Covid spikes Cassady 'Bash'
An annual celebration of the birthday of Kerouac's pal became a fixture in the Denver calendar but the virus has prompted cancellations in both 2021 and 2022. What next for this anniversary festival?
Mark Bliesener, musician and songwriter, journalist and long-time band manager, is much more than just a Beat fan and reader: he’s a true activist. For more than a decade, he has been steering the ‘Neal Cassady Birthday Bash’, an event he conceived in the Colorado state capital in 2010 and has been directing ever since. Sadly, the party has become a victim of the pandemic for the last two years. But Bliesener has no intention of throwing in the towel. I spoke to him this week about the past, the present and the future of a unique get-together commemorating the anniversary of Kerouac’s best friend…
Hi there, Mark and thank you for agreeing to talk to Rock and the Beat Generation. As the core organiser of the annual event, how would you define the ‘Bash’ and what it is aiming to do?
The ‘Neal Cassady Birthday Bash’ has been held in Denver since 2010 to celebrate the birth and life of Neal Cassady – self-described as ‘Denver’s unnatural son’. Neal’s influence on literary and pop culture is well documented – though virtually ignored in his hometown. As the archetypal Beat legend, Neal exuded a style and distinct Denver, Western ‘cool’ which secured his stature as a true American original.
You have decided not to run the ‘Bash’ in 2022. You also pulled the plug on the 2021 party, having run an amazing sequence of previous such events. What are your reasons for that?
After nearly twelve consecutive years – and given last year’s Covid hiatus and the current threat of Omicron – now seems like an opportune time to reorganise and reimagine the annual ‘Bash’, and prepare for a fresh take on the event in 2023. As the event’s sole organiser, funder, publicist and promoter, I’m admittedly a little stale presenting essentially the same event year after year.
How disappointing has that been for the project? Do you fear you might lose some momentum or is this giving you a chance to take stock and re-think?
To be honest, I believe this is a terrific opportunity to take stock, think about Neal’s legacy and, going forward, why the ‘Bash’ is important to Denver.
I’m reconsidering everything, starting with the date – as the ‘Bash’ has always been held in chilly, potentially icy, February to coincide with Neal’s February 8th birthday. This has presented a hindrance for some out-of-town visitors, and perhaps moving the event to a more climatically hospitable time of year would now be advisable. Also, our long-time home the Mercury Cafe, located within spitting distance of Neal’s boyhood stomping grounds and a unique long standing countercultural cafe, helmed by the sublime Marilyn Megenity, changed hands during the pandemic, so a new venue is also an option.
Pictured above: Crowds gather at the Mercury Cafe at the ‘Bash’ in 2018, Credit; Barry Ollman
The event celebrating Neal in his hometown consistently draws a crowd. However, it’s the essentially same loyal crowd and many of the same readers year after year. And none of us are getting any younger. As the original precept of the ‘Bash’ was to promulgate Neal’s significance beyond those who already know, it’s crucial that, whatever changes are implemented, the end goal is to attract a more diverse, fresh and younger audience.
Despite my outreach to youth via Denver Public Schools, including providing speakers on the Beats in American Literature classes and ‘Bash’ related poster and poetry competitions, I’ve seen little sustained interest. And our audience continues to go grey.
I know I’m not alone with the perplexing notion of why the Beats do not have a more enticing place in the contemporary pop culture that they have so influenced. Their lack of contemporary ‘cool’ has been a continual puzzlement to me and others. Each time the media – both social and otherwise – shines its light on a Beat film’s release, like 2012’s On the Road, which was packed with contemporary young talent, or this year’s Kerouac-inspired Dior menswear Spring fashion line and catwalk show in London or even the anticipated Kerouac centenary, there is a glimmer of – possibly false? – hope that the contemporary coolness corner has been turned and the younger generation will surely turn on en masse to the impact – both sartorial and spiritual – of Beat literature, this breakthrough consistently fails to materialise. Why? Where’s the disconnect? I will save any dissertation on the examination of why the Beats fail to appeal to a mass younger market share for another day….!
Will it have a slightly different flavour when you return in 2023?
What the next ‘Bash’ in 2023 will look like is yet to be determined, but it will most definitely take on a new flavour from the previous eleven. They’ve all been fantastic and have begun to accomplish much of the original goal which was to wake Denver up to the magnitude of Neal’s contribution. But there’s more work to be done…I’ve had terrific support from so many in the community, like our fantastic jazz radio station KUVO and videographer Paul Humphrey, who has posted clips of all eleven years of the ‘Bash’.
Music has been a strong ingredient in your planning. I know that David Amram has been a stalwart participant and that one-time MC5 manager John Sinclair has read his poetry. Remind us who has taken part over the years. The Cassady family have also been supportive, haven't they?
The ‘Bash’ is organised with the cooperation of the Cassady Estate and would not exist without the support and love shown by the family. The celebration often features Neal’s ‘kids’ Cathy, Jamie, John Allen and Robert Hyatt reading from his letters and sharing memories of their Dad. They are joined each year by the close friend and collaborator of both Kerouac and Cassady, David Amram .
Together with the Cassadys, Amram is the authenticator as he knew and experienced Neal – the rest of us spend a lot of time imagining they were there with him.
These essential core participants has been joined by a variety of notable Beat scholars, musicians, and poets over the years including, yes, poet and 60s organiser John Sinclair, musician and agitator Jello Biafra, sax legend Richie Cole, the Rev Steve Edington from the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac committee, internationally recognised ‘prepared’ guitarist Janet Feder, plus the best of Denver’s poets including Ed Ward, Suzi Q. Jones, Junior Burke, Jennifer Dunbar Dorn, Zach Kopp and Gregory Daueur.
What has Denver made of your events and your efforts? Has it changed the city's perception of its somewhat notorious son? Has he been deservedly resurrected as a hero?
I’m afraid after all these years, Denver is still lonesome for its heroes. However, the ‘Bash’ has alerted many in Denver, for the first time, to Neal’s significance, and are now more aware of his contribution to literature and pop culture. In 2011, 2013 and 2019, the Mayor of Denver, citing ‘Cassady’s unique outlook, philosophy, and worldview shaped by his Denver upbringing’, proclaimed the date of commemoration as ‘Neal Cassady Day’ in the city.
In addition, in conjunction with the 2012 ‘Bash’, Denver East High School granted Neal the high school diploma he never received, referring to ‘Cassady’s major impact on American literature’. Cassady attended East in 1941 and 1942.
In addition, along with local Beat scholar John Lane and sculptor Sutton Betti, I’ve been working with the Cassady Estate to establish a permanent Beat monument in Denver. The plan is to place this memorial at 23rd and Welton St, at Sonny Lawson Field, the site of the still-existing baseball diamond, which Kerouac recalls, in On the Road, as a place where ‘all of humanity gathered for the simple joys of playing baseball’, has been well received by city commissioners.
Pictured above: An impression of proposed Cassady/Kerouac statue in Denver, Credit: Sculptor Sutton Betti
In 2020, with the statue in maquette form, we were well on our way to begin serious fundraising, when the world decided to take a necessary, hard look at existing statues and the reason for their existence. This ongoing debate about the necessity of this type of commemoration in the future, necessitated a drop back to re-evaluate and consider how best to accomplish this project going forward.
Would you like to seek sponsors or funding to back your venture?
By design, the ‘Bash’ has been a ‘logo free’ zone. In an effort to remain a grass roots community event, no corporate or other sponsorship has ever been considered. To which I now say, ‘Not so fast!’ or even ‘maybe’. As the event is now well-established as a cultural happening, I don’t think the infusion of funding at this point would be detrimental, as such funding would allow so many more options for the event including bringing in more out of town, special guests and the ability of to provide for their hotel and airfare and other expenses. A bigger budget would also allow inclusion of more varied list of out of town musical performers
I am looking for the right fit in this regard and open to potential ‘sponsors’. I have initiated a number of conversations and am currently soliciting support for 2023 and future events.
How would you summarise your feelings towards this celebration?
For me, producing the event has truly been a labour of love for me. It’s allowed me to spend time and get to know so many interesting and important characters, and most importantly given a focal point for interest in the monumental importance of Neal as part of this city’s Western heritage and history.
Thank you, Mark. We will keep our readers and your followers up-to-date with information on the ‘Neal Cassady Birthday Bash’ for 2023.
Website: For images from more than a decade of celebrations visit, nealcassadybirthdaybash.com
See also: ‘Mark made by music manager’, Rock and the Beat Generation, June 28th, 2021