at Studio Z to kick off the Sacred Run - a Celebration of Land, Life and Peace. With Hosts Dennis Banks & Peter Coyote. Sacred Run Benefit Concert will kick off the 2006 Sacred Run
which begins in San Francisco Feb. 11, crossing the U.S., with stops in Gulf Coast territory to be with those who are rebuilding after the hurricane,and arriving in Washington D.C. Earth Day, April 22. www.SacredRun.org for info.

February 19th, 2006 -  Reception for the release of STASHOU and YASHOU—a Photographic Art Portfolio featuring photos by Stanley Twardawicz of Jack Kerouac, Dix Hills, NY.

STASHOU and YASHOU has been selected by Kate Kelly, Director/Curator for the prestigious Art League of Long Island (ALLI), and co-curator, Nancy Olivier, to be included in the exhibition “On Paper/Of Paper,”, which opens on Saturday, February18th, with an opening reception on Sunday the 19th, 2-5pm at the Art League of Long Island—Jeanie Tengelsen Gallery, 107 East Deer Park Rd., in Dix Hills, New York.

See the Kerouac Stuff page for more information on the portfolio.


 march 2006

Jack Kerouac's Birthday, March 12, 1922

Scroll Tour continues: January 14 - March 19, 2006 - Kerouac Scroll in San Francisco - Main Library, Lower Level, Jewett Gallery, 100 Larkin Street (at Grove), San Francisco, CA, Ph: 415-557-4400 

Related Program: The Beat Generation in San Francisco: A Literary Tour - Bill Morgan, author of The Beat Generation in San Francisco, provides a virtual “walking tour” of the Beat homes and haunts in San Francisco. Co-sponsored by City Lights Books.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Main Library, Lower Level, Koret Auditorium
100 Larkin Street (at Grove)

 

Beat Events at the new Beat Museum in San Francisco (contact the Beat Museum for info). Check out the Kerouac Birthday Bash, and the 6 Gallery re-creation where Ginsberg read Howl back in 1955.

March 9, Thursday, Open Mike Poetry - 7 PM, Hosted by Jessica Loos, Sign up to read at the door. Free!

March 10, Friday, Poetry Event - 7 PM, Three Featured Poets, Hosted by Jessica Loos, Free!

March 12, Sunday, KEROUAC BIRTHDAY BASH - 7 PM, Come Celebrate With Us! Jack was born March 12, 1922 in Lowell, MA.

March 15, Wednesday, Movie Screening of Beat Angel - 7 PM, A Film About the Spirit of Jack Kerouac, Benefit Screening for the Film Makers, $5 at the door (http://www.beatangel.com)

March 22, Wednesday, Movie Screening of Beat Angel- 7 PM, A Film About the Spirit of Jack Kerouac, Benefit Screening for the Film Makers, $5 at the door (http://www.beatangel.com)

March 24, Friday, 8 PM, RE-CREATION of the 6 POETS at the 6 GALLERY READING! Join us as well known San Francisco Poets and Writers recreate the famous event that set it all in motion in 1955. We'll be reading works from all the poets that were read back in 1955.  This is the night Ginsberg read HOWL for the first time and the reason Ferlinghetti asked to publish it!

The Beat Museum - Jerry Cimino
1345 Grant Avenue
San Francisco, CA  94133
1-800-KER-OUAC
http://www.kerouac.com
http://www.thebeatmuseumonwheels.com

 

Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! - Are you going to be in Lowell, MA, Jack's hometown? Go to Lowell Celebrates Kerouac  for schedule information.

 

March 9, 2006 - Auction of Beat Material - The Edwin Blair Collection of Beat Literature will be auctioned off by PBA Galleries in San Francisco. The catalog is available on-line at www.pbagalleries.com (sale 327). Great Kerouac and beat stuff.

 

SIGN UP FOR BEAT WALKING TOURS LED BY BILL MORGAN - Friday, March 17th and Saturday, March 18th - Two tours each day, at 11am and 2pm. Cost is $10 payable in cash only to Bill Morgan just prior to the tour. Reservations can be made by emailing your date and time of choice to walk@citylights.com, calling (415) 362-8193 or signing up at the front counter at City Lights.

Meet in front of City Lights Bookstore (261 Columbus Ave.) Tours will last two hours.

Morning tour (11 am) will see: Ginsberg's apartment where he wrote "Howl"; Homes of Corso, Snyder, Whalen, Ferlinghetti, Kaufman, McClure; Night spots and bars of the Beat Generation; Kerouac Alley and Vesuvios; Caffe Trieste; Grant Avenue haunts, The Place, and more.

Afternoon tour (2 pm) will see: Kerouac's Chinatown; Site of the "Howl" trial Foster's cafeteria; Towne & Oller, where Ginsberg worked in market research; Ginsberg's Moloch sighting; and Neal Cassady's home where Kerouac visited.

Bill Morgan is the author of The Beat Generation in San Francisco: A Literary Tour and The Beat Generation in New York: A Walking Tour of Jack Kerouac's City.

Read more about Morgan’s The Beat Generation in San Francisco at http://www.citylights.com/CLpubBC1.html#3255


 April 2006

 


 May 2006

Scroll Tour Continues - May 1 to July 31: Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library, Indianapolis, Indiana


 June 2006

Scroll Tour Continues - May 1 to July 31: Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library, Indianapolis, Indiana


 July 2006

Scroll Tour Continues - May 1 to July 31: Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library, Indianapolis, Indiana


 August 2006

 


 September 2006

THE BEAT MUSEUM "GALA GRAND OPENING," WEDNESDAY - SEPTEMBER 27, 2006. Beat Museum has a new, and permanent home.

Come celebrate the “Gala Grand Opening” of The Beat Museum, Wednesday - September 27, 2006 at 6:00 PM
CONFIRMED SPECIAL GUESTS INCLUDE:
- Michael McClure - Beat Poet, featured at the Six at Six Reading in October, 1955
- Magda Cregg  - Companion to Lew Welch
- Stanley Mouse - famous 1960’s Poster Artist
- Hugh Romney (aka Wavy Gravy) - Beat Poet turned Merry Prankster
- John Allen Cassady - The Sarah Jessica Parker of The Beat Generation
- Many more to come...FEATURING:
Original Artwork by Nano Lopez, Stanley Mouse & Richard Whalen
Allen Ginsberg Photo Exhibit by Harold Adler
The Beat Museum
540 Broadway
San Francisco, CA  94133
 
 www.kerouac.com

 

LARRY KEENAN PHOTO EXHIBIT, September 6th - September 30th - You know Larry Keenan's photos.  He's took many famous photos of the Beat Era including The Last Gathering at City Lights.  Larry's photos will be on exhibit during the months of September in San Francisco.

Exhibit - The Micaela Gallery, 333 Hayes Street, San Francisco, CA

 

JACK HIRSCHMAN READING -  Thursday, SEPTEMBER 14th -SF Poet Laureate Jack Hirschman Reading his new book "The Arcanes"

Thursday - September 14th at 6 PM
Friends of the SF Public Library
391 Grove Street (at Gough)
San Francisco, CA
http://www.friendssfpl.org
415-626-7500

 

[NOTE: The On The Road Scroll is not being displayed at Columbia College in Chicago as previously stated]


 October 2006

Jack Safe in Heaven dead, October 21, 1969

Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! - October 5 - 8, 2006 - Are you going to be in Lowell, MA, Jack's hometown? Lowell Celebrates Kerouac.  Join the annual Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! Festival celebrates Jack Kerouac life and writings. Take the time to spend 4 days in Kerouac's hometown, walk the streets he wrote about, and listen to lectures, see movies, go on a pub crawl and drink in the same bars that Kerouac did.

 The 19th Annual 2006 Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! Festival   
Kerouac For All Seasons
SCHEDULE

Sunday October 1 - Official Lead-in Event

Noon  -  Dubliner Restaurant; 4th Annual Running of Kerouac 5K Road Race (to pass by Kerouac Park), proceeds to benefit scholarship. For more information call (978) 649-6189.


Thursday October 5

PM  -  4:00    LNHP Visitor Center; Film: Lowell Blues, Market St.

   8:00    Cappy¹s Copper Kettle; Musicians Frank Morey, Allen Crane, poets Jim Dunn and Diana Saenz, Central St.    

Friday  October 6

AM  -  9:30    Lowell High School; Youth Poetry Contest, 50 French St.

PM  -  4:00    LNHP Visitor Center; Film: Lowell Blues

           5:30    Pollard Library; Scroll to Lowell Fundraiser, UMASS Lowell Writers in Residence, musician Frank Morey, others, presentations, and special guest David Amram, 401 Merrimack St. Fundraiser Admission $25, Students $15

           9:00    Pawtucketville; Ghosts of the Pawtucketville Night, Roger Brunelle. Meet at McDonald¹s on corner of Mammoth Rd. and the bridge overlooking the falls.

Saturday October 7

AM  -  10:30    Kerouac Park; Commemorative at the Commemorative, intersection of French St. and Bridge St.

PM  -  12:30    Pollard Library; Cairo to Kerouac, David Amram and friends

   2:00    LNHP Visitor Center; Kerouac walking tour (contingent on sufficient number of reservations). For info./ reservations, call (978)970-5000.

   2:00    Nashua; Van Tour, Steve Edington. For info./ reservations call (603)883-3141 or (603)930-8781. Meets on sidewalk in front of Visitor Center, Market St.

   4:00    Rainbow Cafe¹; Reading at the Rainbow, 'Open Mic,' Cabot St., between Merrimack & Market

   4:00    LNHP Visitor Center; Film: Lowell Blues

   6:00    Kerouac Pubs Tour; Mike Wurm. Meets on sidewalk in front of Visitor Center, Market St.

   8:00    Rainbow Cafe; Janet Hamill and Moving Star, Cabot St.

Sunday October 8

PM  -  12:30    Caffe' Paradiso; Amram Jam, 'Open Mic' poets reading in collaboration with David Amram and friends, corner of Palmer St. and Middle St.

   4:00    LNHP Visitor Center; Film: Lowell Blues

 

 

BEAT ANGEL – FILM ABOUT “THE SPIRIT OF JACK KEROUAC” – TO BE RELEASED ON DVD, OCTOBER 21

DVD SCREENING EVENT AT THE BEAT MUSEUM IN SAN FRANCISCO, OCTOBER 22, The Beat Museum, 540 Broadway, San Francisco, CA  94133

The film, Beat Angel, about “the spirit of Jack Kerouac,” will be released on DVD, October 21.  The date also marks 37 years since Beat Generation author, poet Jack Kerouac passed away. 
On the 30th anniversary of his own death, the angelic spirit of Jack Kerouac (played by Vincent Balestri) returns to earth in the abandoned body of a street bum.  “Jack” drops in at a poetry slam held in honor of his “death day,” and backed by a jazz trio, explains the meaning of “bop spontaneous prose” and “speaking the truth.”  He begins to transform the lives of three people:  Gerard Tripp (played by Frank Tabbita), a secretive writer who locks his manuscripts away; Mary (Amy Humphrey), a shy young writer; and Carol (Lisa Niemi), a former painter turned bartender.
Beat Angel was inspired by Balestri’s heralded one-man play, Kerouac: The Essence of Jack that began in the early ‘80s and ran off and on for 17 years.   Kerouac’s first wife, Edie Parker-Kerouac, encouraged Balestri to portray Jack on stage, coaching the actor in Jack’s voice and mannerisms, and sharing old letters and home tape recordings.  The play evolved as Balestri met a number of Jack’s old friends.  In 1993 Frank Tabbita brought Balestri to Seattle where he performed the show in several long runs.  Interested in translating the “essence” of the piece to film, Tabbita teamed with filmmaker/writer Randy Allred,  writer/producer Bruce Boyle, and Balestri to create Beat Angel.
The film’s “old movie feel” was a deliberate design of director Allred, invoking the atmosphere of Kerouac’s world and the sense of the dream-like sequences.  Scenes shot at Desolation Peak (where Kerouac served as a fire lookout, and wrote about in his books, Dharma Bums and Desolation Angels), a jazz music score and recreations of moments in Kerouac’s life, give the film a haunting yet inspiring quality.   Beat Angel has received such critical praise as “Superb…intriguing twists and turns…” --Winston-Salem Journal.  Composer/musician David Amram noted: Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Larry Rivers and I all made Pull my Daisy in 1959 in part to show our kids and grandkids someday that we were for real and able to enjoy life and one another…Like Pull My Daisy reflected the fun we had together as well as the hard work we did when alone.  Like Pull My Daisy, Beat Angel is free of any Hollyweirdness and Post Modern gloom…Beat Angel is full of soulfulness, joy, surprises, warmth and humor…”
Beat Angel was a popular festival selection across the U.S., garnering two award nominations at The Method Fest in Los Angeles, and winning the Wine Country Film Festival’s Special Prize of the Fest.  
A DVD release-screening event, with a performance by Vincent Balestri, will take place on Sunday, October 22 at The Beat Museum (at 540 Broadway) in San Francisco.
DVD features:  19 minute video of Kerouac: The Essence of Jack; Writers Commentary with Balestri, Boyle, Tabbita and Allred; 12 chapters; deleted scenes; in English with French, Spanish, Italian and English subtitles.  Film running time 99 minutes, color NTSC, all Regions.  Available October 21 through www.BeatAngel.com , FilmBaby.com, Amazon.com, Kerouac.com and other selected outlets.  Also find Beat Angel at My Space:  www.myspace.com/beatangelthemovie

 

email kerouaczin@aol.com to list your Kerouac event here!

 

San Francisco Beat WALKING TOUR & LIVE PERFORMANCE WITH JOHN ALLEN CASSADY - The son of Neal Cassady will lead Walking Tours of North Beach and all the Beat Generation haunts.      

Thursday, October 26th at 2 PM
or Friday, October 27 at 2 PM

$15 in advance, $20 at the door
Meet at :
The Beat Museum
540 Broadway
San Francisco, CA  94133
1-800-KER-OUAC
 www.kerouac.com

This 90 minute tour will focus on the bars, coffeehouses, jazz clubs, homes and other highlights of North Beach.  See the places where Gary Snyder, Gregory Corso and Robert Creely lived.  We’ll see the apartment where Allen Ginsberg was living when he wrote Howl!  The streets of North Beach look pretty much the same and knowing what happened where brings old voices to life!
 

[NOTE: The On The Road Scroll is not being displayed at Columbia College in Chicago as previously stated]


 November 2006

CITY LIGHTS & THE COMMONWEALTH CLUB CELEBRATE HOWL'S 50TH!  Wednesday, November 15th, from 5:30- 7pm

In 1956, City Lights published Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems. Soon after, City Lights publisher & owner Lawrence Ferlinghetti and City Lights store manager Shigeyoshi Murao were arrested, charged with publishing and distributing "obscene material." What followed is one of the most important first-amendment battles of the 20th century, with City Lights emerging victorious. Allen Ginsberg became a house-hold name, City Lights was known worldwide, and the court decision set a crucial precedent for subsequent free speech battles.

Please join City Lights as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of Howl and Other Poems on Wednesday, November 15th, from 5:30- 7 pm, at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. Special Guests include: Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Artistic Director for Youth Speaks, reading from "Howl" followed by a panel discussion with Bill Morgan, editor of Howl on Trial: The Battle for Free Expression and author of the new biography, I Celebrate Myself: The Somewhat Private Life of Allen Ginsberg, Al Bendich, the attorney who successfully defended "Howl" at the original trial in 1957, Dorothy Ehrlich, Executive Director of the ACLU-NC, and Jason Shinder, Editor of Howl: Fifty Years Later. The Club is located at 595 Market St, San Francisco, 94105.

Get more info and advance tickets here: http://www.commonwealthclub.org/ & (415) 597-6700

City Lights Bookstore Howl Links

Howl Turns 50

A History of Howl

Howl Celebrations

Howl On Trial
 

November 1, Wednesday - Bill Morgan, editor/author of the recent Howl On Trial, I Celebrate Myself, The Book of Martyrdom [noted Allen Ginsberg Biographer]  - Mr. Morgan will be making an appearance to discuss his three books. Held at St. Mark's Poetry Project, 131 E 10th Street (at Second Avenue), 8:00 pm, (with Ed Sanders, Anne Waldman, Alice Notley, Bob Rosenthal, Lee Renaldo, Simon Pettet, Eileen Myles, Steven Taylor, and others)

 

November 19, Sunday,  - The Shepherd & Knucklehead Pub is hosting a night of OPEN - MIC POETRY - all who are 21 and over are welcome, starts around 9:00pm and there is a sign up sheet at the bar - original works or readings from your favorite writer/poet are welcome - you can read or just come to listen and enjoy - and of course, some Kerouac will be read as well. 

A beer please - Please know that "The Shepherd & The Knucklehead Pub" in Haledon, NJ, is the home of a shrine dedicated to the spirit of Jack Kerouac, and just down the street from where "On the Road's" real trip began. Each thought and image inside the pub is inspired on by Kerouac's spirit, the pub was built in his memory; here where we make a virtue out of restlessness, where "we want to prowl and roam and to see the real America that had never been uttered." We think too, that Kerouac would have wanted to drink here because, everything he wrote "was true because he believed in what he saw!"   To here at the pub, where we believe in "order, tenderness and piety."   Come join us on poetry night and our opening vesper to Jack Kerouac. Monthly Poetry Reading in New Jersey, Kerouac style = www.myspace.com/shepherd_knucklehead
 
The Shepherd & The Knucklehead Pub
529 Belmont Ave.
Haledon, NJ
973-942-8666

 


 

 December 2006

December 29, 2006, Friday  - AN EVENING WITH CAROLYN CASSADY -  at 7:30. Carolyn Cassady will be on-stage at The Beat Museum for an evening of remembrances, story telling and readings.  Carolyn's the reason the Beats landed in San Francisco - once she moved out here Neal had to follow - and Jack and Allen weren't far behind.  The evening will include plenty of time for Questions and Answers as well as autographs and conversation.

The Beat Museum
540 Broadway (at Columbus)
San Francisco, CA
415-399-9626 - Museum Direct
Tickets are $20 in advance; $30 at the door
Friday, December 29th - 7:30 PM

This event is sure to sell out as newspaper publicity is starting now.  As Carolyn rarely makes appearances in the U.S. we don't want those of you on our mailing list to miss this opportunity.  Call the museum direct at 415-399-9626 (between 11 AM - 7 PM Pacific) with your credit card information so we can hold your ticket for you at the door.
 

 

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2005

 JANUARY 2005

1/19/05 - Kerouac knickknacks go up for bid online. Read about it in the Lowell Sun.  http://www.lowellsun.com/Stories/0,1413,105~4761~2645387,00.html

Scroll Tour - Jan. 19 to March 31: University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, Iowa http://www.uiowa.edu/~ournews/2005/january/010705on-the-road.html

JAN. 28 - IN UI MUSEUM OF ART - LATHAM WILL TALK ABOUT BEATS AND BEATNIKS. The University of Iowa Museum of Art (UIMA) will host “Beat vs. Beatnik: Pop Cooptations of Kerouac and Company,” a free lecture by Rob Latham, a UI associate professor of English and American Studies, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 28, in the museum’s Lasansky Room. Latham will discuss the changing paradigms of aesthetics during the Beat era and beyond.  He will focus on how the Beat generation writers of the 1950s were caricatured throughout the contemporary mass media as ‘beatniks.’ He will also talk about how the Beat writers themselves, especially Kerouac, responded to these media caricatures.

JAN. 30 - DALE FISHER WILL LEAD A TOUR OF UI MUSEUM OF ART. Dale Fisher, director of education at the University of Iowa Museum of Art (UIMA), will present a tour of the museum’s collections and “Jack Kerouac: On the Road,” an exhibition of Kerouac’s scroll manuscript of the Beat Generation novel, at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 30. The tour will be free and open to the public.

 February 2005

Beat Angel (movie showing) 7pm Tuesday, Feb. 15:  The Live Poets Society and the Sedona International Film Festival & Workshop will present a special showing of “BEAT ANGEL” at the Sedona Harkins Theatres. Vincent Balestri ("Jack") will give a special reading, and Vincent with director Randy Allred will be present after the film for Q&A.

Harkins Theatres
2081 West Highway 89A
Sedona, AZ, 86336

For more information email info@newterritoryarts.com or call Jim Bishop at 928-282-1966, or John Reid at 204-0695. Tickets for the Beat Angel evening will be $10 and will be available at the door.

Scroll Tour - Jan. 19 to March 31: University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, Iowa http://www.uiowa.edu/~ournews/2005/january/010705on-the-road.html

 March 2005

Jack Kerouac's Birthday, March 12, 1922

Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! - Are you going to be in Lowell, MA, Jack's hometown? Lowell Celebrates Kerouac

March 11-13 - Fifth annual Jack Kerouac Birthday Party, Denton, Texas. It began as a house party, starting on the night of March 11th 2001 to allow for a collaborative birthday toast to Jack Kerouac. The idea was to have typewriters placed throughout the house with taped together lengths of paper for attendants to type freely whatever they felt at the moment. Kerouac books were also scattered throughout the house to provide equally scattered readings. Mostly original writings were read, but granting the party was a celebration of the artist as an inspiration to all of our art, in some form or fashion, we wanted those without writings at hand to have a varied selection of literature to read aloud. Success, success, success! Cheap wine and other alcohols were had by all. Original Kerouac songs were spontaneously written and performed by all. Typings were read and preserved by all. The party, holding those precepts, has continued to this grand continuance, our fifth annual Jack Kerouac Birthday Party. This, our fifth year, will be held at 2301 W. Prarie #2, Denton, TX 76201. Out of town attendants are encouraged to travel and will be housed. Begins evening of March 11th and ends evening of March 13th. You may feel free to contact Greg at 214-533-8736 or Eddie Cain at 806-773-6555 for more information. 

Sunday March 13, 2005, 2 pm - Reading of 242 choruses of Mexico City Blues, Knoxville, Tennessee. The Urban Bar (corner of Jackson and Central), accompanied by a Jazz jam by the Suburbanterreanians. The readers are know collectively as the Karma Thieves. For more info gregleton@netzero.net

Saturday, March 12, 8 pm onwards - A CAFÉ & DANCE CELEBRATING DHARMA ARTS with the disembodied poetics of Jack Kerouac (on the occasion of his birthday*). 118 W. 22nd Street, 6th Floor, New York City, Edible treats & cash bar, $10 donation. A delectable smorgasbord of theater, comedy, music, video, visual art & spoken word. We'll mix the Dharma and the city, explore, develop, and share the arts in an open, responsive, and playful environment. SPECIAL TREAT: In honor of Jack Kerouac's birthday, we'll offer Performances-- Storytelling with Laura Simms and theater with Peter Goldfarb, Lanny Harrison, and the GESTURE Theatre Company.  Spoken word artists include Jim Storm, Rachel Lund, Ken Caffrey, Jr., Ethan Nichtern, and more! Video & Film--The Listen With Your Eyes contemplative media project curates a program of shorts, including work by John Benton, Carina Tautu,, Eric Zechman,  plus ambient video. Comedy--Master Lee and Joseph Mauricio add leavening. Dancing--The celebration concludes with a DJ'ed dance featuring live performers. Musicians include Tal Varon, Timothy Quigly, and Arnold Hammerschlag. Visual art --The exhibit "Love at First Sight: Clear Seeing and Visual Dharma," will be on view at the Center from Friday, Mar. 11, through Sunday, Mar. 13. Work by Jack Niland, Lela Shields, Erin Koch, and others. On sale will be an assortment of poetry and other literary work. Come see the Center transformed by work produced in the preceding day-long workshop, "Dharma Art: All at Once" led by Jack Niland. This celebration is part of the month-long international Dharma Arts festival sponsored by Vajra Dawn. The Shambhala Center is located at 118 W. 22nd St., between 6th and 7th avenues, on the sixth floor. Nearby subways are the F/V, 1/9, W/R, C/E. For more info: 212.675.6544, or visit http://www.ny.shambhala.org.

Beat Angel - March 5 (showtimes TBA), Sedona, AZ: "BEAT ANGEL" screens at the 11th Annual Sedona International Film Festival & Workshop in Sedona, AZ. Poetry, Films and a SLAM! at the Canyon Moon Theatre in the Old Marketplace.  If poetry is your thing, you MUST be at Canyon Moon Theatre for an afternoon of poetry, slams and special screenings of “Beat Angel” and “Sunday Night Poets.” The festival and workshop runs March 3 to 6, 2005. For more information e-mail or call the festival at 928.282.1177

Scroll Tour - Jan. 19 to March 13: University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, Iowa http://www.uiowa.edu/~ournews/2005/january/010705on-the-road.html

Scroll Tour - March 24 to May 15: Las Vegas Public Library, Las Vegas, Nevada, the city of luck.

 April 2005

On The Road Scroll Tour - March 24 to May 15: Las Vegas Public Library Las Vegas Public Library, Rainbow Library, 3150 N. Buffalo Dr., Las Vegas, Nevada 89128. Phone:(702) 507-3710. Hours: M-Th, 9 a.m. - 9 p.m., F - Sun, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

April 3,  MEMORIAL FOR PHILIP LAMANTIA SUNDAY APRIL 3RD IN SF. Philip Lamantia passed away on March 7th.  Philip was one of the participants at that famous "Six Poets at Six Gallery" in October, 1955.  He chose not to read his own poems that night but rather those of a recently deceased friend, John Hoffman.  This is the same night Ginsberg read Howl for the first time and the rest is Beat History. Please note:  Some of the newspaper articles below say the memorial for Philip is scheduled for this coming Sunday March 27th.  This appears to have changed as the City Lights website says the memorial has been rescheduled for Sunday April 3rd at Enrico's from 2PM-5PM. http://www.citylights.com/
 

 May 2005

On The Road Scroll Tour - March 24 to May 15: Las Vegas Public Library Las Vegas Public Library, Rainbow Library, 3150 N. Buffalo Dr., Las Vegas, Nevada 89128. Phone:(702) 507-3710. Hours: M-Th, 9 a.m. - 9 p.m., F - Sun, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

May 13 - BEAT ANGEL screens 9pm Friday, at GALLERY CO. 7, 2000 SE 7th, Portland, OR 97214. 7:00 pm - Buffalo Poetry open mic - free. 9:00 film - $5. 12:00 am - 'Round Midnight Jazz Jam - $4. Special thanks to Michael Franklin. For more information call Michael (503) 282-5784
 

 June 2005

Scroll Tour - June to August: National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C.

June 5 - "The Dharma at Big Sur" by John Adams. Lincoln Center in New York City is hosting the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Sunday, June 5 at 2pm when they perform John Adams’ “The Dharma at Big Sur”, his tribute to the California landscape as described by Gary Snider, Henry Miller, and Jack Kerouac.  Newsday calls the piece ‘an unhurried meditation for electric violin and orchestra, reminiscent of Jerry Garcia guitar solos.’ You could link to http://lincolncenter.org or   http://www.lincolncenter.org/esro/load_event_1.asp?event=3578&programid=119

 

 July 2005

Scroll Tour - June to August: National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C.

BEAT FACE OF GOD - CLASS IN BERKELEY - JULY 11 - 15, There's still time to sign up for Steve Edington's one week session - "The Beat Face of God - The Beat Generation Writers as Spirit Guides".  The course is based on Steve's forthcoming book of the same title.Class Description - http://www.sksm.edu/academics/summer_2005.php
 

 August 2005

Scroll Tour - June to August: National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C.

 September 2005

Scroll Tour - Sept. 1 to Nov. 30: University of Texas, Austin

Kerouac Fest at the Midway Hotel - Windber, PA, starting Thursday, September 8 to Sunday. An informal weekend, but filled with events at the Midway Hotel located 1303 Midway St, in downtown Windber (not a public hotel but they have the occasional special events). Winber is about an hour east of Pittsburgh. Just the way to celebrate Kerouac and his life. Wish I could be there. Celebrated in style, it's one big hell of a slumber party. The Beat Museum on Wheels, carrying John Cassady (son of Neal), will hopefully arrive there in time for the Big Beat Symposium.  www.kerouacfest.com

Events:

Thursday September 8th - Evening Check-in at the Grand Midway Hotel, 1303 Midway, Windber, PA 15963 -direct center of town- It is free but please contact us ahead of time if you plan to attend (What to bring: you must bring something -anything- to share with others at the event, your writing or your work, anything to contribute to the group experience, beer or wine or food for the pot lucks, a musical instrument if you play jazz, your own sleeping bag and pillow and towel, a pen, a few bucks to shop at the Beat Mobile. Enthusiasm.) Late night poker games and other surprises

Friday September 9th - mini-classes throughout the day with special guests Beat Mobile arrives via 3000 miles from California. 8 pm- the Big Beat Symposium at the beautiful Arcadia Theater! (across the street from the Hotel). 10:30 pm John Cassady Birthday Party at the Hotel (with undisclosed band) -it is also Marshall Ruben and Aimee Kast's birthday as well!

Saturday September 10th - Noon several thousand motorcycles begin the Dog Run out front Hotel, mini-classes throughout the day with special guests, Night Marathon Reading of Kerouac's On The Road set to live improv jazz! Possible Coney Island Midnight Hotdog Run Adventure

Sunday September 11th - Sunday morning big breakfast and good-byes

You must be 18 or older to attend. (NOTE: we will be filming the last of the footage for the film Coolsville the weekend of the event.)

See you there! www.kerouacfest.com

 October 2005

Jack Safe in Heaven dead, October 21, 1969

Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! - October 6 - 9, 2005. Are you going to be in Lowell, MA, Jack's hometown? Lowell Celebrates Kerouac.  The 18th Annual Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! Festival celebrates "Jack's Roots." Take the time to spend 4 days in Kerouac's hometown, walk the streets he wrote about, and listen to lectures, see movies, go on a pub crawl and drink in the same bars that Kerouac did.

Events:

Thursday, Oct.6

A.M.
-9:30 UMASS Jack Kerouac Conference on Beat Literature. South Campus. Panels and readings in O'Leary 222, Wilder St.


P.M. -3:30 film screening, Pull My Daisy. Beat classic starring Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, David Amram and others, narrated by Jack Kerouac. David Amram will be on hand to speak. UMASS, So. Campus, O'Leary Room 222, Wilder St.

-4:00 showing of Henry Ferrini's Lowell Blues. LNHP Visitor Center, Market St.

-5:00 Destination Lowell, an evening of events focused on Franco-American of French-Canadian origin. Films, music, food tasting, exhibits. Various locations. Meet at LNHP Visitor Ctr., Market St. $5

-7:30 reading by poet Nancy Schoenberger. With David Daniel. Cosponsored by LCK! and UMASS, O'Leary 222, Wilder St.

-9:00 reading featuring poet, David Surette, Caffe' Paradiso. Located on the corner of Market and Palmer St.

Friday, Oct.7

A.M.
-9:00 Lowell High School (LHS) youth poetry competition. LHS, French St.

-9:30 UMASS Conference continues.

P.M.
-2:00 UMASS Conference keynote speaker, Sam Kashner, author of When I Was Cool, his account of life as the first student at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics.

-2:30 Hey Jack Kerouac walking tour. Lowell National Historical Park. Includes Kerouac artifacts on exhibit. Meets at LNHP Visitor Center, Market St.

-4:00 showing of Henry Ferrini's Lowell Blues. LNHP Visitor Center, Market St.

-7:30 reading event at Life Alive focusing on Kerouac's literary/artistic roots. Readings from Wolff, Saroyan, others. With Tony Sampas, Paul Marion, more. 194 Middle St.

-9:00 Ghosts of the Pawtuckettville Night walking tour led by Roger Brunelle in conjunction with the Mogan Cultural Center. Meets in front of Cumnock Hall, UMASS No. Campus, University Ave. Suggested donation $5

Saturday, Oct.8

A.M.
-9:00 Kerouac's Lowell bus tour led by Roger Brunelle in conjunction with the Mogan Cultural Center. Will meet at the Mogan Cultural Center, French St. Suggested donation $10

-10:30 Commemorative at the Commemorative. Short readings from passages dedicated to Jack and words of remembrance by personal friends of Lucien Carr, Robert Creeley, Philip Lamantia, and Hunter S. Thompson. Kerouac Park, Bridge St.


P.M.
-12:00 David Amram, Cairo to Kerouac a journey in music at the Pollard Memorial Library, Merrimack St.

-2:00 Bill Morgan on Allen Ginsberg, part of the Parker Lecture Series. Pollard Memorial Library, Merrimack St.

-2:00 Kerouac's Merrimack boat tour. Lowell National Historical Park. Meets at LNHP Visitor Center, Market St. Fees and reservation required. Call (978) 970-5000

-3:30 Poetry and Spoken word open mic reading at the Rainbow. Cabot St.

-4:00 showing of Henry Ferrini's Lowell Blues. LNHP Visitor Center, Market St.

-5:30 Kerouac Pub Crawl. Tour some spots Jack was known to socialize, led by Mike Wurm. Meet in front of LNHP Visitor Center, Market St.

-7:00 Book signing and discussion by Steve Edington, author of The Beat Face of God, The Beat Generation Writers as Spirit Guides. David Amram wrote the introduction and will be on hand to answer questions. Barnes & Noble, 151 Merrimack St.

-8:30 Jazz In Jack's Town with the David Amram Trio. Gallery Grill, EVOS. DVD release party. DVD recorded last year with John Allen Cassady, David Amram and Trio, Steve Edington. Raffle ticket with purchase of DVD. 98 Middle St. Suggested donation, $5


Sunday, Oct.9

A.M.
-10:00 Kurt Hemmer's film on Michael McClure and Henry Ferrini presenting rough cut of film on Charles Olson. Henry Ferrini is being presented in conjunction with the Lowell Poetry Network and is partially funded by Walter Bacigalupo. Both film makers will be on hand to discuss their work. Brush with Art Gallery and Studios. Market St.


P.M.
-2:00 Amram Jam. Poetry and spoken word open mic with live accompaniment by David Amram Trio. Caffe' Paradiso, corner of Market and Palmer St.

-2:30 Hey Jack Kerouac walking tour. Lowell National Historical Park. Includes Kerouac artifacts on exhibit. Meets at LNHP Visitor Center, Market St.

-4:00 showing of Henry Ferrini's Lowell Blues. LNHP Visitor Center, Market St.
 

Litquake - San Francisco, CA, October 7 - 15, 2005.  Litquake gives everyone who reads a reason to put down their books and get out of the house. Named Best SF Lit Scene by San Francisco Magazine, this annual literary festival runs from October 7-15, 2005.

Litquake’s opening night will feature a tribute to the 50th anniversary of the first reading of Ginsberg’s “Howl” at the 6 Gallery. Co-produced with City Lights, Howl Redux: Revolutionary Writers of San Francisco will pair authors and celebrities to give voice to seminal Bay Area writers who have put the Bay Area on the international literary map. Works by Jack London, Mark Twain, Gertrude Stein, Dashiell Hammett, Jack Kerouac, Randy Shilts and more will be read by Daniel Handler, Cintra Wilson, Amy Tan, Armistead Maupin, devorah major, Barry Gifford and special guests. Howl Redux takes place Friday, October 7 at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco. Advance tickets will be available through http://www.cityboxoffice.com/

A complete list of authors, times and venues is available at http://www.litquake.org/. Admissions vary according to event, with some free of charge. To purchase tickets ahead of time: http://www.cityboxoffice.com/

 

Scroll Tour continues- Sept. 1 to Nov. 30: University of Texas, Austin

THE BEAT MUSEUM ON WHEELS FALL TOUR - SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER:  The Beat Museum on Wheels hits the road. Jerry Cimino and John Cassady (son of Neal Cassady) are now putting their Fall Tour in place and expect to hit many of the same locales they hit last Fall - Lowell, New York, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Raleigh and other locales.  Contact thebeatmobile@yahoo.com or 1-800-KER-OUAC  if you want to get your school or organization in the queue.   Check The Beat Museum on Wheels website: http://www.thebeatmuseumonwheels.com/

"Beat Generation" by Jack Kerouac- Thunder's Mouth Press will publish a new Kerouac book, BEAT GENERATION, this October.  ($18, cloth, 112 pages, 1-56025-742-3) This is an unpublished, unproduced play written by Kerouac that his agent, Sterling Lord, recently rediscovered. With an introduction by A. M. Homes.

 November 2005

4th Annual BEAT GENERATION AND BEYOND Premier collaborative conference of art, film, poetry and performance, sponsored by JOHN NATSOULAS GALLERY located in Davis, California. info: http://www.natsoulas.com/

4TH ANNUAL BEAT GENERATION AND BEYOND CONFERENCE TAKES PLACE NOV 11 & 12

The Fourth Annual Beat Generation & Beyond Conference will be presented by John Natsoulas Center For The Arts (521 First Street, Davis, CA). The gathering offers a rare opportunity to meet world-renowned poets, artists, filmmakers, and performers of the Beat Generation. The Beats’ rebellious spirit, a bent for collaboration, and their wildly creative vision changed the culture of 20th century America—a vision that continues to inspire today’s artists.

This year’s conference headliner, Amiri Baraka, was known during his Beat period as LeRoi Jones. He lived in New York’s Greenwich Village and Lower East Side where he published several important little magazines and hung out with other bohemian writers like Allen Ginsberg, Frank O’Hara, and Gilbert Sorrentino. Baraka, a foremost African/American poet, will perform on Saturday, reading his poems. For more information, see http://www.natsoulas.com/html/beatweb/beat.html or contact nancy@natsoulas.com

 

Scroll Tour continues - Sept. 1 to Nov. 30: University of Texas, Austin

THE BEAT MUSEUM ON WHEELS FALL TOUR - SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER:  The Beat Museum on Wheels hits the road. Jerry Cimino and John Cassady (son of Neal Cassady) are now putting their Fall Tour in place and expect to hit many of the same locales they hit last Fall - Lowell, New York, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Raleigh and other locales.  Contact thebeatmobile@yahoo.com or 1-800-KER-OUAC  if you want to get your school or organization in the queue.   Check The Beat Museum on Wheels website: http://www.thebeatmuseumonwheels.com/

 December 2005

THE BEAT MUSEUM ON WHEELS FALL TOUR - SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER:  The Beat Museum on Wheels hits the road. Jerry Cimino and John Cassady (son of Neal Cassady) are now putting their Fall Tour in place and expect to hit many of the same locales they hit last Fall - Lowell, New York, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Raleigh and other locales.  Contact thebeatmobile@yahoo.com or 1-800-KER-OUAC  if you want to get your school or organization in the queue.   Check The Beat Museum on Wheels website: http://www.thebeatmuseumonwheels.com/

 

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2004

  JANUARY 2004

1/15/04 - On The Road Scroll Display, Orlando, FL


 FEBRUARY 2004

February 28th at 2:00 pm (Orlando, FL) - Co-founder of the Kerouac Project Bob Kealing's new book, "Kerouac In Florida - Where the Road Ends"  The Orange County Regional History Center is hosting a party in to celebrate the publication of "Kerouac in Florida" on Saturday, February 28th at 2:00 pm. David Amram will be coming back to Orlando to help celebrate this special event.

Click here to read an excerpt, as published in the current issue of Orlando Magazine.

 


 MARCH 2004

3/12/22 - Happy Birthday Jack

Penguin Books is releasing 'Neal Cassady: Collected Letters,' edited by Dave Moore ('the Kerouac Connection'). March 30, 2004. The collection includes more than 200 letters to Kerouac, Ginsberg, Holmes & others, as well as to Carolyn, Neal's wife. 'Neal Cassady, raw & uncut.'


Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Birthday Celebration - March 12, Lowell, MA, with the Hot Spot Jazz Trio


An Evening with Jack Kerouac, a play  - March 20, 27 Winter Park, FL

 


 APRIL 2004

An Evening with Jack Kerouac, a play  - April 17,18. Fall River, MA


An Evening with Jack Kerouac, a play  - April 24, 25. Winter Park, FL


Beat Angel, a movie premiere -  April 5th, 7:30pm - "Beat Angel"  Dir: Randy Allred, Starring: Vincent Balestri, Frank Tabbita, Lisa Niemi
A homeless man is reincarnated as Jack Kerouac. Location: AMC Theaters, 201 E. Magnolia Blvd. (inside mall, 3rd floor). Monday, April 5th, 5:30-7:30pm. "The Method Fest invites you to go back in time to the days of Jack Kerouac and the Beat Movement for an evening of poetry and music. Following the event will be a screening of the film "Beat Angel" by Director Randy Allred.
Location: Shakespeare at Play Theater, 328 N. Brighton Ave. Method Fest - An Independent Film Festival April 2nd - 9th, 2004 Downtown Burbank, CA - info -  www.methodfest.com

 


Friday, April 2nd at 3:30 at the Bull’s Head Bookshop Gordon Ball will read from ‘66 Frames (Coffee House Press), his memoir of 1960s New York.  Featuring encounters with Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, and Andy Warhol, ‘66 Frames is a record of the New York underground art scene of the time and a history of American avant garde cinema.  Ball is Professor of English at Virginia Military Institute and has edited several volumes of Allen Ginsberg’s early journals and other writings; he will be appearing on campus as part of the conference “The Beats in America: Alternative Visions, Then and Now.”   He will also be reading from a new, unpublished work entitled East Hill Farm: Seasons with Allen Ginsberg.  Call (919)962-5060 for more information. (919) 962-3450.  Bull’s Head Bookshop UNC Student Stores CB, 1530 Daniels Building, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 pelech@email.unc.edu

 


 MAY 2004

Scroll Tour: May 10 to June 25: Naropa University, Boulder, Colo.


May 29, in the country of Argentina - SETNOVA is not only a band, but a complete beat movement. They play around the country, traveling like Kerouac, and they project some beat images in the concerts, the also read poetry from Kerouac, Ginsberg, and from Nicolás Chanseaud, the leader of the Argentinian beat movement. The calendar of concerts are published in this page: www.fotolog.net/setnova The next one is the 29 of May 29th. In a town named Castelar, near Buenos Aires. Around midnight, in the city theatre.

JUNE 2004

Scroll Tour: May 10 to June 25: Naropa University, Boulder, Colo.

 


 JULY 2004

JULY 31 - BEAT ANGEL Screening at the  18TH Annual Wine Country Film Festival, Napa Valley, CA, With Open Mike Poetry Event featuring Beat Angel Star Vincent Balestri.


An Evening with Jack Kerouac, a play  - July 23, 24 & 25 at 8:00 PM, Southern Winds Theater, is taking it's productions to the West End Theatre in Gloucester, Massachusetts. An Evening with Jack Kerouac will be presented,   at the theatre. Tickets are $12.00. For Reservations and information call (978)283-2525.


 

Kerouac – King of the Beats - July 31st – 4 PM (Saturday) -  movie,  Sponsored by Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Visitor’s Center of the    1-877-KER-OUAC, Lowell National Historic Park, 246 Market Street, Lowell, MA       http://lckorg.tripod.com

 


 AUGUST 2004


 SEPTEMBER 2004

Scroll Tour: Sept. 15 to Nov. 30: Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wis.


 OCTOBER 2004

October 21, 1969 - Kerouac Safe in Heaven Dead

September 29 to October 3 -  Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! Festival, Lowell, MA


On The Road Reading - October 16, 2004: The Grand Midway Hotel, 1303 Midway, Windber, PA 15963. The entire reading of Kerouac's On The Road will start at 12 noon. Last year it took eleven hours. Live jazz music and free coffee. The second annual reading? http://www.thecemetery.net/currentpage/kerouac1.htm


October 24th, 2004 (Knoxvillle, Tn) - A reading of all 242 choruses of Kerouac's Mexico City Blues with jazz accompaniment will be at the Urban Bar and Corner Cafe Corner of Jackson and Central Knoxvillle, TN, 3 PM Sunday afternoon. This in the third annual reading.


Scroll Tour continues: Sept. 15 to Nov. 30: Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wis.

 


 NOVEMBER 2004

Scroll Tour continues: Sept. 15 to Nov. 30: Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wis.

 


 DECEMBER 2004

 

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January 15, 2004 - ON THE ROAD SCROLL on Exhibition- ORLANDO, FL. - (December 15, 2003) - Award Winning Composer, multi-instrumentalist, author and Kerouac's principal musical collaborator David Amram will perform and host at the opening ceremonies celebrating the public showing of the original scroll manuscript of Jack Kerouac's On the Road at the Orange County Regional History Center on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2004, from 5:30p.m. to 6:30p.m.  Cost is $15 per person and space is limited.

Amram's performance marks the worldwide tour launch of On the Road - The Kerouac Scrolls, Jack Kerouac's breakthrough 1957 novel presented for a limited engagement at the Orange County Regional History Center of Orlando from January 10 through March 21.  The original "On the Road" Scroll recently sold for $2.4 million at Christie's New York auction house.  The Scroll is central to the special exhibit as it documents Kerouac's work in its original form, as well as chronicling his time in Orlando, where he lived when the publication of On the Road in 1957 catapulted him to worldwide fame.

For more information call (407) 836-8500 or visit www.thehistorycenter.org.


The "On the Road'' scroll exhibition schedule -

Coming to a city near you. The scroll will be making 13 stops during the 4 year tour. Check it out. The tour is subject to change. Please call to confirm.

2004

Jan. 10 to March 21: Orange County History Center, Orlando, Fla.

May 10 to June 25: Naropa University, Boulder, Colo.

Sept. 15 to Nov. 30: Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wis.

2005

Jan. 19 to March 13: University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, Iowa

March 24 to May 15: Las Vegas Public Library

June to August: National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C.

Sept. 1 to Nov. 30: University of Texas, Austin

2006

Jan. 14 to March 19: San Francisco Public Library

May 1 to July 31: Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library, Indianapolis

 

2007

January 1 to March 31, 2007: Denver Public Library, Denver, CO
 
April 6 to May 31,  2007: Palace of the Governors, Santa Fe, New Mexico
 
June 7 to September 14, 2007: Lowell, MA National Historical Park
 
September 28, 2007 to February 15, 2008: New York Public Library, New York City
 
 
 
2008
 
September 28, 2007 to February 15, 2008: New York Public Library, New York City
 
March 7 to May 30, 2008: UT, Austin TX
 
July 3 to September 28, 2008: Indianapolis Museum of Art       
 
 October 3 to November 30, 2008: Columbia College, Chicago,  Illinois
 
December 3, 2008 to March 6, 2009: Fitton Center , Cincinnati, OH
 
2009
 
December 3, 2008 to March 6, 2009: Fitton Center , Cincinnati, OH


For articles on the auction of the scroll back in 2001 click here


An Evening with Jack Kerouac - written by David A. McElroy and Steve A. Rowell, performed by David A. McElroy

July 23, 24 & 25 at 8:00 PM, Southern Winds Theater, is taking two of it's productions to the West End Theatre in Gloucester, Massachusetts. An Evening with Jack Kerouac will be presented,   at the theatre. Tickets are $12.00. For Reservations and information call (978)283-2525.

March 20, 2004 - Dinner and show 7:00 PM
Chapters Restaurant and Bookshop
358 N. Park Avenue
Winter Park, FL 32789
Phone: 407-644-2880

March 27, 2004 - Dinner and show 7:00 PM
Chapters Restaurant and Bookshop
358 N. Park Avenue
Winter Park, FL 32789
Phone: 407-644-2880

April 24 and 25, 2004 - Dinner and show 7:00 PM
Chapters Restaurant and Bookshop
358 N. Park Avenue
Winter Park, FL 32789
Phone: 407-644-2880

For more information:
http://chaptersonpark.com

We will also be performing An Evening with Jack Kerouac:
Saturday April 17, 2004 8:00 p.m.
Sunday April 18, 2004 7:30 p.m.
Narrows Center for the Arts
16 Anawan St.
Fall River, MA 02721 (508) 324-1926

For more info:
http://www.ncfta.org

Here are two reviews about An Evening with Jack Kerouac:

                                    AN EVENING WITH JACK KEROUAC
 By Don Owens From: The New Sun Newspaper @ newsun.com

At first the setting seemed in congruent with the occasion. It was a late March southern night in Winter Park, Florida and we were about to spend  An Evening with Jack Kerouac. The annual Art Festival in this tony, town was in full swing as we were seated at The Dinner Theatre of Chapters on Park.

With grace and romance the subtropical moon illuminated the restaurant's art affected windowpanes. The sounds of servers serving, wine glasses chiming and the sold out audience conversing, immediately disappeared when actor David A. McElroy as Jack Kerouac stepped into the spotlight. For the next hour and ten minutes Mr. McElroy mesmerized his audience by transporting us to the 1969 Green Room at PBS network studios in New York City. The occasion was the weekly William F. Buckley broadcast, the event was to become the prophetic last interview with the 47 year old Beat writer, Kerouac.

Much of this performance finds the animated Jack Kerouac, in the green room; standing, sitting, pacing and binge drinking the minutes away while awaiting his queue to join Buckley and guests. A brilliantly conceived script by co-playwrights Mr. McElroy and Steve A. Rowell explore the distant corners of this icon¹s world, along with the darkest passages of his mind.

Without using one word of his writing an amazingly Kerouacain flavor exists within the lines of this imaginative play. Off stage voices serve as a counterpoint to David McElroy¹s rapid fire dialogue. By nights end we had all become intimately acquainted with the bohemian friends, the forever young - older brother and the truest passion of Jack Kerouac¹s life, his mother.

An Evening with Jack Kerouac concluded with an interpretation of Buckley¹s on air interview with the semi coherent genius of his time. As the spot light faded to black David McElroy stepped from the stage leaving Jack Kerouac emblazoned in our hearts and minds forever.

As word of this stunning performance travels the theatrical telegraph line, calls have come in from across America as well as a theatre company in England asking if David A. McElroy and company would consider taking this production "On The Road." This reporter hopes that they do.


"BEAT ANGEL" SCREENING

JULY 31, 2004 AT THE 18TH ANNUAL WINE COUNTRY FILM FESTIVAL

RESURRECT THE SPIRIT OF JACK KEROUAC

WITH OPEN MIKE POETRY EVENT FEATURING BEAT ANGEL STAR VINCENT BALESTRI

In honor of the screening of Beat Angel at the Wine Country Film Festival, there will be an open mike poetry event, July 31, 6:00 p.m. at the Sequoia Grove Vineyards followed by the film at 9:00 p.m. in the festival’s outdoor theatre. The pre-film event will feature Vincent Balestri and other special guests paying homage to poets Jack Kerouac, Charles Bukowski and Jack Micheline. "Sparks fly" said The San Francisco Examiner of Balestri’s performance in his one-actor jazz play, "Kerouac: the Essence of Jack" which played in Bay Area theatres for 14 months during the late ‘80s, with appearances by Beat luminaries such as Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Ruth Weiss. Also at the poetry/film event from the Beat Museum in Monterey, will be Jerry Cimino’s Beat Museum on Wheels displaying Beat Generation memorabilia and collectibles. Admission for the evening is $20.

Beat Angel is a film about the spirit of Jack Kerouac starring Vincent Balestri (as Kerouac) who returns to earth to re-inspire a burnt out writer (played by Frank Tabbita) and shows up at an open mike poetry slam in honor of his "death day." Backed by a jazz trio, Balestri’s Kerouac character explains the meaning of "bop spontaneous prose" and "speaking the truth." With footage shot at Desolation Peak (where Kerouac served as a fire lookout - and wrote about his mountaintop experience in "Dharma Bums" and "Desolation Angels"), dream images, a jazz music score and recreations of moments in Kerouac’s life, the film has a haunting yet inspiring quality that appeals to artists and writers and Beat fans alike. Beat Angel was nominated for two awards at the Method Fest in Los Angeles and of its screening at the River Run International Film Festival in North Carolina was praised by the Winston-Salem Journal who said, "Tabbita and Balestri are superb."

Sequoia Grove Vineyards is located at 8338 St. Helena (Hwy. 29), Rutherford, Napa Valley. For tickets and information call (707) 935-FILM or go to WineCountryFilmFest.com. Also see film website, BeatAngel.com.


 

 

 

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2002 - 2003 Previous Events

A play by Tom O'Neil called "Kerouac" Performances begin on Saturday, January 11th, 2003; Opens January 26th through February 23rd, 2003 in New York City at the PC2 theatre.

Oct. 12 through Dec.16, 2002 Kerouac Scoll on display at the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery. Saratoga Springs, NY.

Wed., Dec. 4, 2002, 6:30 p.m., Anne Waldman Reading, Chicago, IL

October 17, 2002 -John Suiter, Poets on the Peaks, A Reading and Discussion, 7:00 PM. Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods, 44 Baker Farm, Lincoln, MA 01773.

Thurs., Oct. 17, 2002, 6:30 p.m.  Lawrence Ferlinghetti Reading, Chicago, IL

Oct 4 - Oct 13, 2002 Raving Lunatics -a spoken word cut-up of spontaneous prosody by Jack Kerouac, New York City

October 4 -6 - Lowell Celebrates Kerouac - October 2002 in Lowell. Massachusetts. Be there or be square.

AUG 30, 2002, 7:00 PM, FRIDAY, PHILIP WHALEN MEMORIAL READING - San Francisco, CA.

"Jack Kerouac - Last Call", a play. Opens Thursday, April 18, 2002 - Closes Sunday, July 14, 2002 in New York City.

April 26 through July 27, 2002 - "Victorians, Moderns, and Beats: New in the Berg Collection, 1994—2001" - See the new Kerouac acquisition at the New York Public Library, NYC

June 27, 2002, 6 - 8 PM, Thunder's Mouth Press and the Jack Kerouac Writers in Residence Project of Orlando Inc. invite you meet composer David Amram in New York City

SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 2002 , Live from Lowell, MA, C-SPAN'S AMERICAN WRITERS FOCUSES ON AUTHOR JACK KEROUAC  (on TV) (Check to see if this is being rebroadcast by clicking to http://www.americanwriters.org .)

Saturday, May 4 and Sunday, May 5, 2002 - Door Wide Open, a play (based on Joyce Johnson's book)- New York City

April 7 -14, 2002, Kerouac Writer In Residence program in Orlando, Florida Event

March 31, 2002, 4-8 PM, Sunday - David Amram-Benefit for WBAI-99.5FM, New York City and celebrating the 45th Anniversary of Kerouac/Amram jazz poetry readings at the Brata Art Gallery and Circle -In-the- Square in NYC ,1957. Read Amram's new book "Offbeat."

March 21-24, 2002 - David Amram Back on the Bowery: 1957-2002 The Beat Goes On David Amram Trio & Lee Ranaldo headline Viking/Hillbilly Festival's Final Night

Sunday March 10, 2002 - "Last Call: An Evening with Jack Kerouac" Wantagh, NY

March 8th-10th, 2002 - Jack Kerouac's 80th Birthday Celebration, Lowell, MA

Carolyn Cassady lecture in the UK - February 12, 2002

Auction of Dharma Bums scroll - October 29, 2001

Past Event - On the Road scroll sold at auction - May 22, 2001

 


 

A play by Tom O'Neil called "Kerouac" Performances begin on Saturday, January 11th, 2003; Opens January 26th through February 23rd, 2003 - After a well received run at the 13th Street Rep, producer Lavezzo Leone will present “KEROUAC” for six weeks at PC2 (616 9th Avenue at 44th St.) beginning performances Saturday, January 15th, opening on Sunday, January 26th at 7PM through February 23rd. In a small bungalow located in St. Petersburg Florida, Jack Kerouac, mythical beat poet/novelist, conjures peers and past loves during the final hour and twenty minutes of his life. In a twist of time and space we find a 1940’s Kerouac meeting with Allen Ginsberg and Neal Cassady while two journalists compose his obituary. The ensuing dialogue navigates Jack’s life in a manner that is both direct and dream-like. With a jazz resonance, “KEROUAC” blends fiction and fact in this witty, revealing new play.

It has been called “Absolutely fascinating! It is a short, sharp, fever-dream of a play.” nytheatre.com; “A Theatrical Jam Session! O’Neil’s script is poetic.” oobr; “Wistfully lyrical” offoffoff.com; “A must see!” US Frontline. 

Performances begin on Saturday, January 11th; Opens January 26th through February 23rd. Performance Schedule: Wednesday – Monday at 8PM (except: Saturday, January 11th and Sunday, January 12th at 3PM)

PC2 is located at 616 9th Avenue at 44th St. Tickets are $35, to purchase tickets visit http://www.theatermania.com/ny/shows/jackkerouac/ or call (212) 352-3101.


2002


October. 12 through Dec.16, 2002 - Kerouac Scoll on display at the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery. Saratoga Springs, NY. The exhibition includes 195 black-and-white ’50s-era photographs, organized in categories such as politics, mechanization, the Cold War, celebrities, and everyday life.

Featured in the Tang’s presentation of “The Tumultuous Fifties” will be the original draft of Jack Kerouac’s seminal novel On the Road. On loan to the Tang from the collection of James Irsay, the rambling Beat classic was pounded out in a three-week writing marathon in April 1951. Typed onto a 120-foot-long scroll Kerouac taped together from 20-foot strips of teletype paper he found in his loft, the novel was strikingly innovative in form as well as content.

The Tang Museum is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, and closed Mondays and major holidays. Admission is free. Skidmore College, 815 North Broadway, Saratoga Springs, New York, 12866. 518-580-5000 http://apollo.skidmore.edu/news/news.release.detail_show?p_news_id=189

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Wed., Dec. 4, 6:30 p.m., Anne Waldman Reading - Ballroom of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 112 S. Michigan. The readings are sponsored by The Poetry Center of Chicago. More info by phone at (312) 899-1229, or at www.poetrycenter.org

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October 17, 2002 -John Suiter, Poets on the Peaks, A Reading and Discussion, 7:00 PM. Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods, 44 Baker Farm, Lincoln, MA 01773. (co-sponsored with the Concord Bookshop) A book signing will follow the reading. Spacing and seating are limited. For reservations: Jeff.Cramer@walden.org or call: 781-259-4730.

John Suiter is a Boston-based writer and photographer whose work has appeared in numerous national and international magazines. In 1995 he spent two weeks at Desolation Lookout, working as a volunteer for watcher for the National Park Service while making pictures for a photo-essay commemorating Jack Kerouac’s sojourn on Desolation forty summers before. In 1997 and 1998, after meeting poets Gary Snyder and Philip Whalen, Suiter made further trips to the Upper Skagit, staying on Sourdough Lookout and making hikes on Sauk and Crater mountains. Poets on the Peaks is a result of those adventures.

Excerpt from Poets on the Peaks:

Then there was Thoreau. Surprisingly, Snyder had never read Walden, or anything else by Thoreau, before going on lookout in 1953. If the old log-cabin guard station on Granite Creek had been the perfect setting for his encounter with Hui-Neng the summer before, then surely Sourdough Lookout was the place for Henry David Thoreau. Few backdrops could be more fitting or employments more compatible with a first reading of Walden. Had there been lookouts in Thoreau’s day, it is hard to imagine him not doing at least a fire season or two. Even without lookout cabins per se, Thoreau clearly had seen glimpses of the lookout’s mountain world — on Maine’s Katahdin, and especially from Massachusetts’ Mount Greylock. In July 1844 he spent a night in the perch of Williams College observatory on Greylock’s summit and awoke to find himself in “cloud-land”— alone in his tower just above a vast, smooth-topped sea of ground-fog that had rolled in during the night. For Thoreau, it was one of the grandest mornings of his life — “a favor for which to be forever silent.”

“The most interesting dwellings in this country,” wrote Thoreau in the opening chapter of Walden, “are the most unpretending, humble log huts and cottages of the poor commonly.” What could be more unpretentious than an L-4 fire cabin? Gary’s L.O. was only slightly wider than Thoreau’s Walden cabin, and with the exception of the fire finder (a device Thoreau surly would have appreciated, and probably improved somehow) the Spartan furnishings — low rope-webbed bunk, single chair and table, woodstove — were basically the same.

Gary was drawn to Thoreau’s economy — the notion that “a man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.” Snyder had done without by necessity all through his boyhood and adolescence until it had become his habit. He jotted down Thoreau’s famous admonition to “beware of all enterprises that require new cloths.” In a more poetic vein, he also recorded the exultant and promissory closing lines of Walden: “Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.” This last line — one of the most famous in nineteenth-century American letters along with “Call me Ishmael” and “I sing the body electric” — Gray played with until he made it his own. “The morning star is not a star” became the opening line for Myths and Texts. It was all fitting together: the Zen, the Blake and Thoreau, lookouting, poetry. . .

Poets on the Peaks: Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen & Jack Kerouac in the North Cascades Text and Photographs by John Suiter (Washington, DC: Counterpoint, 2002)

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Thurs., Oct. 17, 6:30 p.m.  Lawrence Ferlinghetti Reading - Ballroom of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 112 S. Michigan. The readings are sponsored by The Poetry Center of Chicago. More info by phone at (312) 899-1229, or at www.poetrycenter.org

 


Oct 4 - Oct 13, 2002 Raving Lunatics -a spoken word cut-up of spontaneous prosody by Jack Kerouac: created and directed by Tom Marion, music composed and performed by Bruce Huron, featuring Brett W. Butler, Jessica Colotta, Karl D. Kahofer, Amy Mahfouz, Amy Robinson, Shane Snipes.  Call for reservations; seating is limited. $10 donation suggested. Latecomers cannot be seated. Ward Studio, 145 West 28th Street, #8F, (between 6th & 7th Avenues), New York NY. (212) 239-1456.

Friday, October 4 at 8 pm

Saturday, October 5 at 8 pm

Sunday, October 6 at 3 pm & 7 pm

Friday, October 11 at 8 pm

Saturday, October 12 at 8 pm

Sunday, October 13 at 3 pm & 7 pm

   http://shanesnipes.com/headshots/raving.html


October 4-6, 2002 - Lowell Celebrates Kerouac - Lowell, Massachusetts, - 15th Annual Festival  is being held in Lowell, Massachusetts (of course) to commemorate the life and work of Lowell born writer Jack Kerouac. Jack's classic, On The Road, turns 45 this year. Jack, himself, remains 80 years young. Along with the various tours, poetry competition, and open mic's that have been a hallmark of the festival for years, this year brings photographer, author (Poets On The Peaks - Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, and Jack Kerouac in the North Cascades) John Suiter, who will be presenting a lecture on photo-documentary technique at the University of Massachusetts Lowell South Campus, room. 222 of the O'Leary Library building, located on Wilder Street, from 12:00 noon to 2:00 pm on Friday October 4. Suiter will, additionally be presenting a slide show and talk on his book at Boott Cotton Mills, 400 Foot of John Street at 7:30 pm.

FRIDAY - Events will be going on all afternoon with a showing of "Pull My Daisy," at 2:30 pm, hosted by the movie's theme composer and Kerouac musical collaborator, David Amram. This event will also take place in room 222 of the O'Leary Library building of the University of Massachusetts Lowell South Campus, on Wilder Street. A special feature of this years festival will be two showings of the PBS aired and cinema presented Beat documentary, "The Source," by Chuck Workman. This will show at Boott Cotton Mills, 400 Foot of John Street at 4:00 pm, and again Sunday at 4:00 pm in the same location. Friday evening will rock. Blues aficionado and legendary underground band, MC5 associate, John Sinclair will do a show at The Worthen, 141 Worthen Street, starting at 9:30 pm. Come get a seat early. Live jazz begins at 8:30.

SATURDAY - more tours, the Commemorative Event at The Commemorative located in Jack Kerouac Park on Bridge and French Streets at 11:00 am, and book signings, additional tours and performances, such as David Amram's Cairo to Kerouac at The Pollard Memorial Library at 1:30 pm prove to keep things moving through Saturday afternoon. There will be a 4:00 pm showing of film maker Henry Ferrini's award winning "Lowell Blues," at the Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center on Market Street. Another regularly held event, Reading at The Rainbow Cafe, 14 Cabot Street, begins at 4:30 pm. Saturday evening features Janet Hamill. Janet is a poet and artist currently working with Moving Star musicians Bob Torsello (bass), Jay LoRubbio (guitar), and Sean Healy (drums). Janet and Moving Star have performed at numerous venues including, The Knitting Factory and CBGB's Gallery. Recently Janet and the band released their first full-length CD, Flying Nowhere, produced by Lenny Kaye, with cameo appearances by Patti Smith on clarinet. Janet and Moving Star will be joined by guest artist David Amram. Amram has been described by the Boston Globe as "the Renaissance man of American music."

SUNDAY - finishes off with more tours, the 'open' Amram Jam, at The Sugar Shack, and local 'feature' talent showcased in the evening, again at The Sugar Shack, 100 University Avenue.

For more information on Lowell Celebrates Kerouac!, visit http://lckorg.tripod.com. For an audio listing of the festival schedule, dial 1-877-KEROUAC.

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AUG 30, 2002, 7:00 PM, FRIDAY, PHILIP WHALEN MEMORIAL READING - @ Presentation Theater, University of San Francisco (formerly The Gershwin Theater), 2350 Turk Blvd, west of Masonic, San Francisco, California. Admission is free. Together with the Hartford Street Zen Center, and the MFA Writing Program at USF, The Poetry Center is sponsoring a memorial reading in honor of Philip Whalen's life and poetry. Philip Whalen's friends and fellow poets will speak and read from his work, and from their own and others' work in tribute to him. Michael McClure, Diane di Prima, Leslie Scalapino, David Meltzer, Clark Coolidge, Anne Waldman, Jane Hirschfield, and Bill Berkson are among the many poets and friends who will appear on the program.

 


"Jack Kerouac - Last Call", A play, opens Thursday, April 18, 2002 - Closes Sunday, July 14, 2002:  Jack Kerouac - Last Call, A new play by Tom O'Neil. Directed by Stanley Harrison. Performances Thursdays through Sundays at 7pm. $15 adults; $10 seniors/students with ID. Purchase tickets online at www.ticketweb.com or by calling TicketWeb toll-free at 866-468-7619. For more information, call 212-675-6677 or visit their website at www.13thstreetrep.org

SYNOPSIS: Jack Kerouac spent his last night on earth in a small bungalow located in St. Petersburg, Florida, his last residence. It is October 21, 1969. Visions of his past come back in waves of both exhilaration and doom, representing the true dichotomy of his own character. In his imagination, he has brought together characters from his past to play out his own sense of martyrdom. These characters also include two writers who represent Kerouac's fear of how he will be remembered. This story is about the man and his inner turmoil.

Two rotating casts (please contact 13th Street Rep to find out which company will be performing):

Red Company - John Jordan, Kyle Pierson, Gavin Smith, Deirdre Schwiesow, Meredith Falton, Neil Feigeles, Jason Rosette; Blue Company - Alexander Lange, David Cochrane, David Renwanz, Maggie Ridge, Sarah Wolfman-Robichaud, Tim Cox, John Kwiatkowski

Tom O'Neil (PLAYWRIGHT) has written two other plays - Soldier's Death and Mary Bryant. Mr. O'Neil is currently working on an adaptation of William Butler Yeats' The Cat and the Moon. This is his first play produced at 13th Street Rep. Mr. O'Neil has been involved with 13th Street Rep for over five years.

Stanley Harrison (DIRECTOR) has been a director, teacher and actor for over 40 years. Mr. Harrison is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama, where he studied with the late Professor Constance Welch, "one of the finest teachers in the American theatre." In addition, he studied and worked with the directors of the National Theatres of Denmark and Holland. Mr. Harrison's students have gone on to Broadway, film and television. As an actor, he has appeared in over 300 roles. Mr. Harrison recently played the role of Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing for The American Globe Theatre, New York City.

Edith O'Hara (PRODUCER/ARTISTIC DIRECTOR) founded 13th Street Rep in 1972. 13th Street Rep provides a place for actors, directors, playwrights, and technicians to develop their craft in a caring, nurturing, professional environment. Anywhere between five to seven shows run weekly, including children's shows on the weekend. 13th Street Rep is also home to the longest running Off-Off-Broadway play, Line, by Israel Horovitz, now in its 28th year at 13th Street Rep.

For more information, call 212-675-6677 or visit our website at www.13thstreetrep.org.

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April 26 through July 27, 2002 - "Victorians, Moderns, and Beats: New in the Berg Collection, 1994—2001" - The New York Public Library, New York City. Victorians, Moderns, and Beats: New in the Berg Collection, 1994--2001 is on view from April 26 through July 27, 2002 in the D. Samuel and Jeane H. Gottesman Exhibition Hall at The New York Public Library's Humanities and Social Sciences Library, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. Exhibition hours are Monday and Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Tuesday and Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; closed Sundays and national holidays. Admission is free. For more information about exhibitions at The New York Public Library, the public may call 212.869.8089 or visit the Library's website at www.nypl.org

The most significant acquisition of the Berg Collection during the period covered by Victorians, Moderns, and Beats was the Jack Kerouac Archive, which came to the Library in July of 2001. The exhibition also features a healthy selection of letters, manuscripts, and other items relating to such major Beat figures as Ginsberg, Burroughs, Gregory Corso, and Gary Snyder.

It was Kerouac who coined the term "Beat Generation" and can be considered its central figure. The archive contains more than 1,050 manuscripts and typescripts, including novels, short stories, prose pieces, poems, notebooks, journals, correspondence, and personal items, as well as papers relating to Kerouac's intense passion for sports.

The Kerouac items on view include a Valentine's Day card he created for his mother in 1933 at age 11; a journal he kept in 1939 soon after he arrived in New York to attend the Horace Mann School; and two revisions of his landmark work, On the Road, that succeeded the original scroll version of 1951. There is also a draft of a novel called Gone on the Road, which bears only a peripheral relationship to On the Road, but became the core of Visions of Cody, only excerpts of which were published during Kerouac's lifetime.

Also shown is an array of fascinating materials he created in relation to his passionate interest in baseball. As a youngster Kerouac devised an intricate fantasy baseball game which required the use of hundreds of cards that allowed for very specific descriptions of each play. These card sets, along with related team rosters, and newsletters he wrote to report on the results of his fantasy games, are displayed in the exhibition and give a sense of the vivid imagination he had as a youth and which later found expression in his literary work.


June 27, 2002, 6 - 8 PM, Thunder's Mouth Press and the Jack Kerouac Writers in Residence Project of Orlando Inc. invite you meet composer David Amram in New York City -  on Thursday, June 27 from 6 to 8 PM at the Arsenal in Central Park, 5th Ave. at 64th St. Reception to follow. David Amram will be reading from his new book OFFBEAT: Collaborating with Kerouac. Please RSVP to Alan Young at 646-375-2570 X7930. Come join us for this celebration of the joyous collaborations between Kerouac and Amram, and to learn about the restoration of the Kerouac House in Orlando, Florida and their annual writing and residency grants.


SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 2002 , LIVE FROM LOWELL, MA, C-SPAN'S AMERICAN WRITERS FOCUSES ON AUTHOR JACK KEROUAC - C-SPAN's latest historical series, "American Writers II: The 20th Century " visits Lowell, Massachusetts on June 9 at 3 PM ET for a two-hour live program looking at the life and times of author Jack Kerouac. The program, originating from Kerouac's hometown in Massachusetts, examines his first novel "On the Road," and the impact of his writing on society at the time. (This is being shown again on Friday, June14, 2002, at 8:00 pm.)

American Writers II: The 20th Century is a 15-week historical series airing live on C-SPAN at 3 pm ET for two hours every Sunday through July 7. Each program will re-air the following Friday night at 8 pm ET accompanied by several other events about the featured authors' lives and works.

American Writers II will examine American history through the lives and works of 18 selected writers-- from the literary to the political, from war correspondents to social critics. Selected writers represent the Progressive Era (1901-1929), Depression and War (1929-45), the Early Cold War (1945-1961) and end with the Social Transformation to Vietnam (1961-75).

American Writers II considers how America forged its role in the world during this past century and how authors offer insight into the nation it is today.

A full listing of the writers and sites included in the series can be found at: www.americanwriters.org <http://www.americanwriters.org> where interested viewers can also purchase all works featured in the series through a partnership with the online subsidiary of Borders Group, Inc., Borders.com. This is the fourth historical series produced by C-SPAN. Visit its web site at C-SPAN.org.


Saturday, May 4 and Sunday, May 5, 2002 - Door Wide Open - New York City, "THE SOPRANOS" JOHN VENTIMIGLIA TO PLAY JACK KEROUAC IN STAGED READING OF JOYCE JOHNSON'S "DOOR WIDE OPEN" - Sanctuary Theater & The Ontological Theater are to present a staged reading for potential backers and the general public of Joyce Johnson's new play DOOR WIDE OPEN at Saint Mark's Church on Saturday, May 4, and Sunday, May 5, at 8 PM.  Directed by Tony Torn, the reading will feature "The Sopranos'" John Ventimiglia, acclaimed actress Amy Wright, and introducing Adira Amram in her New York debut. Special guest David Amram will provide live musical accompaniment. DOOR WIDE OPEN is a biting, romantic and elegaic adaptation of Johnson's latest book, which features the intimate correspondence between the writer and Jack Kerouac from 1957-58, just before and after Kerouac became famous overnight with the publication of ON THE ROAD. The 120-foot scroll upon which Kerouac typed his first draft of this American classic was recently sold by Christie's for the record-breaking sum of  2.43 million dollars. Joyce Johnson is also the author of the Beat generation memoir, MINOR CHARACTERS, which won a National Book Critics Circle Award in 1983. Musician and  composer David Amram wrote the original score for the Robert Frank film classic "Pull My Daisy," which was narrated by Kerouac.

The Ontological Theater  will host the reading in its theater at Saint Mark's Church, at Second Avenue & 10th Street, for two nights only, Saturday, May 4 and Sunday, May 5, at 8 PM. Admission is $15 suggested donation. Seats are available on a first come, first served basis.  For reservations call: 212-533-4650.

 

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2002


April 7 -14, 2002, Kerouac Writer In Residence program in Orlando, Florida Event - As part of the Kerouac Writer In Residence program, they are having the Second Snnual Street Festival.

April 7 will be a showing of "New York in the 50s with Dan Wakefield" with special guests of David Amram and the film's director Betsey Blankenbaker.

April 13 and 14 in Orlando Florida, just minutes away from where Jack Kerouac wrote Dharma Bums and currently houses a writer in residence program, will be a book, art and music festival. David Amram will headline the music part of the festival with a cozy dinner concert Friday night, and headlining the concert Saturday night.

April 13 at night will be our first Spoken Word event sponsored by the Kerouac Project and the Philips Phile or Real Radio. All this information can be found at www.kerouacproject.org.


March 31, 4-8 PM, Sunday - David Amram-Benefit for WBAI-99.5FM - 55 Christopher Street, New York City. Sponsored by Bright Moments! @ 55 Bar presents on - (1,2, 9 trains)

Readings "From Cairo to Christopher St. to Kerouac” and music, poetry by the Amram Jam: Keeping the Flame Alive Celebrating 45th Anniversary of Kerouac/Amram jazz poetry readings at the Brata Art Gallery and Circle -In-the- Square in NYC ,1957.

This Bright Moments! @ 55 Bar event is being done as a Benefit for WBAI-99.5FM Radio and we encourage all to give generously to benefit WBAI. Founded in 1960, WBAI-Pacifica Radio at 99.5 FM, is New York's premier community station. WBAI serves the city, the nation and the world with award-winning programs in news, information, politics, art, culture, music and much more. WBAI is a non-profit and non-commercial station that is listener-supported and part of the Pacifica Foundation. David Amram has been a steadfast supporter of WBAI and we hope you will join us this day in recognizing their importance to NYC.

David Amram will feature readings from his new book, "Offbeat: Collaborating with Kerouac" and "Vibrations", his autobiography. Amram will also be performing classics of jazz, and world music as well as his own compositions with Vincent Giangreco (jazz guitar) and Warren Tesoro (congas/bongos) celebrating the enduring cultural influence of Greenwich Village, NY. Reading with David will be: Bob Fass, WBAI host of RADIO UNNAMEABLE and innovator of Free form radio; Garry Goodrow, pioneer of improvisatory theater and original member of the Living Theater featured prominently in Offbeat; George Wallace, Poet and Founder of PoetryBay.com, historian and producer of last year’s JACK KEROUAC BIG SUR MARATHON READING held in 4 cities nationwide; Adira Amram, actress and narrator; Casey Cyr, poet, songwriter, painter, founder of 1st NYC Underground Poetry and Music Festival 2000. The poetry of Gregory Corso, Langston Hughes, Jack Kerouac, Bob Kaufman, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Sonia Sanchez and Casey Cyr will be featured.

The Boston Globe has described David Amram as "the Renaissance man of American music". His live jazz recording, Kerouac and Amram: Pull My Daisy, celebrates Kerouac and Amram's collaboration in the first ever jazz poetry reading in New York City in 1957, and the subsequent 1959 film that combined Amram's chamber music and jazz with Jack Kerouac's narration. With his return to the 55 Bar it marks 45 years since the Kerouac/Amram jazz poetry readings took place in Greenwich Village at the Brata Art Gallery andCircle -In-the- Square in 1957. David also will be signing copies of both books after his performance

 


March 21-24, 2002 - David Amram Back on the Bowery: 1957-2002 The Beat Goes On David Amram Trio & Lee Ranaldo headlineViking/Hillbilly Festival's Final Night - Young Poets & Musicians from Iceland and Kentucky complete their International tour with a 4-day Festival at Bob Holman's new Bowery Poetry Club. "From Cairo to Kerouac" will conclude the Festival Sunday March 24 at 8 PM with classic Jazz, World Music and readings from Jack Kerouac and Gregory Corso and a Centennial Song especially written for Langston Hughes by David Amram. Forty-five years ago, in the winter of 1957, composer/multi-instrumentalist/author David Amram performed on the Bowery at the Original Five Spot with his Quartet, 150 feet from the new Bowery Poetry Club, where he will be performing on Sunday, March 24 at 8pm. It was at the Original Five Spot that the group of poets, painters and musicians who attended every night, included author Jack Kerouac, who came to hear his friend Amram perform and often sat in with the Quartet to read his poetry and excerpts from his yet-to-be published "On the Road."

Sunday Night, March 24th at 8pm, David Amram returns to the Bowery with his trio, joined by Sonic Youth's innovative musician/poet/songwriter Lee Ranaldo to perform with 18 Viking/Hillbilly poets and musicians from Iceland and Kentucky, who are ending their international tour with the four day engagement at the Bowery Poetry Club March 21-24.

Poet, publisher and recording artist Ron Whitehead of Louisville, Kentucky is producing the Viking Hillbilly Apocalypse Revue. Whitehead has produced over 800 events during the past 20 years and tours the world as Kentucky's Ambassador of Poetry, from Harlan County Kentucky to concerts for the Dalai Lama in the Himalayas, encouraging and inspiring young people to participate in the Arts.

The Bowery Poetry Club was founded by award winning poet Bob Holman, who has been referred to by the Village Voice as "The World Czar of Poetry" and by the Daily News, as "The King of New York." The brand new Bowery Poetry Club is located at 308 Bowery, in the exact same neighborhood frequented by the original members of what later became known as the Beat Generation, all of whom went to the Original Five Spot 45 years ago as a meeting place to share new ideas with one another.

Whitehead and Holman wanted David Amram, one of the last surviving members of this group, to give a grand finale concert which would celebrate the music he and Kerouac championed in the 50's: Jazz, Middle Eastern, Native American, Latin American and Amram's own compositions, as well as re-creating the readings of Kerouac's words accompanied by Amram's music. The final event of the Festival will include Lee Ranaldo reading, and include the members of the touring ensemble from Kentucky and Iceland, as well as poets and musicians from New York, all of whom will be invited to join in with Amram on special selections.

"We were always egalitarian, in the spirit of jazz, with the older artists encouraging the younger ones to join in," says Amram. "We were and still are inclusive rather than exclusive. To return to the Bowery where Kerouac and I and many others started our collaborations is the completion of a circle and a new beginning for a new generation to join hands and hearts to create their own global network. Ron Whitehead and Bob Holman are setting the standards for future collaborations among today's young artists.

"I hope the young artists from Iceland and Kentucky, as well as members of the audience can take the spirit of New York home with them, and encourage their friends to participate and appreciate the lasting value of poetry and music that come from the heart. That's what our generation was and still is all about. The gift of sharing."

For information about tickets, prices, and the complete four day schedule of The Viking/Hillbilly Apocalypse JAM, please see the enclosed flyers or consult these websites.

websites:

www.bowerypoetry.com ----------- (For the Bowery Poetry Club)

www.tappingmyownphone.com-------(For Ron Whitehead)


Sunday March 10 - "Last Call: An Evening with Jack Kerouac" at 2PM , In celebration of Jack's Birthday, Wantagh, NY - Local writer Patrick Fenton will read from his play about Jack Kerouac's Northport, Long Island years. Mr Fenton will also share some information on Kerouac's life in general and tell us some interesting and unknown facts about this Beat Generation writer, and his famous journey. Read Kerouac's famous book "On the Road," attend this informative and entertaining lecture then come to the 2:30 PM Tuesday afternoon book discussion to further investigate Kerouac's book On the Road. Refreshments will be served. Wantagh Public Library Wantagh, Long Island, New York 516-221-1200


March 8th-10th, 2002 - Jack Kerouac's 80th Birthday Celebration, Lowell, MA.

The Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! Birthday Celebration is smaller than the October festival and in recent years has had more of a focus on Kerouac's writings with marathon readings of his books in order of publication. The book for this year is Dharma Bums. For more info visit their link at http://lckorg.tripod.com

SCHEDULE:

Saturday, March 9th

2:30 PM: Tour led by National Park Sevice

Evening: Jazz performance at Dove Cafe


February 12, 2002, at 5.30pm (Tuesday) - "Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady: Dispelling the Myths" - A talk by Carolyn Cassady- A public lecture inaugurating the new lecture theatre at The Nottingham Trent University on Clifton Campus. Organised by the Faculty of Humanities.

Carolyn Cassady is most famous for her close involvement with the renowned post-war American writers Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady (to whom she was married).

She was born in Michigan, and at the age of 8 moved to Nashville, where she began art lessons. At 14 she joined the local playhouse as make-up artist, and at 15 won first and second prizes for her set designs. She sold her first portrait at the age of 16. She received a scholarship for writing and painting, and continued her art and drama studies at Bennington College, Vermont, earning a degree in Stanislavsky Drama in 1944. She served as an air-raid warden in Manhattan before becoming an Occupational Therapist, serving with the US Army in Palm Springs, California. After the war she studied for her MA in Fine Arts and Theatre Arts at the University of Denver, where she met Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. She married Neal in 1948 in San Francisco, and they had three children. She also continued to do her theatre work, and her painting and writing.

Carolyn has written many articles as well as forewords in some of Kerouac's books, and also in biographies about him. Her own book, Off The Road, was published by Penguin in 1991 and is still in print today. It centres on her involvement with Neal Cassady and Jack Kerouac at a time when the latter was working on and publishing his novels, particularly On The Road. She is now a British subject and has lived in or near London since 1983.

Lecture commences at 6.00pm. Refreshments and snacks will be available.

All welcome. Admission is free but please try to notify us of your attendance in advance.

Contact Basia Filipowicz:

Tel: (0115) 848 3098, Fax: (0115) 848 6632, Email: basia.filipowicz@ntu.ac.uk

Address: English and Media Department, The Nottingham Trent University, Clifton Lane, Nottingham NG11 8NS

 

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October 29, 2001 - Auction of The Dharma Bums scroll -  Christie's Auction House in New York will be offering the scrolls of The Dharma Bums and Origins of a Beat Generation, besides other Kerouac related material.  Go to www.christies.com.  I thought that the NY Public Library brought the remaining archives after the sale the the On The Road scroll earlier this year. What else was not included in the Library purchase and is still floating out there waiting to be auctioned off to the hightest bidder?


Sunday, October 28th, 2001 - Dedication of City Lights Book store as a landmark building - 1:00pm at City Lights, 261 Columbus Avenue, North Beach, San Francisco, (street closing on Columbus Ave. from Broadway to Pacific)

On July 16th, 2001, the Board of Supervisors unanimously conferred Landmark status on City Lights Booksellers & Publishers for its contribution to the cultural life of San Francisco: as an icon of bohemian literary culture and as a publisher of influential works of literature and cultural commentary.

This urban bookstore has become a world-destination point because of its carefully chosen stock of cutting-edge books in many fields and as a site for informal discussions, readings, and other events. The City Lights Building was also recognized for its architectural features. Founded in 1953 by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Peter D. Martin, City Lights has remained in its original location. One of the few truly great independent bookstores in the United States, City Lights is where book lovers from around the world come to browse, read, and just soak in the ambience of alternative culture.

"It's gratifying to be named a landmark not only for our Beat Generation associations but also for our larger contribution to free intellectual inquiry. Our goal as booksellers and publishers is to offer works of imagination and dissenting opinion in a radical democratic spirit," says Nancy J.. Peters, co-owner of City Lights, "and this landmark decision validates that. We're now hoping that City Lights will soon be included in the National Register of Historic Places."

"This is a wonderful old building," says Ferlinghetti. "I love the place. It's meant so much to what we've tried to accomplish."

The nation's first all-paperback bookstore, City Lights has expanded several times over the years and features an extensive selection of poetry, fiction, translations, politics, history, music, spirituality, and more, with a staff whose special book interests in many fields contribute to the hand-picked quality of what you see on the shelves. Also housed within the building is City Lights Publishers, launched by Ferlinghetti with the now-famous Pocket Poets Series.

Sponsoring the Landmark celebration is Telegraph Hill Dwellers, a neighborhood organization founded in 1954 to perpetuate the historic traditions of Telegraph Hill and greater North Beach in San Francisco history. They vigilantly monitor development plans to ensure that new buildings, renovation projects, and land uses are appropriate to the present neighborhood, and that existing areas be recognized for their historic and cultural significance. The landmarking of Washington Square is a current THD initiative, as is the preservation and care of the Grace Marchant Garden and Jack Early Park. The Dwellers past efforts include rebuilding Pioneer Park around Coit Tower, a public-private partnership that raised $1.4 million.

We invite the public to come and celebrate with us, beginning at 1:00 pm with the Landmark presentation ceremony in front of City Lights Bookstore. Following will be a roster of authors and friends of City Lights sharing memories and stories, and later signing books.

We encourage everyone to spend the rest of the afternoon exploring the restaurants, cafes and shops of North Beach, one of San Francisco's most unique and historic neighborhoods.

For more information, please contact Stacey Lewis at (415) 362-1901 or stacey@citylights.com. For other events at City Lights, check www.citylights.com


October 26 - 28. 2001- THE LONDON INTERNATIONAL POETRY AND SONG FESTIVAL (LIPS) PRESENTS A BEAT WEEKEND - the beat goes on - original poetry, song, film and beat rebellion, with: David Amram, Bob Holman, Jeremy Hardy, Carolyn Cassady, Bap Kennedy Band, Rob Spragg and Jake Black (of Alabama 3), Bragi Olaffson, Richard Deakin, Ron Whitehead, Tania Glyde, Jane Bom-Bane, Peter Jagger, Pollock Bros, Big Steve and Stephanie Arlene, Charlie Newman, Annie Lawson, Frank Messina, Lord Buckley (Jason Eisenberg),Yoruba Mason, Scaramongo, Marisa Barnes, ANONYMOUS, Dylan Whitehead, Geir Svansson PLUS IN SPIRIT Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady (in the memories of Carolyn Cassady and David Amram) + classic beat film PULL MY DAISY narrated by Kerouac scored by Amram +beat film premieres inc. 'Lowell Blues' and 'Corso in Louisville.'

 

London Events

Friday 26 October @ 7 pm - LIPS' CABARET PARTY and PRESS LAUNCH TRAFALGAR HOTEL, Trafalgar Sq, London W1 (next to Angus Steak House): FREE launch party and poetry/music night to kick off a great weekend of Beat celebrations at this gorgeous newly-opened venue, the coolest 'bourbon bar' in the West.

Saturday 27 October @ 7pm, LIPS' REBEL NIGHT - an evening of poetry, song, comedy and beat rebellion Hackney Empire¹s BULLION ROOM Theatre, 117 Wilton Way London E8 Box Office: 020 8985 2424. The evening will be punctuated by the acidic rebel jests of master-comic JEREMY HARDY, and driven by the unstoppable world beat of Jack Kerouac's principal musical collaborator DAVID AMRAM (see www.davidamram.com) A host of international poetic and musical talents include Icelandic poet BRAGI OLAFFSON and the POLLOCK BROS of Iceland's 'band of the century' the OUTSIDERS who join locals BIG STEVE and STEPHANIE ARLENE. Poetry will be backed by beat daddy Amram, Kerouac¹s poetry-accompanist, greatest poetry-music collaborator alive. The subversive routines of beat comic LORD BUCKLEY will be rendered by New York's JASON EISENBERG. This transatlantic night will feature poets including RON WHITEHEAD (www.tappingmyownphone.com) and FRANK MESSINA (USA), RICHARD DEAKIN, JANE BOM-BANE, TANIA GLYDE, ANNIE LAWSON (UK), and climax with maybe the best performance poet in the world, the King of New York, The World Emperor of Slam, the mighty BOB HOLMAN. (SEE http://poetry.about.com + holman@Bard.edu  + www.worldofpoetry.org + www.peoplespoetry.org + www.bobholman.com)

Sunday 28 Oct @ 2pm - LIPS' BEAT AFTERNOON  - an afternoon of beat memories, film, music and poetry Hackney Empire's BULLION ROOM Theatre, 117 Wilton Way, London E8 Box Office: 020 8985 2424. Featuring a panel including CAROLYN CASSADY, widow of Neal, and DAVID AMRAM, two 'Soul Survivors' of the Beat Generation, remembering their friendship with Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady on and off the road. DAVID AMRAM will present beat films from the hilariously anarchic PULL MY DAISY (narrated by Kerouac, scored by David, filmed by Robert Frank) through to modern classic LOWELL BLUES premiering with a film about Gregory Corso filmed at the Nuyorican Café. DAVID SANDISON will read from his forthcoming biography of Neal Cassady, and GEIR SVANSSON will talk about MEGAS, Iceland's beat singer-songwriter. Amram will accompany latterday beat poets including Charlie Newman, Ron Whitehead, Richard Deakin and the mighty Bob Holman. Tickets (for both Hackney Empire events) £8.50 adv. £10 door, £6 concs, £15 double ticket

Sunday 28 Oct @ 7pm - LIPS' BEAT NIGHT - an evening of lyric and song, original and classic 'keeping the beat flame alive', OCEAN, 270 Mare St, Hackney E8 Box Office: 020 7314 2800. The finale of the weekend will be an evening of poetry, lyric and song, and occasional Beat Generation history. We will explore the beat influence on the development of poetry and song, showcasing the lyrical talents of the BAP KENNEDY BAND and ROB SPRAGG and JAKE BLACK (THE LARRY LOVE and THE REVEREND D- WAYNE LOVE - the dark voices of the awesome ALABAMA 3). PLUS CAROLYN CASSADY, widow of Neal, and perhaps the love of Kerouac's s life, and DAVID AMRAM, Kerouac's principle musical collaborator, will recall JACK KEROUAC and legendary 'fastest man alive' NEAL CASSADY. DAVID AMRAM introduced jazz-poetry to New York, playing with Jack Kerouac in 1957, and has played with Leonard Bernstein, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Charles Mingus, Thelonius Monk, Willie Nelson, Odetta, Elia Kazan, Arthur Miller, Tito Puente... Seventy years young and bearer of a living tradition, David meets here some of the most vital musicians on the London scene, as well as carrying on with the discipline he developed with Kerouac, that of making a spontaneous musical framework for live poetry. As well as great bands playing original songs we pay tribute to modern beat masters like Bob Dylan (performed by the superb PETER JAGGER) and Van Morrison (performed by BAP KENNEDY BAND, back from supporting Van the Man in Belfast). LIPS¹ BEAT NIGHT will feature an international cast of performance poets headed by THE KING OF NEW YORK, the mighty BOB HOLMAN, plus RON WHITEHEAD (with Scaramongo & violinist Marisa Barnes & jazz vocalist Yoruba Mason) and FRANK MESSINA of USA, local talents including RICHARD DEAKIN and TANIA GLYDE plus Icelandic poets BRAGI OLAFFSON + the POLLOCK BROS + further routines of ³LORD BUCKLEY². Five hours of lyric and song - the final night of LIPS will try to mark the start of a new millenium of poetry and music with the mad ones, the bad ones, the ones who blaze and pop like fabulous yellow roman candles in the night and the crowd sez aaah... £8.50 adv. £10 door.

 


Weekly Poetry Reading in New Jersey, Kerouac style - Someone wrote to tell us of an ongoing Kerouac-related event. Every Sunday night at 'The Shepherd and the Knucklehead' bar in Haledon, NJ is an open mic poetry readings - and it is kicked off with a reading of the last page of 'On The Road'. In fact, the bar itself is dedicated to Kerouac, complete with a sign dubbing him 'the patron saint of this pub'. The address is 529 Belmont Ave, Haledon, NJ...anyone who loves great literature (especially our ol'; Jack) great beer, and great people will love this little place! www.geocities.com/shepherdandknucklehead

 

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On The Road Scroll Sold at Auction May 22, 2001-

I don't know if it really makes any difference, after all it is only a piece of paper, but Kerouac's On The Road scroll was auctioned off May 22nd at Christie's Auction House in New York. Without editorizing too much here, it is a shame to me that Kerouac's intentions, of having his complete archives placed in a public institution, are not being honored. To see articles and images of the scroll, click here

The following is reprinted from the New York Times a few weeks before the auction.

By KATHRYN SHATTUCK*

Fifty years after its completion on April 22, 1951, the product of a three-week typing marathon said to have been stoked by Benzedrine and coffee, the scroll on which Jack Kerouac composed "On the Road" is to be auctioned on May 22 at Christie's in Manhattan.

The single-spaced quasi-autobiographical ode to free living is nearly 120 feet long and pasted together in sections about a dozen feet long, the seams later reinforced with tape. A faint pencil line runs along its right edge, suggesting that Kerouac cut the paper to fit his typewriter.

Darkened with age, the scroll is tattered near its beginning, probably from handling. (Kerouac was fond of showing it, unrolled and roadlike, to friends.) And its final paragraphs are torn away, a mishap that Kerouac attributed to his friend Lucien Carr's dog chewing off the end.

The scroll's consignor is Tony Sampas of Pepperell, Mass. A nephew of Stella Sampas, Kerouac's third and last wife, he inherited the scroll from an uncle, Anthony G. Sampatacacus, who died in December 1999. He is the executor of his uncle's estate and is the joint beneficiary of the scroll with another uncle, John Sampas, and Sampatacacus's longtime girlfriend, Nancy Bump.

"The scroll needs to go into the public," Tony Sampas said of his decision to sell. "It has been locked up in a safe, it has been rolled up for decades, and it's an important work. It needs to be studied by scholars and by ordinary folks." He added: "We have a financial imperative. I have to settle an estate, and we have some bills."

Christie's estimates that the scroll will fetch $1 million to $1.5 million.

"On the Road" is one of the elemental texts of the Beat generation and remains popular today. The book has sold nearly 3.5 million copies in the United States and continues to sell at a rate of 110,000 to 130,000 copies a year, a pace that has increased slightly since 1991, when steady annual sales of 25,000 quadrupled in one year.

"I would place Kerouac in the same league as Kafka, Joyce and Proust, and we have sold manuscripts of all of those authors for substantial sums," said Chris Coover, senior specialist in manuscripts at Christie's.

The scroll was kept in the vault of the Sterling Lord Literistic agency until about 1993 and resurfaced at the New York Public Library several years later, Mr. Coover said. It was moved from the library to Christie's in January and is being studied by conservators at the Pierpont Morgan Library in Manhattan.

Christie's plans to exhibit the scroll in Chicago and San Francisco in early May, and it will be on view at the auction house beginning around May 17.

"On the Road" was closely based on the cross-country wanderings of Kerouac and his friend Neal Cassady, a charismatic drifter, as they traversed the highways of postwar America and Mexico. Armed with a rucksack filled with small notebooks, Kerouac verbally sketched scenes from everyday life, concentrating on what he considered the neglected cities of the West, where he imagined himself a sort of Sundance Kid to his companion's Butch Cassidy. The book's seemingly endless strands of rhythmic prose echoed the jazz Kerouac loved and heralded its author's belief that he had discovered a new form of writing both spontaneous and unrevised.

"I really wrote a great book, my very best, one of the best to be published this year anywhere (or next Jan.) and wrote it too in 20 days as I say and I feel the pull and strain of having to type with a rusty typewriter like this and a dull ribbon that won't enact my tones," Kerouac wrote to Cassady on June 10, 1951.

In fact, it would take six years to get the manuscript published, during which Kerouac met with forceful rejections, beginning with the reaction of Robert Giroux at Harcourt Brace. "How the hell can the printer work from this?" the editor is said to have roared.

Mr. Coover surmises that within the first year, Kerouac retyped the scroll onto conventional pages.But the manuscript was still summarily turned down by several major New York publishers, perhaps partly because of its glorification of car thieves, con men, hobos and prostitutes, and its unconventional style.

Finally, Malcolm Cowley of Viking agreed to edit the book, but only after Kerouac submitted to substantial revisions and agreed to get signed release forms from its characters. Eventually, Kerouac assigned aliases: Cassady became Dean Moriarty, the poet Allen Ginsberg appeared as Carlo Marx, and Kerouac christened himself Sal Paradise.

In a review in The New York Times in 1957, Gilbert Millstein hailed its publication as "a historic occasion" and called "On the Road" "the most beautifully executed, the clearest and the most important utterance yet made by the generation Kerouac himself named years ago as `beat,' and whose principal avatar he is."

The historian Douglas Brinkley, who is writing a Kerouac biography for Viking, said: "I find the scroll one of the really fascinating documents of 20th-century American literature. There is such a mythology grown on the coffee-and-Benzedrine frenzy in which he produced the scroll." But, he cautioned, "a lot of the mythology is inaccurate."

In fact, Mr. Brinkley said, Kerouac was a seasoned writer who kept meticulous notes and journals filled with anecdotes he honed to perfection. Later, in that April marathon, he is likely to have retyped these notes onto the scroll, while drinking countless cups of coffee rather than the Benzedrine of lore. The myth was perpetuated by Ginsberg but debunked by Kerouac himself.

"I tell you another," Kerouac wrote to Cassady. "I wrote that book on COFFEE. . . . Benny, tea, anything I KNOW none as good as coffee for real mental power kicks."

Kerouac referred to the scroll — 9 inches wide and 119 feet, 8 inches long — as Teletype paper, although it was probably architectural drafting paper that he found in the West 20th Street loft in Manhattan to which he and his second wife, Joan Haverty, had recently moved.

Although Kerouac gave the impression that his writing was spontaneous, the scroll suggests otherwise. There, in the author's minuscule handwriting, words are changed, punctuation added, paragraphs indicated and entire passages crossed out in pencil and red crayon. In the scroll's earlier sections, Kerouac took care to change real names; somewhere around midpoint he abandoned the painstaking process, leaving references to himself, Cassady and others. And the missing portions torn off by his friend's dog? Perhaps no more than a ruse perpetuated by Kerouac when he decided to rewrite the book's ending.

Kerouac died in 1969 at 47 from an alcohol-abetted hemorrhage induced by a bar brawl in St. Petersburg, Fla. The sale of the scroll may finally help put an end to a battle that, like its creator, crisscrossed the country over the last decade as litigious factions tried, unsuccessfully, to wrest control of the Kerouac estate from the Sampas family.

Last week John Sampas, the executor of the Kerouac estate, said he was working to place the Kerouac archives with the New York Public Library. The estate is thought to be worth close to $10 million.

"Jack moved to New York in 1944, and he spent quite a bit of time at the public library," John Sampas said. "I feel the archives should go there. We are committed to it, but as they say, nothing is done until the fat lady sings."

Tony and John Sampas and Ms. Bump will retain the scroll's copyright, said George Tobia Jr., a partner with the Boston firm of Burns & Levinson and the attorney for Kerouac's estate.

John and Tony Sampas and Ms. Bump are the joint beneficiaries of the scroll, but Tony's position as executor of Anthony G. Sampatacacus's estate enables him alone to decide to auction the scroll.

"I'm very disappointed," John Sampas said of the auction. "I almost feel the appraisal could have been more conservative and that the library could have purchased it, but I have no control over it." The library refused to comment.

"My only concern is that I hope that whoever buys the scroll will end up donating it to a public institution and not keep it sequestered away in a private home," Mr. Brinkley said. "It's one of those literary documents that belongs to the American people and should be expected to be seen as we would expect to see the first edition of Whitman's `Leaves of Grass' or the draft of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address."

*copyrighted by New York Times


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