The Day Superman Died

Today in 1968, Neal Cassady died after being found in a coma lying next to railroad tracks outside San Miquel de Allende, Mexico. Raised by an alcoholic father in a series of skid row flop houses, self-educated in public libraries and pool halls, Cassady became a touchstone of the Beat Generation. 

Reading Jack Kerouac, he's Dean Moriarty and Cody Pomeroy. In Howl, Allen Ginsberg calls him "N.C. secret hero of these poems". In his book about the Hell's Angels, Hunter Thompson refers to him as "the worldly inspiration for the protagonist in two recent novels." He was Sir Speed Limit, the driver of Further/Furthur, the Merry Pranksters' psychedelic bus - mentioned as "Cowboy Neal at the wheel of a bus to never-ever land" in the Grateful Dead song That's It for the Other One.

The title of this blog comes from a piece Ken Kesey wrote about the death of Cassady. Kesey imagines him counting railroad ties on his way home and quotes his last words as sixty-four thousand, nine hundred and twenty-eight. Cassady's prowess behind the wheel was legendary; his raps were inspirational and maniacal. He could quote from memory large sections of Proust's epic, Remembrance of Things Past. To quote author/Prankster/Skypilot, Ken Babbs, "He was divine and imperfect merged...a singular talent with a singular mission."

Neal Cassady died  four days prior to his 42nd birthday. Requiescat in pace - as ever BB

"Never knock the way the other cat swings." - Neal Cassady