[npc] Lowell Celebrates Kerouac (10/5-8); Janet Hamill and Moving Star (10/7)

["Dennis Moore" <clayboy56>]

Get Jacked up for next week's Kerouac party - By ANDREW RAVENS, Sun
Staff, 09/29/2006

http://www.lowellsun.com/lifestyles/ci_4417463

(btw, did anyone see Moving Star in NYC on the 16th?)

LOWELL -- A poetry contest, road race, music, food, tours, stars and
open mikes, is there anything organizers of the 19th Annual Lowell
Celebrates Kerouac! Festival haven't thought of? The celebration,
which kicks off next Thursday, unofficially begins on Sunday with the
fourth annual running of the Kerouac 5K Road Race, hosted for the
first time by The Dubliner.

Organizers have scheduled about 17 events next weekend in honor of
beat writer Jack Kerouac, whose original On the Road scroll manuscript
will visit the city next summer.

To make that possible, the Cultural Organization of Lowell (COOL)
worked hard the last two years to secure the exhibit. The scroll,
which was purchased in May 2001 for $2.4 million by the NFL's
Indianapolis Colts owner James Irsay, will visit about a dozen cities.

COOL will hold an important charity event next Friday at the Pollard
Memorial Library where all proceeds will benefit "On the Road in
Lowell," a summer-long community celebration, with the crown jewel
being the scroll exhibit. Singer/songwriter Frank Morey and UMass
Lowell's Kerouac writers-in-Residence David Daniel and Major Jackson
will be among the featured guests at the fundraiser.

"I think that it's really kind of astounding that Lowell Celebrates
Kerouac! has continued for 20 years," said COOL Executive Director LZ
Nunn. "It's continued to put Kerouac on the map and in the conscience
of Lowell."

Once Friday night's charity event ends, festival president Larry
Carradini suggests that revelers embark on the Ghosts of the
Pawtucketville Night tour that starts at 9 p.m. at the McDonald's on
Mammoth Road.

As always, LCK! stalwart Roger Brunelle will serve as tour guide. "A
lot of people will be taken with that one," said Carradini. "It's
really spectacular."

Carradini, who recently entered his fifth year as festival president,
estimated about 1,500 to 2,500 people will participate in next
weekend's activities. The weekend's roster was reduced a bit this
year, Carradini said, because organizers are pouring their efforts
into next year's 20th annual celebration.

But that's certainly not to say this year's edition will lack punch.

Poet Janet Hamill and Moving Star will appear next Saturday night at 8
at the Rainbow Cafe on Cabot Street. Carradini is especially pleased
to have secured Hamill, who roomed with legendary New York poet Patti
Smith in college.

"She's (Hamill) a pretty big name in the performance poetry circuit," he said.

And once again, jazz musician and Kerouac contemporary David Amram
will be on hand to lend his musical talents.

"David Amram," joked Carradini. "He'll be the official mayor of Lowell again."

The festival is Oct. 5-8. For more information call 1-877-KEROUAC or
visit http://lckorg.tripod.com. Those interested in purchasing
fundraiser tickets online can visit CultureIsCool.org/kerouac. More
information about the Kerouac 4K Road race can be found at
Kerouac5k.com.