Whatever happened to Kerouac?

I realize that's I said I would be blogging through On the Road, but I've been so taken with this book lately, I haven't read much of it. I will get back to it, though. For now, satisfy yourself with this article.

Here is Kerouac with Steve Allen:

On the Road, 2

As I've said before, I'm reading through Jack Kerouac's classic work On the Road. I'm not really wishing to do a formal review of the book. I just want to give some impressions as I go along.

Sal, the narrator of the book, decides to travel cross-country from New York to California so he can meet up with his friend Remi. Remi has promised an outstanding voyage in the Pacific on a freighter. After a false start that leads him nowhere but back to New York, Sal is on his way. He spends the night at an anticipated city - Chicago. I love Chicago, so I'm anxious to read about what Sal does there. Sal describes his first walk around the city:

The wind from Lack Michigan, bop at the Loop, long walks around South Halsted and North Clark, and one long walk after midnight into the jungles, where a cruising car followed me as a suspicious character.

I stop reading. "...bop at the Loop." What is Jack talking about? Is "bop" some kind of drug reference? I decide to get up off the couch and head to the computer so I can do research. I find on entry on "bebop" in Wikipedia:

Bebop is a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos and improvisation based on harmonic structure rather than melody. It was developed in the early and mid-1940s. It first surfaced in musicians' argot some time during the first two years of the Second World War. Hard bop later developed from bebop combined with blues and gospel music.

Ah, jazz. A musical form of which I'm sadly ignorant. I don't even have a Miles Davis CD.

hey, Jack Kerouac

I've just started reading a book widely regarded as an American classic, Jack Kerouac's On the Road. I've had it for over five years now, but like more than a few books on my shelves, I've never sat down to read it. Until now, that is. I'm putting off buying the latest Oprah's Book Club selection to give some time to this book. We'll see how it goes, and I'll certainly talk about it from time to time.

For now, let me just give a little quote. This is what Sal, the "voice" of the book, says after two of his friends meet, form an instant connection, and take off together down the street.

But then they danced down the street like dingledodies, and I shambled after as I've been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!"

I'm purposely avoiding reviews and websites devoted to On the Road. I don't know if the above quote is one that many people like, but I think it says something about not just the character of Sal, but of the viewpoint of many people. Naturally, I'm most interested in those people who are "mad to be saved." What do they believe they need to be saved from?