The Daily Beat

On The Road: The Original Roll

2012-01-27T16:25:00.000-05:00

I just - at 4:00 PM on January 27, 2012 - finished reading On The Road: The Original Scroll by Jack Kerouac (Christmas present from my son, Jason). This is the umpteenth time I've read On The Road, and I have to say that I enjoyed the Hell out of this version. It is funnier, sexier, and uses the actual names of the characters so that you don't need a reference guide to figure out who Kerouac is talking about.

Now, here is something you need to know as a Kerouac fan. I learned from Gerry Nicosia, a renowned and legitimate Kerouac scholar (versus a Kerouhack like me), that Jack referred to his famous 120-foot long creation typed in a caffeine-fueled frenzy during 3 weeks in 1951 as "the roll." Gerry says calling it "the scroll" was advertising hype. Jack's calling it "the roll" is supported by this page on DHARMA beat, a comprehensive Jack Kerouac website you should visit if you haven't already done so.

If you haven't read "the roll" version of On The Road, I recommend it. It doesn't supplant the version published by Viking in 1957. Rather, it augments it and gives us another look into the brilliance that was Jack Kerouac.

Follow me on Twitter!

2012-01-27T13:11:00.003-05:00

If you are a Twitterer, please follow me on Twitter. My username is thebeathandbook. I follow folks who follow me, and often do return FFs and RTs. If you help me increase my number of followers, I'll return the favor.

Lowell City Hall clock still running

2012-01-27T11:26:00.001-05:00

I bet Jack Kerouac would be happy to know that the 118-year-old Lowell City Hall clock is still running, thanks to the efforts of Lowell son, Andy Garabedian. Click here for an article about Andy in the Lowell Sun.

Given its age, Jack must have looked at it to tell the time on more than one occasion. Perhaps he wrote about the clock.

This is where I look to readers to help out with citations. Do you know if Jack mentioned the City Hall clock in a novel? Perhaps Dr. Sax? Or one of his other "Lowell novels"?

Let us know with a response to this post or an e-mail to thebeathandbook@gmail.com.

My latest Kerouacquisitions

2012-01-27T10:45:00.002-05:00

Just received these from my newest Kerouacquaintance, John J Dorfner. Can't wait to read them! They are available by contacting John via his website.

John Steinbeck, Jack Kerouac, and too many books

2012-01-26T13:05:00.000-05:00

There are more beat generation-related books in print than one can reasonably read in a lifetime. I'm still working my way through books written by Jack Kerouac, let alone books written about him! My list of "must-read" beat generation books is long enough to keep me busy well into my old age and beyond.

What's a person to do? What do you to when you get all tangled up? You just tango on(that's a movie reference, something that Jack would dig because he did it - see Day 48 in The Beat Handbook).Jack (Sal) was spouting lines from the movie version of Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men:

Terry had a new idea. We would hitchhike to Sabinal, her hometown, and live in her brother's garage. Anything was all right with me. On the road I made Terry sit down on my bag to make her look like a woman in distress, and right off a truck stopped and we ran for it, all glee-giggles. The man was a good man; his truck was poor. He roared and crawled on up the valley. We got to Sabinal in the wee hours before dawn. I had finished the wine while Terry slept, and I was proper stoned. We got out and roamed the quiet leafy square of the little California town - a whistle stop on the SP. We went to find her brother's buddy, who would tell us where he was. Nobody home. As dawn began to break I lay flat on my back in the lawn of the town square and kept saying over and over again, "You won't tell what he done up in Weed, will you? What'd he do up in Weed? You won't tell will you? What'd he do up in Weed?" This was from the picture Of Mice and Men, with Burgess Meredith talking to the foreman of the ranch. Terry giggled. Anything I did was all right with her. I could lie there and go on doing that till the ladies came out for church and she wouldn't care. But finally I decided we'd be all set soon because of her brother, and I took her to an old hotel by the tracks and we went to bed comfortably.

Jack was referencing the 1939 version starring Lon Chaney, Jr. and Burgess Meredith. If you haven't seen it, you are missing part of your beat education.

Jack Kerouac and the Green Bay Packers

2012-01-22T19:29:00.002-05:00

Who knew that the Kettle of Fish in Greenwich Village, which was a favorite hangout of Jack Kerouac, is the one spot in NYC that Green Bay Packers fans are congregating today to watch the NFC Championship game?

Click here for more details from the NY Daily News.

Looks like a "below-street-level" bar. My kind of place. Don't ask me why, it just is.

Great candid shots of Neal Cassady

2012-01-22T16:36:00.002-05:00

Neal Cassady fans will want to check this out.

Slumgullion

2012-01-22T14:46:00.001-05:00

Jack Kerouac talks about making "slumgullion" in The Dharma Bums, and it's lunch time here at Maine Kerouac Headquarters. I found some leftover corn beef hash in the frig, and I have that frying up on the stovetop and in a minute I'm going to break a couple of eggs in there and - voila! - my own version of slumgullion. For the real beat recipe, see Bums or Day 17 in The Beat Handbook.

It was yummy. Here's a pic.

Yes, I washed it down with a beer. Samuel Adams Boston Lager to be precise.

Writer's Block and Jack Kerouac

2012-01-22T13:53:00.002-05:00

I'm feeling like Jack Kerouac did on this date in 1948, when he wrote in his journal:

Tried to write and wrote nothing at all, what I wrote was crossed out. This is one of the worst ones yet, especially after all I've written.*

On January 15 I opined about writer's block and pondered trying some "free writing" to get things going. I just haven't made myself do it.

I have read that Jack never suffered from writer's block (e.g., in this article), but I think his own words above pretty much defeat that argument. I guess it depends on how you define writer's block. Is it the inability to write anything, or to write anything you deem "good"?

I think I more-or-less agree with the Cape Cod Daily's opinion that writer's block is an invention used as an excuse for hard work. It's much easier to say "I have writer's block" and go out and split firewood (which is on my list of things to do today) than to sit at the keyboard and slug along (which I am doing right now despite the firewood waiting impatiently).

I've never had too much trouble writing "something," but I often stop myself short of trying because I don't have any seemingly acceptable ideas for content. Which brings me back to free writing, I suppose, as a work-around. I could also look to Jack's "Belief & Technique for Modern Prose: List of Essentials." Or his "Essentials of Spontaneous Prose."

So, I think what I will do is post this entry, satisfied that I wrote and posted something today, and then go out and split firewood. When I come back in, my plan is to "free write" for 10 minutes (unless my fingers freeze off, which is quite likely).

Remember, it's just a plan, not words carved on stone and come down a mountain in a blaze of fire.

*From Douglas Brinkley's Jack Kerouac: Windblown World, 2004, p. 46. This book, along with Gerald Nicosia's Memory Babe: A Critical Biography of Jack Kerouac, is one I reference frequently when looking into Jack's life and times.

Kerouac and On The Road in the comics

2012-01-20T15:37:00.000-05:00

I thought my fellow Kerouac fans would enjoy this comic from today's newspaper.

Under SOPA and PIPA, I could have my blog shut down for posting this!

Seems reasonable. Not.

Interview with Al Hinkle (Ed Dunkel) in the works!

2012-01-19T21:24:00.001-05:00

I haven't posted much this week as I've started back to work after a much needed break. However, I do have some epic news! I've received word from Al Hinkle, the real-life Ed Dunkel from Jack Kerouac's On The Road, that he's willing to answer a few interview questions for The Daily Beat. We had mentioned this possibility back on January 8.

I'm very excited about this and I know you are, too. Being one of the original beat generation, Al is a true living American treasure.

Stay tuned for the interview. And thanks a million in advance, Al.

In other news, my post from January 17 was read by the Associate Publisher of Viva Editions, and they offered to send me a review copy of Gerald Nicosia's One and Only. Much thanks, Brenda!

If I got paid for maintaining this blog, I'd feel guilty!

Gerald Nicosia's new(ish) book

2012-01-17T15:59:00.000-05:00

Gerald Nicosia had a new book published in November, One and Only: The Untold Story of On The Road & Lu Anne Henderson, the Woman Who Started Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady on Their Journey. It's published by Viva Editions, and I learned about this review (of sorts) in The Cutting Edge from Al Hinkle's Facebook page. You know Lu Anne as Mary Lou in On The Road.

Nicosia is author of Memory Babe: A Critical Biography of Jack Kerouac, one of several Kerouac biographies worth reading. I say that with trepidation as there has been an on-going conflict between Nicosia and the Kerouac estate. He was at the last Lowell Celebrates Kerouac event and, honestly, it appeared that he was about as welcome as a skunk at a garden party. I don't know all the details, but some are discussed here.

Regardless, here's yet another book in the on-going and everlasting saga of our hero, Jack Kerouac. I'm not endorsing it - just letting you know it's out there.If Viva Editions (or Nicosia) wants to send me a review copy, I'll definitely read it and post a review here on The Daily Beat!

Six Degrees of Jack Kerouac: Martin Luther King, Jr.

2012-01-16T12:36:00.001-05:00

As you know, everything at The Daily Beat revolves around Jack Kerouac. Call it an obsession.

On November 15, 2008, we started an occasional series wherein I link Jack Kerouac to another person in 6 or less steps (based on the game, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon). Of course, it has much looser rules (as I explained in the original post):

...We will not be limited in our connections as in the Kevin Bacon version. That is, any connections I think of are fair game - they are not limited to people, but could be events or things.

So far we've done Kevin Nash, Robert De Niro, Mickey Rourke, and Harry Houdini. You can search archived posts if you're interested in reading about those Kerouac connections.

Per this post's title, today we are connecting Jack with Martin Luther King, Jr., since it is the latter's birth celebration day (always the third Monday in January but not always on his birthday, January 15).

The first and most obvious question that came to my mind was whether Jack and Dr. King ever met in person. They were of the same generation, with King born in 1929 and Jack born in 1922. Jack lived a bit longer, dying in 1969 compared to King's death date of 1968.

Did they meet in person? I doubt it. I've read most of Jack's books, journals, letters, and biographies, and I don't remember it happening, plus an Internet search turned up nothing. The Beats were somewhat apolitical, so I doubt that Jack would have been too enamored of the idea of meeting King. However, we're willing to stand corrected. If you know of a meeting, let us know and please cite your source.

Did Jack ever write about Dr. King? Given the sheer volume of Jack's writing, both published works and journals/letters, it's hard to believe he never mentioned King. I just can't confirm or deny it. Maybe a real Kerouac scholar will weigh in on this one. Audrey, are you reading this?

Did Dr. King ever write about Jack? I couldn't confirm this in the shallow research I did, but King did mention the "beat generation" in his Address at the Youth March for Integrated Schools on 18 April 1959 in Washington, D.C. (The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Volume V: Threshold of a New Decade, 2005, University of California Press, p. 187):

Yes, as I gaze upon this great and historic assembly, this unprecedented gathering of young people, I cannot help thinking -- that a hundred years from now the historians will be calling this not the "beat generation," but the generation of integration."

The footnote to this entry says that Coretta Scott King referred to the Beats when she delivered remarks on Dr. King's behalf at the 1958 Youth March.

What was Jack doing at the time of Dr. King's death in April of 1968? For one thing, he would still have been reeling from Neal Cassady's death in February. This was on top of the difficult situation he faced taking care (with wife Stella's help) of his ailing mother, Gabrielle. At the time of King's death, Jack would have been living with Stella and Memere in Lowell, but they would head for St. Petersburg, FL, that fall (Kerouac in Florida: Where the Road Ends by Bob Kealing, 2004, Arbiter Press, pp. 97-98). According to Kealing, some time in 1968 Jack has his second ever and last visit from daughter Jan, who found him sitting a "foot from the television set watching The Beverly Hillbillies and cradling a bottle of Jack Daniels 'like a giant baby bottle'" (p. 97). Suffice to say, when Dr. King was assassinated, Jack was likely on a bender. Did he pay the event much attention, given his condition and the recent news about Neal and his Memere's condition? I doubt it.

Which brings us to our six degrees connection. According to this YMCA website, Kerouac and King both stayed at a Y; however, I have no confirmation that they ever stayed at the same one, so this is not a sufficient connection. We'll go with the following.

The Flamingo Sports Bar in St. Petersburg, FL, which Jack may have frequented in his final years, is located at 1230 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street N. To wit:

1. Jack hung out in bars in St. Petersburg.
2. He may have frequented the Flamingo Sports Bar.*
2. The Flamingo is on Martin Luther King Jr. Street N.

Based on our rules, that makes Martin Luther King Jr.'s Kerouac Number a 3.

We know . . . that's pretty weak. We wish we could say that Jack wrote about King or vice versa, or that they met, but with the resources at hand we're left with this quasi-definite connection.

*Maybe Bob Kealing will weigh in on whether Jack actually frequented the Flamingo.

First Thought, Best Thought

2012-01-15T14:54:00.000-05:00

As Jack Kerouac's #1 living fan, stream of consciousness writing - epitomized by Allen Ginsberg's maxim, "First thought, best thought" - appeals to me emotionally yet I have a difficult time creating in that style. Perhaps I need to get Allen's book, Spontaneous Mind: Selected Interviews, 1958-1996 (reviewed here).

Or, perhaps I simply need to . . . practice. The technique is also called "free writing," which you can read directions for here.

I am not trying to reduce the brilliance of Kerouac et al. to a formula, since that of course cannot be done. However, as in Buddhism, sometimes a "technique" acts as a finger pointing at the moon.

I've been feeling a bit of writer's block lately (which is just a label, I know, and can be a damaging excuse), so I think I'll try free writing for 10 minutes and see what happens.

Maybe I'll even post it (unless it's too X-rated or might trigger NDAA sanctions).

Jack Kerouac: Cartoonist and Painter

2012-01-14T18:03:00.003-05:00

Click here for some examples of Jack Kerouac's original cartoons and paintings. We've mentioned this before on The Daily Beat (see July 12, 2011).

Just think of the graphic novel he could create. The mind boggles . . . .

My tribute to Jack Kerouac at OTR4Kerouac

2012-01-14T13:07:00.004-05:00

If you're not clued into this effort yet, here's a link to the OnTheRoad4Kerouac Reinvent the Scroll 2012 Project:OTR4Kerouac.

You'll see my tribute to Jack (scroll down) along with David Amram's and others.

Click here to contribute your own tribute to Jack.

This is a cool idea and I hope you'll participate!

Olsen Twins' younger sister to star in Kill Your Darlings

2012-01-14T11:05:00.000-05:00

And you thought you had misgivings about the casting for On The Road? Now we have not only Harry Potter as Allen Ginsberg but also Elizabeth Olsen (famous as the Olsen Twins' younger sister) as Edie Parker in the upcoming Kill You Darlings, based on the famous Lucien Carr/David Kammerer beat generation murder saga that Jack memorialized with William S. Burroughs in And The Hippos Were Boiled In Their Tanks. Neither actor is quite what I had in mind, but I will try to stay open about it.

On the plus side, it appears that Jack Huston ("Richard" on Boardwalk Empire) may play Jack Kerouac. Huston is an excellent actor, and I can see him playing Jack (except that he's 8 years older than Jack was at the time, 30 versus 22).

Read more about the film here and about the Carr/Kammerer incident here.

Jack Kerouac and compassion

2012-01-13T14:58:00.000-05:00

Reading the news of late usually makes me scratch my head in wonder at the cruelty of human beings, and then I think about whether it's just a natural state for us as a species. It's certainly a "typical" state, and has been for thousands of years. Jiddu Krishnamurti often pointed out the "fact" that we have not evolved one iota in this regard, that we continue right on with the killing, rape, wars, abuse and the rest of it.

What did Jack Kerouac think about compassion? He mentioned it often, and I would say that the overarching zeitgeist of his existence, and therefore of his work, revolved around his heartfelt compassion for the trials we all suffer. Compassion is at the heart of Buddhism, which of course Jack studied extensively and wrote about in several books (Some of the Dharma, Wake Up: A Life of the Buddha).

Jack is credited as saying the following in an essay in Playboy (June, 1959) titled, "The Origins of the Beat Generation":

Who knows, my God, but that the universe is not one vast sea of compassion actually, the veritable holy honey, beneath all this show of personality and cruelty?

Since inception, I've mentioned compassion 16 times here on The Daily Beat. In particular, I'm proud of this piece I wrote in May 2009. I would encourage you to read Crystal's comment that follows, where she suggests loving "every other human being as if he were our favorite child."

My mom used to say, "There but for the grace of God go I." She didn't necessarily live that saying 100%, but who does?

At least we can aspire to compassion. That would be a start. Yes?

A couple of Kerouac books for your collection

2012-01-13T10:07:00.000-05:00

Thanks to The Daily Beat, I've occasioned to meet a lot of fellow Kerouac fans and even authors, one of the latter being John Dorfner. In case you didn't know about John, he wrote Kerouac: Visions of Lowell and Kerouac: Visions of Rocky Mount.

You can check out John's website here. The Lowell book is available on Amazon (click here), but the Rocky Mount book (click here) shows as unavailable. Readers, if you want to contact John directly about getting a book, his e-mail is johnjdorfner@gmail.com.

Happy reading!

Additional preparation for the On The Road movie

2012-01-12T17:30:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I gave you some suggestions on preparting for the release of the On The Road movie. Here's another.

Visit this PBS Newshour segment and stream the video. Listen (and you can read the transcript at the same time) to Kerouac scholar Audrey Sprenger discuss Jack and his work. It's gold.

Jack Kerouac's beloved Underwood featured in new documentary

2012-01-12T15:59:00.000-05:00

Filmmakers Chris Lockett and Gary Nicholson are making a documentary, , The Typewriter (in the 21st Century). It will feature Jack's beloved Underwood, which I've posted about previously.

Rucksacks: Who knew?

2012-01-12T08:27:00.003-05:00

My post from March 25, 2009, titled "On Rucksacks," gets more traffic than I ever expected. For example, just today someone hit that page from searching with this phrase: duluth + pack + wanderer.

You never know.

Harshest Ever Book Reviews

2012-01-12T08:10:00.000-05:00

I thought Daily Beat readers might enjoy this piece from The Huffington Post. Here are some of the examples.

Susan Cohen on Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo in the Charleston City Paper:"This is easily one of the worst books I’ve ever read. And bear in mind that I’ve read John Grisham."I included this one because last night I finished one chapter of the book and it is so poorly written that I fear I must stop before my IQ goes down another 10 points. Maybe it's better in Swedish. The new movie was excellent, so I had high hopes.

Mark Twain on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice:"Every time I read Pride and Prejudice I want to dig her up and hit her over the skull with her own shin bone."I included this one because I love Mark Twain, that old curmudgeon!

Virginia Woolf on James Joyce's Ulysses:"Never have I read such tosh. As for the first two chapters, we will let them pass, but the third, the fourth the fifth the sixth - merely the scratchings of pimples on the body of the boot-boy at Claridges."I included this one because, as Daily Beat readers know, Joyce was a big influence on Jack Kerouac.

Our boy Jack is not on the list, but we all know what Truman Capote said about On The Road.

Waiting for the On The Road movie

2012-01-11T20:55:00.000-05:00

As we Kerouac fans continue to stew in our own excited juices waiting for the U.S. theatrical release of On The Road, it might be helpful to occupy ourselves productively in the meantime. Here are some suggestions:

1. Re-read On The Road.
I'm reading the scroll version, but I recommend reading the traditional version so that you will have in mind the actual character names from the movie (Sal & Dean versus Jack & Neal, etc.).

2. Refresh your character knowledge
Even though I suggest reading the traditional version of On The Road in preparation, I still think it's helpful to know which real-life characters align with the characters in the book. Here's a quick-reference, but you can always visit Empty Mirror's list (my source). You might want to jot this list down on the inside cover of your copy of On The Road.

Sal Paradise = Jack Kerouac
Dean Moriarty = Neal Cassady
Old Bull Lee = William S. Burroughs
Carlo Marx = Allen Ginsberg
Ed Dunkel = Al Hinkle
Marylou = Luanne Henderson
Camille = Carolyn Cassady
Amy Moriarty = Cathy Cassady
Joanie Moriarty = Jamie Cassady
Chad King = Hal Chase
Remi Boncoeur = Henri Cru
Inez = Diana Hansen
Laura = Joan Haverty
Galatea Dunkel = Helen Hinkle
Tom Saybrook = John Clellon Holmes
Elmer Hassel = Herbert Huncke
Stan Shepard = Frank Jeffries
Sal's aunt = Gabrielle Kerouac (Jack's mother)
Roland Major = Allen Temko
Jane = Joan Vollmer
Ed Wall = Ed Uhl
Rollo Greb = Alan Ansen

3. Brush up on beat terminology
To do this, simply visit the The Beat Generation Dictionary.

Some of the Dharma by Jack Kerouac

2012-01-10T20:33:00.002-05:00

Just got this in the mail - used from Amazon ($9) - and didn't expect such a tome! Lots of Keroueading ahead!

6 Degrees of Jack Kerouac: Lewiston, Maine

2012-01-10T19:47:00.001-05:00

Click here for a piece in the news connecting Jack Kerouac with Lewiston, Maine.Also, I was just re-reading On The Road for the umpteenth time and realized there's a Maine connection in there related to Al Hinkle. Can you identify it?

2012 a big year for Kerouac movies

2012-01-10T11:46:00.001-05:00

No less than three movies featuring Jack Kerouac are in the works:

On The Road, which of course you know about if you're a regular reader;

Big Sur, a movie treatment of Kerouac's novel of the same name; and,

Kill Your Darlings, about the Lucien Carr/David Kammerer murder story featured in Kerouac's And The Hippos Were Boiled In Their Tanks. It's so new that it's not yet on Imdb.com.

Are we ready for all the attention? Can't you just imagine all the superficial beat wanna-be's coming out of the woodwork, and we diehard longstanding Kerouacers channeling Barbara Mandell's song, I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool? I will admit that I came around to my Kerouac obsession pretty late in life, but at least it wasn't inspired by popular culture. It was inspired by my own Neal Cassady. But that's a whole other story for another time . . . .

Alas, I fear that anything popular culture inspires will seem antithetical to beat values. I just hope some respectful, meaningful attention gets paid to Jack and Neal and Allen and Bill and the rest. A resurgence of interest in reading the beat authors would be a positive outcome, as would an interest in poetry in particular.

Just as long as my book starts selling like hotcakes on Amazon, I'm down with the spotlight these movies will focus on the beat generation. Yair!

9 Books on Reading & Writing

2012-01-09T18:52:00.000-05:00

You could do worse, as a Kerouac lover and therefore a reader and perhaps even an aspiring writer, than pick up any of the 9 books recommended by Maria Popova in this Atlantic article: New Year's Resolution Reading List: 9 Books on Reading and Writing.

#1 was used as a required text by my high school English teacher, Brian Stahler (one of the best teachers I ever had, if not the best). #3 is just plain excellent, even if you're not a King fan (which I'm not). #5 is one of those books you'll return to re-read because it contains so much to think about. I own #9 and it's in my "To Read" pile.

As for the rest, they're in such good company that I suspect Popova is right on target.

Way back in 1998, I was presumptuous enough to offer some advice on writing here on The Daily Beat: How to write like Jack Kerouac (the #9 most popular post of all time on this blog based on pageviews).

Happy reading. And writing.

On The Road film update

2012-01-08T17:52:00.000-05:00

Click here for director Walter Salles saying:

We just finished the edit and the mix in Paris. There are still a few steps left until the film is completely finished (designing titles and credits, getting the digital workprint back to 35mm, etc.). The independent company that produced the film, MK2, is now working on the site and trailer. As for release dates, they tend to vary from country to country when a film is distributed independently.

More and more it looks like it may be released in France on May 23.

Kerouac alert: New York Diaries 1609 to 2009

2012-01-08T17:43:00.002-05:00

You never know where Jack is going to show up. Now he's referenced in Teresa Carpenter's new book, New York Diaries: 1609 to 2009. This article in the New York Post reported the following:

It took journalist Carpenter seven years to complete her book of diary entries from New Yorkers over 400 years. The result is as comprehensive as it is revealing, making the city come alive in its glamour and grime. She arranged the book by the month they were written, not by year, which allows for entries by George Washington to co-exist with those by Jack Kerouac. Though there are moments of heartbreak, hilarity prevails. “Arnold Schwarzenegger was having a party for the Statue of Liberty,” Andy Warhol wrote in 1986. “And I wasn’t invited. ”

If any Daily Beat readers get a chance to peruse it, let us know what you think.

Jack Kerouac's influence

2012-01-08T00:24:00.001-05:00

You never know how Jack's influence will show up, as evidenced by this piece on Philly.com.

I dig it.

On The Road film pic

2012-01-08T00:21:00.001-05:00

Pulled this from Facebook. Not sure of the source or if it's official, but I like it!

Interview with Al Hinkle?

2012-01-08T00:01:00.001-05:00

As readers of The Daily Beat know, we are occasionally blessed with the opportunity to interview people with beat generation connections of one sort or another. Most famous, of course, was our interview with Helen Weaver, available here. We also interviewed the publisher of Kerouac's Dog Magazine, available here, and an up-and-coming beat hero from San Francisco, Travis Tribble (click here).

I say all of this because I am hoping to get the opportunity to interview Al Hinkle, who readers know as Ed Dunkel from On The Road, Slim Buckle in Visions of Cody, and Ed Buckle in Book of Dreams. Al is a living example of beat generation history, being the only surviving member of Jack Kerouac's road partners.

I caught up with Al on Facebook, and he said he would start checking out my blog. Al, if you're reading this, I'm officially asking to interview you via e-mail for The Daily Beat. If you're willing, please send me an e-mail to thebeathandbook@gmail.com and I'll respond with questions. I didn't want to clutter up your Facebook page with such a request. If it's meant to be, it's meant to be.

I hope you'll check out our other interviews and decide to give us the opportunity. Since it's written, you have total control over what we print - we don't change a thing from what an interviewee submits and what we post.

Here's hoping Al reads this post and decides to give us a rare glimpse into beat history! Beat aficionados have their fingers crossed.

Yair!

Thank you

2012-01-07T09:37:00.000-05:00

To whomever or whatever is responsible for my blog visits going off the charts (see below), thank you. I cannot explain it unless it relates to the Kristen Stewart post from January 2. But that doesn't account for the average being above normal preceding that post - it used to be around 50/day. And what about Friday January 5? 410 visits? Why?

I seek understanding so that if it's something I did, I keep doing it. Visits are a good thing when you're a blogger.

If you have a possible rationale, I'd love to hear it!

Jack Kerouac's letter to Marlon Brando

2012-01-07T09:12:00.001-05:00

Al Hinkle posted this link on Facebook (yes, the real Al Hinkle who was Ed Dunkel in On The Road - click here if you need a character guide for Jack Kerouac's novels). Al is one of the few compatriots of Jack still kicking, along with David Amram, and is the only one left from the road trips.

This article from Gothamist discusses Jack's wish that Marlon Brando play him in the film version of On The Road. It also has an image of the entire original letter.

I posted about this on June 14, 2011. My reason for reposting? It's pretty cool, and I wanted you all to know that you could find Al Hinkle on Facebook.

Thanks, Al, for being Jack's friend and thanks for keeping us in the beat loop on Facebook! Daily Beat readers - get thee over to Facebook and be Al's friend!

Great article about Walter Salles and The Beat Museum

2012-01-05T11:50:00.001-05:00

Click here.

On The Road News Blog

2012-01-05T11:47:00.000-05:00

Click here for news about the On The Road movie.

French release of On The Road film set for May 23

2012-01-04T20:26:00.000-05:00

According to this post, the film version of On The Road is slated to be released in France on May 23. We can only hope that whoever is hanging up the U.S. release will get their egos out of the way and make it happen.

On The Road movie delayed?

2012-01-03T15:25:00.000-05:00

Click here for information about the On The Road movie possibly being delayed. I am officially bummed out.

Jack Kerouac, Kristen Stewart, nudity, tattoos, rucksacks, & pictures

2012-01-02T11:42:00.001-05:00

According to Blogger stats, as of a moment ago The Daily Beat had garnered 59,580 pageviews since inception in July 2008. We're on our way to 60,000. Don't mistake this data with the Sitemeter statistics in the sidebar - those are "visitors," not pageviews.

Here are the all-time top ten posts by number of pageviews:

1. Kristen Stewart topless in On The Road movie = 5,415 pageviews
2. Kerouac tattoos = 585 pageviews
3. Pics from On The Road = 471 pageviews
4. March 25: On Rucksacks = 444 pageviews
5. Actress Alice Braga discusses her role in On The Road = 390 pageviews
6. Kerouac tattoo = 323 pageviews
7. Jack Kerouac's 1942 Naval Reserve photo = 299 pageviews
8. How to write like Jack Kerouac = 205 pageviews
9. Naked women serving coffee = 192 pageviews
10. Review: Helen Weaver's The Awakener = 141 pageviews

What have I learned from analyzing the above? First, I'm disappointed in the disproportionate popularity of the Kristen Stewart post (by the way, it remains the top pageview for the past month, even though it is from August 2011). That disappointment aside, let's look at shameless self-promotion. Apparently, if I want traffic to my blog (and I do), I need to mention nudity, celebrities by name, rucksacks, tattoos, pictures, and Jack Kerouac.

Let's see . . . how about starting a rumor that Kristen Stewart got a tattoo on her breasts of Jack Kerouac naked and wearing a rucksack? That should get some pageviews!

My submission to the On The Road 4 Kerouac project

2012-01-02T11:26:00.002-05:00

Below is my submission to the On The Road 4 Kerouac project.

Jack Kerouac suffered the most intense and tempestuous loveaffair with life of any human being ever born, a love affair so profound thatkeeping it to himself was unthinkable and so he wrote it all down for the restof us as a marker, a memorial, a bellwether, a reminder of what is important,of what he called in On The Road “ourone and noble function of the time, move.” In all of his work, Jack waspointing us toward the ineffable Buddhist truth of the importance of now, ofliving fully in each moment, of completely experiencing everyone and everythingdeep down in our souls: of “digging the ride.”

Jack Kerouac was a man of action. When in doubt, hemoved. His example motivated me to writea book and self-publish it after 20 rejections (rejection being something Jackknew all about), and, because of taking that action, I've read publicly withDavid Amram backing me up on keyboards, I've interviewed Jack Kerouac's loverHelen Weaver and published it on my Kerouac-obsessed blog, I've sent books topeople all over the world, I receive free books in the mail from City Lightsfor my review, and I routinely meet interesting "mad to live"characters. None of this would have happened if I hadn’t bumped into Jack “on theroad.”

I am hopeful that the On The Road 4 Kerouac project and therelease of the movie version of On TheRoad will ignite a public rediscovery of Jack Kerouac, the author, as wellas Jack Kerouac, the man. Then, perhaps millions of other souls will learn – asJack’s gravestone says – to “honor life.” They’ll take risks with love andlaughter and compassion and somewhere along the way, just like Jack when hemade it to Colorado for the first time, they’ll be able to yell, "Damn!damn! damn! I'm making it!"

Amen.

On The Road 4 Kerouac: Reinvent The Scroll

2012-01-02T10:42:00.000-05:00

Daily Beat regulars may be interested in this effort to celebrate Jack's 90th birthday and capitalize on the release of THE MOVIE to create a public "rediscovery" of Kerouac's important work. It's called On The Road 4 Kerouac: Reinvent The Scroll. Click here for details.

It's an interesting project, and I plan to contribute a short tribute to the scroll. Maybe you'll consider doing the same in honor of our literary hero, Ti Jean.

Kerouac in Florida updated

2012-01-01T23:05:00.000-05:00

Kerouac in Florida: Where The Road Ends by Bob Kealing has been updated and is available from The Kerouac Project. I read the earlier version and I highly recommend it.

Jack Kerouac's 1947 New Year's Eve

2011-12-31T12:29:00.000-05:00

According to Douglas Brinkley's Jack Kerouac: Windblown World (2004), this is Jack's December 31, 1947 journal entry:

Party at Tom's* in Lynbrook, but how sad I was at midnight, without a girl, alone in a room playing "Auld Lang Syne" on the piano with one finger. But afterwards what drinking & yelling, drinking enormously with Jack Fitzgerald**, and telling great stories and talking, right into morning --

* Probably Tom Livornese, a Columbia student and Kerouac friend.
**Jack's friend and drinking buddy from Horace Mann, Columbia, and after.

Being into things before they're cool: George Shearing

2011-12-31T10:38:00.000-05:00

I don't know why, but this "year in review" story made little tickly fingers run up my spine.

"Jack Kerouac was into George Shearing before it was cool to be into George Shearing (or into Jack Kerouac, for that matter) . . . . The squares still didn't get it, man."

What are you into that's not cool (yet)?

12 Hangover Cures From Famous Heavy Drinkers

2011-12-30T16:30:00.003-05:00

Click here for an interesting compilation in The Atlantic. Burroughs is there, as is Hemingway. Once again, Jack didn't make the list.So, here's a question for Daily Beat readers: What did Jack do for a hangover? Cite your source, please.

10 Famous Authors' Famous Addictions

2011-12-30T12:11:00.003-05:00

Burroughs is in here, as is Hemingway. Jack is missing, but we all know what his addiction was: life.

2012 Kerouac-olutions

2011-12-30T11:45:00.001-05:00

Herewith are my Kerouac-olutions for 2012, starting with how I did on 2011's.

Update on 2011 Kerouac-olutions (click here for original post):
1. Read Dr. Sax
I did not accomplish this. I lent my copy to a friend, Kerri, and she still has it. I have ordered another and will put it on the 2012 list.
2. Take Crystal to Lowell Celebrates Kerouac!
Done.
3. Write a Kerouac-inspired song.
I did not accomplish this. Didn't even make a start on it.
4. Write 56 poems.
I didn't even come close, although I wrote a few (see my other blog) and was fairly consistent in posting them at dversepoets.com for Open Link Night.
5. Daydream a lot.
I don't think I accomplished this either. I daydreamed. Just not a lot.
6. Take guitar lessons.
I did accomplish this and it continues, thanks to Crystal setting up my first one for me. My hand troubles got to the point where playing the banjo was impossible, so improving my guitar playing became an important option.
7. Buy Crystal flowers at least once a month.
I think I accomplished this.
8. Read Hayduke Lives!
Sadly, I accomplished this. Love Abbey, just not this particular novel so much.
9. Write an article about Krishnamurti and special education.
Not accomplished. I did start some research, but the effort fizzled.
10. Travel somewhere new.
Done. For example, we went to Cobscook Bay State Park and Campobello Island.

So, I achieved about 50% of my 2011 Kerouac-olutions. Now it's time to make some for the approaching new year.

1. Read Dr. Sax.
2. Read A Dance with Dragons (is this appropriate since I already started it?).
3. Read On The Road: The Original Scroll (again, already started).
4. Buy Crystal flowers at least once a month.
5. See the glass half full more often.
6. Travel somewhere new.
7. Figure out what my next book will be about and actually start it.
8. Sell one of my banjos and get a better guitar.
9. Take advantage of the On The Road movie hype to advertise and sell The Beat Handbook.
10. Learn to love my job or find a new one.

Some of these are measurable, some aren't. Some are too easy, some aren't. What the Hell . . . it's a list of things to accomplish in 2012 and I may or may not succeed. It's a start. At least I put forth the effort to commit it to writing and share it.

The Daily Beat as a book!

2011-12-25T12:57:00.001-05:00

Crystal turned my blog into a book and gave it to me for Christmas. This is an awesome present for anyone who blogs, given that it turns a blog into a hard copy book that even the non-Internet-savvy folks in your circle can enjoy, plus it's an instant heirloom. Additionally, it provides some security in case Blogger (or WordPress or TypePad) experiences some catastrophic loss and your years of posts go bye-bye.

Click here to turn your own blog into a book.

I recommend it! Thanks, sweetie!

Merry Christmas from The Daily Beat

2011-12-25T12:51:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas to everyone out there who chances to read The Daily Beat on occasion. I got some swell beat presents this year (see above). Now the big decision: I had just started reading Maggie Cassidy, and to tell you the truth, I wasn't too engaged with it. Then I get two Kerouac books for Christmas - a perfect excuse to delay Maggie to another time. Now, On The Road: The Original Scroll or The Sea is My Brother: The Lost Novel?

Beatitude by Larry Closs: A Review

2011-12-22T15:08:00.002-05:00

I just finished Beatitude by Larry Closs. Here is the description from Amazon, where you can buy a copy:

New York City, 1995: Harry Charity is a sensitive young loner haunted by a disastrous affair when he meets Jay Bishop, an outgoing poet and former Marine. Propelled by a shared fascination with the unfettered lives of Jack Kerouac and the Beat Generation, the two are irresistibly drawn together, even as Jay's girlfriend, Zahra, senses something deeper developing.

Reveling in their discovery of the legendary scroll manuscript of Kerouac's On the Road in the vaults of the New York Public Library, Harry and Jay embark on a nicotine-and-caffeine-fueled journey into New York's smoky jazz joints, dusty rare-book shops and thriving poetry scene of slams and open-mike nights.

An encounter with "Howl" poet Allen Ginsberg shatters their notions of what it means to be Beat but ultimately and unexpectedly leads them into their own hearts where they're forced to confront the same questions that confounded their heroes: What do you do when you fall for someone who can't fall for you? What do you do when you're the object of affection? What must you each give up to keep the other in your life?Beatitude features two previously unpublished poems by Allen Ginsberg.

I liked this novel a lot, and for a couple of reasons. First, it is well-written. Closs demonstrates a clear command of narration, dialogue, and detail. As a result, the story is both believable and engaging. Second, Closs skillfully weaves together a modern love story with a Beat Generation subplot, and it works. Along the way, we learn some things about human nature as well.

If you're a Kerouac fan, or a Beat Generation fan in general, and you're looking for your next modern novel, I highly recommend Beatitude by Larry Closs.

One bellwether for a good read is that it inspires you to do even more reading (or writing). As soon as I finished Beatitude, I wanted to keep reading and I was still hungry for a beat love story. So, as you can see by the sidebar, I am now starting Maggie Cassidy by Jack Kerouac. It's one of the only Kerouac novels I haven't yet read. Thanks for the inspiration, Larry!

Day 100 Kerouaction: On Uncertainty

2011-12-21T17:38:00.001-05:00

We made it! This is the last entry in a series identifying all the passages that inspired the 100 entries in The Beat Handbook.

The above passage inspired Day 100, titled "On Uncertainty." As Krishnamurti's taught us, the only security is knowing that there is no certainty.

Can you be secure knowing that everything is happening to everyone right now in this big world and it can't be different from how it is?

As we take leave of this series, please remember to go go go and stay beat forever, my mad friends!

Day 99 Kerouaction: On Barter

2011-12-20T18:52:00.000-05:00

Day 99 in The Beat Handbook, titled "On Barter," was inspired by the above passage from On The Road.As I've said multiple times here on The Daily Beat, the Beats were green before green was cool. Our current example is barter, as evidenced by Dean swapping a wristwatch for a little piece of rock crystal.Next time you want something, see if you don't have something you could barter for it. It might be something tangible, or it might be your time and skill, as in time banking. Can you sing a song, write a poem, dig a ditch, sew a dress, bake a pie, build a shelf, rake a yard, get someone's groceries, etc.? If so - and I'm sure you could do one of these things if not a million others - you have the makings of a barter system ready for implementation.

Kerouac tidbit: On this date in 1947

2011-12-19T17:53:00.000-05:00

On this date in 1947, Jack Kerouac wrote only 1,500 words (in his journal he called them "hard-earned, so hard-earned").

Source: Jack Kerouac: Windblown World: The Journals of Jack Kerouac 1947-1954 by Douglas Brinkley

The Dharma Bums manuscript is at Rollins College

2011-12-19T17:40:00.000-05:00

Note: I learned about this from a Tweet by the Kerouac Project, which I recommend following if you are a Twit (Tweeter? Tweeterer?).

The original manuscript for The Dharma Bums is now at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. Clicking here will take you to a blog post about it, including pictures of actual pages and some interesting tidbits of interest to Kerouac fans.Apparently, Jack had typed the novel on teletype paper just like On The Road, but that scroll's whereabouts is unknown, having been sold to an anonymous buyer by Christie's in April 2003.

The manuscript at Rollins College is a version Jack typed from the scroll - there's a picture in the above blog post of him doing so.I'd love to see the manuscript, as Bums is probably my favorite Kerouac novel. You can tell by my license plate.

Day 98 Kerouaction: On Hygiene

2011-12-19T13:47:00.000-05:00

The above passage from On The Road inspired Day 98 in The Beat Handbook.If you're on a beat road trip and sleeping in your car or out under the stars and bumming gas money off hitchhikers and eating Cheez Whiz and salami sandwiches and drinking cheap Tokay, you still might want to clean up once in a while, especially if you just visited a whorehouse like the boys did. Beat hygiene would suggest going cheap, so keep in mind public swimming pools and campgrounds. If you're near a public beach by the ocean, they may have showers for washing off the sand and you can be in and out of there with your bar of soap long before getting arrested. Or, why not just grab the biodegradable soap out of your canvas rucksack and jump in the nearest body of water?

2011-12-18T18:39:00.002-05:00

Here's a still from The Movie.

What do you think?

Another Kerouac connection dies

2011-12-18T18:34:00.001-05:00

George Whitman, an American who owned a famous bookstore in Paris where he hung out with Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, has died at age 98. Click here for more.

'49 Hudson comes to The Beat Museum

2011-12-18T14:51:00.001-05:00

Click here to read about the '49 Hudson from the upcoming On The Road movie and where you can see it (the Hudson, not the movie). I was so ga-ga over Vesuvio's and Jack Kerouac Alley when we were in San Fran a couple of years ago that we totally spaced going to The Beat Museum. Next trip, for sure!

Day 97 Kerouaction: On "Digging The Ride"

2011-12-18T14:45:00.001-05:00

Day 97 in The Beat Handbook was inspired by the above passage from On The Road. It's the prime source of the phrase, "dig the ride," which I usually inscribe as part of signing my books.As I say in the book, "You can accept what is right now without the aid of a guru, drugs, god, or a meditation system." Just decide to "dig the ride."

Day 96 Kerouaction: On Sleeping Arrangements

2011-12-17T08:19:00.003-05:00

Day 96 in The Beat Handbook was inspired by the above passage from On The Road.

Something is wrong with my Blogger interface. I have no ability to italicize, bold, block quote, etc. So, being grouchy this morning and having this additional irritation, I am not saying anything about the passage. You know what you need to do if you're interested in seeing what I said . . . .

Warby Parker Eyewear and Jack Kerouac

2011-12-16T11:19:00.004-05:00

I just learned that Warby Parker Eyewear named their company after two Jack Kerouac characters. The below is directly from their website:

Why did we name our company Warby Parker?
We’ve always been inspired by the master wordsmith and pop culture icon, Mr. Jack Kerouac. Two of his earliest characters, recently uncovered in his personal journals, bore the names Zagg Parker and Warby Pepper. We took the best from each and made it our name.

We hope your new glasses will provide all the style you need to travel your road with class, and their price will leave you with some extra cash to use on your journey.

Day 95 Kerouaction: On Listening to Music

2011-12-13T16:05:00.002-05:00

The above passage from On The Road inspired Day 95 in The Beat Handbook.

This passage was the inspiration for my using the phrase go go go throughout the book. And it should be the inspiration for you to listen to jazz. Especially George Shearing, about whom Dean said, "Sal, God has arrived."

To wit:

George Shearing

Channeling Jack Kerouac

2011-12-11T15:50:00.001-05:00

If you haven't seen Vincent Balestri channeling Jack in this piece, you are missing out on something special.

Click here.

Day 94 Kerouaction: On Parking

2011-12-11T15:08:00.004-05:00

Day 94 in The Beat Handbook, titled "On Parking," was inspired by the above passage from On The Road.

The Kerouaction? Park in dark spots with your front pointed in the direction you want to go. The latter makes for quick getaways when it's time to go go go. Why in the dark? Then you can use your car for nefarious beat purposes and not be under surveillance by squares who'll call the bobbies.

Jack Kerouac writes to a high school student

2011-12-09T16:46:00.003-05:00

According to the Dec. 5, 2001, Paris Review, "In 1963, a sixteen-year-old San Diego high school student named Bruce McAllister sent a four-question mimeographed survey to 150 well-known authors of literary, commercial, and science fiction. Did they consciously plant symbols in their work? he asked. Who noticed symbols appearing from their subconscious, and who saw them arrive in their text, unbidden, created in the minds of their readers? When this happened, did the authors mind?"

Read our hero Jack's response by clicking here: Paris Review: The Symbolism Survey. You'll see Jack's actual handwritten responses on the mimeographed survey (yes, some of us remember mimeographs).

Awesome!

The other authors' responses are fascinating. Happy reading!

Day 93 Kerouaction: On Driving

2011-12-06T18:57:00.003-05:00

Today's Kerouaction is brought to you by the above passage from On The Road. For details, click here and buy the book. It makes a great Christmas gift!

Hitchhiking redux

2011-12-04T09:40:00.004-05:00

Click here for a recent piece in The Atlantic on one our favorite Kerouactions: hitchhiking.

If you've been paying attention, you know that we've mentioned hitchhiking a number of times here on The Daily Beat, including:

August 11, 2011
August 19, 2011
November 28, 2011

We've mentioned it previously, too, but more in passing. You can search The Daily Beat for hitchhiking by typing the following in Google: hitchhiking:hitchhiking:http://thedailybeatblog.blogspot.com/. (By the way, that will work with any website you want to search. Just type a search term, a colon, and the URL.)

The Beat Handbook includes the word hitchhike or hitchhiking 20 times.

Day 92 Kerouaction: On Appearances

2011-12-03T13:58:00.004-05:00

The above passage from On The Road inspired Day 92 in The Beat Handbook, titled, "On Appearances."

There are three discernable Kerouactions in this short passage, all having to do with appearances:

1. Stop shaving so often
2. Go around barechested
3. Hang out with bums

Indeed, perhaps these are part of the marching orders for the army of hobo dharma bums I discussed in a previous post.

Kerouacian hobo army of Dharma Bums?

2011-12-03T09:51:00.004-05:00

From today's Dilbert (see above) I got the idea that maybe Occupy is really the beginning of a hobo army of Dharma bums taking over the world. And would that really be a bad thing?

Harry Potter as Allen Ginsberg?

2011-11-29T21:48:00.002-05:00

Rumor has it that Daniel Radcliffe is slated to play Allen Ginsberg in an upcoming film. Click here for the story.

"I don't think so, Tim."

Day 91 Kerouaction: On Picking Up Hitchhikers

2011-11-28T18:22:00.005-05:00

The above passage from On The Road inspired Day 91 in The Beat Handbook.

It's beat to hitchhike, and it's also beat to pick up hitchhikers. When you do, ask them for gas money. If they don't have gas money, then what? An old 60s saying comes to mind: "Ass, gas, or grass: Nobody rides for free." I suppose in a pinch you could settle for a good story.

Speaking of pinches, I talked to a young man today who confirmed that hitchhiking is definitely illegal in Massachusetts. He knew this from personal experience, if you know what I mean.

Occupy Movement embraces Jack Kerouac

2011-11-27T20:07:00.003-05:00

Okay, that's a misleading blog post title, but I'm all about traffic to my blog.

That said, click here to read an article in the Irish Independent about the Occupy movement. It includes a mention of a Jack Kerouac quote seen at Occupy Dame Street. Dame Street is a major street in Dublin that is home to several banks as well as Trinity College, where legend has it that the bell in the arch rings whenever a virgin passes under it (it hasn't rung in over 200 years).

Now, why didn't I think of putting that Jack quote on a sign for Occupy Augusta?

Day 90 Kerouaction: On Cheap Travel

2011-11-27T15:39:00.002-05:00

One might suspect that the entry in The Beat Handbook inspired by the above passage from On The Road would focus on Dean's choice of places to make it with a waitress he met in a luncheonette. Instead, Day 90, "On Cheap Travel," points out that we still have services that put together cars that need to be somewhere and drivers willing to get them there. Just Google "driveaway" and you'll find info on becoming a "driver" for one of these companies. You get a car with a full tank of gas and pay all the rest of the expenses in getting it from Point A to Point B. Just like Sal and Dean. Pick up some hitchhikers along the way and ask for gas money, sleep in the car, pack a bunch of salami sandwiches, and go go go on the cheap. Yass, yass . . . .

Jack Kerouac's estate

2011-11-26T16:54:00.003-05:00

Click here for an interesting piece on what's become of Jack Kerouac's estate. I don't know how accurate this article is, but I do know from personal experience that there is tension when Gerald Nicosia hangs around at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac events. Said tension was palpable (have you ever heard the saying, "As welcome as a skunk at a garden party"?), and when I asked about it, I got vague acknowledgments but no details. Perhaps this article sheds some light.

Which reminds me to remind you to have a will, make sure it's legal & current, keep the original somewhere safe & accessible, and provide copies to those it affects.

Note to self: Take your own advice.

Full text of On The Road plus

2011-11-26T10:49:00.001-05:00

This site is probably illegal as Hell, but Terebess Asia Online does include the full text of On The Road and a few other Kerouac works.

Day 89 Kerouaction: On Sleep

2011-11-26T10:36:00.004-05:00

The above passage from On The Road inspired Day 89 in The Beat Handbook, titled, "On Sleep."

A student asked his master, "What is enlightenment?"

The master replied, "When hungry, eat; when tired, sleep."

In this passage, Jack's (Sal's) behavior embodies this Zen principle.

Trivia question: How many times does Jack mention sleep or sleeping in On The Road?

Kerouac's lost novel published

2011-11-25T17:15:00.004-05:00

Jack's first and unpublished novel, The Sea is My Brother, is now available for the first time. Click here to buy it, although if you're not a Kerouac fan, you might want to think twice. I understand that it's fairly unremarkable and only of interest to those of use who are Kerouac-obsessed.

P.S. I told you about this in March 2009.

Day 88 Kerouaction: On Dress

2011-11-25T16:57:00.005-05:00

The Beat Handbook's Day 88 entry, "On Dress," was inspired by the above passage from On The Road.

Want to dress beat? Then it's jeans and T-shirts. Can you imagine a time when they were considered "rebellious"? Rebellious things often become mainstream after a time, but no matter because jeans and T-shirts are comfortable, low-maintenance, and versatile, all important characteristics for a beat wardrobe. Add some plaid flannel shirts, Carhartt or Dickies work pants, and black railyard shoes and you'll have a fairly complete beat wardrobe.

Shameless self-promotion

2011-11-23T11:15:00.003-05:00

It's that time of year when shameless self-promotion is especially effective and more frequently forgiven. Why? Because it's gift-giving season, and what better gift is there than a book? So, figure out how many people on your gift list would appreciate a Kerouac-inspired lilt, click here, and order the desired number of copies. Amazon will even gift-wrap them and send them directly to your giftees. Simple as a snap. No, it's not buying local, but it puts huge royalties (cough!) in my pocket, and I'm as local as you can get, especially if you live in Pennsylvania or Maine.

If you want to give several books, combine my book with The Dharma Bums and On The Road, for which it is a companion reader. You'll vault to the top of your Kerouac-obsessed friends' A-lists!

Click. Click. Click. Done.

Day 87 Kerouaction: On Kidney Function

2011-11-22T18:31:00.003-05:00

Day 87 in The Beat Handbook was inspired by the above passage from On The Road.

Titled, "On Kidney Function," this entry extracts several beat actions from a short scenario, including the kinds of restaurant bathrooms to seek out (and why) as well as the possibilities of finding entertainment in the simplest situations.

Jack Kerouac's actual Navy medical report

2011-11-22T18:17:00.002-05:00

If you haven't seen it before, click here to see Jack's actual Navy medical report from May 14, 1943.

Very interesting.

Day 86 Kerouaction: On "The Road"

2011-11-21T19:27:00.004-05:00

Here it is, the passage from On The Road that inspired Day 86 in The Beat Handbook!

What's the point? The road is symbolic of action, mindfully experiencing what is. But don't wish you were Dean. Or Sal. Or even my hero from the TV show, Then Came Bronson. Be them. Take off on an adventure right now. No plan. No supplies. Just go go go. See where you end up!

Jerry Seinfeld and Jack Kerouac

2011-11-21T17:42:00.002-05:00

I knew I liked Jerry Seinfeld for some reason. Click here for an interesting comparison between him and our hero, Jack Kerouac.

By the way, this is not the first time I've mentioned Seinfeld here on The Daily Beat. For example:

November 23, 2008
April 3, 2011

These pretzels are making me thirsty!

Day 85 Kerouaction: On IT

2011-11-20T19:35:00.004-05:00

The above passage from On The Road inspired Day 85 in The Beat Handbook, titled, "On IT."

If you get what IT is, you know that words written about it are useless.

Period.

Day 84 Kerouaction: On Unconditional Love

2011-11-19T20:52:00.004-05:00

We're winding down with our series of posts showing which passages from The Dharma Bums and On The Road inspired the 100 entries in The Beat Handbook. Only 15 to go.

The above passage inspired Day 84, titled, "On Unconditional Love." In it, I suggest doing some research on what Carl Rogers said about sunsets, or what Krishnamurti had to say about measuring love and thereby destroying it. Find someone who lets you be who you are, and do the same. I'm not suggesting being a doormat, or ignoring your own needs, but I am suggesting that we all realize that no one makes us happy or sad, that love is more than a feeling, that commitment really does mean taking the good with the bad (because we all have both), and that allowing your partner to be who they are and vice versa is pretty damn important. No, I wouldn't be thrilled if Crystal sauntered in at 3 AM with a bunch of loud, drunk friends and proceeded to talk and drink till dawn. But I hope I would empathize with how that behavior met important needs of hers, for connection and fun and what-have-you. If I didn't want to join in, and I needed my sleep, there's always the camper and my nice warm sleeping bag. Jack would approve.

Be who you are! The world needs you to do that.

Beatitude by Larry Closs

2011-11-19T09:50:00.003-05:00

I just received a copy of Beatitude by Larry Closs for review, so it's in the reading queue and I will give you my take on it in a future post.

In the meantime, however, I will say that I read the first few pages and it's very engaging. The book includes two previously unpublished Ginsberg poems, and David Amram commented, "A daring, honest writer with a gritty urban flair." So, you might not want to wait for my review and pick up a few copies now to store away as a holiday gift for your beat friends.

I'm sure it's on Amazon, or click here for the actual publisher's website.

The Beat Hotel

2011-11-17T22:23:00.001-05:00

Click here for trailer.

Famous authors' rejection letters

2011-11-17T20:20:00.002-05:00

Click here for an interesting NPR story about famous authors' rejection letters. When you get to Jack's section, there is no visual example, but if you click on the link you can hear part of his On The Road rejection letter read aloud.

The lesson? Keep writing and ignore rejections as well as the poo-poo advice from your "friends" and relatives.

Door Wide Open by Jack Kerouac & Joyce Johnson

2011-11-17T19:55:00.002-05:00

This is what I'm currently reading, and I recommend it highly if you are a Kerouac fan. It's a fascinating look at a beat love affair via the letters between Jack Kerouac and Joyce Johnson, interspersed with commentary by the latter.

Day 83 Kerouaction: On Time

2011-11-15T18:42:00.002-05:00

Day 83 in The Beat Handbook was inspired by the above passage from On The Road. I remember asking my great friend Keith what time it was and him answering, "Now." Well, course. It is always "now." The past and the future are mental illusions, and greatly responsible for suffering (guilt over the past, anxiety over the future).

So if you want to call on a friend, but it's 2 AM, so what? Do it. Don't let an artificial construct like time keep you from being fully alive and acting on your gut instincts. Hungry for pancakes but it's dinner time? Have pancakes. Sleepy but it's high noon? Sleep. And so on. I think you get the point: Don't let the clock run your life.

Jack Kerouac's 1942 Naval Reserve photo

2011-11-12T22:16:00.003-05:00

According to The Archive Sketches on Kerouac, this is Jack's 1942 Naval Reserve photograph.

Day 82 Kerouaction: On Greeting the Morning

2011-10-31T17:00:00.005-04:00

Day 82 in The Beat Handbook was inspired by the above passage from On The Road, in which Dean demonstrates the proper way to greet the morning: nude and standing in front of your window. Have you tried it? If so, we look forward to hearing about the experience. If not, why not? What's holding you back? Conformity? Fear? Conditioning?

Break free! Tomorrow morning, stand naked in front of your window - drapes and blinds wide open - for a few minutes and greet the morning skyclad (my favorite Wiccan word)! Trust me - you'll reap emotional benefits all day long.

Interview: Kerouac's Dog Magazine

2011-10-27T18:52:00.002-04:00

A while ago I discovered a beat little magazine called "Kerouac's Dog." They agreed to an e-mail interview, and here it is. Click here to visit their website.

The Beat Handbook: Kerouac's Dog is certainly an interesting name for a magazine (especially since Jack was more of a "cat person"). What can you tell our readers about the name's origin?

Kerouac's Dog Magazine: Ah yes, we get asked this all the time. The name is inspired by a dog called Potschky, owned by one of Kerouac’s contemporaries, Lucien Carr. Potschky chewed and savaged the end of Kerouac’s typed manuscript for On the Road, after Kerouac and his wife Joan Haverty moved into Carr’s apartment on 21st Street, off Seventh Avenue, in 1950.

TBH: You have a couple of interviews posted at the website and we don't want to cover the same territory. What's happened of note since the date of the last interview (November 2010)?

KDM: Well after the success of Issue 1 'Freedom'; we got to work straight away on Issue 2 'Life' - which went down a storm. Issue 3 'Truth' is about to go out, and we're already working on the final issue of the year. The response we've had has been incredible, and the sheer talent of work is overwhelming. We're also working on a brand new website that will hopefully be more of a platform for some of the awesome work we've had, and a spotlight and springboard for the talented writers, artists and photographers we've had the pleasure to work with.

TBH: How did your decision to go with a printed magazine in this Internet age relate to your magazine's topic, Jack Kerouac and the Beat Generation?

KDM: Well we're not out-and-out Beatniks, we're massively inspired by Kerouac and what he stood for, so we're happy to tilt our hat to the guy. I think we wanted to pay homage to the philosophy of the Beat Generation and to underground, and free press; giving people the opportunity to see the breathings of their creative hearts in a creative, uncensored publication.

TBH: How much current writing aligns with your magazine's vision? Do you get more acceptable submissions than you have space to handle?

KDM: As we said earlier, we're not die-hard Beatniks, we have our own vision and ethos, but Kerouac's not bad for drawing inspiration! But if the work we receive resonates, and 'speaks' to us, and touches our soul, and fits in with the theme for each issue, then we'll do our best to include it. We have to turn a lot of people away for each issue, simply because of size. We're already aiming at 300 pages for Issue 4 - but having said that, we don't deal in absolutes, so more than happy to reconsider work for future issues.

TBH: How much do you think the upcoming On The Road movie will increase interest in Kerouac and the Beats?

KDM: It could go either way - but judging by the massive global following Kerouac and the Beats still have today, I think it will reignite the passion for Kerouac and bring it more mainstream. It's a shame in one way, but if it's opening more and more people up to some of the awesome literature of that period, then it can't be a bad thing. There's still a part of me that thinks that some books simply should stay as the written word.

TBH: Your magazine is priced in £ but many of our readers are in the U.S. Does PayPal handle that issue pretty transparently for the buyer?

KDM: Surely, as far as we know Paypal handles other currencies pretty seamlessly. We are hoping to offer other payment methods like Direct Debits and Standing Orders - especially when we set up Subscriptions in the not-to-distant future.

TBH: How many issues of KDM are you shooting for in 2011?

KDM: We really wanna push things as much as we can - but want quality rather than quantity - each issue is so rich and in-depth, I think we'd be doing the incredible content an injustice if we went for more than 4 issues a year. We may do more, but we want readers to really be able to savour each issue.

TBH: Who do you consider to be "beat writers" today?

KDM: Some of the contributions we've had are certainly form the brave new steps to a new Beat Generation. ;)

TBH: Do you have any "inside advice" for authors looking to get published in KDM?

KDM: Be creative, be inspiring and blow us away.

TBH: Last question: What do you think Jack would say about Kerouac's Dog Magazine?

KDM: He'd either love it, or totally shoot us down. We like to think he'd chuckle and give us a good pat on the back for providing a platform for free, creative expression.

Day 81 Kerouaction: On Making Do

2011-10-27T18:19:00.005-04:00

The above passage from On The Road inspired Day 81 in The Beat Handbook, titled, "On Making Do."

Jack would fit right in with our friends in the Occupy Wall Street camps. They are "making do" as part of a movement (a righteous movement, in my opinion), whereas Jack was "making do" as part of living beat. And perhaps out of necessity.

In any case, picking up butts and smoking them (or the tobacco they contain) is certainly a "green" thing to do. And, it's good practice for your immune system. Use it or lose it, as they say.

Day 80 Kerouaction: On Improvisation

2011-10-25T17:36:00.002-04:00

Day 80 in The Beat Handbook is titled, "On Improvisation." It references the above passage from On The Road.

At the heart of beat travel is "traveling light," which reminds me of a song I wrote called exactly that.

TRAVELIN' LIGHT

VERSE 1:
Outside the rain is falling
There's dampness in my soul
I can hear the freight train calling
But it's too cold to go

CHORUS:
I got enough to eat and a place to sleep
I can carry all I own
'Cause I'm travelin' light, travelin' light
Along life's weary road
People look at me and all they can see
Is a poor old worn out soul
But I'm travelin' light, travelin' light
Along life's weary road

VERSE 2:
Well once I tried a workin'
But I never was on time
A time clock and a foreman'
Just ain't no friends of mine

I wrote the above in the 80s, way before my Kerouac obsession. Hmmmm . . . .

Anyway, improvisation is an important skill in traveling light, as evidenced by the nightclub singer using an upside down iron in a hotel room to heat up a can or pork and beans. Heat is heat. Your car's engine block will heat up a can of pork and beans, too, but make sure you poke some holes in it (the can, not your engine block), or you might get a big surprise when you open your hood to dine.

Now I'm hungry. Talk to you later . . . .

Wanderlust: This is a cool site!

2011-10-24T21:27:00.002-04:00

Click here to explore Jack's travels in On The Road. Cool site, although they need to add a lot to the Kerouac route.

The last bar Jack Kerouac drank in?

2011-10-24T21:20:00.003-04:00

Click here to read about The Flamingo Sports Bar in St. Petersburg, FL, whose owners claim is the last bar Jack Kerouac took a drink in.

Day 79 Kerouaction: On Energy Conservation

2011-10-24T17:56:00.004-04:00

Day 79 in The Beat Handbook was inspired by the above passage from On The Road.

Have you noticed that living beat often correlates with living green? To wit, Dean was saving gas money by driving with the engine turned off. At the same time, it may have been a little scary, and that's another good thing to do at least once a day: scare yourself. That way you know you're still alive.

What have you done today that scared you? It's not too late. Sing in public. Call your ex-spouse. Run around the house naked. Dress funny and go to the store. Walk up to complete strangers and ask them who they're voting for in the next election. There's just no dearth of scary things to do, and they don't have to be life-threatening.

Conserve gasoline by driving downhill with the engine off and make sure to scare yourself daily. Jack would approve.

Day 78 Kerouaction: On Gas Money and Birthday Presents

2011-10-23T18:47:00.003-04:00

Day 78 in The Beat Handbook is titled, "On Gas Money and Birthday Presents." It was inspired by the above passage from On The Road.

The Kerouaction here is fairly self-evident: the need for gas when you're on the road trumps sentimentality. Pawning something, anything, is preferable to being placebound, even if that something is a present from someone. You'll still have the memory of the present, and isn't it the thought that counts? Besides, as a Texas preacher once told me, "Things can be replaced. People can't."

And that ain't no Harvard lie.