Celebrating the 36th Annual LCK! Fall Festival
And partnering with Poe in Lowell 2024
Pre- Festival Events
Thursday, October 3
6:30 pm. Poe and Kerouac: Kindred Spirits. With host Stephan Anstey and Poe in Lowell organizer Meg Smith. Jack Kerouac’s and Edgar Allan Poe’s writings touched on many similar themes including love, loss, and life’s mysteries. Lowell Writers Group’s monthly poetry reading and open mic will feature readings of Kerouac’s and Poe’s works highlighting their spiritual and literary kinship. Open mic to follow.
lala books, 189 Market St.
Saturday, October 5
9:00 am. Marathon Reading of Jack Kerouac’s Doctor Sax. Join us as we read the novel in its entirety over the course of the day. It’s a haunting semi-autobiographical story about Jack’s adolescence in Lowell—and the strange figures who populate his fantasy world.
Sign up via this link: bit.ly/dr-sax-marathon
Pollard Memorial Library Community Room, 401 Merrimack Street.
9:00 am–12:00 pm. LCK! & LLK Kerouac Park Cleanup. Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! and Lowell Litter Krewe are joining forces to clean up Kerouac Park and get it ready for the upcoming festival! Cleanup tools, bags, and gloves provided. Participants must sign a volunteer waiver, available at the cleanup. To learn more about Lowell Litter Krewe, visit lowelllitterkrewe.org.
Kerouac Park, 75 Bridge St.
Festival Events
Thursday, October 10
2:00 pm–3:30pm. Dedication of the Roger Brunelle Collection. Following his passing, the family of Roger Brunelle donated his vast collection of documents—letters, news articles, photographs, tour notes, and much more, relating to the Kerouac presence in Lowell and the history of Lowell Celebrates Kerouac—to LCK. LCK has, in turn, catalogued the material and given it to the Center for Lowell History. To mark the occasion of having this valuable body of work available for Kerouac scholars, as well as anyone interested in learning more of the Kerouac story in Lowell, there will be a formal recognition and dedication of the Roger Brunelle Collection at the O’Leary Library.
UMASS Lowell O’Leary Library, 61 Wilder Street.
5:00 pm. LCK Festival opening gathering at The Old Worthen.
Worthen House Café, 141 Worthen Street.
5:30 pm. Jack at Night walking tour. Includes stops at the “Watermelon Man Bridge,” the Grotto, and the Archambault Funeral Home where Jack was waked. These sites are described in Doctor Sax. Led by Bill Walsh.
Departs from and returns to Worthen House Café, 141 Market Street.
7:30 pm. Music and Poetry at The Worthen. Hosted by John McDermott. Features poets Meg Smith, Dan Bacon, and Jim Dunn. Music by Local Beatles Tribute act Glass Onion and Mike Dion of the ODB Project and George Koutmanzelis of Aeolian Kid.
Worthen House Café, 141 Market Street.
Friday, October 11
9:30 am. Lowell High School Jack Kerouac Poetry Contest. Sponsored by LCK.
[This is an LHS event and not open to the public.]
11:00 am. Reality Alley Poetry Workshop. Led by Dan Bacon in “Reality Alley”—aka Worthen House Café Courtyard.
141 Worthen Street
11:00 am–1:30 pm. Bus tour: A Merrimack River Anthology—Kerouac’s Franco-American Ghosts. Inspired by the structure and content of Edgar Lee Masters Spoon River Anthology and led by Kurt Phaneuf, this tour highlights Jack’s ethnic identity and relationships as it visits the final resting places of so many Lowell-area Franco-Americans behind the Duluoz Legend. Founded in 1894 for Lowell’s French-Canadian Catholic community, St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Chelmsford, Mass., has interred Ti-Jean’s family members (including his first cousin, Hervé), boyhood buddies, teachers, clergy, local political and business leaders, veterans, sports stars, and fellow scribes. Comfortable shoes recommended.
96 Riverneck Road, East Chelmsford. The bus departs and returns to the Lowell National Historical Park Visitors Center, 246 Market Street. Reservations suggested by calling 978-970-5000. $10.00 donation requested to cover bus costs. Area attendees wishing to drive can meet the bus around 11:10 in the vicinity of the cemetery office. Please do not park on either side of the road near the chapel or between the chapel and office to ensure adequate funeral parking in the event of a late-morning or early-afternoon funeral.
2:00 pm. Talking Jack. An open conversation on Jack Kerouac led by Matt Theado. Matt lives and teaches in Kobe, Japan, where he hosted a major Kerouac exhibition and symposium in the summer of 2021. He’ll kick off the conversation about Kerouac’s presence in Japan and how Japanese people respond to his work. Theado is the author of Understanding Jack Kerouac (2000) and editor of The Beats: A Documentary Reference (2003). He currently serves as President of the Beat Studies Association and co-editor of the Journal of Beat Studies.
lala books, 189 Market St.
6:00–7:30 pm. (Doors open at 5:30) Use Poetry: A Lowell Celebrates Kerouac reading and discussion. Poets Tanya Grae, Ariella Ruth, and Linda Bratcher Wlodyka will read their work and join poet and UMASS Lowell Associate Professor Maggie Dietz for a discussion of Jack Kerouac’s influence and legacy as a poet.
A $20.00 cover charge is requested to support Lowell Celebrates Kerouac. Day passes for $30 are also available, covering both Use Poetry and Toussaint the Liberator. For advance tickets please visit: bit.ly/lck-overlook-2024
The Overlook at Mill No. 5, 250 Jackson Street, 5th Floor.
8:00–10:00 pm. Toussaint the Liberator. The rhythms of the African diaspora and socially conscious songwriting inform and infuse the musical stylings of Toussaint the Liberator and his band. A $20.00 cover charge is requested to support Lowell Celebrates Kerouac. Day passes for $30 are also available, covering both Use Poetry and Toussaint the Liberator. For advance tickets please visit: bit.ly/lck-overlook-2024
The Overlook at Mill No. 5, 250 Jackson Street, 5th Floor
Saturday, October 12
9:00 am. Commemorative at the Commemorative. An LCK annual gathering. We take time to honor the lives those in the Kerouac World, either in Lowell or beyond, who have recently passed away. This year we remember LCK Board member Tom Mansour and poet John Sinclair. Tom was an active and enthusiastic member of the LCK Board, and sadly passed away in June of this year. We will remember and celebrate his contributions to Lowell Celebrates Kerouac. Acclaimed poet and counter-cultural activist John Sinclair has been a part of many of our LCK gatherings over the years—always an exciting presence! He passed away this past April at age 83. We’ll recount some of his amazing stories, knowing we’ll miss him being with us this year.
Kerouac Park, 75 Bridge St.
10:00 am. Bus tour of Kerouac sites of Lowell. Led by Bill Walsh. Includes stops at Kerouac’s birthplace, some of the neighborhoods he describes in his Lowell novels, and the gravesite at the Edson Cemetery. The approximate time of the tour is two hours. Reservations suggested by calling 978-970-5000. $10.00 donation requested to cover bus costs.
Departs from Kerouac Park, 75 Bridge St.
10:00 am. Walking tour of Downtown Kerouac sites. Led by Kurt Phaneuf. The walk takes in some of the downtown places described in the Lowell novels. Donations gratefully accepted.
Departs from Kerouac Park, 75 Bridge St.
11:00 am–12:00 pm. Lowell Celebrates Kerouac book presentation: Portraits Along the Way by Paul Marion. Local author Paul Marion will discuss his new book Portraits Along the Way, a collection of profiles of memorable people whom he met or otherwise encountered since the 1970s, including Patti Smith, Bob Dylan, Johnny Depp, Gary Snyder, and Jack Kerouac, whose early writings he edited in the collection Atop an Underwood. Paul is a Lowell native who spent decades working towards the revitalization of the city. His many accomplishments include founding Loom Press and co-founding the Lowell Folk Festival and Lowell Heritage Partnership. His writing includes the books Mill Power: The Origin and Impact of Lowell National Historical Park, and Lockdown Letters & Other Poems.
Pollard Memorial Library Community Room, 401 Merrimack Street.
12:00–1:00 pm. Lowell Reads Kerouac book discussion: Pic. Pic is Jack Kerouac’s only published work that does not include a fictionalized version of himself as narrator. It is told through the eyes of a ten-year-old Black boy named Pictorial Review “Pic” Jackson, who lives with his grandfather in North Carolina in the 1940s. After his grandfather dies, Pic’s older brother Slim comes to get him, and they journey to New York City and later California. The story is told in the Black dialect indigenous to the North Carolina farm country during that era. Please read the book ahead of time and join us for an informal discussion. Copies will be available for patrons of the Pollard Library to borrow. Register: https://bit.ly/LowellReadsKerouacPic
Pollard Memorial Library Community Room, 401 Merrimack Street.
1:00 pm. Library Haunts and Hooky Tour. Led by Bill Walsh. The tour centers on the Pollard Library’s Kerouac Corner, noting the times Jack played hooky from Lowell High School in order to read books of his choosing. Donations gratefully accepted.
Pollard Library, 401 Merrimack Street.
2:00 pm. Annual LCK Parker Lecture by Charles Shuttleworth: Kerouac’s Buddhist Years and Other Discoveries. Charles Shuttleworth is a teacher at the Harker School in San Jose, Calif. A noted Kerouac scholar, his presentation for this year’s Parker Lecture draws on the vast wealth of unpublished writings housed in the New York Public Library’s Kerouac archive, with a special focus on Kerouac’s Buddhist period, 1954-58.
Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center Theater, 246 Market Street.
3:30 pm. Charles Shuttleworth book signing. Following his Parker Lecture presentation, Charles will be available to sign copies of his previously edited works of Jack Kerouac including Desolation Peak and Self Portrait, directly across Market Street from the LNHP Visitors Center.
lala books, 189 Market St.
4:00 pm. Open Mic. Hosted by Cliff Whalen. Emceed by Dan Bacon. Featured reading by Beat Poet Laureate Mark Lipman. During the open mic Steve Belletto, editor of the newly published The Cambridge Companion to Jack Kerouac, along with some contributors to the book, will be tabling to celebrate the launch of this important new volume of scholarly essays on Kerouac’s work.
Worthen House Café, upstairs, 141 Worthen Street.
7:00 (Doors open). LCK! Jazz Night w/ David Amram at the Back Page. Legendary jazz man and Kerouac collaborator David Amram and his jazz band headline the evening with a full band performance at 7:30, followed by Lowell’s own The Party Band at 9:00 pm. The Amram Jazz Band includes multi-instrumentalist and composer David Amram, Kevin Twigg on drums, Rene Hart on bass, Jerome Harris on guitar, and Adam Amram on percussion. The Party Band is a 10+ piece jazz street band inspired by NOLA parade bands and the historic roots of jazz. It is led by drummer Savannah Marshall, who first performed with David Amram at LCK while a music student at UML. Now with three Party Band albums, many years and countless shows behind them, Savannah is very excited to present her band for David Amram. Expect a very special evening of fantastic music! A $20.00 cover charge is requested to support Lowell Celebrates Kerouac.
The Back Page Cafe & Bar, 15 Kearney Square (Behind the Blue Taleh).
Sunday, October 13
10:00 am. Mystic Jack Tour. Led by Bill Walsh and Suzanne Beebe. A walking tour of the sites described in Visions of Gerard. Begins at the site of the former St. Louis de France Church. Donations gratefully accepted.
241 West 6th Street.
11:00 am-1:00 pm. Jack Kerouac Mural Unveiling/Dedication. The mural by Kori Thomas, professionally recognized as the artist Quest Nine, will be officially revealed and dedicated. Event will also include a performance by The Rocking Horse Music Club and an update on the Jack Kerouac Center Update by Jim Sampas, a key figure in preserving Kerouac’s legacy and nephew of the author. Read more
St. Jean Baptiste Church, 741 Merrimack St.
1:30 pm. Annual Amram Jam. Signups begin at 1:00 pm. Bring your Kerouac-inspired poem or prose to read while accompanied by David Amram, Adam Amram, Kevin Twigg, Jerome Harris and Rene Hart. Emceed by Wireless Mike Flynn.
Worthen House Café, downstairs, 141 Worthen Street.
5:00 pm. Ghosts of the Pawtucketville Night Tour. Led by Bill Walsh and Kurt Phaneuf. Visit some of the sites as described in Kerouac’s Doctor Sax. Donations gratefully accepted.
Walk from The Worthen, or meet at Cumnock Hall, UML North Campus, 1 University Avenue.
7:00 pm. Film Screening: Magic Trip: Ken Kesey’s Search for Someplace Kool. This documentary about Ken Kesey, Neal Cassady, and the Merry Pranksters was directed by Alison Ellwood and Alex Gibney. It uses the 16 mm color footage shot by Kesey and the Merry Pranksters during their 1964 cross-country bus trip in the Furthur bus. The hyperkinetic Cassady is frequently seen driving the bus, jabbering, and sitting next to a sign that boasts, “Neal gets things done.” Magic Trip was released in the United States on August 5, 2011, by Magnolia Pictures. The film’s soundtrack includes excerpts from several songs by the Grateful Dead. The film will be introduced by Brian Hassett, lifetime Beat Laureate and author of How The Beats Begat The Pranksters. Following the film, Hassett will do a virtual Q&A with Merry Prankster George Walker (aka “Hardly Visible”) who is one of the subjects of the documentary. For tickets visit: lunalowell.com
Luna Theater, Mill No. 5, 250 Jackson Street.
8:00–10:00 pm. Mike Younger & The Tennessee Tree Huggers. Mike Younger was a street performer working in New Orleans when he was “discovered” by country music legend Rodney Crowell, who then produced Mike’s debut release Somethin’ In The Air (2000). Since that fateful turn of events, Mike has written, performed, recorded and released an impressive body of work and his music and songwriting continue to earn him new fans all over the world. His most recent release Burning The Bigtop Down (2021) is the masterful result of a hard-fought battle to reclaim his lost recordings with rock legends Levon Helm and Jim Dickinson and rhythm and blues legends Spooner Oldham and David Hood. Since the release of Burning The Bigtop Down he has performed hundreds of shows in the Midwest, MidAtlantic, Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, and Pacific Northwest regions.
Worthen House Café, upstairs, 141 Worthen Street.
Monday, October 14
10:00 am–1:30 pm (approximately). Kerouac’s Nashua Connection Tour. Led by Steve Edington. A van tour to the Kerouac Sites of Nashua, New Hampshire, as primarily described in Visions of Gerard, Doctor Sax, and Vanity of Duluoz. Concludes at the St. Louis de Gonzague Cemetery and the burial sites of Leo and Gabrielle Kerouac, Gerard Kerouac, and Jan Kerouac. Reservations suggested by calling 978-970-5000. Donations gratefully accepted.
Departs from and returns to the Lowell National Historical Park Visitors Center, 246 Market St.
10:00 am. LCK Loop Tour. Led by Bill Walsh. Begins at the Commemorative in Kerouac Park, touches on a number of Lowell’s Kerouac places, and ends at The Worthen.
2:00 pm. (Approximately). Wrap Party at The Worthen. Give a farewell toast to Jack and have a safe journey home!
Post-Festival Events
October 19–20
The Poe in Lowell Festival. Edgar Allan Poe visited Lowell three times, in journeys of history and mystery. Celebrate Poe’s legacy with readings of Poe’s works, art exhibits, dance, and more. poeinlowell
October 21
6:00 pm. Jack Kerouac Memorial Walk. Jack Kerouac died on October 21, 1969 in St. Petersburg, Florida. He was waked at the Archambault Funeral Home and his Funeral Mass was held at the St. Jean Baptiste Church on October 24. To mark this occasion, LCK holds an annual Jack Kerouac Memorial Walk. Beginning at the Lowell Grottom, it stops at the former Archambault Funeral Home and St. Jean Baptiste Church, and concludes at The Old Worthen for a toast to Jack’s memory. Readings from John Clellon Holmes’ “Gone in October” are offered along the way.
Franco American Grotto, 357 Pawtucket St.