Brianland

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

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Taylor Swift in Toronto — from a Deadhead’s Perspective

December 2nd, 2024 · No Comments · Grateful Dead, Music

I was just living in Taylor world for the ten days she was in Toronto doing six sold out stadium shows — something no other artist has ever come close to doing here. Six stadium shows … and you couldn’t get a ticket. Well, you could if you wanted to pay $4000 for one on […]

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Didn’t Work

November 26th, 2024 · 3 Comments · Politics

. The ideas didn’t work, the policies didn’t work, the empathy didn’t work, the life story didn’t work, the billion dollars in fundraising didn’t work, the millions of volunteers didn’t work, the field offices didn’t work, the phone banking didn’t work, the door knocking didn’t work, the huge rallies didn’t work, the inspiring speeches didn’t […]

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Kamala Harris is an Empath — Donald Trump is a Sociopath

October 31st, 2024 · 16 Comments · Politics

Kamala Harris is an Empath — Donald Trump is a Sociopath . One candidate is trying to scare bitter people into voting out of fear and resentment toward the world. The other is appealing to “the better angels of our nature” as Abraham Lincoln so poetically put it 150 years ago. One candidate sees beauty […]

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Magic Trip movie — Introduction and Background

September 29th, 2024 · 16 Comments · Merry Pranksters, Movies

Here’s part of the script I’ll be riffing from when I introduce the movie “Magic Trip: Ken Kesey’s Search for a Kool Place” at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac on Sunday October 13th.   Edit Update  —  Here’s video of the event . . . . Here’s the post-screening Q&A . . . ============================================ This is the original […]

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The Battleground Swing States 2024

August 17th, 2024 · 43 Comments · Politics

The Battleground Swing States 2024 . One thing to remember about 2020 vs 2024 numbers — 4 yrs of old trump voters have died off and 4 yrs of young pro-Roe liberal-leaning voters have come onto the rolls.  Trump’s rallies are significantly smaller & fewer than 2016 & 2020; there’s far less yard signs up […]

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The New Kamalot

July 31st, 2024 · 4 Comments · Blissfully Ravaged in Democracy, Politics

The events of Sunday July 21st 2024 into Monday the 22nd then all the days that followed reminded me and most of us politicos of the political ‘birth’ of Barack Obama in early 2008.  Whether you experienced that on January 3rd when he won the Iowa caucus, or on the February 3rd Super Bowl weekend […]

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Dead & Company at The Sphere in Las Vegas review

June 30th, 2024 · 7 Comments · Grateful Dead, Music, Real-life Adventure Tales

. Sphere & Laughing in Las Vegas   photo by Jay Blakesberg for Dead & Company . This is the Acid Tests … in a two-billion-dollar spaceship! I’d been reading about The Sphere for years before it was ever built.  It sounded too wild to be true!  And of course I immediately thought how perfect […]

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Anne Murphy’s “Tripping With A Viper” about Neal Cassady

May 4th, 2024 · 16 Comments · Kerouac and The Beats, Merry Pranksters

. Beat & Prankster fans rejoice! A new firsthand memoir has just been released of life with one of the Mount Rushmores of both the Beat Generation & the Merry Pranksters.  That doesn’t happen very often, and there aren’t many options left. Anne Murphy (who later reverted back to her birth name Anne Marie Maxwell) […]

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Eclipse Totality in Bronte Ontario

April 10th, 2024 · 13 Comments · Real-life Adventure Tales

. TOTALLY DRAMATIC . . It wasn’t just a big-screen spectacular — it was a nail-biting drama! An old brother of ’70s shenanigans flew from Winterpeg to my place in Southern Ontario because I lived on the Path of Totality for the 2024 solar eclipse. We had invites to a big acid test weekend with […]

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The Benefits of Biopics

March 30th, 2024 · 8 Comments · Movies

The Benefits of Biopics   . With James Mangold’s Dylan biopic currently shooting in New York with the Bobster’s blessing; and four different Beatle biopics greenlit for Sam Mendes;  and Michael Jackson’s cousin Jaafar playing the King of Pop in a coming Lionsgate production;  and Coleman Domingo directing, co-writing and starring in a musical based […]

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