Brianland

the Best in Kerouac & the Beats, Adventure, Politics, Music, Movies, Poetry & other Lifejoys

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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 […]

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Imaginestock

September 18th, 2023 · 12 Comments · Merry Pranksters, Music, Real-life Adventure Tales

Imaginestock . photo by Christy Worsoe . Imagine, if you will, a place where music and love fill the air, and every person works for free to build a utopian kingdom. Imagine a secret island hideaway whose location is only shared to people who’ve earned an invitation by a lifetime of good deeds. Imagine a […]

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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 […]

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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, […]

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Beatles post Get Back Lessons and Reflections

January 30th, 2022 · 3 Comments · Movies, Music

Some reflections on The Beatles post Peter Jackson’s masterpiece, and some fun facts picked up along the way . . . It was so much the blending of the four compatible yet different personalities that was key to their creativity and longevity. And that there were four different individuals for people to identify with and […]

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The Beatles: Get Back — Time-Coded and Annotated

December 28th, 2021 · 66 Comments · Movies, Music

The Beatles: Get Back Time-Coded and Annotated . Some of the characters beyond the Fab Five: (And yes, it’s five — because in this doc The Beatles become a quintet.  😉) Peter Jackson — the cinematic master behind this entire production Jabez Olssen — Peter Jackson’s super-skilled right-hand-man editor – never seen on screen, but […]

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Hillary Clinton Javits Center 2016

November 13th, 2016 · 18 Comments · New York City, Politics, Real-life Adventure Tales

Election Night 2016 in New York City . . It was such a beautiful fall Tuesday in New York. We were all in such a good mood. But in retrospect there were some early warning signs I’d rationalized and dismissed: The tollbooth clerk I had a happy election exchange with but when asked who she […]

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Jack Kerouac’s novella “Pic” Reconsidered

September 25th, 2016 · 13 Comments · Kerouac and The Beats

. I Pick Pic . Thirty years ago I remember saying to my Beat brothers at the Cedar Tavern in Greenwich Village that I thought Vanity of Duluoz was right up there with Jack’s greatest works.  And they all looked at me like I was crazy and said, “Yeah, but nobody else thinks that.” 🙂 […]

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Republican Convention first-person account

July 22nd, 2016 · 23 Comments · Politics, Real-life Adventure Tales

. “This is a Shitshow” . When I tried starting this story last night immediately upon arriving home around 4 AM . . . this was all I got writ — Republicans are loons … 😀 But boy, I just had the greatest time!  Sheesh!  This was like the 4th of July for a week!  […]

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The Republican Convention, Cleveland, 2016

July 17th, 2016 · 11 Comments · Politics, Real-life Adventure Tales

. Lesson One going into the streets of Cleveland — as hipped by my poli-warzone-brother Mitch — If you hear fire crackers, don’t assume they’re fire crackers.  Get behind cover. Roger that. Mitch and I met in 1983 thru him being a music reporter in Winnipeg and me managing to some success one of the […]

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