How he made me do IT! Now my own aged self writing about it in my own way which is the way. Tom is a beat soul met him at Island NY as his publicist for SwordfishTrombones wrote about it on my stack. We all make our own noise. If you dig it you dig it. Without Jack there's no Steve. I thank him and Neal everyday. I saw the scroll at the NY Library ownership is an illusion. Happy Birthday Jack! Thanks Eric! California Dreams is the prequel to the finished sequel Lost in Austin by me, a nobody who is somebody because of them and possibly Malcolm Cowley. As Jesse said "I am somebody!" Californiadreams.substack.com
I studied writing with Joyce Johnson who was one of his lovers.She has written two memoirs on their time together and his writing. I love his voice and interviews.I have books next to my sick bed. You have inspired me to read The Dharma Bums. Thank you for sharing love Claire ❤️
Wow. Such profound and beautifully written thoughts - I love the quote about not telling them too much about your soul, ditto wild-haired at the beach or looking at stars. This is a major invitation to read everything he ever wrote - thank you.
The demand for unvarnished truth is the ultimate pursuit of clarity in an era defined by performative artifice.
By stripping away the layers of societal expectation, one achieves a profound refinement of their internal signal-to-noise ratio. This commitment to the essential remains the most sophisticated form of intellectual hygiene.
Born into dysfunction and poverty. Searching for a way out with no guidance, just a craving to find something better, something. Stumbling across On The Road, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Be Here Now, Think On These Things, finding one after another in my awakening from the library acquired in my search . Absorbing every book, one after another. My mind expanding from a place of confined brokenness to knowing that it was all a trap. A trap of a civilization that requires one to be born of means to be anything, to win the sperm lottery. While those born on the fringes are nothing, the Dalits, the untouchables. While my country bragged of Liberty! But not for you, you will carry the bricks and dig the ditches, fight on the front lines so that those born of means may have their station, their net worth.
Happy Birthday to one of the best. Jack had the fever and used it putting that butcher paper in the typer and spilling it out. The Dharma Bums inspired me and helped me find Zen (so did Hermann Hesse). I hope he found what he searched for on "the other side."
possibly cassedy, keroac, ferlenghetti, maybe burroughs, and i think one of those guys could be either the writer of howl, ginsberg, and/or the other one whose name i can't recall now but he was close with jack in the early days.
Corso… what a thrilling bunch of thinkers way out of the bending branch. I was in my twenties when Howl came out. Along with writers: Snyder, Levertov, and others who reformed my conformity.
The Roar of Silence!
"Sometimes a Great Notion"
"One Flew over the Cuckoo Nest"
I got on the Gfeyhound at 14.
I walked across America at 55.
At 85 I hear there's a "hell of a universe next door.."
I recently gave all my Kerouac collection to a young lady.
lovely post, thank you..
How he made me do IT! Now my own aged self writing about it in my own way which is the way. Tom is a beat soul met him at Island NY as his publicist for SwordfishTrombones wrote about it on my stack. We all make our own noise. If you dig it you dig it. Without Jack there's no Steve. I thank him and Neal everyday. I saw the scroll at the NY Library ownership is an illusion. Happy Birthday Jack! Thanks Eric! California Dreams is the prequel to the finished sequel Lost in Austin by me, a nobody who is somebody because of them and possibly Malcolm Cowley. As Jesse said "I am somebody!" Californiadreams.substack.com
Happy Birthday, Jack!!!! ❤️
I studied writing with Joyce Johnson who was one of his lovers.She has written two memoirs on their time together and his writing. I love his voice and interviews.I have books next to my sick bed. You have inspired me to read The Dharma Bums. Thank you for sharing love Claire ❤️
Thank you for a great post!
Wow. Such profound and beautifully written thoughts - I love the quote about not telling them too much about your soul, ditto wild-haired at the beach or looking at stars. This is a major invitation to read everything he ever wrote - thank you.
Should be mandatory. The fact that he wrote so much drunk makes it even more intriguing. Damn.
The demand for unvarnished truth is the ultimate pursuit of clarity in an era defined by performative artifice.
By stripping away the layers of societal expectation, one achieves a profound refinement of their internal signal-to-noise ratio. This commitment to the essential remains the most sophisticated form of intellectual hygiene.
The scroll of On the Road is being auctioned: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/jack-kerouac-on-the-road-scroll-sale-2743031
This is a truly wonderful birthday tribute to Jack Kerouac that brings his whole vibrant world alive again. Thank you, Erik, for this.
"I will try to teach but it will be in vain, s'why I'll
end up in a shack
praying and being
cool and singing
by my woodstove
making pancakes."
Happy Birthday Jack
Born into dysfunction and poverty. Searching for a way out with no guidance, just a craving to find something better, something. Stumbling across On The Road, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Be Here Now, Think On These Things, finding one after another in my awakening from the library acquired in my search . Absorbing every book, one after another. My mind expanding from a place of confined brokenness to knowing that it was all a trap. A trap of a civilization that requires one to be born of means to be anything, to win the sperm lottery. While those born on the fringes are nothing, the Dalits, the untouchables. While my country bragged of Liberty! But not for you, you will carry the bricks and dig the ditches, fight on the front lines so that those born of means may have their station, their net worth.
Happy Birthday Jack. Thanks for the words.
Happy Birthday to one of the best. Jack had the fever and used it putting that butcher paper in the typer and spilling it out. The Dharma Bums inspired me and helped me find Zen (so did Hermann Hesse). I hope he found what he searched for on "the other side."
great reading. thank you.. do you know the line of men in the black and white photo in front of the bookstore?
possibly cassedy, keroac, ferlenghetti, maybe burroughs, and i think one of those guys could be either the writer of howl, ginsberg, and/or the other one whose name i can't recall now but he was close with jack in the early days.
Corso… what a thrilling bunch of thinkers way out of the bending branch. I was in my twenties when Howl came out. Along with writers: Snyder, Levertov, and others who reformed my conformity.
gregory corso was the other pal.
No, but if the bookstore behind them is City Lights I can make some guesses.
Excellent!!!
🙏
Damn, this text feels like I just crashed a birthday party for Jack Kerouac.