Jerry Cimino of "The Beat Museum" in California
has taken his act 'On The Road' for the first time this
past April.
Cimino, accompanied by John Cassady (son of Neal Cassady)
and others, took the museum - housed in a motorhome
- to Los Angeles for nine days, from its stationery
location in Monterey, for the premiere of the film Beat
Angel. "We shook out the Beatmobile, at a thing
called Method Fest" said Cimino. "Nine days
in Burbank"
The excursion was a way for Cimino to dry-run his concept
of having a kind of "Beat Museum On Wheels,"
as a way to spread the message of the Beat Generation
to America without Americans having to come to his location
in Monterey.
"I envision the Beat Museum on Wheels as a way
of continuing to spread the message of the Beat Generation
to America’s youth and the population at large,"
notes Cimino, who opened www.kerouac.com's Beat Museum
in Monterey in 2003. "I can see the Museum turning
up at High Schools and Colleges as well as Poetry Events,
Festivals and other appearances across the country."
Cimino says his museum has entertained thousands of
visitors this first year - but while he has enjoyed
the quiet coastal life, "we want to do more to
allow the many thousands of people who aren’t
able to make a trip to California’s Central Coast
to see our collection and learn more about the story
of the Beat Generation."
The idea for taking his show “On The Road”
came about after he received numerous emails from people
who live all over the country expressing their support
of what the Beat Museum is doing and their desire to
visit - “someday.”
The Beat Museum is located at 211 W. Franklin Street
Monterey, CA. To get it on wheels, Cimino acquired a
classic Airstream motorhome. "The Airstream 345,
with it’s beautiful streamlined retro look, is
the perfect vehicle to showcase the spirit of the 50’s
and the Beat Generation," he says. "This beautiful
machine is a real head-turner and will undoubtedly encourage
interest in and study of the Beats as the Museum travels
around the country." Next on the agenda was acquiring
and customizing a trailer to house the Beat Museum on
Wheels.
Now that he's back from his trip to LA, Cimino is contemplating
his next move, and anticipates that in the next few
months, he'll be concentrating on tours of California.
"The concept is going well," he said. "There
are some things to work out, but people like it. I can
envision the Museum as a catalyst for readings, discussion
groups at bookstores, coffeehouses, and other locales,
encouraging the study of various Beat themes and what
it all meant (and still means) to America and the world."
To hear more about Jerry Cimino's vision for The Beat
Museum, you can hear an NPR radio interview that ran
in late 2003 by going to www.kerouac.com and clicking
on the link that is 2/3’s down the homepage. That's
the address to click, too, if you want to help Cimino
out in any of a number of organizational ways - or just
write to him at jerry@kerouac.com and include the words
MUSEUM VOLUNTEER in the subject line.
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