WHEN I WAS COOL: My Life at the Jack Kerouac School.
A Memoir by Sam Kashner. HarperCollins 0060005661 336pps $25.95

A memoir of a then skinny, naive teenage boy, from a liberal, fairly well-off Jewish family, who goes from thinking Walt Whitman had something to do with food - Maybe the Whitman Sampler box of chocolates. to being the author of 3 nonfiction books and a novel. Kashner convinces his parent to allow him to enroll in the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodies Poetics, (of which he was the very first and, at the time, only one to do so), in lieu of conventional college. Hanging out with Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Gregory Corso, Peter Orlovsky and Anne Waldman, as well as cameos by the remaining Beat and non-Beat writers and muscians of the era, Kashner interweaves Beatlore with his own innocent reflections in a frank, humorous and extremely entertaining and informative platitude. A free-spirited Kiss & Tell theme runs through the pages as openly as the heroin in Burroughs veins. Hailed as a hero with his father’s Diner’s Club card, Kashner is called upon repeatedly to aid and abet the shenanigans of this anti-normal group of word artists. Between editing Ginsberg & Corso’s manuscripts, baby-sitting Billy Burroughs the JR., backing way too many monetary expenses, one wonders who is actually benefiting from his enrollment. Intimacies of thwarting sexual advances from Ginsberg to succumbing to di Prima, are embarrassingly shared in all their sordid, ribald and untimely bodacious glory. A he loves him but he loves her floats through this stew in chunks while Kashner ponders the directed aloofness of Walkman, while impregnating one of her troup. Marijuana fields, whores, drug houses, theft and mayhem.. all the elements of prime-time are just casual actualities of extra curriculum. Kashner also stands by, silently, as Ginsberg and his ilk follow the teachings of their oft drunk Tibetan Buddhist meditation teacher Chogyam Trungpa, Rinoche - who pounds on Ginsberg to lose your ego as he pads his own pockets and libido with admiration and servitude. Reflections from the Beats are also placed abundantly within as all give their good, bad or indifferent memories of Kerouac and Cassady an ear. One of the best Beat books I've read. Used and abused, we go from day one to graduation with his zany encounters and events, all the while hoping the school gets it’s accreditation before he graduates. Reminiscent of Tom Wolfe's days of entrenchment with Ken Kesey & the Merry Pranksters, it's a fun, fast paced-read that shows us what happens when literary renegades become our teachers.

MAIN STREET RAG
Volume 8, Number 2, Summer '03. M. Scott Douglass, 4416 Shea Lane, Charlotte, N.C. 28227.
96pps. Perfect bound. $7.00 sample. $20/4 issue subscription.

Opens w/a shaking. Douglass’ editorial The Gulf Between Us is right on target, tsk-tsking the Christian American Chauvinism that is shoved down our throats (and in our pockets, public restrooms, local bookstores, etc. .. Oh wait, that’s the Mormons!) But it sings our own Super Star Complex - or, as Michael Jackson (& friends) once sang.. We Are The World - NOT! Look around. Religion is not the answer, it’s the cause! It’s like Earth is just one big arena and we’re all on teams. Our Captain? God, (under his many aliases) and we’re all out to win for the gipper. Anyway, read his. i’m just commenting.

There’s interviews (David Slavitt by Okla Elliott), photography (and great cover art by Michael Swisher). essays, fiction, and poetry. First by Slavitt, following suit w/his anti-state idealism Prologue To A Play. Samuel speaks “By politics do all men become strangers.” His poem “Cain” is a plea for defense w/an interesting view.

Further in, Janis Greve relates early libido escapades hips jutting sideways in a sulk, waiting for the bad boyz of night. Karen Lodge gives a slick kiss-off in See Ya and Sampson Starweather writes the most beautiful poem about price tag sex i’ve ever read, picking up a woman who looked like the/reason I was born. They made love to the Coltrane in my head and he felt two bumps/Which might have been the beginning of wings. on her back and finally, dispelling her statement (and poem title) Whores don’t kiss. There’s reviews and contributor notes to finish off this masterful publication.

4 issue subscription ($20.00):

MARTYN PIG by Kevin Brooks (PB) $6.99
Martyn Pig has little to enjoy in life - His father is a worthless, abuse\ive drunk and his mother long left them because of it. His solace from the perpetual grayness of his life are the bevy of detective novels - crime stories he reads. It's this very diversion to his existence that saves him when an accidental murder creates a series of tragic events he is stuck planning his way out of. With a little help and savvy deception, this almosthappy ending eludes that you can get away with murder.

BIG MOUTH & UGLY GIRL by Joyce Carol Oates (PB) $7.99
Two misfits find each other through a devastating misunderstanding that turns a whole town ugly and defensive. With reference to the Columbine tragedy, the morals of this story could be for every youth to follow, as from such...great things can, and often do, happen.

ACID ROW by Minette Walters (HB) $24.95
As potentially real as they come. A child is reportedly missing. Word of mouth fuels a volatile housing project into a self-contained mayhem. In a complex known for its criminal content, a pedophile is placed and the walls implode with tenant revolt. Misinformation pits the good against the bad as heroes appear behind nearly every door. This is one of those books that will keep you reading into the early a.m. hours, as riveting at live coverage.

CROW LAKE by Mary Lawson (PB) $12.95
A story of deep values and family loyalty that prevails the too many tragedies they are faced with. Four children are left without their parents after a fatal car crash and find the strength to survive and even flourish in unity. This small town story, where dreams change and refocus, gives you faith in the human spirit...again.

A LIFE WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES by Stephen Elliott (PB) $12.50
A deeply moving story of hard truth.. of hard life. Chicago is known for its cold, merciless winters and for Paul, it last almost a lifetime. A runaway "street rat," he is shoved from mental hospital to housing project to group homes - always fighting to hide the hole of emptiness he suffers. With more biography than fiction, his ugly duckling metamorphosis is not without some lost feathers. Yet somehow, he emerges from this snake pit to create his better life. To survive and succeed and flip the bird as he leaves.

LIVING WITH SAINTS by Mary O'Connell (PB) $12.00
This collection of short stories is like a slap across the knuckles with a ruler. Each story has its own Saint and pivotal dilema surrounding her. Modern day women are enmeshed with vocal Saints to live, love and endure. Makes me sort of wish I had been raised Catholic... sort of.

LITTLE CHICAGO by Adam Rapp (HB) $16.95
The story of Blacky Brown, an 11 year-old boy who is sexually abused by his mother's boyfriend, pulled so hard at my heart that I vowed to never judge another child's actions again without finding out their cause. So tragic is this youth, so frustrating his turmoil, so infuriating the lack of help. A child aside, Blacky trudges through school and the ridicule of classmates once the word is out about his molestation. Enduring the cruelty so rampant in today's society, this small boy creates his own safety and then his own world. Sadly insightful, disturbingly realistic.

MISS AMERICA FAMILY by Julianna Baggott (PB) $13.00
A tragically funny, aberration family of visual perfection that totally falls apart behind the scenes. The epitome of Americana with its contented facade, as if straight from a Hollywood soap opera (or talk show). Characters so real.. they're probably your neighbors.

SAVAGE RUN by C.J. Box (HB) $23.95
This one struck close to my heart...the environment. A story about someone who cares and dies (twice) trying to preserve what little we have left of your natural resources to preserve. A hero worth cheering for and a cast of characters I found an instant kinmanship to. (well, the good guys, that is). Educational and evoking. Take it to the hills on your next retreat...but stay out of the cow pastures....

THE THIEF LORD by Cornelia Funke (HB) $16.95
One of the biggest delights yet this year. The Thief Lord twists the life and morals of two orphans self-placed in the underbelly of Venice. Prosper and Bo soon become involved with a group of street children under the tutelage of the "Thief Lord" and twist along with this story of emotional loyalties and surprises.

HOW TO COOK A TART by Nina Killham (PB) $13.95
A palatable feast of dark comedy & Home Economics. Bodacious and steadfast, our heroine makes sure you don't close the book unsatisfied.

WHOLE NEW RELIGION by Bob Jakubovic (SB) $14.00
A schizophrenic look at who's zooming who behind the scenes of literati with some surprising twists. Centered on the writing of a novel by infamous "Felix Sladkey", this story comes as scattered as the components to biographical fiction within. Get it? Well, you should!

WOLF'S RITE by Terry Persun (SB) $12.95
Every once in a while you read a book that not only touches you, but evokes you. This is a once in a while book. In Wolf's Rite, we are shown the good in the bad and the victory of such a finding. A book that not only advocates stopping to smell the roses, but listening to them too. A Shamanistic Vision Quest changes the life of Llewellyn "Wolf" Smith and in turn, those around him. A warm spirituality that brings you down to earth and then blends you in to it.

RUNNING WITH SCISSORS by Augusten Burroughs (HB) $23.95
Imagine what kind of childhood William Burroughs must have had to warrant the mind he wrote with and you'll have what appears to be his memoir. But it's not. This account is every bit surreal, macabre, hilarious as you would expect with that last name. A dystopian existence that's not imaginary at all. The Brady Bunch ala Crispen Glover/John Waters and Mel Brooks. You got to read it to believe it.

LUCAS by Kevin Brooks(SB) $16.95
For young adults, this story gave me something to think about. Have you seen the movie Powder? Where the teenage boy is secluded from society because he is "different" and yields great powers because of his "difference"? This is similar, yet "different." A love story/A fable. A pretty good read.