Lowell Celebrates Jack Kerouac, Summer 2007

Scroll of On the Road exhibited

By: Erica H. Adams - Jun 22, 2007

LOWELL, MA. The City of Lowell kicked off its summer of events related to Jack Kerouac (1922-1967) its most famous literary figure, on Friday June 15th at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum, in Lowell National Historic Park with music, speeches and an inspiring Kerouac exhibit featuring his typed manuscript/scroll of On the Road (1957) his greatest work.
 

     Opening the festivities, was New England Folk duo Aztec Two-Step who played two sets including their  hit song "The Persecution & Restoration of Dean Moriarty (On the Road)," based on Kerouac's novel:
    

 "He's alive like a child so terribly wild
He has way too much freedom of course
He is wrong is wrong, yeah
And he was born on the road in the month of July
And he'll live on the road til he sees fit to die
Cause he's learned from the road how humanity cries
How society lies, he sees with more than his eyes"
   

    As 'formal' a bohemian reunion, as imaginable, one local suggested a tour of bars Kerouac inhabited be added to Lowell's well-planned summer events including poetry slams, concerts and symposia.
   

    The political community spoke briefly as the boisterous crowd honored Kerouac as he lived: we heard warm and spirited comments in honor of Kerouac from Michael Creasey, Superintendent of Lowell Historic Park; Lowell's Mayor William T. Martin Jr.; U.S. House of Representatives Marty Meehan; U.S. Senator Steven Panagiotakos. We were reminded Kerouac was a great partier by Professor Hilary Holiday, Director of the Jack and Stella Kerouac Center for American Studies. Kerouac writer and historian, Paul Marion, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Outreach, U. Mass. Lowell said the exhibit was blockbuster with a huge audience interest.
   

     Ending the formalities, David Avram played "Amazing Grace" a favorite of Kerouac's, who described himself as Catholic mystic. Avram ended by quoting the French-Canadian, Lowell born writer:  'Don't live life until you die; love life until you die.'
   

    Kerouac's original scroll was purchased for 2.4 million in May of 2001 by  James Irsay of Indianapolis, owner of the 2006 NFL Champion Indianapolis Colts.  A rock fan, Irsay also owns Jerry Garcia's "Tiger" guitar and one of George Harrison's guitars, says he wants to share the scroll. Lowell is the 11th stop since the cross-country tour began in Orlando in 2004 and is scheduled to conclude in 2009.
   

    The centerpiece of the Kerouac exhibit -June 15th through September 14, 2007 -is the original scroll of On the Road, a Beat generation classic. About 36 feet or, 100 pages of the 120 foot-long scroll is rolled out in a back-lit glass display case like a relic not unlike The Dead Sea scrolls discovered in 1947-56. Written in three weeks in April 1951, Kerouac taped together sheets of tracing paper so his words could 'flow' uninterrupted through his typewriter. Counterculture myth joked Kerouac wrote on toilet paper. Fragile, in fact, it's amazingly tactile: black-inked letters pounded by the typewriter's keys into the now yellowed paper are obscured, in places, by time-darkened tape that's visible through back-lit, translucent paper. Published in 1957 by Viking Press, On the Road is still on summer reading lists. The adventure of the open road affirmed freedom and promise during the conformist and restrictive McCarthy Era (late 40's to late 50's) to become a youthful right of passage, in the 60's, for a counterculture that hitchhiked across the U.S. and today, drives.
   

    To see On the Road elevated to the status of a spiritual icon or relic affirms bohemian and counterculture values, many of which have gone mainstream. Now, as the U.S. teeters like the Titanic on a sea of discontent, it is a great civic service the city of Lowell and collector James Isray offer to the people of this country: the legacy of Kerouac's open inquiry and the importance of being in the moment or on the road comes, not a moment too soon.
   

    The City of Lowell will celebrate Kerouac in summer long series of Kerouac-themed events, called On the Road in Lowell includes concerts, readings, public art exhibits, educational programs and events that coincide with Franco-American Week in Lowell (June 19 - 24). The free Kerouac exhibit is open to the public daily 10 a.m - 5 p.m, and until 7 p.m. on Thursdays.
   

    For more information see events below or call: 978.446.7162 or Web: http://www.ontheroadinlowell.org  Read scroll related articles and view the interactive multimedia site honor of Kerouac all summer in Lowell's newspaper, The Sun http://www.extras.lowellsun.com/kerouac

     On the Road in Lowell is a program of Cultural Organization in Lowell (COOL) in partnership with Lowell National Historical Park, the City of Lowell, UMass Lowell, Pollard Memorial Library, and Lowell Celebrates Kerouac!, and is made possible in part with support from Theodore Edson Parker Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, the Jack Kerouac and Stella Kerouac Estate, Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, Nathaniel and Elizabeth Stevens Foundation, Greater Merrimack Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Enterprise Bank, The Revolving Museum and Patrick J. Mogan Cultural Center.

    On the Road in Lowell Summer Programs 2007All events will be at Boott Cotton Mills Museum unless otherwise noted 
June 15 6-9 p.m. - Exhibit Opening Celebration with honored guests including William Least Heat-Moon, David Amram, and others, plus music by Aztec Two-Step
June 16 9 a.m. - Kerouac Coffee Colloquia at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum.  Kerouac experts Paul Marion and Dr. Mehmed Ali discuss Kerouac and his French influence.10 a.m. - 12 p.m. -Curator's Tour with the Scroll.  "Keeper of the Scroll" Jim Canary, head conservator at Indiana University's Lilly Library (where the scroll is kept) talks about the tour and the installation of the scroll. 2-4 p.m. - On the Road Unfurled: Jack Kerouac and the On the Road Scroll, a panel discussion with Paul Marion, Hilary Holladay, Jay McHale and more! 7-10 p.m. Concert with Hot Day at the Zoo (4-piece string urban bluegrass band) and jazz musician and Kerouac friend David Amram at The Revolving Museum, 22 Shattuck Street, Lowell.
June 17 1-3 p.m. - Kerouac Bus Tour/ Jack Kerouac Historic Home Dedication. Take a tour through Kerouac's Lowell and end up at the home where Kerouac spent much of his youth, for a special ceremony dedicating a commemorative plaque. 2-4 p.m. - Road Tripping: Jack Kerouac and the Road Trip in American Literature, panel discussion with William Least Heat-Moon, Ronald Primeau, Robert Houlton, and David Daniel
June 19 7 p.m. - Lecture on Kerouac's French influence with Roger Brunelle and Paul Marion
June 23 2-4 p.m. - 2006 Massachusetts Poetry Fellows read at The Revolving Museum, 22 Shattuck Street. Simeon Berry, Kristin Bock, Deborah Digges, Patrick Ryan Frank, Caroline Knox, Frannie Lindsay, Chloe Lopez, Dawn Lundy Martin, Samantha Merritt, Lisa Olstein, Jason Shinder and Andrea Werblin
July 5 7 - 9:30 p.m. Mill City Open Mic and Poetry Slam at Brew'd Awakening Coffeehaus, 61 Market Street, Lowell.
July 7 20 Years of Lowell Celebrates Kerouac!Lowell has been celebrating Kerouac since 1987 with a fall festival, and this year, in honor of the homecoming of the scroll, a special day has been planned 10 a.m. - A tribute to Kerouac at the Kerouac Commemorative at Kerouac Park in the Lowell National Historical Park.  Featuring Aztec Two-Step, Paul Marion, Larry Caradini and others reading from Kerouac's work. 2 - 6 p.m. Amram Jam featuring jazz musician David Amram at the Rainbow Café, 14 Cabot Street. 7:30 p.m. - Concert: 10,000 Maniacs and The Milagro Saints at Boarding House Park. Note: this is a ticketed event.  Go to www.lowellsummermusic.org for more information.
July 14 Destination: On the Road in the World is a special Kerouac-themed version of the regular monthly "Destination World" series, in which downtown Lowell is transformed into a distant land, with arts events, dining and family fun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. - Kerouac Classic Wiffle Ball Tourney at Kerouac Park on Bridge Street in Downtown Lowell11 a.m. - 3 p.m. - Hudson Car Show features 24 antique Hudsons, like the one Kerouac drove cross-country. Parking lot across from the Lowell High School Auditorium.  2 p.m. - A conversation with Kerouac character "Ed Dunkel." 7 - 10 p.m. - Lowell Pub Tour with readings and music, starting at the Old Court, 29-31 Cabot Street.
August 2 7 - 9:30 p.m. Mill City Open Mic and Poetry Slam at Brew'd Awakening Coffeehaus, 61 Market Street, Lowell.
August 3 & 4 U. Mass Lowell's 9th Jack Kerouac Conference on Beat Literature will feature lectures and panel discussions on Kerouac and the Beats, with a special focus on On the Road. Scholars giving talks will include Michael Skau of the University of Nebraska, Joseph Donahue of Duke University, and Matt Theado of Gardner-Webb University.11 a.m. - 4 p.m. - Whistler House Museum of Art: On the Road Quilts11 a.m. - 4 p.m. - Whistler House Museum of Art: On the Road Quilts. An exhibit of quilts with a specific "road" connection, as part of the New England Quilt Festival, at 243 Worthen Street, Lowell.
September 5 50th Anniversary of the publication of On the Road
September 6 7 - 9:30 p.m. Mill City Open Mic and Poetry Slam at Brew'd Awakening Coffeehaus, 61 Market Street, Lowell. 7 p.m. Visions of Kerouac: Concert with Normand Guilbeault & Friends at the McDonough Arts Magnet Theater 40 Paige St, Lowell. French Canadian jazz bassist Normand Guilbeault sets Kerouac's text to music.
September 7 7:30 p.m  Kerouac tribute concert with the David Amram Trio at Boarding House Park. Note: this is a ticketed event.  Go to www.lowellsummermusic.org for more information.
September 8 & 9 Time and lineup TBA Kerouac's Influence: Writers of the Next Generation will be a gathering of creative and scholarly people whose work and lives have been touched by the work of Kerouac at local venues around town.
September 9 4 p.m. - New England Orchestra, Kay George Roberts, Music Director "The Beat Goes On" - A Celebration of Jack Kerouac with Guest Artists David Amram and Fenwick Smith in Amram's flute concerto "Giants of the Nights" - a tribute to Jack Kerouac, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Liberty Hall.
September 12 7 p.m. Emerson College poets Daniel Tobin, Richard Hoffman and others read.