And this should have been spoken to Tim Russert R.I.P. but was delivered by Sec. of State Colin Powell to Tim’s brother & colleague Tom Brokaw.
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Colin Powell’s statement:
I have some concerns about the direction that the Republican party has taken in recent years. It has moved more to the right than I would like to see it, but that’s a choice the party makes.
I have especially watched over the last six or seven weeks as both candidates have really taken a final exam with respect to this economic crisis that we are in and coming out of the conventions. And I must say that I’ve gotten a good measure of both.
In the case of Mr. McCain, I found that he was a little unsure as to how to deal with the economic problems that we were having and almost every day there was a different approach to the problem. And that concerned me, sensing that he didn’t have a complete grasp of the economic problems that we had.
And I was also concerned at his selection of Governor Palin. She’s a very distinguished woman, and she’s to be admired; but at the same time, now that we have had a chance to watch her for some seven weeks, I don’t believe she’s ready to be President of the United States, which is the job of the Vice President. And so that raised some question in my mind as to the judgment that Senator McCain made.
On the Obama side, I also watched him during this seven-week period. And he displayed a steadiness, an intellectual curiosity, a depth of knowledge and an approach to looking at problems like this – as well as picking a Vice President that, I think, is ready to be President on day one. And also, in not just jumping in and changing his approach every day, but showing intellectual vigor. I think that he has a definitive way of doing business that would serve us well.
I also believe that the approach of the Republican Party and Mr. McCain over the last seven weeks has become narrower and narrower. Mr. Obama, at the same time, has given us a more inclusive, broader reach into the needs and aspirations of our people. He’s crossing ethnic lines, racial lines, generational lines. He’s thinking about how all villages have values, all towns have values, not just small towns have values.
And I’ve also been disappointed, frankly, by some of the approaches that Senator McCain has taken recently, or his campaign has, on issues that are not really central to the problems that the American people are worried about.
This Bill Ayers situation that’s been going on for weeks became something of a central point of the campaign. But Mr. McCain says that “he’s a washed-up terrorist.” Well, then, why do we keep talking about him?
And why do we have these robo-calls going on around the country trying to suggest that, because of this very, very limited relationship that Senator Obama has had with Mr. Ayers, somehow, Mr. Obama is tainted.
What they’re trying to connect him to is some kind of terrorist feelings. And I think that’s inappropriate. I think it goes too far, and has made the McCain campaign look a little narrow. It’s not what the American people are looking for. And I look at these kinds of approaches to the campaign and they trouble me.
The party has moved even further to the right, and Governor Palin has indicated a further rightward shift. I would have difficulty with two more conservative appointments to the Supreme Court, but that’s what we’d be looking at in a McCain administration.
I’m also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And that it permitted to be said such things as, “Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.” Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, so what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is no, that’s not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be President? Yet, I’ve heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, “He’s a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists.” This is not the way we should be doing it in America.
I feel strongly about this in part because of a picture in a photo essay I saw about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son’s grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards — Purple Heart, Bronze Star — showed that he died in Iraq, his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn’t have a Christian cross, it didn’t have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life. Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourselves in this way. And I’m troubled about the fact that, within the party, we have these kinds of expressions.
So, when I look at all of this and I think back to my Army career, we’ve got two individuals, either one of them could be a good President.
But which is the President that we need now? Which is the individual that serves the needs of the nation for the next period of time?
And I come to the conclusion that because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities — and we have to take that into account — as well as his substance — he has both style and substance — he has met the standard of being a successful President, being an exceptional President. I think he is a transformational figure. He is a new generation coming into the world — onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for these reasons I’ll be voting for Senator Barack Obama.
I know it sounds crazy, but I’m lovin’ the new Hockey Night In Canada. As you know, I think it’s been an embarrassment to our great country and our even greater sport since I started watching the show again in ’04 or whatever.
I just saw the first two Ottawa vs. Pittsburgh games from Stockholm — and they were outstanding broadcasts. THIS is what hockey broadcasting is supposed to be.
Jim Hughson on play-by-play is IT — maybe the best ever, currently close to Doc Emerick in his prime and Danny Gallivan and Foster and Bill Hewitt in theirs — and he may end up ranked higher than all of them by the time he’s done. Frankly and honestly — I think he’s the best I’ve ever heard. I’d have to re-listen to Doc and Danny again, but he’s got the the poetic linguistic master’s mind and the verbal skills of Doc Emerick, but so much better timbre; Danny Gallivan may have been the only comparable hockey play-by-play man with his combo of timbre, poetry, and knowledge of the sport.
Criag Simpson is his sidekick color guy — and there’s nothing wrong with him. He’s not offensive or stupid or long-winded or anything. And he & Jim have worked together for a long time — so as long as Hughson likes him . . . it’s like, Garcia could pick any rhythm guitarist he wanted. 🙂 and as long as Jerry liked him, and he wasn’t offensive, then he was okay with me. It’s like Ed McMahan to Johnny. It’s all all about Johnny — and Jerry and Jim . . . 🙂
whoever the heck they wanna play off of, it’s their call.
and THEN — in both intermissions they didn’t have Don the Assclown! Of course, he hasn’t has a passport in 30 years and he’s not about to go to pansy Europe now. So, instead, CBC hosted this incredibly intelligent conversation about hockey, and the Make Believes never even came up once! In 5 years of watching I’ve never seen a single HNiC broadcast that didn’t talk about the Leafs no matter what two teams were playing. But this was completely Loaf-free TV — for two whole games! “Yes, President-elect Obama, the world has changed!” 🙂
Just totally SMART hockey guys discussing what’s happening in the game. Jaw-droppingly retard-free. When Ron MacLean gets away from Assclown, he really knows the sport. And of course Kelly Hrudy is really smart. I reckon Mike Millbury is sort of the Kramer to Hrudy & Ron’s Jerry & Larry David.
Anyway, just some awesome good news for hockey fans everywhere.
“Brian is the horse of a different color you’ve heard so much about.” the Wizard of Wonder
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Max Yasgur’s speech from the stage of Woodstock in 1969 — read at the concert site monument with the original stage site behind . . . on the Autumn Equinox Sept 21st 2025 . . .
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Here’s an interview about “The Grateful Dead Movie” when it was upscaled to 4K and shown in IMAX for the first time ever in August of 2025. Speaking with Lowell Celebrates Kerouac president Mike Flynn, we also go into how Albert Maysles was one of the cameramen, the cameo by Ralph Gleason, the Wall of Sound & all sorts of other stuff — all set to visual enhancements.
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Here’s my introduction to the masterpiece documentary “Magic Trip” about the Merry Pranksters’ historic bus trip across America in 1964 — by directors Alex Gibney and Alison Ellwood — starring Neal Cassady, Ken Kesey, Ken Babbs, George Walker, Jerry Garcia, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Larry McMurtry, Robert Stone & others.
Filmed at the Luna Theater as part of Lowell Celebrates Kerouac — 7PM Sunday October 13th, 2024.
Here’s the impromptu Q&A following the “Magic Trip” screening at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac. George Walker was set to join us by Zoom but his internet was down so I rIffed it into jams on the importance of meeting kindred spirits, George Walker and the pyramids, Anonymous & the Calgary Stampede, the 50th anniversary Bus tour, Woodstock ’69 and 2014, the Wizard of Wonder, the “Magic Trip” DVD Extras, the Intrepid Trips “North to Madhattan” movie, George’s mustard bottle of peyote, Neal Cassady & Allen Ginsberg circa 1964, how fast America changed between “On The Road” in ’57 and the Pranksters On The Road in ’64, Timothy Leary at Millbrook, the uncanny similarities between Kerouac & Kesey, the 1964 Prankster party where Jack & Neal saw each other for the last time, and all sortsa stuff like that.
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Here’s my Main Stage performance at Bradstock XXI on September 1st 2024. There’s a great introduction by founding Bradstock Chief Dennis O’Doherty, then I do “Floating Universities” from The Rolling Stone Book of The Beats — “Imaginestock” (my ode to Bradstock) — the “Meeting The Bus at Kesey’s” part of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac — my “Ode To Jack” from the New Generation Beats 2024 book — the “Ode To Neal” from my On The Road with Cassadys book — and end with the climax of Holy Cats! Dream-Catching at Woodstock book.
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Here’s the President & CEO of the National Beat Poetry Foundation, Debbie Tosun Kilday, and myself in September 2024 shortly after being presented with their Lifetime Beat Poet Laureate Award. As part of it, I read my “Ode To Jack“ which was included in their New Generation Beats 2024 book.
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Here’s an impromptu July 2023 interview (wearing the Dead & Company Ralph Steadman Sphere shirt) jamming on happiness, creativity, productivity, beating depression, writer’s block, philosophy of life, inspiring others, buoying spirits and so on.
“If we all lift each other up a little bit each day, we’re all gonna get there.”
“The secret formula is *work*.”
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Here’s a great conversation as part of a Phil Lesh tribute in November 2024 about he and his band’s legacy and how they kept stretching the music since Jerry Garcia passed.
We riff on happiness and the keys to life, creativity, music, fun, art collectives, kindred spirits, the kindness of strangers, connectivity, empowerment, the counterculture, festival culture . . .
and Kerouac & the Beats, Jerry & the Dead, Kesey & the Pranksters, The Beatles, Taylor Swift, chamber music, ragtime, acid tests, Winnipeg, Manhattan, and all sorts of other people, places and ideas.
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Here’s a fun Dec. 2023 radio interview with the CBC in Winnipeg about the time I wrote a song with Guess Who founder Chad Allan at the age of 15 . . .
Here’s where I’m interviewed in a local Oakville news story in October 2024 about the new mural in the town square . . .
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Here’s the edited and torqued up “Jack on Film: Take 2” complete show from the hi-def camera in the center of the audience — done as a six-part series on YouTube — climaxing with the live Zoom interview with Big Sur director Michael Polish . . .
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Here’s the livestream of the “Jack on Film: Take 2” show at the Luna Theater in Lowell, Oct. 8th, 2023— including an interview with Big Sur director Michael Polish. All films and clips covered are time-coded with links in the description so you can jump to any part you want.
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Here’s an Oct 2023 interview on WCAP in Lowell riffing Jack and the film show — all set to photos like a documentary.
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Here’s the Sunday afternoon Amramless Jam where I riffed You Could Be Anything, the ‘Hearing Shearing’ part of On The Road, and the Ode to Jack.
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Here’s a 1-minute video by Julian Ortman of my annual trimming and cleaning up of Kerouac’s gravesite.
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Bradstock — Center Moriches, Long Island, New York — Sunday, Sept 3rd, 2023
The festival producer Dennis O’Doherty heard me do this at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac in 2022 and felt it encapsulated the spirit of Bradstock, then he went out of his way to pave the road so I could make it and lay this down for the assembled. A large crowd gathered for it, and it may have been the most appropriate place for it to ever have been performed since everyone there pitched in and was part of a Collective making group magic happen.
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Lowell Celebrates Kerouac (LCK) 2022 — the Centennial Year — Oct 6th–10th
Here’s the “Jack at 100 Road Show” in four clips, including an Ode to LCK, a tribute to Edie Kerouac, the On The Road scroll auction, The Power of the Collective, and climaxes with an Ode to Jack.
Here’s the raw “Jack at 100 Road Show” YouTube live stream, from the Saturday night show, Oct 8th —
Here’s Mitch Corber’s nearly 50-minute video of some highlights of the Oct. 9, 2022, “Jack on Film” show —
https://vimeo.com/793124726
Here’s the raw “Jack on Film” YouTube live stream — from The Subterraneans thru the Beat Angel climax —
Here’s some Ashlee Spirit audience footage on Facebook video: Jack actor Vincent Balestri’s Zoom call climax of show —
Setting up the Neal Cassady movie, plus the clip itself —
Setting up the Magic Trip movie, plus the clip itself —
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Here’s a nice profile piece that came out in the local Oakville News shortly after the centennial LCK —
Here’s a great high-energy live interview with Wireless Mike Flynn WUML on Sept. 17th, 2022, leading into the climactic Kerouac centennial celebrations where we riff on the “Jack on Film” show, the Oliver Trager / Lord Buckley appearance, Jerry Cimino and The Beatmobile coming out from San Francisco and all sort of other cool stuff.
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Here’s the first live-in-person shows since the Covid lockdown — a Saturday matinee and evening two-fer — July 9th, 2022 at The Magic Genie’s Happy Place.
The afternoon show is a bunch of performance pieces I haven’t done since New York in the ’90s. The first clip is positive poems about aging.
Part 2 is three poems about not being so hard on yourself, getting into relationships (or not), and a comedic poem “Answered Prayers” —
Part 3 — “New York Wins Another Round” and couple Kerouac pieces —
The climax of the show — the classic show-stopper “Another Pious Frenzy” —
Or they are in a playlist where they’ll all simply play in sequence —
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Here’s a playlist with all 4 clips from the evening show — Saturday July 9th, 2022.
1. The Prankster Address, the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac tribute, Jerry Garcia on Jack Kerouac, and an appreciation of Edie Kerouac.
2. The Bernie Sanders rally climax from the 2020 New Hampshire primary, with a nod to Wayne Gretzky — from Blissfully Ravaged in Democracy.
3. The On The Road scroll auction story, accompanied by Tricia Eileen Murphy on guitar.
4. “Floating Universities: The Power of the Collective” from The Rolling Stone Book of the Beats — and the climactic “Ode to Jack.”
Here’s the first show for Blissfully Ravaged in Democracy — a Facebook live stream as part of Merry Pranksters / Twanger Plunkers virtual Acid Test on Saturday June 20th, 2020 . . .
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Here’s the set list for the show:
3:00 — The Merry Prankster Address (update on The Gettysburg Address) 5:40 — Blissfully Ravaged in Democracy Intro 9:00 — The Franken Fracas — wild tale from 2004 19:00 — The Abbie Hoffman Memorial in NYC (with Wavy Gravy, Norman Mailer, Allen Ginsberg, Paul Krassner, David Amram et al) 21:00 — Pull My Daisy movie riff 31:00 — Where Wayward Jekylls Hide — performance poem for Obama from the ’08 campaign The Rose of Hope — Obama Election night 2008 in NYC: 36:00 — Top Hat & Tails in Harlem 42:00 — Barackefeller Center 47:30 — Phil Lesh and “that uniquely American spirit” 49:00 — “Enjoy your Adventure.” 50:00 — Climactic Bernie Sanders rally — New Hampshire 2020
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Here’s 10 animated minutes of addressing the Oakville Town Council about a masterpiece of a new building proposed for my Village neighborhood. (Oct 4th, 2021)
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And here’s where I came back for a very animated improv return engagement — free-flowing riffs on urban design, architecture, city planning, climate change and such — May 2nd, 2022.
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Here’s “A Portrait of Neal Cassady in Words & Music” I put together using the words of 25 people who knew Neal the best, with music by Kerouac’s principal musical collaborator David Amram. The show opens with a 53-minute “talk show” about Neal featuring Wavy Gravy, and Merry Pranksters George Walker, Ken Babbs, Mary Microgram & Anonymous, along with myself and host Rachel Anne, on the Verse & Vibe Show, Sunday, June 7th, 2020.
Or click on the screen-grab below to go directly to the Cassady tribute featuring impressions of Neal by Carolyn Cassady, John Allen Cassady, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, John Clellon Holmes, David Amram, Al Hinkle, Tom Wolfe, Ken Kesey, Ken Babbs, George Walker, Ed McClanahan, Paul Foster, Wavy Gravy, Mountain Girl, Anonymous, Mary Microgram, Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Robert Hunter, John Perry Barlow & Brian Hassett — all with David Amram answering musically.
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For more Dave & Brian, check out these three clips from the annual Amram Jam at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac —
In 2017 — the climactic chapters of both The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac and How The Beats Begat The Pranksters — “Song of The Road I Sing” and “Be The Invincible Spirit You Are” . . .
Or here we are in 2018 doing the On The Road scroll auction piece from my On The Road with Cassadys book, plus the “Visiting Vincent” poem that David & I used to do together in New York in the ’90s . . .
Or here’s the 2019 Jam where I paid tribute to a beloved fallen brother Graham Robinson, plus debuted the then-new “Ode To Jack” performance poem, and performed the lyrical rocking climax of Holy Cats! Dream-Catching at Woodstock . . .
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Here’s a wonderful tribute to the late great Al Hinkle — Big Ed Dunkel in On The Road — with three people who knew him — Rev. Steve Edington, Cathy Cassady and myself.
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Here’s a September 2020 upBeat poem of inspiration in the middle of the lockdown pandemic . . .
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Here’s a June 2022 podcast by a New Zealand historian where they do an episode on every person or event mentioned in Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start The Fire. I rocked the “Kerouac” episode. 😉
Here’s another 2020 poem piece for the From The Ancestors project that features poets and shaman from 20 different countries around the world. The piece is set to some very catchy upBeat world-beat jazzy-cool music by Gabriel Walker.
Here’s a lively April 2022 interview with me conducted by British Beat historian Simon Warner about the connections between the Beat writers and music, and the Beat influences on life itself.
Here’s probably my favorite interview ever. Done with Beatdom publisher and author of books on Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and Hunter Thompson — David Wills — in the spring of Jack Kerouac’s 2022 centennial. We riff on how to write and design books that are pleasing to the eye, and on the history of the various Beat resurgences over the past 40 years, and all sortsa fun stuff.
Here’s a birthday riff to Winnipeg guitarist Dave Zilkie about the importance of the Acid Tests we threw in the ‘Peg back in the ’70s and the psychedelic bis trip we took across the continent at the same time —
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Here’s a fun riff by my fellow Canadian–Beat–Prankster–Deadhead brother Dave Olson from his hideaway Zen cabin in Japan, circa March 2022.
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Here’s a full YouTube Playlist of all the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac” excerpts performed live at 10 different shows, in 6 different cities, with 6 different on-stage line-ups — in the order the pieces appear in the book . . . 😉
“You’re a tough act to follow.”
Rob Burton, Mayor of Oakville, Ontario
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Here’s George Walker doing the introduction at the Prankster-Plunker Family Reunion — and the first time performing on stage together — Sat. May 6th, 2017 . . .
Or here’s a nice excerpt from it about Carolyn & John Cassady and the closeness of family and work ethics.
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Here’s a March 3rd 2020 podcast interview with Democrats Abroad following the New Hampshire primaries talking about Blissfully Ravaged in Democracy. —>
Here’s the second time Jack Kerouac’s novella “Pic” was ever performed in front an audience [see below for the first] — at the Prankster Family Reunion — Sat. May 6th, 2017 . . .
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Here’s an ad for LCK — Lowell Celebrates Kerouac — 2018 — talking about John Cassady & me around 1:40 . . .
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Here’s the birthday poem for art glass shop Squisha House’s third anniversary delivered live in the shop in Bronte Village . . .
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Here’s the first time “How The Beats Begat The Pranksters“ appeared in front of a microphone . . . unexpectedly at a small club Toronto show with Trevor Cape . . . Sun. Oct. 1st, 2017 . . .
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Here’s the Dalai Lama in Central Park — first time performed in nearly 20 years — from the Prankster Family Reunion — Sat. May 6th, 2017 . . .
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Here’s another Kerouac book almost no one has ever performed — “Old Angel Midnight”— at the Prankster Reunion — May 6th, 2017 . . .
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Here’s the second time George & Brian took to the stage as Jack & Neal — at the Prankster-Plunker Family Reunion — Sunday, May 7th, 2017 . . .
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Here’s George Walker introducing Brian at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac —> a riff on the festival from “How The Beats Begat The Pranksters” — Sat. Oct. 7th, 2017 . . .
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Here’s the world premiere of “Kerouac on Record“ (Bloomsbury 2018) at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac — “The Grateful Dead: Jack Manifested as Music” — Oct. 7th, 2017 . . .
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Here’s a live stream from the October 8 2017 Sunday Amram Jam of the “Be The Invincible Spirit You Are” piece from “How The Beats Begat The Pranksters“ with the very musician who stars in the piece staring in the performance . . . 🙂
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Here’s an Ollie film of “Be The Invincible“ from the week after LCK — at The Bitter End on Bleecker St. in Greenwich Village — Sunday Oct. 15th, 2017 . . .
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Here’s another killer Ollie film of George Walker describing driving into New York with Neal Cassady & Ken Kesey to see Jack Kerouac in 1964 . . .
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Here’s a great high-energy & funny live stream of the “Jack & Neal Ride Again” show at The Mothership in Woodstock —Sky’s favorite show of the tour — George & Brian doing the “Hinkle’s Party” part of On The Road — Sunday Oct. 22nd, 2017 . . .
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Here’s the full tour and all the info on that fall “Jack & Neal Ride Again” tour —>
Here’s a live stream of “The Prankster Address” and the City Lights / Vesuvio’s scene from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac“ to open “Brian Hassett’s Beat Cafe” at The Beat Museum show, during the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love in San Francisco — June 2nd, 2017 . . .
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Here’s another Ollie short film of George reading from his “Trouble Ahead, Trouble Behind” book at our Beat Museum Summer of Love show — June 2nd, 2017 . . .
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Here’s Philip Thomas’s live capture of “The Prankster Address” opening of the Prankster–Plunker Family Reunion — Friday June 29th, 2018 . . .
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Or here it is from out in the field opening the Prankster Family Reunion on May 17, 2019 . . .
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Here’s Patty Cake’s dancing floor capture of the “Atlantis” opening of the Under The Sea show at the Prankster’s Family Reunion — Sat. June 30th, 2018 . . .
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Here’s a fuller version — the show itself starts (with me) around 11 minutes in . . .
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Or here it is on Facebook video . . .
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Here’s opening the Prankster Family Reunion — Friday, May 5th, 2017 . . .
and here’s part 2 . ..
And here’s the excellent song that ended the show!
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2016
Here’s a group reading of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac” from the book release party at the Kettle of Fish — with Jami Cassady, Levi Asher and Prof. Walter Raubicheck . . .
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Reading the “Meeting your Heroes” part from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac“ — with David Amram and Kevin Twigg — at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac — upstairs at The Old Worthen — Oct. 9th, 2016 . . .
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The opening of “The Road Show” at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac — Oct. 8th, 2016 . . .
The Wizard of Wonder’s introduction —> Vanity of Duluoz —> The Hitchhiker’s Guide —> an On The Road 420 moment . . .
—> a musical numbah . . . “Keep One Neal On The Wheel” . . . featuring Jason Eisenberg and George Koumantzelis . . .
—> the first public reading by anybody anywhere of Kerouac’s book “Pic” — Oct. 8th, 2016 . . .
Or here it is from George K’s side-view camera . . .
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Here’s the group “Professor in The Park” theater piece from George K’s side-view camera . . .
Or the whole show is now in a YouTube playlist here . . .
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Or here’s Philip Thomas’s cool 6-minute movie from 2016 about the opening of “The Brian Hassett Road Show” — including the Wizard of Wonder’s intro, a Lowell paragraph from “Vanity of Duluoz,” and a little “Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac“ . . .
Here’s the whole June 27th, 2016 Mothership show in Woodstock — in a 6-clip Playlist — including how the book came to be written; the Andy Clausen / Jack Micheline section; hanging with Herbert Huncke; and the funny Al Aronowitz–Allen Ginsberg showdown on the final night . . .
Opening the wild Merry Pranksters / Twanger Plunkers Family Reunion weekend, Friday, April 29th, 2016 . . .
With: Two poems that opened my two essays in “The Rolling Stone Book of The Beats“ 1:57 — the funny and high-energy welcoming and acknowledgements to the Wizard of Wonder, the assembled Canadians, and the Lucky Dawgz 5:32 — “All of Us“ 6:27 — “Spring Peace Piece“ 8:40 — Jerry Garcia on ‘hearing’ Jack Kerouac 11:20 — Jack Kerouac’s (abbreviated) “Belief & Technique for Modern Prose“ 14:49 — “Harmony“ 23:01 — Excerpt from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac” — arriving at the original Furthur Bus for the first time
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Thanks to Lucky Dawg Miles — here’s a different view with a great close-up of the Hitchhiker’s Guide climax . . .
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Or here’s his take on the opening with the improv riffs and rhythmic poems and “the most enthusiastic noon-time crowd I’ve ever played to!” . . . 🙂
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Here’s a 2-minute clip from Spiritmentalist & the Merry Prankster’s psychedelic 2016 play “The Secret Space of Dreams” — Sat. April 30th, 2016 . ..
Here’s the full & funny “Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac” show at The Beat Museum’s Beat Shindig in San Francisco — Sunday, June 28th, 2015 . . .
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Also from The Beat Shindig — here’s the wild & funny Cassady panel with Al Hinkle, Jami Cassady, Levi Asher & myself — Sat. June 27th, 2015 . . .
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Or here’s the great Gerd Stern’s talk about Neal Cassady’s legendary thought-lost “the Joan Anderson / Cherry Mary” letter to Jack Kerouac, at The Beat Museum’s Shindig — June 27th, 2015 . . .
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Here’s the crazy Abbie Hoffman – Gregory Corso story from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac“ — from The Beat Shindig — Sunday June 28th, 2015 . . .
Here’s “the San Francisco epiphany” part of On The Road — with Kerouac’s principal musical collaborator, David Amram, at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac!— Sunday, October 11th, 2015 . . .
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Here’s a Philip Thomas mini-movie of an excerpt from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac done live in the wind at Jack’s final resting place — October 2015 . . .
Here’s another Ollie live capture of most of an excerpt from “On The Road” that Kerouac himself liked to perform — “Hearing Shearing” — with Adam’s Ale — at The Pranksters in Wonderland — May 2nd, 2015 . . .
Here’s another Ollie clip of a magic in-the-zone “Hearing Shearing” improvised with the bluegrass of the Still Hand String Band at Bear’s Picnic — August 2015 . . .
Here’s Jerry Garcia’s tribute to Jack Kerouac —> “Hearing Shearing” all backed by the improvisational skills of top Jerry Band in Toronto — The Mark T Band — Aug. 21st, 2015 . . .
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Or here we are doing the “Hitchhiker’s“ section about The Grateful Dead’s shows at Red Rocks as part of the Kerouac summit — filmed over two nights of performances — October & November 2015 . . .
Here’s a TV show Carolyn, John Cassady & I did in 1999 in Amsterdam. I come at around 38 minutes, and at 38:15 you can hear Carolyn say, “Brian Gets Things Done.”
Or here’s my video of the Pranksters and Furthur invading the Woodstock museumduring their 50th and 45th anniversaries respectfully — which is also chronicled in an epic Adventure Tale in “How The Beats Begat The Pranksters.”
Here’s the Kelvin / Winnipeg ReunionBreakfast Television show on CITY-TV with Linda Ranson in Winnipeg — August 5th, 2009 . . .
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Here’s Shaw TV’s segment when they showed up at the tour of Kelvin (and I forgot they were coming!) — August 6th, 2009 . . .
About keeping friends: “Foster them, water the plants, enjoy the flowers, and tend to your garden of friends, because that’s where you’re going to be living the rest of your life. They’re gonna be with you, and you with them.”
* * * * *
Here’s flying into Winnipeg for the Summit Reunion in ’09 and being met by the Rolls Royce Silver Shadow . . .
Great aerial shots of Ravenscourt, Grant Park, River Heights, Polo Park . . .
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Here’s filmmaker Clark McCaw’s 1-minute hit single version of the Portage & Main photo shoot . . .
This aired on CITY-TV, but I never got a recording of it. Here was the voiceover:
Soundup for :11
Kelvin High School grads from some 25 cities around the world have returned to Winnipeg for Kelvin’s 30th anniversary reunion.
Portage and Main seemed the natural place to take some historic group shots, to trade updates, and to meet each other’s grandkids.
Interested alumnus will have access to the old high school from 1 to 3:30 (Today) Thursday August 6th. Tours of the school and another photo op will be held at that time on the “famous” Kingsway Steps.
:60 OUT
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Here’s the 7 minute “album version” of the Portage & Main photo shoot with the old Gang, the evening of Wednesday — August 5th, 2009 . . .
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Here’s 2 minutes from The Opening Reception — “Christmas in July” at the Myles’s . . .
================================================
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Here’s the funny Best Man’s toast / riff at Will Hodgson & Stacey Cox’s wedding — March 11th, 2012 . . .
Or here it is again from a different angle and different audio . . .
And here’s introducing the groom and his band via a modified Gettysburg Address — and I even work some Kerouac in there 😉 — the night before the wedding at the Pickering Creek Inn in PA — Saturday, March 10th, 2012 . . . .
Or here’s where I show up in The Grateful Dead’s “Dead Ahead” movie — filmed on Halloween 1980 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. I’m there at 1:29-1:31 in the lower left corner — I was second row fairly center and painted my face with Owsley’s Steal Your Face logo, the colors of our tribe, and they’re wonderfully smudged, this being the end of the second electric set, third set of the night, 8th night of the run.
Or here’s where I appear flashing a peace sign (particularly starting around 3:35) behind Al Franken on MSNBC on the final day of the Republican convention in Cleveland — July 21st, 2016 . . .
“Where Wayward Jekylls Hide” — the first video uploaded — Recorded Friday, Sept 26th, 2008, after the first Presidential debate between Obama & McCain.
We were planning to have a little pre-game show, but everyone was having such a good time we never got around to it . . . so, after the debate and almost everyone had left — just the hardcore’s remained — and by fluke I had the camera, and Ben Stiller just happened to come by, so I gave him the camera and he did a great job!
Location: The Royal Windsor Pub, in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.
For something a little different — here I am addressing the Mayor and rocking the City Council of Oakville Ontario about a new proposed masterpiece of architecture on my corner.
Cat’s In The Well (Bob on keyboard for whole show)
2.
It Ain’t Me, Babe (Bob – nice harp solo)
3.
Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
4.
Girl Of The North Country
5.
High Water (For Charlie Patton)
6.
Just Like A Woman
7.
Rollin’ And Tumblin’
8.
Tryin’ To Get To Heaven
9.
Highway 61 Revisited
10.
Moonlight
11.
It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
12.
When The Deal Goes Down
13.
Thunder On The Mountain
14.
Ain’t Talkin’
(encore)
15.
Like A Rolling Stone
16.
All Along The Watchtower
.
Captain Bob’s Arresting at Copps
Brian’s Field Report to the Global Bobster Brotherhood
Bob & His Band – at Hamilton’s Copps Coliseum – August 20th, 2008
Stunning. Blown away. Has he been this good all year? This was my first show since the NY City Center tour-ending gig about 2 years ago (when he debuted Ain’t Talkin’).
I’m stunned, I’ll just tell ya straight-up. I thought Bob was, let’s say, not on an upward trajectory. I’d love it if any regulars who were there and have seen / heard multiple shows this tour can say whether this was average – or was more “on” than usual? It was like – Wow. I’m speechless.
But I’ll try . . .
:- )
For those of you who weren’t there – this is a fanfreakintastic venue! SO much better a crowd and hall than the arena in nearby Toronto. For one thing, everybody on the floor stood up for the entire show! I couldn’t believe it. I now know I’d go to a show at Copps Coliseum ANYday over one at Toronto’s ACC. It’s like a baby arena – small floor, small sides, small everything. I was front center floor, and you could run out of there, go to the bathroom, stop and get a beer and be back at your seat before one song’s over. Serious. Everything was that close. It was like being at a show in your house.
It felt like a crowd-size circa 1966 – Before The Flood. Both myself and an old veteran stagehand estimated the house at about 7,000.
There were a ton of Dead shirts there – so nice to see – in fact the last time I was in that building was on a very psychedelic couple of nights back in the spring of 1990 seein’ The Boys just before Brent Myland died – including that awesome Hey Jude – Dear Mr. Fantasy medley. Anyway :- ) . . .
One Weird Thing: I had long conversations with about 30 different Bobheads (from the Toronto-Hamilton area) and not a single one of them had ever even heard of “Masked & Anonymous”. It’s just SO bizarre how unknown that great work is, even by fairly hardcore Bob fans.
One Funny Thing: This is Canada, and Hamilton is nicely off the beaten path, and, well, there were just PLUMES of pot smoke billowing out from behind the side-of-stage scrims! I mean, it looked like a freakin dry-ice smoke machine! Giant CLOUDS of it wafting slowly across the stage. It was SO funny. It was SO loose. I mean, MSG ain’t like this anymore. The ACC in downtown Toronto is like going to a concert at your phuckin’ parent’s house. But this is like goin’ back to the ‘70s man! :- ) Total time travel. Free-form everything everywhere. Loved it! No posing or pretentiousness. Just wild uninhibited dancing, freedom smokers, and beer flowing like crazy (but not a single obnoxious drunk spotted all night long).
One Canadian Thing: Not only do the big white hockey rink boards go all around the floor, but the freakin’ benches and penalty boxes are right there too! And people are sittin’ in ‘em. And nobody thinks anything of it. That’s the beauty part. It felt like I was back at the Winnipeg Arena.
One Guitar Thing: The “new” guy is just outstanding. I can’t get over it. I don’t know whether he was really “on” or is simply this amazing all the time. I don’t know why I had doubts about this “new” band, but they were just So spot-on. Maybe it’s just me, but I think Bob & His Band just keep getting better & better. How is that possible? Luckily the sound was crystal clear, and wonderfully, Bob was annunciating every syllable of every word!
One More Thing: He closed Woodstock ’94 with a transcendent “It Ain’t Me, Babe”, and basically opened this show with one as well — with a bouncing, lyrical guitar, and a long harmonious harp solo to end it. Then the rockin’ Memphis Blues Again with Bob on organ trading solos with the guitar. High Water was just outstanding – so articulate and precise in both the vocals and instrumentation.
Rollin’ & Tumblin’ is such a wonderful live rock n roll dance song. What a great performance card to be able to play any time you want. Then Tryin to Get To Heaven was ethereal, and again, with gorgeous accompanying solos by both the guitar and Bob’s keys. Gawd, for a tape of this show! Then this smokin’ Highway 61, and, I know, he’s played it a lot, but for both this and the encores, I pretended like it was the first time I’d ever heard these songs — which was easy cuz for so many people in the room that WAS the case – and people were just goin’ bananas. And 61’s dueling solos, with Bob in the Al Kooper role playing off a feisty 21st century Bloomfield. It felt like one of those traveling “Rock n Roll Revues” of the late 50s early 60s – dancin’ in the country shed to the big rock n roll radio hit of the summer. “How does it feeeel?”
A: SO much fun.
The highlight for me was the song where I first “got” Bob — “It’s Alright Ma” – somebody hit me back if you know where to download a recent version of this song. It was so beautiful, so melodic, so rich, flushed out . . . so complete. Gawd bless the gawds n bawbs for guiding this onto my flightpath.
And, just like Rollin’ & Tumblin’, how great a live song is Thunder On The Mountain? A born show-closer. Those two songs can stick around forever as far as I’m concerned. He ended with this trance-endental Ain’t Talkin’, which reminded me of the way Neil Young sometimes ends shows with Tonight’s The Night. Haunting, mystical, lots of air & space – a transportive, trace-inducing meditation.
Then of course the big party ending with thousands of people hearing Like A Rolling Stone and All Along Jimi’s ‘Tower for the first time. Rock n roll dancing pandemonium.
I started thinking about this watching tonight’s “Civil Forum” with Obama and McCain and this paster Rick Warren. Somebody mentioned that he wrote “The Purpose-Driven Life”, and I remembered that was the book that woman read to the escaped convict Brian Nichols who kidnapped her in Atlanta back in about 2005. (March)
I’d always remembered the way she told the story the first night that she got free. It was the most amazing, real, solo story-telling performance I’ve ever seen in my life. Then I somehow remembered her name! Ashley Smith. So I was able to look it up online, and even though this is a slightly edited down version, all I can say is — be in a quite place, get yourself comfortable, don’t be distracted, and just go right into this.
There’s something about her accent, her demeanor, her calmness, her honesty . . . this person just picked out of the hundreds of millions, who never expected to be in front of a camera in her life, let alone held by an escaped convict who’d just killed people. And all on the same day.
And this was riffed the evening it ended and before she went to sleep — like, it was still live in that day for her. This is so raw.
And it was done on the fly in (I think) the restaurant of the hotel that the city put her up in that night. The reporters just plopped her on a couch, and she just riffed it all out in one uninterupted non-stop solo! How she holds it together and keeps going is just riveting, chilling, jaw-dropping . . .
It’s a real-life performance you will never forget.
p.s. There’s this whole huge passage edited out of the link above. If anyone ever finds the whole entire story, let me know and we’ll link.
In the meantine, here’s this whole amazing part that’s edited out — from between 5:30 and 9 in the morning . . .
“About 5:30, 6–well, 6, 6:30–he said, “I need to make a move.” And I said, “A move?” He said, “I need to get rid of this car before daylight, this truck [the agent’s].” I said, “OK.”
“I knew that if I didn’t agree to go with him, follow him to get the truck–he’d just take the truck, then one thing–or two–one of two things. He would kill me right then, and say, “All right, well, if you’re not going to help me, then I won’t need you anymore.” Or the police would never find him, or it would take longer. And someone else would get hurt, and I was trying to avoid that.
“So I went . . . I said, “Can I take my cell phone?” He said, “Do you want to?” I said, “Yeah.” I’m thinking, well, I might call the police then, and I might not. So I took it anyway. He didn’t take any guns with him. The guns were laying around the house. Pretty much after he untied [me], they were just laying around the house.
“And at one point, he said, “You know, I’d rather you shoot–the guns are laying in there–I’d rather you shoot me than them.” I said, “I don’t want anyone else to die, not even you.”
“So we went to take the truck, and I was behind him, following him. And I thought about calling the police, you know, I thought, he’s about to be in the car with me right now. So I can call the police, and when he gets in the car, then they can surround me and him together, and I could possibly get hurt, or we can go back to my house.
“And I really felt deep down inside that he was going to let me see my little girl. And I said–or then when I leave, he can be there by himself, or he–he finally agreed to let me go see my daughter. I had to leave at 9, 9:30. And I really believed that he was going to.
“From the time he walked into my house until we were taking that truck, he was a totally different person to me. I felt very threatened, scared. I felt he was going to kill me when–when I first–when he first put the gun to my side. But when I followed him to pick–to take the truck, I felt he was going to–he was really going to turn himself in. So he took the truck.
“He got in the car and I said, “Are you ready now?” And he said, “Give me a few days, please.” I said, “Come on, you’ve got to turn yourself in now.” I didn’t feel like he might–I felt like he might change his mind, that he might not want to turn himself in the next day, or a few days after that, and that if he did feel that way, then he would need money, and the only way he could get money was if he hurt somebody and took it from them.
“So we went back to my house and got in the house. And he was hungry, so I cooked him breakfast. He was overwhelmed with–“Wow,” he said, “real butter, pancakes?”
“And I just talked with him a little more, just about–about–we pretty much talked about God . . . what his reason was, why he made it out of there.
“I said, “Do you believe in miracles? Because if you don’t believe in miracles–you are here for a reason. You’re here in my apartment for some reason. You got out of that courthouse with police everywhere, and you don’t think that’s a miracle? You don’t think you’re supposed to be sitting here right in front of me listening to me tell you, you know, your reason here?”
“I said, “You know, your miracle could be that you need to–you need to be caught for this. You need to go to prison and you need to share the word of God with them, with all the prisoners there.”
“Then 9 came. He said, “What time do you have to leave?”
[ then the conclusion of the story continues on the clip ]
Or here’s a review of the lost footage of the historic roc n roll train trip that was finally released as Festival Express, starring the Grateful Dead, The Band and Janis Joplin.
Or here’s the Scorsese’s Rolling Stones concert film — Shine A Light.
Or here’s a fairly unknown but perfectly offbeat comedy — Lucky Numbers — with a comedic Travolta, Lisa Kudrow, Tim Roth, Michael Rapaport, Richard Schiff, Michael Moore and many others.
Or here’s the brilliant surreal masterpiece interpreting Bob Dylan — I’m Not There.
Or here’s a master list of Brian’s Hot 200 movies including all sorts of cinematic riffs and tips.
I’m in shock. I just got home and will have MSNBC on all night. I was at the hospital and my cell went off 5 times and i couldn’t answer it but i knew something happened.
To explain it to non politicos, I’ve said it’s like Johnny Carson dying well before he ever retired. Or it’s on the level of John Lennon. The best of the best. Or to us hockey people, it would be like Scotty Bowman when he was still coaching, or Messier right after ‘94.
He was so far and away the best — it was him, then everyone else. Barbara Walters just said, “This is a huge loss to America.” And she’s right.
He set the standards, and just about every journalist in the business was his student.
The Mayor of Buffalo has put all flags on government property at half-mast.
I remember him holding up the Washington Capitals jersey on MTP during their recent playoff run.
Passion . . . child-like enthusiasm with a genius’s intellect . . . the white board . . . “Florida Florida Florida” . . . And I think he’s the guy who came up with the “blue and red states” that we all now live with. The colors used to be different on the different networks, but it was he and NBC that really established the red for Repubs and blue for Dems.
I’ve got so many MTPs on tape, man — going back 10 or 20 years.
I got to meet him on election night 2004 and we shared a prankster’s wink and smile. “Can you pass the Russert test?”
November 4th this year should be dedicated to him.
As Bob Dylan ended his tribute to Jerry Garcia: “There’s no way to convey the loss. It just digs down really deep.”
RIP good brother.
= = = = = = =
Some facts, trivia, stories & comments about Tim from MSNBC’s outstanding non-stop coverage this aft / evening . . .
MSNBC did not run a single ad starting from when the news first broke (around 3:00) until 8:33PM!
Meet The Press (MTP) has been on the air for 61 years, since Nov 6 1947 – the longest running show on television.
The Smithsonian put his white board in their permanent collection!
His using that in the 2000 election was rated one of the top 100 moments in all of Television history.
When talking about politics, his face would light up was like a kid on Christmas. And he listened to people’s answers.
He was the guy who called this Democratic primary.
It was the night of the North Carolina / Indiana on May 6th when he said, “We now know who the Democratic nominee is.” It was when Russert said it — and that definitely — that it was like a judge rendering a verdict. Other people may have said it, but it was when Tim said it that it meant everything to both campaigns, and every journalist in the world.
David Gregory – When the word got to the Hillary campaign headquarters that Russert had called the race over, the air went out of the room. He had that gravitas. And no one else had it.
That he didn’t want MTP to be an argumentative program. He knew exactly what he wanted to do with that show, transformed the show, and transcended journalism. If he said something, you could take it to the bank.
He was a key witness in the prosecution of Scooter Libby.
He had one son, Luke. And his father Big Russ was still alive.
And Sunday is Father’s Day. 🙁 how sad.
Fuck. I can’t believe he’s not here anymore.
Mike Barnacle – named his son Timothy — and Russert was at his Christening.
He was a player-coach to other journalist — one of the team players, but also the coach of the team.
He was always the smartest guy in the room.
They didn’t reach Chris Matthews in Paris until 7PM. He talked about how everyone in the room would say “Russert is here.” His presence meant more than anyone else’s. But he was not a cocktail party guy.
How red-eyed and choked-up some journalists & others are — Al Hunt, Mike Barnacle, Keith Oberman, Chris Matthews, Campbell Brown, CEO Jack Welch barely making it through their tributes.
He was a devoted friend to all who knew him.
GE/NBC CEO Jack Welch – “This has affected me like only a few days in my life.”
Mario Cuomo was a mentor to Tim. “We’ve lost him when we need him most.”
He was so grateful for the life he was living. He was very spiritual. He felt blessed to have his elderly father.
Tim’s closeness to Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan. What smarter person could he have been around?!
He was a lawyer.
He intimidated his colleagues cuz he was so smart.
Moynihan said to Russert about the Ivy League hotshots in the Senator’s office. “What they know, you can learn. What you know, they can never learn.”
He was the guy who popped the David Duke bubble – when he appeared on MTP, it’s Russert’s questions that ended his political rise.
That he could impersonate Sen. Moynihan’s voice so well, he would actually take calls on his behalf in Washington.
He brought Chuck Todd into NBC and expanded his role.
He was the guy (because of his credibility and clout) who changed MTP from a half-hour to an hour.
That the statements that he got on MTP are part of the historical record of Cheney and others in their statements about the lead up to the Iraq War, and so many other historical events. He was creating a record for history.
He changed not only MTP, but every other serious news show on television. He set the standard. As Matthews said, “He was the gold standard.”
Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post: He understood politics so much better than everyone else. His encyclopedic knowledge, and his work ethic made him so outstanding. He’s such an institution and presence in Washington.
Crew members are working tonight with tears in their eyes. They still have to work tonight and were so touched by him.
Leadership qualities. Family base.
Ben Bradlee (Wash Post) — when the release of your guests on Saturday becomes a must-know in Washington, you know you’ve arrived.
Tim’s hour-long show in MSNBC on the weekend is also gone. He just had Jim Webb on last weekend – and I’ve got the tape of it! J
his doctor: Dr. Michael Newman — asymptomatic coronary artery disease – he did his best with exercise and life style. April 29th stress test. was on the treadmill this morning, as on most days.
They occur without warning. no way to detect them. there was rupture of cholesterol build up. he had an enlarged heart. they did the autopsy and found the break in the artery.
he was taping the opening for Meet The Press.
within a few moment they knew Tim was in trouble.
an intern who knew CPR began doing it.
they needed a defibulator.
He was known to have coronary artery disease.
Even in a witnessed cardiac arrest, survival is only about 5%.
His weight was an issue.
Oberman at 8: “If he wasn’t the story, he’d be here guiding us tonight.”
He’d taped his weekend “Tim Russert” show in the morning! There’s one last show!!!!! John Harwood was on. (and it appears as though Kelly O’Donnell, among others)
Lindsay Graham was scheduled to be on MTP this Sunday.
Time Magazine just listed him as one of the 100 Most Influential People In The World.
Brokaw: he was called today “a little after 2:00” this aft. They said, “He’s collapsed. It doesn’t look good.”
Tim loved the game of politics. He always said, “I have a face for radio.” Hair spray never touched his Irish locks.
He was clinical. He diagnosed people.
He was the brightest aide on Capital Hill. He knew where everything was.
He and Brokaw were both big Chuck Berry fans! They had a bet who was going to lose the most weight – and the winner would get a platinum Chuck Berry record!
He was also hugely into Springsteen – was more into than anyone around him at a recent concert.
He was burning it at both ends.
His dad just went into an assisted-living facility in Buffalo.
His son was really into politics too, and had just graduated college with a major in history.
Chris Matthews at 8:20 – He was “us” as a country. He was role model for me. He was the hardest worker he ever saw. The preparation. There is no one who beat him. He constantly reminded us to look for the truth. It was a competitive business, but he shared with everybody. The David Duke take-down. Tim didn’t say Duke was a racist — he forced Duke show it himself.
We lost the quarterback tonight.
How he got Moynihan through his first re-election.
17½ years on MTP. The longest serving host ever.
He reinvigorated the Sunday morning news shows – he forced the other networks to step up.
Frank Rich (NY Times): He changed Sunday Morning. It was the biggest meeting of newsmakers. There isn’t another single entity in news that had this position. Yet he wore himself lightly. He took on the most powerful people in America — but he was never a gotcha wise-guy.
History is about stories – and he understood it and could bring it out of others.
David Gregory – there’s a crater left here in the news world.
He jumped through the phone with enthusiasm. He had such a joy for children.
Bob Scheffer his competitor from Face The Nation: “He made me better.”
Obama: He was the standard bearer for good journalism. But also a great person.
John Edwards: He was the yardstick by which every other journalist was measured.
“Go get ‘em.” was his written sign-off line to good colleagues.
Dynasty vs. Dynasty. Skill vs. Skill. These upcoming Finals games will be as good as hockey gets. It’s Rocket Richard’s Habs vs. Gordie Howe’s Red Wings. It’s Frazer – Ali. Borg – McEnroe. Hitchcock vs. Scorsese. Beethoven vs. Bach.
In the 3 years since the lock-out and with “the new NHL” we’ve had a one-hit-wonder win the Cup who never even made the playoffs any other year since about the Clinton administration, followed by the Disney Dirty Ducks action movie – neither team, IMHO, will be or should be remembered in hockey history.
Contrast that with the Detroit Red Wings, who, after this year’s performance by Montreal and their “fans”, has clearly become the undisputed Classiest Team in the NHL. They haven’t missed the playoffs in nearly 20 years, finishing with over 100 points for the last eightyears in a row, winning 6 President’s Trophies, 3 Stanley Cups, plus a half-dozen Norris’s, a hat trick of Selke’s and gawd knows what else, and have the winningest coach in NHL history, Scotty Bowman, up in the box guiding the troops, with Stevie Y riding shotgun. This is the Gold Standard in hockey. They’ve drafted well (say, Datsyuk 171st overall, or Zetterberg 210th!), are coached brilliantly, play a skilled game, and are fronted by a couple of the most artful forwards in the sport.
And the Penguins are what a hockey team is all about – youth and veterans, skill and brawn, with underdogs and superstars. Plus they also happen to have two of the best forwards in the game. And they’ve got the best points-per-game player in history in their skybox, and just a year ago their coach led them to the 4th greatest single-season improvement in points in NHL history. Add to that: the whole team was almost sold-off to another city (but saved by that player in the skybox), and they’ve been living on a shoestring budget for what seems like forever, and play in the oldest (but loveable) dump of a building in the NHL (“The Igloo”! – what could be better!).
Pittsburgh has an edge in offense, Detroit has an edge in defense, and both have solid goaltending. One ‘tender is 10-2; the other 12-2. Of all the active playoff goalies, they are 1 and 2 in wins, 1 and 2 in GAA, 1 and 2 in save percentage. Detroit’s Osgood has only dropped two games after taking over from Hasek; and Pittsburgh’s “Flower” hasn’t let in more than 2 goals in any but four of his last 32 games, going 27-4-1! And he’s all of 23 years old!
Both teams have never lost a game these playoffs when leading after 2 periods.
Both teams have knowledgeable fans in their barns that the hockey world can be proud of, and both teams have lifelong hockey people as team owners and a lineage of very astute GMs. In fact, both teams have exactly the same composition for their starting line-ups: both have more than half their team (11 starters) made up of draft picks who’ve been developed entirely within the organization; and each team made five smart free agent pick-ups; and each only needed to trade away something to get their remaining four players. That’s some very smart hockey management right there.
In fact, with both teams so insanely and equally talented, it’s probably going to come down to coaching and preparation and mindset. And in this regard, Detroit probably has the edge. Not to mention the experience of all their players who have son the last game of the year before.
Both teams are a textbook blend of European and North American talent; and one team is captained by a European, the other by a Canadian. And this year has already made history with Crosby being the youngest team captain in NHL history to lead his team to the Finals, and if he wins will be the youngest captain in professional team sports in North America to lead his team to a championship. Or, it’ll be the first European captain ever to hoist the Cup in the NHL.
Both teams have a history of current and former smart GMs, and neither team is assembled for a one-year push, nor bought their way to where they are by snatching other teams’ stars. And both have fantastic, facile, effective Field-General coaches who’ve adapted to their opponents, and made their team greater than the sum of its parts.
Detroit has its Darren McCarty destitute & rehab comeback story, and the Penguins have local Pittsburgh boy Ryan “Bugsy” Malone as a leader of their offense. It’s an English-Canadian goalie vs a French-Canadian goalie. And in their brain-trust, both franchises have former Team Canada captains (Lemieux and Yzerman) who shared a Gold Medal victory together at the Olympics, and are now battling each other over the “silver”.
And they’re both “attack” teams – just think about the wild end-to-end breakaway action we’re gonna see!! The “Oh my god” dekes, and the “howdy do THAT?!” saves. Lindstrom’s defense feeding Zetterberg and Datsyuk, and Gonchar & the boys feeding Crosby and Malkin! And how these four forwards are going to be the masters who lead our sport for years to come. And what’n the hell is with Gary Roberts and Chris Chelios??!! I mean, they were battling in NHL playoffs before Crosby & Malkin were even born! Literally. And one of them’s wearing Gordie Howe’s uniform!
And speaking of Gordie, these Red Wings are breaking his and Terry Sawchuk’s playoff records! That’s all. And Crosby just broke the record of every pro athlete in North American team sports when he won the scoring title at age 19.
And WHAT is with these team playoff records?! One team is 12-2 and the other is 12-4! Huh? Did I hear that right? Is this the Habs best year vs. the Islanders best year? It sure looks like Dynasty vs. Dynasty to me.
The only other teams in NHL history to go 12-2 or better in the playoffs . . .
Montreal in ’68 — 12-1 (won Cup in 3 rounds)
Montreal in ’76 — 12-1 (won Cup in 3 rounds)
Detroit in ’95 – 11-1 — (but lost the Cup Final to new jersey 4-straight)
Edmonton in ’83 11-1 — (and lost the Cup Final to the islanders 4-straight)
The Wings have been the best NHL team over the last decade, and the Pens will be for the next.
THIS is what hockey is all about.
It’s Original Six vs. Second Six.
Forget the Sistine Chapel, this series-opening face-off is going to be God and Adam down off the ceiling and touching fingers at center ice.
This is going to be one for the ages, the one we live for, the Final that will be talked about the rest of our lives.
It’s Edmonton — Islanders ‘83. (if the Pens lose)
or it’s
Montreal — Philly ‘76 (if the Pens win)
It’s a turning-point Cup.
It’s like a good jam that builds to a crystalline moment of eye-bulging clarity.
It took three years, three verses, three time’s the charm to get here, but we’ve got it. I have no idea how it’ll go in the final, but 7 games with encores would be sweet.
This year’s Final will be historic and insanely exciting even if it’s a sweep for one team, but here’s a bellwether: If the first two games (in Detroit) are a split we’re in for an all-time classic.
The only prediction I’ll make is that both teams are capable of winning at least two games from the other – which means it goes to 6 games minimum.
Weird Facts:
On average, the Penguins are younger (by 5 years), they’re taller (by 2 inches), and they’re heavier (by 13 lbs).
Crosby lives with Lemieux.
Malkin lives at Gonchar’s.
Staal lives at Mark Recchi’s.
Scotty Bowman coached both teams to their last Stanley Cup!
Gary Roberts and Chris Chelios played against each other in the Calgary-Montreal Stanley Cup Final in 1989, almost 20 seasons ago.
Chelios has played in more NHL playoff games than any other player in history.
Since the NHL switched to the current format after the lockout, each Division will have sent exactly one, and only one, team to the Stanley Cup Final:
North-East – Ottawa
South-East – Carolina
Atlantic – Pittsburgh
North-West – Edmonton
Pacific – Anaheim
Central – Detroit
And get this! – In the 3 years since the lockout and the rotation of teams playing only 2 divisions in the other Conference each season, in all 3 SCFs since the change, the two Final teams have NEVER met during that regular season. What are the odds of all that?! Answer: The Hockey Gods are smiling.
The last 9 Stanley Cups in a row have all gone to the team with the home ice advantage in the series.
Also: This is guaranteed to be one of the closest Stanley Cup Finals in history.
Detroit & Pittsburgh’s 210 mile separation is the closest any two teams playing for the Stanley Cup have ever been from one another – except for the Islanders – Philly in 1980 (120 m), and Boston – Rangers in ’72 (189 m). (Det-Chi = 239; Det-Tor = 244).
All games start at the same time wherever you are – 8 PM in the East.
