~STORY SUBJECTS~
By
John Cassady
1) Jack Kerouac visiting our house in Los Gatos. Sleeping "under
the stars" in his sleeping bag in the back yard, etc.
2) Jack cleaning pot in a shoebox lid in the living room when the police
knock at the door. Freaked him out.
3) Jack reading "Dr. Sax" to us kids, and drawing cartoons.
4) The trip to Big Sur in 1960 to meet Jack at Ferlinghetti's cabin.
He tells "little Timmy" about how to pack a proper ruck sack.
The beach scenes, old car, mule, etc.
5) The tape recorder Jack bought to record himself and Neal rapping,
with me crying as an infant in the back bedroom. Jack scat-singing while
Neal changes diapers!
6) Neal's (one of several) railroad accidents. The bloody boot. The
dark-wood hospital--creepy.
7) "Alternative Sunday School." Neal and Carolyn teach the
kids about life.
8) Neal's arrest for pot in 1957, the year "On The Road" was
finally published, and his resulting stay, as a guest of the State,
in San Quentin.
9) Neal's paroled in 1960, but can no longer work for the SP (Southern
Pacific Rail Road). A kindly tire shop owner hires him in Los Gatos,
and he's a family man again, for about 2 years. Many stories there,
Johnny at about 10.
10) Auto races, car shows at the Santa Clara County Fair. Demolition
derby on Friday nights. I invite my 2 or 3 buddies every week (their
straight parents had no idea who was at the wheel!). Chuck Berry blasting
on the car radio. 1/4-mile tracks. Tire dust and ethanol. Whoop and
holler. What a dad!
11) Sneaking out with Dad to go to John Gorley's house in Campbell,
a hip jazz trumpeter, while Carolyn would say, "Now, Neal!"
Me not knowing about pot, so what's with the bad vibes? Wonderful smell
in the car. I figured it out years later. Funny story.
12) Allen Ginsberg sitting on the couch at Bancroft (our home in Los
Gatos, CA). He's telling me the Beatles smoke pot! Parents were pissed
enough at them for smoking TOBACCO on camera, not to mention the collarless
suits and mod boots! What a scoop!
13) Neal's love/hate relationship with all things "wheel."
Cars, rail roads, chariots, whatever. An analysis about that subject
by me is vitally important to understanding the man.
14) Neal's "infamy" begins to develop and become apparent
to me. High school. The (often-told) story of when he and Kesey kidnap
me from high school to attend a Grateful Dead concert. A must see. "No
dope for the kid!”
15) The "Be-In" in SF, when my sister Jami and I hitch-hiked
up and found the Bus.
16) Neal's visits, loving but tragic. He would eat, sleep for 2 days,
and be good as new, and funny. Very entertaining. Then back to the party.
17) I'm surfing in Santa Cruz, and run into Dad holding court at Ron
Bivert's (?) "Hip Pocket Bookstore" on Pacific Ave.
18) Neal's death on February 4th, 1968. The phone call. The reactions
within the family.
19) Trip to Eugene to visit Kesey with Carolyn and my (then) girlfriend.
1971 (?)
20) Still in contact with Kesey. He invites Carolyn to a "Summit"
in La Honda. I drive. Around 1974. Movie prospects--never realized.
21) Forward to 1997, when Kesey asks me to come along on a road trip
in the "new" bus to Cleveland for its induction into the Rock
& Roll Hall of Fame.
22) 1999, a four-week tour of the Uk, England, Ireland and Scotland.
Kesey, Mountain Girl, Babbs, and all the usual suspects.
23) Other stories include, but not limited to, the "Legend vs.
Myth." Neal's compassion and humor. His need to be the "husband/father."
His providing for the family, albeit mostly posthumously. His being
everywhere at once (he was home more than people think!). How he met
Carolyn (Bill Thompson introduced them, Denver, 1946, and the letter
from Neal to Bill years later, which was discovered by Bill's daughter
in the '90s, currently unpublished, which I will read). More to come!
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