Here’s part of the script I’ll be riffing from when I introduce the movie “Magic Trip: Ken Kesey’s Search for a Kool Place” at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac on Sunday October 13th. We might have it streaming live on my YouTube channel if you can’t be there — https://www.youtube.com/@BrianHassettVideos/streams ============================================ This is the original Merry Prankster […]
Magic Trip movie — Introduction and Background
September 29th, 2024 · No Comments · Merry Pranksters, Movies
Tags: Alex Gibney·Alfred & David Maysles·Bob Dylan·Chuck Workman·D.A. Pennebaker·Ethan Hawke·George Walker·Grateful Dead·Jack Kerouac·Ken Kesey·Larry McMurtry·Merry Pranksters·Neal Cassady·Pull My Daisy·Robert Frank·Robert Stone·The Beatles·The Warlocks
Anne Murphy’s “Tripping With A Viper” about Neal Cassady
May 4th, 2024 · 15 Comments · Kerouac and The Beats, Merry Pranksters
. Beat & Prankster fans rejoice! A new firsthand memoir has just been released of life with one of the Mount Rushmores of both the Beat Generation & the Merry Pranksters. That doesn’t happen very often, and there aren’t many options left. Anne Murphy (who later reverted back to her birth name Anne Marie Maxwell) […]
Tags: Acid Tests·Allen Ginsberg·Anne Marie Maxwell·Anne Murphy·Arthur & Kit Knight·Carolyn Cassady·Diane Di Prima·Edie Kerouac·Gavin Arthur·George Walker·Helen Weaver·Hettie Jones·Hunter Thompson·Jack Kerouac·Joyce Johnson·Ken Kesey·La Honda·Lu Anne Henderson·Merry Pranksters·Mountain Girl·Neal Cassady·Spit In The Ocean·The Beat Generation·The Beat Museum·The Grateful Dead·The Trips Festival·Tom Wolfe
Taylor Swift, the Grateful Dead and The Beat Generation
November 30th, 2023 · 28 Comments · Grateful Dead, Kerouac and The Beats, Music
. Why this Deadhead Beatnik Beatlemaniac loves Pop’s Princess I’ve been into Taylor Swift since a New York Times profile in 2008 talked about her confessional songwriting and use of social media — at the time, MySpace. (!) Her second album Fearless was set to come out (and would go on to win Album […]
Tags: Allen Ginsberg·Beyonce·Bob Dylan·Dave Grohl·Deadheads·Grateful Dead·Greta Gerwig·Jack Kerouac·Jerry Garcia·Joe Biden·John Lennon·Margot Robbie·Paul McCartney·Robert Hunter·Saturday Night Live·Swifties·Taylor Swift·The Beat Generation·The Beatles·TIFF
Jack on Film: Take 2 and Lowell Celebrates Kerouac (LCK) 2023 videos
October 31st, 2023 · 11 Comments · Brian on YouTube etc., Hitchhiker's Guide to Jack Kerouac, Interviews, Kerouac and The Beats, Movies
Jack on Film: Take 2 at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac . Here’s a YouTube playlist with great video of the entire Jack on Film show — . =========================================== Here’s a riffing interview with WCAP in Lowell about all things Kerouac — and the new “Jack on Film: Take 2” show — with nearly a hundred photos […]
Tags: Beat Angel·Big Sur·Billy Zane·Charles Kuralt·Edson Cemetery·Heart Beat·Heart Beat movie·Jack Kerouac·Kill Your Darlings·Lowell Celebrates Kerouac!·Magic Trip·Michael Polish·Naked Lunch·Neal Cassady·On The Road·Pull My Daisy·Quantum Leap·Robert Frank·Route 66·Saturday Night Live·The Last Time I Committed Suicide·The Subterraneans movie·Vincent Balestri
Fireworks in Oakville
May 31st, 2023 · 8 Comments · Real-life Adventure Tales
Fireworks in Oakville or The Day Florida Moved to Canada . . . What a riot we had last weekend in Oakville! A buncha teenagers came to my little harbourfront neighbourhood cuz it has a corner Variety store that’ll sell anything to anybody including fireworks to kids. We had a little to-do here a couple […]
Tags: Jack Kerouac·On The Road
The Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa
April 30th, 2023 · 5 Comments · Music, Real-life Adventure Tales
The Setting: The new Bob Center is in Tulsa Oklahoma because the Woody Guthrie Center is there, and because both were paid for by the OK billionaire philanthropist George Kaiser. Tulsa is remarkably like the midwestern town of Winnipeg I grew up in — flat farmland, low-rise, about a half-million people — and both with […]
Tags: Barack Obama·Bob Dylan·George Harrison·Jack Kerouac·Lenny Bruce·Neil Young·Oklahoma·Pete Seeger·Ralph Gleason·Tom Wilson·Tulsa·Woody Guthrie
Writing “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jack Kerouac”
February 20th, 2023 · 13 Comments · Hitchhiker's Guide to Jack Kerouac, Kerouac and The Beats, Weird Things About Me
You wake up one day and your whole life changes just by the chance seeing of a picture. Much the way it might with a chance spotting of a poster on a bookstore wall. As Jack says, “My books are my children.” And as Mama always preached — pregnancy can happen in an instant. Unlike […]
Tags: Allen Ginsberg·Jack Kerouac·On The Road Kerouac Conference Boulder 1982·Robert Frank·The Hitchhiker's Guide to Jack Kerouac·writing books
The Beats, The Beatles & The Brotherhood
January 31st, 2023 · 3 Comments · Weird Things About Me
The Beats, The Beatles & The Brotherhood . . This month I met a fellow Toronto-area author, John Arnone, who’s just written a book about The Beatles and Canada — Us and Them: Canada, Canadians and The Beatles. In fact, in keeping with our Canadian heritage, we met after a ball hockey game and then […]
Tags: Al Aronowitz·Allen Ginsberg·Bob Dylan·Brion Gysin·Carolyn Cassady·D.A. Pennebaker·George Harrison·Ian Sommerville·International Poetry Incarnation·Jack Kerouac·Joe Strummer·John Arnone·John Lennon·Ken Kesey·Lawrence Ferlinghetti·Maple Leaf Gardens·Paul McCartney·Revival69·Royal Albert Hall·Royston Ellis·The Beatles·William Burroughs
Revival69 — Documentary Review about John Lennon’s Toronto Concert in 1969
December 31st, 2022 · 14 Comments · Movies, Music
Revival Revived Klaus Voormann’s drawing of the 1969 plane trip The most important musical event that ever occurred in Canada — and one of the most important concerts in history — took place at a university football stadium in downtown Toronto in 1969. It’s true! London had The Beatles’ farewell on the rooftop, […]
Tags: Alan White·Alice Cooper·Bo Diddley·Bob Ezrin·Bobby Neuwirth·Chuck Berry·cinéma vérité·Cold Turkey·D.A. Pennebaker·Don't Look Back·Frances Thompson·Geddy Lee·Gene Vincent·Jack Kerouac·Janis Joplin·Jerry Lee Lewis·Jimi Hendrix·John Brower·John Lennon·Ken Walker·Klaus Voormann·Little Richard·Mal Evans·Michael Lang·Monterey Pop·Plastic Ono Band·Revival69·Ron Chapman·Shep Gordon·The Beatles·The Doors·Toronto Pop Festival·Toronto Rock 'n' Roll Revival·Wally Heider·Woodstock·Yoko Ono
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