The Serious Amram Jam: A Reflection on the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Festival

            It’s interesting to consider the kinds of people that have lived and passed through a town. So many times, people only consider the place that they live in terms of the negative and present, but it helps to remember that, aside from the memories that we build on our own, the places that we call our homes have their own history and have been the residence or even birthplace of brilliant men and women. Considering this, it’s only natural that people would want to commemorate the history of their town. One such example of this is the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Festival in Lowell, Massachusetts dedicated to the famous writer, Jack Kerouac. The Kerouac Festival (and specifically the Amram Jam on Sunday) has done a fantastic job in creating a sense of community and hometown pride while channeling the energy of (and humanizing) one of America’s greatest writers.

            

The first thing that struck me about the Kerouac Festival was how well planned out it appeared to be. This wasn’t just some little get-together on a Sunday afternoon; it was a full-blown event spanning from Thursday (10/10) to Monday (10/13) that involved everything from nature walks to concerts and poetry readings. It truly seemed like there was some kind of activity planned for everyone, which speaks volumes to the planning that must have gone into this event. 

The activity that I chose to go to was the Serious Amram Jam on Sunday at Lowell Beerworks. It took place in a reasonably-sized room towards the edge of the restaurant that could seat about fifty people. It mainly involved local or national poets and musicians sharing their work and/or love of Kerouac in numerous ways; some recited original poems, some read select passages from Kerouac’s novels detailing his life in Lowell, and some even used instruments to express their feelings. While all of this happened, an elderly man (whom I later learned was Mr. David Amram) sat and played piano and the occasional drum. Sometimes he would accompany the poets, and sometimes he would even join the musicians in their jams. Each element came together to give the activity a very relaxed and inviting atmosphere.

It was around the last jam session that I began to understand the influence that Jack Kerouac had on these people. Some of these poets and musicians had come from as far as Texas and California to share their work and bond with others over their love of Kerouac. It all seems incredible when one considers that Kerouac was once a normal person who walked the streets of Lowell like many college students.

This is a point that was first put into my head during a walking tour of the many places that Kerouac used to visit as a child. While it can be nigh impossible to truly imagine what a person was thinking at a specific place, the tour helped me to gain some understanding of who Kerouac was as a person and not the famous wordsmith that many see. Walking on the sidewalk and observing the grotto, stations of the cross, funeral homes, and library made me realize that young Kerouac was a person who grew up just like many of us; he had good days and bad days, he had his hobbies, and most importantly, the places that he frequented in Lowell helped him to develop into the person he eventually became. Just think; someone else could have experienced the same things that Kerouac did at a young age, yet that person could have built up a completely different worldview. On the other hand, someone who was growing up in Lowell at the same time as Kerouac could have had a completely different set of experiences and memories of the town, even though they grew up at the same time and in the same place. It’s these early memories that helped to define Kerouac as a person and eventually a writer, and it’s this energy that has inspired countless writers, poets, and musicians to follow in Kerouac’s footsteps. Even though Kerouac’s writings are mainly about exploration and freedom from one place, his beginnings in Lowell set the foundation for many of his novels’ most resonant themes. 

The Amram Jam and Kerouac Festival in general have helped me to recognize the importance of Kerouac’s impact of the city of Lowell and the effects that one’s hometown can have on their lives. The idea that seemingly unrelated people would come from all over the country to celebrate the ideals of one man still boggles my mind. I hope that I will be able to go again next year, and I’m sure it will make me feel as welcome as it did this year.