http://www.lowellcelebrateskerouac.org/schedule.htm

At the Cafe Paradiso on Sunday, starting at 10 AM, Kerouac lovers participated in an oral reading of The Dharma Bums, start to finish.

Here are some pictures of the event: The first photo shows Ray Haleluk, originally from Saskatchewan, now living in Orono, Maine. He was chosen to read first, partly because Jack’s pseudonym in “The Dharma Bums” is Ray Smith and Ray was also a Ray.

The second picture shows the second reader, Rick Dale, also from Maine, who read Chapter two. Rick Dale is the author of "The Beat Handbook" and posted a nice summary of all the weekend's events on his Web site:

http:// thedailybeatblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/report-from-lowell-celebrates-kerouac_07.html

Crystal, Rick's significant other, read Chapter 3, and took the pictures shown here. That's her in Picture 3, and Dennis closest to the camera, back to the camera.

Dennis read Chapter 5 (everyone's favorite - about yabyum). That's the next picture.

And Jim read Chapter 6 (a lonnnggggg chapter). Last picture.

Here is another post by Rick regarding the film we saw, which was shown for only the second time ever anywhere in the world:

http:// thedailybeatblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/report-from-lowell-celebrates-kerouac_06.html

The new Kerouac documentary:

So far I've reported about visiting Kerouac's grave and the open mike at Cafe Paradiso on Friday night. In between, we drove over to UMass-Lowell and watched a screening of the new documentary film, One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur. It hit all the right notes, combining interviews with Kerouac contemporaries (e.g., Carolyn Cassady, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, David Amram) and current celebrities (e.g., Donal Logue, Tom Waits, Sam Shepard) at actual Big Sur locations. Beautiful camerawork. Touching stories. Perfect musical score. An actor, John Ventimiglia, read passages from Big Sur as part of narration. I thought it was Jack. [Dennis says, so did I!] Spooky.

Afterwards, the director and producers answered questions from the audience. (Side note: lots of beats in that crowd!)

I highly recommend this film whether you are a Kerouac fan or not. Outstanding!

Here's the link with trailer and other information:

http://www.kerouacfilms.com/kerouac_cast_.html

Kerouac Films.