BIG SUR MARATHON READING REPORTS

FR: SAN FRANCISCO

DARIANA HAYWARD: Big Sur in San Francisco was a culmination of your love for the arts and Jack Kerouac and your belief with us that if you want something bad enough you can make it happen. thank you all for that. We got started a little late by almost two hours but it is hard when the generator won't kick in all the way and although we tried to reach the rental guy it took us awhile and George Rosenfeld the sound guy finally made it work.

New Monsoon. Thank you guys SO MUCH for coming so far and doing such a wonderful job. You are all wonderful performers and we got many compliments on how wonderful you sound live. We owe you so much more than thank you can say. Uncle Franks Workshop: you guys were great. thank you for being able to play for us. Many people were disappointed that you did not also have a cd available. We really enjoyed you and are sorry you got started later than you should have. Next time I will bring another generator!! Frank Lauria..THANK YOU for everything. You are always there when I needed something in a hurry. Even though it took me three tries to get the name of your band right, we finally did it! James Stauffer: THANK YOU for always being there when I needed you to listen or try to help me work something out. thank you for bringing SA Griffin to us. Although he had to get back to LA we really enjoyed meeting and getting together with him.

Chris Oller. Chris got on a bus and rode over 40 hours to get here from Denton Texas. He sort of got the Kerouac Experience, riding the bus and having Big Sur be the end of the road. Jessica Loos!! Your performance was not to be missed. I think we will be rewinding the tape on your performance for years to come. You were wonderful...you truly rock. The Cassady family...you came early, worked hard, and stayed late. Always gracious to your fans and your contemporaries and always willing to jump in and help wherever we needed you. I feel like I am a member of your family.

Gerry Nicosia; THANK YOU for coming to spend the day with us, right in the middle of your book signing tour. Thank you for all the help and information you have given me, and for your willingness to jump in with both feet and help. To the Ciminos, thank you for bringing 1-800-kerouac all the way from Monterey and selling your wares and meeting the fans. Thank you for selling the books of authors who came to read. Your effort is much appreciated by all of us. The KPFA family. Jack and Adelle Foley.. thank you for reading and doing such a wonderful job and for your input on the whole thing for the last year. Susan Stone and Jennifer Stone...thank you for coming and for all of the free airtime you gave to this project.

Kim McMillon, thank you for bringing the talent from your various one woman shows to the forefront in your reading. I was happy to finally get to meet you after so many emails. I am looking for ward to working with you soon. Opal Adisa, a lady with more pedigrees than almost anyone I know; I thought your reading was moving and so filled with warmth and interpretation to your words and their meaning. I was pleased that you accepted our invitation to read. Philip Cousineau, thank you for bringing little "Jack" and staying even though as you told me, it was a "writing day" and you should have been writing. It is so neat to see how all of you interact together to bring something like this to life. Your reading was touching and wonderful. And I thank you.

Barry Gifford who came by to read his chapter on the way to the airport for his Austrian trip. THANK YOU. I suppose I whined but your reading of chapter five was certainly worth it. Thank you for coming by and reading for us, even if you only did so to shut me up!! (smile) Dan Richman, I enjoyed meeting you and listening to you read. Now I know why they love you on the East Coast. Thank you for coming to be here. Floyd Salas. What can I say about you. you do so many generous things that nobody ever catches you doing, but I saw what you did. Just so you know that you were observed doing a marvelous deed. And the words you said to me before you read will hang in my heart forever. You touch a person deeply.

Shelly Campbell, Ianthe Brautigan, and Michele Anna Jordan, thank you for coming to the party and staying until the end. The very end. There is a bond when people turn into Popsicles. You guys are great. Thank you to those of you who jumped in to read an extra chapter when I needed you to. Don Define who just jumped in before I even asked ( I suppose the look of despair gave me away) and read two chapters. You guys who just jump in are amazing, and I suppose that is why artists are different from regular people. Murray Korngold who tried to stay until late yet had to be someplace else, your efforts are appreciated and next time I will get you into the head of the line. God love you Murray, you are a peach.

Katz Forman and Jean Mullis: Katz who let me drive him crazy and let me rope him into two chapters. Always ready to jump in and go for it. And Jean, always ready with a name of another reader or someone who could help, and your gloves were more appreciated that you know. Karen and I would be still standing there without them, frozen to the spot. Naveed Ashraf who came from Fairfield and stayed. See I told you it would be fine. Thank you for spending your Sunday with us. Treacy Corrigan. what a trouper. Stayed until late, and when you read it could have been 80 degrees and balmy. Instead of 40 and cold. You are truly an actress to the core.

Kevin Reilly, THANK YOU for all your publicity and word of mouth, and energy that you have put into this thing. You are truly an energetic person with the soul of Dylan Thomas. Your reading was everything you put into your own one man show. Thank you so much. Robert Sward who came all the way from Santa Cruz. I appreciate the effort it took for you to come all the way and read late into the evening. It was wonderful to hear you and meet you and hang out with you, even though you aren't a podiatrist. (smile) Shelley Campbell and Susan Parker, thank you for reading and sticking it out in the cold. Your dedication to this was amazing.

Neeli! Thank you for reading, and visiting with us. I really appreciate your patience with my nagging. And for pointing out everyone in my photograph. You are living history, wise and full of patience. I know you laugh but you know what I am talking about. Thank you. Sabrina Gogol, thank you for coming so far and bringing those wonderful decorations you made for the event. And you read on top of everything else you did that day. They were artistic and beautiful and I shall miss you when you are in Oregon, but the College is lucky to have you in their art department. Remember what I taught you about questioning authority.

Leonard Bregar...THANK YOU for your years of wisdom and the effort you made to put your all into your reading. Your dedication and talent is wonderful. Thank you for letting me get to know you. Gavin Newsom, thank you for taking out time from your supervisorial duties to come across and join in the day. I really liked meeting you..and remember you promised to promote more events on your television stints.very big smile. Ed Moose..thanks for running back and forth and for starting the day for us. You are appreciated. (and thank you for the liquid libation - just when I needed it most!) the party is at Moose's right?

Kush, the untiring historian of the poetry world. Thank you for staying all day and recording the events. And for reading. Your reading was not to be missed. You always jump in when you are needed. Your devotion to this work is something to inspire the weakest of heart. When I was freezing you were not moving, and I think you would have stayed to record the events in the dead of night in a hailstorm. Thank you Kush. Thanks Marsha Garland for all of the readers you sent our way and your help for making this day happen. We could not have done it without you.

Lastly, Michael and Amy McClure. If you had to go before you heard the wonderful and heart stopping reading of "the sea" by Michael while Amy patiently held the light for him, well you will just have to see the tape. It was something that you had to hear first hand as he heard from Jack himself in order to hear it the way it was meant to be read. It never meant so much as when I heard it from you, and all of us who stayed huddled in the cold will never forget it. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you lastly George Wallace, for being the visionary that you are. You make things happen, and you let us all join in the party.

Thank you everybody for being who you are. Artists are so different from the everyday people. Made of different "stuff." I hold deep admiration in my heart for each and every one of you for the reasons I have mentioned.

JAMES STAUFFER: just a quick report on the big sur even here on the west coast, washington square park, yesterday. a beautiful day in the park to catch up with old friends, meet lots of new ones and saturate oneself with kerouac. plus music from new monsoon and frank lauria's band, beat books and memorabilia courtesy of jerry and estelle cimino and on and on. the cassady representation in san francisco was by jamie and cathy, neal and carolyn's daughters. son john and carolyn were at the northport new york event. children of the beats were also represented by ianthe brautigan. there were many great readings of the individual chapters. the stand out however would have to have been jack michelines protegee jessica loos. the even started late due to generator problems and ran late and as the fog rolled in and the wind kicked up the crowd understandably shrank. however, those who stayed til the end will never forget michael mcclure's reading of kerouac's translation of the sounds of the ocean which closes the book. for probably 30 to 40 shivering beatniks who remained, while his wife ann held a flashlight so he could see the text and with the towers of st. peter and st. paul's behind him mcclure read the poem which he had heard Jack read there on the beach at bixby canyon bridge while, as mcclure said, the ocean read a new poem behind him. a wonderful, sensitive and evocative reading, it will stand in my mind alongside hearing ginsberg read howl when he and the orlovsky brothers stopped through uc riverside in the early 60's. mcclure, reading strictly for love nd no other compensation, waited patiently for his moment and rewarded those who could stay til nearly 9:30 with a poetic moment they will never forget. as ianthe brautigan said to me, why to the really special moments have to come when we are dead tired and frozen :-)

CHRIS OLLER: as one of the readers and "shivering beatniks" (being from texas, it never occurred to me to pack warm clothing in the middle of summer...the cold weather in san francisco july blew my mind) who stuck it out to hear michael mcclure read "sea" in washington square park, i can say it was truly a rare treat...and adding to the beauty of it all, while michael read in the dark by flashlight, were the howling cold bay winds that blew into the park after the sun went down...closing my eyes and listening to michael read, gave me a sense that i was there on the beach hearing the sounds of the sea. one noteworthy element that was missing from jame stauffer's report about the reading, was the periodic booming voice from behind the stage between readers and lulls in music, throughout the day, yelling "HEY JACK....JACK KEROUAC!"...giving me the sense that somewhere out there in the park was jack kerouac's spirit, lounging in the san francisco sun, sipping on a bottle of sweet wine, digging the reading....