The Beat Museum

03/24/2026

Happy Birthday, Lawrence Ferlinghetti!

02/05/2026

Happy birthday William S. Burroughs, born on this day in 1914.

Pictured here in 1978 with Patti Smith, who marks the occasion with the following remembrances of William, Brion Gysin, and other departed friends. (link in comments)

02/05/2026

01/21/2026

TONIGHT at 6pm!!!
at the Counterculture Museum

Don't miss this special screening of 'The Trips Festival Movie' and Q&A with Director Eric Christensen.

Christensen’s documentary includes excellent footage from the Trips Festival itself, along with interviews from Bob Weir, Rock Scully, Ken Kesey, Stewart Brand, Ken Babbs, Bill Graham, George Walker, Ramon Sender, Allen Cohen, Ben Van Meter, Mountain Girl, Chet Helms, Gerry Mander, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Narrated by Peter Coyote.

Members: Free
$10 General Admission
$8 Students, Educators, Seniors

https://counterculturemuseum.org/events/trips-festival-60th-anniversary/

—

It’s been sixty years since the Trips Festival was held at the Longshoremen’s Union Hall in San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf. Organized by Ramon Sender, Stewart Brand, Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, Owsley Stanley, Bill Graham and others, the event lasted three days (January 21–23, 1966) and drew ten thousand attendees, with many more turned away each night.

One of the first rock & roll music festivals, the Trips Festival was more than that, showcasing a wide array of artists and experimental media. Ken Babbs designed sound systems for the event, engineering a solution to the problem of the venue’s concrete floor causing music to sound distorted at high volumes. Stewart Brand showed his slide presentation “America Needs Indians”; audiences were treated to one of the first fully developed projected light shows; the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and other rock bands performed; along with appearances by poets Allen Ginsberg and Marshall McLuhan; there were acrobats; experimental theatre; Chinese Lion Dancers; Rob Boise’s “Thunder Machine”; even a pinball machine overseen by the Hells Angels.

Programming was loose and largely impromptu, audience participation was encouraged, and the whole experience was imbued with a surreal, even ecstatic quality. Though the event’s namesake quite obviously invoked tripping on psychedelic drugs, and many did indeed partake in L*D-spiked punch, Tom Wolfe described it as “An L*D experience without L*D… But mainly the idea of a new lifestyle was making itself felt.”

01/07/2026

Happy Birthday to John Wieners, born January 6, 1934

01/02/2026

We're sad to learn James Grauerholz passed away on New Year's Day. He was 72.

Grauerholz met and befriended William S. Burroughs shortly after the elder author returned to New York City in 1974. James was not only an integral catalyst to Burroughs' later literary career, booking reading tours, and editing the trilogy beginning with 'Cities of the Red Night' and 'My Education', among others; but in a sense he also saved Burroughs' life. After taking the apomorphine cure in London, the temptation and availability of he**in in 1970s NYC quickly became a serious detriment to William's health. At Grauerholz's suggestion, they moved to Lawrence, Kansas, where Burroughs lived out the rest of his life.

Apart from his invaluable contributions to Burroughs and the legacy of the Beat Generation, Grauerholz was an artist and musician in his own right. 'Life's Too Good to Keep', a compilation of songs written and performed by Grauerholz over a span of ~30 years, was released in 2024. Link in the comments.

Read Oliver Harris' obituary here:

'To him I owed my career'

11/08/2025

11/07/2025

On this day in 1958, Jack Kerouac participated in a symposium at Hunter College in New York City, on the subject "Is there a Beat Generation?"

Listen to a live recording of Kerouac speaking (well, reading from an article he wrote) on the subject here:

A live lecture by Kerouac to students of Hunter College in Manhattan, New York on November 6, 1958.Please subscribe to my channel.http://www.youtube.com/chan...

10/29/2025

TOMORROW
Oct. 29th
4pm

Lauren Napier & Vic Ruggiero return—this time to the Counterculture Museum—for an afternoon performance.

https://counterculturemuseum.org/events/vic-ruggiero-lauren-napier/

10/21/2025

OCTOBER 21ST, 1969
There have been a lot of songs written about Jack Kerouac over the years. This one, called "It Ain’t Over Yet (for Jack Kerouac)" by Chuck Perrin, is one of the best. It was released in 1995, the same year we registered kerouac.com. It's hard to believe its been thirty years.

october 21st, 1969
it was the diz’s birthday
an irony sublime
you gave us one last lesson
in spontaneity
livin hard & dyin young
blowing cool & free
they said “this is how the ride ends”
but I wouldn’t take that bet
cause you may be gone, jack
but the ride ain’t over yet

https://www.chuckperrin.com/songs/it-aint-over-yet-for-jack-kerouac-2/

remember how it used to bepower in our primewe thought we were invinciblewe were not bound by time110 mphwe drove like maniacsburning down the highwaynever looking backmad to live & mad to talkfull speed without regretwe got to get it allcause it ain’t over yet

10/19/2025

The Beat Museum will be closing early today. Come check out our Litquake event, 'Murder at the Museum' with authors Cara Black, Marcie Rendon, Domenic Stansberry, and Jody Weiner, 6pm at the Counterculture Museum!

Visit us at the corner of Haight & AshburyWed–Sun11am–6pm Sun Oct 19 Litquake: Murder at the Museum Sun Oct 26 David Amram Live Wed Oct 29 Vic Ruggiero & Lauren Napier Subscribe to our Newsletter Litquake: Murder at the Museum Sunday October 19, 2025, 6-8pm Spend a special evening with award-...