"On the Road" - October 8th, 2014


We have been listening to Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" as we travel through the west.

Our travels and music have been inspired by this book as well as becoming a part of our library performances.

A musician friend of ours from Fort Collins, Peter Sommer wrote an inspired composition setting the last paragraph of this book to music. 

To be able to play and sing these words, is like going from black and white, to color.  

The music lifts the words off the page, as if breathing life and motion into the words.

The last paragraph goes like this -

"So, in America
When the sun goes down
and I sit on the old broken down river pier
watching the long, long skies......over New Jersey
and sense all that raw land that rolls
in one unbelievable huge bulge
over to the west coast
and all that road going
all the people dreaming, in the immensity of it
and in Iowa, I know by now
the children must be cryin
in the land where they let the children cry
and tonight, the stars'll be out
and don't you know that God is Pooh Bear?
the evening star must be drooping
and shedding her sparkler dims on the prairie
which is just before
the coming of complete night
that blesses the earth, darkens all rivers
cups the peaks, and folds the final shore in
and nobody....nobody knows
what's going to happen, to anybody
besides the forlorn rags of growing old
I think of Dean Moriarty
I even think of old Dean Moriarity
the father we never found
I think of Dean Moriarty"

So in America, we continue our journey, seeing this vast & beautiful land and meeting folks in all the places we stop and play.

Tonight we played at the North Bend Library along the southern Oregon coast.
The librarian, Gary Sharp and the folks who came, made this an extraordinary experience.
We'll catch up on our coastal events and pics soon, all of them have been quite wonderful.

For those who have not had a chance to hear the above piece and our other pieces of writing and poetry set to music, you can listen on this website under the poetry project or under music. 
Best to you all!

C&C



 

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