On The Road

My copy...One day, I'll sit myself somewhere and read it...
Never done it before, I'll have to do it with this one

"I woke up as the sun was reddening; and that was the one distinct time in my life, the strangest moment of all, that I didn't know who I was..." ----Jack Kerouac

My beautiful, beautiful copy of Jack Kerouac's On The Road is published by Penguin classics with 83 pages worth of great introductory material and then starts, as a second part of the book, with the original scroll of the story. So if you think it's "Dean Moriarty", here it's not...Here it's "Neal Cassady" and "Allen Ginsberg" and for some reason, it's all so much better.

What I love about this book, meaning literally this thick, pastel-colored book, is how the introduction really situates you on the road...hahaha...That's how I've come to learn of George Shearing (above). Howard Cunnell believes On The Road's the first book with a built-in soundtrack, mostly played by Shearing's quintet. And also Slim Gaillard. 

Now, what I really want to do is to just drop everything, for now, and really pull of a Kerouac. In all its pretentious, American youngster feel, I honestly think it's going to do me some good. Not to complain, but I've been really bothered by so many things lately and what's funny is that they're all pretty serious things. I've known myself to get mixed up with tiny you-know-what problems that are all so pathetic...This time, it's big time serious.  And having just at least a day of freedom, of not worrying will do me (and all of us) good. What I do now though is to fight the anxiety with good humor...

And though On The Road is not a comedy, it sure does take you away on a literary ride...At least here, it's a momentary escape...

....then it's back to reality.


-Gerard