THE DAILY BEAT: 28th sentence of the 28th book

Thursday, March 28, 2019

28th sentence of the 28th book

Roy Eldridge

The 28th book on my Kerouac bookshelf is Jack Kerouac's The Sea is My Brother (Penguin Classics, 2011), and the 28th sentence (in honor of today being the 28th day of the month) is:

One of the sailors, a husky dark-haired pharmacist's mate, talked all the time about Roy Eldridge's trumpet and why he was ten years ahead of any other jazz musician except perhaps two others who jammed Mondays at Minton's in Harlem, Lester somebody [Young] and Ben Webster; and how Roy Eldridge was really a phenomenal thinker with infinite musical ideas. (p. 19)

I curated this book here. Beyond that, nothing comes to mind to say here except that it's important to know that in the term, BASE jumping, BASE is an acronym for building, antenna, span, earth (the fixed structures a parachutist or wingsuiter jumps off). What does that have to do with Kerouac? Nothing, but it was on my mind and now it's on yours. How's that for yielding power?

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Reviews of The Beat Handbook

Gerald Nicosia, author of the acclaimed Kerouac biography Memory Babe, said The Beat Handbook is "full of Jack's heart."

Jared Randall, author of the excellent book of poetry, Apocryphal Road Code, said this about The Beat Handbook: "Sometimes a book comes along at just the right time. In my wandering pack of experiences, I find they often do. Enter The Beat Handbook by Rick Dale."

Kenneth Morris, Kerouacian extraordinaire, said this:
"I just finished reading Rick Dale's beautiful utterance and call to action of Kerouac mind-set and zen sensibilities. It made me laugh and reflect on my own life and road I have naturally grooved into after absorbing the Kerouac canon. The road less traveled always had my name on it. And that has made all the difference. The Beat Handbook 100 Days of Kerouactions reaffirms the attitudes and ideology that made the Beats and Kerouac the important men of ideas that America (and the world) thirsted for, needed, and swallowed whole. Beautiful, absorbing, Top Ten whipsmart from my articulate, tender-hearted friend and fellow traveler. Highly recommended."