LOWELL -- If he were alive today Jack Kerouac would be an octogenarian. What would the Lowell native have to say about turning 86?

Probably, "why are you still writing about me?" Seems no matter what has been said before, there is always a new angle to take with the legendary writer. Tomorrow as the city prepares to honor the verbose boy from Centralville, Kerouac will be looked at anew. From documentaries, to talks, to an exhibit of rare Kerouac possessions, there are still many reasons to tip your beret to Jack.

Andrea Paquin

Sun Correspondent

It is important to acknowledge Kerouac's birthday says Steve Edington, president of Lowell Celebrates Kerouac!, in order to emphasize "the impact of Kerouac on life" in Lowell.

Like many who came of age in the '60s, Edington started reading Kerouac and found himself "taken by his writing."

Of all the events starting tomorrow that focuses on where the city can go with this legacy, especially exciting is Saturday night's memorabilia display at the Lowell Gallery. The author's swim trunks and a letter he wrote to Lowell buddy Joe Chaput should delight Jack junkies. The exhibit will focus on foreign first editions of Kerouac's most popular books.

"They're super cool, unusual covers," said memorabilia expert Phil Chaput, Joe's son.

To Edington, the high point of this mini-festival will be Kerouac's actual birthday, Wednesday, March 12. That's when a new documentary will premier, followed
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by a discussion "Where do we go with Kerouac?" led by Paul Marion, a Kerouac scholar and local poet. "We really want to invite people to come and have a conversation about the steps Lowell can take to honor Jack Kerouac," Edington said.

The forum will contemplate issues like the purchase of the author's birthplace in Centralville and the possible installation of a permanent Kerouac exhibit in Lowell.

"We tested that idea last summer with the scroll display," said Marion.

This weekend will be a sneak peak at the festivities to come for the annual Kerouac celebration in October, which will recognize the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Dharma Bums. It will include neighborhood tours, poetry readings and music; but is sure to bring milestone ideas and issues to the table. "Will people come to a Kerouac exhibit?" questions Marion. "The answer is yes."

The documentary

By Rachel R. Briere

rbriere@lowellsun.com

LOWELL -- A documentary about Jack Kerouac should be nothing short of spontaneous. Like the prose of the coming-of-age Beat bible On The Road, the process of filming Remembering Jack Kerouac had an unknown final destination.

"The whole documentary was like Kerouac. It truly has been a journey for myself, the students and everyone involved. And it keeps going," said producer Bridget Driscoll, who screens the half-hour film Wednesday at the O'Leary Library Auditorium at UMass Lowell.

Driscoll said the video helped to form partnerships between the City of Lowell, COOL, Lowell National Historic Park, the Greater Merrimack Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Lowell Telecommunications (LTC), who all contributed.

The half-hour movie is a collection of footage and interviews with survivors of Kerouac's clique that Driscoll and freelance journalist Kassie Rubico of Chelmsford worked on with UMass Lowell students for a year. The crew went to a car show featuring 1949 Hudsons, a model similar to the one Dean Moriarty and Sal Paradise drove cross-country in On The Road.

There they interviewed Al Hinkle, another of the author's companions. The culminating event that got the project going was the unveiling of the original On The Road scroll in Lowell last summer.

"It is that event that sparked all of this. It is really about Lowell and the way they celebrate their literary son, Jack Kerouac. It has all the elements -- people in the city and what the scroll and book meant to them and future generations," said Driscoll, who has taught journalism at UMass Lowell.

Lowell residents can catch the documentary starting March 12 and every Wednesday and Friday evening at 7 p.m. through the month of April on Channel 8. The documentary will eventually screen at the Beat Museum in San Francisco. Driscoll wants the film to garner national attention. She is sending copies to libraries across the country and is hoping local cable networks will pick it up.

"I am creating something spontaneous. The idea of pushing this forward is an amazing achievement. I am so excited to be celebrating Kerouac's birthday with this," Driscoll said.