jack kerouac wrote here

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Friday, January 5, 2007

About=20 Jack Kerouac Wrote Here

"Jack Kerouac Wrote Here, Crisscrossing America Chasing = Cool" is a=20 12-day cross country university course, concert series and pod/photo = cast, which=20 will take place in San Francisco, Denver, Chicago, New York, Lowell and = on an Am=20 Trak Train heading east out of Denver to New York, this January 3-14.=20

The first event scheduled in 2007 to celebrate the 50th = anniversary of=20 Jack Kerouac's classic novel, "On The Road," "Jack Kerouac Wrote Here" = was=20 created by sociologist and audio producer AUDREY SPRENGER, PhD in = collaboration=20 with Jack Kerouac's first musical collaborator, composer, conductor and=20 multi-instrumentalist DAVID AMRAM, audio producer SHEA SHACKELFORD and=20 photographer ASHLEY VAUGHAN and will include the participation of over = 40=20 academics and artists from across the country, as well as 35 students, = most of=20 whom attend the STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK at POTSDAM.

This blog site, as well as its daily POD/PHOTO CAST will = not be=20 fully activated and updated on a daily basis until SATURDAY, JANUARY 6, = however,=20 for a list of the academics and artists participating in this course;=20 information on the course events, which will be open to the public in = SAN=20 FRANCISCO, DENVER, NEW YORK and LOWELL, including David Amram's special = cross=20 country concert series, "David Amram in Jack Kerouac's America;" and the = course=20 events, which will be held in conjunction with the DENVER PUBLIC = LIBRARY'S=20 Winter 2007 exhibition of Jack Kerouac's Original Scroll Manuscript of = "On the=20 Road," please click on the appropriate link listed at your right under=20 "Navigating Jack Kerouac Wrote Here."

Participating students and=20 documentary projects will also start being posted SATURDAY, JANUARY=20 6.

The photograph of Jack Kerouac posted above at right was taken = by=20 ROBERT FRANK in 1959.

"On=20 The Road" Scroll Exhibit | Denver

This winter, the Denver Public Library will exhibit the original = 120-foot=20 scroll upon which Jack Kerouac wrote his first typewritten draft of the = classic=20 American novel "On The Road." With their opening ceremonies set for = January 6,=20 2007, this will be the first exhibit of the scroll in this historic 50th = anniversary year. It will also be the first exhibit to tell the story of = "On The=20 Road" and Jack Kerouac's relationship to the city of Denver and Denver = native=20 NEAL CASSADY, Kerouac's close friend and traveling partner, as well as = the real=20 life inspiration for Dean Moriarty, the hero of "On The Road."

Kerouac's first musical collaborator, composer, = conductor and=20 multi-instrumentalist David Amram will appear in a series of free = performances=20 at the Denver Public Library and El Chapultepec Jazz Club to celebrate = the=20 opening of this exhibit January 5, 6 and 7 and sociologist and audio = producer=20 Audrey Sprenger, PhD, will discuss the relationship of this novel to the = city of=20 Denver on January 7. CAROLYN and JOHN ALLEN CASSADY, the wife and son of = Neal=20 Cassady will join them. Carolyn Cassady is the author of the classic = American=20 memoir "Off The Road, My Twenty Years With Cassady, Kerouac and = Ginsberg." John=20 Cassady is a raconteur and singer/songwriter and is currently working on = a=20 memoir about his father.

In addition to these events Amram will = also=20 perform a special tribute to his friend the late HUNTER S. THOMPSON, a = novelist=20 and journalist deeply influenced by Kerouac's work and who made his home = in=20 Woody Creek, Colorado. Amram will be joined by JUAN, WILL and ANITA = THOMPSON,=20 Hunter's son, grandson and widow and will do a special encore = performance of his=20 poem "Kentucky Southern Gentleman," as well as his rendition "My Old = Kentucky=20 Home," which in the summer of 2005, he performed at Thompson's Memorial = Service=20 in Aspen with actor JOHNNY DEPP.

These events will start on = Friday,=20 January 5 at 8 pm at the Blair-Caldwell African American Research = Library where=20 Amram will screen the classic film "PULL MY DAISY," for which Jack = Kerouac=20 provided the narration and Amram, the film's musical score, as well as = an acting=20 cameo alongside poets ALLEN GINSBERG and GREGORY CORSO. Amram will = discuss the=20 making of the film, as well as screen a performance of the third = movement of his=20 1960 violin sonata, which he based on a part of the film's original = score. Amram=20 will also perform a special January 2007 scat-rap version of the film's = song=20 "Pull My Daisy," lyrics by Kerouac, Ginsberg and Neal Cassady with = actress and=20 musician ADIRA AMRAM and poet ELIJAH FOULKS.

On Saturday, January 6 at 2 pm in the Central Library = Level B2=20 Conference Center, Amram will officially open the "On the Road" Scroll = exhibit=20 in words, song and music by telling the story of how "On The Road" came = to be=20 written in his concert "Denver At Last." Special guests will include = Carolyn and=20 John Cassady and CARLOS LANDO, Program Director at KUVO Radio. Later, = from 6-8=20 pm at Denver's 55-year old jazz club, El Chapultepec, he will perform, = along=20 with a trio of Denver-based musicians, songs by CHARLIE PARKER, DUKE = ELLINGTON,=20 THEOLONIUS MONK, LESTER YOUNG, GEORGE SHEARING, DIZZY GILLESPIE, and = SLIM=20 GAILLARD, all of whom influenced Kerouac's writing style in "On The = Road," as=20 well as were specifically mentioned in his novel, "On The Road," as well = as=20 other writings. Called "The Musical Roots of Kerouac's Narrative Prose," = this=20 event will be co-sponsored by the Denver Public Library and KUVO=20 Radio.

On Sunday, January 7 at 10 am Amram, along with John = Cassady will=20 join Audrey Sprenger, PhD for "AT LILAC EVENING, JACK KEROUAC IN = DENVER," her=20 urban hike through the Five Points, Curtis Park, and Lower neighborhoods = of=20 Denver to explore the people and places, which became some of the most = important=20 literary settings for not only Jack Kerouac's "On The Road," but also = Kerouac's=20 "Visions of Cody" and Neal Cassady's "The First Third." A cartographic = and=20 photographic exhibit of this urban hike will also be on display at the = Denver=20 Public Library during the three-month exhibit of the "On The Road = Scroll" with=20 maps and text by Audrey Sprenger and photographs by Ashley = Vaughan.

Finally, on Sunday, January 7 at 2:30 pm in the Central = Library=20 Level B2 Conference Center Amram will perform a musical tribute to his = friend=20 Hunter S. Thompson as well accompany spoken-word readings of Thompson's = work.=20 Readers will include Thompson's son and grandson, Juan and Will = Thompson,=20 Thompson's widow, Anita Thompson and residents of Thompson's adopted = hometown of=20 Woody Creek, Colorado.

Photograph of Neal Cassady and Jack = Kerouac by=20 Carolyn Cassady. Photographs of El Chapultepec by Ashley Vaughan.

At=20 Lilac Evening, Jack Kerouac In Denver

This winter a small part of my = cartographic/photographic essay=20 with Ashley Vaughan will be exhibited at the Denver Public Library = alongside=20 their exhibit of the original scroll manuscript of Jack Kerouac's "On = The Road."=20 It is reproduced here. The entire essay will be posted on this blog site = December 29, 2007.

In 1951, a young writer named Jack Kerouac = rolled=20 several scrolls of teletype paper into his typewriter and then in a = three-week=20 burst of creative energy wrote "On The Road," a novel, which, after it = was=20 published, six years later, would come to define a generation. = Based in=20 part on his own life traveling back and forth across the United States = in the=20 mid to late 1940s, this novel was written in a spontaneous but highly=20 disciplined style of writing, which very effectively documented the ways = people=20 during this time lived and spoke.

Most notable of these = people,=20 perhaps, was the character of Dean Moriarty, a brilliant and charming = raconteur,=20 street kid and heartbreaker from Denver, Colorado, whom Kerouac based on = his=20 close friend and occasional traveling partner, Neal Cassady. = Kerouac=20 visited Cassady in Denver for the first time in the late 1940s, when = cowboys and=20 hobos still roamed the rail yard neighborhoods off of Larimer and Platte = St. and=20 the tallest building downtown was the Daniel and Fisher Clock Tower on = what=20 today is the 16th St. Mall.

Cassady had grown up just east = of there=20 in Curtis Park. He was baptized at the Holy Ghost Church and went = to=20 school at Ebert Elementary. His father had a barber shop at 727 = Larimer=20 St. near the string of Missions off of 15th and as a child he played on = the=20 grounds of the Puritan Pie Company while his father sold bootlegged = whiskey and=20 traded haircuts for pies. Later, as a young man, he played pick up = baseball on=20 Sonny Lawson's Ball Field off Welton St. and 23rd and spent the early = hours of=20 the morning in Five Points eating tacos and listening to jazz. =

He=20 was, as Cassady himself put it in his memoir "The First Third," the = "unnatural=20 son" of Denver's ragged downtown streets and the makeshift community of = working=20 men and migrant families who made their home there, day laborers from = Oklahoma=20 City and Los Angeles, female headed households from Mexico and New=20 Orleans. In his movements and his voice, his choice of words and = his ideas=20 Cassady embodied them all. Which to his friend, the young writer Jack = Kerouac,=20 seemed impossibly beautiful, impossibly foreign. In "On The Road" = he wrote=20 "At lilac evening I walked with every muscle aching among the lights of = 27th and=20 Welton ... in Denver ... feeling that the best ... (my) world had = offered (me)=20 was not enough ecstasy ... not enough life, kicks, darkness, music, not = enough=20 night."

To Kerouac, a first generation American of French = Canadian=20 descent, himself the "unnatural son" of the small industrial city of = Lowell,=20 Massachusetts and Columbia University in New York, to walk the worn out = and=20 beaten down streets of Cassady's Denver was to find himself walking = through an=20 American ideal, an American dream, which he, in turn, would forever = immortalize=20 in his valentine to the United States, "On The Road."

Participating=20 Academics and Artists

"Jack Kerouac Wrote Here, Crisscrossing America Chasing Cool" is a=20 cross-country, interdisciplinary university course, pod/photo cast and = student=20 documentary project. It was created by sociologist and audio producer = AUDREY=20 SPRENGER, PhD in close collaboration with Jack Kerouac's first musical=20 accompanist, composer, conductor and multi-instrumentalist DAVID AMRAM, = audio=20 producer Shea Shackelford and photographer Ashley Vaughan, as a part of = a series=20 of courses Sprenger offers at the STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK at = POTSDAM in the=20 sociology of artistic and cultural invention and sociological research=20 methods.

Over thirty academics and artists will be contributing = to, or=20 have contributed to, its making. How they came to be involved are = explained in=20 the following constellation chart made by course participant, Ashley=20 Vaughan.

A more detailed introduction to the course creator = and her=20 collaborators are posted below. They are listed in the order they are = scheduled=20 to appear. Changes and updates to this list will be made DAILY while the = course=20 is happening January 3-14 and new contributers will be continually added = before=20 the next run of the course this summer 2007. Please check back for=20 updates.

AUDREY SPRENGER, PhD is a sociologist and audio = producer. She is=20 the author of the forthcoming narrative community study/true-life novel = "Home=20 Goings" and is working on an audio community study "Students of the = Weather,=20 Life Along the 49th Parallel." She currently makes her home in northern = New York=20 where she teaches sociology, documentary making and border studies at = the State=20 University of New York at Potsdam and curates "The Nomad Motel," a = public=20 drafting board and diary of her documentary, creative and pedagogical = work. She=20 regularly collaborates with composer, conductor and = multi-instrumentalist David=20 Amram, audio producer Shea Shackelford and photographer Ashley=20 Vaughan.

DAVID AMRAM has composed more than 100 orchestral and = chamber=20 music works, written many scores for Broadway theater and film, = including the=20 classic scores for the films "Splendor in The Grass" and "The Manchurian = Candidate;" two operas, including the ground-breaking Holocaust opera = "The Final=20 Ingredient;" and the score for the landmark 1959 documentary "Pull My = Daisy,"=20 narrated by novelist Jack Kerouac. He is also the author of two books,=20 "Vibrations," an autobiography, and "Offbeat: Collaborating With = Kerouac," a=20 memoir. A pioneer player of jazz French horn, he is also a virtuoso on = piano,=20 numerous flutes and whistles, percussion, and dozens of folkloric = instruments=20 from 25 countries, as well as an inventive, funny improvisational = lyricist. He=20 has collaborated with Leonard Bernstein, who chose him as The New York=20 Philharmonic's first composer-in-residence in 1966, Langston Hughes, = Dizzy=20 Gillespie, Dustin Hoffman, Willie Nelson, Thelonious Monk, Odetta, Elia = Kazan,=20 Arthur Miller, Charles Mingus, Lionel Hampton, E. G. Marshall, and Tito = Puente.=20 Amram's most recent work, "Giants of the Night" is a flute concerto = dedicated to=20 the memory Charlie Parker, Jack Kerouac and Dizzy Gillespie, three = American=20 artists Amram knew and worked with. It was commissioned and recently = premiered=20 by Sir James Galway, who also plans to record it. He is currently = completing his=20 third book "Nine Lives of a Musical Cat." Today, as he has for over = fifty years,=20 Amram continues to compose music while traveling the world as a = conductor,=20 soloist, bandleader, visiting scholar, and narrator in five languages. = He is=20 also working with author Frank McCourt on a new setting of the Mass, = "Missa=20 Manhattan," as well as on a symphony commissioned by the Guthrie = Foundation,=20 "Symphonic Variations on a Song by Woody Guthrie." When not on tour, = Amram and=20 his son live on their family farm in upstate New York. Amram photograph = by=20 Christopher Felver.

DAVID AMRAM and AUDREY SPRENGER, along with = Kristy=20 Martin and Carlos Lando, have recently created a series of programs for = the=20 Denver Public Library's 2007 exhibit of the original scroll manuscript = of Jack=20 Kerouac's "On The Road." Collaborating pedagogically and creatively = since March=20 2005, they have also created a short lecture series "David Amram In Jack = Kerouac's Denver," which was supported in part by the University of = Denver's=20 Arboretum, (who honored Amram by planting in his name the "David Amram = Arts and=20 Academia Tree)," and featured on Colorado Public Radio's "Colorado = Matters."=20 This lecture series was followed by Amram's residency at the University = of=20 Denver as a Marsico Visiting Scholar and Leo Block Visiting = Distinguished=20 Professor in the spring of 2006, where they created their 10-Week=20 inter-disciplinary lecture series "No More Walls, Bridging the Gap = Between the=20 Fine Arts, Humanities and Natural and Social Sciences." This was Amram's = third=20 residency at the University of Denver as a Leo Block Visiting = Distinguished=20 Professor. In addition to their work for the University of Denver, Amram = and=20 Sprenger have also created "Shakespeare in the American = Imagination/Kerouac in=20 the British Imagination," a two part lecture series, which took place in = London,=20 England at Shakespeare's New Globe Theatre and the University of London = in=20 December of 2005 in collaboration with English literary critic and = novelist=20 Howard Cunnell. Amram also regularly contributes to Sprenger's courses = in the=20 sociology of artistic, cultural, literary and musical invention and = together=20 they are working on a book, "The David Amram Reader," an edited = collection of=20 Amram's writings and archive, as well as their pedagogical = programs.

SHEA SHACKELFORD is an independent audio producer based = in=20 Washington, D.C. After a decade-long career in policy analysis and = program=20 development, he began an active career producing audio documentaries and = encouraging audio troublemaking wherever possible. An alumnus of the = Salt=20 Institute for Documentary Studies, Shackelford produces documentaries = for=20 nationally syndicated public radio shows and co-curates the Big Shed = audio=20 documentary podcast. He also advises companies, educators and artists on = incorporating engaging and innovative audio into their projects, = coordinates a=20 radio program at the Latin American Youth Center's Art and Media House, = and=20 regularly instructs and offers workshops at the Duke Center for = Documentary=20 Studies.

SHEA SHACKELFORD and AUDREY SPRENGER are currently = working on a=20 series of audio and photo documentaries about the 50th Anniversary of = Jack=20 Kerouac's "On The Road," "Jack Kerouac's America, 50 Years Old" with = original=20 music by David Amram and photographs by Ashley Vaughan. They are also = creating a=20 university accredited audio documentary making program.

DAVID SOMMERSTEIN is a reporter and assistant news = director at=20 North Country Public Radio. He covers political, economic, cultural,=20 environment, health, and education stories across a wide swath of mostly = rural=20 communities in the St. Lawrence River Valley, including reporting on the = Army=E2=80=99s=20 Fort Drum, the Akwesasne Mohawk reservation, and the dairy farming = industry. His=20 stories are heard regularly on National Public Radio's "Morning = Edition," "All=20 Things Considered," and "Only a Game," Public Radio International's "The = World,"=20 "The Great Lakes Radio Consortium," and "National Native News." David = has=20 received more than a dozen awards, including first place recognition = from the=20 Radio-Television News Directors Association=E2=80=99s Edward R. Murrow = awards, Public=20 Radio News Directors Incorporated, the National Federation of Community=20 Broadcasters, the Casey Awards for Meritorious Journalism, and the New = York=20 Associated Press. He also host a weekly music show called "The Beat = Authority,"=20 featuring dance music from around the world and in the U.S. He speaks = fluent=20 Spanish and serviceable Italian, and is addicted to baseball.

KARI ZABEL is a yoga instructor who specializes in the = Jivamukti=20 Method. A graduate of the Social Work and Women's Studies Departments at = the=20 University of Wisconsin-Madison, she worked for several non-profits, = traveled=20 the world and briefly attended law school at the University of Denver = before=20 becoming a full time student of Southeast Asian philosophy and Buddhist=20 meditation. She occasionally works as a grant writer for Audrey Sprenger = and=20 David Amram and, having lived all over the United States, currently = makes her=20 home in San Francisco.

ASHLEY VAUGHAN is a documentary photographer who will = be=20 traveling with "Jack Kerouac Wrote Here" under a FRED MCDARRAH = PHOTOJOURNALISM=20 GRANT. As a part of this grant she will be creating a 12-day photo cast = of the=20 course, which will be posted on this web site. She is currently studying = journalism at the University of Denver where she has received several = university=20 grants for her academic, artistic and photographic projects. She works = as an=20 assistant archivist for biographer Bill Morgan and as an art director = for the=20 David Amram Archive.

AUDREY SPRENGER and ASHLEY VAUGHAN = are=20 currently showing a part of their cartographic/photographic essay "At = Lilac=20 Evening, Jack Kerouac In Denver" at the Denver Public Library as a part = of the=20 library's 2007 exhibit about Jack Kerouac's "On the Road." This essay is = a part=20 of their larger audio and photographic documentary project "Jack = Kerouac's=20 America, 50 Years Old," which they are working on with audio producer = Shea=20 Shackelford. They are also currently completing a = cartographic/photographic=20 essay about "Jack Kerouac Wrote Here," "Postcard Diaries, Sketching Jack = Kerouac's America," which will be made out of selections from Jack = Kerouac's=20 recently released "Book of Sketches," as well as the writing projects = students=20 create while taking the course. Parts of "Postcard Diaries" will be = posted on=20 this web site in February 2007.

KATHLEEN PIERCE is a journalist/lifestyle editor for the = "Lowell=20 Sun" covering arts, culture, food and everything in between. Having = reported on=20 the pilot version of "Jack Kerouac Wrote Here" in March 2005 when = Sprenger and=20 her students stopped over in Lowell, she will be traveling with and = covering=20 this 2007 version of the course for each of it's 12 days filing stories = for the=20 MediaNews Group about what life is like on the road as seen through the = eyes of=20 the next generation of Kerouacs. She will also be exploring why Kerouac = still=20 matters across the Great Divide and reporting these stories back to = Kerouac's=20 hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts, where she herself makes her home in a = converted downtown loft having moved there a year and a half = ago.

CHRISTOPHER FELVER is a filmmaker, photographer and = visual artist=20 noted for his memorable portraits of the great, working artists of our = time. He=20 has had solo photographic exhibitions at the Center Pompidou, Torino = Fotografia=20 Biennale Internazionale and Fahey/Klein in Los Angeles and his films = screened at=20 the 53rd Venice International Film Festival, the National Gallery of Art = in=20 Washington D.C., the New York Public Library and the Museum of Fine Arts = in=20 Boston. His films include "Cecil Taylor: All the Notes," "John Cage = Talks About=20 Cows," "West Coast: Beat & Beyond," "Taken by the Romans," "Tony = Cragg: In=20 Celebration of Sculpture," "Donald Judd's Marfa Texas," "California Clay = in the=20 Rockies" and "The Coney Island of Lawrence Ferlinghetti." His books, = "The Poet=20 Exposed; Angels, Anarchists and Gods;" "Seven Days in Nicaragua Libre" = (with=20 Lawerence Ferlinghetti); and "Ferlinghetti: A Portrait." His new book, = "Beat," a=20 retrospective of beat artists and culture will be released in 2007. He = lives in=20 Sausalito, California when not travelling the world.

BILL MORGAN is a painter and archival consultant. He is = the author=20 of the recently released and critically acclaimed "I Celebrate Myself, = The=20 Somewhat Private Life of Allen Ginsberg," as well as the editor of = Ginsberg=E2=80=99s=20 "The Book of Martrydom and Artifice: First Journals and Poems, = 1937=E2=80=931952," with=20 Jaunita Lieberman-Plimpton and "Howl on Trial: The Battle for Free = Expression."=20 In addition to these recent releases, he also edited Ginsberg's = collected essays=20 "Deliberate Prose, 1952-1955." A former librarian he has curated the = papers of=20 Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Michael McClure and David Amram. = A=20 popular speaker among university students, his two books, "The Beat = Generation=20 in New York: A Walking Tour of Jack Kerouac=E2=80=99s City" and "The = Beat Generation in=20 San Francisco: A Literary Tour," along with Kerouac's writings and = Herbert=20 Gold's "Bohemia, Digging the Roots of Cool" inspired Audrey Sprenger's = academic=20 courses, essays and audio documentaries on the relationship between Jack = Kerouac's writings and place. He lives in New York and = Vermont.

JOHN ALLEN CASSADY is a singer/songerwriter. The son of = Neal and=20 Carolyn Cassady, who named him for their close friends Jack Kerouac and = Allen=20 Ginsberg, he is a talented raconteur and often travels the country to = speak at=20 universities and high schools. Currently writing a memoir about his = father he=20 currently resides in San Jose, California.

HERBERT GOLD is the author of "Bohemia, Digging the = Roots of=20 Cool," which, along with Jack Kerouac's writings and Bill Morgan's = literary=20 guides to New York and San Francisco were the inspiration for this = course, as=20 well as it's companion course, "Names We Call America, Digging the Roots = of=20 Cool." A working journalist and novelist for over sixty years his books = include=20 "Best Nightmare on Earth, A Life in Haiti," "Fathers," "Dreaming," = "Family: A=20 Novel in the Form of a Memoir," "She Took My Arm As If She Loved Me" and = "My=20 Last 2000 Years." He lives in San Francisco.

OMAR CLAY is a musician who has composed, performed = and/or=20 recorded as a drummer/percussionist with Sarah Vaughan, Max Roach with = M'Boom,=20 Charles Mingus, Marian McPartland, Frank Foster, Bob James, The Bee Gees = and=20 Ernestine Anderson among many others. He has also played in the = orchestral pits=20 of the Broadway Musicals "Raisin" and "Guys and Dolls" and has toured = Europe,=20 South America, Australia and Japan. A teacher of instrumental music in = the Bay=20 Area for many years, he retired as the Musical Director of Tampalpais = High=20 School in Mill Valley in 2000. Born in St. Louis, he received a Bachelor = of=20 Music Education Degree from the University of Michigan and a Master of = Arts=20 Degree in Music Education from San Francisco State University before = settling in=20 the Bay Area where he currently resides.

BUCA "BOOTZA" NECAK was born in Belgrade and has been = described as=20 "creative, "fluid," and "powerful" on the acoustic bass. Featured with = Clark=20 Terry and Chet Baker among others, he is considered one of the finest = jazz=20 artists in the vibrant San Francisco music scene. He also perfoms Latin = and=20 worldbeat music and is emblematic of a virtuoso solist who makes all who = play=20 with him sound better.

CHRIS and LORIN ROWAN are a bluegrass and folk duo = out of San=20 Francisco. Playing together professionally since their boyhood in = Boston,=20 Massachusetts, their albums include "The Rowans" and "Sibling=20 Rivalry."

3D""=20 ADIRA AMRAM is a New York based actress and performance = artist.=20 After graduating from the State University of New York at Purchase she = appeared=20 in the Off-Broadway production of "Door Wide Open" as the young writer = Joyce=20 Johnson, a play based on the letters between Joyce Johnson and Jack = Kerouac.=20 This year she debuted in "The Sopranos" as Stacey in the season finale. = She can=20 be seen in the feature film "Some Kind of Awful" set to be released = August 2007.=20 She is a fixture of the NYC downtown alternative comedy scene. Her CD = "Me &=20 Bill," out on Northstreet Records, received a rave review from "Jane = Magazine"=20 as well as interviews with National Public Radio, "WBAI," = "backstage.com" and=20 "The Gothamist." She is currently in production with a new CD due out in = 2007.

ELIJAH FOULKS is the first recipient of the DAVID = AMRAM/JACK=20 KEROUAC JAZZ POETRY GRANT FOR UNDERGRADUATES. A poet, writer, and = songwriter he=20 is a junior at the State University of New York at Potsdam and grew up = in=20 Albany, New York, the second of five children.

JOSHUA KUPETZ is a poet and literary/cultural critic = who=20 teaches at the University of Colorado at Boulder. His research interests = include=20 the intersection of literature and popular culture, specifically = contemporary=20 American literature and disability studies. He, along with Howard = Cunnell, PhD,=20 George Mouratidis, and Penny Vlagopoulos, is a part of the international = team of=20 scholars currently editing Jack Kerouac=E2=80=99s scroll manuscript of = "On the Road,"=20 which will be published by Viking Penguin in 2007.

PENNY VLAGOPOULOS is a PhD candidate in English and = Comparative=20 Literature at Columbia University. She holds an M.A. and M.Phil. in = English from=20 Columbia. Currently, she is an Adjunct Professor at New York = University's=20 Gallatin School of Individualized Study and is working on her = dissertation,=20 which examines the underground in post-World War II American Culture. = She is=20 also, along with Howard Cunnell, PhD, George Mouratidis, and Joshua = Kupetz,=20 editing Jack Kerouac's scroll manuscript of "On the Road." It will be = published=20 by Viking Penguin in 2007.

CAROLYN CASSADY is the author of the classic American = memoir "Off=20 the Road, My Twenty Years With Cassady, Kerouac and Ginsberg," which = will be=20 released in a revised version this Fall 2007 by Black Spring Press. An = earlier=20 version of this book, "Heart Beat," was made into a feature film = starring Sissy=20 Spacek as Carolyn and Nick Nolte as her husband, Neal. Her close friend = Jack=20 Kerouac, forever immortalized her as the beautiful and sophisticated = Camille in=20 his novel "On The Road" and as "Milo's Wife" in the film "Pull My = Daisy."=20 Cassady, in turn, forever immortalized him, as well as her husband, = Neal, in a=20 series of internationally beloved back and white photographs. An = accomplished=20 painter and essayist she makes her home just outside of London, where = she often=20 welcomes filmmakers, journalists and students interested in both her = literary=20 and cultural legacy.

JACOB J. FRIEDMAN is a musician and writer. = He grew=20 up in Omaha Nebraska=E2=80=99s suburbanite jungle, which, as he puts it = "is a natural=20 place for traveling long highway distances." Currently a junior at the=20 University of Denver studying creative writing and digital media, he = will be one=20 of the readers of Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" for the audio documentary = series=20 "Jack Kerouac's America, 50 Years Old," produced by Audrey Sprenger and = Shea=20 Shackelford with music by David Amram.

CARLOS LANDO is the Interim Station Manager for KUVO = JAZZ 89=20 Radio. With the station since 1987, he is credited with developing = KUVO's unique=20 and successful format, which features jazz, Latin jazz and blues. Before = joining=20 KUVO, he served as the program director for now-defunct KDKO-AM and as = the=20 afternoon host for the then Boulder-based KBCO-AM. Lando started in = radio in=20 1968 at WIVA-FM in Puerto Rico and hosted one of the first jazz shows on = the=20 island "Jazz Where It=E2=80=99s Been and Where It=E2=80=99s At" on = WZAR-FM in Ponce, Puerto=20 Rico. Working with a very talented staff, Lando has worked to help KUVO = earn=20 many honors over the past two decades, most notably, Jazz Week = Magazine's "Major=20 Market Jazz Station of the Year=E2=80=9D Award in 2005 and 2006. = Nationally, the station=20 has been lauded many times for its innovative format and industry = expertise. In=20 April, KUVO earned a major Public Broadcasting Corporation grant to = record and=20 nationally distribute the series "Caliente! Latin Jazz with Eddie = Palmieri,"=20 starring the Grammy Award-winning composer and bandleader, with Lando = serving as=20 is the narrator and executive producer.

FREDDY RODRIGUEZ started playing a silver-plated student = clarinet=20 in 1942 at Baker Junior High School in Denver, surrounded by the same = music Neal=20 Cassady and his close friend Jack Kerouac were both discovering. After=20 graduating high school Rodriguez left Denver for Los Angeles, where he = became a=20 successful musician, playing with the legendary Roland Kirk as well as = Gerald=20 Wilson's big band. In 1973, he returned to his hometown of Denver and = has since=20 played El Chapultepec for decades, leading the house band there for = eleven=20 years. With a repertoire of over 1000 tunes, he also regularly performs = with his=20 trio, which features Tony Black on drums and Artie Moore on = bass.

TONY=20 BLACK is a jazz drummer based in Denver where he performs regularly with = his=20 quartet, as well as fellow Denver musicians Freddie Rodriguez and Artie = Moore.=20 He has performed with many of the major figures in the music world and = is=20 regarded by his peers as a "musician's musician," constantly honing the=20 traditions of the masters while creating his own approach.

ARTIE = MOORE is=20 a Denver based bassist known by musicians around the country as a master = of=20 ensemble playing. He has played with Richie Cole, Bill Frisell, and John = Bolivar, as well as Denver locals, Tony Black and Freddy = Rodriguez.

JUAN=20 THOMPSON is an information technology consultant and the son of Hunter = S.=20 Thompson. He, his wife Jennifer, and son William live in Denver, = Colorado, where=20 he is currently working on a memoir of his relationship with his father, = to be=20 published by Knopf in 2008. He is also working with the Aspen Institute = to put=20 on a Hunter S. Thompson Literary Symposium in July of 2007. He enjoys=20 technology, marksmanship using large-caliber pistols and thick steel = targets,=20 and Microsoft Flight Simulator.

WILLIAM HUNTER WINKEL THOMPSON, 8 = years=20 old, is the grandson of Hunter S. Thompson and son of Juan and Jennifer=20 Thompson. He is in third grade and in addition to reading, which he = values=20 almost more than life itself, he enjoys history, building with Legos, = and=20 Microsoft Flight Simulator.

ANITA THOMPSON began working as Hunter S. Thompson's = assistant in=20 1999, photocopying and doing bits of research. Four years later they = were=20 married. Today, she is the publisher of a magazine called "The Woody = Creeker"=20 and is also publishing an addition to "The Gonzo Way," a book of = Hunter=E2=80=99s=20 wisdom. She also is helping to edit Hunter=E2=80=99s book "Polo Is My = Life," as well as=20 his third volume of letters. Anita continues to work and live at their = Owl Farm=20 home in the little town of Woody Creek outside of Aspen, Colorado and = commutes=20 to New York where she is a student at Columbia University.

WILLIAM GARGON is the head reference librarian = at Brooklyn=20 College. He frequently assisted poet Allen Ginsberg while Ginsberg was a = professor there. In addition to his work as a librarian, he also is the = book=20 reviewer for "Library Journal," specializing in modern American writers, = including those of the Beat Generation. He has written dozens of = articles for=20 reference works and periodicals, including short biographies of John = Clellon=20 Holmes, Hubert Selby Jr. and Harold Norse.

PATRICK FENTON is a noted Kerouac scholar whose work has = appeared=20 in numerous writing anthologies. He is the author of the play "Last = Call, An=20 Evening With Jack Kerouac," which had a sold out run at the Rockaway, = Queens=20 Playhouse and the short story, "Drinking With John Kerouac in a Rockaway = Bar,"=20 which was recently published on "Eve's Magazine," Eve Berliner's = literary=20 e-magazine. In 1999, after doing extensive research at Columbia = University, he=20 convinced the New York Historical Landmark Preservation Center to place = a plaque=20 on the Ozone Park, Queens building where Jack Kerouac started his "On = The Road"=20 journey from. At the Historical Society's request, Fenton wrote the = words that=20 appear on the plaque. He frequently speaks on Jack Kerouac's early years = in=20 Queens at universities across the country. In addition to his work as a = literary=20 critic and writer, Fenton is also a Long Island, New York radio host on = WGBB=20 Tonight, a live radio show that focuses on literary subjects and the = lives of=20 musical legends such as the late HANK WILLIAMS. In the past Fenton's = writing has=20 appeared in "New York Magazine," "The New York Times," "New York = Newsday," and=20 the "New York Daily News."

KEVIN TWIGG first played with David Amram in 1972 at = the age=20 of 15, sitting in on the xylophone in Amram's Quartet, which included = the=20 legendary drummer Elvin Jones and baritone sax master Pepper Adams. = Encouraged=20 by all members of the band to pursue music, he has become a successful=20 all-around percussionist in the worlds of jazz, Latin, and world music = as well=20 as symphonic performer, composer and band leader, assembling the = musicians to=20 perform Mary Lou's Mass, under the guidance of composer/jazz legend Mary = Lou=20 Williams herself.

JOHN DEWITT is a bassist who teaches at the Mannes = College of=20 Music and Five Towns College. He is also the manager and principal = bassist with=20 the Sound Symphony Orchestra as well as various jazz ensembles on the = east=20 coast. One of the most sought after bassists in New York, he has = performed with=20 Bo Diddley, Al Martino, and Edie Adams, along with many others. Dewitt, = along=20 with Kevin Twigg, also performs regularly at spoken-word events with = David Amram=20 at major festivals.

ADAM AMRAM is multi-instrumentalist who plays piano, = harmonica and=20 percussion. He also composes and arranges music in the Hip-Hop, Funk, = Jazz and=20 Rock idioms. A member of The New York Howl, a New York City based band = who=20 recently toured England and will be on the road in the summer of 2007 = crossing=20 the United States and Canada, he also is the Musical Director for the=20 prize-winning Nuyorican playwright-singer Luis Chaluisan's touring = company.=20 Performing professionally with his father, David Amram, at major music = festivals=20 since 1996 and has played on stage with jazz greats Clarke Terry and = Paquito de=20 Rivera, Latin master drummers Ray Baretto and Candido, and Native = American=20 singer and movie actor Floyd Red Crow Westerman.

CAROLYN CASTIGLIA is a comedian and writer living in New = York=20 City. Her work has been seen and heard nationally on "VH1," = "BestWeekEver.tv,"=20 "MTV2," "MTVU," "ABC World News with Charles Gibson" and "Sirius = Satellite=20 Radio." Carolyn has performed at the top clubs in New York including = Comix,=20 Caroline=E2=80=99s, Gotham, Comic Strip Live!, Laugh Factory, The = Improv, Laugh Lounge=20 and Stand Up New York in addition to her appearances at the Comedy = Caf=C3=A9 in=20 Amsterdam. Miss CKC, as she's sometimes known while throwing down a mad=20 freestyle rap, is a staple of New York's underground scene, where she's = graced=20 the stage at Mo Pitkin's, RiFiFi, Galapagos, D-Lounge, Ace of Clubs, The = Tank,=20 Bowery Poetry Club, Magnet Theatre and The PIT on shows such as = "Mortified,"=20 "Sweet Paprika," "The Shark Show," "Drink at Work," "The Rejection = Show,"=20 "School Night," "Comedy is for Humans" and "Oh, Hello." In addition, = Carolyn is=20 also the co-producer and full-time host of the critically acclaimed = weekly=20 showcase "Chicks and Giggles," as well as the monthly variety show = "Poetry vs.=20 Comedy."

AMBROSE MARTOS has performed standup, clown, improv, = sketch and=20 dance around New York City and the world. He was a finalist in the "BBC = Open=20 Mic" competition at the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival and once = had his=20 roller skating disco act described as "brave comedy" by ABC's Diane = Sawyer.=20 Ambrose is a regular performer at New York City's best vaudeville = reviews and=20 has performed on the largest cruise ship in the world for Royal = Caribbean.=20 Ambrose plays the lead role in the short film "Lutoski Fish Sticks," = which won=20 3rd Place at the 2005 NYU First Run Film Festival. He is a 1997 graduate = of=20 Clown College and a member of The Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit. = Recent=20 credits include off-Broadway's "Slava's Snowshow" and as a Merry = Prankster in=20 Julie Taymor's new film "Across the Universe."

JENNY MCGOWAN creates original performance work = that=20 combines vaudeville antics, saucy burlesque, audience interaction, = impeccable=20 timing, sparkling costumes, wigs, accents, booty shaking music (from Le = Tigre to=20 Zorba the Greek) and up to 40 hula hoops to create of a one of a kind=20 performance. Based in New York, she is also known as "Miss=20 Saturn."

DESIREE BURCH is a comedian, writer, and actress. Her = solo work=20 has culminated in full-length solo pieces "Sit-Down," "Careless" and = "Greatest=20 Hits," with performances at CenterStage NY, Dixon Place, The Marquee, = Manhattan=20 Theatre Source, P.S. 122 and in Seattle's Mae West Fest. Her stand-up = comedy has=20 been featured at Carolines, Gotham Comedy Club, the New York Improv, New = York=20 Comedy Club, Boston Comedy Club, the Producer's Club, with "The Comedy = Social"=20 and "Chicks and Giggles." She holds a B.A. in Theater Studies from Yale=20 University, and her favorite acting experiences include roles in plays = such as=20 "In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel" (Miriam), Othello (Emelia), "Romeo & = Juliet"=20 (Nurse), "An Ideal Husband" (Mabel), "The Marriage of Bette & Boo" = (Soot),=20 "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf" = (Lady=20 in Red), and "Steel Magnolias" (Ouiser). She has worked with Gorilla = Rep,=20 Playwrights Theater of New York, Moving Theater, Afrikan Women's = Repertory, and=20 Columbia University School of Theater. She will appear this spring in = "Rip Me=20 Open" a play co-created with Michael Cyril Creighton, Brian Mullin and=20 Obie-Award-winning playwright, Kyle Jarrow.

ZERO BOY has written, directed and performed in numerous = productions on both coasts and Europe, working in traditional theater, = stand up=20 comedy, television, street performance festivals, radio, film, comic = books, and=20 a national magazine. Based in New York, he has been heard regularly on = "NPR=E2=80=99s"=20 "The Next Big Thing" with Dean Olshar doing "Stump Zero Boy" and "This = Day in=20 History with Zero Boy." "Stump Zero Boy" gave audience members a chance = to=20 commission a short-form radio cartoon. They email a 1-sentence scenario, = involving as many strange and challenging elements as you can think and = then=20 Zero Boy creates live a vocal cartoon.

ALANA AMRAM is a singer/songwriter. Her earliest = memories are of=20 sleeping in her mother's guitar case and traveling around the country in = her=20 father's pickup. Touring constantly with both parents, there isn't a = time in her=20 life she doesn't remember playing music. She grew up on a farm in = upstate New=20 York. It was close enough to the city so that musicians on tour could = stay with=20 her family at the farm. All of the travelers and traveling left a legacy = of=20 songs and stories. She often performs with her sister and whichever = family=20 members are around, all of whom are musicians. She has toured around the = US=20 playing bass in various rock and roll bands. Fascinated by bluegrass, = early=20 country music and classic rock and roll, Alana combines all of these to = tell her=20 stories.

JOHN JOSEPH PETROLINO III is currently a United States = Merchant=20 Marine working as an Engineering Officer. He matriculated at = Massachusetts=20 Maritime Academy where he received his Bachelors of Science in Marine=20 Engineering and his Third Assistant Engineer=E2=80=99s Officer License. = While attending=20 the Para-Military School, he started to write poetry and short fiction.=20 Petrolino has read his work at "Lowell Celebrates Kerouac," an annual = literary=20 festival in Jack Kerouac's hometown and Georgian Court University, as = well as=20 performs regularly at the Cornelia Street Caf=C3=A9 with David Amram and = Amram's New=20 York based quartet. He has also co-written a screenplay and produced an=20 independent film, "Indiscretion."

MITCHELL DUNEIER, an urban ethnographer, is Professor of = Sociology=20 at Princeton University and regular visiting Distinguished Professor of=20 Sociology at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. He is the = author=20 of "Slim's Table," a study of the culture of working class black men in = a=20 Chicago cafeteria and "Sidewalk," an ethnography of homelessness and = subsistence=20 in Greenwich Village. He has just completed an ethnographic film in=20 collaboration with filmmaker Barry Alexander Brown.

JOHN SAMPAS is the Executor of the Jack Kerouac Estate. = The=20 younger brother of Kerouac's closest childhood friend, Sebastian, and = Kerouac's=20 wife, Stella, Sampas has been responsible for the reemergence of Jack = Kerouac as=20 one of the most important and innovative writers of the 20th century. = Through=20 his judicious release of Kerouac's published and unpublished works, he = has=20 become revered by young feminist and postcolonial scholars alike for his = smart,=20 caring and artful handling of Kerouac's work, image and name. A former = policy=20 worker in Washington D.C. and Boston, he is also an accomplished = antiques=20 collector and classically trained pianist. He currently resides in = Lowell in the=20 house where he grew up the youngest of ten children.

ED ADLER has had a long and prolific career as an = artist. His=20 undergraduate studies at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell were = followed=20 by a two-year stint in Europe with the Army. Later, in the 1960's, the = GI Bill=20 saw him through 5 years of study at the American Art School and the Art = Students=20 League. After earning both a masters and PhD degree in art at New York=20 University in the 1980s, he stayed on to teach and remains today an = Associate=20 Professor on the adjunct faculty. In addition to his professorial = duties, he has=20 taught at the Sorbonne in Paris, lectured at many universities and = conducted=20 numerous seminars and conferences on the Beat Generation, and has = traveled to 41=20 countries including remote regions of the Philippines, China, Peru, = Guatemala,=20 India, Kenya, and Nepal. He also has climbed mountains, explored the = Amazon and=20 run marathons in New York, London, Paris and Moscow. But mostly he = paints, every=20 day and most nights, at studios near the seaport in Manhattan and in his = home in=20 Westchester. His painting work has evolved from early Matisse-inspired = paintings=20 of the 1950's, when he studied with his mentor and teacher Jack Lubin, a = Matisse=20 protege, through the politically and environmentally driven paintings of = the=20 1960's and 70's, and into the current mode of reflection on the art that = made=20 him want to paint in the first place such as the bubblegum war cards of = his=20 early childhood, the pulp fiction cowboy novels of his teen childhood = and the=20 pinups and imagery from the films of Frederico Fellini. Besides Matisse = Van=20 Gogh, Picasso and the American and British Pop Art of the 1960s have = largely=20 influenced him. His work has been exhibited in The Museum of Modern Art, = The=20 Smithsonian, The Brooklyn Museum, The Los Angels County Museum, and The = Santa=20 Monica Museum of Art. He has also had many exhibitions at New York = University=20 and at galleries throughout the country. He is the author of "Departed = Angels:=20 The Lost Paintings of Jack Kerouac."

DAWN WARD is an artist, art = critic=20 and art educator. The recipient of a Masters degree and doctorate from = New York=20 University, she has researched and written about the relationship of the = writings of Kerouac and his contemporaries to the work of the Abstract=20 Expressionist painters and the informal community they formed in the = 1950s and=20 is currently editing a collection of letters written between Jack = Kerouac and=20 his close friend Sebastian Sampas. Ward was a participant in New York = City's=20 first Conference on Beat Culture in 1994 and the Jack Kerouac Conference = of=20 1955. She has taught at University of Southern Louisiana and the = University of=20 Oklahoma and is currently teaching in New Hampshire where she makes her = home and=20 art.

DAVE ORR is an accomplished poet and engineer. He grew up in = Lowell,=20 Massachusetts as a part of the French-Canadian community where Kerouac = also=20 spent his childhood. Orr's father was a friend of the Kerouac family and = Dave=20 knew Jack Kerouac while growing up. He made an invaluable contribution = the pilot=20 version of "Jack Kerouac Wrote Here" in March 2005 as Audrey Sprenger's = first=20 and only French Canadian contact. He currently lives in New = Hampshire.

CHARLIE PANAGIOTAKOS moved to Lowell, Massachusetts = with his=20 family in 1943 when he was three years old. He grew up in the lower = highlands=20 neighborhoods of Lowell on Branch and Stevens St. attending Hellenic = American=20 School and Lowell public schools. Charlie's mother had a lifelong = friendship=20 with Jack Kerouac's wife, Stella, and Charlie himself grew up surrounded = by=20 Kerouac and Sampases, including Jack. Currently teaching environmental = programs=20 at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, Charlie has also worked as = a jazz=20 piano player and a chemist.

PHILIP J. CHAPUT is an antiques and rare book dealer who = was born=20 in Lowell, Massachusetts. The son of Joe Chaput, who was Jack = Kerouac=E2=80=99s close=20 friend and occasional traveling partner, Phil met Kerouac in 1967. = Involved with=20 the annual "Lowell Celebrates Kerouac!" literary festival since its = early=20 beginnings, he served as its vice president for many years and is = currently a=20 board member. He has also produced a CD of Kerouac inspired poems and = songs that=20 features David Amram and many Lowell-based artists and poets called = =E2=80=9CSpirit: A=20 Tribute to Jack Kerouac," as well as a series of photographs, which have = become=20 an invaluable resource for documentary makers interested in the = relationship of=20 Kerouac's legacy to his hometown. He also has been instrumental in = helping to=20 organize the French Canadian cultural programming for "Jack Kerouac = Wrote Here."=20 Phil still lives in Lowell with his wife Estelle and their three=20 children.

LAWRENCE CARRADINI has appeared as the featured poet for = Writers=20 Harvest, The National Reading, sponsored by Share Our Strength, and = venues such=20 as Bob Holmans, Bowery Poetry Club, and Club Passims' Poet's Theater. He = has had=20 poems published in a variety of journals, including but not limited to, = "The=20 Cafe' Review," "Cokefishing," "Evergreen Review," "Jack, Kettle of = Fish," "The=20 Muddy River Poetry Review," "Long Island Quarterly," "Mobius," "Red = River=20 Review," "Reflect," "Salt Hill," "Stirring," "PoetryBay," and "Walt's = Corner,"=20 along with work included in "Dialogue Through Poetry, 2001 Anthology," = which is=20 published by Rattapallax Press. His work has also been translated into = Chinese=20 and published in the journal, "Contemporary Foreign Literature" A = collection of=20 his poetry, "Burning Heads," is published by VB Documentation = Enterprises. For=20 the past six years, Lawrence has been president of "Lowell Celebrates=20 Kerouac!,"the corporation that organizes and largely sponsors the annual = "Lowell=20 Celebrates Kerouac!" festival that has been held in Lowell each year for = the=20 past twenty years. He lives in Lowell, Massachusetts.

MEG SMITH is a writer, journalist and Middle Eastern = dancer living=20 in Lowell, Massachusetts, where she is a member of the board of = directors for=20 the annual "Lowell Celebrates Kerouac!" festival. Her work has appeared = in "The=20 Cafe Review," "Erosha," "The Boston Poet," "Dreams of Decadence," "The = End,"=20 "The Bridge Review," "Pudding," "Tryst," and other journals and = anthologies. Her=20 poem, "Hurac=C3=A1n," received an honorable mention from St. Martin's = Press "Year's=20 Best Fantasy And Horror." She has also published a book of poetry, "The = First=20 Fire." Smith is the editor and publisher of "Red Eft," a journal of = fantasy,=20 horror and speculative literature. She is also a staff writer for = "Jareeda," a=20 trade magazine of Middle Eastern dance and associate editor of "Middle = Eastern=20 Dance in New England."

PAUL MARION was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1954. = He grew up=20 in Franco-American parishes in Lowell (St. Louis de France) and nearby = Dracut=20 (Ste. Th=C3=A9r=C3=A8se). A graduate of the University of Massachusetts = at Lowell, he also=20 studied in the MFA Program in Writing at the University of California at = Irvine.=20 He is the author of several collections of poetry, including "Hit = Singles" and=20 "Strong Place." He edited "Atop an Underwood: Early Stories and Other = Writings=20 by Jack Kerouac" (Viking Press 1999). His poems and essays have appeared = in=20 "Yankee," "Wisconsin Review," "Bostonia," "Public Art Review," "Alaska = Quarterly=20 Review," "Christian Science Monitor," "The Salmon Literary Quarterly" = (Ireland),=20 "Bohemian" (Japan), and several anthologies, including "For A Living: = The Poetry=20 of Work" (University of Illinois Press), "The First Yes: Poems About=20 Communicating" (Dryad Press/ASHA), "Ad Hoc Monadnock" (Monadnock = Writers=E2=80=99=20 Group), "Qu=C3=A9bec K=C3=A9rouac Blues" (=C3=89crits des Forges) and = "Voices in Translation:=20 An Anthology of Contemporary Franco-American Writings" (Soleil Press). = With=20 Kathleen Aponick and Jane Brox, he co-edited "Merrimack: A Poetry = Anthology"=20 (Loom Press), a collection of poems by writers from the Merrimack Valley = of New=20 England. He is also the editor and co-author of "French Class: French=20 Canadian-American Writings on Identity, Culture, and Place" (Lowell: = Loom Press,=20 1999), with Susan April, Paul Brouillette, and Marie Louise St. Onge. In = the=20 1980=E2=80=99s, he worked as an administrator for the U.S. Department of = the Interior,=20 helping to build a National Historical Park in his hometown. Among other = projects, he managed the development of the Jack Kerouac Commemorative, = which=20 was dedicated in 1988. The New England Foundation for the Arts awarded = him a=20 four-year Culture in Community Fellowship in 1996. He is currently the = Community=20 Relations Director at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and a = co-editor of=20 and a contributor to The Bridge Review, on-line journal about the = culture of the=20 Greater Merrimack Valley of Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire. He = and his=20 wife, Rosemary Noon, and their son, Joseph, live in a nineteenth-century = mill=20 agent=E2=80=99s house in Lowell.

STEVE EDINGTON is the minister = of the Unitarian=20 Universalist Church of Nashua, New Hampshire and an independent scholar = of=20 literary history specializing in Jack Kerouac. He is the author of = "Kerouac's=20 Nashua Connection," an exploration of Jack Kerouac's French-Canadian = ancestry=20 and its impact on his writings and of "The Beat Face of God, The Beat = Generation=20 Writers as Spirit Guides." Steve is also a long-time member of the = "Lowell=20 Celebrates Kerouac!" Committee, which puts on the annual Kerouac = Festival in=20 Lowell every October and, as an adjunct faculty member, teaches a course = at the=20 University of Massachusetts at Lowell on "The Literature of the Beat = Movement."=20 He is currently serving as the Project Manager for the "On the Road" = Scroll=20 Manuscript Exhibit that will be in Lowell in the summer of = 2007.

JASON EISENBERG is a performance artist and educator = who, in his=20 own words, "appears in many incarnations with his outrageous = proto-happenings,=20 spoken word whammys and recreations of Lord Buckley's hipsemantic = lovebombs and=20 Jack Kerouac's writ blues." He has performed at New York's Bitter End = and Bowery=20 Poetry Club, the "Lowell Celebrates Kerouac!" festival, Boston's = Institute of=20 Contemporary Art, Cambridge's venerable Club Passim, London's Hackney = Empire=20 Theater and Canada's Atlantic Jazz Festival and performs often with who = he calls=20 the "beforedaddy of world music," David Amram.

JOHN LEITE is a musician, music educator and President = of the=20 Merrimack Musicians Union in Lowell, Massachusetts, where he has lived = all of=20 his life. As a teenage musician, working the Cosmo Bar near Moody = Street, he met=20 Jack Kerouac, who at the time was not a famous, internationally known = author,=20 but rather, a famous, locally known football star. Like Kerouac, Leite = spent the=20 years of his youth traveling Europe and America developing his skills as = an=20 artist. A bass trombone player, he has taught young musicians for over = thirty=20 years, as well as represented his peers by serving on two International=20 Committees for the American Federation of Musicians. He is also a = scholar of his=20 own Portuguese-American heritage, as well as the melange of immigrant=20 communities from Europe and Asia who have settled in Lowell over the = past=20 century.

CHARLES LEMERT is internationally recognized as one of = the most=20 important working sociologists and social theorists of the last = twenty-five=20 years. A popular essayist and speaker he has been tireless in his = efforts to=20 make sociology less confined by its disciplinary boundaries. The author = of=20 several classic sociological texts including "Postmodernism Is Not What = You=20 Think," "Sociology After the Crisis," and "Durkheim's Ghosts," he has = become the=20 de facto teacher to graduate and undergraduate students all over the = world=20 through his edited volume "Social Theory, The Multi-Cultural and Classic = Readings" and memoir "Social Things." He makes his home in New Haven,=20 Connecticut and is the Andrus Professor of Sociology at Wesleyan=20 University.

CONSUELO SHERBA is a violist, as well as the founder = and=20 co-artistic director of Aurea, an ensemble devoted to the melding of = music and=20 the spoken word. An active chamber musician for many years, she has = performed=20 throughout the United States, as well as Sweden, France, England and = Brazil with=20 the Charleston String Quartet and with her husband, violinist, CHARLES = SHERBA.=20 She has also performed with the Milwaukee Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, = Boston=20 Pops and as principal violist of the West Virginia Symphony, Atlanta = Ballet,=20 Atlanta Chamber Orchestra and Boston Virtuosi. She teaches in the = applied music=20 program at Brown University.

CHARLES SHERBA is a violinist and a founding member = of Aurea.=20 He holds the Heidi and Chester Kirk Concertmaster Chair of the Rhode = Island=20 Philharmonic and is concertmaster of the Simon Sinfonietta. He has = performed=20 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony, The Boston = Classical=20 Orchestra, and was concertmaster of the West Virginia Symphony, the = Atlanta=20 Ballet, and the Atlanta Chamber Orchestra. He is on the applied music = faculty at=20 Brown University and also teaches at the Rhode Island Philharmonic Music = School.

Tuesday, January 2, 2007

Chasing=20 Cool in the Bowery | January 11

David=20 Amram in San Francisco | January 3

50 YEARS OF JAZZ POETRY
THE WEST COAST/EAST COAST = CONNECTION

Celebrating the work of San Francisco Poets
Philip = Lamantia and Howard Hart

A half a century ago, San Francisco = poets PHILIP=20 LAMANTIA and HOWARD HART joined with novelist Jack Kerouac and composer = and=20 multi-instrumentalist David Amram to create the first ever jazz/poetry = readings=20 to be given publicly in New York City. On WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3, at 7:30 = PM,=20 David Amram will re-create these historic readings at the CAFFE TRIESTE = on=20 VALLEJO ST. in NORTH BEACH, SAN FRANCISCO as the opening event for "Jack = Kerouac=20 Wrote Here, Crisscrossing America Chasing Cool." Called "50 Years of = Jazz=20 Poetry, The West Coast/East Coast Connection," this evening will also = feature=20 readings of the work of other Bay Area Poets Amram has collaborated with = over=20 the past fifty years, such as Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Michael McClure, = Diane Di=20 Prima, Bob Kaufman, David Meltzer and songwriter Mimi Farina. In = addition to=20 these jazz/poetry readings, Amram will also perform some classics of = jazz and=20 world music with Bay Area musicians JOHN CASSADY and THE ROWAN BROTHERS, = including a January 2007 scat-rap version of the song "Pull My Daisy," = with=20 lyrics by Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady and Allen Ginsberg and music by = David=20 Amram.

Posted above at left is the original poster from the = second=20 performance of Kerouac, Lamantia, Hart and Amram, courtesy of the David = Amram=20 Archive.

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About the Course Creator

Audrey Sprenger, PhD is a sociologist and = audio=20 producer. She is currently working on a series of short audio = documentaries=20 about the 50th anniversary of Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" with SHEA = SHACKELFORD=20 and DAVID AMRAM. She is also the cartographer and author of two essays = and=20 exhibits about Jack Kerouac's writings "At Lilac Evening, Jack Kerouac = in=20 Denver" and "Postcard Diaries, Notes on Jack Kerouac's America," both = with=20 photographs by ASHLEY VAUGHAN. In addition to her work on Jack Kerouac, = she has=20 also completed a narrative community study/true-life novel "Home Goings" = and is=20 working on an audio community study "Students of the Weather, Life Along = the=20 49th Parallel." She currently makes her home in northern New York where = she=20 teaches sociology, documentary making and border studies at the State = University=20 of New York at Potsdam and curates "The Nomad Motel," a public drafting = board=20 and diary of her documentary, creative and pedagogical work.