THE DAILY BEAT: bobblehead

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Jack Kerouac bobblehead

For readers who noted my earlier mention of the Jack Kerouac bobblehead, here's a picture and a little history. As a promotion in 2003, the Lowell Spinners (a Boston Red Sox minor league affiliate) gave Jack Kerouac bobbleheads out to the first 1,000 attendees at a game. Then the Jack Kerouac estate made them break the mold to prevent counterfeiting and unauthorized copies. These go for as high as $350 on eBay.

One of these is on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. If you don't know why that is, you don't know Jack.

This pic is from a current listing on eBay (I won't mention that I am currently the high bidder).

Obsession is a beautiful thing to behold.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

6 Degrees of Separation: Jack Kerouac and the White House crashers

I don't know what leaves me drier, the Tiger Woods saga or the White House crashers, but I must admit that I never thought someone would find a way to invoke Jack's name in a story about either situation. Nevertheless, NBC Washington has figured out a way to connect Kerouac with the White House wedding crashers. See the story here.

If only I could get my hands on one of those Jack Kerouac bobblehead dolls, but they are going for hundreds of dollars on eBay!

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."