David Amram and I have been performing together since we first started hanging in 1994 after an introduction by Teri McLuhan, Marshall’s daughter. It was the big NYU Beat conference — I write about it in Blissfully Ravaged in Democracy — I first saw him unloading his congas from his Farm Aid jeep on opening night, […]
David Amram & Brian Hassett On-Stage Collaborations
November 30th, 2022 · 6 Comments · Brian on YouTube etc., Kerouac and The Beats, Real-life Adventure Tales
Tags: Dave Amram·George Walker·Holy Cats! Dream-Catching at Woodstock·How The Beats Begat The Pranksters·Lowell Celebrates Kerouac!·On The Road with Cassadys·Teri McCluhan·The Hitchhiker's Guide to Jack Kerouac
Lowell Celebrates Kerouac (LCK) – Videos, Stories & Photos – 2015–2022
October 30th, 2022 · 7 Comments · Kerouac and The Beats, Real-life Adventure Tales
Stories, videos and photos from the annual Kerouac hometown festival over the last several years I’ve been going. Edie Parker-Kerouac called and told me about the the initial commemorative dedication in July 1988 — which birthed LCK — saying that she, Henri Cru and “Big Tim” Moran were driving up for it, and that […]
Tags: Andy Clausen·Beat Angel·David Amram·Edie Kerouac·Frankie Edie Kerouac Parker·George Walker·Henri Cru·How The Beats Begat The Pranksters·Jack Kerouac·John Allen Cassady·Kerouac Centennial·Lowell Celebrates Kerouac!·Merry Pranksters·Michael McClure·St. Mark's Church·The Hitchhiker's Guide to Jack Kerouac·Vincent Balstri·Wireless Mike Flynn
Kerouac’s 100th birthday celebration in Lowell
March 20th, 2022 · 25 Comments · Kerouac and The Beats, Real-life Adventure Tales
. Everybody’s known for ages that Jack Kerouac’s 100th birthday was coming up on March 12th, 2022, but it was still the dark Covid times, and I hadn’t been On The Road in over two years — not since the New Hampshire Democratic primaries in February 2020 — plus I was really in no mood […]
Tags: Al Aronowitz·Anne Waldman·Ben Woitena·Brett Sigurdson·Dave Olson·David Stanford·Dennis McNally·Erin Weber·George Walker·Gilbert Millstein·historiography·Holly George-Warren·Jack Kerouac·Jerry Bisantz·Jerry Garcia·Jim Sampas·John Kruth·Kurt Hemmer·Lowell·Lowell Celebrates Kerouac!·Matt Williamson·Mike Flynn·Old Angel Midnight·Oliver Trager·Paul Marion·Ren Grevatt·Roger Brunelle·Rolling Thunder·Scarlett Sabet·Schae Koteles·Sylvia Cunha·Todd Tietchen·Willie "Loco" Alexander
Blissfully Ravaged in Democracy intro chapter
September 30th, 2020 · 16 Comments · Blissfully Ravaged in Democracy, Politics
A lot of people got discouraged during 2016 — first the Berners supporting Sanders in the primary, then most of the nation with “the perfect storm” of the November electoral college disaster. Twice in my lifetime has this antiquated 1700s electoral college voting concept resulted in the loser of the vote becoming President. And both […]
Tags: Andrew Yang·Bernie Sanders·David Amram·Gary Snyder·George Walker·Granny D·Grateful Dead·Joe Biden·John Anderson·Locke McCorkle·Nancy Pelosi·Phil Lesh
Brian Hassett – Adventures in Print
January 26th, 2020 · 21 Comments · Blissfully Ravaged in Democracy, Kerouac and The Beats, Politics, Real-life Adventure Tales, Weird Things About Me
40 YEARS IN PRINT . A CHRONOLOGY OF THE PUBLISHED REAL-LIFE ADVENTURE TALES . . 1977 – May — writing a song with Guess Who founder Chad Allen – not in print as of yet, but it is on my website here. 1980 – April — John Anderson in San Diego – Blissfully Ravaged in […]
Tags: Barack Obama·Beat Shindig·Bernie Sanders·Big Sur·Bill Clinton·Blissfully Ravaged in Democracy·Carolyn Cassady·Gary Hart·George Walker·Grateful Dead·How The Beats Begat The Pranksters·Howard Dean and Al Franken·Jack Kerouac·Ken Kesey·On The Road·Paul Tsongas·Phil Lesh·The Hitchhiker's Guide to Jack Kerouac·Walter Salles·Woodstock
Pranksters for Proactive Politics
November 30th, 2019 · 1 Comment · Merry Pranksters, Politics, Weird Things About Me
. Original Merry Prankster George Walker & author-performer Brian Hassett team up to make elections fun again. Soon to be joined by an unlimited cast of players and Pranksters crisscrossing the United States in a new version of Ken Kesey’s original psychedelic Furthur Bus — and this one is going to go even Farthur! After […]
Tags: George Walker
Brian Hassett Set Lists
May 31st, 2019 · 12 Comments · Hitchhiker's Guide to Jack Kerouac, Kerouac and The Beats, Merry Pranksters, Weird Things About Me, Woodstock
Midwest Tour — May 2019 . Thomas O’Shea House Party — Berea, outside Cleveland Ohio – Friday, May 10th, 2019 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac – the Marin Epiphany – from ch 26 – The Airplane Hanger in Marin The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac – ch. 3 – Dancin’ to The Boulder Boogie […]
Tags: George Walker·Jack Kerouac·Merry Pranksters·Neal Cassady·On The Road·Rolling Stone Book of The Beats·The Beat Museum
The Birth of a Trilogy
August 31st, 2018 · 11 Comments · Hitchhiker's Guide to Jack Kerouac, Kerouac and The Beats, Real-life Adventure Tales, Weird Things About Me
THE BIRTH OF A TRILOGY . I never expected any of it. A few years ago, a few people asked me on a Facebook group to tell them about a Kerouac gathering I was at back in 1982, and my response to the question became a book . . . in eleven days, it took. […]
Tags: George Walker·How The Beats Begat The Pranksters·Jack Kerouac·John Cassady·Merry Pranksters·On The Road with Cassadys·The Hitchhiker's Guide to Jack Kerouac
People Who Knew Jack Kerouac and Are Still Alive
March 13th, 2018 · 3 Comments · Kerouac and The Beats, Merry Pranksters
. Just as when Gifford & Lee created Jack’s Book in the ’70s, and Allen Ginsberg did the Jack Summit in 1982 and all those documentaries were made — it was all because there were people alive who knew Jack well. Now there are very few. Here’s a list of Living People who either met Jack […]
Tags: Al Hinkle·Beat Generation·David Amram·George Walker·Gerd Stern·Jack Kerouac·John Cassady·Ken Babbs·Robert Frank
Loving Vincent movie review
November 19th, 2017 · 15 Comments · Movies
. I love Loving Vincent. I’ve loved Van Gogh since the big Metropolitan Museum of Art show “Van Gogh in Arles” in 1984 and the “Saint-Remy and Auvers” show in 1986, and reading his Dear Theo book of letters to his brother around the same time. Those shows and that book changed my life by […]
Tags: George Walker·Grateful Dead·Jack Kerouac·Jerry Garica·Neal Cassady·Vincent Van Gogh