Lowell to Close Out the Jack Kerouac Centennial with the Annual Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Festival October 6-10
The celebration of the Jack Kerouac Centennial in Lowell began this past March with the author’s 100thbirthday on March 12, with a series of programs in the months that followed. The Centennial now wraps up with the annual Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Festival from October 6-10. The LCK Festivals have been taking place on a yearly basis, beginning with the Dedication of the Jack Kerouac Commemorative in 1988.
This year’s Festival will feature a wide array of speakers, tours, musical events, open mics, and just plain fun gatherings!
Among the special events are:
- The annual David Amram Jam on Sunday afternoon (10.9) at The Old Worthen; and a special Amram event on Friday (10.7) at St. Anne’s Church titled Classical Jack from Bach to Debussy to Amram.
- The LCK/Parker Lecture with Dr. Jean Christophe Cloutier, an English professor at the University of Pennsylvania and an outstanding scholar of Kerouac’s French language writings. Dr. Cloutier provided the French-to-English translations for the book The Unknown Kerouac. 2:00 pm on Saturday (10.8) at the Middlesex Community College Academic Arts Center.
- A presentation by Charles Shuttleworth from his new book Jack Kerouac—Collected Writings from Desolation Peak (Sal Paradise Press), drawn from Kerouac’s journals as a fire lookout in the summer of 1956. Held at the UML O’Leary Library on Thursday (10.6) at 2:00 pm.
- Jack on Film. Arranged and presented by Brian Hassett, with clips and dialogue about every portrayal of Kerouac on the big and small screen. 7:00 pm upstairs at The Worthen on Sunday (10.9) at 7:00 pm.
- Two great evenings of jazz at Zorba’s Music Hall on Friday and Saturday nights. Among the performers are the Wendee Glick Trio, The David Amram Jazz Trio, FLAVA EVOLUTION, Lord Buckley portrayer Oliver Traeger, live paintings with Randy “Frenchy” Frechette, and Lowell’s own Party Band.
A detailed full listing of events is on the LCK website: lowellcelebrateskerouac.org