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On the Road at 50 Concert Commemorates Jack Kerouac

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first publication of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, Pilot Records will present a unique rock concert at Tango in Star Live at the South Gate of Ditan Park on July 28.

Kerouac burst upon the literary scene in the United States with the rambling, brilliant, stream-of-consciousness On the Road following its publication in 1957. He would become an icon of what became known as the “Beat Generation” that emerged in the 1960s in the United States, a movement that still influences literary and cultural life worldwide. In memory of this special year, the brand-new label, Pilot Records, in association with 1626 Magazine, will present a rock concert in Beijing’s greatest live-show venue, Star Live. The concert will be part of an artistic commemoration that will include music, a documentary, gallery exhibition and more on Kerouac’s literary work, especially On the Road.

An independent music company in China, Pilot Records has invited seven rock artists to perform during the event. They include the most revolutionary heavy metal band in China, AK47; Caffe-In, newly signed by Pilot Records, who offer “cartoon elements” in the form of a pop rock band; Left Right, a new power in Nu-Metal in China; The Face, who are described as “Chinese melodic metal”; Zhang Qianqian, an emerging woman rock superstar; Catcher in the Rye, who created the influential song On the Road for Chinese musicians in the 70’s; Chasing Star, whose vocalist Guo Keyu was an actress in the Chinese anti-Nazism movie Red Cherry. All the artists will autograph a Gibson guitar provided by Gibson to memorialize this event.

Pilot Records integrates music with new art, and it is organizing this concert in distinctive way. In the interval of each performance, the organizer will arrange the award of best gallery picture and best cool people for the night. All the artists will share their feelings about On the Road with audiences before their performances. A documentary on the life of Kerouac will be shown during the concert; in this way, audiences can better understand this Beat Generation icon.