21st Century Beatniks versus Hieroglyphic Caricatures There’s long been a debate about the word “beatnik” — originally coined by a sensationalist San Francisco gossip columnist in 1958, playing on the Yiddish suffix “nik” and the first Russian satellite launched in September ’57 known as “Sputnik.” Jack and Allen & company hated the word back in […]
Beat Versus Beatnik
March 3rd, 2021 · 23 Comments · Kerouac and The Beats
Tags: Abbie Hoffman·Allen Ginsberg·Anne Waldman·Barack Obama·beatniks·Bob Denver·Brad Pitt·City Lights Books·Dobie Gillis·Elvis Mitchell·hippies·Howl·Jack Kerouac·Janis Joplin·Jerry Garcia·Jonah Raskin·Ken Kesey·Lawrence Ferlinghetti·Merry Pranksters·Neal Cassady·Quentin Tarantino·Route 66·S.A. Griffin·The Beat Generation·The Beat Museum·William Burroughs
En-Cora-gement: Give The Kids The Vote – by Dale Topham
January 31st, 2021 · 7 Comments · Blissfully Ravaged in Democracy, Politics
Here’s a beautiful inspiring story about proactively engaging young people in democracy. And I mean young people under 18! It’s a story about generosity and generations, empowerment and inclusion, doing the right thing, and putting your good where it will do the most (as Ken Kesey used to advise). It’s told by a fellow Canadian […]
Tags: Dale Topham·Green Party·Justin Trudeau·Ken Kesey·Lester B. Pearson·Merry Pranksters·Pierre Trudeau
Brian Hassett – Adventures in Print
January 26th, 2020 · 21 Comments · Blissfully Ravaged in Democracy, Kerouac and The Beats, Politics, Real-life Adventure Tales, Weird Things About Me
40 YEARS IN PRINT . A CHRONOLOGY OF THE PUBLISHED REAL-LIFE ADVENTURE TALES . . 1980 – April — John Anderson in San Diego – Blissfully Ravaged in Democracy – 1980–1984 chapter – pp: 2–3 1980 – June — First Grateful Dead show – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac – ch. 14; pp: 156–159 […]
Tags: Barack Obama·Beat Shindig·Bernie Sanders·Big Sur·Bill Clinton·Blissfully Ravaged in Democracy·Carolyn Cassady·Gary Hart·George Walker·Grateful Dead·How The Beats Begat The Pranksters·Howard Dean and Al Franken·Jack Kerouac·Ken Kesey·On The Road·Paul Tsongas·Phil Lesh·The Hitchhiker's Guide to Jack Kerouac·Walter Salles·Woodstock
Kerouac in Provincetown
December 4th, 2019 · 30 Comments · Kerouac and The Beats
How History Could Have Been Different Kerouac’s and Otherwise . It was a quiet day in Facelandia when my Beat / Deadhead friend Steve Silberman posted: “Social media is amazing sometimes. In response to my posting a Cape Cod Times article about Kerouac’s time there, a woman posted a previously unseen photo of Kerouac working […]
Tags: Allen Ginsberg·Big Sur·Bill Cannastra·Bixby Canyon·Blues & Haikus·Burt Goldblatt·Cape Cod·Carolyn Cassady·Dharma Bums·Frankie Edie Kerouac Parker·Fred DeWitt·Fred McDarrah·Gerald Nicosia·Greenwich Village·Hazel Hawthorne·Heart Beat movie·Helen Parker·Hettie Jones·Inka Leisma·Jack Kerouac·Jacky Gibson·Jan Kerouac·Jerry Bauer·Jerry Ciminio·Jerry Seinfeld·Joan Haverty·John Clellon Holmes·John Dos Passos·Joyce Johnson·Ken Kesey·Larry David·Lawrence Ferlinghetti·Lew Welch·Liza Williams·Lucien Carr·Merry Pranksters·Mount Hozomeen·Nancy Ufford·Neal Cassady·On The Road·Peaked Hill Bar·Provincetown·Ramblin' Jack Elliott·Robert Frank·Sara Yokley·Saving Provincetown shacks·Thalassa shack·The Subterraneans·The Town and The City·Visions of Cody·Walter Salles·William Burroughs
Ode to Neal
October 31st, 2019 · 14 Comments · Kerouac and The Beats
. Neal Cassady — by Carolyn Cassady (courtesy of the Cassady fam) . From Dean Moriarty . . . to Dead immortality, The street-kid who read . . . was a legend in bed, But more than the lays . . . he inspired a blaze In the hearths of the writers . . . […]
Tags: Allen Ginsberg·Bob Dylan·Carolyn Cassady·Grateful Dead·Jack Kerouac·Jerry Garcia·Ken Kesey·Merry Pranksters·Neal Cassady
Paul Krassner 1932 – 2019
July 22nd, 2019 · 9 Comments · Hitchhiker's Guide to Jack Kerouac, Merry Pranksters, Real-life Adventure Tales
. Here’s the chapter on the now late great Paul Krassner from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac about the time I met him and a buncha his croanies at the big Kerouac summit in 1982. I sent him this chapter when I was finishing up the book and he gave it his thumbs-up. . ch. 23 […]
Tags: Abbie Hoffman·Jack Kerouac·Ken Kesey·Paul Krassner
BrianHassett.com Turns 10 Years Old
February 18th, 2018 · 2 Comments · Kerouac and The Beats, Merry Pranksters, Real-life Adventure Tales, The Hockey Hippie, Weird Things About Me
. Ten years ago this month BrianHassett.com was launched. I’ve published at least one new story every month since it was birthed — except once! when I unexpectedly fell in love & went on tour in the same month (June of last year). 🙂 One thing about writing — you never know what’s gonna connect with […]
Tags: Carolyn Cassady·Detroit Red Wings·Edie Kerouac·Furthur·George Carlin·Henri Cru·Jack Kerouac·Jerry Seinfeld·John Cassady·Ken Kesey·LitKicks·Max Yasgur·Merry Pranksters·Woodstock
How The Beats Begat The Pranksters
September 17th, 2017 · 3 Comments · Grateful Dead, Kerouac and The Beats, Merry Pranksters
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 […]
Tags: Allen Ginsberg·Beat Generation·Dean Moriarty·Dennis McNally·Jack Kerouac·Jerry Garcia·Ken Kesey·Merry Pranksters·Neal Cassady·On The Road·Perry Lane
Long Strange Trip – Grateful Dead doc review
May 2nd, 2017 · 16 Comments · Grateful Dead, Movies
. 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 that […]
Tags: Grateful Dead·Jack Kerouac·Jerry Garcia·Ken Kesey·Long Strange Trip doc·Merry Pranksters·Neal Cassady·Robert Hunter
Finding Kesey
January 29th, 2017 · 13 Comments · Hitchhiker's Guide to Jack Kerouac, Kerouac and The Beats, Merry Pranksters, Weird Things About Me
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 […]
Tags: Grateful Dead·Jack Kerouac·Ken Kesey·Naropa·New York·The Hitchhiker's Guide to Jack Kerouac·Winnipeg