As I was reading the gazillions of blogs that I haven't seen in weeks, I was shocked to find this article on Gothamist, about a little something the shop Hogan is doing in honor of the 50th Anniversary of Kerouac's On the Road:
The store, an Italian leather company, is "celebrating" the anniversary with their Jack Kerouac Project. The Project offers beatnik-inspired fashion for prices the author himself would never pay, putting this on par with the equally absurd Kerouac Bobblehead of '03. The Village Voice reports that a travel bag goes for $1290, work boots for $475 and a leather bomber jacket for $1,590. The company explains the line is "a clear reference to Jack Kerouac's mood and sensibility to which Hogan strongly relates, captured in the rugged and original preppy nomad appeal."
I grew up in Lowell Massachusetts, home to the Beatnik Prince that is Jack Kerouac. My grandfather knew him (and referred to him as "that drunk bum"-- since gramps was going off to the navy and fighting the wars that the blue collars fight, he didn't find the arty types like Kerouac anything to call a hometown hero). Even though their differences were many, Jack Kerouac and my grandpa, I can't imagine either of them spending nearly thirteen hundred bucks on a piece of luggage.
I'm just sayin...
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