Michael Stutz sent in this photograph of Beat saxophonist David Amram playing a set at Ricardo’s Café in Lowell, Massachusetts, ten days ago, as part of the city’s annual “Lowell Celebrates Kerouac” festival. This performance was the first step in a guided tour of Jack Kerouac‘s favorite hometown bars, marking the occasion as the original On the Road scroll was prepared for its forthcoming exhibition at the New York Public Library.
“I gave a reading of Western haiku new & old, including some of Jack’s,” Stutz reports, “for a spontaneous ‘Amram Jam’ improv at Cafe Paradiso. During the crawl, Ricardo’s unveiled a new yellowglowing neon sign, a permanent fixture above the bar that reads ‘Jack lives here.'”