tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3259386991508935093.post6503530147637618513..comments2024-03-24T12:14:08.296-04:00Comments on THE DAILY BEAT: Review of Jan Kerouac: A Life in MemoryRick Dale, author of The Beat Handbookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17721559977431022390noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3259386991508935093.post-88406612030418292122018-03-05T09:47:58.119-05:002018-03-05T09:47:58.119-05:00Following is a reply from Gerald Nicosia. Everythi...Following is a reply from Gerald Nicosia. Everything below -- in quotes -- is verbatim from his e-mail to me.<br /><br />"My friendship with Jan is well documented in hundreds of photos and hundreds of letters. I met her in 1978, interviewing her at the apartment of Carol Ross in San Francisco, and we quickly became friends. I later helped her meet people who knew her father, which was something she desperately wanted to do, to get to know him better. We shared a wry, almost black sense of humor and also had both grown up workingclass so understood what it's like to look up at life from the bottom. About 40 of her letters to me are published in the Thunder's Mouth Press edition of BABY DRIVER, and they give a very clear picture of how much she thought of me (and I of her). This can hardly be called 'insinuating into someone's life.' I helped her to get BABY DRIVER published, and helped her again and again, and I was not going to let her down when she discovered that her grandmother's will was forged. The evidence was overwhelming--please read the court transcripts in Florida. Stella was not a bad woman, but like most Greek women of that time, she did what her brothers told her. And let's face it, some of her brothers were gangsters--running bookie, prostitution, and other operations. Nicky's was a bottomless bar and people sometimes got sex from the girls there. I have tried to be gentle in my talk about the Sampas family but I am getting sick to death of these unfair attacks, and if you want to take the gloves off, okay, I'll take them off."Rick Dale, author of The Beat Handbookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17721559977431022390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3259386991508935093.post-55474533109939908702018-03-02T11:20:28.212-05:002018-03-02T11:20:28.212-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Rick Dale, author of The Beat Handbookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17721559977431022390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3259386991508935093.post-23894050216123342622018-03-01T12:44:01.016-05:002018-03-01T12:44:01.016-05:00Dumont57,
I'd find your screed much more cred...Dumont57,<br /><br />I'd find your screed much more credible if you identified yourself instead of hiding behind an anonymous screen name. Nevertheless, and despite your post containing an ad hominem, I am publishing it so that readers of The Daily Beat can see an example of the unkind comments I get when the subject of Gerald Nicosia comes up. Some I have not posted because they are too disgusting.<br /><br />You're welcome to your opinion, as am I. Mr. Nicosia has only been trustworthy in the many interactions I have had with him. At least he identifies himself on-line when he takes a position about something.<br />Rick Dale, author of The Beat Handbookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17721559977431022390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3259386991508935093.post-18612497367948572382018-02-24T02:22:48.046-05:002018-02-24T02:22:48.046-05:00Jack Kerouac was known to say vicious, intemperate...Jack Kerouac was known to say vicious, intemperate things about the people closest to him, including his mother, who he was so famously devoted to, and allied with - so his alleged written comments regarding the Sampas family is not particularly persuasive, or reliable. Gerald Nicosia himself is someone who insinuated himself into Jan Kerouac’s life and, with an eye to advancing his own fame and renown, has given Jan spectacularly poor advice. He is not a man to be trusted, in my view.Dumont57https://www.blogger.com/profile/03465665149140662676noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3259386991508935093.post-74054995790759368932014-11-26T18:32:35.497-05:002014-11-26T18:32:35.497-05:00Stella Sampas was my aunt and the Will wasn't ...Stella Sampas was my aunt and the Will wasn't forged. She cared for Jack's mother for a long timeAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04690306004405658678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3259386991508935093.post-71043633095517865132012-03-02T17:03:23.630-05:002012-03-02T17:03:23.630-05:00I was continually struck in the interview with Jan...I was continually struck in the interview with Jan how she held no grudge against her father while at the same time acknowledging how badly his absence and lack of recognition of her screwed up her life, or at least influenced, if only at a subconscious level, many of the choices she made regarding men and drugs. She was a pretty remarkable person to proffer such forgiveness, especially at a time when she knew she was dying as a result of those bad choices.Crystalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13823638034018430190noreply@blogger.com