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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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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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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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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. Here’s some early songs in sound and light . . . My tribute to the late great Carolyn Cassady on the one year anniversary of her passing … . Or “The Pranksters Invade the Woodstock Museum” . . . . Or here’s opening the Marry Prankster Reunion weekend in 2016 . . . . […]

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The Prankster Woodstock . “I’ve got to get back to the land and set my soul free … “ Two of the coolest events of the ’60s just came together in the 21st century — and I lived it from start to finish. The Merry Pranksters’ Bus, which pulled out of Ken Kesey’s house in […]

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Roaring at The Lion . He’s Ninety-Two Let’s Hoist a Few The Jack Kerouac Birthday Bash On The Road in London March 12th, 2014, 9 PM The Red Lion www.red-lion.info Starring:  Brian Hassett — from New York City  John Cassady — from San Francisco  Sam Hammond — Swiss Lips bandleader  Julian Joyce — Jam Junkies […]

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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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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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