Curation #106 from my Kerouac bookshelf: The Backpacker by Albert Saijo

Item #106 in my Kerouac bookshelf curation project is this paperback 1977 (I guess) 101 Productions (no printing number) edition of Albert Saijo's The Backpacker. 193 pages, it measures about 4-1/4" x 7-1/8" and is in very good condition (except for a small rip in the front cover). The provenance is that I bought it used via Amazon, and as I promised yesterday, there is an interesting backstory to tell about that.

First, why is a book by Albert Saijo on my Kerouac bookshelf? Regular readers already know that he appeared in Jack's novel Big Sur as George Baso. And he co-authored Trip Trap: Haiku On the Road with Kerouac and Lew Welch (which I curated here). For those unfamiliar with Dave Moore's excellent Character Key to the Kerouac's Duluoz Legend, here is Saijo's entry in that character key (click here to visit the key - you can search for characters with the Control-F function):

This book is a great little matter-of-fact introduction to backpacking, with chapters/sections titled:

Introduction
Which Foot First?
The Outfit
Food
Getting the Trip Together
The Walk In
Camp
Out
Appendix
Index

Saijo's brother, Gompers, did the illustrations throughout the book (see the cover above for an example).

Now to the backstory. When I bought this book, it came with a very lovely note from the seller about the book's provenance. I blogged about it on May 28, 2017 and you can read all about it by clicking here.

So there you have it. A book about backpacking by one of Kerouac's friends and fellow travelers, Albert Saijo. It deserves a spot on any complete Kerouac bookshelf.








Below is a picture of Shelf #3 of my Kerouac bookshelf showing the placement of this book (bottom of the pile in front of the row) on the day I started curating my collection. Next up: The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead by William S. Burroughs (we start Shelf #4).

Shelf #3 of my Kerouac bookshelf

Curation #105 from my Kerouac bookshelf: New Editions 2: An Anthology of Literary Discoveries (from 1957)

Item #105 in my Kerouac bookshelf curation project is this paperback undated (I think it came out in 1957) Paperback Editions Limited copy of New Editions 2: An Anthology of Literary Discoveries. 136 pages, it measures about 4-3/8" x 6" and is in rough shape (pages are coming out, page and cover corners are bent, both covers are stained). But, all the text is readable! The provenance is that I bought it on eBay.

This is one of the books that Jack Kerouac was reading from at the Village Vanguard in NYC in December 1957. You can see it in his hand in the picture below. Several other pictures exist and they have been posted in the Jack Kerouac Facebook Group (which faithful readers of The Daily Beat should join). You can also see them here.

The book contains Jack's piece, "Neal and the Three Stooges." My version contains a really obvious typo that someone fixed in pen. The rest of the book's contents can be seen below.

I couldn't be so lucky as to have stumbled on to the exact copy Jack held in his hands that night, as I am sure it is either in the Kerouac archives or long ago sold to a private collector for a pretty penny.  Nevertheless, this is a great item to have on my Kerouac bookshelf as it represents a piece of Kerouac history. According to Gerald Nicosia in Memory Babe:

Watching Jack read, Steve Allen thought it would be interesting to have a jazz musician spontaneously scoring lines as he read them; and Gilbert Millstein, who arranged the reading, offered Allen himself the job. (p. 565)

This led to the famous Jack Kerouac/Steve Allen recording still available today (Poetry for the Beat Generation, which we curated here). Bonus points if you know why else Gilbert Millstein was a critically important figure in the Kerouac story.

You won't find this on Amazon, but there is a copy in fine condition on eBay going for $125.


Below is a picture of Shelf #3 of my Kerouac bookshelf showing the placement of this book (top of the pile in front of the row) on the day I started curating my collection. Next up: The Backpacker by Albert Saijo (very cool provenance backstory on this one).

Shelf #3 of my Kerouac bookshelf

Curation #104 from my Kerouac bookshelf: Scientologist! William S. Burroughs and the 'Weird Cult' by David S. Wills

Item #104 in my Kerouac bookshelf curation project is this paperback 2013 Beatdom Books first print edition of David S. Wills' Scientologist! William S. Burroughs and the 'Weird Cult'. 220 pages, it measures about 6" x 9" and is in very good condition. The provenance is that I acquired it via Amazon. Mr. Bezos, once again -- you are welcome.

I gave this book a very positive review on The Daily Beat on April 19, 2013. Click here to read that review. Wills' thesis can be summed up as follows (from p. 119):

He [Burroughs] was a deeply scarred human being with a mind full of awful memories and what he perceived to be handicaps - his homosexuality and drug addictions. He had sought to fix his problems through therapy, yet evidently Scientology was a quicker and more effective fix. As intelligent as Burroughs was, he was nonetheless fragile, and as wary as he was of being a "mark," he was so desperate to find a cure for his pains that he would have walked into any trap set just for him. And looking back at his history of beliefs, and his long line of particular problems, no trap was as custom-made for this man as the Church of Scientology.

Given that Burroughs was one of the Beat triumvirate along with Allen Ginsberg and our hero, Jack Kerouac, this is a fascinating read and a fitting item for one's Kerouac bookshelf.







Below is a picture of Shelf #3 of my Kerouac bookshelf showing the placement of this book (24th from the left/first item on the right) on the day I started curating my collection. Next up: New Editions 2: An Anthology of Literary Discoveries.

Shelf #3 of my Kerouac bookshelf

Curation #103 from my Kerouac bookshelf: Naked Lens: Beat Cinema by Jack Sargeant

Item #103 in my Kerouac bookshelf curation project is this paperback 2008 Soft Skull Press first printing of Jack Sargeant's Naked Lens: Beat Cinema. 251 pages, it measures about 5-3/8" x 8-3/8" and is in very good condition. The provenance is that I received it as a review copy.

As in the past, this is another example of a review copy that I didn't review. Shame on me, even though it's another example of a review copy being sent to me unsolicited with no strings attached. I will do better with any future review copies (not that I will receive any, given that my follow-through batting average is so poor).

Naked Lens: Beat Cinema is an exploration of the celluloid expression of the Beat movement. It received some good reviews, one being here at Underground Film Journal and another here at Electric Sheep.

As expected, 1959's Pull My Daisy plays a prominent role, taking up the whole first chapter. If you haven't seen this Robert Frank/Alfred Leslie film narrated by Kerouac and starring Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, David Amram, and other Beat figures, click here to watch it. Subsequent chapters deal with films such as John Cassavetes' Shadows (click here to watch it) and Conrad Rooks' Chappaqua (couldn't find a link to the full film). The first part of the book (Chapters 1-12) ends with an interview with Allen Ginsberg. The second part of the book focuses on William S. Burroughs (Chapters 10-13). For example, there is a discussion of the animated film, Ah Pook is Here, and the claymation film, The Junky's Christmas. The books wraps up with a 7-part Appendix, a bibliography, and an index of the over 300 films mentioned in the book.

My one gripe about this book is the font size. It is so small as to be nearly unreadable to these old eyes (without a magnifying glass). That aside, Naked Lens: Beat Cinema is a book that needed to be written and it makes sense to have it on one's Kerouac bookshelf.








Below is a picture of Shelf #3 of my Kerouac bookshelf showing the placement of this book (23rd from the left) on the day I started curating my collection. Next up: Scientologist! William S. Burroughs and the 'Weird Cult' by David S. Wills (which I not only read but also reviewed).

Shelf #3 of my Kerouac bookshelf

Curation #102 from my Kerouac bookshelf: Blaming Japhy Ryder: Memoir of a Dharma Bum Who Survived by Philip A. Bralich, Ph.D.

Item #102 in my Kerouac bookshelf curation project is this paperback 2012 Balboa Press (no printing number) edition of Blaming Japhy Ryder: Memoir of a Dharma Bum Who Survived by Philip A. Bralich, Ph.D. 248 pages, it measures about 6" x 9" and is in very good condition. The provenance, if memory serves, is that it was sent to me as a review copy by either the publisher or the author.

Here is the blurb about this book from Google Books:

Inspired by and responding to Jack Kerouacs [sic] Dharma Bums [sic], this memoir details the psychological and spiritual triumph over severe psychological difficulties caused by a series of traumas endured in the Peace Corps in West Africa in 1978. Surveying the spiritual landscape of America through the seventies to the present in Zen, Tibetan Buddhist, New Age and Christian movements, this memoir describes the journey of author Philip A. Bralichs [sic] life, beginning as a twenty-something, leftist, married, seventies idealist in the Peace Corps in West Africa, through an accident in the bush that cost his wife her life and himself much of the use of he left leg, and through the growing and debilitating psychological difficulties that were finally resolved through wide reading and personal experience of many of the spiritual and psychological movements of those four decades. The book commences in West Africa in 1978 but also goes back to as early as 1973, just four years after Jack Kerouac died.

You can read some reviews of the book by clicking here.

I did read this book but decided to heed Thumper's advice and thus never posted a review on The Daily Beat.







Below is a picture of Shelf #3 of my Kerouac bookshelf showing the placement of this book (22nd from the left) on the day I started curating my collection. Next up: Naked Lens: Beat Cinema by Jack Sargeant.

Shelf #3 of my Kerouac bookshelf

Curation #101 from my Kerouac bookshelf: Loving and Hating Charles Bukowski by Linda King

Item #101 in my Kerouac bookshelf curation project is this paperback 2010 Kiss Kill Press first edition (no printing number) of Linda King's Loving and Hating Charles Bukowski. 288 pages, it measures about 6" x 9" and is in very good condition. The provenance is that I traded books with the author, who signed and inscribed the title page.

First things first. Why is this on my Kerouac bookshelf, given that Bukowski is not considered a Beat writer? Well, it is a multivariate answer. First, my friend and Kerouac biographer Gerry Nicosia suggested I get in touch with the author about her book. Second, Bukowski certainly lived what could be considered a Beat lifestyle. Third, he was a contemporary of the Beats (born two years before Kerouac). Fourth, his writing probably appeals to some fans of Beat literature. Finally, I had to have somewhere to shelve the book and my Kerouac bookshelf was accepting new items at the time.

As far as the book goes, I wrote an extensive review of it on December 2, 2012, which you can read by clicking here. I really liked this book a lot as my review indicates. Bukowski was a talented and complex guy, and Linda captures his essence in this provocative memoir.







Below is a picture of Shelf #3 of my Kerouac bookshelf showing the placement of this book (21st from the left) on the day I started curating my collection. Next up: Blaming Japhy Ryder: Memoir of a Dharma Bum Who Survived by Philip A. Bralich, Ph.D.

Shelf #3 of my Kerouac bookshelf

Curation #100 from my Kerouac bookshelf: Off the Road: My Years with Cassady, Kerouac, and Ginsberg by Carolyn Cassady

Item #100 in my Kerouac bookshelf curation project is this paperback 1990 Penguin Books ninth printing of Carolyn Cassady's Off the Road: My Years with Cassady, Kerouac, and Ginsberg. 436 pages, it measures about 5-3/8" x 8-1/4" and is in good condition. The provenance is likely that I bought it used from Amazon.

In order to do something different on the occasion of my 100th curation, I'm not going to opine about this book (regular readers need no background on Carolyn Cassady or her import in the Kerouac story). Instead, I will leave it to you. Leave a comment on what you thought about Off the Road.

And with that, we'll call it 100.


P.S. Don't ask me why this edition is going for $190.57 on Amazon....






Below is a picture of Shelf #3 of my Kerouac bookshelf showing the placement of this book (20th from the left) on the day I started curating my collection. Next up: Loving and Hating Charles Bukowski by Linda King. Why Bukowski on my Kerouac bookshelf? Answers next time.

Shelf #3 of my Kerouac bookshelf