Brianland

How The Beats Begat The Pranksters . Beat Carolyn & Prankster Babbs, Boulder ’82 . It all started on September 5th, 1957 when a certain book got published . . . Or no . . . it all started in April 1951 when a guy sat down at a typewriter with a long scroll of […]

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George Walker & Brian Hassett Present Jack Kerouac & Neal Cassady . . George Walker & Brian Hassett first met in Boulder Colorado in July 1982 at the historic Jack Kerouac On The Road 25th Anniversary Conference — where Hassett ran the projector for their multimedia “Cassady” show — and then hung again the following […]

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Falling in Love in the Summer of Love . Yeah — it can still happen.  To anyone anywhere anytime.  Me mid-50s, she just over 40. We’d met a year earlier at a Prankster Family Reunion.  I thought she was stunning.  But she had this boyfriend.  It was one of those couples that didn’t seem to […]

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. Let There Be Songs To Fill The Screen . .   I remember when I first saw the long-in-the-works Beat Generation documentary “The Source” at its premiere in Manhattan with McClure, Amram and all these other luminaries and we all went to the afterparty at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and everybody was freaking out […]

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. . 15 minutes before this show I was lying on the ground behind the Cassady’s booth trying not to lose consciousness. . . . An hour into it I was running around the stage playing Gregory Corso on a football team.  The build from wounded wobbly to careening comedy is completely crazy. Everything had been […]

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Finding Kesey . Following the November 2016 election I knew it was time to get my own house in order.  A year had been lost to a losing campaign, added to five years of On The Road domino-tumbling madness that had passed since my mother had passed in 2011, and there was a lot of […]

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac Reviews & Reactions — Part Three . Here’s the first round of incoming reviews. Or here’s a whole second round. .  I am bathing in the pages. Your book is a page turner of improbable adventures and characters — one crazy one after another.  The writing is high spirited and […]

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. . In the Spirit of Jack — a spontaneous love ode that just flowed out … to that thing they do in Lowell . . . What’s cool about LCK is — everybody’s there for Jack . . . but all on their own terms. Everybody has a completely different relationship with their family […]

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. Satori in Lowell   — The Intentional Nothingness of Everything . Every year the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Festival is five blissfully crazy days of non-stop events from early morning to late night — from David Amram performances and other concerts to movie screenings and art shows to walking and bus tours to guest speakers and […]

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. I Pick Pic . Thirty years ago I remember saying to my Beat brothers at the Cedar Tavern in Greenwich Village that I thought Vanity of Duluoz was right up there with Jack’s greatest works.  And they all looked at me like I was crazy and said, “Yeah, but nobody else thinks that.” 🙂 […]

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. On The Bus and On The Road . . “Put your good where it will do the most,” …….. as Ken Kesey said, and Wavy Gravy recounted in the luminous new documentary, Going Furthur. This movie is really funny — and not in a you-had-to-be-there way.  A huge part of the Merry Band of […]

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Floating Universities  — 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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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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    David Amram, Jami Cassady, Al Hinkle holding the book, Levi Asher and the author after the Cassady Family panel at the Beat Shindig in San Francisco . This is an excellent book about Uncle Jack, and also a heartfelt outpouring of love for Mom and Dad, and the Grateful Dead, too.  I just […]

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. Here’s some video from various “Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac” appearances . . . in the order the pieces appear in the book . . .   Here’s a whole bunch of clips in one YouTube Playlist in the sequence they appear in the book  . . . 🙂  . Here’s a great group […]

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. “It’s Alright.  He’s Kerouac.” . I’m currently sitting in the dark in Kerouac Park writing what just happened . . . I came to Jack’s hometown of Lowell with lots of hopes and anticipation of magic sacred spots and moments.  The top dream I’ve always had was getting inside the Pawtucketville Social Club — […]

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Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Adventure 2015 The first time I came to Lowell in 1983 you couldn’t find any indication Jack ever lived here.  I asked all around and finally found a bartender who said the only guy in town who knew about him was his old Reverend.  The afternoon barkeep even looked up his number […]

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. “Life is good.” . . A few years ago I became friends with this cool 70-year-old German woman who lived a few doors down. It was one of those:  recognizing each other from the moment we met — another member of the tribe — kindred travellers – explorers – pranksters – leprechaun twinklers. And […]

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When Conflict Television Was Born or . . . “I’ll sock you in your goddamn face.” . . 1968  — The year so much changed . . . Martin and Bobby . . .  North Vietnam’s Tet Offensive galvanizing Americans’ opposition to the war . . .  The Beatles open their Apple Core . . […]

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. Shindig Sutra . aahhh — San Francisco — home of everything holy. Home of the Beats, home of The Dead, home of the wild.  The United States of San Francisco.  The city that makes its own rules . . . and that’s that. Of course we’re coming home.  To the Museum that Jerry built. […]

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  The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac  . Reviews, feedback, and other buzzes over the transom . . . . Brian Hassett had the presence of mind to pack a good old cassette recorder in his rucksack back in 1982 when he was alerted to the Jack Kerouac Conference being staged in Boulder, Colorado.  The […]

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. With all the energy peaking over The Grateful Dead’s 50th anniversary shows, here’s a little excerpt from my upcoming book — “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac” — that shows part of why we keep coming back. These shows at Red Rocks in ’82 were part of the largest gathering of Beats ever assembled, […]

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Kaddish in Canada   We Are Continually Exposed To The Flashbulb Of Death The Allen Ginsberg Photo Exhibit University of Toronto Art Centre Sept. 2nd – Dec. 6th, 2014 . So, here’s a weird trip! I’ve been going to Beat gatherings for 30 years — and even at the very first one — the Kerouac […]

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. Here’s some early songs in sound and light . . . My tribute to the late great Carolyn Cassady on the one year anniversary of her passing … . Or “The Pranksters Invade the Woodstock Museum” . . . . Or here’s opening the Marry Prankster Reunion weekend in 2016 . . . . […]

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The Prankster Woodstock . “I’ve got to get back to the land and set my soul free … “ Two of the coolest events of the ’60s just came together in the 21st century — and I lived it from start to finish. The Merry Pranksters’ Bus, which pulled out of Ken Kesey’s house in […]

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