By Kelly Faircloth 12/18/12 6:40pm

Moviegoing

Mr. Riley (Photo: Emily Anne Epstein)

You Don’t Know Jack: Brit Actor Sam Riley Talks Taking on Kerouac in On the Road

Filming didn’t get off to a great start for On the Road star Sam Riley, who plays narrator Sal Paradise in the adaptation of the Jack Kerouac classic. As the movie opens, Paradise’s father has just died, and fellow Brit Tom Sturridge, playing Carlo Marx analogue Allen Ginsberg, comes up and whispers a Hebrew dirge in his ear, an attempt at comfort.

There they were, two English guys still relatively early in their careers, excited to be kicking off the making of a movie that took decades to realize. And things went well for a few hours—until suddenly the clouds rolled in, the sky went black and the rain started pelting them like marbles. They took refuge from the thunderstorm in their trailer, wondering whether they might simply be sent home.

“We were laughing that it was Kerouac and Ginsberg pissing on us because they didn’t want two English guys playing them,” Mr. Riley told The Observer, sitting across a coffee table at the Regency Hotel. Read More

By Drew Grant 11/30/11 4:32pm

Film

Daniel Radcliffe vs James Franco in a Ginsberg-off? Its possible. (Via Harry Potter and Howl)

Daniel Radcliffe as Allen Ginsberg? A History of ‘Howl’-ing Portrayals (Video)

James Franco (and David Cross, John Turturro, et al) have reason to be worried: Harry Potter is about to smash your portrayal of New York beat poet Allen Ginsberg into dust. Daniel Radcliffe, fresh from filming the Victorian horror flick The Woman In Black has reportedly joined the cast of Kill Your Darlings (not to be confused with the 2006 flick with the same name) as the famous (and infamous) part of Jack Kerouac/Ginsberg/Lucien Carr trio. Read More

By Chris Shott 1/22/07 12:00am

A Booth Remains the Same At One-Time Beat Haunt

Don’t be fooled by the freshly scrubbed floors, potted, tropical-looking plants and lively Latin music at Jeremy Merrin’s newest restaurant, located at 2911 Broadway, across from Columbia University.

This is, in fact, Jack Kerouac’s favorite New York dive bar. At least, it used to be.

Though, initially, you’d be hard-pressed to figure that out. The Read More

By Leon Neyfakh 11/06/06 12:00am

Upbeat, Warm and Sunny, A Band Bids Angst Adieu

The Hold Steady’s second album, Separation Sunday, starts late at night, in a quiet, dirty room. As lead singer Craig Finn tells it in the opening verse, the girl looks down at what’s left and, with tired apprehension, says to the boy: “I won’t be much for conversation if we go and do the rest Read More

By Leon Neyfakh 11/06/06 12:00am

Upbeat, Warm and Sunny, A Band Bids Angst Adieu

The Hold Steady’s second album, Separation Sunday, starts late at night, in a quiet, dirty room. As lead singer Craig Finn tells it in the opening verse, the girl looks down at what’s left and, with tired apprehension, says to the boy: “I won’t be much for conversation if we go and do the rest Read More

By Staff 10/26/06 4:42pm

West End Café finally reopens … as Havana Central


Hey Jack, how bout a mojito?

Famous Jack Kerouac, Dizzy Gillespie, and Joe College hangout the West End Café has officially reopened for business–”about five minutes ago,” a publicist told The Observer late Thursday afternoon.

Albeit with a slightly altered moniker: Havana Central at the West End.

Dig it: Kerouac’s favorite burger joint Read More

By NYO Staff 11/08/04 12:00am

A Major Announcement

First off, I’d like to thank all of you for coming on such short notice. There’s coffee on the terrace over there for anyone who wants it, in those Thermos things. Just push down the squeezy doodad on the top and the coffee’ll come out the spigot thing. I believe most of you know the Read More

By NYO Staff 8/23/99 12:00am

Day Trader Loses $800,000, Says It Doesn’t Matter

It was a boys’ night out. Caesar salads, steaks, creamed spinach, whisky and big talk at the Palm on Second Avenue at East 45th Street. Someone’s brother, Eric Welsh, 27, showed up. I ended up in a cab with him. On the way downtown, he said he was a day trader and had lost $800,000 Read More

By David Bowman 7/20/98 12:00am

Ho, Jack, Maynard and Me: Steve Earle Talks (and Talks)

When he arrived on the scene in 1986, Steve Earle was lauded as a neo-Outlaw hillbilly singer (see Waylon and Willie). But as Mr. Earle’s songs got increasingly louder and the singer himself cultivated a biker look, his records straddled that lost consumer zone between Hank Williams and heavy metal. How was Mr. Earle’s poor Read More