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Sometimes overlooked by those chronicling the Beat Generation, Neal Cassady was the inspirational nucleus of what would become the counterculture movement, inspiring memorable literary characters like On the Road’s Dean Moriarty and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’s Randle P. McMurphy, as well as crazed pop-culture intellectuals like Hunter S. Thompson and Russell Brand.
“So many writers were drawn to [Cassady] as a symbol of freedom during a post-war society that relied on conservative values and keeping who you are under wraps,” says Heather Dalton, director of the as-yet-unfinished documentary Neal Cassady: The Denver Years. “Being that Cassady grew up in Depression-era Denver, on the skid row of Larimer Street, that kind of American ingenuity and drive for survival was instilled in him. Denver as a city personifies what Neal Cassady is as a man and an icon. The city goes hand in hand with his personality.”
Dalton will kick off a Kickstarter campaign for her documentary tonight at 8 p.m. at 3 Kings Tavern, 60 South Broadway. Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 at the door. For more information, visit www.3kingstavern.com.
Thu., Nov. 29, 8 p.m., 2012
