Kerouac, Lowell, Kevin Nash, Cappy's Copper Kettle, & Synchronicity

Friday night during the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Pub Crawl, we were having a beer near the pool table in the back of Cappy's Copper Kettle. A rough-looking tattoo-sporting longhair was playing pool (see above), and he had actually ushered us to a couple of seats near the short bar by the table (his drink was sitting there and we didn't know if the seats were taken). While his opponent was playing, he would come over and drink. Out of the blue, he looked at me and said I looked like Kevin Nash (below). "Do you know who that is?" he asked.


Well, as a matter of fact . . . . Click here for a synchronicity laugh.

Or maybe that guy reads The Daily Beat?

Anyway, I wish I were that much of a stud. I did tell the guy I took it as a compliment. He told us he fought Mixed Martial Arts and showed us his hands that he "broke all the time." We were toward the front of the bar later in the night and he shook my hand on the way out and said it was nice to meet us.

I love beat characters!

Six Degrees of Jack Kerouac

This is the first in an occasional series of posts (occurring on a variable ratio schedule) wherein I will be linking Jack Kerouac to another person in 6 or less steps. This is based on the trivia game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, which is based on the theory of Six Degrees of Separation.

We will be establishing Kerouac numbers, similar to Bacon numbers. A Kerouac number quantifies the separation a person has from Jack Kerouac.

The difference is, 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. At the same time, I will be connecting Jack to unlikely people, as you will see. And the connections cannot be trivial (for example, having read a Kerouac book does not give you a Kerouac number of 1). Maybe it will be fun. Especially if it becomes interactive and you suggest some unlikely people to connect to Jack.

For our first subject, we will be taking up professional wrestler Kevin Nash.

1. Kevin Nash resides in Venice Beach, CA.
2. My son Jason is streethawking copies of The Beat Handbook at Venice Beach.
3. The Beat Handbook is a daily reader devoted to Jack Kerouac.

So, Kevin Nash's Kerouac number is 3.

Okay. That was kind of lame. But it struck me this morning while watching TNA Wrestling on television* and they introduced Kevin Nash as being from Venice Beach. So I went with it.

I wonder what Barack Obama's Kerouac number might be. Anyone want to tackle that?


*If all you can think of right now is why does Rick watch professional wrestling, get over your bad self. "And ye harm none, do what ye will." Wiccans have it about right.