Lowell Celebrates Kerouac/Jack Kerouac Literary Festival schedule

Click here for the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac/Kerouac Literary Festival schedule this coming October.

Jack Kerouac and comfort food

This article - "Kerouac Was a Comfort-Food Freak" - reminded me of the many entries in The Beat Handbook (Days 1, 17, 19, 24, 52, 54, and 57) about "the beat diet," which, of course, I culled from The Dharma Bums and On The Road. I've written about food on a number of occasions here on The Daily Beat as well. For example, the beat diet. Or Slumgullion and Slumgullion.

The beat diet is all about comfort food. Now . . . where did I put that box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese?

Jack Kerouac. Period.

How many times have you encountered the advice to follow your heart? I write in amazement that we know what to do, but we don't do it. What is wrong with human beings that we have all the great advice that's ever existed right at our fingertips (can you say, "Internet"), and we still continue to suffer through our miserable lives, complaining about this or that (politics, neighbors, perceived wrongs, the Kardashians . . . ), avoiding our passions, wallowing in our limitations, expecting the worst, relating to each other through our conditioning instead of in this moment, and . . .  ? Well, I don't need to go on.

Mea culpa. But at least tonight I am in that appreciative frame of mind. I bought a nice bottle of wine, some unhealthy but tasty dinner, and now I am both full of good food and a bit tipsy. Things seem quite clear to me in this moment: Love is all that matters. Relationships are everything. You are not your job or your possessions. This too shall pass (regarding tribulations, like getting an IRS notice that you owe $43,321 from a mistake in your 2010 tax return). Karma is real (what you put out there is what you reap). Killing other humans is wrong. There may or may not be a God but no one knows and so it's best to just be good for general purposes and not to avoid some supposed consequence when you die. There's nothing new under the sun. Bacon tastes good. Cats are cool. Wine is good. Reading and writing are the best things man ever invented.

Which leads me to Jack Kerouac. I don't know why I ended up being his number one living fan (I say that to be provocative, but it may be true except for John, Gerry, and a couple of others I've met). But I did. And I went with it, writing my book, meeting all sorts of mad people from all over the world, and generally giving me something to be passionate about that - so far, unlike being a musician - hasn't been taken away from me and, short of Alzheimer's (which I do fear), may not get taken away for the duration.

What a ramble. I hope it's semi-coherent. If it's not, I hope your IQ didn't drop from reading it.

Yair!

Lowell Celebrates Kerouac 2012 dates and more

I have it on fairly good authority that the tentative dates for Lowell Celebrates Kerouac (LCK) 2012 are Thursday October 11 to Sunday October 14. Of course, that is subject to change, and there may be some peripheral events circling about those dates. For example, the debut production of Kerouac's play "The Beat Generation" at the Merrimack Repertory Company is set for Wednesday, October 10 to Sunday October 14.

You can search archived entries here at The Daily Beat for reports from LCK. Just look in October for 2008, 2009, or 2011 (I had a conflict in 2010). It's a great time, and a necessary experience if you are a Kerouac fan.

I recommend the UMass Lowell Inn and Conference Center for lodging. It's right downtown and easy walking distance to some of the LCK events. Their phone number is 800-321-2211. There's usually a block of rooms reserved for LCK, but it might be too early for that. You can always book a room and then cancel. Better to be an early bird. We Hotwired one year and ended up in Chelmsford, which was fine but not as good a location.

Every even year, LCK partners with UMass Lowell and the Cultural Organization of Lowell (COOL) to put on the Jack Kerouac Literary Festival, so if you visit the LCK website (click here), don't be surprised to see it called that. No details at the LCK site yet, but there will be. Keep checking it, and I'll keep you posted as well.

YOU HAVE TO GO TO LOWELL FOR THIS EVENT AT LEAST ONCE, IF NOT EVERY YEAR!

See you there. Once again this year I will establish a secret phrase to whisper in my ear and in return the first person to do so will get a signed copy of my book. Just ask Melissa from 2011. I'm not using "Rumplestiltskin" this year. I think I shall choose a Kerouacian word. One more reason to keep reading The Daily Beat: to learn the magic word for this year's LCK.

Carl Rakosi: A poet that Allen Ginsberg recommended

I love discovering new (to me) poets, especially good ones. We have evidence of Allen Ginsberg recommending poet Carl Rakosi on at least two occasions: once to Thomas Devaney, who introduced an event celebrating Rakosi at Kelly Writers House at the University of Pennsylvania (click here), and once to Blaming Japhy Rider author Philip A. Bralich.

Click here to read some of Rakosi's poems.

On The Road soundtrack details

Click here for details about the On The Road soundtrack from Film Music Reporter.

I learned about this from Laura S. on Facebook. Thanks, Laura!

On The Road movie posters

To date, I've seen the following movie posters for the upcoming film version of On The Road. What do you think?