The Ghost Of Jack Kerouac: The Perpetual Motion Roadshow Takes Writers
On The Road Again And Again And Again . . .
by Wred Fright, ULA Ohio Bureau Chief
http://literaryrevolution.com/
Jack Kerouac was wrong. He wrote in On The Road, his classic novel
about his travels across North America in the mid-20th Century, that
"Everybody goes home in October." Well, a group of his literary
descendants--writers Darren O'Donnell, Jonathan Messinger, and Todd
Taylor--are doing the opposite this October when instead of going
home, they hit the road, Jack.
They are going on The Perpetual Motion Roadshow, a monthly indie
press tour circuit, though a better description might be a literary
circus. Performers, called crewmembers in Roadshow speak, pile in a
car, drive hundreds of miles to several North American cities--which
have included Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Los Angeles,
Montreal, New York City, Ottawa, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle,
Toronto, and Vancouver--and read, rant, and rock in front of small
audiences in venues ranging from the basement of a bookstore to the
back of a bar. Then they crash on someone's bed, couch, floor, or even
porch, and do it all over again for a week. Why do they do it? Because
as anyone familiar with the small press knows, it sure isn't for the
money. Mickey Hess, author of the memoir/novel Big Wheel at the
Cracker Factory and alumnus of the Roadshow, says of his experience on
the road, "It's been nice because people we met a long time ago or
through writing have shown up here and there in these cities."
Huh?
But that's it. It's not just about hawking your wares (although that
is certainly part of it, especially when the money one makes selling
tonight is the money one has to eat with tomorrow), it's more about
making personal connections with the audience. Another Roadshow alum,
Sean Carswell, author of the short story collection Glue And Ink
Rebellion and co-editor of the punk zine Razorcake, says the Roadshow
is different than a standard reading or book signing tour in that "It
establishes a community of independent writers."
As a result, The Roadshow's become a steady presence in the literary
underground, with clued-in audience members in each city looking
forward to next month's installment. Furthermore, by appearing on an
ongoing basis, the Roadshow has allowed people outside of the very
insular underground publishing world to fall into a parallel literary
universe they otherwise might not have known even existed, as Faith
Zink, an agent for the Roadshow who organized the shows in Cincinnati,
explains, "A significant proportion of the crowd every month has sort
of just stumbled in on the Roadshow, weren't expecting it, and don't
know what to make of it. Often they find it engaging and participate
in the entire event."
And today's audience member is tomorrow's crewmember on the show, as
the Roadshow's website (www.nomediakings.net) actively recruits new
independent literary acts to go on the aptly named tour, which indeed
never stops. Even as its 6-month long East Coast run wraps up in
November, the Roadshow rolls on but out West where it's warmer in the
winter months.
But if anyone can do it, some might say, does anyone want to see it?
Or read it? This prejudice against independent, particularly
self-published, work is one that the Roadshow is still working to
overcome.
A veteran of last October's Roadshow, Jennifer Whiteford, publisher
of the perzine Matilda, says, "I think it's true that indie publishing
hasn't reached the status of indie rock where it's considered
completely viable . . . but we do D.I.Y. stuff on every other level so
there's no reason we shouldn't do it for publishing."
And Suzanne DeGaetano of Mac's Backs Paperbacks, the Cleveland
Heights bookstore that hosts the Cleveland stops, sees similar
potential: "The Perpetual Motion Roadshow is a reading series that
helps define us as a bookstore. We believe in promoting emerging
writers and appreciate the opportunity to do so with the PMR authors.
As a store, we have always been connected to the DIY movement, from
the poetry chapbooks people would bring us when we started out in the
early eighties through to the DIY explosion I have seen in the last
few years. I think there was a lull in DIY when people were learning
about computers, the internet and creating personal web pages. I
welcome the return of hand held artistic missives in all their
richness and diversity."
The Roadshow has its roots in the DIY tours Canadian novelist Jim
Munroe put together to promote his novels Angry Young Spaceman and
Everyone In Silico. After publishing his first novel Flyboy Action
Figure Comes With Gasmask through the corporate publishing industry,
specifically with HarperCollins Canada, Munroe decided he could do as
well or even better, both in terms of autonomy and money, by
self-publishing his future work. Of course, without a marketing
department and Rupert Murdoch's publicity budget behind him, Munroe
found that he had to employ his creativity in ways beyond the
manuscript. So, rather than a typical book reading/signing, Munroe
devised performances related to the subject matter of the novels. For
example, to promote Everyone In Silico, a dystopian science fiction
novel about a world where corporations rule, Munroe invoiced current
companies such as Starbucks and Hershey Candy for product placement in
his novel, and read the letters he sent to them and the humorous
perplexed responses he received from the companies. Then, using the
contacts he made from his years publishing zines, he took the show
across North America.
When he got back, Munroe, a tireless supporter of the DIY philosophy
(his website
www.nomediakings.org --yes, not .net--offers advice on
how to publish your own book and make your own video, among other
artistic endeavors), wanted to share the contacts he had made in each
city with other independent writers. He posted some information on his
website, but then went a step further and decided to see if he could
set up a tour circuit so that every indie writer who wanted to expose
people to her or his work, wouldn't have to start all over from
scratch every time. So Munroe contacted his friends and acquaintances
across the continent and asked if anyone was interested in creating a
network for touring writers and other indielit fare.
They were.
Completely dependent on volunteer power (including quite a bit of
Munroe's), the Perpetual Motion Roadshow was born in 2003. To date,
it's seen about 50 performers (including Munroe to promote his latest
novel An Opening Act of Unspeakable Evil and a couple members of the
Underground Literary Alliance) loop around one circuit or another of
the Roadshow, plus videos from numerous video producers have been
shown, and an estimated 100 local acts have hit the stage.
Furthermore, these very creative people are meeting one another,
sparking new energy and projects. It's like a 21st Century touring
version of the dadaists of Zurich's Cabaret Voltaire, or maybe if The
Beats had put together a traveling vaudeville revue.
So even if old Jack was wrong about everybody going home in October,
one imagines he wouldn't be too disappointed as long as everybody was
heading to The Perpetual Motion Roadshow.
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