***About a decade ago I interviewed Steve Edington about the Kerouac Festival in Lowell, Mass. He has been involved with the festival for many years, and has written extensively about the Beat Generation and Kerouac. So I asked Steve to write a piece for the BASPPS, and The Somerville Times. Somerville is a very literary town, so I want to remind Somervillians about this festival-- a short distance away, and also tell others about the great work these folks are doing in keeping the "word" alive..
Keeping the Kerouac Flame Alive in Lowell
By Steve
Edington
When it comes to
preserving Jack Kerouac’s literary and cultural legacy, there is
probably no greater band of hearty and dedicated souls than the
people who have made up the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Committee
during the past near-thirty years.
We put on an annual 4-5
day Kerouac Festival in Lowell every October, with a smaller scale
observance of the author’s birthday in March. In October it’s a
weekend of literary tours, open mikes, theme speakers, art
exhibitions, and musical events—with an overlay of high comradery
among Kerouac devotees of all ages.
For many years now the
wrap up event has been the annual Amram Jam with composer, jazzman,
and Kerouac collaborator David Amram providing the back-up for all
who wish to read their favorite Kerouac passages or their own Kerouac
inspired work. Now at age 85, David continues to bless us with his
wonderful presence each year as he lends his amazing musical skills
to many of our October and March happenings.
Over the years a number of
“beat luminaires” and scholars (some still with us and some not)
have come to Lowell to be a part of the scene and to help us honor
and celebrate Jack Kerouac’s roots. They include, in addition to
Mr. Amram,: Allen Ginsberg, Michael McClure, Gregory Corso, Ray
Manzarek, Henry Ferrini, Ed Sanders, Willie Alexander, Regina
Weinreich, Ann Douglas, Diane DiPrima, Rhoney Stanley, Douglas
Brinkley, Ann Charters, Joyce Johnson, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, John
Sinclair, Anne Waldman, Ann Charters, and Robert Creeley, to name a
few.
LCK had its origins in the
mid-1980s in the effort to build the Jack Kerouac Commemorative in
what is now Lowell’s Kerouac Park. This arrangement of triangular
marble pillars, with works of Kerouac inscribed on them stands at the
corner of Lowell’s Bridge and French Streets. Following the
Dedication of the Commemorative in the summer of 1988, LCK continued
on as the producer of the annual Kerouac Festivals and Kerouac
Birthday Celebrations. The Commemorative is the site of our annual
“Commemorative at the Commemorative” event each Saturday morning
of the LCK Fest.
One
of LCK’s founding members, Mr. Roger Brunelle, remains a member of
the Committee and conducts the annual Kerouac Tours each October. His
tours include many of the sites Kerouac refers to in his five
Lowell-based novels, as well as the author’s birthplace and
gravesite. Many of the neighborhoods Kerouac describes of the Lowell
of the 1920s and 30s have remained remarkably well in place, bearing
many of the traits Kerouac portrays. The tours also reflect the basis
of much of Kerouac’s spirituality, especially the neighborhood in
and around the St. Louis de France Church and School that Jack writes
of in Visions of Gerard.
Perhaps the most
noteworthy thing about the LCK Organization is its resilience and its
perseverance. Over the near three decades of its life it remains an
all- volunteer organization with no paid staff or office. The
Committee meets monthly year-round to plan the October Festivals and
March Birthday Celebrations. Its support comes from an annual donor
appeal, occasional modest cultural council grants, sales of
merchandise, requested donations for certain Festival events, and the
like. Our largest major donor to date is Mr. James Irsay, owner of
the NFL franchise Indianapolis Colts, and the high bidder for the
original “scroll” manuscript of On the
Road when it was sold at auction in May of
2001. In the fall of 2014 Mr. Irsay made a donation of $10,000 to
LCK.
Over the course of its
life, seven persons have served as LCK’s President: They are: Brian
Foye, Richard Scott, Mark Hemenway, Steve Edington, Lawrence
Carradini, and Mike Wurm. The current President is Judith Bessette of
Dracut, MA.
There is an interesting
parallel between the Kerouac Renaissance that began in the
mid-to-late 1980s, and the Lowell Renaissance of roughly the same
period. Lowell has staged a remarkable civic and cultural comeback
over the past 30+ years following a period of drift and decline, with
the creation of the Lowell National Historical Park playing a
significant role in that comeback.
Over that approximate same
period of time the Kerouac literary star has risen to scarcely
imagined heights. He is now recognized as a major American, and
global, literary and cultural figure of the latter half of the 20th
century; and that legacy now strongly continues into the 21st.
Standing astride these
twin renaissances has been, as previously noted, a hardy and
dedicated band of brothers and sisters known as the Lowell Celebrates
Kerouac Committee. With the donation of countless hours of their
time, and making it all work on shoe-string budgets, they keep the
Kerouac flame brightly burning in Jack’s hometown.
Readers can keep
themselves abreast of LCK happenings by checking out its website at
www.lowellcelebrateskerouac.org.
Steve Edington is a 25
year member of the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Committee and a past
President. He currently serves as the LCK Treasurer. He is a
Unitarian Universalist minister, residing in Nashua, New Hampshire,
and currently serving as the Interim Minister of the First Church,
Unitarian of Littleton, MA.
Steve is the author of
Kerouac’s Nashua Connection, The Beat
Face of God—The Beat Generation Writers as Spirit Guides, and
Bring Your Own God—The Spirituality
of Woody Guthrie. He is in the early
stages of a book on the above described parallels between the twin
renaissances of the Kerouac legacy and the City of Lowell,
Massachusetts.
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