Calling All Hepcats and Jazz Hounds

Disclosure: The author of this post worked for the Kelly Writers House for four years as an undergrad, and continues to volunteer there. That being said, she wouldn't pass this along if it wasn't an awesome opportunity.

On Thursday, January 25, the Kelly Writers House will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the publication of Jack Kerouac's On The Road with a marathon reading of the full text of the book. Readers will include local literary luminaries (say that three times fast!), as well as folks affiliated with the House. But, here's where you can come in:

We'd like [the readers] to be accompanied by musicians that would contribute to Kerouac's whole atmosphere—jazz or psychedelic or whatever, as long as it's non-vocal music (or at least doesn't have WORDS to it to distract from the reading). Anybody know any cool bands or solo musicians that might want to play?

Oh, also, we have no money for these musicians so ideally you could sell this to your musical acquaintances by saying that their lack of payment is, you know, "in the spirit" of Jack's bootleg trip across America, or that they're doing it for love of him or love of their craft or of performance or something. Say what you have to say to make them understand that not getting paid is AWESOME.

We need a bunch of performers that don't take up a ton of space and that would be willing to play for at minimum a half hour.

Yeah, yeah, everyone likes to get cash, but they're right—it's about the spirit of the Kerouacian experience. Plus, the Writers House has a tendency to record their programming, so you and your mad jazz stylings might be preserved on the internet forever.

If you're interested, call Erin Gautsche at 215.573.WRIT, or reach her via email at gautsche-AT-writing-DOT-upenn-DOT-edu.

Can you dig it?

Image via Al Filreis, of the Writers House.