Brianland

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

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Olympic Hockey Sochi 2014

January 2nd, 2014 · 21 Comments · The Hockey Hippie

Olympic Hockey — Sochi, Russia, 2014 . . The Eastern Time Zone in North America is 9 hours earlier than Sochi, Russia. The broadcast networks are — CBC and NBC. Canada is currently ranked 5th in the world — we’ve sure fallen a long way since The Golden Goal! Current IIHF World Rankings — click on […]

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Nelson Mandela Musical Tribute

December 5th, 2013 · 21 Comments · Music, Politics

  With the passing of The Giant I thought of all great music he inspired … and interestingly enough I’d reviewed a lot of it over the years so thought I’d put some of the best together here … This is my single favorite clip of all the live music performances I’ve ever seen on […]

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Haiku for Carolyn Cassady

November 28th, 2013 · 12 Comments · Kerouac and The Beats, Poetry

I just came across this in the files.  Glad I did.  Kinda cool. They’re not really traditional 5–7–5 haiku — they’re what Kerouac called Western Haiku — “simple 3-line poems that make a little picture” — written while I was living with and inspired by Carolyn.  There certainly was something about that woman that inspired.  She […]

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Edie Kerouac Parker, Henri Cru and Allen Ginsberg — The Boulder Summit ’82

October 29th, 2013 · 16 Comments · Hitchhiker's Guide to Jack Kerouac, Kerouac and The Beats, Real-life Adventure Tales

Some of Jack’s oldest & dearest friends Edie, Henri and Allen    Edie and I in her living room in Grosse Pointe with her Jack paintings. . An excerpt from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac: The Adventure of the Boulder ’82 On The Road Conference — Finding Kerouac, Kesey and The Grateful Dead Alive […]

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Carolyn and John Cassady

September 27th, 2013 · 12 Comments · Kerouac and The Beats

The White Knight and The Queen     Ya know how our favorite Beats were not exactly role-model parents? How there aren’t a lot of heart-warming parent-child stories in Beatlandia? Well, … there is one.   Carolyn Cassady and her son John were sumpthin else. Honestly I’m tearing up just now picturing them together. It […]

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Carolyn Cassady tribute 1923 – 2013

September 20th, 2013 · 146 Comments · Kerouac and The Beats, Real-life Adventure Tales

Another giant has fallen — another angel taken flight. Carolyn Cassady has just left us to join Neal and Jack on that great road trip in the sky. Her son John, the light of her life, was there by her side till the end. After a year’s refusal of entry into the U.K., just 3 […]

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Kill Your Darlings movie review

September 11th, 2013 · 21 Comments · Kerouac and The Beats, Movies

Allen & Lucien — I mean, Radcliffe & DeHaan — sharing a laugh at the premiere gala at TIFF, next to Michael C. Hall (Kammerer) and Jack Huston (Kerouac). . Just home from “Kill Your Darlings” — the second of three movies based on Jack & the Beats being released within a few months of each […]

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The Northport Report

August 30th, 2013 · 17 Comments · Kerouac and The Beats, New York City, Real-life Adventure Tales, Weird Things About Me

 The Northport Report     Whale, we had another Jackfest — dancing with Big Sur by the Sea, My Brothers! — this time in Jack’s wave-lapping hometown of Northport, the idyllic little living Rockwell harbortown where he went to dock near the darkness of the city but still remain a slip away. I’m just back […]

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for Helen Thomas — 1920 – 2013

July 20th, 2013 · 8 Comments · Politics

  Speak truth to Power. Or at least ask it questions. Since I came of mindful age after JFK & RFK and during the Nixon administration, it was near impossible to have anything resembling a hero in the world of American politics. But one of the first people who made me both interested in and […]

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The Dr. John in Toronto Adventure

June 24th, 2013 · 20 Comments · Music, Real-life Adventure Tales

  So … oh man … I took a nap that afternoon and lived a dream where I stayed home and didn’t go to this show and regretted it later … then woke up to find it was only 3:30 in the afternoon!  Insane.  Follow your dreams, baby. God works in mysterious ways. It’s Toronto […]

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