Brianland

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

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Brian’s Online Video Collection

September 28th, 2008 · 27 Comments · Brian on YouTube etc., Hitchhiker's Guide to Jack Kerouac, Kerouac and The Beats, Merry Pranksters, Movies, Music, New York City, Poetry, Politics, Weird Things About Me

Here’s a bunch of online video clips

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Here’s my YouTube Channel   —   BrianHassettVideos   — https://www.youtube.com/user/BrianHassettVideos/videos


“Brian is the horse of a different color you’ve heard so much about.”
                                                                                                 the Wizard of Wonder

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Here’s a March 2024 rollicking positive upBeat interview just published on Michael Liminos’s great Blues & Culture site.

We riff on happiness and the keys to life, creativity, music, fun, art collectives, kindred spirits, the kindness of strangers, connectivity, empowerment, the counterculture, festival culture . . .

and Kerouac & the Beats, Jerry & the Dead, Kesey & the Pranksters, The Beatles, Taylor Swift, chamber music, ragtime, acid tests, Winnipeg, Manhattan, and all sorts of other people, places and ideas.

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Here’s a fun Dec. 2023 radio interview with the CBC in Winnipeg about the time I wrote a song with Guess Who founder Chad Allan at the age of 15 . . . 

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-367-the-weekend-morning-show-manitoba/clip/16027369-chad-allan-drops-writes-song-winnipeg-teen…in-1977.

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Here’s the edited and torqued up “Jack on Film: Take 2” complete show from the hi-def camera in the center of the audience — done as a six-part series on YouTube — climaxing with the live Zoom interview with Big Sur director Michael Polish . . .

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Here’s the livestream of the “Jack on Film: Take 2” show at the Luna Theater in Lowell, Oct. 8th, 2023 — including an interview with Big Sur director Michael Polish.  All films and clips covered are time-coded with links in the description so you can jump to any part you want.

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Here’s an Oct 2023 interview on WCAP in Lowell riffing Jack and the film show — all set to photos like a documentary.

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Here’s the Sunday afternoon Amramless Jam where I riffed You Could Be Anything, the ‘Hearing Shearing’ part of On The Road, and the Ode to Jack.

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Here’s a 1-minute video by Julian Ortman of my annual trimming and cleaning up of Kerouac’s gravesite.

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Bradstock — Center Moriches, Long Island, New York — Sunday, Sept 3rd, 2023

The festival producer Dennis O’Doherty heard me do this at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac in 2022 and felt it encapsulated the spirit of Bradstock, then he went out of his way to pave the road so I could make it and lay this down for the assembled.  A large crowd gathered for it, and it may have been the most appropriate place for it to ever have been performed since everyone there pitched in and was part of a Collective making group magic happen.

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Lowell Celebrates Kerouac (LCK) 2022 — the Centennial Year — Oct 6th–10th

Here’s the “Jack at 100 Road Show” in four clips, including an Ode to LCK, a tribute to Edie Kerouac, the On The Road scroll auction, The Power of the Collective, and climaxes with an Ode to Jack.

Here’s the raw “Jack at 100 Road Show” YouTube live stream, from the Saturday night show, Oct 8th —

Here’s Mitch Corber’s nearly 50-minute video of some highlights of the Oct. 9, 2022, “Jack on Film” show — 

Here’s the raw “Jack on Film” YouTube live stream — from The Subterraneans thru the Beat Angel climax —

Here’s some Ashlee Spirit audience footage on Facebook video:
Jack actor Vincent Balestri’s Zoom call climax of show — 

 

Setting up the Neal Cassady movie, plus the clip itself —

 

Setting up the Magic Trip movie, plus the clip itself —

 

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Here’s a nice profile piece that came out in the local Oakville News shortly after the centennial LCK —

Chris Stoate's Oakville News article on Brian Hassett

https://oakvillenews.org/oakville-culture-and-lifestyle/beat-generation-meets-bronte-village-brian-hassett-author/

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Here’s Beat Museum founder Jerry Cimino’s story on the “Jack on Film” show and the great Vincent Balestri’s focus in it.

Jerry Cimino praises "Beat Angel's" Vincent Balestri

Beat Angel Gets Its Due at LCK

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Here’s a great March 2023 interview conducted by the renown British Beat & music writer Simon Warner on the birth of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac and the writing process, composing prose like music, the eternal nature of art, and shining the light, carrying the baton and passing the torch.

Here’s a great high-energy live interview with Wireless Mike Flynn WUML on Sept. 17th, 2022, leading into the climactic Kerouac centennial celebrations where we riff on the “Jack on Film” show, the Oliver Trager / Lord Buckley appearance, Jerry Cimino and The Beatmobile coming out from San Francisco and all sort of other cool stuff.

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Here’s the first live-in-person shows since the Covid lockdown — a Saturday matinee and evening two-fer — July 9th, 2022 at The Magic Genie’s Happy Place.

The afternoon show is a bunch of performance pieces I haven’t done since New York in the ’90s.  The first clip is positive poems about aging.

Part 2 is three poems about not being so hard on yourself, getting into relationships (or not), and a comedic poem “Answered Prayers” —

Part 3 — “New York Wins Another Round” and couple Kerouac pieces — 

The climax of the show — the classic show-stopper “Another Pious Frenzy” —

Or they are in a playlist where they’ll all simply play in sequence —

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Here’s a playlist with all 4 clips from the evening show — Saturday July 9th, 2022.

1.  The Prankster Address, the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac tribute, Jerry Garcia on Jack Kerouac, and an appreciation of Edie Kerouac.

2.  The Bernie Sanders rally climax from the 2020 New Hampshire primary, with a nod to Wayne Gretzky — from Blissfully Ravaged in Democracy.

3.  The On The Road scroll auction story, accompanied by Tricia Eileen Murphy on guitar.

4.  “Floating Universities: The Power of the Collective” from The Rolling Stone Book of the Beats  — and the climactic “Ode to Jack.”

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Here’s the first show for Blissfully Ravaged in Democracy  —  a Facebook live stream as part of Merry Pranksters / Twanger Plunkers virtual Acid Test on Saturday June 20th, 2020 . . . 

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Here’s the set list for the show:

3:00 — The Merry Prankster Address (update on The Gettysburg Address)
5:40 — Blissfully Ravaged in Democracy Intro
9:00 — The Franken Fracas — wild tale from 2004
19:00 — The Abbie Hoffman Memorial in NYC (with Wavy Gravy, Norman Mailer, Allen Ginsberg, Paul Krassner, David Amram et al)
21:00 — Pull My Daisy movie riff
31:00 — Where Wayward Jekylls Hide — performance poem for Obama from the ’08 campaign
The Rose of Hope — Obama Election night 2008 in NYC:
36:00 — Top Hat & Tails in Harlem
42:00 — Barackefeller Center
47:30 — Phil Lesh and “that uniquely American spirit”
49:00 — “Enjoy your Adventure.”
50:00 — Climactic Bernie Sanders rally — New Hampshire 2020

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Here’s 10 animated minutes of addressing the Oakville Town Council about a masterpiece of a new building proposed for my Village neighborhood.  (Oct 4th, 2021)

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And here’s where I came back for a very animated improv return engagement — free-flowing riffs on urban design, architecture, city planning, climate change and such — May 2nd, 2022.

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Here’s “A Portrait of Neal Cassady in Words & Music” I put together using the words of 25 people who knew Neal the best, with music by Kerouac’s principal musical collaborator David Amram.
The show opens with a 53-minute “talk show” about Neal featuring Wavy Gravy, and Merry Pranksters George Walker, Ken Babbs, Mary Microgram & Anonymous, along with myself and host Rachel Anne, on the Verse & Vibe Show, Sunday, June 7th, 2020.

Click on “Watch on YouTube” to see the full show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNHWb3wy0qQ

Or click on the screen-grab below to go directly to the Cassady tribute featuring impressions of Neal by Carolyn Cassady, John Allen Cassady, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, John Clellon Holmes, David Amram, Al Hinkle, Tom Wolfe, Ken Kesey, Ken Babbs, George Walker, Ed McClanahan, Paul Foster, Wavy Gravy, Mountain Girl, Anonymous, Mary Microgram, Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Robert Hunter, John Perry Barlow & Brian Hassett — all with David Amram answering musically.

Neal Cassady tribute with Brian Hassett & David Amram

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For more Dave & Brian, check out these three clips from the annual Amram Jam at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac — 

In 2017 — the climactic chapters of both The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac and How The Beats Begat The Pranksters — “Song of The Road I Sing” and “Be The Invincible Spirit You Are” . . .  

Or here we are in 2018 doing the On The Road scroll auction piece from my On The Road with Cassadys book, plus the “Visiting Vincent” poem that David & I used to do together in New York in the ’90s . . . 

Or here’s the 2019 Jam where I paid tribute to a beloved fallen brother Graham Robinson, plus debuted the then-new “Ode To Jack” performance poem, and performed the lyrical rocking climax of Holy Cats!  Dream-Catching at Woodstock . . .

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Here’s a wonderful tribute to the late great Al Hinkle — Big Ed Dunkel in On The Road — with three people who knew him — Rev. Steve Edington, Cathy Cassady and myself.

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Here’s a September 2020 upBeat poem of inspiration in the middle of the lockdown pandemic . . .

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Here’s a June 2022 podcast by a New Zealand historian where they do an episode on every person or event mentioned in Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start The Fire.  I rocked the “Kerouac” episode.   😉

https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/episode-56-kerouac/id1565762770?i=1000568341437

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Here’s another 2020 poem piece for the From The Ancestors project that features poets and shaman from 20 different countries around the world.  The piece is set to some very catchy upBeat world-beat jazzy-cool music by Gabriel Walker. 

https://fromtheancestors.com/brian-hassett/

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Here’s a lively April 2022 interview with me conducted by British Beat historian Simon Warner about the connections between the Beat writers and music, and the Beat influences on life itself.

https://simonwarner.substack.com/p/beat-soundtrack-15-brian-hassett?s=r

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Here’s probably my favorite interview ever.
Done with Beatdom publisher and author of books on Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and Hunter Thompson — David Wills — in the spring of Jack Kerouac’s 2022 centennial.
We riff on how to write and design books that are pleasing to the eye, and on the history of the various Beat resurgences over the past 40 years, and all sortsa fun stuff.

On the Road with Brian Hassett

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Here’s a fun riff by my fellow Canadian–Beat–Prankster–Deadhead brother Dave Olson from his hideaway Zen cabin in Japan, circa March 2022.

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Here’s a full YouTube Playlist of all the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac” excerpts performed live at 10 different shows, in 6 different cities, with 6 different on-stage line-ups — in the order the pieces appear in the book . . . 😉 

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Click here to jump to 2016 — the Kettle of Fish, Lowell Celebrates Kerouac, Woodstock, Pranksters at the Stables . . .

Or here to go to 2015 — The Beat Museum’s big Shindig, LCK for the first time, the Hitchhiker’s debut in Wonderland, Bear’s Picnic, with Mark T in Toronto . . .

Or here for 2014 — the Carolyn Cassady tributes, the On The Road premiere stories, and Famous People Who Don’t Have Kids . . .

Or here for the massive 2009 Winnipeg / Kelvin / River Heights Reunion etc. . . .

“You’re a tough act to follow.”
Rob Burton, Mayor of Oakville, Ontario

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Here’s George Walker doing the introduction at the Prankster-Plunker Family Reunion — and the first time performing on stage together — Sat. May 6th, 2017 . . . 

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Here’s George Walker on “How The Beats Begat The Pranksters was written, and teaming up with Brian Hassett . . . 

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Here’s George Walker & I doing the “Jack & Neal Ride Again” show at an Acid Test in Pennsylvania (Oct. 28, 2017) . . .

 

Here’s a couple minutes from the Bloomington Writer’s Guild show at the Blockhouse on May 16th, 2019.

 

Here’s John Cassady & I doing “Cassady & Hassett Present Cassady & Kerouac” at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac on October 6th, 2018 . . .

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Here’s the opening show at the Prankster family reunion in Wonderland in 2019, including a couple duets with George Walker . . . 

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Here’s a Sept. 15th 2018 interview with Lowell radio station WUML and Mike Flynn . . .

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Here’s a wide-ranging podcast interview on the Subjective Perspective show from April 29th, 2020, that covers the new Blissfully Ravaged in Democracy book, as well as tales from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac and lots of other Road Adventures  — >

http://www.beawoke.com/tspsarchives/archives/04-2020

Or here’s a nice excerpt from it about Carolyn & John Cassady and the closeness of family and work ethics.

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Here’s a March 3rd 2020 podcast interview with Democrats Abroad following the New Hampshire primaries talking about Blissfully Ravaged in Democracy.  —>

https://anchor.fm/demsabroadca/episodes/Episode-5-DA-member-Brian-Hassett-attends-the-New-Hampshire-Primary-ebb5d6

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Here’s the second time Jack Kerouac’s novella “Pic” was ever performed in front an audience [see below for the first] — at the Prankster Family Reunion — Sat. May 6th, 2017 . . .

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Here’s an ad for LCK — Lowell Celebrates Kerouac — 2018 — talking about John Cassady & me around 1:40 . . . 

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Here’s the birthday poem for art glass shop Squisha House’s third anniversary delivered live in the shop in Bronte Village . . .

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Here’s the first time How The Beats Begat The Pranksters appeared in front of a microphone . . . unexpectedly at a small club Toronto show with Trevor Cape . . . Sun. Oct. 1st, 2017 . . .  

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Here’s the Dalai Lama in Central Park — first time performed in nearly 20 years — from the Prankster Family Reunion — Sat. May 6th, 2017 . . . 

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Here’s another Kerouac book almost no one has ever performed — “Old Angel Midnight” — at the Prankster Reunion — May 6th, 2017 . . . 

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Here’s the second time George & Brian took to the stage as Jack & Neal — at the Prankster-Plunker Family Reunion — Sunday, May 7th, 2017 . . . 

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Here’s George Walker introducing Brian at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac  —>  a riff on the festival from “How The Beats Begat The Pranksters” — Sat. Oct. 7th, 2017 . . .

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Here’s the world premiere of Kerouac on Record (Bloomsbury 2018) at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac  —  “The Grateful Dead: Jack Manifested as Music” — Oct. 7th, 2017 . . . 

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Here’s a live stream from the October 8 2017 Sunday Amram Jam of the “Be The Invincible Spirit You Are” piece from How The Beats Begat The Pranksters with the very musician who stars in the piece staring in the performance . . . 🙂 

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Here’s an Ollie film of Be The Invincible from the week after LCK — at The Bitter End on Bleecker St. in Greenwich Village — Sunday Oct. 15th, 2017 . . . 

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Here’s another killer Ollie film of George Walker describing driving into New York with Neal Cassady & Ken Kesey to see Jack Kerouac in 1964 . . . 

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Here’s a great high-energy & funny live stream of the “Jack & Neal Ride Again” show at The Mothership in Woodstock —Sky’s favorite show of the tour — George & Brian doing the “Hinkle’s Party” part of On The Road — Sunday Oct. 22nd, 2017  . . . 

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Here’s the full tour and all the info on that fall “Jack & Neal Ride Again” tour —>

https://brianhassett.com//2017/08/george-walker-brian-hassett-kerouac-cassady/#Fall-2017

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Here’s a live stream of “The Prankster Address” and the City Lights / Vesuvio’s scene from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac to open “Brian Hassett’s Beat Cafe” at The Beat Museum show, during the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love in San Francisco — June 2nd, 2017 . . . 

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Here’s another Ollie short film of George reading from his “Trouble Ahead, Trouble Behind” book at our Beat Museum Summer of Love show — June 2nd, 2017 . . . 

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Here’s Philip Thomas’s live capture of “The Prankster Address” opening of the Prankster–Plunker Family Reunion — Friday June 29th, 2018 . . . 

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Or here it is from out in the field opening the Prankster Family Reunion on May 17, 2019 . . . 

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Here’s Patty Cake’s dancing floor capture of the “Atlantis” opening of the Under The Sea show at the Prankster’s Family Reunion — Sat. June 30th, 2018 . . . 

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Here’s a fuller version  —  the show itself starts (with me) around 11 minutes in  . . . 

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Or here it is on Facebook video . . . 

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Here’s opening the Prankster Family Reunion — Friday, May 5th, 2017 . . . 

and here’s part 2 . . .

And here’s the excellent song that ended the show! 

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2016

Here’s a group reading of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac” from the book release party at the Kettle of Fish — with Jami Cassady, Levi Asher and Prof. Walter Raubicheck . . .

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Reading the “Meeting your Heroes” part from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac — with David Amram and Kevin Twigg — at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac — upstairs at The Old Worthen — Oct. 9th, 2016 . . . 

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The opening of “The Road Show” at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac — Oct. 8th, 2016 . . .

The Wizard of Wonder’s introduction  —>  Vanity of Duluoz  —>  The Hitchhiker’s Guide  —>  an On The Road 420 moment . . . 

—>  a musical numbah . . . “Keep One Neal On The Wheel” . . . featuring Jason Eisenberg and George Koumantzelis . . .

—>  the conclusion of the hitchhiking trip from Boulder to Marin in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac . . .

or here it is from George K’s side-view camera — 

—>  the first public reading by anybody anywhere of Kerouac’s book Pic” — Oct. 8th, 2016 . . .

Or here it is from George K’s side-view camera . . . 

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Here’s the group “Professor in The Park” theater piece from George K’s side-view camera . . . 

Or the whole show is now in a YouTube playlist here . . . 

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Or here’s Philip Thomas’s cool 6-minute movie from 2016 about the opening of “The Brian Hassett Road Show” including the Wizard of Wonder’s intro, a Lowell paragraph from “Vanity of Duluoz,” and a little Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac . . . 

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Here’s the whole June 27th, 2016 Mothership show in Woodstock — in a 6-clip Playlist — including how the book came to be written;  the Andy Clausen / Jack Micheline section;  hanging with Herbert Huncke;  and the funny Al Aronowitz–Allen Ginsberg showdown on the final night . . . 

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Here’s the opening chapter of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac — plus Be The Invincible Spirit You Are Beat show prose-poem — at the Harmony in Woodstock, later the same evening, June 27th, 2016 — 

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Opening the wild Merry Pranksters / Twanger Plunkers Family Reunion weekend, Friday, April 29th, 2016 . . .

With:
Two poems that opened my two essays in “The Rolling Stone Book of The Beats
1:57 — the funny and high-energy welcoming and acknowledgements to the Wizard of Wonder, the assembled Canadians, and the Lucky Dawgz
5:32 — “All of Us
6:27 — “Spring Peace Piece
8:40 — Jerry Garcia on ‘hearing’ Jack Kerouac
11:20 — Jack Kerouac’s (abbreviated) “Belief & Technique for Modern Prose
14:49 — “Harmony
23:01 — Excerpt from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac” — arriving at the original Furthur Bus for the first time

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Thanks to Lucky Dawg Miles — here’s a different view with a great close-up of the Hitchhiker’s Guide climax . . .

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Or here’s his take on the opening with the improv riffs and rhythmic poems and “the most enthusiastic noon-time crowd I’ve ever played to!”  . . .  🙂

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Here’s a 2-minute clip from Spiritmentalist & the Merry Prankster’s psychedelic 2016 play “The Secret Space of Dreams” — Sat. April 30th, 2016  . . .

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2015

Here’s the full & funny “Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac” show at The Beat Museum’s Beat Shindig in San Francisco — Sunday, June 28th, 2015  . . .

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Also from The Beat Shindig — here’s the wild & funny Cassady panel with Al Hinkle, Jami Cassady, Levi Asher & myself  —  Sat. June 27th, 2015 . . . 

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Or here’s the great Gerd Stern’s talk about Neal Cassady’s legendary thought-lost “the Joan Anderson / Cherry Mary” letter to Jack Kerouac, at The Beat Museum’s Shindig — June 27th, 2015  . . . 

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Here’s the crazy Abbie Hoffman – Gregory Corso story from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac — from The Beat Shindig — Sunday June 28th, 2015 . . . 

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Here’s a crazy staged reading of The Professor In The Park section of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac with a bunch of Jacksters at Kerouac’s old haunt in Lowell — The Old Worthen — Sat. October 10th, 2015 — as part of Lowell Celebrates Kerouac!

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Here’s “the San Francisco epiphany” part of On The Road — with Kerouac’s principal musical collaborator, David Amram, at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! — Sunday, October 11th, 2015 . . . 

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Here’s a Philip Thomas mini-movie of an excerpt from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac done live in the wind at Jack’s final resting place — October 2015  . . .

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Here’s the audio of a lively wide-ranging interview about the Beats, the Dead and the book on The Jake Feinberg Show (Nov. 15, 2015) . . . 

http://www.jakefeinbergshow.com/2015/11/the-brian-hassett-interview/

Or here it is on Spotify starting around 2½ minutes in.


1 Brian Hassett, SF, June 27 2015

 

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Here’s the first ever public reading from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac — at the inaugural The Pranksters in Wonderland event — Sat. May 2nd, 2015 . . . 

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Here’s “Song of The Road I Sing” from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac — backed by JoJo Stella — video by Jeremy Hogan — May 2nd, 2015 . . . 

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Here’s another Ollie live capture of most of an excerpt from “On The Road” that Kerouac himself liked to perform — “Hearing Shearing” — with Adam’s Ale — at The Pranksters in Wonderland — May 2nd, 2015 . . . 

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Here’s another Ollie clip of a magic in-the-zone “Hearing Shearing” improvised with the bluegrass of the Still Hand String Band at Bear’s Picnic — August 2015 . . .

Or here it is from the front of house . . . 

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Here’s Jerry Garcia’s tribute to Jack Kerouac  —>  “Hearing Shearing” all backed by the improvisational skills of top Jerry Band in Toronto — The Mark T Band — Aug. 21st, 2015 . . .

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Or here we are doing the Hitchhiker’s section about The Grateful Dead’s shows at Red Rocks as part of the Kerouac summit — filmed over two nights of performances — October & November 2015 . . .

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2014

Here’s a piece riffing the most popular single post in the history of BrianHassett.com  —  Famous People Who Don’t Have Kids  . . . 

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Here’s a tribute to Carolyn Cassady done for her Memorial on Sept. 20th, 2014 . . . 

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Here’s Carolyn & Neal’s son-in-law Randy reading my tribute to Carolyn (and getting laughs!) at her Memorial in San Jose . . . 

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Here’s a TV show Carolyn, John Cassady & I did in 1999 in Amsterdam.  I come at around 38 minutes, and at 38:15 you can hear Carolyn say, “Brian Gets Things Done.”

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Here’s an Adventure Tale video interview done for French filmmaker Noemie Sornet on the “On The Road” premieres in London and Toronto . . . 

and here’s the funny part two about sneaking backstage and meeting Walter Salles . . .  😉 

You can also read a written account of these two wild Adventure Tales in “How The Beats Begat The Pranksters

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Or here’s my video of the Pranksters and Furthur invading the Woodstock museum during their 50th and 45th anniversaries respectfully — which is also chronicled in an epic Adventure Tale in How The Beats Begat The Pranksters.”

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2009

Here’s the Kelvin / Winnipeg Reunion Breakfast Television show on CITY-TV with Linda Ranson in Winnipeg — August 5th, 2009 . . . 

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Here’s Shaw TV’s segment when they showed up at the tour of Kelvin (and I forgot they were coming!) — August 6th, 2009 . . . 

About keeping friends:  “Foster them, water the plants, enjoy the flowers, and tend to your garden of friends, because that’s where you’re going to be living the rest of your life. They’re gonna be with you, and you with them.”

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Here’s flying into Winnipeg for the Summit Reunion in ’09  and being met by the Rolls Royce Silver Shadow . . .

Great aerial shots of Ravenscourt, Grant Park, River Heights, Polo Park . . .

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Here’s filmmaker Clark McCaw’s 1-minute hit single version of the Portage & Main photo shoot . . .

This aired on CITY-TV, but I never got a recording of it.  Here was the voiceover:

Soundup for :11
 
Kelvin High School grads from some 25 cities around the world have returned to Winnipeg for Kelvin’s 30th anniversary reunion. 
Portage and Main seemed the natural place to take some historic group shots, to trade updates, and to meet each other’s grandkids. 
Interested alumnus will have access to the old high school from 1 to 3:30 (Today) Thursday August 6th.  Tours of the school and another photo op will be held at that time on the “famous” Kingsway Steps. 
 
:60 OUT

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Here’s the 7 minute “album version” of the Portage & Main photo shoot with the old Gang, the evening of Wednesday — August 5th, 2009 . . . 

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Here’s 2 minutes from The Opening Reception — “Christmas in July” at the Myles’s . . .

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Here’s the funny Best Man’s toast / riff at Will Hodgson & Stacey Cox’s wedding — March 11th, 2012 . . .

Or here it is again from a different angle and different audio . . .

And here’s introducing the groom and his band via a modified Gettysburg Address — and I even work some Kerouac in there 😉 — the night before the wedding at the Pickering Creek Inn in PA — Saturday, March 10th, 2012 . . . .

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Or here’s where I show up in The Grateful Dead’s “Dead Ahead” movie — filmed on Halloween 1980 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.  I’m there at 1:29-1:31 in the lower left corner — I was second row fairly center and painted my face with Owsley’s Steal Your Face logo, the colors of our tribe, and they’re wonderfully smudged, this being the end of the second electric set, third set of the night, 8th night of the run.

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Or here’s where I appear flashing a peace sign (particularly starting around 3:35) behind Al Franken on MSNBC on the final day of the Republican convention in Cleveland — July 21st, 2016 . . . 

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/franken-expect-positive-message-at-dnc-729965123803

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“Where Wayward Jekylls Hide”  — the first video uploaded — Recorded Friday, Sept 26th, 2008, after the first Presidential debate between Obama & McCain.

We were planning to have a little pre-game show, but everyone was having such a good time we never got around to it . . . so, after the debate and almost everyone had left — just the hardcore’s remained — and by fluke I had the camera, and Ben Stiller just happened to come by, so I gave him the camera and he did a great job!

Location: The Royal Windsor Pub, in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.

And here are the words … https://brianhassett.com//2008/09/the-mighty-bama-rama-rap/

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Or here’s The Crash Test Dummies’ Brad Roberts picking one of my lyrics for his song-writing collaboration on Hookist.com … starts around 1:05 . . .

or here he is singling out a 4-line riff I sent in on the first day … starting around 2:25 . . .

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.Or here’s Hershel Silverman from the fabulous LitKicks Summer Poetry Happening at The Bitter End in July ’99 that Levi Asher and I put on.

Man!  What a nine hour night!  And good ol’ Hershel wrote and dedicated this beatific poem for Levi & I and the historic evening . . .

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For something a little different — here I am addressing the Mayor and rocking the City Council of Oakville Ontario about a new proposed masterpiece of architecture on my corner.

I come on about 48:30 into it . . . 

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For a whole buncha interviews and news stories and such check out the Interview file here.

For more on “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac” — go here.

For more on “How The Beats Begat The Pranksters” — go here

For a linked list of over 500 of the greatest movies ever made — go here.

For more on that massive Reunion Adventure in the Peg — go here.

For some great Obama Inauguration Adventures — check out The D.C. Dispatches

For a wild poetic riff on the LitKicks Happening and all those Greenwich Village jazz & poetry show — check out Be The Invincible Spirit You Are.

For more on my connection to The Grateful Dead — check out The Grateful Dead Played My 30th Birthday.

And here’s the text to that Where Wayward Jekylls Hyde poem.

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Brian Hassett  —  karmacoupon@gmail.com   —  BrianHassett.com

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27 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Adrienne Jones // Sep 29, 2008 at 10:24 PM

    That poem is fantastic, Brian. I’ll share this around.

  • 2 Cynthia Stafford // Oct 2, 2008 at 4:30 PM

    That Obama reading was SO awesome!!
    So glad you’re on our team!!

  • 3 Hugh Reilly // Oct 4, 2008 at 8:54 AM

    Fantastic!!
    Look forward to seeing you in the ThatRadio studio for your next instalment on Wednesday. We have some drums you can use. You’ve made this the best election ever!

  • 4 Zoe Artemis // Oct 9, 2008 at 10:31 AM

    You’re hilarious!!! The Mighty Bama Rama Rap!!!
    I have always loved your poetry! I look forward to the next show!
    And let me know if you’re coming down for election night. Love to see you.

  • 5 Sue Howard // Aug 14, 2009 at 11:03 PM

    These clips are great! You and Linda did a fabulous job. The Portage & Main escapade looks appropriately chaotic. It’s kind of the ultimate in nostalgia.
    Hope you’ve recovered!
    But I have to ask… who ARE those people in the reunion videos?!?!?!?

  • 6 Moira Cole // Aug 16, 2009 at 1:08 PM

    Thanks so much for making The Reunion happen! That was unreal! So glad you have this footage. The Portage & Main scene was the greatest! Thank you thank you thank you!! Let’s do it again.

  • 7 Linda Ranson-Smith // Aug 17, 2009 at 10:23 AM

    Is it really over????? I wasn’t done yet!! 🙂 I should have stayed longer Saturday night, what was I thinking????
    Brian, my partner in crime, thanks for doing all this. The Reunion wouldn’t have happened without you, for sure.
    It was a very eventful 9 days!!! … being on Breakfast television with Brian and Dunc, seeing high school friends from 30 years ago and just really enjoying these big “Reunion Love-Ins”.
    I think most of us left better friends than we were in high school.
    What a LOVE FEST it was! Thanks again for making it happen!

  • 8 Jennifer Nokes // Aug 17, 2009 at 8:03 PM

    It was wonnnderful to see you and be part of The Reunion opening celebration at the Myles’s! How warm, joyous and welcoming everyone was! It was such a thrill to be there and to see everyone!
    THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for leading this, Brian — it meant a great deal to everybody.
    I am utterly moved by the whole experience and delighted that we are all back in contact with one another. What a gift! It is a dramatic shift coming home and I have been talking about the reunion and thinking about everyone so much.

    I have been watching some of the videos and just love them. Your t.v. interviews were great: upbeat, passionate and very heartfelt. Wonderful to see Linda Ranson again! What a sweetie. Always liked her. We did go to school with some great people.

    Thinking about you and feel so grateful to have connected. It was great to see you and you truly were in your element and looking so delighted and happy to see the whole thing manifest after all the hard work you put in.
    Isn’t it like discovering you have a whole bunch of brothers and sisters? It feels like that tor me.

    Love and Blessings,
    Jenn

  • 9 Dunc Lennox // Aug 18, 2009 at 7:18 PM

    Being at the epicenter was serious fun.
    The legend continues.

  • 10 Walter Raubicheck // May 20, 2010 at 9:53 AM

    Nice to see something from that LitKicks Summer Poetry Festival! Historic night! Odetta! John Cassady! Lee Renaldo. YOU!! There have got to be more clips of this, man! Get them up there!

  • 11 Tina McCrea // Jun 2, 2010 at 5:40 PM

    Thanks for this flashback to that incredible night at the Bitter End! What fun! I can still picture sitting cross-legged on the floor by the bar. Gotta be the only time that ever happened there. That was a free-wheeling all-star show and party like no other. So so so glad I was there! Thanks! And let’s do it again sometime!

  • 12 John Cassady // Jun 9, 2010 at 10:02 PM

    Hey Brother!
    That LitKicks show at the Bitter End was one of the great gigs of all time! Lee Ranaldo, Richard Hell, Charlie Plymell …. Levi …. and you!!!
    It mighta been a 9 hour show, but I remember being up until the dawn’s early light.
    aww, New York …. what a town. Love that place …. like father like son.
    Here’s to many more!!
    all best,
    John

  • 13 Paul Johnson // Mar 31, 2012 at 10:32 AM

    Lookin’ good, Best Man!

  • 14 Dawn Ridd // Apr 2, 2012 at 10:11 AM

    Wow. What’s the saying about a sheep in tux clothing? You and Will look smashing at the wedding recep! Great speech! And it’s so good to see the twinkle in your eyes so we know that all is still right in the world. A great video of a great friendship!!!!

  • 15 Will Hodgson // Apr 2, 2012 at 2:41 PM

    That wedding toast is now the stuff of legend.
    And seeing you in a tuxedo was worth the price of admission!
    I was thinking about your two words “inclusion” and “perserverance”….they didn’t really hit me until later…nicely done…
    You da man!
    One Love.

  • 16 Stacey Cox // Apr 2, 2012 at 8:23 PM

    The best Best Man speech EVER!!!
    You had me in stitches and on the verge of tears several times. I LOVE you!!!

  • 17 Todd Fritsche // Apr 4, 2012 at 8:48 PM

    That was the best speech I ever heard by ANYONE … ANYWHERE!!!

  • 18 Mary Jo Sullivan-Hicks // Feb 13, 2013 at 2:03 PM

    I can’t believe you’re in that Dead movie!!!
    But … of course!!!

  • 19 Megan Reese // Feb 13, 2013 at 4:22 PM

    That’s awesome!!!! Young Mr. B in make-up!! I love it!!!!
    Love for real not fade away!

  • 20 Allan Robinson // Feb 13, 2013 at 8:42 PM

    I have your shot in Not Fade Away frozen on the screen. 😀
    I remember meeting you at the carpeted steps in the lobby between sets.

  • 21 Rick Medland // Feb 13, 2013 at 10:47 PM

    Seriously Sweet! Immortalized in celluloid. Well played.

  • 22 Richard Marsh // Feb 17, 2013 at 9:47 AM

    You, sir, have lived an interesting life!

  • 23 Sarah Cattell // Apr 20, 2013 at 11:37 PM

    These are great! Chris and I sat up and watched them for an hour tonight. Great stuff. Loved the TV news clips and that Obama poem!
    Thanks!

  • 24 Juan Don Oban // Jul 10, 2013 at 3:27 PM

    I’m glad they di’int string ya up, after re-wording the Gettysburg address!!
    Good stuffs.

  • 25 Joan Hawkins // Apr 18, 2021 at 1:55 PM

    Fantastic!

  • 26 Dave Olson // May 18, 2022 at 11:56 PM

    Great interview between you & David Wills.

    I interrupted the hockey game to read this completely through and through. So fantastic to be part of this world. For so many years in the late ’80s and early ’90s, when I was rambling around far-flung countries, I would rarely meet anyone else who cared about the Beats — and then the last couple years, my whole world is filled up with you fellow beat renegades.

    Reading your hitchhiking to Kerouac book was like hearing my own stories remixed from a decade before by a cool uncle —and thrown back at me in some glorious freeform narrative. Completely fantastic, aspirational, inspirational and enjoyable.

    Really hoping we can meet up in real life one of these months/years, but patience and time are our allies, and in the meantime, we all just keep living Beat from Japan to Lowell to the ‘Peg to Toronto to Germany to Cambodia. The universe is open time travelers!

  • 27 Brad Davidson // Mar 27, 2024 at 10:11 AM

    Great interviews Brian. Thoroughly enjoyed reading. Be here now, be well and onward till we meet again.

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