Day 69 Kerouaction: On Spontaneity

Day 69 (an auspicious number, n'est pas?) in The Beat Handbook is titled, "On Spontaneity." It was inspired by the above passage from On The Road.

The beat way is to live each moment like it's your last. What are you doing right now that honors life?

Loosen up! Howl at the moon. Go somewhere. Sing out loud. Walk around outside naked. Try a new food. Write a poem. Read something radical. Call an old friend for no reason. Give a stranger five bucks and ask them to pay it forward. Throw an impromptu party. Something! Anything! Even piggyback around the tanks of a gas station beats sitting there reading this blog.

Sunday, Crystal and I got up and were getting ready to leave Lowell from our fantastic Lowell Celebrates Kerouac weekend. I said, "Hey, sweetie. Guess what?" "What?" she replied. "Concord is only 15 miles from here and that's where Thoreau is buried. Want to do another author's grave visit?" (Visiting author's graves is something we like to do - click here). She said, "Sure!" and the rest is history. I have yet to document it on The Daily Beat, but we saw Thoreau's grave along with Emerson's, Hawthorne's, and Alcott's. We took some pictures/video and did some reading. I'll write about it in an upcoming post.

The point is to be spontaneous and look for opportunities that honor life. That's what Jack would do.

Pictures/videos from Lowell Celebrates Kerouac 2011

Below is a fairly comprehensive photo/videojournal of our Lowell Celebrates Kerouac weekend. NOTE: Click on photos to enlarge them for viewing.



Me at Jack's grave.

These next two links are videos of me and Crystal reading at Jack's grave.

Rick reading from Big Sur

Crystal reading from Mexico City Blues


Crystal at Jack's grave.


The inscription in the copy of my book I left at the grave.


The instructions I left on my book.


Jack's grave during our visit. At bottom are the two books we read from - we didn't leave them there.


"So long, Jack."


A picture Crystal took using the "panorama" setting on my camera so she could get my truck (with DHRMABM license plate) and Jack's grave in one shot.


A guy at Ricardo's was impersonating Jack.


Me with Melissa, who won an autographed copy of The Beat Handbook by saying Rumplestiltskin (per my challenge in a previous post).


Poet Steve Dalachinsky reading Saturday morning at the Jack Kerouac Commemorative.


One of the stones at the Jack Kerouac Commemorative.


Me listening at the Commemorative.


David Amram playing Amazing Grace at the Commemorative.


The plaque on the house where Jack was born.


9 Lupine Road in Lowell, MA: the house where Jack Kerouac was born.


Docent Roger Brunelle reading at the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes.


Jack's funeral home in Lowell, visible from beginning of the Stations of the Cross at the Grotto.


The stations of the Cross near the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes. That's Bill, who is omnipresent during LCK weekends.


Sign outside the Worthen House, a stop in Friday night's pub crawl and site of Saturday afternoon's open mike.


Me reading at the open mike at the Worthen.

Click here for a video of my reading.

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!

Melissa earns a copy of The Beat Handbook

Last night at Major's, during the Kerouac Pub Crawl, Melissa whispered, "Rumplestiltskin," earning her a signed copy of The Beat Handbook. How cool is that? Above is a pic of me, Melissa, Todd, and Judy.

P.S. Todd is a professor at UMass Lowell who is doing the keynote today. See you there.

P.S.S. As usual, photography by Crystal. Thanks, sweetie.

Reading from Big Sur at Jack Kerouac's grave

Click here to watch a video of me reading from Big Sur at Jack Kerouac's grave on October 7, 2011 (during Lowell Celebrates Kerouac). Videography by Crystal.

Report #1 from Lowell Celebrates Kerouac 2011

I have a minute before breakfast and then a tour of Lowell with Roger Brunelle, so I thought I'd update readers of The Daily Beat on Lowell Celebrates Kerouac events so far. As you saw in the two previous posts, last night we were on the Kerouac Pub Crawl. We started at Ricardo's, which used to be Nicky's. Jack drank there for free in his later years because Nicky was his brother-in-law. It was standing room only. A couple of poets stood behind the bar and read their works. The second one, Steve (last name escapes me), was really good. Then we went to Cappy's Copper Kettle, another of Jack's haunts. At that point, my cell phone camera started acting up, so no pictures of the next two places. After Cappy's, we went to Majors. There, Melissa from Boston asked me if I was the guy with the Kerouac blog. I said, "Yes," and she whispered "Rumplestiltskin." She earned a signed copy of The Beat Handbook. Amazing. She was with Todd, who is the keynote speaker today, and Judy. I also gave pub crawl leader Mike Wurm a copy of my book. We had a turkey panini and fries there. Tasty. Finally, we ended the crawl at The Old Worthen House. You should see the old school overhead fan system in that place. There, a guy named Kurt came up and asked me if I was Rick Dale. I said, "Yes," and he said he loved my book. Outstanding. Live music followed. We had a great time overall and didn't even get lost walking back to the hotel!

That's it for now. Pictures to come. Also videos from the grave! Stay tuned.

Stop no. 2 on Kerouac pub tour.

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