Moonshine and Rosebuds and all that Dross

"Moonshine and rosebuds" for some reason is the one phrase that I can always remember from Jack Keroac's On The Road. Its been a long time since I read it but I think it is referring to the way things are not, as in, it's not all moonshine and rosebuds. Or it may have been the kind of lines Sal Paradise (aka Jack Keroac) and Dean Moriarty (aka Neal Cassady, who also plays a starring role in The Electric Koolaide Acid Test, by Tom Wolf) the two man characters laid on women as they traveled across the 66. As in, he filled her full of moonshine and rosebuds. Either way, I don't suppose I'm going to find out today as is seems my copy of On The Road has hit the road. Big sigh.

The 50th anniversary of the book is coming up next month so look forward to lots of media hype on the subject. It was the beginning of the media blitz that actually inspired me to write this. While reading an article, I came across something even better than moonshine and rosebuds, and I thought it was worth quoting. So here it is:

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue center pop and everybody goes, 'Awww!'"

They are the only ones for me too, Jack.