beat list 1997

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Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 19:50:39 +0900

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: Rastous The Reviewer <rastous@LIGHT.IINET.NET.AU>

Subject: Refractions (long fiction)

Refractions

Guns slip into holsters of slick leather, like cocks into greased and

nameless arseholes. Butts carved from rich black ebony, inlaid with elegant

cameos of naked boys, crafted from mother-of-pearl. Barrels worn smooth

from use, the bluing worn from sights and muzzles. Holsters, simple flaps

of leather, not the vulgar tie-downs used by those who merely kill. Random

images flash down the corridors of time, lodging at intervals in the brain.

Rolled them up in a sheet of oiled paper, to preserve them against the rust

of time - already a fine patina of corrosion had formed on them. Memories

fade and flicker, dim with age, burn out neuron like neuron, like talent.

Dream shadows, black and white swirls of Freewheelin' Bob's weenie.

Typewriters filled with shredded wheat, coffee beans roasted over a candle,

rivulets of squalid semen flowing down from greedy urchins' mouths - some

old queen's come the last hot food they taste. Open the soap ducts - Dutch

Schulzts's voice calls from the 20's - cries for French Canadian Bean Soup

go unheeded. Dry dust bellows from collapsing lungs, as cows push through

gaps in temporary enclosure - are they too caged? Come dancing, who thinks

of these names? As penance, David had to collect an hundred foreskins,

before he became leader of the Israelites - he brought back two hundred

Philistine prepuces, founding the Hebrew nation on dicks. Probably bit them

off, like the pissy queen the gentiles always portrayed him as. Sling

straps break, a penchant for all things cavalry ends a monarch's reign,

Russia decays in a morass of serfdom. Garland's voice, sweet and sorrowful,

echoes from the stereo - freed from the aged, bloated, drunk and drugged

body that came to house it. Passed the taste for booze and pills on to her

daughter, transferred the allegiance of gays from one generation to the next.

Pain trapped on the sensitised cells of drink affected neurons - surfacing

only when required, just in time to fuck all over again the object of hate,

the object of love. Burning bushes give false advice, call for the

sacrifice of children, ridicule their audience, then extinguish in a puff

of self-satisfied smoke, smell of dead leaves, the whistle of trains.

Distracted by interruptions, disturbed by random visitors who come and go,

clutching carriers of Yiddish loaves, shiny discs and sipping sugared

caffeine. McCarthyism rears its ugly head, and I am entreated to trust in

medications prescribed and proscribed by street medics. Placental blood

stains the sheet of calculations, then they are hurled from a window -

clocks stopping at 8.15, fixed by the rapid division of an atom. Peroxided

hair settles into place, framing the white face, red lips of a long dead

Goddess.

Distant - always distant. Conversations held seemingly by semaphore

signals, stilted and disjointed, halting. Ground zero impact - flesh boils

from the very framework of human bodies, shadows are etched forever on

walls. We have become destroyers of worlds, said Oppenheimer, daddy of the

all encompassing death used twice. They bred - more ugly with each passing

generation, able to fracture the every existence with their intensity....

Faces melting, merging, flowing like warm plasticine, before they are

consumed by the wall of flames. the very air itself burns, pulling the

oxygen from the still breathing lungs. No other species systematically

tries to destroy themselves, nor succeeds like us. An in built genetic flaw

- the altruistic gene seems to have been eliminated from the DNA which

encodes our future. the ultimate soul trap - buildings stand still, but the

occupants vaporized. Neurotoxins, virii, haemotoxic poison cause death by

drowning in your own blood. Germ warfare reared its ugly head during the

plague - wells poisoned by corpses, bodies flung over the ramparts by

catapults, to spread the lice born pestilence. Blankets impregnated with

smallpox distributed to Indian and Aboriginal alike. even the common cold,

and syphilis were used to expunge other races from their own homes. We are

a corrupt and evil species, and we have systematically corrupted, polluted

and destroyed our very living areas - even dumb animals do not shit where

they eat.

Rage - hate - madness, these things fuel writing. No drug can adequately

synthesis these emotions to the point that functional word pictures form,

ready to be transcribed. Each page is a kind of petit mal, jerked into being.

Anal - truly one of the more disturbing words to have entered modern usage.

People forget that there are two separate phases of development - expulsion

and retention. Why not use the terms "oral", "genital" or polymorphous

perverse" as well - or are they not scatological enough? If all things are

reduced to shit, then what is the purpose of living? What does it matter,

what ever you do, you will die, and your body will return to the corruption

of matter from which it sprang. Too late to salve the soul with mystic

unguents, magic crystals, poison it with pills and booze. Corrupt, all is

shit, all shall become shit again. It's the old 3/8 principal - most of the

shit is hidden by a facade of friendship and trust, while an eddy of putrid

excreta circulates beneath the exterior. To read is to seek an

understanding of what is being read. Without understanding, it is

meaningless. Understanding is not analysis - that is the vivisection of

words, the tearing down of an idea into its component molecules, and

rebuilding it in your own image. Doctor Dent's magic cure fixed Uncle Bill

over a decade ago - now it's nothing stronger than tea & vodka. Gone is the

belt gripped between the teeth - gone is the junk drawn up from a blackened

spoon, through the gauze, into the eye-dropper. Replaced instead by

methadone, then apomorphine. Replaced by a triple-bypass, a cracked hip.

New York, Texas, Mexico, Tangiers, Paris, London all replaced by the small

town feel of Lawrence, Kansas. Ian Sommerville replaced Kiki, replaced Joan

- all ultimately replaced by James Grauerholtz. Jack died an alcoholic

recluse, died of liver failure, like Billy Burroughs - Uncle Bill's son.

He wrote, too. "Speed", it was called, seeing as he was addicted to

Benzedrine and booze from birth. Died in a ditch - William didn't go to the

funeral. He had a step daughter, too. Never heard what became of her after

Joan's death. Jack's daughter became a junky whore - her book's in the

library. Keasey was in & out of jails, mental institutions - acid and smack

and the Merry Pranksters with Neal Cassady driving an old school-bus across

the 60's. Cassady died of exposure, counting railway sleepers in the chill

of night. Paul Bowles crouches in Tangiers, no phone, no desire for contact

from the outside world. Sits there with his little pot of majoun (the basis

for Cronenberg's Black Meat), hashish candy made from resin, almonds and

spice. Killed one of his characters with it in "The Sheltering Sky". Jane

Bowles had one stroke after another, aphasia clouded her mind, rumors that

she was poisoned by their Arab housekeeper.

"Heir's pistol kills wife - he denies playing William Tell" - "Evil spirit

shot Joan to be _cause_". No dogs allowed - No dogs are loud - Know dogs

allowed - Know dogs are loud - No dogs aloud - Know dogs aloud. Confessions

of an unredeemed drug addict. Junkie, Junky. The characters spill over to

Queer, a yage quest. Fucking around in a jungle, 1953, looking for a vine

that had the potential to be the ultimate fix. Dragged suitcases of it back

to the States, threatened to cut Peter up with a machete over it. In the

end, it just made them so ill.

Cabra girls, desperate to break free from the convent, talk loudly about

the unsafe sex they have with their shaggy, hairy passing rough. Plastic

bags, hiding cheap vodka, circulate from bag to bag, to be hidden and

consumed in an orgiastic binge of release, culminating in drunken sex.

Cheap makeup and perfume hide unflawed skin of youth, free from the

blemishes of age, applied seemingly at random so as to resemble nothing

more than circus clowns. They talk of going on to better things - it seems

that most burn with the desire to be secretaries in law firms, for some

strange reason. Yet to hear one say that she wishes to go on to Uni... only

on to the Austral on Fridays. Austudy, thrush and grass seem to be de

rigeur to have, though it seems that NSU will do in a pinch. What will

become of these girls? What will they be like in five years time - for five

years is not that great a time period.

But no sex is truly safe - it creates its own little set of problems -

emotionally turbulent, muddying the pools from which we drink. Causing

tensions and frictions. Pervading feelings of worthlessness, episodes of

black depressions, longings for release from a self created prison. Even

auto-eroticism, the simple wank, does not dispel it.

One way street this - no exchange. No trade, no barter. Words never come

free - Ginsberg knew this. There is always a price to be paid - old men

sell their souls for a strap-on, young men just grow old. Pointless,

futile, damaging. It cannot go on like this. Vanished - no contact for

months. The only thoughts seem to be those of return. Someone once wrote

that you can never come home - it is never the same, and people change

whilst the fixtures and fittings do not.

This is enough - as Wyatt Earp allegedly said:

"It all ends here".

rastous@light.iinet.net.au

http://light.iinet.net.au/~rastous/index.htm

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Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 08:18:19 -0400

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: Bill Philibin <deadbeat@BUFFNET.NET>

Subject: On The Road - UnCut

Does anyone know if there is a copy, or the original manuscript of On The

Road? The one that Kerouac had to change to get it published?

Thanks

-Bill

[ deadbeat@buffnet.net - http://www.buffnet.net/~deadbeat ]

"the punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part

in the government, is to live under the government of worse men."

-- Plato

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Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 11:46:32 -0400

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: "JAY S. GERTZ" <JGERTZ@UNCA.EDU>

Organization: University of North Carolina at Asheville

Subject: More on dope

For those of you who may think dope and booze are prerequisites for

Beathood, I'm afraid you're missing some points. The open use of those

conscious altering substances was part of the Beat rebellion against the staid

white establishment. (As well as a regular social lubricant.) The same goes for

the more recent Hippy epoch.

Many people are predisposed to addiction, perhaps Jack and Neal were. We all

know that their premature demise was a result of their abuse of alcohol and

drugs. Some might say Burroughs squandered years of literary productivity

while strung out on heroin.

Being Beat, hip, cool, or whatever, is a state of being, not an artificially

induced frame of mind. And I'm not condemning the use of drugs or alcohol,

either. I just know that there are many of use who can no longer indulge (after

years of repeatedly trying unsuccessfully), and others who shouldn't even tempt

themselves by experimenting.

Many of the prior arguments regarding legalizing drugs were flawed in one

regard. Individual freedom is not marked by the absence of constraints. Freedom

comes from the soul, through exercising the heart and mind, and for those that

have attained it, no prison can hold them.

Kleb

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Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 11:58:23 -0400

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: Guy Norbury <GuyNorbury@AOL.COM>

Subject: Fwd: "HELP ELLEN!" (fwd)

---------------------

Forwarded message:

From: misterz@ix.netcom.com (Mark Alan Zilberman)

To: GuyNorbury@aol.com

Date: 97-05-02 01:15:45 EDT

>Return-Path: <timm@aaron.music.qc.edu>

>Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 15:40:23 -0400 (EDT)

>From: Christine Timm <timm@aaron.music.qc.edu>

>X-Sender: timm@aaron

>To: misterz@ix.netcom.com

>Subject: Fwd: "HELP ELLEN!" (fwd)

>---------- Forwarded message ----------

>Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 13:38:17 -0400 (EDT)

>From: GuyNorbury@aol.com

>To: timm@aaron.music.qc.edu

>Subject: Fwd: "HELP ELLEN!"

>---------------------

>Forwarded message:

>Subj: Fwd: "HELP ELLEN!"

>Date: 97-04-30 11:16:17 EDT

>From: OLNYIAMGOD

>To: eli@netusa.net,Magnus831

>To: dannyboy81@earthlink.net,GuyNorbury

>To: s123@idt.net,HiCalConst

>To: trueone@tiac.net

>---------------------

>Forwarded message:

>From: RACHELK@earth.goddard.edu (Spaceman Spiff)

>To: olnyiamgod@aol.com, arfnarf@aol.com, eac6891@is.nyu.edu,

>jt6859@cnsvax.albany.edu, be82756@bingsuns.cc.binghamton.edu

>Date: 97-04-29 12:29:06 EDT

> This was sent out over our campus e-mail. I think its a pretty

>easy form of activisim that we can all participate in. I did it and

>it only took a minute. I think you should all do it to. Pass the #

>on to people and get them to call. DOWN WITH CORP. AMERICA!!!!!

>love

>rachel

>>Hey there-- I just received this email off the AIDS Ride listserv and

>>it took me 90 seconds to do. It's touch tone voting-- to protest

>>Chrysler's revocation of advertising off the coming out episode of

>>Ellen. You call the 1-800 number, which is the Chrysler customer

>>service center, press 1 for "current media and public relations

>>issues"-- then, press 2 to vote for the Ellen decision, listen to the

>>message and press 1 to agree with their decision to withhold

>>advertising from the episode and press 2 to disagree with it.

>>It's easy--please take a minute out of your day to stand up against

>>this example of corporate cowardice and homophobia.

>Sara

>P.S. As you all know those "people" of the right are very powerful, so

>please call and forward this message to all of your friends and encourage

>them to call too. Please don't be silent let Chrysler know that we don't

>all agree with those hurtful conservative, hateful religious right.

>>*****************************

>>I just got an email from a friend of mine (who obviously doesnt know me

>>that well-- only through a campus religious organization) urging me to

>>call chrysler to show my support for their decison to revoke funding for

>>the show "Ellen" because of the whole 'coming out' episode.

>>It struck me that it would be just as easy to use the number to show my

>>support for "Ellen" (the phone line has been established so that the

>>company can get a feel for what the public opinion is). And then i

>>thought that if i passed this message along to others then they could

>>call as well-- which whould hopefully cancel out some of the phone calls

>>generated by my friend's email.

>>The number is 1(800) 992-1997. its toll free and only takes about two

>>minutes, apparently. please call and pass on this email--this is an

>>opportunity for activism that is going to make a difference-- chrysler

>>is *asking* for us to voice our opinions. lets just make sure that we

>>have the loudest voice.

>>my friend closed his email with this biblical quote:

>>Romans 12:9--Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

>>to which i can only say AMEN

@@@@@@@@@@ @@@ @@@@@@ @@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@

@@@

@@! @@! @@! @@! !@@ @@! @@! @@! @@@ @@!

@@@

@!! !!@ @!@ !!@ !@@!! @!! @!!!:! @!@!!@! @!!

!@!

!!: !!: !!: !:! !!: !!: !!: :!! !!:

: : : ::.: : : : :: ::: : : : :.::.: :

:.:

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Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 09:11:07 -0700

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: "Shannon L. Stephens" <shanstep@CS.ARIZONA.EDU>

Subject: Re: Why is there no hippie literature

In-Reply-To: <970502031057_1521133693@emout07.mail.aol.com>

On Fri, 2 May 1997, Attila Gyenis wrote:

> Don't you know anything. Brautigan is a Beat! So is Tom Robbins.

> Stephen King is not.

Okay. Okay.

Normally a list lurker, with the exception of the one day I posted a

little wonder about a vending machine experience and a quest for song lyrics.

The very day that the list master reminded us to keep the list beat...

But someone said it...my door has been opened.

Tom Robbins maybe beat, maybe not...my point is...he wrote Jitterbug

Perfume which is a book that definately put the spin in the

rama-lama-ding-dong that is my life!

-Shannon

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Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 11:38:31 -0500

Reply-To: race@midusa.net

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Subject: Re: Why is there no hippie literature

Shannon L. Stephens wrote:

> But someone said it...my door has been opened.

> Tom Robbins maybe beat, maybe not...my point is...he wrote Jitterbug

> Perfume which is a book that definately put the spin in the

> rama-lama-ding-dong that is my life!

> -Shannon

Dearest Shannon the Lurker,

sounds like quite a olfactory tornado. when your door was opened i got

a whiff of your spinning ramadan scent all the way over in the Kansas

Vortex and am now looking for a wormhole from your door to mine.

now back to the burroughs smelling thread everyone ...

david rhaesa

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Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 11:39:23 -0500

Reply-To: race@midusa.net

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Subject: [Fwd: Re: Saw Jack Kerouac at the grocery store]

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by services.midusa.net (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id LAA07076

for <race@midusa.net>; Fri, 2 May 1997 11:35:11 -0500 (CDT)

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Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 11:32:59 -0500

From: Patricia Elliott <pelliott@sunflower.com>

X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01Gold (Win95; I)

MIME-Version: 1.0

To: race@midusa.net

Subject: Re: Saw Jack Kerouac at the grocery store

References: <336A1529.3DD8@midusa.net>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

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oh god what a beautiful post? you should list it

RACE --- wrote:

> as i was pumping five bucks

> into my 1974

> guzzler

> i gazed across the avenue

> to see Jack

> jumping out of the back

> of an ugly green

> pickup truck

> with Vegas plates

> and

> I quickly paid for

> my gasoline

> and

> zoooomed across

> to the grocery market

> i got a glimpse of him

> saw him grabbing

> four cans of spaghetti

> sauce at 99cents

> grabbed four myself.

> then in the frozen

> foods he was a

> blur

> i grabbed

> green giant broc & cauli

> green giant corn

> food club california mix

> and some

> azparagus

> for good measure

> chased him down

> and he threw

> three huge potatoes at me

> which i caught

> at 2.42 cents a pound

> lost him then

> got my lentils and Uncle Ben's

> cause i liked the name

> better than Minute Rice

> two bags of sghatti noods

> and other junk

> when i saw him heading

> thru

> the checkout stand

> i checked out

> at $32.15

> almost fainted at the

> bargain

> zooomed off for

> cheap cigarettes

> and caught up with

> him

> at the House of Sight and Sound

> trapped in a CD case

> for $25.00

> but had to pass

> and took

> Mimi and Richard Farina

> for $16.00

> instead.....

> hope you're having A Beautiful Day !!!

> things are slowly drying up in

> the puddles here.

> david

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Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 10:07:29 -0700

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: Gerald Nicosia <gnicosia@EARTHLINK.NET>

Subject: Anstee, Nicosia, & Kerouac Estate Fight

Dear Dean Palmer: May 2, 1997

Thanks for your letter. I have no problem with honest criticism of

myself, which your letter provides. In fact, I welcome such criticism.

I dislike mudslinging as much as you. But the fact is, the other

side (the Sampas side) has been slinging mud at me NONSTOP for the past four

years, even before Jan's lawsuit was filed. In the fall of 1993, when Brad

Parker's little Humanities Corporation invited me to speak in Lowell,

because the official Lowell Kerouac Committee (backed by Sampas) had

consistently ignored me, one of Sampas's buddies, Roger Brunelle, publicly

called me and Brad Parker a "son of a bitch!" What had Brad and I done that

was so awful we merited being called a "son of a bitch" in public? Well, I

had dared to ask my 20-year friend, Michael McClure, to announce that I

would be speaking in Lowell the following night--so that Kerouac fans who

had come to Lowell for Kerouac Week would know that I was in town. The

official Kerouac Committee had done its best to black out our event

completely. After Mike McClure's indiscretion of announcing Nicosia's

upcoming speech, the Kerouac Committee refused to keep paying for his hotel

room at the Lowell Hilton, and he was kicked out, with no place to rest

before returning to California, so he had to come and sleep on Parker's floor.

You may think this story incredible, but Brad Parker of Chelmsford,

Mass, will verify every word of it.

Mr. Brunelle, by the way, has NEVER APOLOGIZED to either me or

Parker for this outrageous verbal assault.

It would take me fifty pages to list each incident of mud slung at

me for the past four years. Let me just take you up to the most recent: my

day in court in Albuquerque, this past Monday.

Mr. Rod Schlagel, John Lash's lawyer, stands up before the judge and

tells him: "Mr. Nicosia is not concerned about Jan Kerouac's Estate ... he

is only concerned to gain prominence in the literary world"--and goes on and

on that my sole motivation in all this is to attain glory for myself. He

never mentions that I stood beside Jan again and again during the five years

when she was critically ill, while Mr. Lash, her exhusband, never visited

her once during this period.

Okay, you say, but Sampas is not involved in Lash's legal action

against me (or so says Sampas's lawyer, George Tobia).

The truth is, SAMPAS IS INTIMATELY INVOLVED IN LASH'S ATTEMPT TO GET

ME THROWN OUT AS JAN'S LITERARY EXECUTOR. Can I prove this? Yes,

absolutely.

At one point, in the Albuquerque action, Tom Staley, Director of the

Humanities Research Center at University of Texas, Austin, sent an affidavit

to the probate court. His affidavit stated that it would be best for the

literary community if Kerouac's papers were kept in one place. A short time

later, one of Staley's superiors at the University of Texas got a call from

NONE OTHER THAN JOHN SAMPAS! Sampas told the other University of Texas

official that he objected to Staley getting involved in the legal fight

between Lash and Nicosia in Albuquerque. In fact, Sampas may have violated

the law by attempting to interfere in an ongoing legal action--an action he

is not legally supposed to be a part of. We are looking into that right now.

So okay, back to the mudslinging issue. A couple of years ago, I

heard Ken Kesey read a wonderful passage from, I think, SAILOR SONG. He

read a story about this group of Underdogs, who were tired of all the

bullshit that was being flung at them. So they create the BAKATCHA!

movement; they hire a plane, fill it with bullshit, and drop it in the faces

of those who won't quit harassing them. After the reading, Kesey said he

had come to adopt the BAKATCHA! policy himself. If you can't get people to

play nice, you have to start flinging their bullshit right back at them.

So maybe Kesey's right, and maybe it's time for all these folks who

keep saying Nicosia is a "son of a bitch" and he's only in this to make

money, to know that for every gob of mud they sling, a couple more are

coming back at them.

By the way, I didn't call Anstee a Nazi, and I don't think he is. I

referred to the pernicious principle that the Nazis developed (or at least

refined) of repeating lies until they're so common no one questions them.

And Rod certainly knew he was lying when he said no one was going to

benefit from me winning Jan's suit in Florida except myself. He knows quite

well that Paul Blake's family will benefit substantially (as, in fact, Jack

Kerouac himself wanted) and he knows quite well that thousands of scholars

will benefit too.

As a matter of fact, Mr. Anstee and I had what I thought was a

friendship for over ten years, during which period--since he is a collector

and archivist--I provided him with copies of all my documents pertaining to

Kerouac affairs, and especially those that concerned Jan's lawsuit.

Moreover, Mr. Anstee knows Mr. Sampas quite well, even if they have never

met in person (which I believe they have).

To begin with, Mr. Anstee purchased several items of Jack Kerouac's

from John Sampas for his (Anstee's) personal collection. Furthermore,

Anstee is best friends with Jeffrey Weinberg, Sampas's former dealer. On

top of that, Anstee was part of the 1994 NYU Beat conference, at which

Sampas spoke and attacked me in front of hundreds of people. He knows Mr.

Sampas's arguments inside and out, maybe better than I do.

Please remember, that almost the same bullshit was slung at Jan

Kerouac too, as soon as she filed her lawsuit. Although she was dying of

kidney failure, they kept saying she was doing all this just for the money

(and Mr. Anstee basically reiterates the same claim in suggesting she had

"far TOO MUCH money"). When she died, I had people calling me from the East

Coast, asking, "How could she have died at 44? We heard she was just FAKING

about the kidney failure." You want to take a guess where those rumors

originated?

I never heard Mr. Anstee raise his voice once about the mud that was

slung at either me or Jan, all those years.

You say "Let the mudslinging end." Amen. But it's going to have to

end with those that began it, and are still doing it. Otherwise I'm taking

Kesey's advice: every last drop of the smelly stuff is going BAKATCHA!

Best, Gerry Nicosia

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Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 13:09:29 -0400

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: Jerry Cimino <Bigsurs4me@AOL.COM>

Subject: Re: On The Road - UnCut

Yes, Bill, and from what I hear there may even be more than one as Jack had

to re-write and re-write (contrary to myth) in order to get OTR published.

I saw one of the scrolls at the Traveling Whitney exhibit when it passed thru

San Francisco. It was very old and brittle, very brown with little pieces

cracked off. I read what was exposed, probably about the first page worth.

Jack used real first names such as Neal etc. I was laughing because he

describes how Neal came to the door "naked having just finished fucking his

wife" or something, but the word "fuck" was definately written on the page.

No wonder the publishers in the early '50's wouldn't publish it as is!

At the time I was very glad the people in charge of Kerouac's estate had

cooperated in the exhibition, but looking back on it now in light of "The

Controversy", I wonder if Jan Kerouac and Gerry Nicosia hadn't been making

such a stink all these years I would have ever gotten to see it at all, or if

in the words of someone else, it might be today hanging on some rich guy's

wall...

Hey, Jeffrey, can you tell us if the original scroll was one of the items

that John Sampas put up for sale?

Jerry Cimino

Fog City

=========================================================================

Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 13:24:52 -0400

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: Michael Stutz <stutz@DSL.ORG>

Subject: Re: On The Road - UnCut

Comments: To: Jerry Cimino <Bigsurs4me@AOL.COM>

In-Reply-To: <970502130928_1987595854@emout15.mail.aol.com>

On Fri, 2 May 1997, Jerry Cimino wrote:

> I saw one of the scrolls at the Traveling Whitney exhibit when it passed thru

> San Francisco. It was very old and brittle, very brown with little pieces

> cracked off. I read what was exposed, probably about the first page worth.

The original quesiton about OTR being available is something I've been

wanting to know, too. There really ought to be a movement to preserve these

texts digitally -- I mean, little pieces cracking off? Is anyone doing

_anything_ to preserve it? And putting it in a public insitition or museum

isn't good enough, sorry. It's the 90s -- all these texts should be part of

Project Gutenberg (http://www.promo.net/pg/), typed up in plain vanilla

ASCII and uploaded to the Net, to propagate on Unix servers forever.

I heard there was absolutely no punctuation in the original OTR. I want to

use the Cornix web applet (http://www.halcyon.com/chigh/corndemo.html) on

said ASCII file of OTR to view it word-at-a-time on giant screens. When

people talk about the Kerouac controversy and letting the works be together

in one place--in the community of scholars etc.--_this_ is what I think of,

not a university library somewhere (though of course, all the physical

artifacts will and should be together somewhere--it's just that for me, the

data itself will be much more useful).

> Jack used real first names such as Neal etc. I was laughing because he

> describes how Neal came to the door "naked having just finished fucking his

> wife" or something, but the word "fuck" was definately written on the page.

> No wonder the publishers in the early '50's wouldn't publish it as is!

Wow. All I can say is wow. I want to read this!

=========================================================================

Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 11:00:29 -0700

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: Gerald Nicosia <gnicosia@EARTHLINK.NET>

Subject: On the Road - UnCut

Dear Jerry Cimino & Michael Stutz:

Regarding the argument that the ON THE ROAD scroll should not only

be preserved but also digitalized, Jan and I were saying that for years!

The problem: Sampas still owns it.

And yes, Jerry, he did have it up for sale. I don't know if Jeffrey

Weinberg was involved in the following offer.

But at one point, Tommy Goldwasser, a real high-end San Francisco

literary dealer, told printer and Kerouac collector Norm Davis: "I can get

you the ON THE ROAD scroll for a million dollars."

Davis laughed: "Are you kidding?"

Goldwasser said: "No."

Davis said, "Well, Tommy, I don't have a million bucks." End of

conversation.

Sampas never sold it to either the New York Public Library or the

Whitney, though he allowed both of them to exhibit it for a few months in a

glass case--which was good PR for Sampas, and suggested that he really was

going to place it permanently in some library.

Only he hasn't. As a matter of fact, Jan and I asked New York

Public librarian Rodney Phillips why he didn't try to digitalize it, or

otherwise preserve the crumbling scroll, while he had temporary possession

of it.

Phillips answered that, one, it would cost a lot of money to do

this, and the NYPL wasn't going to spend a lot of money on something they

didn't own. Number two, the thing is so fragile that if the NYPL guys had

tried to unroll it or whatever, it might well have fallen apart, and they

would have had a lawsuit from Sampas for injuring his property. I.e., the

liability to the library was too great to do anything with it if they didn't

actually own it.

Phillips did say that if the library had actual ownership, they

would undertake to preserve it right away.

We asked Phillips why he didn't just buy it from Sampas. Phillips

said Sampas had asked him to pay $400,000 for it, and the NYPL couldn't

afford that kind of price for a single item.

If I've got any of this wrong, I invite John Sampas or anyone else

to provide corrections. This is all true, to the best of my knowledge and

memory (which I do not pretend are infallible).

=========================================================================

Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 12:09:35 -0700

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: Gerald Nicosia <gnicosia@EARTHLINK.NET>

Subject: Attila's questions con'd -- Kerouac Estate Fight

OK, Attila, I'm back, and want to help further your effort to put

together a long fact sheet on the whole Kerouac Estate Fight.

(And by the way, since I get accused of mudslinging and hating

everyone, let me say that your "Kerouac Kontroversy" looked to me like an

honest attempt to put down what you know. I'm attempting to flesh out your

points and in some cases correct them. I don't pose as infallible--I'm not

the Pope--and I welcome people correcting me too.)

Again, I'm moving down your list, paragraph by paragraph (now on

page 2):

RE: Jan's lawsuit. No, there is no implication that Gabrielle's

will was forged by Stella. At least I never said this. This will take

extensive analysis of various people's handwritings, and the forger, if

there is one, may never be known.

You're right: Jan stood to gain at most 1/3 of Jack Kerouac's

estate. Paul Blake, Jr., stands to get one third also. The reason is that

1/3 goes to the Sampas family forever, incontrovertibly, because of a

Florida dower's right that gives the widow 1/3 even if she is disinherited,

as Stella was.

John Sampas cannot claim to be literary executor for Jack Kerouac.

Jack Kerouac's executor (or personal representative) was, by his own wishes,

Citizens National Bank of St. Petersburg. John has been made literary

executor for the Estate of Stella Sampas Kerouac. If he claims otherwise,

I'd like to know what legal papers certify his claim.

Next: John Lash's fight with me--which I explained somewhat in last

night's post:

Jan Kerouac's exhusband, John Lash, claims his sister Debra (not he)

heard Jan's deathbed statement to the effect of: "Please dismiss the

lawsuit--let the Sampases have everything." This claim has been

contradicted by every single medical person who attended her at Lovelace

Hospital just before her death. All of them say that Jan elected to have a

very risky surgery (risky because of her bloodclotting problems, inherited

from Jack) because it was the only way she could get strong enough again to

keep fighting the Sampases, to keep fighting for Jack's papers. She said

this up to the point of going under anesthesia, and she was never coherent

again after surgery. She lived after surgery for less than 24 hours,

bleeding profusely, heavily sedated with morphine. There are sworn

affidavits to this effect.

As I said last nite, it is Lash who has motioned the court for the

right to get rid of me as Jan's literary executor, not me who has "sued"

him. His principal beef with me is that I want to continue Jan's lawsuit,

as she asked me to, and he wants to dismiss it, as part of a deal he made

with John Sampas last summer.

As for Sampas selling off part of JK's archives, it is beyond

"alleging." I have in my possession one of the sales catalogues, offering

to sell pieces of the archive by VIsa or Mastercard. Jeffrey Weinberg, his

former dealer, admits to having sold hundreds of items. All sorts of people

(dealers and collectors) around the country have testified to having bought

and/or having been offered significant items from the archive--including

manuscripts. Many of these people have showed me the items they bought.

Johnny Depp's brother Dan Depp (who runs a bookstore in Santa Cruz)

described JD's visit with Sampas and the items he bought--more than just the

raincoat, by the way. I believe Weinberg has photos of Sampas and Depp

together.

As for Jack's desires, he showed all his close friends--such as

Stanley Twardowicz, for example--the careful files he had kept of all his

writings, correspondence, etc., and talked of his desire to have it all

preserved. Stanley even told Jack, "Why don't you put some of it in the

Northport Public Library?" so Kerouac actually DONATED THE COMPLETE

MANUSCRIPT OF THE TOWN AND THE CITY TO THE NORTHPORT PUBLIC LIBRARY, where

it is today.

Kerouac wrote John Clellon Holmes in June, 1962, in a letter I have

in my possession, that he wanted his files preserved as "a goldmine of

information for scholars." Earlier, he had told journalist and friend Al

Aronowitz that "someday they're going to write biographies about me, just

like Hemingway," and he showed Al his files, saying the biographers would

need to use those to fully understand him.

At the very end of his life, Jack Kerouac needed money desperately,

but he refused a big deal from Gotham Book Mart for all his papers. (Gotham

deals primarily with collectors.) Instead, he sold his letters from Allen

Ginsberg to the University of Texas, and his letters from Ginsberg to

Columbia University. JK never sold any part of his archive to private

collectors--though some of it was stolen from his bedroom and did get on the

collectors' market.

Again, if Mr. Sampas has contrary information, I'd like to see/hear

about it.

The Kerouac Estate is worth far more than $1 million. Right now,

Mr. Sampas could accept $1 million offers from the Bancroft, the NY Public,

Stanford, and probably a few other libraries JUST FOR KEROUAC'S PAPERS. The

paintings and other artwork could probably bring another million dollars.

And the house in Florida and its furnishings could probably bring a third

million. (By the way, Jan wanted that house turned into a museum, or at

least have the furnishings in it, including JK's desk and typewriter, as

well as his clothing, put into a museum to recreate his work space, etc.)

None of this takes into account the potential movie deals for millions of

dollars on all of Jack's books, plus the steady stream of royalties (about

$200,000 a year) that the book sales generate; plus all the "bonuses" like

the $10,000 the Gap paid for Jack's image wearing khakis.

All from an estate that was legally valued at $91 when Jack died!

You ask: "Who should get all this money?" Well I'd vote for Paul

Blake, Jr., Jack's beloved nephew, getting at least some part of it. Paul,

absolutely poverty-stricken, just lost his home and has his family living in

a trailor on a neighbor's land.

OK: let's deal with Jan's money, as this keeps coming up over and

over. Federal copyright law said that when one of Kerouac's books hit the

28-year renewal period, the living child should come in for 50%. Kerouac's

first book renewed in 1978, but the Sampases held Jan off from getting any

of this money (with various legal maneuvers) until the beginning of 1986.

Jan's financial manager told me this: From 1986 thru 1988, her

income averaged around $17,000 a year. Then it jumped to about $33,000 for

the next three or four years; and then in 1993 it jumped to over $100,000.

That was her best year, because a television company had bought television

rights to ON THE ROAD for a large sum, and she got half of it. 1994 and

1995 were equally good years, with Kerouac's works taking off mightily, and

her income averaging around $100,000. In late 1995, however, John Sampas

cut off her foreign royalties (by another legal maneuver, which Jan's lawyer

thought questionable, but never had time to contest), and her income dropped

by about $20,000. In the last months, as Jan was dying, Sampas also figured

out other ways to cut down Jan's income, such as instructing agent Sterling

Lord to stop paying her any royalties from VISIONS OF CODY because 1/3 of

the book (the part that had been published by New Directions in 1959 or

1960) had fallen into public domain.

Remember, as a single person with no dependents, she had a huge tax

liability on all this. And remember, too, that she often needed to hire

helpers, drivers, etc. because of her own physical disability. She always

had significant medical costs (dialysis fluids, tests, specialists, etc.),

even though basic doctor care was provided by the kidney dialysis program at

Lovelace Hospital at a reasonable cost. And the last two+ years of her

life, she was also eaten up by mounting legal costs, probably to the tune of

$30 or $40 thousand.

More later. Off to see mom at the nursing home. As I mentioned

somewhere, she just had a second stroke and now can't walk at all--it breaks

my heart. When she could, she attended every Kerouac/Beat event that came

up, as many of you remember.

=========================================================================

Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 16:31:12 EDT

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: Bill Gargan <WXGBC@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Subject: Re: More on dope

In-Reply-To: Message of Fri, 2 May 1997 11:46:32 -0400 from <JGERTZ@UNCA.EDU>

Isn't it pretty to think so!

=========================================================================

Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 16:41:03 EDT

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: Bill Gargan <WXGBC@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Subject: Re: On The Road - UnCut

In-Reply-To: Message of Fri, 2 May 1997 13:24:52 -0400 from <stutz@DSL.ORG>

I had the pleasure of touring the Whitney with Allen Ginsberg one

evening. He pointed out to me that the reason the corner of the

manuscript was damaged was because Lucien Carr's dog chewed it up. An

interesting literary footnote.

=========================================================================

Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 16:59:17 -0400

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: Michael Stutz <stutz@DSL.ORG>

Subject: Re: On the Road - UnCut

In-Reply-To: <199705021800.LAA17030@norway.it.earthlink.net>

On Fri, 2 May 1997, Gerald Nicosia wrote:

> Only he hasn't. As a matter of fact, Jan and I asked New York

> Public librarian Rodney Phillips why he didn't try to digitalize it, or

> otherwise preserve the crumbling scroll, while he had temporary possession

> of it.

> Phillips answered that, one, it would cost a lot of money to do

> this, and the NYPL wasn't going to spend a lot of money on something they

> didn't own. Number two, the thing is so fragile that if the NYPL guys had

> tried to unroll it or whatever, it might well have fallen apart, and they

> would have had a lawsuit from Sampas for injuring his property. I.e., the

> liability to the library was too great to do anything with it if they didn't

> actually own it.

> Phillips did say that if the library had actual ownership, they

> would undertake to preserve it right away.

So in other words, nobody has a copy of the text of the "real" version of

_On The Road_, and the original ~50-year-old source is crumbling away in

somebody's _basement_, brought out a couple times a decade to be put on

display in a glass cage?

=========================================================================

Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 15:37:45 CDT

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: Wes Lundburg <wlundburg@MAIL.FF.CC.MN.US>

Subject: Jake Barnes is beat (was "More on dope")

Someone wrote:

>Isn't it pretty to think so!

Thanks, Jake Barnes. If it's alcohol, surely Lady Brett would think so....

Now, speaking of Jake Barnes, I would say he IS beat. In fact, I think the

post-war disillusioned crowd (the lost generation) is the precursor for the

beats. They, too, were fed up with life and the illusion of "how things are"

and its failure to match up to the dream we all live for. The difference is

that the lost generation didn't see--couldn't see, perhaps--that there was

something to reach for, as I think the beats did see. The lost generation was

disillusioned, and that's it. The beats were disillusioned, but wouldn't let go

of the desire to find something better.

---Wes

=========================================================================

Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 15:53:19 -0500

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: Nick Weir-Williams <nweir-w@NWU.EDU>

Subject: Re: On the Road - UnCut

Quite apart from anything else, publishing this version as it was written

would be a publishing goldmine (not least because the estate could then

claim another 50 years copyright, as the Joyce and Lawrence estates have

done). But usually the estates wait until it's about to go into the publc

domain.

Small point to Gerry Nicosia - how ccome one third of VOC can slip into

public domain if it was published in the 50's. Surely New Directions, which

after all is still a very fine active publisher, would have renewed the

Nick W-W

>So in other words, nobody has a copy of the text of the "real" version of

>_On The Road_, and the original ~50-year-old source is crumbling away in

>somebody's _basement_, brought out a couple times a decade to be put on

>display in a glass cage?

**************************************************************************

*Nil Carborundum Illegitimis*

It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees

Nick Weir-Williams

Director, Northwestern University Press, 625 Colfax Street, Evanston, IL 60208

President, Illinois Book Publishers Association

List Manager, chipub listserv

ph: 847 491 8114

fax: 847 491 8150

=========================================================================

Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 15:24:03 -0700

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: Gerald Nicosia <gnicosia@EARTHLINK.NET>

Subject: On the Road - Uncut

Reply to Nick Weir-Williams:

Question: how come the New Directions VISIONS OF CODY slipped into

the public domain?

Answer: It was actually published 1960; the year for renewal was

1988. It was not up to ND to renew it, but up to Stella Sampas Kerouac and

the attorneys for her family, as well as their agent, Sterling Lord. They

just didn't bother renewing it; they also didn't bother with 7 other books

of Kerouac's, which are now in public domain.

Starting in 1990, after Stella's death, the only person who could

legally renew the copyright on Jack Kerouac's books was Jan Kerouac. But

neither the Sampases, their attorneys, nor Sterling Lord informed Jan of

this fact, and consequently BIG SUR (which was up for renewal that year)

also fell into public domain. By 1993, Jan had learned through her friend

Aram Saroyan of her sole right to renew her father's copyrights, and she

began renewing them, starting with DESOLATION ANGELS, in her name alone. I

believe she got as far as VANITY OF DULUOZ before she died. The Sampas

family, however, insist that those books are still half theirs, despite the

fact that the copyright registration in them (including VISIONS OF GERARD

and SATORI IN PARIS) reads: "Copyright renewal by Jan Kerouac." As Jan's

literary executor, I now retain sole right to authorize reprints of those

four books in the United States, though I expect the Sampas family will try

to contest me on this, as they contested Jan.

=========================================================================

Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 18:28:56 -0400

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: Michael Stutz <stutz@DSL.ORG>

Subject: Re: On the Road - Uncut

In-Reply-To: <199705022224.PAA20162@denmark.it.earthlink.net>

On Fri, 2 May 1997, Gerald Nicosia wrote:

> They just didn't bother renewing it; they also didn't bother with 7 other

> books of Kerouac's, which are now in public domain.

Gerald, do you have a list of these books? Getting these digitized and on

the net would be a great start in preserving the Kerouac archive.

=========================================================================

Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 16:50:38 -0500

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: Nick Weir-Williams <nweir-w@NWU.EDU>

Subject: Re: On the Road - Uncut

There's a very strange by-product of the GATT free trade agreement signed a

year or two back regarding literary copyrights. It's too complicated to

bother the list with, but basically for a limited time anyone who failed to

protection for the full-term they would have got if they'd done it properly.

Library of Congress could advise in detail. As Literary Executor I would

have thought this could be done by you.

Nick W-W

>Reply to Nick Weir-Williams:

> Question: how come the New Directions VISIONS OF CODY slipped into

>the public domain?

> Answer: It was actually published 1960; the year for renewal was

>1988. It was not up to ND to renew it, but up to Stella Sampas Kerouac and

>the attorneys for her family, as well as their agent, Sterling Lord. They

>just didn't bother renewing it; they also didn't bother with 7 other books

>of Kerouac's, which are now in public domain.

> Starting in 1990, after Stella's death, the only person who could

>legally renew the copyright on Jack Kerouac's books was Jan Kerouac. But

>neither the Sampases, their attorneys, nor Sterling Lord informed Jan of

>this fact, and consequently BIG SUR (which was up for renewal that year)

>also fell into public domain. By 1993, Jan had learned through her friend

>Aram Saroyan of her sole right to renew her father's copyrights, and she

>began renewing them, starting with DESOLATION ANGELS, in her name alone. I

>believe she got as far as VANITY OF DULUOZ before she died. The Sampas

>family, however, insist that those books are still half theirs, despite the

>fact that the copyright registration in them (including VISIONS OF GERARD

>and SATORI IN PARIS) reads: "Copyright renewal by Jan Kerouac." As Jan's

>literary executor, I now retain sole right to authorize reprints of those

>four books in the United States, though I expect the Sampas family will try

>to contest me on this, as they contested Jan.

**************************************************************************

*Nil Carborundum Illegitimis*

It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees

Nick Weir-Williams

Director, Northwestern University Press, 625 Colfax Street, Evanston, IL 60208

President, Illinois Book Publishers Association

List Manager, chipub listserv

ph: 847 491 8114

fax: 847 491 8150

=========================================================================

Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 19:41:51 -0400

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: Pamela Beach Plymell <CVEditions@AOL.COM>

Subject: Re: More on dope

Blowing in the wind or pissing in the wind?

C. Plymell

=========================================================================

Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 17:07:16 -0700

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: "Timothy K. Gallaher" <gallaher@HSC.USC.EDU>

Subject: Public Domain

This means that these books that are in the public domain can be posted on

the internet.

It is too bad that Paul Blake cannot get royalties for them, but as they

are in the public domain, someone ought to get busy and get them up.

How about a beat-l ftp site?

What books are in the public domain?

=========================================================================

Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 20:07:39 -0400

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: Pamela Beach Plymell <CVEditions@AOL.COM>

Subject: Re: For Charles Plymell

Richard:

Thanks for the poem. It is helping inspire me to finish a long manuscript

that dissolves Apocalypse Rose and Forever Wider into one and goes beyond. It

is to be a reflection on the age of Apostasy X. After hearing on the list

the repitition of the song losing my religion...that's me on the corner, I

decided last night "Robbing the Pillars" a term used in coal mining as they

would knock down the supports while retreating from the cave.

Charles Plymell

=========================================================================

Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 20:37:05 -0400

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: PAM <mapaul@PIPELINE.COM>

Subject: Looking For Jack: The Literary Influences of Jack Kerouac

Coming soon from Upstart Crow Publishing:

Looking For Jack: The Literary Influences of Jack Kerouac

by Paul A. Maher Jr.

This will be published in a limited quantity of 500 copies this summer.

This will be available by reservation only.

More info is forthcoming.....

It is not so much as a dry, textual analysis of Kerouac's works in an

academic vein but instead, a celebration of Jack Kerouac and his

appreciation for many works of literature and its manifestation through much

of his work. The main focus will be obvious influences and also, with a look

at letters and journals, his awareness as a reader and writer. E-mail

privately to be informed at a later date. This will be the last posting here.

Also...Vol. I, No. 2 of The Kerouac Quarterly is in the editorial stage.

Thanks....

=========================================================================

Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 21:31:04 -0500

Reply-To: race@midusa.net

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Subject: Re: Looking For Jack: The Literary Influences of Jack Kerouac

PAM wrote:

> Coming soon from Upstart Crow Publishing:

> Looking For Jack: The Literary Influences of Jack Kerouac

> by Paul A. Maher Jr.

> This will be published in a limited quantity of 500 copies this summer.

> This will be available by reservation only.

> More info is forthcoming.....

> It is not so much as a dry, textual analysis of Kerouac's works in an

> academic vein but instead, a celebration of Jack Kerouac and his

> appreciation for many works of literature and its manifestation through much

> of his work. The main focus will be obvious influences and also, with a look

> at letters and journals, his awareness as a reader and writer. E-mail

> privately to be informed at a later date. This will be the last posting here.

> Also...Vol. I, No. 2 of The Kerouac Quarterly is in the editorial stage.

> Thanks....

Hi,

i've seen a few references to this Kerouac Quarterly thing and i was

wondering if you could tell me a bit more about it. since i'm on

disability with a conservater, i don't know whether i can convince him

to cover subscription rates and all that, but i'd like to get some

information just in case.

i just sat today reading through a poem i wrote years ago called

Mississippi which goes on for around 40 pages through lots of things

(excerpts from it were on Beat-L) Pooh and the feminists and Angel from

EBA's etc. (although i think they may be altered a bit from the original

stream - a cut up i guess technically) anyway ... the first words are "I

first met Jack Kerouac in Hanover New Hampshire ... not long after i

finished it, i wrote the thing about Jack in the grocery store today and

then did the Exploding Text poem tribute thing off of On Burroughs Work

and just when it sounded as though the day would wind down your message

hit the screen ....

and now i'm wondering about this Kerouac Quarterly thing .... i guess

there is always something to wonder about.

any info you can send my way would be appreciated

sincerely,

david rhaesa

salina, kansas

=========================================================================

Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 22:52:41 -0400

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: Mitchell Smith <WordKicks@AOL.COM>

Subject: Re: On the Road - UnCut

Several years ago, I saw an article on the 82 Naropa K fest and it showed

Gerard Malanga photographing the scroll--unrolling it, recording the whole

thing. Does anyone (esp. Gerry) know anything about this project?

Mitchell Smith

=========================================================================

Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 19:50:18 -0700

Reply-To: letabor@cruzio.com

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: Leon Tabory <letabor@CRUZIO.COM>

Comments: To: "More on dope"@cruzio.com

JAY S. GERTZ wrote:

> Many of the prior arguments regarding legalizing drugs were flawed in one

> regard. Individual freedom is not marked by the absence of constraints.

Would you mind explaining what you are saying here?

Freedom

> comes from the soul, through exercising the heart and mind, and for those that

> have attained it, no prison can hold them.

Knowing that, and knowing even furthermore that the law has no power to

stop me from exercising the freedom and power of my soul, has led me to

not capitulate the integrity of my spirit to the bully power of legal

restraints. Does that mean that there is a flaw in my belief that the

government has no business, let alone legitimate rights, to dictate

what substances I use to nourish my consciousness? Are you saying there

is a flaw in my protest of the horrible punishment the governmewnt has

meted out to me and continues as we speak to mete out unspeakable

horrors to countless individuals for exploring drugs?

Are you saying that because the government has no power to imprison my

spirit, that it is therefore ok for it to imprison my body?

It is your kind of verbiage that is causing untold harm to people. At

the very least I would hope you would try to explain a bit more your

thinking here.

Thank you.

leon

> Kleb

> .-

=========================================================================

Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 20:47:11 -0700

Reply-To: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender: "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From: Gerald Nicosia <gnicosia@EARTHLINK.NET>

Subject: Attila's questions, final chapter

Dear Attila, May 2, 1997

You may have picked up a booboo in my last installment. I wrote

that Jack Kerouac sold his Ginsberg letters to the University of Texas and

his Ginsberg letters to Columbia University--which makes no sense. I meant

to write, that he sold his BURROUGHS letters to Columbia University.

OK, now for the rest of your questions:

Another daughter? The daughter of Mary Carney and Jack? Judy

Machado? I've heard this claim second hand, mostly from Dean Contover of

the Lowell Kerouac Committee. I have no knowledge to disprove her, but I

certainly never came across anything that would suggest it was true. I'd

like to know more. For instance, did Mary Carney ever tell Jack that she

had his child? If she did, then it would puzzle me that, after reading more

than 2,000 of Kerouac's letters (many of which are in my archive in Lowell),

I never saw him mention this daughter once. On the other hand, he did

mention Jan quite a bit in his letters. I also wonder why she didn't come

forward before?

According to Dean, the only answer is a DNA test, and it might be

possible, since John Sampas has in his possession Jack's famous page where

he (Kerouac) spilled his own blood on paper to write "The Blood of the Poet"

in his own gore. A DNA test could presumably be done from that blood

sample. If I ever get a say in the disposition of the archive, I'd vote for

letting Judy have this test conducted. What does Mr. Sampas say?

Paul Blake, Jr., believes his grandmother would not have

disinherited him. He is upset that Stella did not notify him of his

grandmother's death till months after the fact; nor did Stella ever send him

a copy of his grandmother's will. He would like to see his Uncle Jack's

archive preserved in a library, and he signed a letter of intention with Jan

Kerouac to do just that, if they succeeded in wresting a controlling

interest in the archive away from the Sampas family in court. He loves his

family dearly, has worked for a living as a carpenter all his life, and has

no greed about making money off the archive, though certainly he could use

his 1/3 interest to finally provide some financial security for his family

(including 5 kids).

Paul's life is quite precarious, and he is at present one step away

from complete homelessness. His eldest son (his only actual blood child,

the others are stepchildren) Paul III, who's about 21 years old, has been

homeless several times in Nevada during the past couple of years.

Why would Jack Kerouac's will have been forged in 1973? Although

his estate was valued at $91 by his widow in 1969, it was clearly worth a

lot more even then. By 1973 several more books, including VISIONS OF CODY,

had been published posthumously, and people like Coppola were showing

interest in movie and dramatic rights. It would not have taken a psychic to

predict that the estate was someday going to be worth a lot of money.

If Jan Kerouac's lawsuit in Florida goes to trial, and if she wins

(that is, if her Estate wins), her heirs will still be able to claim 1/3 of

everything, both physical property and rights to unpublished material. As

her literary executor, I may also have some say in what happens to all these

papers. As I have said over and over, I am pledged to carry out her "letter

of intention," which states her unequivocal desire to see all her father's

papers placed in a university library--preferably the Bancroft in Berkeley.

You mention John Sampas's explanation that he had to sell part of

the archive to take care of the rest. Since the copyrights alone were

earning the Sampas family about $100,000 a year, why couldn't they use some

of that money to take care of the archive? Besides, if they place the

material in a university, the university will do the cataloguing and

preservation. If I ever get to ask John Sampas question 3 (I haven't had an

answer to my first two), it would be: if it is expensive and burdensome to

pay for the care of the archive yourself, why not get it into a library

right away?

You state: "I also feel that John Sampas is now fully committed to

having Jack's papers going to some public institution." What evidence do

you have of this? After three years of my own intensive research, I have

been able to find no such evidence--and I have talked to librarians and

dealers all over the country. If Sampas is presently negotiating with a

library, why can't he tell us? Ginsberg let it be known a year in advance

that he was negotiating with Stanford, and it did not hurt his negotiations.

Why must these negotiations be kept secret? Also, WHAT IS TAKING SO LONG???

Mr. Sampas was made literary executor by his family over 6 years ago. That

is longer than it took the Allies to win World War II. It does not take that

long to get a bunch of boxes into a library, and to negotiate fair terms for

doing so.

In October, 1994, I had one of my periodic arguments with Ginsberg

about this same subject. Ginsberg came back to me, claiming he had just had

dinner with John Sampas, and that Sampas had told him, "I'll get the stuff

into the New York Public Library within 20 years." 20 years!!!??? How does

Mr. Sampas know that he'll be alive in 20 years to complete the deal, or

that the director of collections at the NYPL will be alive in 20 years, or

that any library in the country will even have money to purchase a

collection in 20 years? What about the Kerouac scholars who would like

access to the material today?

When Ginsberg told me that, my reply was: "Jan Kerouac won't live

another 20 years." She didn't. Neither did Ginsberg. DON'T YOU THINK THE

TIME FOR ACTION IS NOW??? IF MR. SAMPAS IS SINCERE, DOESN'T HE OWE THE

WORLD OF KEROUAC SCHOLARSHIP A DEMONSTRATION OF HIS SINCERITY, RIGHT NOW?

You ask if Sampas owns Jack Kerouac's property, shouldn't he have

the right to make as much money on it as he can? Legally he may have that

right. Morally, he doesn't. One doesn't destroy a national treasure just

for the sake of maximum profits--witness the fight now in northern

California over saving Headwaters Forest (virgin redwood forest) from the

buzzsaws of Pacific Lumber.

OK, I've answered about Jan's money in my last post, and last night

I explained that she was not on Medicaid, and in fact died with $10,000 in

unpaid medical bills.

Last question--point. You speak about the fact that there shouldn't

be this "animosity." I agree, but let's look at where it's coming from.

Also, you don't believe in a conspiracy. It was not Jan Kerouac who was

attacking Mr. Sampas; it was not me who was attacking Mr. Sampas. Mr.

Sampas has made an active effort to keep me from continuing my Kerouac

scholarship (calling Tom Staley at University of Texas in an attempt to stop

me from looking at Kerouac materials there). Sampas's former agent, Jacob

Hoye, called the University of California Press to try to keep them from

reprinting my book, MEMORY BABE. Sampas's agent Sterling Lord wrote me a

year and a half ago claiming MEMORY BABE was in copyright violation, in what

appeared yet another ploy to put my book out of print. As a matter of fact,

Viking/Penguin put MEMORY BABE out of print within weeks after signing a

six-book deal for unpublished Kerouac materials with John Sampas. Draw your

own conclusions.

Moreover, one of the organizers of the NYU 1995 Kerouac conference

told me (off the record) that it was John Sampas who wanted me and Jan

Kerouac kept out of that conference. Remember that without Mr. Sampas's

cooperation, they would have had no conference, no Kerouac manuscripts to be

read onstage, etc.

Jan Kerouac was not cutting down John Sampas's income month by

month; he was cutting down hers.

I have not taken legal action to try to get John Sampas kicked out

as literary executor of Stella's estate. But Mr. Sampas's new partner, John

Lash, is taking action to get me kicked out as Jan Kerouac's literary

executor. Moreover, Mr. Sampas has shown an active interest in the success

of Mr. Lash's proceeding against me, and is presumably supporting it.

My lawyer has not threatened John Sampas with a libel suit; his

lawyer has threatened me.

Mr. Sampas dominates every aspect of Jack Kerouac scholarship today.

He dictated to Ann Charters what Kerouac letters could be published, and

which ones couldn't, and which parts had to be censored. He hassled Steve

Turner about what photos could be used in his book ANGELHEADED HIPSTER, and

even complained that a photo of Jack with a teacup was shown on the book

jacket, since Mr. Sampas prefers the image of a non-drinking Kerouac to be

put forward to the world. He hassled Paul Maher about the use of a Kerouac

drawing on a bar napkin, which Mr. Maher put on the cover of his new magazine.

I supported Jan Kerouac in her lawsuit against the Sampas family

because I thought her motivation honorable and her cause just. That is the

most that I have done against Mr. Sampas.

It's true I've said some hard words about him. He's said some hard

words about me, including calling me "a piece of trash" in front of

Ginsberg, Robert Creeley, and a lobbyful of people at the Lowell Hilton.

But I'm ready to put all that behind me, if he is. I state right

here, I'll work with John Sampas any place, any time, to help get Jack

Kerouac's archive put on permanent deposit in a library, for all who are

interested, present and future generations, to study and learn from.

Now, can we hear from Mr. Sampas?