March 12 is the birthday of Jean-Louis Kerouac, better known as Jack, who played football so well he was offered scholarships by a number of colleges, including Notre Dame. He chose Columbia instead.
A football field may be he last place you would expect to find the author of "On the Road" and the best known Beat of the Beat Generation, but there it is and there he was.
Jack Kerouac wrote several novels besides "On the Road," and while "Dharma Bums" and "The Subterraneans" are more famous, we like to remember "Dr. Sax," which is a childhood fantasy, and "Maggie Cassidy," a teenage romance full of sweetness and innocence.
He also appeared, partially wrote and partially improvised an underground film called "Pull My Daisy," in which, Dwight Macdonald wrote, he showed "an unexpected virtuosity at the great American art of kidding."
All of Kerouac's books are in print, which is good to know, but we think we'll observe his birthday by playing "Bop for Kerouac" by the San Francisco jazz singer Mark Murphy. On this recording Murphy sings lyrics to music of Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Charles Mingus, and delivers inspired readings of passages from "On the Road" and "The Subterraneans." If you're going on the road, few better companions than Jack Kerouac and Mark Murphy.
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