I was born in Lowell. Never lived there, but I was born there. At Saint Josephs Hospital which was later absorbed by Saint Johns, a different Catholic hospital in Lowell and that amalgamation is now known collectively as Saints. Saint Josephs was deep in the heart of some of Jack's territory. Pivotal scenes from Dr Sax take place virtually across the street at this insane sort of drive-thru Stations of the Cross. If anyone is interested in touring some Jack places, message me. It's been awhile since I've had a willing victim and it would be fun.
Once I got to college my friends and I visited Jack's grave regularly, often skipping classes to do so. One after hours visit involving a bottle of Wild Irish Rose led me to make some shaky decisions. First of all, do not visit Kerouac's grave on the anniversary of his death. It's way too high profile. And take it from me, do not ever use the hood of your car to boost yourself over a chain link fence when you are wearing round toed hightops. Naturally, this was the night the cops showed up and we had to make a run for it. There was no time to spare and after some spastic high speed windmilling I managed to make the top of the fence. Hmmm...top of chain link sharp! I have a scar on my inner thigh that I can say was the result of a leopard attack and be believed by an otherwise reasonable person. Thanks to the Wild Irish Rose it didn't hurt a bit. Until I had to explain what happened when I got the tetanus shot. All things considered it was so worth it. I mean really, what a great scar to have in reserve to show to Willie when I met him in another year or so.
Willie's a big Jack fan and I just fell in love with his song Kerouac when I heard it. To me it was such an intensely local song and that's one thing I really love about Willie's work to this day. His deeply detailed and compassionate homages to people or places that he knows up close are still fascinating to me now and sounding better than ever. This Fisheye Brothers project I've posted here is something that Willie collaborated on with one of the drummers he works with, Jim Doherty. Jim has recently opened a recording studio in downtown Portland Maine. For these songs, Willie sang from his notebooks and played piano and Jim took the tapes home with him and added all the rest. I hope you like them as much as I do.
Here's a photo I took of Willie one summer in front of the Stations of the Cross drive-thru.
2 comments:
Lowellians unite! Jeez, I never thought I'd say that, but I will always have a fondness for it. Kenne tells me I once rhymed "Merrimac and Kerouac" but maybe I copped it from Willie?
Just got the Fisheye Bros. CD in the mail. It made it all the way out here to Portland, Oregon. Nice note from Willie too. Can't wait to see where Willie takes me this time! Probably to the streets of Gloucester.
Post a Comment