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the Best in Kerouac & the Beats, Adventure, Politics, Music, Movies, Poetry & other Lifejoys

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Entries Tagged as 'New York City'

The Play’s The Thing

April 30th, 2021 · 2 Comments · New York City, Real-life Adventure Tales

The Play’s The Thing 113 different Playbills that survived. An approximate history of my life in theater audiences . . . Some of the highlights . . . which you can see the Playbills of in chronological order starting at the top . . . Mousetrap β€” London β€” 1972 β€” the longest running play […]

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Obama Election Night NYC 2008

June 29th, 2020 · 1 Comment · Blissfully Ravaged in Democracy, New York City, Politics, Real-life Adventure Tales

Blissfully Ravaged in Democracy I spent the afternoon getting all gussied up in my black velvet tails and Ben Franklin knickers with knee-high socks topped off with a top hat, accented with colorful Obama buttons, and everything underneath my waving homemade Obama pennant flag with a little red & white Canadian one on top.Β  All […]

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Bill Cannastra & Joan Haverty’s Loft

April 21st, 2019 · 37 Comments · Kerouac and The Beats, New York City

The Home of The Scroll & The Girl Newly uncovered photos and corrections to history. “Bill felt completely at home on the rooftops of Manhattan.”Joan Haverty-Kerouac on Bill Cannastra I knew I loved this guy! πŸ™‚ . To all in Beatlandia β€” Pretty much nobody’s ever seen these buried Beat family photos in a hundred […]

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Red Roses, Green Gold theater review

October 17th, 2017 · 13 Comments · Grateful Dead, Movies, New York City

New Hunter-Garcia Musical comes up Roses . . Hear ye!Β  Hear ye!Β  Behold β€” a re-imagining of the Hunter-Garcia songbook.Β  New life.Β  New arrangements.Β  New band.Β  New set.Β  New stage.Β  New story. If you’d like a fresh way to approach Grateful Dead music β€” go to this show. If you like the Dead and theater […]

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The Dalai Lama in Central Park in 1999

February 26th, 2017 · 8 Comments · New York City, Poetry, Weird Things About Me

. Dalai-Rama! or The Light at the End of the Tunnel is the Twinkle in Your Own Eye! . In the days leading up to This Great Spirit Gathering in Central Park, The news reports were predicting 20,000 people or something. I was thinking, “This is going to be a LOT bigger than that!” I […]

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Hillary Clinton Javits Center 2016

November 13th, 2016 · 18 Comments · New York City, Politics, Real-life Adventure Tales

Election Night 2016 in New York City . . It was such a beautiful fall Tuesday in New York. We were all in such a good mood. But in retrospect there were some early warning signs I’d rationalized and dismissed: The tollbooth clerk I had a happy election exchange with but when asked who she […]

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Gary Hart rally 1984 Washington Square

September 11th, 2016 · 12 Comments · New York City, Politics, Real-life Adventure Tales

How Rock Concerts Led To Politics . For most of ’80s I lived in Phyllis & Eddie Condon’s palatial apartment on Washington Square North. Β The NYU Program Board from where I ran the concerts was in the Loeb Student Center on Washington Square South β€” about a 3-minute walk away β€” if you didn’t dawdle […]

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Rolling Stone Book of The Beats, Power of The Collective

March 6th, 2016 · 5 Comments · Grateful Dead, Kerouac and The Beats, Merry Pranksters, New York City

Floating Universities Β β€” The Power of The Collective in Art . Give me your befuddled masses, Your rejection slips, pink slips, verbal slips, all; Knock down the gates, throw open the bars, The artists are havin a ball. Teach me, show me, let me in; Challenge me, push me, help me win. Athletes have their […]

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Rolling Stone Book of The Beats excerpt

February 29th, 2016 · 6 Comments · Kerouac and The Beats, New York City

Abstract Expression: From Beat to Brando . Fire lights and smoking nights And splashes of dripping paint; Jazz explosions and constant commotions “Leave It To Beaver” this ain’t. . It was the halftime show of the century! 1945 to 1955. “We’re gonna rock the rock in the second half.” Or we’re all gonna die. . […]

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Seinfeld and The Beatles and The Beats and such

July 29th, 2014 · 9 Comments · Movies, Music, New York City, Weird Things About Me

. Larry David & Jerry Seinfeld were the Lennon & McCartney of comedy. That’s the way I see it, anyway. Larry was a Lennon β€” mercurial, opinionated, sharp tongued, bull-headed, idea generating, creatively uncompromising, a supremely gifted artist born to his medium, with an enormous elaborate expansive vision. And Jerry was the McCartney β€” an […]

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