I had a delightful time on Saturday hanging out with Tiffany Razzano, the driving force behind Wordier Than Thou, the literary arts organization. We were on the deck outside the Flamingo Sports Bar, Jack Kerouac's favorite St. Petersburg dive bar back in the Sixties. Wordier Than Thou is presenting a Literary Roast of Jack Kerouac Fundraiser from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday, January 20 at The Studio@620 in downtown St Petersburg.
We did a LIVE broadcast from there and over a couple of beers talked of various things literary in St. Petersburg. The original was broadcast on Facebook but there's recording of it embedded above.
Tiffany told me she had developed the idea for a literary roast with plans to roast living local authors. Funny thing, there were no takers. Local writers didn't want to be targets of gentle, good-natured mockery. Hmmm.
So she turned her attention to authors who couldn't take umbrage, and Kerouac, with his local connection (he lived here about five years) seemed to be the perfect choice. Perhaps. Some say Kerouac's spirit haunts Haslam's Book Store. If so, might he make his way to The Studio@620? Who knows? You can bet he'd have had plenty to say if he were alive.
– T. Allan Smith