Brianland

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 real […]

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  I saw the best minds of many generations, dancing, hysterical, naked … at the Farewell send-off of the Gratest live band in history. While The Grateful Dead were breaking the all-time attendance records for Soldier Field stadium in Chicago — I was seeing them in a small venue from about 5th row center.  I […]

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Getting My Phil at The Crossroads . . It’s the Father’s Day weekend, 2015, and my bassist bud Al Robinson tipped me that PhilZone.com had its countdown clock to the next Phil show indicating Sunday night.  That was the only lead I had. I was out in the Bay Area where, a few years ago, […]

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. Somewhere in America . . . Pranksters are gathering . . . and in this case it was Wonderland. A dozen acres of wilderness hills and valleys, with a sunken natural amphitheater on the highest point of land in sight. 150 or so Pranksters came from across the land, traveling by every mode there […]

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Then Along Comes Kesey . .  Excerpted from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac” available now.   I was well into Jack — and this whole conference kicked that up a few dozen notches — like it did everybody else — but The Chief and The Boys (the Grateful Dead) — those were the magic […]

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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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Pet Monkees & Other Oddities . . So … hold on — the guys who made Pet Sounds were the same people who made the The Monkees’ “music”?!  And the goofy band on those Sonny & Cher albums were the same cats who played The Byrds’ Mr. Tambourine Man?  What?!  Crazy!  But true.  And they […]

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The Pranksters on A Mission to The Mission . . It’s New Year’s Eve in the universe ………..and we’re on a mission. The Wizard of Wonder called on Christmas Day.  Seems The Pranksters are needed for a little Merry Jerry conjuring on New Year’s Eve in O-Hi-o.  The official good-time resident Grateful Dead-vibed band of […]

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If you’re a Cat Stevens fan — and you know who you are! — stop reading this. Close the link and go somewhere else. Anywhere. Keep your music and memories intact. Beautiful gardens are too hard to find in this world. . ============================================   Okay?  Nobody here who doesn’t want their bubble burst? Just makin […]

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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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