Tag Archives: kerouac in kobe

Lists + Awards + Profiles

Cameo: in International Journal of Beat Studies “Kerouac Fan”

artifacts assembled by beat scholar Simon Warner from dossier i sent from “Kerouac in Kobe” ephemera

Following all the shenanigans of the Kerouac in Kobe event in 2021 , including:

membership has many benefits evidently

… i joined up with the International Beat Studies Association – or rather sent them $40 and heard nothing and received nothing so i *guess* i am – or was – a member, so i received the Journal of Beat Studies (with the seemingly-obligatory faux typewriter typeface title on cover) and inside with an article about the Kerouac exhibit including my idea about exploring JK as a “community wrangler” by Prof Matt Theado, who is again featured in the “Kerouac in Kobe” – *On the Road scroll* in Japan / video interview (its all very meta).

Anyhow, there was a snapshot accompanying the article with Prof M. Theado, Kaori Misyashita-Theado – the two of whom were critical catalysts of the exhibit and accompanying conference, along with me and Ryoko Olson snapped by a museum helper in front the exhibjit entrance.

We are identified as “Two friends (and Kerouac fans)”. Duly, archived here as yet another almost delicate brush with anonymous immortality, just out here living beat ya know :)

anonymously awesome
Kinfolk + Pals, Post'd (cards + letters)

Postal Dossier: to Poet Ron and Artist Jinn

Poet Ron Whitehead says,

Ron Whitehead is *the outlaw poet* – a true legend and gentlemen, to be admired, read, listened to, and respected. I definitely do all of the above.

Huge Shout Out Thank You to my friend Dave Olson for the Amazing Gift Package from Japan!!! Sending good vibrations from my little writing cottage near the banks of the oh great river!!

Ron Whitehead, Lifetime Beat Poet Laureate

Photo by Frogg Corpse

To which i reply,

Dear poet Ron and artist Jinn,

So glad the package arrived, and very grateful that you took the time to savour all the contents with glimpses of my projects and “usual days” plus very much appreciate you making this wonderful collage / unsurprisingly, I will be sure to properly archive the evidence

Warms my heart across continents and oceans. I look forward to continued correspondence and collaborations.

Fondly from my cottage to yours,

PS for those curious about the Kerouac in Kobe artifacts, check this dossier & video: “Kerouac in Kobe” – *On the Road scroll* in Japan / video interview + exhibit

Libraries / Museums / Archives

“Kerouac in Kobe” in Allen Ginsberg project round-up & Beat Museum + poets of note

1 Comment

Allen’s Estate & Archive

So happy to be included in this fantastic Allen Ginsberg Project news round-up with my Kerouac in Kobe project // catch more goodness via @ginsbergpoem on Twtr &/or Allen Ginsberg on Fb. They do a truly incredible job of archiving, amplifying and curating so much poetic goodness.

(from Allen Ginsberg Archive, round-up} Allen Ginsberg at the April 1973 “Tribute to Jack Kerouac” at Salem State College – for more images from that historic occasion – see here

the Allen Ginsberg Project: Friday’s Weekly Round-Up – 487, excerpts follow:

Kerouac Centennial. In case anybody missed it. Here’s our two-part posting on the legendary (very first) Kerouac Conference, back in 1973 in Salem, Massachusetts – here and here 

and next Thursday and Friday, November 3 and 4,  The Beat Studies Association in collaboration with Harper College, Palatine, Illinois, will host a Jack Kerouac Centenary Conference  with keynote speaker, Ann Charters, and special presentations by Kerouac biographers, Dennis McNally, Holly George-Warren, Kerouac scholars Tim Hunt and Regina Weinreich, and Jim Sampas, executor of the Kerouac Estate

and more Kerouac – Simon Warner interviews Dave Olson on the recent (2021) Kerouac and The Beats exhibition in Kobe, Japan. and more on “Kerouac in Kobe” – see here 

I added… 

Note: For the all the influences of Japan on the wider Beat community – especially Zen and haiku – this was the first comprehensive exhibit. While centered around Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” typescript, was really reflective of roots and branches of Beats in Japan with loads of ephemera (esp from Kazu-san at http://www.flying-books.com/ including: chapbooks, posters, editions, maps, passports, records from dear Allen as well as Nanao Sakaki, Gary Snyder + Phillip Whalen and others.

Encourage anyone with an interest about this unique viewpoint to dig in to the interview with Prof Matt Theado with loads of riffs and topics and laughs, plus the “Rock and Beat Generation” interview with Simon Warner and even a spontaneous video  from my historic barn studio in provincial Okayama with topics from car crashes to Television (the band not the communications medium) to namechecks for poets Marc Zegans and Ron Whitehead and pods from Ken Bole.

+ I now have Dave Olson “tag space” at Allen Ginsberg project site

Beat Museum chiming in

Righteous words from Jerry Cimino at the Beat Museum (*of course* i have a photo essay and field notes from this stellar museum, currently, literally “On the Road” at my creative life archive), about the “Kerouac in Kobe” interview with Prof Matt Theado and the Rock and Beat Generation newsletter interview with Simon Warner – all discussed in a spontaneous video riff from historic barn studio in provincial Japan with topics ranging from car crashes to podcasts to Television (the band, not communication medium) and many points in between.

Please investigate all of the above and add your sparks to the tinder to keep the creative goodness flowing from these notable poets, scholars and renegades, ergo from Jerry:

My friend Dave Olson is a Canadian living in Japan who sends out periodic riffs on all things Beat. He has a tremendous breadth and depth to his knowledge and his delivery style is authentically engaging. You should check out his page and dig into the work he’s doing – I always learn something from Dave.”

“The Beats aren’t frozen in amber. What these writers wrote about and inspired us to do is go out and live life intentionally and deliberately and full-on and photgraph your tears…”

~ Dave Olson

+ What the Poets are Saying

Poet / creative project advisor Marc Zegans, shared his kind words (adding tinder to the little flame)

Marvelously rich and detailed interview. I was particularly struck by Dave’s account of how he kept adapting his plans to the ever-changing situation with respect to the Kobe exhibition. His laid back adaptations in the moment would, I imagine, make Gary Snyder smile. Also loved the bit about choosing the Red Norvo track for the film. it does resonate strongly as something Sal and Dean might have been listening to in the big old Hudson. Thoroughly enjoyed Dave’s account of his journey to, from, and back to Japan. Wonderful questions Simon, and thoroughly engaging responses.

Marc Zegans via Rock and Beat Generation
Beat Sushi

Rock and the Beat Generation interview (+ usual poets & postal)

Video 2 Comments

Quick hits (while pausing music by Neal Casal and next up Television –the band not the communication medium – to talk about Kerouac in Kobe interview in Simon Warner’s “Rock and the Beat Generation” newsletter and encouraging you to sign-up… plus:

* remarks about two inspiring poets: Ron Whitehead & Marc Zegans

* the conundrums/excitement of adding sparks to tinder to help a creative project gain kindling-like momentum

* review of upcoming storytime on “writers read the early sht” with Jason Emde

* a note about my occasional podcast “Postcards from Gravelly Beach” and the machinations of moving feeds from relatively ancient times

* a hint I’m working on a poetry book tentatively titled “a circumnavigation of sorts”

* something about my weird illness ME/CFS and recent articles in the Atlantic and San Francisco Chronicle

+ usual thing about “let me know you’re paying attention and I’ll send you a postcard” maybe

Interview #12: Dave Olson
A Canadian who long went East reveals the ins and outs of a magnificent Kerouac event in Japan forced to dodge the impact of the global pandemic yet which hauled triumph from the jaws of defeat

from Simon Warner “Interview #12: Dave Olson” Rock and Beat Generation
Television and the Beats and DOA and other items

PS I’ll add links to relevant things later / still in the barn listening to records and writing letters. In the meanwhile, you’re clever and I’m confident can figure it out on your own.

Yup, that is a signed *by councillor Joe Keithley and Randy Rampage (rip)* original pressing of DOA’s Hardcore 81 on the wall

Oh links!

Since we are here and archiving

Marc Zegans chimed in with:

Another charming, delightful, and thoroughly engaging video from Dave Olson. Really appreciated his warm shout out on behalf of Lyon Street and my work as a creative development advisor and friend to writers and artists of all stripes.

By the way, Dave was very recently interviewed in a fascinating piece by Simon Warner. You can check it out on Simon’s Rock and the Beat Generation series.

Ron Whitehead chimed in with:

Thank you Dave!! I included Richard Hell in the 48-hour non-stop music & poetry NEW ORLEANS INSOMNIACATHON which historian Douglas Brinkley and I produced in August 1996. I introduced Richard to a packed house. Doug and I got a historic marker put up in front of William S. Burroughs home there in Algiers, across the Mississippi River. Burroughs did a phone interview with us, as part of the INSOMNIACATHON. We included many of The Beats. Dave, you’re interview in Simon Warner’s important and fantastic fun Rock and The Beat Generation is excellent! I love your posts! Keep up the great work!!

One more note:

… float up all the poetic boats and gently encourage reader to dig into your works on their terms. I’ve found – in the journey of a creative artist – sometimes the rewards come unexpectedly and are different than originally thought, so whilst waiting, can feel a bit lonely so best make yourself comfortable to enjoy the experience.

dvo
Might Get Lonely - Reap Rewards
Might Get Lonely – Reap Rewards
Craft Sessions

Assembling Kerouac Dossiers and Poetic Letters, in the Kura #video

Video

Assembling Jack Kerouac ephemera dossiers and stamping postcards, scribbling letters while chatting, grouching about misplacing things and listening to REM’s “Fables of the Reconstruction.”

many items, carefully curated, into envelopes (with splendid stamps of course)

Hang out, no big deal.

PS Wanna get some artifacts for your archive and amusement? Be sure to watch the “Kerouac in Kobe” video to the end.

Bonus from Simon Warner, author of “text, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll” and writer/curator of highly recommended “Rock and the Beat Generation” newsletter, who says:

Thank you, Dave Olson, for sharing such a great selection of Kerouac in Kobe 2020/2021 exhibition artefacts: what a wonderful gathering of programmes and images, text, recordings and postcards!

Look out for an interview at Rock and the Beat Generation with the Canadian bodhisattva of Japanese Beat very soon
Simon Warner shares the assortment of Kerouac in Kobe artefacts / which arrived to UK in about a week from Japan, hooray for postal services!
it’s not always easy, but I keep on trying one way or another.
Japan Cottage Musings, Japan Life/Travel

Charcoal, Poetry & Postal + topics of varied interest

Video
it’s cardigan season so let’s discuss a bonanza of topics, shall we?

While the industrious senior ladies are cleaning the house, I fire up a machine to tell you about the following items:

several pleasing items
Continue reading Charcoal, Poetry & Postal + topics of varied interest →
Beat Sushi

“Kerouac in Kobe” – *On the Road scroll* in Japan / video interview + exhibit

Video 14 Comments
grab your passport, map and suitcase and let’s go Go GO!

A rollicking mixed-media revue of a groundbreaking exhibit in Japan featuring a stunningly-reproduced facsimile of the taped-together sc/roll manuscript of what became Jack Kerouac’s seminal, counter-culture-sparking novel “On The Road.”

Blurb: A lively conversation between storymaker Dave Olson and with Professor & President of Beat Studies Assoc., Matt Theado of Kobe City University Dept of Foreign Studies, at BB Plaza Art Museum in Kobe, Japan, summer of 2021 after the event was delayed for a year for *public health conundrums* and re-imagined to include a truly remarkable collection of ephemera, chapbooks, broadsides, posters, typewrtier, records, various editions of On the Road, related book, maps, Japanese language glossary and much more – most provided by Kazu-san of Flying Books of Tokyo.

The fast-placed video includes many artifacts from the exhibit and from the host’s life of travels and evidence of “living beat” to connect the experience to *anyone’s* life (that means “you” if you choose).

Oh so glad you stopped by for “Kerouac in Kobe”

Riffs:

  • Logistics of creating the”authorized forgery/reproduction” of the noted taped-together original manuscript & how the original plan of bringing the original manuscript (and Mr. Jim Canary) was thwarted
  • The symposium of writers, scholars, translators held at Kobe City University of Foreign Studies (YT archive)
  • Observations about Jack’s process in writing the work (and dispelling the myth of a benzadrine-induced manic type-athon) including the importance of “working with you got,” notebooks, list taking, knowing where you are going
  • How he immediately re-typed on “regular paper”, changing names and making ready for publication
  • Scenes of life of America in transition at the time, the embrace of bohemian culture
Continue reading “Kerouac in Kobe” – *On the Road scroll* in Japan / video interview + exhibit →
Collections of Artifacts, Writing Life

Book: Jack Kerouac, On the Road, original sc/roll in Japanese 日本語

For cover collectors and other curious folks, here is the “original sc/roll“ edition of OtR in 日本語Japanese.

Snaps of the front, back and spine of the dust jacket and a couple sample pages – cool to see the three Japanese writing styles all smashed together in one continuous block. That’s a heck of a translation project for sure!

{As displayed under my “postbox postcard haiku“ painting at Rural Caprine (goat) Farm & Market in Okayama & watched over by Jerry Garcia.}

Beat Sushi, Social + Culture

“Meet the Beats“ ~ From 6 Poets San Fran 1955 to *everywhere*

Video 10 Comments

A rapid-fire introduction to the “Beat Generation” focused on the story of “6 Poets at Gallery 6” reading Oct, 1955 SF CA when Allen Ginsberg, Phillip Whalen, Gary Snyder, Micheal McClure, Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, Lawrence Ferlinghetti et al were all in the room for a reading hosted by Kenneth Rexroth that would go into legend and launch a poetry renaissance in San Francisco and the world.

Includes extended erstwhile members of the movement and “what happened” after that night as the poets and their friends scattered their influence globally (with, not surprisingly, a little bit of extra emphasis on Japan, Zen, India/Nepal) plus Merry Pranksters, Furthur bus, Grateful Dead and even the Simpsons. Whoa!

i really think you are gonna dig this story

Lots of the usual ephemera, show & tell, couple of vinyl records, loads of books, various digressions and asides, hats & homework.

Continue reading “Meet the Beats“ ~ From 6 Poets San Fran 1955 to *everywhere* →