Brianland

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

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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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The Greatest Night in Pop movie review

February 10th, 2024 · 20 Comments · Movies, Music

“The Greatest Night in Pop” is The Greatest Documentary About Collective Creation . The Greatest Night in Pop (Netflix, 2024) directed by Bao Nguyen, is a spectacular riveting colorful fun documentary about the behind-the-scenes making of We Are The World in 1985 with footage of everybody who was involved.  This is not only one of […]

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Trump’s Losing his Mind

January 31st, 2024 · No Comments · Politics

. I hope everyone’s enjoying the heck out of the theater of the absurd that’s playing out on the national stage in the U.S. Diaper Don is losing his mind . . . and the cameras are rolling.  We’re all going to witness over the next nine months [and beyond] this guy spinning more and […]

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Why I Love Joe Biden

December 31st, 2023 · 36 Comments · Blissfully Ravaged in Democracy, Politics

  First of all, he’s an Irish leprechaun, and I’m very pro Irish leprechaun. Second — he’s also an empath . . . as opposed to a sociopath. As he likes to say in his Irish way — “Don’t compare me to the Almighty, compare me to the alternative.” He’s smart, hard working, Gets Things […]

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Taylor Swift, the Grateful Dead and The Beat Generation

November 30th, 2023 · 29 Comments · Grateful Dead, Kerouac and The Beats, Music

. Why this Deadhead Beatnik Beatlemaniac loves Pop’s Princess   I’ve been into Taylor Swift since a New York Times profile in 2008 talked about her confessional songwriting and use of social media — at the time, MySpace.  (!)  Her second album Fearless was set to come out (and would go on to win Album […]

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Jack on Film: Take 2 and Lowell Celebrates Kerouac (LCK) 2023 videos

October 31st, 2023 · 11 Comments · Brian on YouTube etc., Hitchhiker's Guide to Jack Kerouac, Interviews, Kerouac and The Beats, Movies

Jack on Film: Take 2 at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac . Here’s a YouTube playlist with great video of the entire Jack on Film show — . =========================================== Here’s a riffing interview with WCAP in Lowell about all things Kerouac — and the new “Jack on Film: Take 2” show — with nearly a hundred photos […]

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