"Postcards from Greg Hemmings #13" - Kerouac for Rent

April 25 – Kerouac for rent!

Folk singer, and my hearse-driving television host Brent Mason and I were visiting Lowell Massachusetts shooting a documentary for CBC called Grave Concerns. Our first episode was about the life and death of iconic “Beat Generation” author Jack Kerouac. We were both stunned that Jack’s birthplace – 9 Lupine Road – was only identified by a small plaque stating that Kerouac was born here. The larger “For Rent” sign, however really drove the point home that legends actually do fade away into the dust of time, even legends like Jack Kerouac. Like thousands of others, Kerouac had inspired me as a young adventurer to hit the road in many ways in my life and breathe in every experience possible! The following quote sums up Jack’s impact on my life perfectly.

"They danced down the streets like dingledodies, and I shambled after as I've been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn..."
- Jack Kerouac, On the Road

If I lived in Lowell, rest assured, I know the house I would be renting.

(NOTE: Readers can watch the “Grave Concerns” trailer that this article refers to at Hemmingshousepictures.com in the “Screening Room”)