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 […]
Blissfully Ravaged in Democracy intro chapter
September 30th, 2020 · 16 Comments · Blissfully Ravaged in Democracy, Politics
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
Ode to Neal
October 31st, 2019 · 14 Comments · Kerouac and The Beats
. Neal Cassady — by Carolyn Cassady (courtesy of the Cassady fam) . From Dean Moriarty . . . to Dead immortality, The street-kid who read . . . was a legend in bed, But more than the lays . . . he inspired a blaze In the hearths of the writers . . . […]
Tags: Allen Ginsberg·Bob Dylan·Carolyn Cassady·Grateful Dead·Jack Kerouac·Jerry Garcia·Ken Kesey·Merry Pranksters·Neal Cassady
Brian Hassett Interviews and Such
July 31st, 2018 · 8 Comments · Hitchhiker's Guide to Jack Kerouac, Interviews, Kerouac and The Beats, Weird Things About Me
. Here are a few different print, radio & video interviews and stories and reviews and such . . . . Here’s a lively April 2022 interview by British pop culture chronicler Simon Warner about the connections between the Beat writers and music, and the Beat influences on life itself. “My whole life’s been a […]
Tags: Beat Shindig·Gerd Stern·Grateful Dead·How The Beats Begat The Pranksters·The Hitchhiker's Guide to Jack Kerouac
The Grateful Dead: Jack Kerouac Manifested As Music
April 28th, 2018 · 9 Comments · Grateful Dead, Kerouac and The Beats
. The Grateful Dead were Jack manifested as music. Their essence was born of the road and adventures. They worked in improvisational music like spontaneous prose. They broke every rule of showbiz … then broke every concert record there is — just as Kerouac broke every rule of grammar — then had over 50 books […]
Tags: Carolyn Cassady·Fare Thee Well·Grateful Dead·Jack Kerouac·Jerry Garcia·Neal Cassady·On The Road·San Francisco
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
Red Roses, Green Gold theater review
October 17th, 2017 · 13 Comments · Grateful Dead, Movies, New York City
New Hunter-Garcia Musical comes up Roses . . Hear ye! Hear ye! Behold — a re-imagining of the Hunter-Garcia songbook. New life. New arrangements. New band. New set. New stage. New story. If you’d like a fresh way to approach Grateful Dead music — go to this show. If you like the Dead and theater […]
Tags: George Walker·Grateful Dead·Jerry Garcia·Neal Cassady·New York City·Phil Lesh·Robert Hunter
Falling In Love in The Summer Of Love
July 30th, 2017 · 46 Comments · Grateful Dead, Kerouac and The Beats, Merry Pranksters, Weird Things About Me
Falling in Love in the Summer of Love . Yeah — it can still happen. To anyone anywhere anytime. Me mid-50s, she just over 40. We’d met a year earlier at a Prankster Family Reunion. I thought she was stunning. But she had this boyfriend. It was one of those couples that didn’t seem to […]
Tags: George Walker·Golden Gate Bridge·Grateful Dead·Haight St.·Jack Kerouac·Merry Pranksters·Red Vic·San Francisco·Summer of Love
Long Strange Trip – Grateful Dead doc review
May 2nd, 2017 · 16 Comments · Grateful Dead, Movies
. Let There Be Songs To Fill The Screen . . I remember when I first saw the long-in-the-works Beat Generation documentary “The Source” at its premiere in Manhattan with McClure, Amram and all these other luminaries and we all went to the afterparty at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and everybody was freaking out that […]
Tags: Grateful Dead·Jack Kerouac·Jerry Garcia·Ken Kesey·Long Strange Trip doc·Merry Pranksters·Neal Cassady·Robert Hunter
Finding Kesey
January 29th, 2017 · 13 Comments · Hitchhiker's Guide to Jack Kerouac, Kerouac and The Beats, Merry Pranksters, Weird Things About Me
Finding Kesey . Following the November 2016 election I knew it was time to get my own house in order. A year had been lost to a losing campaign, added to five years of On The Road domino-tumbling madness that had passed since my mother had passed in 2011, and there was a lot of […]
Tags: Grateful Dead·Jack Kerouac·Ken Kesey·Naropa·New York·The Hitchhiker's Guide to Jack Kerouac·Winnipeg