Sunday, May 23, 2021

Dark day in Kerouac history

 

Alan Harrington (left) and Lew Welch

Despite our experiences with COVID-19 deaths, we should not become inured to the tragedy and significance of the date when someone takes the "night train to the big adios" (movie reference there -- for those who'd like to guess the film, please comment with your answer). To wit, today's date brings us to remember novelist Alan Harrington and poet Lew Welch, two friends of Jack Kerouac who shuffled off this mortal coil (or in Welch's case, disappeared) on this date, May 23 (Harrington in 1997, Welch in 1971).

We opined about this important Kerouac date previously and in that post we identify who Harrington and Welch appeared as in five of Kerouac's works, as well as provide some background on each. You can read that post by clicking HERE. That saves me repeating myself and unnecessarily using up bandwidth.


RIP, Mr. Harrington and Mr. Welch.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for reminding me of the importance of this date. It made me want to go back and read a post I did on Lew Welch a few years ago. If you're interested, here's a link;
https://newdharmabums.blogspot.com/2018/11/a-carrion-eaters-meal.html
I still look up at the vultures that soar over our neighborhood so many times a day, and ask: Is that you, Lew?

Rick Dale, author of The Beat Handbook said...

Robin, next time I see a buzzard . . . .