Evoking Kerouac With Spontaneous Acts

Jack Kerouac never thought much of the ‘60s counterculture that claimed him as an inspiration and made him an icon, but that indifference hasn’t discouraged succeeding generations from embracing him with undiminished fervor. The late poet’s principles of spontaneity and fearless personal expression have been absorbed by rock forces from Dylan to the Clash, and now the post-punk world is getting in on the act.

“Kicks Joy Darkness,” a new album of Kerouac’s work on Rykodisc, features such performers as Juliana Hatfield, Jeff Buckley and Eddie Vedder, along with some elders--Patti Smith, Joe Strummer, et al.

R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe and the trio Hitchhiker (led by 10,000 Maniacs guitarist Rob Buck) were the only album participants who showed up at the Viper Room on Monday, where a spirited reading was held to mark the record’s release, but the lineup made up in diversity and invention what it might have lacked in name recognition.

There was ‘50s bombshell Edie Adams, delivering “Dr. Sax” and “Silly Goofball Pomes” with a sassy mix of swing and whimsy. With jazz reed man Ray Pizzi providing rhythmic drive and humorous punctuation, this turn came closest to evoking the sound of Kerouac’s Beat era.

At the other extreme were such experimentalists as Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh, who blew the roof off with a wailing, echoing faux-Indian version of “Last Hotel,” and L.A. musician Moris Tepper, who read three works with gruff flair to percussive backing tracks. His final piece had a touch of his old bandleader, Captain Beefheart. Another Beefheart alum, painter Robert Williams, found a balance of humor and theatricality in his reading of “Running Through--Chinese Poem Song.”

Stipe closed the show in characteristically enigmatic and distinctive fashion, departing from Kerouac canon to add Agee, Sontag and Diamond (as in Neil, as in “I Am, I Said”) to the mix. It was the kind of renegade stretch that would have surely intrigued the guest of honor.

--RICHARD CROMELIN